Something I enjoy about riding Amtrak as a European is the way the conductors are always sort of explaining the concept of a train

imho we should bring back the hyphen in psycho-analysis

Very happy to share the news that Poor Ghost! has been shortlisted for the 2026 Betty Trask Prize

First the Harry Stopes seal of approval and now this! bsky.app/profile/harr...

"Year after year the Betty Trask Awards shine a light on the future of the contemporary novel, rewarding not just one exceptional debut but recognising the sheer range of approaches to making outstanding new fictions. " Judge @andrewcowan01

Very happy to share the news that Poor Ghost! has been shortlisted for the 2026 Betty Trask Prize

working on a novel idea called PERFECTERYEAR about a berlin yuppie bloke with a penchant for french workers jackets who then gets magically transported to a st. etienne metallurgy plant during the trente glorieuses

olga tokarczuk still not quite the biggest legend on the fitzcarraldo editions roster

It’s very hard to digest how the explicit antimuslim racism on display in the streets of London on Saturday is passing by with no consequences. Very hard not to feel like we’re regarded as second class citizens and fair game to be sacrificed on the alter of pacifying angry voters. Very hard & scary.

her (works in factories from age 13): you know how it is when you've been working for too long and you're tired me (research-only postdocs since early 30s): yes

Saw a guy who looked like the most EDL person you can imagine enter the train station and put on a Keffiyeh and a can of lager. Never felt more patriotic

Es ist offensichtlich warum Zionisten versuchen Karten Palästinas als Antisemitismus wegzuargumentieren. Jeder der die Karte sieht versteht sofort dass das ein staatliches Landraub-Projekt ist

"The 'never again is now' campaign seemed to be conscripting Adorno’s legacy for Israel’s destruction of Gaza. But is this use of his ideas accurate and true to his spirit?" @dirkmoses.bsky.social responds to an editorial in the FAZ linking Adorno and Staatsräson: thediasporist.de/education-ag...

Objectively hilarious

happy Christi Himmelfahrt everyone

Another funny Eagleton bit, this one from his memoir The Gatekeeper

Adorno and Horkheimer on Wordle

enjoying this interview with Gillian Rose

what a country

this is a wildddd story

For anyone in & around Berlin: this is the last week to submit to read at our upcoming (6/6) event about Sebald and the various legacies of his work - texts are welcome in any language!! www.lettretage.de/programm/seb...

"say what you want about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude. At least it's an ethos."

Can never see him without think of this.

the communication style: smarmy wanker the backstory: Labour Party apparatchik the ideology: warmed over neoliberalism with focus on privatising NHS

tabloid front pages might be able to work out a Coronation Street / Eastenders thing for Burnham vs Streeting... 'Coronation Street for Eastender Wes?' Pic of Streeting with crown superimposed? Just spitballing.

Andy Burnham faces a massive choice as he arrives at Euston this morning, does he go straight down into the tube, or does he walk to King's Cross to get bit of fresh air first and maybe get a drink at M&S on the way?

ok I've now used all my Labour Party posting tokens for the year

if the people liked the McSweeney Labour Party, they're going to LOVE the Luke Akehurst Labour Party

would buy!

maybe Starmer should give a speech while wearing a surprising garment eg puffer jacket

Starmer should sack Streeting and publicly call him a knobhead

Britain's colour on this map should be a source of shame.

feels like the right club for this typo to happen to

this but it's Keir Starmer and he's asking if there's anything to be said for another reset

I really loved this novel when I read it last year, and I’ve been looking forward to reading it again. Pick this up! And what a cool cover design

this observation is decades old but it is still really funny to me how a potential labour pm is praised for his propensity to be "tough on the unions"

Surely they've suffered enough?

In the AUFLAUF review mail this month: - Karaoke - Fascist afterlives - Very good literature - Pick-me-girls - Books cost 20c a page now??? - Finally the truth about the Limerick Writers Center theauflauf.substack.com/p/may-books-...

P.S...

This book comes with the Harry Stopes seal of approval. (And if that puts you off - tough shit, read it anyway)

My novel is coming out in paperback soon with this handsome new cover! If you've been thinking of picking up a copy, please do me a solid and consider putting in a preorder for £10.44, which I understand is roughly the price of a pint in London. Thank you! uk.bookshop.org/p/books/poor...

saw a guy at the cafe this morning wearing a Lehman Brothers cap, that's got to be a prized piece

My novel is coming out in paperback soon with this handsome new cover! If you've been thinking of picking up a copy, please do me a solid and consider putting in a preorder for £10.44, which I understand is roughly the price of a pint in London. Thank you! uk.bookshop.org/p/books/poor...

As far as I can see this is still the case - Labour, Tories, Lib Dems and Reform (not the Greens) will each get a speaker. Farage is hardly likely to pass up this opportunity. So the UK’s leading fascist politician will get to address a rally against antisemitism.

Submissions are for Tolka Issue Twelve are now open 💥 This submission window will close at midnight on Sunday 31 May. We accept all kinds of non-fiction, including essays, biography, auto-fiction, and more besides... tolkajournal.org/submit-to-to...

huge turnaround

‘liquor control systems’ good luck pal i tried those for fifteen years

This is a beautiful piece of writing

My Father, painting created by Brenda Marshall c.1950s in the art therapy studio at Netherne hospital where she was compelled to live, exploring her distress & difficult family relationships, particularly with her father, through her paintings, including this from a series titled Nurse & Father