Nothing calls for jovial celebratory drinks like voting for state-sponsored people trafficking. The Tories are utterly devoid of humanity. #RwandaBill

My old and dear friend Rab Noakes who sadly died in 2022 left an amazing and impeccable collection of guitars. I see Great Western Auctions are putting them up for auction on the 24th of this month.
RIP my old friend, your music will last forever. greatwesternauctions.com/news/2024/4/ra…

Now I see it and I'm really sorry. By having a heart attack I have let my country down. More importantly, I have let Rishi Sunak down

Open consultations to help shape cultural strategies are crucial, but for freelancers, attendance can be costly. It'd be fantastic to see more support available for freelancers to attend, similar to some conferences. After all, what's a cultural strategy without freelancer input?

For #WorldArtDay , Edwin Morgan’s poem inspired by Flood Tide by Joan Eardley – a celebration of the creative spirit of the artist. Collected in Beyond the Sun: Scotland’s Favourite Paintings (Luath Press, 2007).

Image of Flood Tide © Joan Eardley Estate

Everybody should pay their tax in full. But the insatiable appetite amongst Tory MPs & their client journalists for details of Ms Rayner’s house sale lies in sharp contrast to their laissez-faire attitude towards the monumental scale of PPE procurement & Tory donor corruption. twitter.com/lewis_goodall/…

More shocking Revelations

Rishi Sunak spent £2m of taxpayers' money on focus groups & polling which helped craft messaging on 'eat out to help out' ahead of second Covid wave - despite keeping health chiefs in the dark on £850m scheme
theguardian.com/business/2024/…

JERRY'S GIRLS casting announced for the Menier Chocolate Factory

Jerry Herman revue to star Cassidy Janson Cassidy Janson, Lyn Paul Lyn Paul 🇺🇦, Julie Yammanee
18 May - 29 June Menier Chocolate Factory

Read more:
westendtheatre.com/229925/news/je…

‘The purpose is getting lost’: debate obscuring point of Scottish hate law, say campaigners theguardian.com/society/2024/a…

Creative Industries make up 6% of our economy: more than car and oil industries together. They employ 2.3million people. To cut funding is fudge-brained, cack-hearted thinking pitched very much at the highest level of economic self-harm. theguardian.com/education/2024…

As Israel’s drones & bombers fly above, this child from Gaza dances amongst the rubble, these beautiful innocent children reflect the spirit of Palestinians that will never be erased❤️ #CeasefireForGaza 🇵🇸

“I’ve been watching my daughter perform on stage since she was a small child and am very proud of her and what she has achieved.” maidenhead-advertiser.co.uk/news/slough/19…

Have you had a look at the spring_fling programme yet?

Head to the website to see the virtual studios, book bus tours and find out about this year's event programme.

We hope you'll be able to join us for the event, from 25 to 27 May.

spring-fling.co.uk

Midsteeple Quarter, an innovative community-led organisation that aims to breathe new life into Dumfries town centre, is currently recruiting for an Enterprise Manager.

If you're interested in applying for the role, you can find more information on their website's News page.

According to Gillian Keegan, the bill to make it illegal for rough sleepers to be smelly is all about supporting them

I do my best to shield my children from the racism and Islamaphobia I face on a regular basis. That becomes increasingly difficult when racist grafitti targeting me appears near our family home.

A reminder of why we must, collectively, take a zero-tolerance approach to hatred.

Punitive, performative, ludicrous. Aside from the idea that fining somebody £2,500 for rough sleeping will stop it (are they just wandering around with thar sort of money), IF rough sleepers were arrested, where will they be put? theguardian.com/society/2024/a…

OK, can anyone explain to me why we are having so much high-profile, detailed criticism of the Hate Crime Act this week, when it is about to be implemented, & not during the long period when it was under consideration at Holyrood. Were people & orgs unaware of it? Or what?

Goodness this is terrible news - I've done a lot of book events and the Aye Write festival is one of the absolute best - it's brilliantly organised, they get great engaged crowds - so this is a real shame. But check out their other events, and hopefully they will be back soon

I’m thrilled to present the cover of my first cookbook, Nights Out At Home, published this Autumn to mark my 25 years as The Observer restaurant critic: a collection of fab recipes inspired by my favourite dishes of the last quarter century. Preorder here linktr.ee/jayrayner1