Howled at this.

Speaking untruth for power.

I’ve long said if time travel were a thing I’d go back in time to try convince the Wampanoag to not let those ships land. It won’t keep white people from coming, I’d say, but it’ll keep THOSE white people from coming.

Beginning to think the English made a mistake when they let that ship full of religious maniacs cross the Atlantic in 1620.

Lovely bright December morning.

Why is @squarewindowpod.bsky.social trending at no 1 in TV review podcasts.. Well I think a certain Graham Garden is why...

Drop your crime fighting Catholics

Drop your crime-fighting Catholics.

I think you can argue that Sherlock Holmes is Catholic, by the way.

Drop your crime fighting Catholics.

Drop your crime fighting Catholics.

Island where the Great Crested Grebes are nesting. Just heard my first Willow Warbler of the year. That’s a great sound, by the way.

I’d suggest this was sent to the PM (it features a British PM as a main character) but I don’t believe for a moment that he reads fiction.

The episode of @haveyouseen.us with me talking about BBC ghost stories for Christmas is now unlocked for anyone to access. I haven't listened to it, obviously – hell is an eternity listening to yourself on podcasts – but you definitely should. It's in all the usual places. pca.st/episode/024e...

We arn't hungary yet.

Perhaps now is a good time to share the @financialtimes.com investigative series on Viktor Orban. To start with here’s the one we sent a reporter up in a plane for … (300 free clicks) as.ft.com/r/8cd54659-d...

incredible how low the bar has gotten, that it feels like a genuine ray of light when a terrible far right politician doesn't pretend he won an election he lost, isn't it

Trump, Vance, Putin, Netanyahu, Weidel, Farage — your boy took a hell of a beating. www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c2...

Today when I turned up to the BBC for my interview, Wes Streeting was being interviewed by the main door making it tricky to get in. It reminded me of MJ earlier in the week

Morning Womble! It's been a while. Hope you're well. Struggling with reading lately, but this edition of Iris Murdoch's The Sandcastle arrived yesterday and I might dive in :)

Not seen this, but there’s enough about it in Roger Lewis’s Burton &Taylor biography to pique the interest.

People seem not to like Crime 101 very much. I absolutely loved it. Five stars from me and I’ll meet you behind the bike sheds after school if you disagree boxd.it/dVAWSf

Coming out of agnostic retirement to rejoin the Counter-Reformation on the side of the papists is not how I expected my fifties to go.

This hasn’t been up since Unbound bit the dust, but I fully intend posting it somewhere when THE CONTINUITY GIRL is republished. I met up with Adrian a year or so later and he was keen to know what I’d tackle next. I had half an idea about a Yeti novel, set in the 50’s.

Oh, very sad to hear of the death of Angela Pleasance, an unforgettable presence in From Beyond the Grave and Symptoms. #rip

Coo-eey! #thefilmcrowd will be watching along tonight as TPTV show NIGHT OF THE DEMON from 9pm! No Caroline so book sharp or seats may fill up! Its even followed by Christopher Lee's 100 Years of Horror for night owls!

The excised "Dreadful Business of the Naked Honeymooners" segment from Billy Wilder’s The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes exists without sound. But if you know the voices of Robert Stephens, Colin Blakely and Jonathan Cecil, and you know Miklós Rózsa’s score, you recreate the sound without thinking.

The time it takes to write a joke, from conception to birth, is the jestation period.

This is the second time someone has bought a stranger a copy of Keshed via this amazing weekly bit of booky goodness which has been going on since the Golden Age of Literary Twitter was back in the old country. Always admired and have bought the odd one one occasion for a random so this is lovely 😍

Just seen this and Pagans is an incredible read. Alt history police procedural in a 21st century UK still split between Saxons and Celts. Enjoyed it a lot.

The excised "Dreadful Business of the Naked Honeymooners" segment from Billy Wilder’s The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes exists without sound. But if you know the voices of Robert Stephens, Colin Blakely and Jonathan Cecil, and you know Miklós Rózsa’s score, you recreate the sound without thinking.

Why not buy something for the kids this easter and help an indie bookshop keep going? Highly recommend this one by @athenakugblenu.bsky.social with art by Nicole Miles. #KidLitUK #Booksky afroribooks.co.uk/products/his...

Back in my day disseminating a snuff film was a good way to get yourself locked up

Tons of stuff in here -- as well as Neil Innes there's also Ray Davies, Tav Falco's Panther Burns, the Bangles, the Sugarcubes, TMBG, Jonathan Richman, the Replacements, Kirsty MacColl, Nick Cave, Continental Drifters, Mojo Nixon, Alex Chilton, Jad Fair, Roky Erickson, Robyn Hitchcock...

I wish I could go to Blockbuster tonight and rent a DVD movie.

Reading a very good novel by an indie publisher. I mean very good — one of the most enjoyable books I’ve read in a while. Irritating proofing errors though. I suspect there was a developmental edit, but skimping on a proofreader isn’t a good idea, is it?

Ah, Mario! I interviewed him for Neon film magazine back in the late 90s. A truly lovely man. But let’s just say that after working on Fitzcarraldo he was not a fan of Werner Herzog.

Nine swallows just flew over my head. They say hi.

When Budgie got repeated during Channel 4’s opening months in 1982, it looked like it was from a hundred years ago, not eleven.

I mostly imagine I’m speaking sotto voce on Bluesky, so I’m less guarded here. Surprised to see how far this has travelled. I hope the post doesn’t make me sound too embittered, though I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed with how things have gone since my debut.

If you don't read comics, you should. If you read comics, you should read more.

‘Cognitive surrender’ is the most tragic term I’ve ever heard.

Alex Hailey told me once that including a brief market analysis with a query or manuscript made all the difference. “No publisher wanted a story about a slave in the 70s. But when I pointed out there were 30 million black Americans eager to know about their history publishers paid attention.”

I watched that cringe-filled moment. On behalf of the people who share this rock with you, we’re sorry that HE had to be a part of any of your historic journey.

The Foetus, created by Helen Greig, c.1966 in the art therapy studio at Netherne Hospital in Surrey, where she was compelled to live. This is one of a small number of her surviving works, which explore themes of rebirth. No biographical information about her is currently known to us

I just had a difficult and painful issue to deal with in the film industry and the others involved were wonderful: Totally understanding, kind and articulate. There are so many good people out there.

I used to believe that if you wrote a good novel, it would eventually find a home. This developed into thinking that a good novel was necessary but not sufficient for mainstream publication, that it must meet market demands too. I no longer believe writing a good novel means anything at all.