Dave Meldrum

Breaking news. Writing a book is hard.

Meaningless stat alert: Oz will have to make the largest innings total of the match to win.

Maybe I should go back to bed.

I was away yesterday, do today’s my first early get up for The Ashes. And putting up with infantile commentary (with the odd exception) before breakfast.

This afternoon I am mainly watching Frankenstein.

Death By Lightning is a terrific 4-episode historical political drama on Netflix about assassination of James Garfield (the 20th US President). It has a wonderful cast (Bradley Whitford doing political drama is all warm, nostalgic feelings), & it has a fine sense of humour alongside dramatic events.

Spurs - Man United. It ain’t great.

This afternoon I was mainly watching Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere.

My big Arsenal worry is that Raya may forget how to make a save. Imagine next week v Sunderland, Xhaka unleashes a thunderbolt & Raya is momentarily stunned into inaction by the sight of a spherical object hurtling towards him. Result: catastrophe.
It could happen.

Whose sofa is this, exactly?

Lemmings.

I'm not saying I'm easily influenced, but the book I'm
reading just mentioned Tunnock’s Tea Cakes, and now I can’t think about anything else.

Some writing this morning - at the behest of my editor - that is taking me well beyond my comfort zone. No idea if I've gone too far, or not far enough. But I guess that's why we have editors.

I'm into the process of editing the first draft of my novel in progress. I have a screed of notes on the first half from the editor I'm working with. The volume of notes is humbling, exciting, scary, and depressing all at the same time. But after a necessary break, it's good to get back into it.

And then to think about how we vote. It’s show don’t tell filmmaking of a high level.

The ending some disgruntled viewers seem to want for A House Of Dynamite is not the point of the film. The point of the film is not the big payoff, but to get us to think about the fragility of both critical processes and the people we expect to implement them.

This afternoon I am mainly watching Black Bag.

Really good goal. Palace are a good, well-organised side so a piece of set-piece brilliance is needed to break them down.

After the almost unbearable tension of A House Of Dynamite, I’m relaxing with (checks notes), an Arsenal game.

A ★★★★ review of A House of Dynamite (2025) You don't need a conventional horror film this Halloween; just watch A House Of Dynamite whilst keeping in your mind the awareness of who currently sits in the White House. Kathryn Bigelow's sleek, di...

New film from Kathryn Bigelow is on Netflix. The only scary movie you need this spooky season. To achieve this, watch this film about the American response to what appears to be the launch of single nuclear missile at USA w conscious awareness of who's in White House letterboxd.com/vicardave/fi...

This afternoon I am mainly watching A House Of Dynamite

a woman in a black hood holds her finger to her lips in front of bbc ALT: a woman in a black hood holds her finger to her lips in front of bbc

I’m having the best time watching Celebrity Traitors with Jenica. Bantering together about what’s happening, sharing jokes and predictions, laughing together … a lot. TV you can watch (via a VPN) with your child(ren) is precious.

This is the peaceful face of Jasper, who until yesterday had been too scared to put on a lead and get out the house in over two years with us. 45 minutes with a dog behaviourist, and he’s been out three times in 24 hours. What a brave boy (and a great behaviourist)!

This afternoon I am mainly watching Steve.

This afternoon I am mainly watching One Battle After Another.

YouTube video by Asle Knudsen Trainspotting - It's Shite Being Scottish - Ewan McGregor - WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES HD

I was silent a while, then burst out laughing, admitting the only thing in my head was to recite the entirety of this perfect scene... Fortunately, my therapist knows the film. youtu.be/xCtPBFHKSNg?...

YouTube video by Asle Knudsen Trainspotting - It's Shite Being Scottish - Ewan McGregor - WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES HD

A thing that's been part of my story recently is accepting & enjoying my Scottishness, something I'd long denied & pushed down (complex,painful reasons for this that I can't go into at the moment). Today my therapist asked me ‘What’s positive about being Scottish for you?’.

Major cricket tournaments are bad for my film watching habits.

Looking at squads and the fixture list, I reckon if Arsenal are within 4 points of the lead at start of February, then we're favourites for league.

Dominant, professional performance from Arsenal. Never looked in danger.