Celebrating the title with a bit of jazz at King’s Place. The Joe Webb Trio. Just joyous.

When the Blue Badgers won the Cup on Hackney Marshes in 2004, I kept my gloves on to hold the cup. The best goalkeeper in the world is following my lead. #Champions

Sunday morning on the Tottenham High Road. A stadium gleams in the distance, the gods about to throw the dice…

BFI for one of those films that got lost in the Covid fog. Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley. I’ve chosen to see the black and white version … cos I’m right sophisticated me!

‘Part of what makes the Ptolemies fascinating is that there is a profusion of evidence – papyrus documents, inscriptions, archaeological remains – but no single ancient narrative that pulls together the history of their regime.’ Robert Cioffi on the Ptolemaic dynasty. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

“What’s that beer called again, Roy?” “It’s called Warsteiner!” Ordering a particular brand of beer so you can send an in-joke to your child.

Richard Siken and the opening lines to ‘The Dislocated Room’. Glorious, ineffable sadness. ‘It was night for many miles and then the real stars in the purple sky, like little boats rowed out too far, begin to disappear.’

Early evening. Sat on a bench in Clissold Park, eating outdoor chippy tea, cracking open a tin, and reading about the Ptolemies. Cheers, shipmates! And all the Alexandrian librarians.

First Hampstead swim of the year. And as is tradition, post-swim cannelloni and chips.

To mark Grace Jones’s 78th birthday, please enjoy her insisting that ‘Pull Up to the Bumper’ is simply a pleasant song about the joys of manoeuvring a long, well-waxed limousine into a very tight space, and ‘shame on you’ if you think otherwise! 🚘

I’m probably now going to lose my Connections streak. Wordle 1,796 2/6 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Regarding the Man City match, I didn't watch but kept half an eye on it. The other one and half eyes took in Stephen Poliakoff's Caught on a Train, which I'd definitely seen before, as I have a distinct memory of explaining to someone who Bronson from Grange Hill was. www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

22 years

Championi! Championi! 🔥

STOP PRESS yesterday @sinblache.bsky.social described Tarkovsky’s STALKER as “The Detectorists, but Russian” and I may never recover

London institution alert. First ever visit to the Rio Cinema.

“Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all!” Could have told me that a bit earlier, Henry David Thoreau. Might have saved me reading ‘Walden’.

You just know Celtic are going to score!

Told ya! www.theguardian.com/books/ng-int...

Although I am not where I planned to be, I am on leave and enjoying some of the Secret Ceramics at Sotheby's as part of "Crafted"

Rarely am I lucid enough to read late at night. But here I am, in thrall to the wonderful TJ Clark on Willem de Kooning in the @lrb.co.uk, and Fretwork playing William Byrd in the ‘eaves’.

Raya was fouled. As Shakespeare, post-match, famously said on the matter: "It's all sound and fury, signifying nothing. 1-0 to the Arsenal!" www.theguardian.com/football/202...

Have some Richard Brautigan for an overcast May afternoon (well, in north London anyway). * 'At the California Institute of Technology' I don’t care how God-damn smart these guys are: I’m bored. It’s been raining like hell all day long and there’s nothing to do.

Obviously not to steal your thunder, but my own punk diaries which are definitely authentic and everything reveal so much about the times. What times they were.

#OTD 10th May 1976. Impossible to believe it was 50 years ago today that I celebrated my 8th birthday by going with three friends to see the Pistols at the 100 Club. Not many people were there, but everyone who was sang ‘Happy Birthday to You’, led by Johnny Rotten (below). 🎂

From angst to glory, then to despair and then back to VAR-glory! A Negroni and Radio 3’s Choral Evensong to calm down. #COYG

‘The design shows William Nicholson’s grasp of what Whistler called “the art of leaving out”. Recognition depends less on what the eye sees than on what the mind remembers of what it has seen.’ Rosemary Hill on the early 20th-century artist. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

First look at Zurbarán at the National Gallery. So so good! Loincloths, weird sideburns, lemons, babies heads (not the type you get on a Friday night in Wigan), skinhead monks, massive heads, circumcisions, and jaw-droppingly beautiful paintings.

It all went to pot when Prince died. And it’s all got worse since Attenborough reached his ton. I’m off to cheer myself up by looking at some crucifixions. #Zurbarán #NationalGallery

We have an *extremely* important announcement to make. From Wednesday, we will be launching our puffin live cam, coming to you from the Farne Islands. So you can watch puffins all day long. In celebration, please enjoy this clip of puffins being really busy for 39 seconds straight.

Revisiting Proust. The writer in a nutshell.

Gone fishing.

What’s everyone looking forward to at the Proms this year? I’m most excited about the Aurora Orchestra doing Mahler 1. www.bbc.co.uk/events/efr84f

"Hope it's chips, it's chips"

Apart from an hour’s work Saturday, I’m on long weekenders!

Summer won’t be long! #BBCProms

Thrilled to have "Swings," a new short story, included in the just released Fall 2025 issue of New Square. This one's an oddball--a little reflective, a little surreal, a ton of love for Denmark, our most recent home-away-from-home. www.sanchopanzalit.com/issues #Booksky #Fiction

THE RETURN (Andrey Zvyagintsev, 2003, rewatch). Truly one of the most terrifying portrayals of an abusive father I’ve seen on screen. It’s still one of the best films of the 21st century for me - an astonishing debut with excellent performances all round, especially by the youngest boy. #FilmSky

I was thinking that the only thing that could make this version of The Stranger any better would be The Cure playing over the credits ….

It’s only a matter of time before the Pet Shop Boys write a song called ‘Coffee Table Book’.

As an Arsenal fan who lives in Tottenham, I'm a rarity in that I want Spurs to stay up. Hate the team, but love and look after the manor.

Finally finished reading Robert Penn Warren’s All The King’s Men. A recommendation from an ex some 26 years ago, or so I thought. Just messaged her. “I’ve never read it!” 🫤

Weyes Blood at this summer's Proms. That's a must! 'Andromeda' backed by a full orchestra is bound to soar. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHGw...

Long tough work day. Almost home and ready for an episode of The Pitt. It’ll make my day look rather lightweight! 🏥

Oh WOW!

Lucy van Pelt has finally gone too far. But she will be brought to justice

For all the troubadour fans www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Remember, kids! Those grades are often bullshit. Brian Wilson only got a C in twelfth grade Piano and Harmony.

From this month’s Fortean Times. I’m sort of in awe

29 years old for Middlemarch, England’s greatest novel. I had to put aside a few years to go sail the seven seas. www.theguardian.com/books/ng-int...