I know this account is essentially books I’ve read, gigs I’ve attended and despatches from the south west’s cultural sector, but I’m home alone, I’ve just nailed the *perfect* Omelette Arnold Bennett, and I find myself in need of an appreciative audience. (Unlikely ever to be repeated, I’d suggest).

Such a fulfilling evening hearing Joanna Pocock reading from and discussing her new book Greyhound at Storysmith Books tonight. Warmly recommended.

Well done Inside Out Dorset on the 2025 festival launch at the Red House Museum, Christchurch this evening. Full of admiration as always for the curatorial firepower and audience insights of Kate Wood and Bill Gee. And an evocative start to proceedings with River Of Hope down on Christchurch Quay.

Well done @bsidefest.bsky.social on the launch of The Portland Dress as part of the Big Weekend. Hundreds of local stories embroidered in a very special community textiles project. And beautiful choral work led by Destination Opera to mark the launch at the Old Engine Shed tonight. (1/3)

Huge admiration for Shaun and Abigail Bengson’s show Ohio, which is on at Bristol Old Vic. Indie-folk gig theatre spliced with existential philosophy. Quite the night out. And, although it deals with challenging subjects, infused with joy from start to finish. Warmly recommended.

To the cultural capital that is Plymouth in the autumn sunshine for today’s ACE South West Area Council meeting. Thanks to @theboxplymouth.bsky.social for hosting - looking forward to checking out the Jyll Bradley exhibition later on.

Rambling along the Ridgway on a perfect late summer’s afternoon, amid clouds of hawthorn, elderberry, crabapple. XTC’s English Settlement close to hand. Peaceful.

Delighted to confirm my bank holiday reading arrangements are in place, which is always easily achieved when you live round the corner from Storysmith Books in south Bristol.

Congratulations Swindon on the launch of the town’s new cultural collective. Proud to support alongside Swindon Borough Council and other key partners. A big result for one of our SW priority places. www-bbc-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.bbc....

Happy Bristol Balloon Fiesta, everyone.

Happy 40th birthday, Rum, Sodomy And The Lash. One of those rare, perfect albums that retains all of its original impact no matter how many times you play it. “McCormack and Richard Tauber still singing by the bed” etc etc.

Finally, a first visit to Sidmouth Folk Festival. Morris on the esplanade. Clog dancing in the market square. Trad sessions. A jig competition. And Richard Thompson performing 1952 Vincent Black Lightning & the rest of his glorious back catalogue in the Ham Pavilion. A summer Sunday very well spent.

Idles. Queen’s Square, Bristol. Owning their home city. Maximum rock’n’roll.

Thanks Portsmouth Creates for the chance to catch up with progress at Playland. A great new hub for the city’s emerging cultural organisations and freelance creative workforce.

Congratulations Ad Infinitum on Last Rites at Bristol Old Vic - a compelling piece of non-verbal storytelling from start to finish.

The Dana Awartani and Sahara Longe exhibitions at Arnolfini are just excellent - well worth your time and attention. Truly an organisation on a golden run right now.

Southampton Mela in glorious midsummer sunshine. A great couple of days in store, and a wonderful focal point for the whole city. Congratulations Art Asia for everything you’ve achieved.

The Jenny Saville show at the National Portrait Gallery. Exhilarating. For lovers of figurative painting, Young British Artists & anyone who ever owned a copy of The Holy Bible or Journal For Plague Lovers by the Manic Street Preachers. Then cricket at The Oval on a perfect summer’s evening. Lovely.

After a hardcore couple of weeks, an evening in, a stern G&T and the chance to get among some of my recent record purchases: two fabulous acquisitions from Analog Africa, an absolute masterwork from The Gymkhana, and the post-Glasto glow of Pulp and Corto Alto. Glorious music for serious times.

Thanks @wiltshiremuseum.bsky.social for hosting me in Devizes yesterday. Good to see the ambitious plans for the Assizes Court, pleased to catch the @wessexmuseums.bsky.social Un/common People exhibition, and valuable to hear from the team about their engagement work. A Friday very well spent.

One final thing about #Glastonbury - I’m an impatient technology consumer, but thought the official festival app was absolutely *brilliant* …an indispensable ally at all times, and a first-class playbook for others to follow.

As ever, a beautiful few days at @glastonburyfestivals.co.uk. The acts you knew, the acts you didn’t, the acts you’d forgotten. Dazzled by the reinvention of @triggerstuff.bsky.social Poli-Nations trees in Shangri-La and, as ever, in awe of the south west’s freelance creative workforce. Good times.

Excellent news from the British Council >

Hugely impressed by my visit to The Creation Works / Hwel An Gwrians yesterday. What a great new resource for the community of Par and performance makers from across Cornwall. Full credit to everyone involved.

Liliane Lijn’s work has had a special place in my heart ever since my University of Warwick undergraduate days. The comprehensive new study of her career to date at @tatestives.bsky.social is just magical - koans and much else besides - very highly recommended if you’re in Cornwall this summer.

✨ UWE BRISTOL DEGREE SHOW 2025 ✨ If you haven't experienced the incredible @UWEBristol Degree Show at Arnolfini yet, we're open today and tomorrow 🌟 Come discover the stunning Photography and Graphic Design work from UWE Bristol's Class of 2025 ⏰ Today and tomorrow, 10am until 6pm

Thanks @sadikal-hassanmp.bsky.social for hosting a very useful roundtable with North Somerset’s cultural leaders and @artscouncilengland.bsky.social at Clevedon Library yesterday. A valuable discussion with plenty of takeaways.

A very useful trip to North Somerset with Arts Council England’s SW Area Council. Thanks @superculture.bsky.social, @triggerstuff.bsky.social, Front Room and @northsomersetc.bsky.social for being so generous with your time and learning…really appreciated.

Happy birthday to The Modfather. Woking boys forever.

Top evening with The Waterboys at Bristol Beacon - @mickpuck.bsky.social and the team, as ever, at the peak of their powers. Joyful.

…and so The Bradford Progress completes its remarkable 34 hour journey. Three minutes of Handel at dawn. Radical choirs singing Ramones songs on Ilkley Moor. Bach in an ancient stone circle; Mozart in the pub. Disco tractors. (1/4)

First light on Ilkley Moor. Paraorchestra performing Handel’s Eternal Source Of Light Divine at the Cow & Calf Rocks - the first moment of The Bradford Progress, one of the highlights of this year’s UK City Of Culture programme. Just magical.

An important read, this >

To the UK’s City of Culture 2025 for The Bradford Progress - a remarkable musical collaboration between Paraorchestra, Charles Hazlewood, Jeremy Deller and the people of Bradford. Anticipation levels: high.

A wonderful piece of work, this - do see it if you can.

Well done Horsebox Theatre - loved last night’s Ibiza Club Classics-style reimagining of The Red Shoes at Department. Another winner for the Isle of Wight.

Apparently, you have to come home from your holidays eventually. Noted.

You have to feel for the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. Two millennia ago, one of the Seven Wonders Of The World. Today, currently ranked 10th out of 59 on tripadvisor’s list of Things To Do In Bodrum. Harsh. (Probably something to do with all the best bits being swiped by the British Museum, mind).

Istanbul: in the neighbourhood of Çukurcuma, joy unconfined at a visit to Orhan Pamuk’s Museum Of Innocence. A wonderful realisation of the novel; a place of enchantment in its own right, and a quiet blueprint for the future of museums. Highly recommended if you’re ever out this way.

Happy #RecordStoreDay everyone (although every day is a record store day in my mind).

Friday night downtime takes me to BBC Four and 1979 footage of Blondie in concert on the Old Grey Whistle Test. An ideal opportunity to raise a glass to the late, legendary Clem Burke.

An insightful visit to Redruth and Camborne. Thanks @perranmoonmp.bsky.social for this morning’s v useful cultural roundtable at Krowji; and to Rose Goodship and Create CIC for our visit to Camborne’s contemporary crafts hub and intro to the exciting Awenva development. Real momentum in Cornwall.

So glad to be in Truro to visit the born again Cornwall Museum & Art Gallery - what an imaginative, entrepreneurial act of transformation it is. A fine case study of strong leadership in complex circumstances from Bryony Robins, Jonathan Morton, Julie Caplin Grey and the team. Great work all round.

Please take the time to read this >

Another very significant moment for culture on the Isle of Wight, and exceptional leadership and partnership working from Creative Island to secure it. The cultural momentum on both sides of the Solent is so tangible right now.

So sad to hear about Amadou. One of the finest guitarists of his generation. Glad to have seen him as part of Africa Express in Bristol in 2012, and during last year’s stellar set with Mariam at Womad. If you’ve never heard Dimanche A Bamako, seek it out now. RIP. www.theguardian.com/music/2025/a...

Melly Still’s new Peter Grimes for welshnatopera.bsky.social is a Britten moment to rival last year’s Death In Venice. A peerless debut in the role from Nicky Spence, and a cast of end-to-end brilliance. Do catch it on tour if you can.

Glad to drop in on Boohoo Records in Southampton’s Old Northam Road earlier. One of my favourites. And delighted to have left with offerings from the Icicle Works, Dusty Springfield and Michigan Avenue. Sorry the owner’s selling up though…a true rock’n’roll encyclopaedia. Wishing him well.

Good to be in Southampton for today’s ahead-of-the-curve session with 140 artists, politicians & cultural leaders exploring the impacts & opportunities of devolution for the Solent cultural sector. Thanks Southampton Forward, Portsmouth Creates & Creative Island for convening. A really useful day.

Finally caught up with Kneecap. Couldn’t have loved it more. “Stories are built from language. Nations are built from stories.” So much truth in that.