If any of you lovely folks are on Insta & would care to 'like' my 'After the Storm' image, currently part of an exhibition, that would be VERY COOL! I'm neck & neck with one another for most popular image & there's an award to be had. (Yes, I AM that childish...) www.instagram.com/p/DYaRaChgU-m/

Introduce yourself with ten bands you've seen live: Leonard Cohen Lou Reed Nico The Clash Sex Pistols David Bowie Hüsker Dü Pixies Culture Momus

It’s funny that Andy Burnham’s entire pitch seems to be that he will do exactly the same as Starmer, with an extra something or other about buses.

I wonder how much fuel duty would have to go up in order to pay for free public transport.

The government abandons governing in favour of urging. I think I can see a flaw in this approach... www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Given that there’s not much else on offer, I think we’re going to hear a lot about Manchester buses in the next few weeks.

Simon and I were together for ten years before he died and It makes me happy to know he is still remembered. He was a beautiful man and today would have been his 58th birthday. He was only 50 when he died, no age at all so thank you @wayneconnolly.bsky.social for this post.

I read that Katie Archibald has retired from cycling and I might have expected more of a fanfare. I saw her win a points race in the British cycling championship in Manchester a few years ago and it was just about the most exhilarating sports performance I’ve ever seen www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cyclin...

Tristram Shandy Great Expectations The Books of Jacob

Is it because nobody likes us and we have no friends? BBC: ‘Look Mum, one point': Why does the UK keep getting Eurovision wrong?

Photo competition of the year right here on Facebook. This is Bishop Auckland, folks.

Not only do the police have to contend with a fascist demo, the Nakba Day event and the FA cup final, this is also the weekend of the annual Grand Flaneur walk

The literary canon is alive and well. Ho hum. www.theguardian.com/books/ng-int...

Name ten bands/musicians you've obsessed over at some point: David Bowie Leonard Cohen Van Morrison Patti Smith The Clash Talking Heads John Cale Momus Momus Momus

Take that money off them and we’re sorted. That’s my entire manifesto. www.theguardian.com/inequality/2...

Travel in time for just 99p this month! ‘How Soon Is Now?’ is a Kindle Monthly Deal for May. Dive in to a unique tale of love, loss and time travel, with an unforgettable cast of characters - and a very human twist on the mechanics of time travel… www.amazon.co.uk/How-Soon-Now... #BookSky

Why does Andy Burnham always remind me of Les from Vic and Bob's Big Night Out in a wig?

Look at this! So well deserved.

Makerfield voters have a once in a lifetime chance to do something so funny it will be remembered forever.

The most baffling thing about the whole Labour leadership debacle is the idea that Wes Streeting has allies. The second most puzzling is that Andy Burnham has charisma.

Apparently it’s top ten novel day again: Books of Jacob - Tokarczuk Favourite Game - Cohen Voyage in the Dark - Rhys For the Good Times - Keenan Confederate General - Brautigan Country Girls - O’Brien Leviathan - Auster Savage Detectives - Bolaño Lazarus Project - Hemon Shipping News - Proulx

Slightly increase a band 10,001 Maniacs

Slightly increase a band A Little Bit Bigger Audio Dynamite

‘Incremental change won’t cut it’ says the man whose entire political career and reputation have been built on the steady hand of incremental change or no change at all.

Share a song from the year you were 18 youtu.be/8al5cSQNmME?...

'How Soon Is Now?' has crashed into the top 10 - but, with your help, we can go even higher! For just 99p, you could help send a 'beautiful', 'exceptional' and entirely independent time travel tale to the very top. It'd only take a few more sales to do it! www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0D1... #BookSky

Phenomenal review of Boyhood in the print edition of the Literary Review 🙏 @whiterabbitbks.bsky.social

Post of the year right here...

There it is, finished. Boyhood is everything I wanted and needed. Driven by the unmistable voice and rhythm of @reversediorama.bsky.social it's visionary, sexy, bewildering, joyous and dark. And very, very funny. The answer, in the magic of the moment, is yes.

Looking forward to the day when I open a news app and the first words I see are not ‘Trump says’.

I’ve just had a sudden emotional rush of memory of the journalist Simon Ricketts who died seven years ago. Through his writing and interviews and tweets he helped me so much when I was ill. Although I never met him I regarded him as a friend, as many people did. One of a kind. I miss him.

If I’m being honest, I’m feeling pretty down about my small business. I’m working so hard but it’s been very quiet. It’s bloody difficult at the moment. Please have a look at what I do and repost to spread the word. www.gailmyerscough.co.uk

Post of the year right here...

I forgot This Country! I don't want to knock anything off my list, but Kung Fu will have to go ...

One for @ceefaxisbetter.bsky.social

Top 15 TV shows: Seinfeld Cheers Frasier Phil Silvers Show Peep Show The Banana Splits Hill Street Blues MASH King of the Hill The Detectorists Twin Peaks The Office It's Gary Shandling's Show Fawlty Towers Kung Fu

First of May reminds me of the time a friend suggested we all go to Edinburgh for the Beltane festival, and another in the group replied, 'I'm not going to walk around a muddy hillside in the middle of the night with a bunch of hippies.' We never went...

Top 10 songs of all time Drive-in Saturday - Bowie Do the Strand - Roxy Music Into the Mystic - Van Morrison Coyote - Joni Mitchell Bishonen - Momus California Girls - Beach Boys Police and Thieves - Clash America - Simon and G Another Girl - Only Ones All the Young Dudes - Mott the Hoople

Incredible. Look at those hands!

No more whiny art!

For months I've been telling visitors to the Spanish Gallery in Bishop Auckland that our man Zurbarán is on his way to London for his first solo UK show. And here he is... www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Trick number one: don’t buy so much stuff. There you go… I think that’s solved it for you. www.theguardian.com/thefilter/20...

Gusto has been tidying up in Pontburn Wood

Hopefully that’s the last time we’ll ever see Hazard in an Argyle shirt #pafc

Discover cracking new fiction from eight writers living in the North of England, exploring the theme of folklore. Curses and quests, fairies and petroglyphs, midsummer rituals in a climate-changed future: it's got it all! Out this June. Pre-order now: carnyxpress.co.uk/products/oat...

It made me smile to read this from TS Eliot's introduction to Anabasis by St John Perse. It's the perfect way in to Boyhood @reversediorama.bsky.social

I’ve been looking forward to seeing this memorial. I love the architectural detail in the wings, and the lilies. It’s all quite beautiful.

The best writing classes are back again.

Blimey. And I haven't even woken up yet.