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This is the final song from the album we’ve been uploading in dribs and drabs. I still haven’t come up with a title for it, and we’re nearly done writing the next one. Oops. New Normal is a song about heavy sadness: what if everybody feels the same and we’re too scared to say it?… [more]
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As you may have noticed, the new series of Doctor Who starts tonight. I was never a Whovian – I watched it as a child and the rebooted series never appealed to me – but thanks to my daughter I’ve rediscovered it and realised what a great show it can be. Tonight isn’t just about… [more]
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The first time I heard John Grant, I burst into tears. People who know me won’t find that remarkable, because I burst into tears a lot. Long before I became the hormonal mess I am today, music often made me blub. But this was unusual, because it was – terrible pun alert – blub at… [more]
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Keeping up with trans-related news is a pretty depressing exercise: most of it is ill-informed or malicious, often parroting the very same “talking points” set out by viciously bigoted evangelical organisations. You can usually tune out if you see the words “cultural Marxism” (an anti-semitic far-right trope), “transgender ideology” (a phrase coined by right-wing evangelists)… [more]
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One of the great joys of being a parent is reading to your children (or as is happening more and more often these days, having them read to you). There are more kids’ books to choose from than ever before, and I’m often struck by the power and beauty of them. This, from Town Is… [more]
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Some people think UKIP is just a party of racists. Nope! It’s a party for bigots of every kind. Whether you hate the blacks, the gays, the muslims or the trans, UKIP is the party that’ll tell you the problem isn’t you, it’s them. I’ve been reading the latest UKIP interim manifesto – yes, this… [more]
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The Sky News / Tommy Robinson fiasco is a good example of something that’s all too common in media: smart people being really, really stupid. There’s an idea, oft expressed, that sunlight is the best disinfectant; that exposing terrible ideas to the harsh glare of publicity will make those terrible ideas wither and die. Unfortunately… [more]
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Sky News was very proud of its exclusive last night: an interview with former EDL leader and Nazi poster boy Tommy Robinson. Don’t do it, they were urged. All you’re doing is giving fascists the oxygen of publicity they so crave, and helping create the impression that they’re a legitimate group with legitimate concerns. He’ll… [more]
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Marks & Spencer has launched a new “easy dressing” range for children. The clothes are largely identical to the rest of the retailer’s children’s clothing (there’s a school uniform section too), but there are some crucial differences. Some have been tailored to make extra room for leg or arm casts, or have pockets with concealed… [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.
