The full version of today's essay, which is about a hot dry summer, the books I've been reading during it, a little-known French film from 1996, and what we mistake for knowledge in 2026, is for paying subscribers only. If you'd like to
My mum, Jo, who has illustrated the inside of many of my books, has just very generously sent me a lovely package of handmade bookmarks (see above), featuring several of her linocut illustrations. I'm making these available exclusively on a first-come-first-served basis with the pile
Subscribe now In this EXCLUSIVE broadsheet newspaper interview today, the actor, influencer and designer Philippa Islington-Smythe (pictured) discusses the price of fame, her controversial new perfume, working with Margot Robbie and how becoming a parent changed her perspective on the world... "You are right: the late 1990s was
The full version of today's post if for paying subscribers (because I haven't done one of those for a while). If you'd like to read it you can support my writing for as little as £1.66 per month, which will give you access
Subscribe now I collect hagstones. Doesn't everybody? There are around 30 of them sitting on our garden wall, mostly found on beaches in East Devon and Dorset, not all as large and impressive as the one pictured above but each one beautiful in its own way. A geologist
I've just finished writing and editing another book. It's a surreal collection of short - sometimes extremely short - stories and I've called it Curious Events Lately Occurring In This Neighbourhood. I have decided to publish this one in a different way, in collaboration with Breakthrough