Sent out a bunch of submissions for my children's book. Patted myself on the back. Realised I'd managed to send out all the sample chapters in 11 point font. Looking for a hole in the ground to crawl into. #writers #writing #amquerying

Watching Andor, it occurs to me that Star Wars is good when it's based on WW2 stories and WW2 films. (Prove me wrong)

This is the most important thing you will read today

The Twelve Angry Men/ Twilight Zone overlap is surprisingly large.

Post a book quote that you love. #BookSky #bookchallenge #writers #authors #readers #booklovers "The best thing for being sad...is to learn something. That's the only thing that never fails. (1/4)

Choirmaster: "OK, children, ready to practice our song again?" One of the children: "But it's the middle of summer. We've been practicing it for six months already. Can we PLEASE sing something else?" CM: "NO! You know what a perfectionist McCartney is. Now, 1 2 3-" Children, wearily: "Ding dong..."

I have to say, my enjoyment of playing video games is slightly impaired by my teenage son sitting next to me and informing me at regular intervals that I am "dogshit"

Never mind Die Hard, here's the real question: is Laura Nyro's Christmas in my Soul a Christmas song?

Recent interactions with Labour supporters have left me baffled. Do they really believe that sneering tone, that message of "vote Labour you stupid bastard or Farage will win and it'll be ALL YOUR FAULT", is going to build a progressive coalition? Cos it's not working on me.

Some basic maths here: Lakanwal is 29. He came to the US in 2021, at the age of 25, after 10 years in a CIA backed Special Forces Unit. So he was 15 when the US recruited him. 15 years old when he was trained to be a killer.

Here's the thing. "Austerity" increased costs. DOGE will increase costs. Cutting government services increases costs. Proponents believe the public sector is wasteful and inefficient, but overwhelmingly it is not. If you really want to reduce govt expenditure, look at the big private contracts.

Asking the 16-y-o about his day at school over dinner feels like I'm Smiley interrogating Karla.

My top five cities: 1. Birmingham (home) 2. Zagreb (current home) 3. Tbilisi (crossroads) 4. Seoul (happening) 5. Istanbul (no explanation necessary)

Listening to a podcast about Idi Amin, and the parallels with Trump are striking. The theatricality, the self-aggrandisement, the constant need for an admiring audience, the cruel humour... As for the slaughter, do you think they wouldn't do it if they thought they could get away with it?

As I am sending documents from Zagreb to Dublin, the woman behind the post office counter tells me she loved reading Angela's Ashes so much she almost wet herself. Only after leaving do I realise she meant she nearly cried.

What's interesting about watching old episodes of The Twilight Zone is how many of them, at the peak of American prosperity, look back with nostalgia at an imagined golden age 50 years earlier.

Well done Scotland!

Sometimes Wikipedia raises more questions than it answers

YES

Just watched Harlan Coben's Missing You. Total load of old bollocks.

My kids were into WWE during the 2010s,so I developed a deep loathing of John Cena. But he is incredible as Peacemaker: by turns bombastic, vulnerable, lovable and despicable. It's one of the great tragicomic performances.

The tech industry has completely normalised presenting bullshit that doesn't work, without any embarrassment whatsoever

BBC bosses: "We'll do the honourable thing and resign, that will the end of the matter." Trump: "Great, now you've admitted you were wrong, I'm going to extort millions of dollars from you."

It is mindboggling to discover that centrists still believe caving to fascists placates them. All it does is give them the scent of blood.

Disappointed by Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein. I thought it would be more Mary Shelley and less Abbott and Costello.

HMM I WONDER WHO WILL WIN THIS HASTILY COBBLED TOGETHER PEACE PRIZE WHEN IT'S AWARDED IN A CEREMONY IN WASHINGTON inside.fifa.com/organisation...

Caption competition

My name is Ozymandias, King of King's. My statue has people asking a lot of questions already answered by my inscription.

🗣️ PLEASE SHARE 🗣️ I'm writing an intro & sourcebook on late ancient Gazan literature for Dar al-Kalima University Press. The press and I plan to produce an Arabic translation to make Gazan literature more accessible to Palestinians. Help me compensate the Gazan translator! spot.fund/dn8t744sc

Adverts should be representative of traditional British families.

Watching the BBC's "Hidden Music Treasures". The word "treasure" is being stretched like Guy Fawkes on the rack here.

Now I can't go on any social media until I'm up to date with The Traitors, because of thoughtless bastards posting spoilers. Some of us work evenings you know 😡

I liked it better when being openly racist was a shameful thing... When people who held those opinions kept quiet for fear of being excluded from normal society. When expressing them publicly would finish you in public life. That was a better world, and I would like to go back to it.

"Incontinent US President publishes video of himself wearing a crown and shitting on his people from a plane" is a scenario you would have had a hard time selling as the most dystopian satire only 20 years ago.

"Women can sue their bosses for running a workplace where sexual aggression is normalised, but men can't sue when their workplace values learning and taking responsibility"

Polanski is far from perfect, as is his party. But he offers HOPE. Remember hope? Optimism? Believing the future will be better for your children? At least someone is speaking up for the multicultural Britain I grew up in... Speaking up like they mean it.

Arrived in Belgrade to find the National Theatre has been closed and the opera is cancelled. 😡😭

Never had a doner kebab. Deeply regret watching Dancer in the Dark. Wish I'd never heard Tears in Heaven or Wonderful Tonight, both E Clapton.

John Le Carre was the best British novelist of his generation

What Philip K Dick thought of Blade Runner:

I usually hate "celebrity" versions of things but Celeb Traitors is feckin BRILLIANT

I'm a committed small press author & editor. Small presses are the seed-heads of the books world & they are scorched. Pls read and share this excellent letter on the situation & what's needed in @thebookseller.com, signatories inc Peninsula Press, @cipherpress.bsky.social @silver-press.bsky.social

Tories Discover Handsworth Exists www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

It seems apparent to me that most of the people noisily supporting Israel right now are not friends to Jewish people generally. It's just a fig leaf for their Islamophobia and general racism. Once Gaza is destroyed they'll go back to posting antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories.

Change a movie by adding a word: Meek's Cutoff Jeans

Congratulations to the Red Roses! They played with joy and courage, with skill, heart and charisma. What an inspiring bunch.