Picture of the staff who operate this Bluesky account

Yet another good reason to go to Madrid next year

What would Jesus have done? Put up posters at bus stops! C of E to challenge Tommy Robinson’s ‘put Christ back into Christmas’ message www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...

Tidal, like Spotify, does an end-of-year wrap, and this, apparently, is what I've been listening to in 2025

#Whamageddon update day 5. I’m still in. 🤫

Leave 2025 behind this weekend ... for just 99p! Head for 1995, where the internet's barely a blip and there's hardly a mobile phone in sight. If you want to fall in love or solve a mystery, you have to do it the old way – face to face... #BookSky #KindleDeals www.amazon.co.uk/End-Century-...

Brexit, Trump, Climate change, Putin, privatised water utilities, slow collapse of the NHS, the continued freedom of Baroness Mone and her ilk. Next question.

I haven't used Spotify this year, so I have no one to tell me what I like any more

Fellow librarians, take a bow

The latest paperback and hardback editions of ‘How Soon Is Now?’, with a glorious new cover by ace designer Boja, are here - and don’t they look gorgeous? Guaranteed to make any residence 75% more sophisticated, instantly! BookSky www.amazon.co.uk/How-Soon-Now...

1995. Seems like yesterday and a lifetime ago.

New online ‘Writing Fiction’ classes begin Jan 2026: Tues, Wed & Sun. We're changing the format to help writers produce more work & receive even better feedback. Details on website www.thi-wurd.com All welcome. Please spread thi wurd

‘For the many, not the few’ was the lamest, least memorable political slogan in history when Corbyn led the Labour Party. Now it looks like he and his supporters want to use it again. They really don’t have a clue, do they? For what it’s worth, my party name would be ‘Eat the Rich’

Hey, Guardian, I’ve fixed your headline for you: ‘Profiteering contractors to be banned from making UK asylum seekers take taxis to medical appointments’ www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Hey BBC, I'll just fix this headline for you: 'Profiteering contractors will be banned from making asylum seekers take taxis for medical appointments whether they want to or not.'

I bought a pain au chocolat and a flat white for breakfast at Greggs for the first time today and realised I must be in the posh part of town

And add bands (artists) you have seen several times: Leonard Cohen The Only Ones Josh Ritter John Cale Nanci Griffith

Introduce yourself with 5 concerts you've been to. The Sweet (1974) Sex Pistols (1977) Nico (1984) Hüsker Dü (1989) William Basinski (2022)

I knew today was going to be a good day, and now it's confirmed Wordle 1,622 2/6 ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

I asked my barber why he has a much higher price for mullets on his board than any other cut. He answered, “Because I hate them.”

I’m back home after a couple of days in Bradford, a place I really liked. It seems to be full of easy-going, friendly people of many backgrounds. Such a change from County Durham which is packed with miserable old white people like me.

One for @ceefaxisbetter.bsky.social

I'm in that Bradford

The Spanish Gallery in Bishop Auckland looks even better in the dark.

I’ve just realised it’s only ten days to #Whamageddon. As I’m the undefeated five times world champion, I’d better start limbering up. I have a title to defend.

I’ve just read a comment about a radio station’s listenership, and I’m not sure whether it means its listeners or that there’s a new pirate radio vessel adrift in the North Sea.

Football, eh? Whew

Especially for @ceefaxisbetter.bsky.social

As a fiction writer, I am an advocate for fiction. My experience is that fiction has value as an expression of the imagination, a channel for mysterious inspiration. It has an uncanny way of carrying within it personal, societal & philosophical insights – like rocks carried by a glacier, but (contd)

If "dark forces are stirring up anger" over immigration, you don't do the dark forces' work for them. Just saying...

World Cup qualifiers are so much fun, aren’t they? BBC: Wales crawled to an unimpressive win in Liechtenstein

Not a half-baked gesture at all. Tidal has much better quality and pays artists four times as much as Spotify.

Whenever I see adverts telling me to "refresh your rotation" or "level up your entertainment", I'm reminded of Leonard Cohen's lyric: You say you want to change the way I make love I want to leave it alone

It’s clear that I will never understand the Guardian’s Blind Date because my first concern is the cut of the trousers the man is wearing (Alex’s are an inch or two too short), and I’ve no idea what friend-zoning over text is.

How do you celebrate Friday evenings?

This government isn’t very good at being the government, is it?

Jaywalkers at the Cluny in Newcastle tonight performing an unexpected and brilliant version of Tainted Love.

I had a strange experience seeing Train Dreams at the cinema yesterday. I was completely engrossed in the film and walked out thinking 'that was amazing'. Then ten minutes later it was completely gone from my head, insubstantial as wood smoke, drifted away.

I had a round of applause at the end of my tour of the Spanish Gallery in Bishop Auckland today so as a reward I get a golden key to unlock a lunch at Wetherspoons next door.

My silk paisley cravat has been seen

Fiction, Poetry, Film, Music, Art, Live Creative Writing, Photography, Books, Magazines, T-Shirts, Totes, Badges, Community, Glasgow, thi wurd, So What If It's The End, Sat 22 Nov: thi-wurd.com

Gusto chastened after being caught trying to help himself to a banana from the fruit bowl

This made me smile youtube.com/shorts/dIPlY...

Just finished another shift in the Oxfam bookshop, and I can't tell you how good it feels to be out in the world again after too many years of illness and inertia.

While some of the art history I read is dry as a bone, Julian Barnes does it with wit and style.

Gail’s brutalist Christmas cards arrived here yesterday and they look great.

Good to see both Guardian blind daters use the word 'kind' today. Kindness is too often underrated these days.

I've already got a copy, but I think you should have one too

Ok… this is a BIG DEAL. Published back in 2020, Seven Nights at the Flamingo Hotel by the unsurpassable @drewgum.bsky.social was our first novel… and as a consequence of us going to into hibernation for a while, it’s sadly been out of print. NOT ANY LONGER!!!! IT’S BACK!!!!