Pretty chuffed to have a non-fiction piece in the latest edition of Door is a Jar. Itβs strange to write silly autobiographical stories with all of this going on [gestures wildly at the world], but maybe sometimes the surprising frivolity of a family chest freezer is needed. Who can say?!
The fact that there is a Markwayne and a John Wayne implies the existence of a Matthewwayne and a Lukewayne.
My grandmotherβs home, the family home, the home I spent nearly every Sunday in for over 3 decades, the home I lived in as a teenager, that my grandparents bought in 1965 when Ghobeiri still had orchards, the house my aunt inherited & in which my cousins grew up, is gone.
No one was home, thank god
Most of the world is focused on Iran or the GCC. Havenβt heard much from international actors comment on Israel reclosing entry into Gaza or the disproportional response Israel is committing on Lebanon through mass displacement and constant attacks
a thing historians will marvel about when they study this era is the extent to which the "war is a thing that happens to poorer, browner people" class went about systematically dismantling every aspect of the global political order that confined the costs of war to poorer and browner people
I genuinely believe if you PROPERLY re-nationalise rail and make the ticket system as simple and cheap as possible then you'd be secured in government for a hundred thousand years
I want to read every single book on the list.
2026 Climate Fiction Prize longlist announced - The Climate Fiction Prize climatefictionprize.co.uk
Deaths in channel are preventable, but require governments to focus on ensuring people can seek asylum. It's repeatedly shown that hostile measures increase death tolls. Labour's decision to halt family reunification alone is already putting more children at risk.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
For those who donβt know, we already have 5 existing animals: 4 dogs (one with Dementia, another a goofy + blind GS), and Frisbee the cat.
As the analysis starts of the Gorton and Denton result, I wanted to flag some aspects that my experience yesterday suggests are being over or under-played
(Caveats - I went to Longsight, Gorton and Denton town centres and spoke to as many people as I could, but it was mostly during the working day)
a sombre morning for british columnists as they move their "The electorate has spoken, we must listen" articles to the recycling bin and upload their "the greens victory shows just how far the west has fallen" articles instead
Took a French class recently and panicked that if I didnβt pass the first (basic) test I might not get into the University of my choosing, and DEAR GOD did I not realise that was still baked in there.
Entertaining, fascinating and informative
A dark colored bronze statue that shows a Black man reading a book to a small child who is sitting on his lap and helping to hold the open book. It is in a museum gallery. Photo shows another work, a lithograph, of father and child in the background.
A closer look.
John Wilson (1922-2015)
Father and Child Reading, 1985 Bronze maquette (model) for sculpture at Roxbury Community College
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was applauded by his European audience for a speech that invited them to dream of empire again and discard the guilt of past sins. Thatβs more than troubling when you consider the last time the West so nakedly pursued an empire and what gave it the edge: mastery of technology. They had guns, then. This time, the technology they have to control others is much more powerful β intertwined financial systems, rigged digital public squares they own, killer drones, artificial intelligence, and surveillance technologies. Yet, itβs all coming at a time when the African Union is completely rudderless. Our three-story cover package reckons with the terrifying convergence we face.
Issue 229 of The Continent:
Completed a series of new collage/illustrations using original photographs of Green Book locations in Los Angeles.
Today's quick update [Feb 4]:
- Sudan Doctors Network: 1 person killed and 8 others injured after RSF drone strike on a hospital in Kadugli, South Kordofan.
- Clashes between SAF and RSF/SPLM-N (Alhilu) reported south of Alkurmuk, Blue Nile State.
#KeepEyesOnSudan
Reminder that "jaywalking" was literally made up by american car manufacturers to shift the blame for accidents from drivers to pedestrians. "Jay" was a slang term meaning "idiot" or "rube".
Properly funding the court system would clear the backlog even more quickly.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Soul jazz is where it's at.
βSyriaβs army says it will renew attacks against a Kurdish-majority district of Aleppo where clashes have raged this week, after Kurdish groups rejected Damascusβs ceasefire terms that demanded their fighters withdraw from the cityβ
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
Mashhad, Iran
Please pay your freelancers before Christmas.
I'm always fascinated by the story behind the making of any map, and this set of war damage maps, completed within six months of the end of the war, is extraordinary in that regard.
Here's Ueno RokurΕ, then president of the Japan Chikei Company, who oversaw its creation:
Thing I learned today: βduck tapeβ is a far older term than βduct tape.β It used to be made with cotton duck. βDuct tapeβ is a combination of people trying to make sense, and its association with post war use in HVAC systems.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duct_tape
Today's quick update [Dec 4]:
- Sudan Doctors Network: 9 people killed in RSF/SPLM-N (Alhilu) drone attack on kindergarten and hospital in Kalogi, South Kordofan.
- SAF airstrikes on RSF positions in Nyala, South Darfur.
#KeepEyesOnSudan
oh this is magnificent. whew
