Just thinking about what Justin Sullivan of @newmodelarmy.bsky.social said last night. If you look at (social) media, you'd think that people in Britain were fighting in the street. But walk around anywhere and what you actually see is people trying to get on with their (our) lives.
Despite Farage.

Just finished reading Maybe I'm Amazed, a lovely book about autism and music by @johnharris1969.bsky.social. The Beatles loom large, just as they should.
Of course, autism is a big subject and the book is also about family, society and inclusion. Which is part of what makes it so relevant.

Am in that moment when you've finished reading a particularly special book and you're caught between huge appreciation of something wonderful and the knowledge you're inevitably opting for something much more mundane next.
The Quality Of Silence by @rosamundlupton.bsky.social is brilliant.

Haven't long put out a collection of stories called Safe And Secure and have received a proof of the next one, for September.
They're all written over the last few years, now finding their way out.
#writingcommunity
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0F8...

Issue 4 of Underbelly Press lives up to expectations: a beautifully curated publication.
Full of rawness and vulnerability, it feels very timely.
#writingcommunity
underbellypress.wixsite.com/home/copy-of...

Safe And Secure is a sometimes dystopian collection of stories about individuals and the societies they live in.
The right to protest is touched on, as are surveillance and state control, as characters try to make sense of an often embattled world.
#writingcommunity
www.amazon.co.uk/Safe-Secure-...

Writing short stories with themes of safety and security, some dystopian, may seem self-indulgent in 2025. Or timely.
Hopefully, though set in different societies, they are relatable and humane in these challenging times.
#Writingcommunity
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...

I've put some more short stories out, this time touching on surveillance, state control and security, some less political but others a little dystopian. Safe And Secure is a collection about individuals and the times and places they live in.
99p on Kindle.
#writing
www.amazon.co.uk/Safe-Secure-...

It's a cliche that the only downside to reading a truly great book is finishing it.
After loving M.R. Carey's The Girl With All The Gifts, I expected to be disappointed by The Boy In The Bridge. But it's brilliant, too.
Inventive, exciting and deeply humane.
Almost seems unfair to be that good.

Great to see Plymouth-based trainer, community worker and activist (and my friend) Marc Gardiner included in the Big Issue's Changemakers for the year.
He and his Zebra Collective do so much good in the South West.
www.bigissue.com/news/activis...

Musk and Zuckerberg don't just support Trump and Vance, they enable them.
And the far right policies now enveloping the US will affect all of us, in the UK and Europe, too.
#TrumpIsUnfitForOffice

Am grateful to John at Flash Fiction North for posting my short story, 'Don't Get Old'.
It's great having opportunities for people to share what they write.
www.flashfictionnorth.com/recentfiction