James Cook

Art history is too important to be the preserve of the privileged The subject is endangered at A level just as it couldn’t be more essential or universal. Helen Barrett makes the case for its survival in British schools

In a world saturated with images, learning to think about what we see is vitally important.

‘Letting art history become endangered and drift further into elite status is not only unfair, it’s also perilous,’ writes Helen Barrett

They by Helle Helle review – a novel to make the reader slow down and take notice Minimalist but never austere, this mother-daughter portrait from the Danish author finds its power in everyday detail

I reviewed Helle Helle's precise, controlled unforgettable novella, They, in @theguardian.com. Translated by Martin Aitken, published by new small press Akoya. www.theguardian.com/books/2026/m...

INVENTORY: AN UNRELIABLE GUIDE TO MY RECORD COLLECTION by Andy Miller

In a change to our published programme, a new instalment of INVENTORY is available now via the @backlisted.bsky.social Patreon.

This week: The Cramps, Live at the Napa State Mental Hospital, 13th June 1978

www.patreon.com/backlisted

Sentimental journey.

Sitting in the White Star last night with @jamesbpcook.bsky.social and @judecook.bsky.social, Penny Lane came on the jukebox (sic), then Strawberry Fields Forever a few songs later. All agreed that while this was 'on the nose', it was also complete magic.

New event alert: Do come along to the @owlbookshop.bsky.social in Kentish town on Thursday 23rd April to hear Shaun Wilson and Sam Mills talk about his brilliant debut novel MALC'S BOY (it's publication day too so should be great!) @conduitbooks.bsky.social Tickets: owlbookshop.co.uk/product/shau...

Having played a gig to just a soundman & his dog before (just the dog when the soundman went for a leak), 15 paying punters to see the fabulous, fierce Stu Hennigan is a pretty good start. Do please swell the throng & see me & Stu in conversation at Bàrd Books on 12th March 7pm (tickets below).

MEET THE BÀRD: Stu Hennigan | Bard Books We are delighted to be hosting the first London event for Stu Hennigan's hotly tipped debut novel 'Keshed', a brutally poetic examination of class, belonging, masculinity, addiction and fatherhood. St...

Still a way to go but I can't believe only 15 of you are coming to this so far. If this ends up like Ghost Signs where everyone flakes out an an anticipated packed house of 60 ends up being barely double figures there's gonna be trouble at t'mill 😂

www.wearebardbooks.co.uk/event-detail...

Coming of age in New York’s music scene “Every room was to be destroyed”, Mark Ronson writes in Night People, his rapturous account of his early life as a hip-hop DJ in New York in the 1990s.

Mark Ronson’s memoir is a hoot. He makes 90s NYC sound even more exciting than 90s London. My review for this week’s @thetls.bsky.social www.the-tls.com/lives/autobi...

Labour’s Send revolution is a high-stakes experiment. It also threatens precious parental rights | John Harris Bridget Phillipson’s 10-year plan is generous in places, but it has its problems. Not least that it could be trashed by a Reform government, says Guardian columnist John Harris

And here it is: the SEND reform plan, and why - for all its good intentions - it threatens a terrifying loss of rights, just when the worst imaginable govt might be newly in power www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The vinyl lp of The Colour of Spring by Talk Talk

'Come gentle spring, come at winter's end.'

Released 40 years ago today.

I fear that Labour’s special needs revolution will instead be a catastrophic letdown | John Harris A familiar Labour story is unfolding: of lofty aims undermined by budgets, constant anonymous briefing – and a drive to remove families’ basic rights, says Guardian columnist John Harris

Latest from me: on the govt's imminent Special Needs revolution, and a familiar (old) Labour story: of lofty aims undermined by meagre budgets, constant anonymous briefings – and a drive to remove families’ basic rights www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The first episode of Bagpuss was originally broadcast on this day in 1974. Created by Peter Firmin and Oliver Postgate, the series ran for just 13 episodes (with voices provided by Postgate, Sandra Kerr and John Faulkner).

Happy publication day to the deep, dark, beautiful ride that is Keshed by Stu Hennigan.

We’re incredibly proud to be publishing this bold, uncompromising novel.

Congratulations @stuhennigan.bsky.social, and thanks to @turnarounduk.bsky.social, Jack Smyth, Tom and Jaime Witcomb and Alex Billington.

Inclusion bases: a new label, a big ambition, same unanswered questions - Special Needs Jungle More government announcements—this time changing units and resourced provision to “Inclusion Bases”: new label, same unanswered questions

Another SEND move today. The brilliant @spcialndsjungle.bsky.social has what you need to know www.specialneedsjungle.com/inclusion-ba...

257. Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis — Backlisted Dr Rowan Williams, theologian, poet and former Archbishop of Canterbury, joins Andy and John for a thoughtful and moving discussion of  Till We Have Faces  (1956), the last novel by C.S. Lew...

New episode up now. Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis, with guest Doctor Rowan Williams. www.backlisted.fm/episodes/257...

What does all this chaos mean for the government's SEND plans? Keir Starmer's meltdown surely makes any drastic cutting-back of families' rights even more politically reckless, but that doesn't mean it won't happen

Latest from me on Substack (it's free!)
maybeimamazed.substack.com/p/what-does-...

inews.co.uk/opinion/pare...

Agreed. And 'I Want You' being one of the best side-one closers of all time, with its nod to Abbey Road.

Listening to Blood and Chocolate now, LOUD.

I guess it was more of a Phil Collins/UB 40 type of place. The second song was the VU's What Goes on.

Jude and I once opened a 'matinee' pub gig at the The Longship in Stevenage in 1987 with 'Uncomplicated'. I'm amazed we're still alive.

Blood on the tracks. Great stuff from @iammilliam.bsky.social

A late-January Substack essay from me. Read In Plain Sight: The Dark Side of the 70s for FREE here: judecook.substack.com/p/in-plain-s...

256. The Sacred and Profane Love Machine by Iris Murdoch — Backlisted Ian Patterson, author of  Books: A Manifesto  (W&N), returns to Backlisted for a joyful discussion of Iris Murdoch and her sixteenth novel  The Sacred and Profane Love Machine &nbsp...

Penultimate new episode up now. The Sacred and Profane Love Machine by Iris Murdoch, with guest Ian Patterson in Socratic dialogue with @unamccormack.bsky.social Nicky Birch and me. www.backlisted.fm/episodes/256...

An engaging and affecting portrait of Tourette syndrome In March 1989, the BBC screened a thirty-minute documentary, John’s Not Mad, as part of its Q.E.D series. It followed sixteen-year-old John Davidson, who

I wrote about John Davidson’s moving, courageous memoir 'I Swear: My Life With Tourette’s' for this week’s TLS. @thetls.bsky.social www.the-tls.com/lives/autobi...

From the i's well-briefed breakdown of SEND changes: our increasingly nuanced, complex understanding of psychology & child development reduced to four "tiers" with an ejector-seat fifth that will seemingly involve actual rights. Humanity carved up by bureaucracy: No-one will like this system

If any journalists are covering the mounting controversy/briefing war about SEND changes, pls remember that the current system goes up to the age of 25. Abs no mention of this so far, which terrifies many people (inc me)

Whether the government likes it or not, the Special Needs debate is full of a familar nastiness It's already happened to immigrants, people on benefits and disabled adults: amid a cloud of prejudice and "overdiagnosis" talk, SEND children and their families seem to be next

Latest from me on (free!) Substack: on the eve of drastic change, whether the govt likes it or not, the SEND debate is getting nastier... we're back to the national sport of seeing people's needs, and branding them cheats maybeimamazed.substack.com/p/whether-th...

MEET THE BÀRD: Stu Hennigan | Bard Books We are delighted to be hosting the first London event for Stu Hennigan's hotly tipped debut novel 'Keshed', a brutally poetic examination of class, belonging, masculinity, addiction and fatherhood. St...

Who wants to #GetKeshed with me and @judecook.bsky.social at Bard Books in London on 12th March? Cos tix are onsale as of this afternoon 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

www.wearebardbooks.co.uk/event-detail...