I can't understand choosing to spend a huge majority and political capital on mandatory ID. If socialism is the language of priorities then Starmer's government has huge questions hanging over its choices. It also doesn't seem to have any story of what it's doing, just a series of ad hoc measures.

Godspeed to Danny Thompson. He added so much grace, beauty and guile to so many outstanding pieces of music (you could live a pretty nourishing musical life listening solely to the records he contributed to.) And an unfailingly entertaining and soulful conversationalist. One of the greats 💛

Misty sunrise on Bruntsfield Links

On Saturday we closed OUR BROTHER after a really brilliant run. Thanks to everyone who came to support us, we've had a tremendous response and hopefully it won't be the last time. Don't be a Stranger.

Kelvingrove Park c2006, bleary-eyed in the daylight, a mate tells me "people say 'I wish I'd lived in Hacienda-era Manchester' or, 'imagine being around in CBGB-era New York'... fuck that! We live in Optimo-era Glasgow!" He was right. www.theguardian.com/music/2025/s...

Finally made it up to @pitlochryft.bsky.social yesterday to catch up with Sunshine on Leith and was delighted to see this talented bunch knock it out of the park in front of a packed house.

LONELY WATER (1973): Legendary child-frightener, and one of the most influential and effective PIFs ever made. Donald Pleasence's voice helped lower the number of child deaths by drowning and opened the door to the scary, deadly PIFs of the 70s & 80s. A folk horror film condensed into 90 seconds.

They want to leave the ECHR because it will allow them to abolish the State Pension, the Minimum Wage, paid holiday and sick leave. It would make them tens of billions a year. But of course they say immigration, because they can't tell you the real reason.

'Pressure', the final episode of Z Cars, was broadcast on this day in 1978. Troy Kennedy Martin returned to write the script. Also back were director John McGrath (who had helmed the first episode - Four of a Kind - in 1962) and Frank Windsor, reprising his role of John Watt.

Peter Mandelson can sit as a Labour Lord while my colleagues have lost the whip for opposing disability benefits cuts and the two-child benefit cap. Such draconian, politically-motivated suspensions undermine democracy and make a mockery of our party. They should have the whip restored immediately.

Saw this yesterday lunchtime @traversetheatre.bsky.social. Thoughtful, thought-provoking and horribly relevant. It's well worth your time. Runs until Saturday.

Go say hello to your great buddy Paul Newman somewhere out there in the universe. Ride high! RIP #RobertRedford

Robert Redford’s achievements can’t only be counted by the fantastic movie roles he played. He was equally brilliant as a producer and director; e.g. ‘Ordinary People.’ He set up the Sundance Institute and actively supported smaller independent films to find their place in the world. What a guy!

I think this was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen before I knew what a sexy thing was. Huge film for us, growing up. I suspect he was brilliant in the dramatic roles he’s best known for, because he was brilliant at comedy. RIP Robert Redford

❤️❤️❤️

Released 45 years ago today. Empires and Dance. What a record. www.theguardian.com/music/2023/j...

John Martyn was born on this day in 1948. Often sublime as an artist. Often the opposite as a human being. I wrote a book about him which came out in 2020. It’s quite short, but probably long enough. It stands up, I think. omnibuspress.com/products/sma...

Two trials will be repeated endlessly despite always producing the same results: 1) Does UBI work? (yes) 2) Does AI improve productivity? (no)

Let's be clear, the reason Reform don't want Afghan men coming to the UK as refugees because "they abuse women" but are happy to send women and children back to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan is because their policy is dictated by racism.

Liberal democracy collapsed on 9/11 - and our politics is descending into conflict over who gets to shelter in the comfier corners of the ruins. bsky.app/profile/shoa...

Thought exactly this listening to Cooper on Today this morning. If you’re saying that the far right is essentially correct, then don’t be surprised when the whole political terrain moves in their direction

Not a SINGLE shot in a half of football is a travesty!! Not one attempt on goal. Not even a corner. But completely in line with how our chance creation has PLUMMETED this season! This is completely down to setup. Well flagged this season,,and even end of last season. #Celticfc

I can

Always reluctant to join in BBC bashing but really…hours of fawning coverage for proposals from a party of 4 MPs, no mention of Farage’s role in Brexit which helped cause the small boats issue he now bemoans, and this headline that reads like a press release. Something has gone seriously wrong there

A day of shame, Farage is committed to going further than the NF and Mosley ever dared and the BBC are just aiding him.

If you've yet to see the teaser for #IFoughtTheLaw here it is. Can't wait for everyone to see this - it will anger you, move you and inspire you, I hope. And if you thought you'd seen Sheridan Smith put in a knockout performance, wait till you see her in this... #IFTL

www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/a... I sent Giles a script when I was seventeen. There was obviously no way he could use it. He sent me a two page letter in response. He was unfailingly kind. And his courtesy was what greeted everyone who walked into that theatre.

The Breeders

"The check is in the mail." "I promise I won't do it again." "The Israeli military will investigate."

Playwright and practising critical care nurse Uma Nada-Rajah sat down for a chat with us about her brand-new play Black Hole Sign, where a crumbling and understaffed A&E department tries to get through the night. 

The real 'two tier' divide in British politics is between the wife of a Conservative councillor calling for refugees to be burnt alive, being treated as a brave 'political prisoner', and the protestors calling for the end of mass starvation and genocide, being treated as domestic terrorists

This is just so important. This is what happened n the US. A well-funded anti-immigrant campaign, using fear, telling the public that migrants are criminals, led to Trump. Big money is behind this and the goal is to put the same cabal of tech oligarchs and oil cos in charge in the UK.

Things I love. Bert Jansch. That mad bastard’s singing voice - who else sounded anything like it? And no guitarist has sounded more like he wanted to do violence to his instrument.

The Traverse are partnering with Citizens Theatre and bringing Class Act to Edinburgh and Glasgow this year! We’re looking for inspiring, dynamic and encouraging facilitators. Sound like you? Apply by Tuesday 2 September, 5pm. More details here: www.traverse.co.uk/jobs/class-a...

Hello, Playwrights and theatre colleagues. We have made it to Bluesky. The SSP is Scotland's theatre writer's union. We develop and promote the interests and craft of professional #playwrights and #playwriting within Scottish theatre. Give us a follow or tag us so we can find you! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🎭 ✍🏼

Police smashing a woman in the face with a shield, Poll Tax protest, central London, March 1990 by Paul Mattsson.

Transphobia and privatised healthcare, for a start?

Sunshine on Leith is completely SOLD OUT for the rest of the run! 🎊 Thank you so much for all the love on this stunning show ☀️

Who could possibly have seen this coming? It's akin to the M&S 'trans' employee complaint, entirely predicated on the complainant's belief that because the employee was tall they must be trans.

Once, as a TV reviewer, I remember watching the first episode of a new series and delighting in its lack of tedious exposition, how it allowed us to learn about characters by their actions, with no thick wodges of lore or backstory to digest. Turns out I'd started with Episode Two by mistake. 1/2

Arresting 400+ people for the "terrorist" offence of protesting against mass murder while large segments of the right are openly encouraging riots against immigrants is a tale of a very unhappy country and government.

Here's his obituary; definitely lived an interesting life!

“It is a portrait of two Britains, one of which barely comprehends the challenges facing the other.” My ‪@theobserveruk.bsky.social column: observer.co.uk/news/opinion...

How BBC presents the anti-migrant hotel protests vs how we do at @bylinesnetwork.co.uk BBC lead with a Reform UK voter saying "We are not happy with these men in this hotel because we fear for our children” We tell of the refugee children inside the hotel terrified by chants of “send them out!”

it is not about sports. it has never been about sports. it is about banning trans people from public life entirely AT BEST, and at worst, forcing them into situations that will endanger their lives. this is why we don't play along with the "just asking questions" sports bullshit

Anyone who belongs to any minority group needs to be aware that what is being done to trans people can and will be done to them. In a decade we have been stripped of our rights to exist in public spaces by a press campaign and a well funded lobby.

Basically it perpetuates what already happens. Non “feminine” (what we used to call androgynous or tomboyish) girls get asked to leave women’s loos all the time now. Being a teenage girl is just a nightmare of being bullied by one side or another.