New podcast episode out now. RUN!

As a gay man, this piece really resonated with me. Why have queer people so often been cast as monsters - and why is that language creeping back now? A brilliant guest piece by @sachacoward.bsky.social that I’m very proud to publish.

Since writing about myths and monsters I've been wrestling with the dark side of the stories I love: Whilst we joyfully reclaim our monsters... are the pitchforks being sharpened? Thanks to @bearlypolitics.co.uk for the space to write something on this. www.bearlypolitics.co.uk/p/queer-be-d...

Yaaaay... they made an AI slop fake of my book.🫠 Please dont be tricked. No idea who Shelby is but I imagine they're not even a real person. X

Season 2 of World of Telly starts next week... youtu.be/MB-MZfhFUjQ

TONIGHT! Join me and @jeremyszal.bsky.social discussing writing epic science fiction, forging a career as a writer in an uncertain world and much more! Join in the conversation live on TUESDAY 17TH FEBRUARY, 8PM GMT FB: fb.me/e/470xjlsey YT: www.youtube.com/live/JeUHGrx...

The End of Gods has been out for just over a week and readers seem to love it! You can get the ebook on all platforms, or pop along to my store for signed and dedicated paperbacks. witchesofwoodville.com/the-village-...

PRE-ORDER THE END OF GODS PAPERBACK BEFORE JANUARY 1ST 2026 AND RECEIVE A FREE EBOOK EDITION! (Ts&Cs apply: click on the link for more...) witchesofwoodville.com/product/the-...

Nigel Farage finally met a force he couldn’t shout down - the bond market. You can’t outdrink a spreadsheet, and you can’t gaslight a Bloomberg terminal. Round one: he lost.

Especially gays - and there's usually a very good reason that involves cupboards and hiding.

Straight out of the Project 2025 recipe book for authoritarianism.

I have lots of #DoctorWho art prints for sale, please check 'em out! (Reposts very appreciated!) 🙂 www.ebay.co.uk/usr/scotgra-57

Our latest newsletter has just been sent out to subscribers. This time it's about John Cranko, Anthony Newley, The Johnny Darling Show, and The Prisoner. worldoftelly.beehiiv.com/p/the-strang...

Farage insists Reform isn’t racist. I’ve got 20 documented cases that say otherwise. When the fringe and the manifesto sing the same tune, you don’t have a crank problem - you have a culture problem.

Calling Reform racist isn’t slander. It’s maths. 20 incidents. 18 months. 1 Farage in a permanent huff.

New podcast video if you missed it yesterday: youtu.be/nmEqFSk2qzU?...

I defended Labour for 15 months. Workers’ rights and renters’ protections? Yes. But cutting benefits, parroting Reform, and calling your own side “the Left” as though you’re not? No. Which is why Ed Davey and Zack Polanski have an opening Starmer is handing to them.

The “Taxi-Driver-Told-Me” and rapid Americanisation style of politics has become Reform’s entire playbook: bluster, vague rumours, controversy for the sake of it, followed by denials and backtracks, hoping no one notices.

I’ve heard it say that Nigel Farage has no less than seventeen nipples spread over his chest and back. I’m, of course, not saying it’s true, but we have no evidence saying otherwise. It could be true, we just don’t know. That’s how this works, right?

Yesterday Trump told the UN that London wants to “go to Sharia Law.” I’ve lived here for a decade and I’m pretty sure I would have noticed if Tower Hamlets had turned into a caliphate. FAQ below on why this rant is weapons-grade nonsense - and why debunking it matters.

This ought to be engraved somewhere.

It’s been an ugly week to be away: America’s drift into authoritarianism is speeding up, Trump’s on his second state visit and funding for dissenting voices is still paper-thin. Time to talk free speech, fascism and imbalance.

I know, right? I have been in multiple meetings this week and not once, not a single time, was there a call for a minutes silence or any acknowledgement of what happened to Charlie Kirk. Dis. Gusting.

I hope they do get arrested. If someone incites violence against another person, they should face the legal consequences. That’s how the law works in the UK. I think most people would agree, no?

I despised Charlie Kirk’s politics, but I won’t celebrate his murder. If democracy has any meaning left, it has to mean ballots, not bullets. Disagreements, not assassinations. www.bearlypolitics.co.uk/p/the-assass...

Forget about GDP graphs, trade coefficients and happy fish. Brexit’s damage to the NHS shows up in your GP queue, your A&E wait and your local care home in devastating, measurable impacts.

Migrants aren’t bankrupting the country - it’s your Nan*. How an ageing demographic in the UK has been known about, and ignored, for years, and why migrants aren’t to blame. *It’s also not really your Nan.

I’m disappointed. I’m proud. I’m frustrated. Angela Rayner should have paid the tax she owed - but she also did something almost unheard of in British politics: She owned her mistake and resigned.

I want Keir Starmer to lead - to call out racism, not mutter about bunting. To offer real refugee policy, not parrot Farage. To show Britain is better than this. Instead we’re cowering. We must do better. They must do better.

Hi All, I'm asking for a bit of feedback on Bearly Politics. If you have a moment, I would appreciate if you could click at a few polls. Thank you, as ever, 🐻 open.substack.com/pub/iratusur...

Remember when reshuffles meant cardboard boxes, WhatsApp betrayals and Kay Burley nearly toppling over in shock at David Cameron’s comeback? Today Labour just gave us… spreadsheets. And while order is nice, does it matter when it's a bit... boring?

This week on Bearly Politics. A quick roundup of what we’ve been talking about - from cats running psychological warfare campaigns, to Reform UK’s empty pyrotechnics, to why the word racist still sends half of Britain into meltdown. 🧵

“They looked like grotesques from a Roald Dahl book. Shrivelled, pinched faces, every bit as nasty as they sounded.” This week: vandalised takeaways, racist pensioners, and the privilege of being a 6’3 white immigrant.

Is anyone at all surprised that Annunziata Rees-Mogg doesn’t know the difference between the ECHR and the HRA? You know you’re in trouble when the people that are calling for laws to be binned are confused about what they do.

Reform UK: 5 MPs (give or take) LibDems: 70+ TheGreenParty: Same number as Reform. How does a party that could fit in an Addison Lee dominate the attention, while the other two that could fill a coach get none? I discuss that below.

If you ever need a clear explanation of the utter tripe that Farage and his team of brainless baboons pump out, read @bearlypolitics.co.uk. I fully expect the BBC, ITV, Sky etc, etc to hold this policy (and I use the term very loosely) up to detailed scrutiny....

The two deadliest wars in history claimed about 70 journalists between them. The ongoing war in Gaza has killed 192 Palestinian journalists in less than two years. History will remember this not as a conflict, but as the mass execution of witnesses.

Wrote this about flags and patriotism in 2021 (in The Decade In Tory). Stand by every word now.

Just wonderful

You can quote stats showing crime is down. You can debunk every lurid claim. But fear works better than facts - and Reform UK knows it. My latest on the “Britain is Lawless” fear factory:

"We’re not racist – we’re just concerned citizens!" Fire crackers, far-right flyers, hotel protests… but sure. Just concerned. This article by The Bear rips the mask off the new respectable bigotry ⤵️ @eastangliabylines.co.uk @bearlypolitics.co.uk

At last! We are GO!!!!!

Please do pop along to The Flaneur and see what's happening in July. Otherwise, Harvey will be most displeased... iainmartin75.substack.com

And here’s another bump for our most recent podcast.

£450k audit fees. TV licences. Foreign aid. Reform UK finds a big number, strips the context, and screams “WASTE!” Meanwhile, I’m here with my spreadsheets. Let me walk you through the difference.

Yes please do share far and wide.

Just in case you missed it last week, here's the latest episode of our World of Telly podcast where we talk about the sequel to On The Buses. If you enjoyed it, please tell your friends! A blog post about the ITV regions will be out later today. youtu.be/zMd8YQ60X6U?...