-
Helen Taylor is the author of The Backstreets of Purgatory, which is ace. She’s a hell of a writer, a genuinely lovely person and the writer of this heartbreaking piece about being sectioned. We were supposed to have one-to-one sessions where I told him what I was feeling. It was meant to help, to give… [more]
-
A new study from Oxford University has been making waves today: it apparently demonstrates that despite much publicity over the dangers of screen use for children, screens are no more dangerous than eating potatoes. Inevitably, that’s not what the study actually says. In one of the few sensible reports, Techcrunch explains: the study does not… [more]
-
The world is full of snowflakes, we’re told. Thin-skinned, easily triggered and constantly seeking innocuous things to be outraged about, they’re the enemies of intelligent discourse. “Don’t like that thing because it’s baaaaaad!” they bleat, immediately leaping to the worst possible take on whatever it is they’re manufacturing outrage about today. No, not millennials. Middle-aged… [more]
-
Stonewall Scotland has published a worrying report: half of LGBT people have experienced depression in the last year, rising to 72% among trans people. More than half of trans people have thought about taking their life in the last 12 months. Here’s the thing, though. LGBT people are not more prone to depression or suicidal… [more]
-
Do you know what stochastic terrorism is? It’s a fairly obscure term, and it describes making the bullets for other people to fire. Stochastic terrorism is when you demonise a particular group of people and violence ensues. You aren’t directly responsible for the violence, because you’re not the one actually perpetrating it. But you made… [more]
-
Buckey Wolfe is a follower of the QAnon conspiracy theory. He’s a supporter of the far-right Proud Boys, and he’s been charged with the murder of his brother. Buckey Wolfe called 911 on Sunday evening and admitted killing his brother, saying that “God told me he was a lizard†and telling the dispatcher, “Kill me, kill… [more]
-
The Sunday Times isn’t the only supposedly respectable newspaper to mislead its readers in order to parrot the homophobic and transphobic views of its owner, Rupert Murdoch. The Wall Street Journal does it too. The WSJ appears to have started the new year the way it means to continue, with an op-ed warning readers about… [more]
-
Former first minister Alex Salmond has won his legal case against the Scottish Government over its investigation of sexual harassment allegations against him. The government admits it didn’t follow the correct procedures and as a result, its investigation is invalid. The verdict has nothing whatsoever do to with the truth of whether Salmond actually harassed… [more]
-
Another day, another admission by The Sunday Times that an anti-trans article by Andrew Gilligan was made up. This time it was the one about women’s toilets in the City of London, in which Gilligan completely misrepresented the Equality Act to scaremonger about nothing. As I wrote at the time: I regret to inform readers… [more]
-
The editors of N+1 Magazine describe “The New Reading Environment”, where writers and readers are often sworn enemies. Readers lose patience, and the careful quoting, like snipping coupons with precision, becomes tearing — into lines, phrases, and points. The space grows for misinterpretation, co-optation, and misunderstanding. All it takes is one podcast host with a grudge and a… [more]
Read me in books
My debut memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, was a Scotsman book of the year and Damian Barr’s Literary Salon book of the week, and it was shortlisted for the 2023 British Book Awards book of the year in the Discover category.
My latest book, Small Town Joy, is a celebration of queer influences on and queer artists in Scots music and is out now.
I’m also a contributor to the excellent anthology Fierce Salvage, which is also out now.
