Bracing for the Christmas chaos of the in-laws this weekend, when the number of people in the house almost triples . . . ๐ฌ
12.12.2025 14:51
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Bracing for the Christmas chaos of the in-laws this weekend, when the number of people in the house almost triples . . . ๐ฌ
My thoughts on that Jonathan RossโRuth Codd round table in Celebrity Traitors, and what it reveals (which nobody seems to be talking about).
open.substack.com/pub/penelope...
Wonderful to be shortlisted for @thebookseller.com Freelancer of the Year! So excited to attend the awards ceremony and meet these brilliant fellow shortlistees.
Serpent's Tail is set to publish Robert Newman's "unputdownable" new novel. Intelligence will be published as a Serpentโs Tail lead title on 5th March 2026 ๐ #BookSky
Oh my God. Canโt they arrest some actual criminals for s change?
Maybe itโs something to do with the schools breaking up, and my brain hasnโt registered yet that Iโm not 15 anymore?
It feels like Friday today, which makes me think Iโm in for a tough weekโฆ
Review of Rebecca Waitโs โHavocโ in the Guardian newspaper.
In Havoc, Waits mines the rich seam of girls' school fiction to delirious and rewarding effect. There are welcome echoes of St Trinian's - the shade of Alastair Sim hovers over the staffroom, comforting and anarchic at once - and there is abundant Ealing comedy in the madcap chases through school corridors and machinations in the lighting gallery during the school play. Yet beneath the comedy lies a distinctly unsettling undertone: the girls experience a convincingly visceral terror that edges towards Shirley Jackson territory and gives their hysteria an extra dimension. This, along with a genuine unexpectedness in the characterisation and a lot of very funny dialogue, loosens things up and brings real originality to the game. Combined with excellent pacing, a plot so deliciously thick you could stand a spoon up in it, and the boldness required to splice a darker threadโฆ
Lovely review of โHavocโ in todayโs Guardian. This is the third Rebecca Wait book Iโve copy edited and I *love* her work. Highly recommended! (As are โOur Fathersโ and โIโm Sorry You Feel That Wayโ.)
Humanitarian distribution points for Gaza
#Gaza #israel #food #help #genocide @CartoonMovement @cartooningforpeace.bsky.social @Joop
Yes, thereโs a book called โThe Glass Cliffโ by Sophie Williams all about this.
Yes - exactly this!
I agree with this, and I also am somewhat dismayed that itโs Archna Sharmaโs face on all the press covering this, when she seems to be the one trying to clean up the mess, and wasnโt even at the company when it made such reckless decisions.
A coconut, almond & lime cake, with one slice cut, with a scattering of strawberries on top.
I made a delicious cake.
A forest floor carpeted with wild garlic in flower.
Did someone say wild garlic pesto?
The absence of trans people from the British media is part of the problem. I'd like to offer mentoring to trans people trying to get into journalism, free of charge. Most of my experience is obviously in political commentary, but I might be passably useful in news and other areas.
NEW: Elon Muskโs X has suspended accounts of Turkish opposition groups, suppressing footage of anti-government protests.
So, best we share all the footage we can here!
This was last nightโs massive demo against Erdoganโs government, which follows the arrest of his rival Ekrem ฤฐmamoฤlu.
๐น๐ท #Turkey
Anyone who actually thinks there are any public services left to cut has surely not used public services for a very long time. The policy should be: Get more taxes, make things better, hurry up. It's really not complicated.
Kemi Badenoch and four members of her Shadow Cabinet received donations from funders of the Global Warming Policy Foundation, which campaigns against Net Zero
GWPF do not release details of their funding, but US tax records reveal links to the fossil fuel industry
bylinetimes.com/2025/03/18/k...
If you havenโt yet discovered them, @divorcehq.bsky.social are a real treat.
With Loweโs whip withdrawn, the proportion of Reform MPs jailed for viciously assaulting a woman now stands at 25%.
At a time when the rule of law is under global attack, those electronic books people have made the Sunday Times bestseller #FakeLaw a Kindle Monthly Deal, a stonking 99p.
Those in power misrepresent the law to advance their own agendas.
Donโt let them lie to you.
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B081...
UK WRITERS: You need to fill in this consulation. Govt is very clearly looking to an opt-out model of rights licensing that puts all the burden on creators instead of profiteers. It's long and boring but this is important.
www.gov.uk/government/c...
Iโve just discovered Labi Siffre, and oh my goodness, what a marvel!
View from behind a waterfall in Iceland.
View out to sea across a black beach in Iceland, with rocks jutting out of the sea in the distance.
Someone in a bobble hat, viewed from behind, looks up at the Northern Lights, which swirl green in the sky.
Me, wrapped up in jacket, scarf and woolly hat, with my feet in a natural hot foot spa on the Seltjarnarnes peninsula, near Reykjavรญk.
Epic Iceland!
The Gorgeous Inertia of the Earth by Adrian Duncan review โ the meaning of beauty
Instead of building a third runway at Heathrow, can we focus on getting a functioning rail and bus network thatโs reliable and affordable, please?
Photo of the Guardianโs listing of โThe Stolen Heartโ, second book in the Ukrainian authorโs crime series set in post-revolution Kyiv.
Photo of the Guardianโs listing of โSaraswatiโ - โan ambitious panoramic portrait of the ancient river and a plan to artificially reinstate it in present-day Punjab.โ
Lovely to see two books I worked on this year in the Guardianโs round-up of books to look out for in 2025 - โThe Stolen Heartโ by Andrey Kurkov and โSaraswatiโ by Gurnaik Johal. And theyโre right, of course - both are brilliant.
When I was a lowly autocue op on a live cooking show in the early 2000s, a celebrity chef commented on the bounce of the series editorโs bosom as she came down the steps from the gallery. Nothing was said. Iโm glad people are speaking up now. The culture needs to change. #GregWallace
Sunrise, with trees and a pretty church in view.
Not a bad view to wake up to this morning.
