Luke Turner
@luketurner.bsky.social
Author: Men at War - Loving, Lusting, Fighting, Remembering 1939-1945 on British masculinity, sexuality & the cultural memory of WWII on W&N Books/Orion. First 📖 Out of the Woods, 2019. Co-founder: The Quietus. My stuff: https://linktr.ee/luketurner ⚒️🏳️🌈
Had a lovely walk round the local bit of Epping Forest earlier with Inside The Rose in the headphones, still buzzing from this gig. Turns out there were at least three of us there from Pride Of Irons, West Ham’s LGBT+ group, which I like a lot. ⚒️🏳️🌈🌳🔥
November 13, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Had a lovely walk round the local bit of Epping Forest earlier with Inside The Rose in the headphones, still buzzing from this gig. Turns out there were at least three of us there from Pride Of Irons, West Ham’s LGBT+ group, which I like a lot. ⚒️🏳️🌈🌳🔥
also, Michael Davidson's The World, the Flesh and Myself. I read it while researching Men At War, but didn't write about him in the end – the book is a jolly travelogue in which he wanders the world abusing boys (that most aren't white gives a racial dimension to the exploitation too)
November 13, 2025 at 10:51 AM
also, Michael Davidson's The World, the Flesh and Myself. I read it while researching Men At War, but didn't write about him in the end – the book is a jolly travelogue in which he wanders the world abusing boys (that most aren't white gives a racial dimension to the exploitation too)
These New Puritans tonight: murky, defiant, romantic, rattling; still they dig emotion out of unlikely places. In a recent review @katefmkatefm.bsky.social wrote that they “weigh up man and machine, medieval and modern, pastoral and industrial, and decide to keep it all.” I think that nails it.
November 13, 2025 at 12:28 AM
These New Puritans tonight: murky, defiant, romantic, rattling; still they dig emotion out of unlikely places. In a recent review @katefmkatefm.bsky.social wrote that they “weigh up man and machine, medieval and modern, pastoral and industrial, and decide to keep it all.” I think that nails it.
that looks handsome! I was so stuck and desperate for new big much I got this one for a fiver at TK Maxx.
November 10, 2025 at 10:23 AM
that looks handsome! I was so stuck and desperate for new big much I got this one for a fiver at TK Maxx.
Really happy that the Royal British Legion now have a Pride poppy. I will be wearing mine in memory of everyone I wrote about in Men At War, the members of the military who were persecuted for their sexuality, and for all those LGBTQ+ people who served but whose lives we will never know 🏳️🌈
November 6, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Really happy that the Royal British Legion now have a Pride poppy. I will be wearing mine in memory of everyone I wrote about in Men At War, the members of the military who were persecuted for their sexuality, and for all those LGBTQ+ people who served but whose lives we will never know 🏳️🌈
...and as the effigy failed to detonate right at the end, perhaps the fiery Cosmos agrees
November 6, 2025 at 12:42 PM
...and as the effigy failed to detonate right at the end, perhaps the fiery Cosmos agrees
Coming back to earth after another magnificent Lewes Bonfire, how they make the fireworks get louder, heavier, more creative each year is beyond me. Glorious to watch it all drifting over the full moon. Effigy was Starmer over the farmer inheritance tax – perhaps more deserving targets in 2025...
November 6, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Coming back to earth after another magnificent Lewes Bonfire, how they make the fireworks get louder, heavier, more creative each year is beyond me. Glorious to watch it all drifting over the full moon. Effigy was Starmer over the farmer inheritance tax – perhaps more deserving targets in 2025...
I’ve been going to Lewes Bonfire since the 90s, generally there was a lovely autumnal chill in the air. I can barely remember one feeling like that in recent years and just look at the forecast for Wednesday - 14 degrees at night! It’s about burning things, not getting sweatily broiled. Ffs
November 3, 2025 at 6:24 PM
I’ve been going to Lewes Bonfire since the 90s, generally there was a lovely autumnal chill in the air. I can barely remember one feeling like that in recent years and just look at the forecast for Wednesday - 14 degrees at night! It’s about burning things, not getting sweatily broiled. Ffs
November 3, 2025 at 12:02 AM
Indeed. I don't really like Halloween (you are not a zombie, you have ripped an old shirt and work at Foxtons the estate agent) but if you're going to do it, do it properly. Was quite pleased with the 'plague dktr and diseased rat' outfit me and the missus did a few years ago:
October 31, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Indeed. I don't really like Halloween (you are not a zombie, you have ripped an old shirt and work at Foxtons the estate agent) but if you're going to do it, do it properly. Was quite pleased with the 'plague dktr and diseased rat' outfit me and the missus did a few years ago:
Somebody stop this monster! Farage fusion Clarkson cheese reacharound jamboree! Come on, the rest of Blur, surely this is a sackable offence? If not, what does it say about the rest of you? Eh? Eh?
October 30, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Somebody stop this monster! Farage fusion Clarkson cheese reacharound jamboree! Come on, the rest of Blur, surely this is a sackable offence? If not, what does it say about the rest of you? Eh? Eh?
...and then went to maps to find the spot and the Pathe archive where there's footage of the raid, and I think you can see the splash left by the Tallboy that didn't go off at 1:03. So odd to think of it sat there in the middle of a major shipping canal for years.
www.britishpathe.com/asset/67365/
www.britishpathe.com/asset/67365/
October 29, 2025 at 9:07 PM
...and then went to maps to find the spot and the Pathe archive where there's footage of the raid, and I think you can see the splash left by the Tallboy that didn't go off at 1:03. So odd to think of it sat there in the middle of a major shipping canal for years.
www.britishpathe.com/asset/67365/
www.britishpathe.com/asset/67365/
Here's the sort of thing I like to do to de-stress of a Wednesday evening – was watching this BBC news report on an unexploded 12,000lb Tallboy bomb dropped by 617 Squadron on the cruiser Lützow in 1945 finally exploding during an attempt to defuse it... (1/2)
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-e...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-e...
October 29, 2025 at 9:07 PM
Here's the sort of thing I like to do to de-stress of a Wednesday evening – was watching this BBC news report on an unexploded 12,000lb Tallboy bomb dropped by 617 Squadron on the cruiser Lützow in 1945 finally exploding during an attempt to defuse it... (1/2)
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-e...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-e...
National Trust types! It's AGM time, do vote for the suggested candidates & block the right-wing, 'anti-woke', mysteriously-funded Restore Trust, who are against eg rewilding and discussing colonial history / LGBT+ heritage (last week my sister saw OOTW in an NT shop, would it be if they had power?)
October 29, 2025 at 1:24 PM
National Trust types! It's AGM time, do vote for the suggested candidates & block the right-wing, 'anti-woke', mysteriously-funded Restore Trust, who are against eg rewilding and discussing colonial history / LGBT+ heritage (last week my sister saw OOTW in an NT shop, would it be if they had power?)
One of the joys of being with someone from abroad is getting to do tourist things in London when friends and family visit, eg. introducing them to the budget Bladerunner vibes of being at the front of a driverless DLR train
October 27, 2025 at 11:41 AM
One of the joys of being with someone from abroad is getting to do tourist things in London when friends and family visit, eg. introducing them to the budget Bladerunner vibes of being at the front of a driverless DLR train
I don’t have professional regrets except I would have loved to have sailed the ocean waves as a naval officer. I vaguely thought about it as a kid but then the whole “being told what to do” and “being a bit ‘hello sailor’” put an end to what could have been a glistening career on the briny.
October 26, 2025 at 5:21 PM
I don’t have professional regrets except I would have loved to have sailed the ocean waves as a naval officer. I vaguely thought about it as a kid but then the whole “being told what to do” and “being a bit ‘hello sailor’” put an end to what could have been a glistening career on the briny.
I find boot maintenance incredibly satisfying - rubbing the wax and cream into the leather using my fingers rather than a cloth, the buffing with a brush, a new set of laces.
October 23, 2025 at 9:17 PM
I find boot maintenance incredibly satisfying - rubbing the wax and cream into the leather using my fingers rather than a cloth, the buffing with a brush, a new set of laces.
Nice to see your guerrilla marketing while I was having a slash in The Cock at the weekend
October 23, 2025 at 11:58 AM
Nice to see your guerrilla marketing while I was having a slash in The Cock at the weekend
The day we turned off comments on tQ was a happy day, though it was sad to lose this comment left by Diamanda Galás, which is one of the greatest comments left on any comments section ever.
October 22, 2025 at 5:44 PM
The day we turned off comments on tQ was a happy day, though it was sad to lose this comment left by Diamanda Galás, which is one of the greatest comments left on any comments section ever.
Second half… was so bad. Why did he start his first home game with such a weird line-up? But then again nothing is clicking is it, really appalling. All the sparks at Everton snuffed out. I feel like he knows what a job he has on.
October 20, 2025 at 10:27 PM
Second half… was so bad. Why did he start his first home game with such a weird line-up? But then again nothing is clicking is it, really appalling. All the sparks at Everton snuffed out. I feel like he knows what a job he has on.
When your old man is clergy, death is ever present, but rarely intimate. Today though dad buried a friend, someone he grew up with by Epping Forest & his was the first wedding he took after ordination. Up in the damp unctuous forest just now life’s wheel turns, trees become explosions, soil softens.
October 20, 2025 at 5:32 PM
When your old man is clergy, death is ever present, but rarely intimate. Today though dad buried a friend, someone he grew up with by Epping Forest & his was the first wedding he took after ordination. Up in the damp unctuous forest just now life’s wheel turns, trees become explosions, soil softens.
I am fascinated by the Dr Martens Shoe For Life promise. I bought a slightly more expensive pair of boots in 2016, with the guarantee of a new pair when they wore out, continuing until my departure from the charade of existence. I am about to get my third new pair under the guarantee, for £20.
October 20, 2025 at 9:10 AM
I am fascinated by the Dr Martens Shoe For Life promise. I bought a slightly more expensive pair of boots in 2016, with the guarantee of a new pair when they wore out, continuing until my departure from the charade of existence. I am about to get my third new pair under the guarantee, for £20.
Keith Floyd’s apple chutney, though I always forget to follow the recipe bit and just stick it all in together
October 19, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Keith Floyd’s apple chutney, though I always forget to follow the recipe bit and just stick it all in together
Chutney Day is always one of my favourite moments of the changing season - raining outside, the house fills with vinegar fug, the family get annoyed. This year accompanied by a great @dj-surgeon.bandcamp.com interview on music, creativity, psychedelia, coil, gender & more youtu.be/It_MzjHayKg?...
October 19, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Chutney Day is always one of my favourite moments of the changing season - raining outside, the house fills with vinegar fug, the family get annoyed. This year accompanied by a great @dj-surgeon.bandcamp.com interview on music, creativity, psychedelia, coil, gender & more youtu.be/It_MzjHayKg?...
My interview with Cosey is in the print edition of The Observer today
October 19, 2025 at 9:32 AM
My interview with Cosey is in the print edition of The Observer today