I have a deep and unironic love of Neil Sedaka, the first concert I was taken to by my dad and the soundtrack to countless car journeys. I liked the upbeat pop songs but this was always my favorite - watching the M61 pass by in darkness, it sounded to me like one of the saddest songs ever written.

Waiting for a train in Lancaster.

FWIW I think an undervalued aspect of the Green victory is... fun? Hannah Spencer seemed quite funny and normal and to be actually enjoying herself. I can't really imagine anyone from any of the other parties in the mix doing this kind of silly billy business.

A lesson in how being too online can divorce you from the real world: the Advance UK guy got fewer votes than Sir Oink-a-Lot.

Just took 93 year old mum to vote, she's registered blind. In a very loud voice she said, "Which box for six seven!" A cheer went up from the waiting primary school children.

I think what's weird about Gorton and Denton is that, even if the Greens don't win, this whole thing has made Hannah Spencer into a... celebrity? I'm not sure this wouldn't have happened if Labour had let Burnham run, but I don't think I'd be spotting kids' chalk portraits of her on my way to work.

I think I speak for everyone in this constituency when I say I just wish this fantastic by-election campaign could go on for another week.

Think I might be the only person in the Gorton and Denton constituency not to have been interviewed by the media this week.

*Adam Curtis's head explodes*

In a week's time I could have the North's first Green MP or luxury maniac Matt Goodwin.

Quite funny that it's Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor birthday today.

Jodie Whittaker as Cathy. Christopher Eccleston as Heathcliff. The rest of the cast are Oods.

True fans know there's only one true definitive adaptation of Wuthering Heights and it's the VHS release of Cliff Richard's 1996 musical Heathcliff. Courtesy of @foundfootagefest.com

One morning, when Gregor Samsa awoke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin. "Is this The Onion?" he cried.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Would dearly love @mcnallyeditions.com to publish more Phyllis Paul. She was killed in a traffic accident in 1973 and her body was only identified by a label on her handkerchief. She left no trace of her life, beyond a handful of novels which rapidly went out of print and secondhand copies are £££.

Oddly satisfying to know there are probably some of those weirdo former Tories who have jumped ship to Reform who, en route to get yelled at in Gorton and Denton, will find themselves sitting in an idling train with no wifi just outside Northampton for 45 minutes: the ghost of the terminated HS2.

Quite funny that the apparently appalling comments the Green candidate makes about Levenshulme are actually a pretty sound assessment that shows a good knowledge of the area and the challenges residents face.

This book really flattened me. It's ostensibly about two teens making a homemade horror movie, but it's also sort of about mental illness and queerness, but also sort of about how creativity can liberate but also imprison you, but also sort of about something else more cosmic and indefinable.

My wife is away and you know what that means... That's right! Sapphire and Steel on YouTube and then an early night.

Been thinking about the guy in this story who I think may have unwittingly put his finger on the major massive issue that's destroying society: people can quite easily get paid nowadays for making other people cross.

Very excited to have received my copy of the award-winning letter from Patricia Clegg everyone is talking about.

"pinching air because you cannot touch salt"

Frank Skinner turns 70 next year. Not sure I'm ready for guys in their 70s to look only *very slightly* older than me.

It's weird that to get to sleep you basically have to pretend to be asleep.

I've been rewatching modern-era Doctor Who with my daughter and we've got to the 12th Doctor which is where I kind of drifted away at the time, but I can't really see why now because it seems inherently wonderful, in particular Peter Capaldi's reading of the line 'the moon's an egg'.

Simpler times.

The trailer makes it look like this isn't very good but I'd recommend watching the first two actual full films which are up on YouTube to confirm that they are in fact total horse shit.

I live in the Gorton Denton constituency and spent a good 10 minutes this afternoon basically dissociating as I entered a deeply vivid daydream in which I called Matt Goodwin a cunt so loud he wet himself and his aides had to find a doorway for him to quickly change into his emergency trousers.

Remembered that ages ago that there was a singer who released an acapella recreation of The Who Sell Out and looked it up for a laugh. That was about 2.5 hours ago - turns out she's called Petra Hayden, has done loads of similar recordings on YouTube and I'm now massively in awe of her.

Got one of those knock off Gameboy things for Christmas and, for the first time in my life, have just completed a video game.

My thought process on Tom Baker getting an MBE: Great! But, wait, why an MBE? Why not a knighthood? Why wasn't he given an MBE years ago? The man's 91! It's Tom Baker! Give him a bloody knighthood! The honours system exists only to create the illusion of the monarchy generating value! Well done Tom!

Am watching Can You Keep a Secret which is fine - gentle, primetime stuff, maybe a 6 out of 10. But it does have maximum Mark Heap so is basically a perfect 10.

Let's go with... This is Not America A New Career in a New Town Kingdom Come Heat A Small Plot of Land God Bless the Girl Slow Burn 'Tis a Pity She Was a Whore The Secret Life of Arabia How Does the Grass Grow?

Just imagine going back to 2015 and showing them this headline.

Randomly watched this and found it *so* interesting. Bob Monkhouse's final gig! Which then segues into a bunch of actually really interesting anecdotes! And then Mike Yarwood comes out to interview him! But Monkhouse ends up basically interviewing him! About alcoholism and professional failure!

I've only really just got used to the 90s being 30 years ago, and now we're halfway to them being 40 years ago.

We got my son a hamster for Christmas. They're a funny pet really - they're nocturnal so you don't actually see them that often, which gives them air of mystique and then this thing pops up and starts waddling around.

Just caught up with popular game show The Traitors. Now to quickly look at a popular social network to see what other people thought about it and join in with the public conversation. Ah right.

Nice new year song.

Definitely agree with five-months-ago-me.

Guess the NYE movie.

It’s nice to see Learning to Think pop up on people’s 2025 book roundups. If you haven’t read it yet can you get that done so we can all relax many thankyous www.penguin.co.uk/books/442390...

I've written up an end-of-year summary of stuff published, stuff read and stuff listened to. Ghosts! Jazz! Parks!

Tired: There's no Doctor Who on telly this Christmas. Wired: Downtime has just been added to Amazon Prime for some reason.

'Jools Holland's Hootenanny' should really be called 'They Shoot Boogie-Woogie Horses, Don't They?'

Really liked the adaptation of The Room in the Tower, but would recommend stopping watching maybe ten seconds before the end.

Really really loved being tangentially involved in making this come into being!

Coming this week: a new audio piece about the Secret Lake, created by sound artist Emily Zurowski. It’s a portrait of the Secret Lake, one of Manchester's most mysterious spaces, created using sounds from the space and the voices of local residents. secret-lake-stories.captivate.fm/listen