October 1, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Took a trip to Bosnia earlier this month and had an excellent time - have written about my experiences
10 days in Bosnia and Herzegovina
I fly into Sarajevo at dusk, the plane breaking through two or three levels of clouds until the rugged Bosnian landscape is revealed.
open.substack.com
September 24, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Took a trip to Bosnia earlier this month and had an excellent time - have written about my experiences
I’ve written something on how difficult I find it to look at photos of my parents, and on a couple of the family trinkets that I take comfort from
Quiet communions
On barely being able to look at photos of my dead parents, and taking some comfort from family trinkets.
open.substack.com
August 22, 2025 at 4:54 PM
I’ve written something on how difficult I find it to look at photos of my parents, and on a couple of the family trinkets that I take comfort from
Reposted by Ben
this week’s column (new thursday slot!) is on the deeply strange world of fantasy premier league, and an essential tension at the heart of the game: do football’s subcultures enrich the appeal of the sport or dilute it? www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/a...
Triumph and disaster for you, soft power for the Premier League: fantasy football is back | Jonathan Liew
Celebrities play it. Footballers play it. Gradually, insidiously, fantasy football has seeped into the way we consume the game
www.theguardian.com
August 14, 2025 at 8:56 AM
this week’s column (new thursday slot!) is on the deeply strange world of fantasy premier league, and an essential tension at the heart of the game: do football’s subcultures enrich the appeal of the sport or dilute it? www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/a...
Wrote something about my enduring love of Jurassic Park and the disappearance of a beloved toy dinosaur
The brachiosaurus and the sea
One of my earliest memories is my mum giving me a VHS copy of Jurassic Park. It must have been before I even started primary school, because I can also remember seeing The Lost World: Jurassic Park at...
open.substack.com
July 3, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Wrote something about my enduring love of Jurassic Park and the disappearance of a beloved toy dinosaur
I recently finished reading Michael Azerrad’s expanded edition of Come As You Are and was reminded what a huge (and positive!) influence Kurt Cobain was to me when I was a teenager, so I wrote a few words about it
Growing up with Kurt Cobain
I think I first discovered Nirvana when I was 12 or 13, somewhere between the end of 2004 and the start of 2005.
open.substack.com
July 3, 2025 at 12:18 PM
I recently finished reading Michael Azerrad’s expanded edition of Come As You Are and was reminded what a huge (and positive!) influence Kurt Cobain was to me when I was a teenager, so I wrote a few words about it
Reposted by Ben
After 45 years, The Leadmill closes this week. It's been a bitter, messy, battle – personal and legal – until the end. It's sad for many people but I wanted to use it as an opportunity to celebrate Sheffield's bountiful ongoing independent spirit elsewhere. www.theguardian.com/music/2025/j...
‘Not all grassroots venues are struggling’: Sheffield’s Leadmill may be closing, but the city’s DIY hubs are thriving
Despite controversial new ownership for the local landmark, Sheffield’s vibrant network of staunchly independent spots is bucking the crisis facing Britain’s small music venues
www.theguardian.com
June 24, 2025 at 7:05 AM
After 45 years, The Leadmill closes this week. It's been a bitter, messy, battle – personal and legal – until the end. It's sad for many people but I wanted to use it as an opportunity to celebrate Sheffield's bountiful ongoing independent spirit elsewhere. www.theguardian.com/music/2025/j...
My top 10 films of the 21st century - sadly couldn’t quite find room for Hollow Man (2000)
June 23, 2025 at 10:50 PM
My top 10 films of the 21st century - sadly couldn’t quite find room for Hollow Man (2000)
Reposted by Ben
Things I've done this last week:
- Written & made a pod for one of world's biggest outlets
- Contributed to BBC doc about Mourinho
- Finished 1st draft of short story I'm proud of
- Watched Arsenal beat Madrid (again 😏)
Things I've not done
- Stopped being who I am because 5 strangers said so 🏳️⚧️🤷♀️
- Written & made a pod for one of world's biggest outlets
- Contributed to BBC doc about Mourinho
- Finished 1st draft of short story I'm proud of
- Watched Arsenal beat Madrid (again 😏)
Things I've not done
- Stopped being who I am because 5 strangers said so 🏳️⚧️🤷♀️
April 17, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Things I've done this last week:
- Written & made a pod for one of world's biggest outlets
- Contributed to BBC doc about Mourinho
- Finished 1st draft of short story I'm proud of
- Watched Arsenal beat Madrid (again 😏)
Things I've not done
- Stopped being who I am because 5 strangers said so 🏳️⚧️🤷♀️
- Written & made a pod for one of world's biggest outlets
- Contributed to BBC doc about Mourinho
- Finished 1st draft of short story I'm proud of
- Watched Arsenal beat Madrid (again 😏)
Things I've not done
- Stopped being who I am because 5 strangers said so 🏳️⚧️🤷♀️
One of those moments of grief that hit you like a ton of bricks out of nowhere: redeeming the book token that Mum got me the Christmas before she died and finding out it had £50 on it, nearly 18 months later.
April 17, 2025 at 3:48 PM
One of those moments of grief that hit you like a ton of bricks out of nowhere: redeeming the book token that Mum got me the Christmas before she died and finding out it had £50 on it, nearly 18 months later.
Interesting change in visual identity for the renowned Polish experimental music festival
April 15, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Interesting change in visual identity for the renowned Polish experimental music festival
Reposted by Ben
In Sheffield there is one pork sandwich to rule them all — and it’s a Béres 🐖
Ashleigh Arnott on the small family business that makes Sheffield’s signature dish 🥪
Ashleigh Arnott on the small family business that makes Sheffield’s signature dish 🥪
How Béres ate Sheffield
“You don’t get more artisan than what we’re doing. We just do it quickly.”
www.sheffieldtribune.co.uk
March 22, 2025 at 12:50 PM
In Sheffield there is one pork sandwich to rule them all — and it’s a Béres 🐖
Ashleigh Arnott on the small family business that makes Sheffield’s signature dish 🥪
Ashleigh Arnott on the small family business that makes Sheffield’s signature dish 🥪
Reposted by Ben
The reality of claiming PIP: a 🧵
1) To claim PIP you have to describe in excruciating detail all the ways you cannot function. This means that you are forced to think in very detailed terms exactly how disabled you are, which often has a devastating effect on the mental health of the applicant 1/?
1) To claim PIP you have to describe in excruciating detail all the ways you cannot function. This means that you are forced to think in very detailed terms exactly how disabled you are, which often has a devastating effect on the mental health of the applicant 1/?
March 19, 2025 at 5:55 PM
The reality of claiming PIP: a 🧵
1) To claim PIP you have to describe in excruciating detail all the ways you cannot function. This means that you are forced to think in very detailed terms exactly how disabled you are, which often has a devastating effect on the mental health of the applicant 1/?
1) To claim PIP you have to describe in excruciating detail all the ways you cannot function. This means that you are forced to think in very detailed terms exactly how disabled you are, which often has a devastating effect on the mental health of the applicant 1/?
I’ve spent the past week or so struggling to drill into my house’s rock solid concrete walls and have just realised I’m not using the right kind of drill 🤦
January 29, 2025 at 4:18 PM
I’ve spent the past week or so struggling to drill into my house’s rock solid concrete walls and have just realised I’m not using the right kind of drill 🤦
I did this with Elbow recently 😢
When you Shazam a bit of music, expecting it to be obscure and cool, but it's actually by Dave Mainstream and his Very, Very Mainstream Band. There should be a word for that.
January 3, 2025 at 4:04 PM
I did this with Elbow recently 😢
Me after playing Warpath: Jurassic Park in 1999
gonna memoryhole that game
December 28, 2024 at 12:03 AM
Me after playing Warpath: Jurassic Park in 1999
Celebrated my 16-year anniversary on Last.fm just the other week 🥲
Music tells the story of our lives – and trusty old Last.fm does it better than gaudy Spotify Wrapped
Music tells the story of our lives – and trusty old Last.fm does it better than gaudy Spotify Wrapped
The music tracking site runs a reduced service these days, but still offers an alternative to AI-generated slideshows and made-up genres that’s useful – and genuinely revealing
Like many music fans with a conscience, I use Spotify begrudgingly. I need to…
www.theguardian.com
December 11, 2024 at 1:54 PM
Celebrated my 16-year anniversary on Last.fm just the other week 🥲
The most important metrics from my Apple Music wrapped
December 4, 2024 at 7:12 PM
The most important metrics from my Apple Music wrapped
Reposted by Ben
some of the prints/garments available at
⛓️ nohrr.bigcartel.com ⛓️
[int'l shipping: YES]
[i have moderate life expenses upcoming so i am grateful to you for taking a look]
⛓️ nohrr.bigcartel.com ⛓️
[int'l shipping: YES]
[i have moderate life expenses upcoming so i am grateful to you for taking a look]
December 3, 2024 at 9:50 AM
some of the prints/garments available at
⛓️ nohrr.bigcartel.com ⛓️
[int'l shipping: YES]
[i have moderate life expenses upcoming so i am grateful to you for taking a look]
⛓️ nohrr.bigcartel.com ⛓️
[int'l shipping: YES]
[i have moderate life expenses upcoming so i am grateful to you for taking a look]
Love this album - it’s made a late, surging run into my top 5 of the year
22° Halo moves through grief in delicate and unsparing ways using the simple sounds of lo-fi indie rock
22° Halo: Lily of the Valley
Read Colin Joyce’s review of the album.
pitchfork.com
November 27, 2024 at 5:03 PM
Love this album - it’s made a late, surging run into my top 5 of the year
Assuming this is true, please can everyone stop posting screenshots of headlines rather than links to articles!!
Traffic from Bluesky's @bsky.app to @theguardian.com is already 2x that of Threads
In its first week on the platform & with 300k followers, Bluesky traffic from @theguardian.com posts is already higher than it was from TwX in any week in 2024, where the account had 10.8m followers, but🧵
In its first week on the platform & with 300k followers, Bluesky traffic from @theguardian.com posts is already higher than it was from TwX in any week in 2024, where the account had 10.8m followers, but🧵
November 27, 2024 at 4:31 PM
Assuming this is true, please can everyone stop posting screenshots of headlines rather than links to articles!!
Reposted by Ben
It should have gone:
Gladiator
Gladiators
Gladiator³
Gladiator Resurrection
Gladiator
Gladiators
Gladiator³
Gladiator Resurrection
November 24, 2024 at 11:28 AM
It should have gone:
Gladiator
Gladiators
Gladiator³
Gladiator Resurrection
Gladiator
Gladiators
Gladiator³
Gladiator Resurrection
Excited to pick up the Criterion edition soon!!
November 20, 2024 at 1:57 PM
Excited to pick up the Criterion edition soon!!
Mollie likes the snow
November 19, 2024 at 1:51 PM
Mollie likes the snow