Another Saturday Night - Sam Cooke
Sunday Girl - Blondie
Lazy Sunday Afternoon - Small Faces
Friday on My Mind - Easybeats
Saturday Night at the Movies - The Drifters
Many thanks for the labour of love in putting together the list. Striking how only a handful of books appear twice, and none more than that
The Cat Crept In - Mud
Tiger Feet - Mud
A Horse With No Name -America
Chestnut Mare - Byrds
The Lion Sleeps Tonight - The Tokens
What complicates it is that every council seems to have different rules. In South Oxfordshire we are fortunate - all our home recycling goes unsorted in one bin, no problems.
This was a great talk - full of fascinating insights. I had not realised how colonialism led much of of what we have left of extinct species being in museums in Europe and USA - not where the animals lived
Excellent news - I’ll be there
Such an eerie haunting song. Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelwood’s voices fit the song and each other so well. And on Some Velvet Morning too
May give Adrian Tchaikovsky an idea for another Children of… book
Not vanished completely - read over Christmas, loved it, will be passing on to daughter
Boatman - the first 50 reportedly makes a great present or holiday read, exemplified by this image of the book opened to show the story behind the Shipping Forecast puzzle, on display on Brighton beach. Reviewing Boatman - the first 50, Alan Connor (The Guardian's crossword editor and the brains behind many of BBC2’s quiz programs) says: "This is one to savour. Boatman's puzzles are witty and ingenious. It is an extraordinary pleasure to read how his unique mind works. The first 50 is a book I never knew I needed in my life. Gift it to yourself and to the word-lovers in yours". Hugh Stephenson (Alan’s predecessor at The Guardian) says: "This is a unique book of crosswords" and Henry Morris: "a Boatman crossword is like a theme park. Each daunting line is a rollercoaster ... He scares you witless. But you can't wait to do it all over again".
Boatman - the second 50 contains another 50 puzzles from The Guardian, with five bonus puzzles previously only available online and including puzzles, solutions and the ideas and stories behind them, exemplified by this image of the book opened to show one of the stories, which is accompanied by a picture of a large cow. Reviewing Boatman - the second 50, Gyles Brandreth says: "If you want a fiendish crossword, you want the best - which means you want Boatman, because he is the best" and Brian Bilston: "Cracking crosswords - each puzzle a delightful daily workout for the brain and a welcome tonic for the soul".
It's the Seasonal Reposting Competition! Repost this over the weekend, and on Sunday one lucky person will win a signed copy of one of my books. For you or the #crossword addict in your life: 50 fiendish @theguardian.com #puzzles and all the stories behind them:
boatmancryptics.co.uk/crossword-bo...
BSA Young Sociologist of the Year writing competition www.britsoc.co.uk/opportunitie...
Frankie and Benjy Mouse are insulted by this comparison
You can make a change 📢 Protect authors’ livelihoods from the unlicensed use of their work in AI training by signing this open letter ✒️ authr.uk/sp40 #MakeitFair #MetaBookThieves #DoTheWriteThing
Some SFF:
Cities of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders
An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon
Unquenchable Fire by Rachel Pollack
Statement reads: The Chancellor's decision to accelerate the aid cuts is a further blow to Britain's international role. We are all kept safer and stronger by balancing defence, diplomacy and development - we regret that this government is moving in the wrong direction.
Our reaction to Spring Statement 👇
Text statement from LCID which reads: After the Tories hollowed out Britain’s defences, only Labour can be trusted to rebuild our national security. As internationalists, we believe in Britain’s global role and the need to stand up to Russia and stand with Ukraine. We agree that the UK should spend more on defence but not at the expense of our overseas development budget. However, the decision to slash aid spending by 40%, to its lowest level since the 1990s, will see the world’s most vulnerable pay the price. Such a severe cut will see fragile states made more fragile, poor people made poorer, and the impacts of climate change made harsher. In the poorest parts of the world, we risk seeing our adversaries advance and seeing forced global migration accelerate. In turn, this cut will see threats to our international security grow – not shrink. In a time of geopolitical upheaval, this is the moment for the UK to stand tall and project our values in all corners of the world - through the balance of defence, development and diplomacy. We urge the government to think again.
Our response to the announcement on cutting overseas aid 👇
