‘Although he was getting his book out of other books, there was, just the same, a lot of hard work involved’ #ElizabethTaylorTheWeddingGroup

I interviewed the architect behind the high-tech restoration of an old family farmhouse, 200km from the Arctic Circle in Ii, northern Finland (that's two 'i's, pronounced 'ee'). www.ft.com/content/9bb1...

Grim listening but great interview with the brilliant @drmatthewsweet.bsky.social about conspiracy theories and contemporary politics

tomorrow!

Horrendous and absurd new Terms of Service is causing people to terminate their use of #Academia What are people using instead? I'd be sad to lose contact with my c. 6K followers. leeds.academia.edu/DrIanMcCormick #Highered #Edchat #University #research Highlighted by @nposegay.bsky.social

Yes

This was so good I read it all in one day. Could not stop!

We’re looking for a temporary (two months) refuge/cheap rental outside the EU from early October. I’m undergoing further medical stuff this week and unlikely to be fit enough to return to sea. Open to anything/anywhere, on this side of the Atlantic.

More than 150 lawyers and refugee NGOs report being ‘pressured into silence’ by far-right protesters. At least two groups supporting UK asylum seekers have closed their offices after credible threats to their safety www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Literary Bluesky! According to Maeve Binchy in the Irish Times (14th May 1980) Samuel Beckett "had admired Myles na Gopaleen and laughed so much at everything he had written but had been a bit disappointed when he met him because he had expected too much." Details of the encounter? When and where?

💔💔

“A.i.” sucks.

We’re all set up at the Anarchist Book Fair on Leake Street - surrounded by #graffiti, #zines and anarchy. (So what else is new?) Here until 6! Come and see us!

The pleasure of pulling apart a cinnamon roll #Saturday

✊️✊️✊️✊️✊️

Andrew Scott, I know just the biopic for you.

An intro post for the latest BlueSky wave! I'm a writer & bookseller w/ @portersqbooks.bsky.social where I mostly hype books from small presses written by marginalized voices or works in translation. If you're into the books on this list www.portersquarebooks.com/category/sta... you dig my taste

💙💙

31 journalists killed in 2 strikes ‘The Israeli military destroyed the newspapers’ facilities, printing presses, & archives. The archive of 26 September is one of Yemen’s most important historical records, documenting the country’s history since the last century, & its loss is deeply painful. ‘

Earlier this year I interviewed Derek Guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social on @thedigradio.bsky.social. We covered the rise of the bourgeoisie, crimes of the British empire (fashion & otherwise), & the social meaning of clothes. The transcript is now at @jacobinmag.bsky.social: jacobin.com/2025/09/mens...

From the archive for Penelope Mortimer, #BornOnThisDay in 1918, my thoughts on DADDY'S GONE A-HUNTING. A razor-sharp novel about the horrors of suburban domestic life - unflinching, penetrating and very progressive for its time. #BOTD #BookSky 💙📚 jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2024/05/28/d...

Now reading, an unusual memoir, first published in 1945. Days in the Caucasus by Banine. I had meant to read this during #Witmonth but got distracted by other things. 💙📚

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I did not. I am close to the end of #ElizabethTaylorTheSleepingBeauty and two characters are talking about a horse running at Brighton called Stream of Consciousness.

Might go to bed early and listen to this

'What does the lover demand from the body of the beloved in order to secure certainty. Little things. Eternity.' the divine Alina @alinaetc.bsky.social This is a fabulous interview by @monalisavitti.bsky.social, I need more

Well this, in the new @lrb.co.uk, is wonderful.

Least monstrous "monster" of Frankenstein? ACTOR: Richard John Smith (O. Smith), 1786-1855.

Question one from any journalist present should be "why has Downing Street withdrawn the press credentials of ABC?"

I taught in UK universities for nearly 20 years, & this is terrible & more of the same. Middlesex, where I used to teach, set up a campus in Dubai in 2005 which quickly started to shape the logics and provision of the UK institution, contributing to the dismantling of critical Humanities.

‘Isabella took no notice of this surprising behaviour. It was part of their friendship that they could behave oddly without rousing comment or offering apology.’ #ElizabethTaylorTheSleepingBeauty

"To have been harmed by the pager attack means that one is a terrorist, because the attack was directed against terrorists. This is the logic of genocide: we have marked all terrorists for death, a status only we can impose or remove, and thus your death will always serve as its own justification."

And he would watch the snow falling, thin and ceaseless, on the empty lands below the window, and feel the dull cold grow within him, till it seemed no feeling was left to him except a kind of weariness.

Poets & Writers publishes a very useful and regularly updated digest of writing contests, grants, and awards here: www.pw.org/grants

Might appeal to some writer pals who enjoy money. You must show but not tell your CV.

As was posted earlier, how to delete your account without agreeing to the ToS: Opening this "privacy policy" link www.academia.edu/privacytakes you to a page where you can access the drop-down menu and reach "account settings." From there I was able to delete my account without agreeing.

I've written another new Adrian Chills story (short horror stories inspired by the Guardian columns of Adrian Chiles). This one is called 'Spoons'. bsky.app/profile/adri...

Ousted CDC Director Susan Monarez testified today that RFK Jr. told her he's changing childhood vaccine schedules this month with no supporting data. When she refused to pre-approve changes without evidence, he fired her. His new vaccine panel votes tomorrow.

My 23 yr old son was diagnosed with epilepsy when he was 12. It took a while to get his meds right so that he is nearly seizure- free. If he doesn’t take them x2 per day, he will have full tonic-clonic seizures which can have many serious effects. In the UK luckily his treatment is free -currently

Discovering that my mum kept EVERYTHING. The first part of this is a lie

Starting my (long delayed) haircut with a coffee and almond and berry muffin. My best life

A lovely review. Thank you to the literary sisters! Still time to read for a queer take on #SpinsterSeptember

We very much do

And my god it has aged well.

💙💙

Watching #TheCandidate

words that should have been workshopped a bit harder: enervate restive bemused nonplussed

I love this

Pleased my GP practice ‘supports breast screening’, deeply depressed at the prospective pain of said screening.

Now why don’t I feel inspired by Keir Starmer’s ‘patriotic national renewal’?