Sam Baker

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.'

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...

Really nuts how many men were like "Me Too went too far, and I need to email Jeffrey Epstein about it."

Samantha Ellis on food, family and finding your identity in your 40s Podcast Episode · The Shift with Sam Baker · 25/11/2025 · 1h

Loved going on The Shift, one of my favourite podcasts, with @theothersambaker.bsky.social

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Yes, loved it

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...

Absolutely definitely not me!

#biased

A wise woman once told me terror was the flip side of exhilaration. She’s not wrong!

Thank god!

Minging little ginger flower girl!

Hardly!

That would probably fit the bill. They all know Austen inside out.

Got it. Brainy books. Barbara Kingsolver. Maggie O’Farrell. Arundhati Roy. That kind of thing.

Have they read Elif Shafak There are rivers in the sky or Island of Missing Trees. Both equally brainy and engrossing.

Give me some EG’s of previous reads and I’ll make suggestions

List of suspicious things is good but it depends how ostentatiously brainy they are!

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

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Lots of love for my conversation with Nicola Sturgeon rhis week. Catch up here podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

The sound drove me mad too! Glad you enjoyed it otherwise.

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...

Sitting in my living room listening to Oasis’ support act warm up. Should have sold tickets

“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.
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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.

Let's talk about women's libido and atrophy Hands up anyone who's ever been made to feel entitled for wanting sex that doesn't hurt! Plus the things I've found that actually helped me

Talking about atrophy over on The Shift today, bc somebody has to! theshiftwithsambaker.substack.com/p/lets-talk-...

😂

I’m going down this weekend. If we had a car she’d be in trouble!

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...

Everyone’s mum is furious!