Andrew Lloyd Webber and the dangerous truth about alcohol There’s something, I think, very heartening and touching in reading Andrew Lloyd Webber talk about joining Alcoholics Anonymous

On Andrew Lloyd Webber and the bottle

Opinion | Don’t Use A.I. to Do This

Is funny.

Joe Sacco: The Once and Future Riot My guest in this week’s Book Club podcast is the reporter – cartoonist Joe Sacco, talking about his most recent book The Once and Future Riot, about Hindu/Muslim violence in rural India. He tells me h...

New podcast, with Joe Sacco spectator.com/podcast/joe-...

A Busy Week Reading and Writing, feat: Listicles, Tucker's Luck, Orban's Tram Ticket, Joe Sacco and more

New substack, on choosing winners and publishing losers, plus Viktor Orban's tram ticket

Wait: is that bad? I hold Elif in very high regard

Will he have to take an actual dump on the White House lawn before the GOP decides all might not be right with the President?

I shall polish up my veto…

2026 The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction The Baillie Gifford Prize rewards excellence in non-fiction writing, bringing the best in intelligent reflection on the world to new readers.

In other news, very excited to be on this year’s Baillie Gifford panel

🙏

London hasn’t fallen In this line of thinking, London serves as a warning of the sort of hellhole the English-speaking cities of the United States could turn into

On London, the sharia law hellhole

Had a similar teenage horror reading arc, so this was pleasantly nostalgic.

As always, this Substack is a great source for finding out about upcoming/recent books that had somehow passed me by and now need to be acquired instantly!

Pleased to hear. Thanks. If that’s a useful feature I may do more of what’s coming; day job makes it easy!

Haha. Rat Kings > King Rat. But I can see that if you weren't looking for a pulsating rat monster you might be less disappointed.

The Horror! The Horror! Rereading, reading, writing, and more on the scourge of AI: feat. James Herbert, Walter Benjamin, Guy N Smith, J M Synge and more

The horror! The horror!

Thank you!

‪If you could not attend nor watch the "Haunted Woods and Grimm Tales" event from March 27, with Philip Pullman and Sam Leith discussing various topics (including some rose or field considerations... but not only) with Julia Eccleshar, it is here for you to watch...

Not at all. It deserved a reply. And I agree with all you say.

All valid questions. Like I say: I’m baffled

Working at speed on a moving story is one. But I take your point. His last for me was Jan 2023 though, which is I *think* a bit before LLMs were quite what they are

Yes, true. But the obverse would be that writing - if the money’s not the point - is something he does for satisfaction and esteem so by that token he’d be more rather than less attentive to doing it well in a marquee publication. (I mean, if I were really rich I’d probably still write to show off.)

Not that I can easily see

This gets to the fundamental reason why I won't use AI: if you have to check everything it says, is its value greater than your reputation?

Entirely agreed. Also, it’s deeply satisfying work. It’s FUN.

💯

Well, no, and a world of difference in their responses too

V sorry to hear that and be the cause of your triggering

Preston's account of his ChatGPT-plagiarism makes AI out to be a monkey's paw/evil genie, fulfilling your wish but in a way that does you far more harm than good

No, and that’s a fair point

Why on earth would Alex Preston, a talented and experienced literary critic, risk using Ai to write a review for the notoriously nitpicky New York Times? Excellent explainer behind baffling story by @questingvole.bsky.social

I tend to agree