https://www.channel4.com/programmes/derren-brown-showman Writer, philosopher, showman and a must-see, Derren Brown opens your mind, pokes about and walks away, leaving you baffled. Showman starts with Brown taking the piss. Horoscopes. He shows a horoscope for a Sagittarian (that’s me) and asks if it hits the mark. I thought it did. Others in the audience thought so too. Us Sagittarians stood together, smarter than most, bolder than most, risk...

I didn’t know who Rebecca Humphries was. Look at the title. What does it mean to you? Listen for the semi-ironic tone. The cover is a portrait of an upper-crust lady in a peacock coloured dress on a chaise lounge, pondering. In the background, a dour-faced gentleman in black, barely visible. A chapter titled ‘Brave’. Blurbs from Emma Thompson. ‘Fierce. Game-changing. Urgently necessary. Brilliant, brilliant and did I say brilliant? Marian Keyes...

‘Make death proud to take you.’ A quote from a quote from Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Julius Caesar , but also a starting point and end point for O’Hagan’s bestselling book, Mayflies . The tragedy of making America proud to take us is they already have, with the rise and lies of Brexit and market solutions to every aspect of life. O’Hagan’s essays were written before the rise or the moron’s moron and 42 nd American President. But in an essay on...

Patrick Radden Keefe starts with the long-playback-shot. 6 th June 1993. A routine police patrol near Coney Island. National Park Police Officers doing the graveyard shift. A volunteer auxiliary force. They had to oil their handcuffs because of the sea air and lack of use. But they spot a ship on the sandbars and hear the screams from the water. Breezy Point, notable for keg parties, has become a graveyard, crime and rescue scene involving Coast...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001l5q0/deborah-james-bowelbabe-in-her-own-words Deborah James, mother of two children, died recently from bowel cancer. Hence the title Bowelbabe. The second part of the conjunction Babe was how she promoted her charity work, with a tie-in with The Sun . She helped fundraise over £11 million for her work. She was made a Dame before she died, the Princess Di of bowel cancer. This documentary focuses on the...

Carl MacDougall was moving house at the end of 2018. I offered him a bookcase from a house clearance, which he accepted. There’s probably a metaphor still lying about in the rain somewhere. He was my tormentor, appointed by Scottish Book Trust. An author of fiction and non-fiction, whose work Scots The Language of the People, was also a four-part BBC television series in 2006 which he presented. He wrote the introduction and edited, The Scottish...

It's been said before, but I'll say it again - thank you so much to everyone who took part in the Reading Night last Saturday. It was wonderful to see so many of our writers, and to hear them read. And special thanks of course to Mark Burrow for the compering and to insertponceyfrenchnamehere and onemorething for the organising. Story of the Week is jeand's 'Bitty Barby Boob, RIP'. If you've been following Jean's story, you'll be in awe of her...

A prowler in the world is really a storm of wind- at times solemn determined to drink all of the wine in your life. But today the sun brings life- dispels anger & hostility. Just left church enthralled by the massage of good-will common sense & being forgiven.

I fail the rationality test with unfailing regularity. Remember Spock (Leonard Nimoy) from Star Trek ? He was always mucking up and being too logical. James T. Kirk (William Shatner) was always cutting through the bullshit and getting to the heart of the matter. Intuitive knowledge trumped rationality every time. We like to think of ourselves as one or the other, but most people are bits and bobs. Easily taken. When was America American? A...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001kjgx/luzzu ‘Without a boat you’ll lose your way,’ a fisherman friend warns Jesmark (Jesmark Scicluna). Jesmark fishes the same inshore Maltese waters in his 12-foot Luzzu that his father and grandfather before him fished. It’s not a job, but an identity. His boat, which was his father’s father’s boat before him, needs work. But he can’t afford to pay for it. His forefathers made a living from the sea,...