We had a great time running workshops Bath Festivals The next time our writing community meets will be in Ross-on-Wye in June. Get in touch if you’d like to join us. freedomtowrite.co.uk

So glad I finally got around to reading this. It really lives up to the hype.

New 10k PB 🏃🏻‍♂️ 38:47 RunThrough Battersea Park 🙏🏼

Just two spaces left on our creative writing retreat starting next Thursday Mad Dogs glamping. If you’re interested then DM myself or Yvonne Jewkes for more info.

Recently been thinking about the ideas in The Apology that ‘a better person cannot be injured by a worse one’ and ‘nothing bad can happen to a good person.’ I wonder if there is a way of believing something like this today, even if you don’t have Socrates’ metaphysics?

Now to the interviews. Stay tuned. Zoë Grünewald #GE2024 #GeneralElection2024

So excited to announce this, and so, so grateful to The Stinging Fly. Now plz SEND ME YOUR WORK, let's do this!

We covered a lot here and there was a lot more to say. Thanks Geoff Barton

A very incisive bit of writing. English identity has so long been rooted in it’s-coming-home nostalgia, but now that it could actually be coming home, it seems that what we really want is not the glory, but the nostalgia itself. Barney Ronay theguardian.com/football/artic…

Going back to this. I don’t find an apostate, as much as someone who is always looking for the next ladder to climb.

Recently discussed Claire Dederer’s book with my students in prison. They had lots of thoughts about the Lispector epigraph ‘Who has not asked himself at some time or other: am I a monster or is this what it means to be a person?’ Was a v powerful conversation.

Grandma died yesterday. The end was very protracted and uncomfortable for her. It’s been quite disturbing for the family. I’ll be away from social media and messages for a bit as we take time to process. x

Thank you everyone for your condolences. At 95, having outlived so many people, there were only 5 at her funeral yesterday. But then 6 of the nurses who looked after her at the end of her life showed up too. A truly moving moment.

It will be my privilege to interview ⁦⁦Yvonne Jewkes⁩ about her beautiful new book An Architecture of Hope. Waterstones Trafalgar Square 26th Sept Click the link to join us waterstones.com/events/an-arch…

It occurred to me today that this week means that it has been 20 years since I turned vegetarian. A few years ago I wrote about why for openDemocracy I’d love to write about this again - what’s changed in the last two decades and what hasn’t. opendemocracy.net/en/transformat…

Am in Norway 🇳🇴 learning about Janteloven - the social norm against bragging or thinking you are better than the group. It’s given me a plan to Norwegianise our increasingly Americanised braggadocio culture:

Such admiration for Mariel Franklin’s compelling novel, which charts what happens when the primal need for intimacy meets the forces of modernity, from algorithms to antidepressants. A book full of insights about what it means to love today.

Next Wednesday at Chisenhale Gallery, Andy West, author of the acclaimed "The Life Inside: A Memoir of Prison, Family and Learning to be Free", will lead a session for artists & educators, sharing his approach to teaching philosophy in prison: bit.ly/3B0kOCV

Looking forward to interviewing Yvonne Jewkes in two weeks about her unique book An Architecture of Hope Waterstones Trafalgar Sq. RSVP to make sure you get a seat. waterstones.com/events/an-arch…

Excited to start my training in psychotherapy Birkbeck, University of London next month. Have started wearing a black rollneck so I can hit the ground running.