I know, I just saw that! Bloody hell! I’ll keep looking, it should be in the British Library if nothing else…

That’s fantastic and very helpful, thanks Phil! I’ll order the book. Am now trying to determine whether Martin Lux is still alive, would be interesting to interview him… I’ve interviewed a reformed ex-NF guy about his perspective and am looking for an antifascist who was also on the frontline.

I’m currently writing a book about the East End in the 1970s, when a substantial portion of the white population thought things were better 50 years earlier and voted NF to try to turn the clock back. Sigh.

Yes, if left undisturbed I can focus to the point where I feel I have a grasp of the whole life, all its incidents and themes… but if not, chaos ensues!

Okay, that’s interesting… thanks for sharing this.

‘Monotropism Score: 187 / 235
‘Your Average: 3.98

‘This score suggests that you are more Monotropic than about 32% of autistic people and about 92% of allistic people based on data from the initial validation study.’

That’s kind, thank you Marcel. Yes, I felt well cared for by Granta after that book came out, they were excellent. It was a complicated time because my mum died just before publication and I had a lot of different simultaneous emotions, but my editor was very supportive.

In a way my new book is all about the power of footstepping — getting out into the world again to rediscover the East End of my early childhood & recover from grief & burnout. New connections with people, new places & stimuli, exercise: it pays dividends, quite aside from the benefit for our writing

Oh! Well, thank you, and it helps me to hear that… that’s made my day, cheers Tim.

Ha, okay! Yes, maybe you can only realise how important the advice is in retrospect, once you’ve come through the burnout and thought: “What the hell just happened to me?” I hope you feel calmer and brighter soon, Tim.

Somewhere in the process of becoming a writer — whether it’s offered as part of an MA module or by the publisher — advice should be given on how to prepare for, and cope with, the post-publication crash. The actual business of managing one’s mental health as an author. It could help a lot of people.

Here's Gram Parsons with The Flying Burrito Brothers at Altamont in 69, with Mick and Keith watching from the wings. Stills from recently unearthed footage that you can watch here (the sound is from a different song in their set that day) youtu.be/bPVPhLPkC9E

I had a bad one too — I think it had something to do with the clocks going back… going to bed an hour later than normal was more than my easily-disrupted system could deal with! I hope you have a better one tonight, Chloe.

Speaking of which bsky.app/profile/keir...

If you want more uplifting content to launch you into the weekend, stay tuned for my photos of the gibbet and noose on the Thames shore outside the Prospect of Whitby.

And this piqued my interest. Never seen ‘TH’ styled like that before, with the T and next letter forming the stalks of the H.

I feared as much, thanks for confirming.

I want to read a book without fetishising the object but ensure I keep it in a condition that won’t be unpleasant for anyone else who may later read it, e.g. if I lend it to them. Is this allowed, do you think?