After a month of packed houses and people coming back to see it for a 2nd time, #BlowDown tour ends today with another sellout @ChapelFM. Proud to finish on a high as part of @LeedsLit and @LEEDS_2023

This is me and my sister Karen in Shantaman nr. Cavan last Friday with John Joe Lyons, who still runs the family farm 200 years after our great-great-great-grandfather Thomas left Ireland for Birmingham and then London, apparently never to return. Mind-blowing!

Great trip to Stratford to catch the RSC's Arturo Ui with Mark Gatiss. A dark carnival of a production, painting Chicago/Berlin as a Tim Burtonesque Batman-style nightmare. An exuberant spectacle, scary and timely.

I've just been on with Gayle Lofthouse @BBCLeeds this morning, talking about my play #BlowDown, forgotten Yorkshire towns and other current projects. You can hear it on BBC Sounds - bbc.co.uk/programmes/p031tvv…

This is a genuinely interesting story. Huge amount of automated work, potentially saving hundreds of thousands of human hours. BUT: with an error rate of 10%, and with the precise reading of *every* word mattering in such an exercise, it is meaningless, and for manuscripts of authority worse than useless, without a human checking every single word. BUT: there simply aren't people, in 2026, with the expertise, the time, and the funding to check these 32,000 manuscripts at this level. Welcome to Digital Humanities Slop.

With five fiscal measures, Government can use the Autumn Budget to stabilise British theatre, unlock regional economic growth, and ensure that communities everywhere can access world-class live performance Read more 👇 uktheatre.org/government-mus…

Great night @thesjt on Tuesday catching up with my talented former student @KE_Wright1 and her punchy play KAILEY, getting a deserved professional production 6 years after she began writing it on her MA

Much enjoyed Pits, People and Players by @ensemble84 on Saturday - a fast-moving theatrical journey through the history of Horden, Co. Durham against a backdrop of soundscapes and song, performed by tightknit cast

Great evening last night watching the exuberant and accomplished Guys and Dolls, the latest summer youth musical from @trwakefield. Great to see so many talented young people on stage - a fantastic spectacle!

@TheWritersGuild General Secretary Ellie Peers writes to the Arts Council with concrete proposals to help writers and other freelancers whose plans have been threatened through no fault of their own by the crash of the Grantium application system. thestage.co.uk/news/writers-…

With contributions from my good self...

Palmer and Estevao nominated for Ballon d’Or awards - Cole Palmer, Estevao, Enzo Maresca and Chelsea itself are all in the running for various honours after the nominees for this year’s Ballon d’Or awards were announced. chelseafc.com/en/news/articl…

The Band of the Coldstream Guards perform "Paranoid" by Black Sabbath at Changing of the Guard today. RIP Ozzy Osbourne, the "Prince of Darkness" #guard #kingsguard #ozzyosbourne #blacksabbath #paranoid #heavymetal #rockband #london #buckinghampalace 💂🤘🏽

Last week marked an incredibly proud milestone as I officially (wore a silly hat) and graduated with a PhD in English with Creative Writing from @UoYEnglish. I’m grateful for my family, supervisors, examiners and to @UniOfYork which has been my academic home for the past 4 years.

Very excited to announce this. We had such fun recording it... radiotimes.com/audio/radio/j…

Great to see Zodwa Nyoni's engrossing play Liberation yesterday @rxtheatre - a fascinating account of the 5th Pan-African Congress in Manchester in 1945, which kickstarted the post-colonial independence movements. Also fab to catch up with Zodwa and ex-colleague Adam Strickson

This year marks the 40 year anniversary of My Beautiful Laundrette with screenings across the UK this week. lwlies.com/in-praise-of/my-b…

People think money has ruined football but the sight of a rapist dictator standing next to a corrupt football official in front of a big gold trophy at a competition bankrolled by Saudi Arabia reminds me the game still belongs to us.

Start Spreading The News… CHELSEA FOOTBALL CLUB, CHAMPIONS OF THE WORLD! 🏆🌍

🚨🚨| 𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐃: Chelsea have become the FIRST club in the history of football to win ALL the major trophies: • Premier League • FA Cup • EFL Cup • Champions League • Europa League • Conference League • Club World Cup

While the worst politicians are yelling about costly transport for children with Special Needs, note: this is a result of austerity & messed-up education policy - which were cheered on by these ppl - meaning there aren't appropriate schools & colleges near where families live.