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The image is from an excellent blog post by Shane O’Leary, which you can read here. [Update: My friend Chris Phin, who is an editor and therefore always right, has pointed out that I am of course describing practical writing here, not writing as an art form in its own right. I’d better clarify that… [more]
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This R.E.M. song came on in the pub tonight and I burst into tears. It used to make me cry a lot 20 years ago, and I couldn’t explain why. I said I’m not supposed to be like this / Let’s try to find a happy game to play / I’m not supposed to be like… [more]
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The UK Government Equalities Office has issued a statement regarding the unhinged coverage of the Gender Recognition Act consultation in this weekend’s newspapers. [Emphasis mine] Neither GEO nor Ministers were approached for comment on today’s coverage on the Gender Recognition Act. Any speculation that decisions have already been made on the Gender Recognition Act is wrong.… [more]
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We’re a selfish species, by and large. If something doesn’t directly affect us we tend to take the approach that “I’m all right, Jack.” Sometimes that means we resist changes that would make the world a slightly better place for other people. Sometimes we choose to believe the lone voice against the settled science because… [more]
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BBC Scotland has announced some of the shows for its new channel, launching next year. And it’s clear that with a roster including River City (But Broadcast Slightly Earlier), it may need some fresh ideas. Allow me to introduce “Battle Royale Mile”. The premise is simple. Each week, two Scots music legends fight in a… [more]
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It’s National Coming Out day today, a well-intentioned US campaign to persuade LGBT people to love themselves and live their authentic lives. Here are some people sharing their coming out stories on BBC’s The Social. But as the excellent DIVA columnist Cerian Jenkins points out on Twitter: BUT I do feel that the dominant narrative… [more]
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Is it still an album if you don’t release it as a physical product? Anyway. Here’s our most recent music collated in handy playlist form: HAVR – No-One Jumps On Rainy Days. As I wrote on Soundcloud: These songs were written about the big stuff: big love and heavy sadness, huge life events and little… [more]
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It’s world mental health day today, which has the worthy goal of trying to end the stigma around mental illness. But we also need to ensure that the help people ask for is actually there – and while a lot of that is about funding, it also means education. Some of that education is needed… [more]
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Yes, another trans post. I’m as bored as you are, believe me. What many people call trans activism is just trans people being pissed off with constant attacks on their right to a quiet life, and with just days left in the UK government’s gender recognition consultation the attacks are getting pretty intense on social… [more]
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The UK government’s consultation on gender reform finishes in a few days time (please fill out the consultation if you already haven’t; God knows, the bigots have in their hundreds). To mark the occasion, Vice magazine has published absolutely tons of trans-related stuff. It’s a welcome alternative to the barrage of anti-trans material in the… [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.
