Kate Phillips
@andanotherkate.bsky.social
Look what your god has done to me
Kate Atkinson simply never misses. Yes, she leans heavily on coincidence but I think it all serves her fundamental thesis on how life reverberates messily across generations - and she writes characters, places, times and voices so effortlessly and evocatively that I could forgive her anything.
November 16, 2025 at 10:43 PM
Kate Atkinson simply never misses. Yes, she leans heavily on coincidence but I think it all serves her fundamental thesis on how life reverberates messily across generations - and she writes characters, places, times and voices so effortlessly and evocatively that I could forgive her anything.
Emerald Fennell’s WUTHERING HEIGHTS looks like the most tin-eared adaptation of a book since Baz Luhrmann concluded The Great Gatsby was all about the fun. And yet there is no way I’m not watching it.
November 14, 2025 at 12:21 AM
Emerald Fennell’s WUTHERING HEIGHTS looks like the most tin-eared adaptation of a book since Baz Luhrmann concluded The Great Gatsby was all about the fun. And yet there is no way I’m not watching it.
After Ayrton Senna, Amy Winehouse and Diego Maradonna, Asif Kapadia has now trained his keen documentarian’s eye on…Kenny Dalglish. I worry that this trend will end with him directing a ruminative overview of the life of Brendan O’Carroll.
November 12, 2025 at 2:56 PM
After Ayrton Senna, Amy Winehouse and Diego Maradonna, Asif Kapadia has now trained his keen documentarian’s eye on…Kenny Dalglish. I worry that this trend will end with him directing a ruminative overview of the life of Brendan O’Carroll.
I can’t say I’m a fan of Moby’s new direction.
November 10, 2025 at 3:11 PM
I can’t say I’m a fan of Moby’s new direction.
This is an actual dream come true. Would it be excessive to go to all five shows? (No.) And is Chris Lowe devastatingly attractive? (Yes.) If you need me before April, I’ll be busy making fantasy set-lists (which will run to about ten hours each).
November 10, 2025 at 11:03 AM
This is an actual dream come true. Would it be excessive to go to all five shows? (No.) And is Chris Lowe devastatingly attractive? (Yes.) If you need me before April, I’ll be busy making fantasy set-lists (which will run to about ten hours each).
This is possibly the best book I’ve read this year (and it’s been a good year). It reminds me a little of The Dud Avocado, as a sprightly and witty narration fails to disguise a profound sadness. As a portrait of the Jazz Age, it deserves to be mentioned with - if not quite alongside - Gatsby.
November 9, 2025 at 10:16 PM
This is possibly the best book I’ve read this year (and it’s been a good year). It reminds me a little of The Dud Avocado, as a sprightly and witty narration fails to disguise a profound sadness. As a portrait of the Jazz Age, it deserves to be mentioned with - if not quite alongside - Gatsby.
Very pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this; I really didn’t get on with Detransition, Baby - in truth, I loathed it - but started flicking through this in the library and ended up racing through it in a sitting. Vivid and new and transporting. I’ll actively anticipate her next book.
November 8, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Very pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this; I really didn’t get on with Detransition, Baby - in truth, I loathed it - but started flicking through this in the library and ended up racing through it in a sitting. Vivid and new and transporting. I’ll actively anticipate her next book.
These targeted ads are cutting a little close to the bone.
![A targeted ad from the Hollywood Reporter website showing a coffin and asking ‘Vad kostar en begravning i Sverige 2025?’ [What does a funeral cost in Sweden in 2025?]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:7oc3y2oc567ogc276x4ccck7/bafkreicgv3b2ynmckyxz4rjknaeyxs44yzahg3zpo5sdwyfw5owzt74yvq@jpeg)
November 4, 2025 at 9:38 PM
These targeted ads are cutting a little close to the bone.
A new Norwegian film hitting Swedish cinemas this week. It looks blazingly original!
November 4, 2025 at 9:55 AM
A new Norwegian film hitting Swedish cinemas this week. It looks blazingly original!
This - a history of the Institute for Sexual Science and its destruction - was a sad and sobering read. There’s nothing new under the sun, and its story of hatred and repression is horribly resonant now - but it’s also about the inevitability and promise of queer community, which will always endure.
October 27, 2025 at 9:49 PM
This - a history of the Institute for Sexual Science and its destruction - was a sad and sobering read. There’s nothing new under the sun, and its story of hatred and repression is horribly resonant now - but it’s also about the inevitability and promise of queer community, which will always endure.
I enjoyed this exhibition at the National Gallery, while never quite managing to shake my long-standing sense that Neo-Impressionists (as it seems Pointillists preferred to be called) just weren’t very good at painting. Their work always feels a bit stilted to me.
October 16, 2025 at 1:22 PM
I enjoyed this exhibition at the National Gallery, while never quite managing to shake my long-standing sense that Neo-Impressionists (as it seems Pointillists preferred to be called) just weren’t very good at painting. Their work always feels a bit stilted to me.
PSA: This looks like an enticing video, but as soon as you click on it, you’re face to face with James Corden. It’s like an evil Rickroll.
October 9, 2025 at 6:31 AM
PSA: This looks like an enticing video, but as soon as you click on it, you’re face to face with James Corden. It’s like an evil Rickroll.
I found this a very moving and inspiring read. Even in his own time, Attlee was pilloried as being unspectacular and insignificant but his achievements speak for themselves and this deep dive illuminates his many qualities: empathetic, honourable, diligent, thoughtful and profoundly decent.
October 8, 2025 at 5:06 PM
I found this a very moving and inspiring read. Even in his own time, Attlee was pilloried as being unspectacular and insignificant but his achievements speak for themselves and this deep dive illuminates his many qualities: empathetic, honourable, diligent, thoughtful and profoundly decent.
This was a fascinating read. Chaplin is such a mercurial and slippery figure, and an absolutely unique filmmaker - and the takeaway from this is that the US has always been shot through with cruel, capricious prudes and bigots who make a mockery of its own self-aggrandising ideals.
October 6, 2025 at 8:55 PM
This was a fascinating read. Chaplin is such a mercurial and slippery figure, and an absolutely unique filmmaker - and the takeaway from this is that the US has always been shot through with cruel, capricious prudes and bigots who make a mockery of its own self-aggrandising ideals.
Chris Lowe is 66 years old today and remains a genius.
October 4, 2025 at 7:24 AM
Chris Lowe is 66 years old today and remains a genius.
Watching this state visit, and the fawning of the British establishment, and the breathless reporting by the Beeb, is turning my stomach. What a joke of a country.
September 18, 2025 at 7:20 AM
Watching this state visit, and the fawning of the British establishment, and the breathless reporting by the Beeb, is turning my stomach. What a joke of a country.
Either this guy’s parents took an incredibly literal approach to baby names, or the BBC’s proof-reading has really gone to heck.
September 12, 2025 at 11:39 AM
Either this guy’s parents took an incredibly literal approach to baby names, or the BBC’s proof-reading has really gone to heck.
This morning’s office view. Not too shabby.
September 10, 2025 at 11:02 AM
This morning’s office view. Not too shabby.
10) Tiny Beautiful Things at The Public Theater, 2019. I saw this on a freezing, snowy night in New York, unknowingly immediately pre-Covid; it’s barely a play, more a series of vignettes, but so intimate and so humane that it moved me deeply and stayed with me for years.
September 9, 2025 at 11:23 AM
10) Tiny Beautiful Things at The Public Theater, 2019. I saw this on a freezing, snowy night in New York, unknowingly immediately pre-Covid; it’s barely a play, more a series of vignettes, but so intimate and so humane that it moved me deeply and stayed with me for years.
9) Collaborators at the Cottesloe Theatre, 2011. Simon Russell Beale again, as befits our greatest stage actor - here charming, chilling and monstrous as Stalin in this incredible fantasia. It’s almost impossible to believe this was a debut play from John Hodge.
September 9, 2025 at 11:23 AM
9) Collaborators at the Cottesloe Theatre, 2011. Simon Russell Beale again, as befits our greatest stage actor - here charming, chilling and monstrous as Stalin in this incredible fantasia. It’s almost impossible to believe this was a debut play from John Hodge.
8) London Assurance at the Olivier Theatre, 2009. I admire Nick Hytner’s vision in reviving this piece of slightly lumbering Victorian comedy. Judicious editing and perhaps the funniest performance of all time by the great Simon Russell Beale transformed it to a glorious night out.
September 9, 2025 at 11:23 AM
8) London Assurance at the Olivier Theatre, 2009. I admire Nick Hytner’s vision in reviving this piece of slightly lumbering Victorian comedy. Judicious editing and perhaps the funniest performance of all time by the great Simon Russell Beale transformed it to a glorious night out.
7) Arcadia at the Duke of York’s Theatre, 2009. My first exposure to my favourite Stoppard. A sprightly production of a truly brilliant play, which sets off all sorts of literary and theatrical fireworks.
September 9, 2025 at 11:23 AM
7) Arcadia at the Duke of York’s Theatre, 2009. My first exposure to my favourite Stoppard. A sprightly production of a truly brilliant play, which sets off all sorts of literary and theatrical fireworks.
6) All’s Well That Ends Well at the Olivier Theatre, 2009. Marianne Elliott! My favourite director, and my favourite of her shows, transforming a problem play into an engrossing dark fairytale - and a great career high for longterm NT stalwart Oliver Ford Davies.
September 9, 2025 at 11:23 AM
6) All’s Well That Ends Well at the Olivier Theatre, 2009. Marianne Elliott! My favourite director, and my favourite of her shows, transforming a problem play into an engrossing dark fairytale - and a great career high for longterm NT stalwart Oliver Ford Davies.
5) Orson’s Shadow at the Barrow Street Theatre, 2005. An Off-Broadway punt, picked almost at random from The New Yorker, which proved to be a gloriously intimate production of a wonderful play.
September 9, 2025 at 11:23 AM
5) Orson’s Shadow at the Barrow Street Theatre, 2005. An Off-Broadway punt, picked almost at random from The New Yorker, which proved to be a gloriously intimate production of a wonderful play.
4) Bartholomew Fair at the Swan Theatre, 1998. A wonderful, energetic and hilarious performance of a neglected comedy. It was updated to the 90s and was an absolute hoot.
September 9, 2025 at 11:23 AM
4) Bartholomew Fair at the Swan Theatre, 1998. A wonderful, energetic and hilarious performance of a neglected comedy. It was updated to the 90s and was an absolute hoot.