Brett Gray

"This could have been an email." Aragorn whispers. "He ALWAYS pulls this shit in 'Any Other Business" Boromir replies, quietly. "It's why Faramir marked himself as busy when the invite went out."

Why am I only now discovering Ron Currie's 'The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne'? Literary crime thriller set in a down at heel New England mill town, and unputdownable.

Of course you shouldn't buy a fancy notebook because you think it'll change your life. Buying a fancy notebook is its own telos.

I feel emotionally harmed by this week's Slow Horses episode.

Coming up Charismatic and Evangelical, and that moment when you realise that the music you were told to stop listening to because it provoked a ‘spirit of rebellion’ is the music that saved your life.

Here is the BMA saying "we were worried about the FWS case, warned you about the potential health risks associated with the proposed Code of Practice, and now you have gone ahead and implemented policies that will cause serious harm to trans patients and staff' www.bma.org.uk/news-and-opi...

There are moments when, as a Christian, I want to stick my hand into a blender.

NO COMPLAINTS! NOT ONE! Because people who aren't TERFs tend to be decent and want everyone to get their best treatment.

John Brown is there to remind us of the limits of peaceful protest. On this day, in 1859, the Harpers Ferry raid began.

A new DBS certificate came today. The laconic 'none recorded' to me sounds a little too much like there's an implied 'yet'...

Democratic Ukraine attempting to influence U.S. elections by reducing fascist Russia's ability to influence U.S. elections?

Kids just be doing shit

First day back at work post Covid and I can report that not all cylinders are firing and the ducks are in no semblance of a row.

There is a moment at the very very end of Abdul El-Sayed's podcast with Ezra Klein (book recommendation section) where he talks about the idea of "speaking truth to pain" and this will be staying with me for an extremely long time. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/25/o...

If you want "personalized music" made just for you pick up a fucking guitar. Or else break the heart of someone who already has.

A cash-strapped rural police force struggles to deal with Red Diesel gangs. Until its chief inspector realises can get the Met Police to deal with the problem... ...if he pretends they're Iranian. A new six part comedy starring Toby Jones.

As an Anglican priest, I do not want this. I consider enforced religiosity like this an abomination. No one should ever be compelled to say or sing anything they don't believe in, doubly so in the context of collective worship.

I’m a dual national. I’m not planing on committing any crimes anytime soon, let alone ones with a sentence of 5+ years, but if I ever did I’m not sure why my second passport should disqualify me from facing the same British justice system as everyone else and instead strip me of my citizenship

It's been decades since I lived in New England, but the very words 'Nor'easter' make my want to put on a watch cap, tighten my coat, and stare into the looming darkness muttering 'in '78...'.

There’s a particular species of straight middle-aged man who can’t get enough of Brandi Carlile. These are my people. I am one of them. 

By this logic I am more English, as a naturalised citizen of mainly English descent*, than a woman born here. And that leads to dark places. *A bit of Swedish too, but having the odd Viking in the woodpile is very English.

What is it about me being unwell that leads my cat to puking on the carpet? Every time!

Catching Covid in 2026 is as passé and embarrassing as being the dad who still says ‘yeet’.

Christening a baby is nothing like christening a ship. I know that now. Once again I can only apologise.

Widows Bay is a reminder that New England is a fundamentally creepy place. King, Lovecraft, Poe, Hawthorne, they all know this. and growing up in New England was growing up with ghost stories.

very inspired by Annie Dillard — it's always hard to believe she wrote “Pilgrim at Tinker Creek” at just 28 www.nytimes.com/2026/09/16/b...

When corporations tell you to trust them to self-regulate, there is literally no point in history where this has ended well. Sam Altman can take a metaphorical long walk off a short pier.

I mean if you really want to hear Ed Sheeran without any opening acts you can simply get put on hold with your bank

Slowly reading through George Saunders 2000 short story collection ‘Pastoralia’, and every so often feeling gut punched. The man can write.

Truly the most fascinating Bluesky subtribe here are the 'cars are more dangerous. Therefore pedestrians should be relaxed about me hurting them' cyclists.

"The University of Chicago’s undergrad social-sciences division will go “analog” this fall, implementing a blanket policy banning technology in class and AI assistance on coursework across the division’s core courses." www.chronicle.com/article/u-of...

In fun news today, I saw an Otter on the River Ouse while out in Fen Drayton RSBP reserve.

As a UK/US national let me give my British friends a stark warning. The current disaster that is US politics is largely down to untrammelled big money. Do everything you can, and as a British citizen and resident I will do everything I can, to stop it here.

With all respect to the BBC, the reason this story "matters" is not about whether it distracts from Reform's conference. It "matters" because it is important our leaders are not conspiring to break the law.

Well, no surprises, beyond the lack of a Tri-State orientation from a childhood in New Haven.

I think we should all band together to send James Orr clips of the "you taking notes on a criminal fucking conspiracy?!" scene from The Wire for all eternity

"We just don't have British resident donors, British entities, that would support us. That's the grim reality" "There are a lot of people in your position who, for completely understandable reasons, can't declare ... the reality is we can easily get away with it ... [Le Carre]" - James Orr 10m40s

We are currently clean on OPSEC!

youtu.be/eJlN9jdQFSc?...

Stop whatever you’re doing & watch this now! Reform’s magic money tree has been bust wide open. Huge kudos to undercover reporters Verbatim via @channel4news.bsky.social youtu.be/aXut3s90rUI?... huge

Love to watch someone who emphasises the importance of Christian values say “we can easily get away with it”…

Watching Channel 4 News with my jaw on the floor. A teaching officer in my faculty apparently suborning illicit foreign funding for Reform. 'The reality is we can easily get away with it...'

James Orr: Reform’s head of policy, Cambridge theologian, architect of the new British right. Our profile for @ftweekend.com looks at his links to the Maga movement, Silicon Valley & European populists, and his life as a Cambridge lecturer with @ramshodgson.bsky.social www.ft.com/content/c2d0...

Indeed, oh John... 🤦

Too scared to show up to the by-election he won. Claims the police told him not to. BBC says they didn’t. It’s his fragile ego, not his skin, that he’s worried about.

At the Cambridge Arts Picture House to catch a showing of Fellini’s ‘8 1/2’, and there’s a whole bunch of people with dogs going to a ‘dog friendly’ showing of the Odyssey.

Sometimes on a Friday you really need a burrito with carne al pastor and salsa verde. Lip tingling goodness, but I'd kill for a Jarritos.