Next month I’ll be tutoring an Arvon Writing Week w/ Tanya Shadrick + guest @malachytallack. There are a few places left if you'd like to join us in Yorkshire for five days of writing non-fiction through the theme of water. 27 Nov–2 Dec: arvon.org/writing-course…

“Just because the chancellor says you get 30 free hours – like Oprah handing out free cars – it doesn’t make it a reality. What makes it a reality is having the infrastructure and a well-trained, qualified, well-paid workforce in place.” theguardian.com/money/2023/nov…

Overheard in the King’s Arms, Oxford: ‘The suffering is the publishing industry, the pleasure is the writing.’ Sing it!

The Home Office saying it sees ‘no compassionate grounds’ to allow a 6-year-old to be reunited with her mother is really telling on itself, isn’t it. This is so grim. theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/n…

This is so sad. I did my MA here. I’ve taught at Brookes on and off for years in another department. I’m so worried for the future of the humanities in this country.

Excited that Caper is now open for business (and v proud of Xander Cansell for hatching the plan and getting it to this point in what has been Quite A Year). Feels a bit mad opening a bookshop but also very right in a lot of ways.

What a joyful week at Arvon’s Arvon North site leading a course alongside brilliant Tanya Shadrick, with a lovely midweek reading by @malachytallack. Leaving heart full & inspired ❤️

I love this practice so much - both as a writing exercise and a tangible, poetic way of capturing a moment in time/place

Back on whatever this site is to ask: who/where is writing/publishing well on the *business* of fertility (private clinics, self-funded treatment, etc) in the UK these days? And/or any relevant research networks? Interested particularly in ethical & financial considerations.

Rereading @NellFrizzell’s Holding the Baby in prep for our chat at Caper tomorrow evening & getting very excited. It hits just as hard but in different ways now that my son is older and I’m firmly out from behind the partial eclipse. Tix here: checkout.square.site/merchant/ML2NM…

I’m so excited about this - I’ll be in conversation with the brilliant @katbrown at Caper on 5 June talking about No One Talks About This Stuff, a book which brings together 22 stories of almost-parenthood. If you’re in/near Oxford please join us! checkout.square.site/merchant/ML2NM…

For the last 14 years as an NHS doctor, I have watched this party, these governments, savage the NHS into a crumbling shell of a once great institution. Deliberate, calculated, shameless destruction. Only one thing to say. Please, if you still want an NHS, do not vote Tory.

One week today! checkout.square.site/merchant/ML2NM…

So looking forward to teaching alongside Jarred on this course - do join us (from your own home!) if you’re interested in exploring writing from life…