Ali McGrane

End the sewage pollution scandal We're sick of it. Sick of the lies, sick of the greed, and sick of a system rigged against us. This is a scandal and this dirty business must end. For more than 30 years water companies have put corpo...

I've signed. Will you? you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/en...

Yes! It's brilliant!

Palestine Action have WON their judicial review in the High Court!
A massive victory for free speech, freedom of association and the right to protest.
A massive defeat for the draconian attempts by Keir Starmer's government to curtail our fundamental rights.

a shelf of books in a-z order

a shelf of books in a-z order

a shelf of books in a-z order

MY BIG CLEAR OUT!

Here are 3 shelves of my books in A-Z order by author.

You can have any 2 for £10 (free P+P).

Please share (and buy).

UK only.

Say no to Palantir in the NHS NHS England is rolling out software to run our health records from Palantir - fight back

notopalantir.goodlawproject.org/email-to-tar...

PEN Translates winners announced - News & Events - English PEN

www.englishpen.org/posts/news/p...

Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again.
#Pinks #ProudBlue

Winners of Weatherglass Novella Prize 2.0, with Ali Smith And announcement of dates for Novella Prize 3.0

So, this!
I am, of course, delighted but also slightly speechless 😊

open.substack.com/pub/weatherg...

Totally brilliant news, Jupiter!!! Huge congrats 🎉🎉🎉

and we're open! we're looking for standalone novellas, 17.5K - 40K words, on the theme of environmental justice. check out our full guidelines here: reckoning.press/submit/novel...

The Village The village with all of the flash writers

Are you in need of a village? We are The Village with All of The Flash Writers. And here's the invitation link:
smokelong-quarterly.mn.co/plans/191340...

We are open for submissions of contemporary #microfiction #submissionsopen #callforsubmissions. Please click on the link below for our guidelines. We're looking fwd to reading your words... fictivedream.com/submission-g...

UK loses measles elimination status Decision made after outbreaks in 2024, when there were nearly 3,000 cases in England and Wales.

I realised over Christmas that I’d never gotten my second MMR jab on account of childhood moves and policy changes. I emailed my GP and I just got it this morning, free on the NHS. It’s never too late and you can’t overdo it. Please get vaccinated.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The Club Together logo and words: "Stories unite us. Let's share the power of reading!"

Turn your book club into a force for good 📚✨

We're calling on book clubs across the UK to host a book swap, themed dinner, or other bookish bonanza to raise money to get more children reading!

Interested? Sign up for your free pack with everything you need to get started 🩷

bit.ly/4bO33qs

Will writers be replaced by AI? - Blog - Magazine : Mslexia, a magazine for women's writing and women who write. Will writers be replaced by AI? - Blog - Magazine : Mslexia, a magazine for women's writing and women who write.

AI may be able to mimic literature, but readers will always be hungry for organic, idiosyncratic, flawed and brilliant writing by real human beings.

Bec Evans explains why we must keep writing in the age of AI in our latest Issue. Read the full article on our blog ✍️

mslexia.co.uk/magazine/blo...

At the root of all our problems stands one travesty: politicians’ surrender to the super-rich | George Monbiot There are many excuses for failing to tax the ultra-wealthy. The truth is that governments don’t tackle the problem because they don’t want to, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

this sums it all up very clearly, I think: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Palestine Action hunger strikers are still the state’s responsibility | Letters Letters: The power is in the hands of the DPP or the attorney general, writes Stephen Sedley. Plus Roshi Fernando on Keir Starmer’s unforgivable conduct

A number of people on this platform have been claiming that it's not up to government to shorten people's time on remand, however far beyond the statutory limit that time extends.
Well, take it from a very eminent retired judge. It is.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Unfuck Your Writing January Check-in · Zoom · Luma 'Unfuck Your Writing' Monthly Online Check-ins Join me for an informal community chat session to talk about all the things that have sparked (and stifled) our…

Heyo, I'm trying a new monthly writerly hangout this year — a friendly, curious chat about all the things that spark (and stifle) our creativity...

First session's tomorrow, Tues 13 Jan at 11am (recorded if you can't make it live): luma.com/ola4ukki

Join The Great Unfuckening!

‘There is one story we never tell’: will old family photos bring joy to my ailing mother – or remind us of dark secrets? As Alzheimer’s tightens its grip, we have started making our way through the hundreds of albums in my childhood home. But some are too painful to revisit

"Perhaps a person's life force is like a camp fire, and we keep it burning by telling our stories around it." Steven Kelman www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Sign the petition to keep chlorine-washed chicken off our shelves Here we go again. Trump has told the UK that if we want a UK-US tech deal, we need to buy chlorinated chicken from the US! 🤢🐔 How dare he try to impose poor food standards in Britain. Sign the…

Tell Keir Starmer our food standards are not for sale. Sign the urgent petition and help stop chlorinated chicken entering the UK: act.38degrees.org.uk/act/chlorine...

Stand up for our BBC - don’t give Trump a penny! Donald Trump has filed a $10bn lawsuit against the BBC over a Panorama documentary! 🚨 If he wins, our national broadcaster could be wrecked - and license fee payers could be stuck with the bill.…

Don't give in, don't settle, and don’t let him take a single penny of our money. The BBC must stand its ground and defend the integrity of British journalism.

Over 80,327 people have already signed to say we won't be bullied. Join them: 38d.gs/TrumpBBC_SMC... 2/2

Homeless people turned away from Holiday Inn during -6C night despite paying "I know that you're from the street"

Well, Holiday Inn is off the list when I’m on tour

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater...

Dandelions by Sophie Grandval. 1990

Decline, what decline? The myth of dying Europe There is a widespread view that, by comparison with the USA, Europe is in economic and social decline. But, Zucman argues, it's not true

The story of Europe’s economic decline while US is 'soaring' is everywhere.

But it is wrong. It is a myth.

Europe delivers more leisure, longer life expectancy, less inequality than the US.

Gabriel Zucman dismantles the myths.

@eastangliabylines.co.uk

Three of the top five British grid electricity records smashed in 2025!

This is a huge success story, despite what Russian bots and U.S fossil fuel shills scream on X.

Every unit of clean domestic energy we produce means a safer future for our children…🥳

A complete rainbow arcing over green fields

One section of the rainbow where it meets the horizon, showing all its colours

1st Jan walk. The omens seem good...

As Northodox elegantly zigs (and therefore zags away from Short form #Sci-Fi) a reminder that their sale ALSO includes all their last year's titles, including my retro-themed collection A Short History of the Future! Last chance to get it on sale? Quite possibly!

www.northodox.co.uk/product-page...

This set of observations is produced by my scrolling Reddit and otherwise listening to people talk about "how to write."

A) there is no requirement that any of your characters has any sort of "arc" let alone a redemption.

B) there is also no requirement that your fiction has a plot.