What's that? A rare permanent academic job? Come join me in our School of Arts as a Lecturer in Theatre!
"We especially welcome ... candidates with practical expertise in theatre technologies, digital media, intermediality or related areas of theatre practice."
hr-jobs.lancs.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...
Watched "The Flipside of Dominick Hide" last night. Impressed by its predictions: 3D holographic TV, video calls, Alexa-like digital assistant (called, er, Sue), commuter on 2130 Piccadilly line doing crossword on handheld device, even the iconic status of Patrick Stewart (on wall behind Pat Magee).
The writer of this article - opinion piece, really - asks the question: "Why do this spring’s blockbusters feel so smug?".
The answer they come up with is: Screenwriters.
Like writers have the final cut.
www.theguardian.com/film/2026/ap...
How about this for the mother of all plot twists – the nuclear threat in Iran turns out to be… America!
And if it that radioactive genie is let out of the bottle, there will be the inevitable sequel in Ukraine. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Back in the day when I had a separate line for a fax, the phone part would ring, always late at night, always men, who after a nervous hello and upon hearing my voice, would then always hang-up. Eventually, I sussed my fax number was one digit away from a brothel. After that, it was 1471 every time.
Only 99p on Kindle today: my eleventh novel, the imaginatively-named Number 11. (Which, in order to achieve better sales, I should really have called What a Carve Up 2: the Return of the Winshaws.)
This is the one Ken Loach read and said he wouldn't film because 'I don't really do giant spiders'.
I wouldn’t call myself a “glass half-empty” person – more a “glass half empty which will slip, fall, shatter and send a shard flying up to embed itself in my pupil blinding me” – or "ghewwsfsasasfuteiimpbm" for short – kinda guy. So this news comes as no surprise. www.theguardian.com/science/2026...
Can't be that many genre writers who haven't read Stephen King's "On Writing". This seems like the perfect companion piece. www.theguardian.com/books/2026/m...
Father’s story is wild too. “As a child he was forced to surrender his lands ... sign away the famous Koh-i-noor diamond ... came to England ... close friendship with Queen Victoria ... later married the daughter of a German banker and an enslaved Ethiopian woman” www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
When I first clicked – or rather tapped – as it was on my phone, and saw that picture at the top of Len Deighton’s obit, first thought was typical Grauniad, they’ve put a picture of Alec Guinness as George Smiley by mistake.
And, yes, I am making an appointment with a popular high street optician.
"The novel, Bomber (1970), generally reckoned to be the first novel written using a word processor, was a huge success; the computer was an IBM MT/ST weighing 91kg and requiring a crane and the removal of a window to install it in Deighton’s home."
www.theguardian.com/books/2026/m...
Wow!
They don't make them like that anymore. Sadly.
Belated update to this.
After the original post, I clicked on the “Send feedback” button and, more out of hope than expectation, reported the issue. Then, a couple of days later – much to my surprise – the issue was fixed! Thank you Microsoft.
What he said:
He quit on Saturday, saying his position in office had become “a distraction from this government’s important work.”
What he meant:
With the distraction in the Middle East, this is a good day to bury bad news.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
This is super interesting.
The last one I can read fluently is 1600.
I can then still read it and figure out (almost) every word, with some puzzling, but then lose it almost completely at 1200.
www.deadlanguagesociety.com/p/how-far-ba...
What do you do when your media org is captured? You start your own.
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And then the follow-up from the 23rd January where the (salaried) sub-editor adds a touch of romanticism to the headline. www.theguardian.com/books/2026/j...
Coincidentally, there has been some correspondence on the subject of poverty wages earned by writers in the Guardian letters pages – but compare and contrast the headlines. Firstly, from the 16th January. www.theguardian.com/books/2026/j...
The linked essay by Madeleine Brettingham is so good, I’m going to have to read it again, at a slightly slower pace to take it all in.
Some interesting – and counter-intuitive – thoughts on focus and time management: e.g. “eating the frog” vs “easy wins”. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
It's on iPlayer for a month, though frankly all of Powell and Pressburger's films should be available there at all times in order to boost national morale. www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0074rq7
If you're applying for arts funding, The White Pube also has a really useful library of successful funding applications: thewhitepube.co.uk/funding-libr... I used this when applying for Arts Council #DYCP funding and found looking at some examples very helpful when drafting.
Will wait to see if next Windows update fixes issue. Meantime, going back to my 15-year-old Toshiba laptop (Windows 7, upgraded to 10) and even older Compaq desktop (Vista!) – both of which run FD5 fine but can’t safely connect to the internet – which actually might be a good thing for productivity!
Been using Final Draft 5 for 20+ years, originally on Windows 98 (SE) and then XP – upgraded to FD7 in 2007 but so buggy, went back to 5. Had another go with a fixed FD7.2 when Windows 7 came out but new OS didn’t support it so back to FD5 and stuck with it through Windows 10 & 11. Until yesterday.
Larry & Paul knock it for six. (Or "knock it out of the park", if you're American!)
Reading about “Fafo parenting” – acronym defined in article – reminded of the incident in Japan ten years ago when during family outing in the wilds, the parents of a small boy left him at the roadside as punishment but on returning minutes later, he had vanished. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
