It's a definite contender for mine too

It's an absolute joy

"And then I grabbed Mrs Slocombe's..."

'He waited patiently while she washed the dishes and was even on the point of helping her.'

FFS Maigret!

@tonywilliams.bsky.social @luketurner.bsky.social spotted at Headingley Library today.

Depressing to hear of the closure of the MA Creative Writing @sheffieldhallamuni.bsky.social - a programme with such a long and wonderful history tossed aside. It's vandalism.

Photo of a painting on a purple wall in an ornate gold frame, the work is of an arrangement of flowers against a dark background

Anna Ruysch (1666-1754)Dutch Golden Age flower painter, younger sister of more well known painter Rachel Ruysch. Women painters became expert flower paintes as they were not allowed in academies to study human models and anatomy #WomensHistoryMonth

How To Get Keshed and Influence People A list of titles related to Keshed.

On the homepage of @bookshop-org-uk.bsky.social atm, 60+ titles related to Keshed. Mix of fiction, non-fic, poetry old and new inc. work by @jamesscudamore.bsky.social @wednesdayerskin.bsky.social @heidijames.bsky.social @tonywilliams.bsky.social

[more below]

uk.bookshop.org/lists/how-to...

Mann's one of those writers where as I'm reading him I know it's good, and often I'm very much enjoying it, and yet there's not much momentum - it's always a bit effortful

Thank you!

That's definitely an option - I was in the last issue though so not sure I can try again so soon

Suggestions pls for where to submit a 3,000-word prose poem 😜

I like a terrified but cryptic crossword, or as they're known, scaredword

Title page with Property of Bill written on it

Oh, it IS your copy... What are all the numbers for?

Does your burglar frequent Cancer Research in Alnwick?

Two books: Maria Edgeworth's Castle Rackrent and the Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson

Charity shop haul

Managed to break my shameful 416-day streak on chess dot com. Here's to next Christmas Day not involving playing a game on my phone!

It's the number one ingredient of yer classic miasma

Asafoetida best before end 26/12/09

Rationalising the spice rack by throwing out things that are out of date. We have a clear winner - bought before we moved here from Sheffield 15 years ago and not used since.

Embroidered hanging design of birds flying around delightful bushes

Good morning from May Morris’ 1917 embroidery

All Maladapted on the Western Front

‘This Is Just to Say’ parody generator I have • chucked away the bread sauce • snorted the amphetamines • seduced the gardener • urinated on the skirting board • popped the bubblewrap • shredded the documents • counted the woodlice • performed the sonata • threatened the child that was/were • such a distraction • taped off by police • your last memory of childhood • mentioned on the news • implicated in a scandal • learning the trombone • rotting in the loft • up for parole • undergoing botox and which you were probably • responsible for protecting • not aware of • intending as a gift • reluctant to discuss • perversely aroused by • using as bait • controlling by magic • stalking • secretly recording forgive me; it/they was/were • banned in the Republic of Ireland • so beautifully cadenced • covered in threads of white mould • buried in a shallow grave • so salty so dry • so difficult to defend • a terrifying hallucination • grossly misshapen • disqualified from the Olympics

Time-saving gadget

Agreed - whatever the subject

All 2.4m of Britain’s creative workers are at risk — and we know why A new report into the impact of AI on the creative sector makes for apocalyptic reading. The government must act now

'the UK creative industries — which contributed £125 billion to the economy in 2024 and supported 2.4 million jobs — are being destroyed by an AI sector that... contributed just £11 billion in the same year and supported only 85,000 jobs." www.thetimes.com/culture/film...

The towns have burned The towns have burned, but we don’t know they’ve burned. The prowling oligarchs spew sulphur and deceit from side to side along the blackened road. One preens his talons in the air and crows, ‘I own the lamplight and the flames of gold and you may shelter in the shadows there.’ Towers of settled ash approximate the guild halls and the terraced streets and yards and pubs and rows of graves so well it almost seems that we could lay our flowers, cry, or speak at meetings and be heard. Except we reach and touch them and they fall in clouds of cinders which have lost all light but scorch the grass for everyone to know what beasts have passed and how they made it burn. But we are human still. We’ll gather up a store of rubble and the will to build, and work, directed by a show of hands, so that in spite of living at the end of days, or seeming to, the fact shall stand: the children of our children shall have towns.

This poem from my 2014 collection The Midlands seemed a bit histrionic at the time, but I feel like the world has grown into it

I'm trying to read them in order, but I need gaps between them. Otherwise it gets a bit much...

Horrifying grave of Paradise

Ed tech is profitable. It is also mostly useless Independent research identifies few learning gains

Blistering piece on ed tech in @economist.com.

‘Although ed-tech companies tout huge learning gains, independent research has made clear that technology rarely boosts learning in schools—and often impairs it.’
economist.com/united-state...

It's a rather topical study of power, patronage and sycophancy...

That's one of the better Zolas I reckon, even if that edition dampers expectations by saying it's mainly of historical interest or something equally depressing