Salt pans cut into the rock in Malta at Bugibba , with a blue winter sky in the background, a spit of rock in the distance, and a blue sea between. The salt pans are in shadow, partly filled with water that will evaporate, leaving salt crystals. Although no one now gathers them.
'Much later, because there’s always a later, he’s sleeping on the floor of an empty flat in South London in his thirties, when he wakes and wonders what crystal meth reminds him of, and finds himself on the rocks in Malta by the salt pans. Not mugged by flashback. Simply carried on memory.'
19.02.2026 08:35
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Cold tailless black cat skulking in a half full washing basket next to a radiator, while glaring out at me in case he's moved. (He won't be, we wouldn't fit.)
Streetmog, having colonised a washing basket next to the only radiator that's on 24 hours a day. He's giving it up for nobody...
13.02.2026 16:32
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Really nuts how many men were like "Me Too went too far, and I need to email Jeffrey Epstein about it."
05.02.2026 00:26
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19.12.2025 16:41
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Yes, loved it
26.11.2025 16:49
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We’re excited that @catherinenewman.bsky.social will be here on Tuesday 3rd February to discuss her latest novel, Wreck, with @theothersambaker.bsky.social! The event will be recorded for a future episode of Baker’s podcast, The Shift.
Sign up here: www.theportobellobookshop.com/events/cathe...
12.11.2025 10:35
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Absolutely definitely not me!
17.10.2025 10:05
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#biased
05.10.2025 08:25
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A wise woman once told me terror was the flip side of exhilaration. She’s not wrong!
05.10.2025 08:21
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Thank god!
07.09.2025 13:12
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Minging little ginger flower girl!
07.09.2025 13:10
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Hardly!
07.09.2025 13:08
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That would probably fit the bill. They all know Austen inside out.
07.09.2025 13:07
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Got it. Brainy books. Barbara Kingsolver. Maggie O’Farrell. Arundhati Roy. That kind of thing.
07.09.2025 13:04
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Have they read Elif Shafak There are rivers in the sky or Island of Missing Trees. Both equally brainy and engrossing.
07.09.2025 12:43
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Give me some EG’s of previous reads and I’ll make suggestions
07.09.2025 12:40
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List of suspicious things is good but it depends how ostentatiously brainy they are!
07.09.2025 12:40
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NEW EPISODE: Nicola Sturgeon on life after leadership
"If I could turn the clock back 30 years and have children I would, but only if I could still do all the other things."
Watching Nicola Sturgeon discussing her memoir Frankly with Sam Baker in Glasgow last night, I was struck by how much nostalgia was in the hall - people don't just love her, they love who they were when she first came to power and the hope they invested in her
open.substack.com/pub/theshift...
15.08.2025 10:01
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Lots of love for my conversation with Nicola Sturgeon rhis week. Catch up here podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
15.08.2025 10:03
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The sound drove me mad too! Glad you enjoyed it otherwise.
15.08.2025 10:02
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Talking life after leadership and “the worst two yeara of my life” with @nicolasturgeon.bsky.social on The Shift podcast podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
12.08.2025 08:02
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Sitting in my living room listening to Oasis’ support act warm up. Should have sold tickets
08.08.2025 13:01
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“The ironic benefit of having so few narratives around this time of life is you don’t feel punished by them either” - talking midlife lies with @glynnismacnicol.bsky.social on this week’s podcast.
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
30.07.2025 07:01
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The headline below a photo of Trump’s eyes says:
CONVICTED US FELON TO ARRIVE IN SCOTLAND.
The sub-heading reads:
Republican leader, who was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation, will visit golf courses.
NEW: Tomorrow’s front page of Scottish newspaper, The National.
24.07.2025 21:28
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😂
16.07.2025 21:19
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I’m going down this weekend. If we had a car she’d be in trouble!
16.07.2025 20:23
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Jo Hamilton: The Post Office scandal stole 20 years of my life
Podcast Episode · The Shift with Sam Baker · 17/06/2025 · 55m
As the Inquiry into the Post Office scandal is released and the full scale of its impact is revealed, catch up with leading campaigner Jo Hamilton on The Shift podcast podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
08.07.2025 12:45
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Everyone’s mum is furious!
06.07.2025 17:43
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