@tobiasjones.bsky.social
Italy-based journalist & award-winnning writer: Ultra, The Po, Blood on the Altar, A Place of Refuge, The Dark Heart of Italy, Utopian Dreams etc. Carpenter, listener, teacher - always co-building communities (Windsor Hill Wood, Common Home etc.)
Not at all. Such a great read. Don't know if you read Italian but this is a great book that has enjoyed underground success here. Written by a hacker who has picked a fight with AI (in this link there's a great example of "AI-ping-pong", basically calling it out):
altreconomia.it/prodotto/int...
An extraordinarily deep and moving essay:
"This texturelessness, and the filmy feeling it generates, is my synaesthetic reaction to something that, at the moment, remains uncanny: the knowledge that I am trying to parse meaning from something that, while grammatical, has no motivation to carry it."
Parma Udinese. In posizione!
29.11.2025 13:55 โ ๐ 7 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0The epic pre-Christmas cappelletti-making continues. Current count 867 with the egg-free ones still to do...
29.11.2025 12:24 โ ๐ 6 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
This is a story Iโve been wanting to write for ages. Itโs about how a generation of fans have brought the ultra movement to Scotland, and what that says about fandom, connection and friendship in a world where so much of life is digital observer.co.uk/news/sport/a...
29.11.2025 11:56 โ ๐ 52 ๐ 13 ๐ฌ 3 ๐ 0
Thinking about the burden and joy of writing about real people...
Do subscribe. It's free. Or you can buy me a cuppa if you fancy it. ๐ต
tobiasjones.substack.com/p/the-ethics...
Nope, we're freezing them so there's less work on the day itself. We never finish them all so we have a store of cappelletti through the spring that we dip in to when we need a lift!
28.11.2025 18:14 โ ๐ 4 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 1 ๐ 0
Making cappelletti (egg-free, meat-free and normal versions) for our Christmas lunch. The record to beat is 1,373. As usual, my only role is taster and washer-upper!
28.11.2025 17:27 โ ๐ 10 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 3 ๐ 0Lovely. I was born in Templecombe! Close to the badlands of Dorset but still in the far fairer shire of Somerset.
24.11.2025 08:59 โ ๐ 1 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
How "the system" (gov, unis) screws up the hopes of its young:
Here the (rightly tough) exams to enter Italian medical schools were leaked and copied before exams began. All results might now be annulled.
Honesty and meritocracy still steep challenges here.
www.rainews.it/articoli/202...
Upsets this w/e. Nigeria out. Hungary folded.
But Italy losing 1-4 at home to Norway was almost unsurprising. The Azzurri will prob. be OK against old foes Northerns Macedonia or Ireland, but they last won a WC group game in 2006. More despair than upset here.
www.gazzetta.it/Calcio/Nazio...
Thinking about books and what we share and how...
[with thanks to Tom Gauld for allowing me to use his cartoon and thus showing how it's done]
tobiasjones.substack.com/p/ex-libris
Cyclists have better lives... and socks.
Canale di Burana.
Flaring letters on side of train saying "fuck ice"
Train at Parma station. Now I've posted this I guess I never will get back to the US.
08.11.2025 07:24 โ ๐ 60 ๐ 8 ๐ฌ 2 ๐ 1
Thinking about all the off-desk aspects of the writing life: walking, gardening and, especially, table tennis.
[good people, subscribe: it's free, it really won't overwhelm your inbox]
tobiasjones.substack.com/p/manual-lab...
Bottled up & ready to taste!
01.11.2025 10:29 โ ๐ 6 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
Doing the olive harvest. Hard work but always sociable & rewarding. [Not our land obvs, just helping friends.]
25.10.2025 16:24 โ ๐ 6 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 1
Huge Palestinian flag at the Teatro Regio's Falstaff this evening.
16.10.2025 20:57 โ ๐ 12 ๐ 2 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0Ha ha! Do you mean correspondents (the people who write) or correspondence (what is written)?!
14.10.2025 05:07 โ ๐ 1 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 1 ๐ 0
My piece about the new Monster of Florence dramatisation ๐
www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
Back cycling along the Po* (aka. "Padus") The river in autumn is so mellow.
[*There's a great book called "The Po" in case you missed it... available in both English and Italian.]
Prato
09.10.2025 13:38 โ ๐ 6 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
The bright yellows, oranges and reds of a Christmas cake mix - raisins, orange peel, cherries etc.
The colours of autumn: the Christmas cake has to be prepared in early October and then be watered regularly with brandy!
08.10.2025 17:25 โ ๐ 9 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 1 ๐ 0
Thinking about thumbs and story-grip...
open.substack.com/pub/tobiasjo...
Twisting flyovers dwarf 8 storey buildings in edgy suburb of Rome
On the true crime beat in Rome.
06.10.2025 08:29 โ ๐ 5 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
Parma Lecce. In posizione.
04.10.2025 12:54 โ ๐ 5 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 1 ๐ 0
This story from Parma's lovely palazzo Tarasconi is hilarious: a Dali exhibition has 21 artworks confiscated, suspected of being counterfeits. Please, someone, commission me to do a long dive into wtf just happened!
www.gazzettadiparma.it/arte-e-cultu...
You're a man of impeccable literary taste!
NSNO
Parma. Won 2-1 with two Pellegrino goals (and a 3rd disallowed). First league win of the season.
29.09.2025 19:51 โ ๐ 1 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 2 ๐ 0
Parma v Torino. In posizione.
P need a first Serie A win of the season.
