Category craic

Many years ago, when I was at Uni, a mate gave me a book he no longer wanted. It was the collected poems of Adrian Mitchell, and it had a profound effect on my understanding of what poetry could be…

Not for the first time the announcement of the winners in the National Poetry Competition – and congratulations to Partridge Boswell, the other winning poets, and every single person who had a poem which made it onto the longlist, because…

Last night I was down in Luton with my fellow pandemonialists for what turned out to be an absolutely amazing gig in Luton’s Hat Factory arts centre. We’d been invited down by Lee Nelson, who runs a superb night in…

Last week’s gigs involved a lot of weather – there was the snowstorm as we headed back from Bishop’s Castle on Wednesday evening, then Saturday’s monsoon rains as we drove to Kendal – as well as appreciative audiences, excellent open…

Last Saturday, as part of Wolves Lit Fest, I gave my Fringe show Sweat and Mugs and RocknRoll its first proper outing. I was stepping in off the subs’ bench after one of the artists who was originally booked to…

If you’ve been visiting this website (or following my Substack) for more than a couple of minutes, you’ll be well aware that I’m fairly engaged, politically, and not afraid of speaking out when I feel there’s something that needs saying.…

These past couple of weeks I’ve been away with work, stage-managing my final tour of the year, and I’m loving it. You’re in a little bubble when you’re on the road – as anyone who’s ever been involved will know –…

It’s Monday afternoon, and I’m still buzzing about Saturday’s gig in Wolverhampton. You never really know what’s round the corner when it comes to live poetry events, and there can’t be a poet in the land who hasn’t had to…

Every now and then I’m introduced to a word or a concept which is so on point that I wonder how on earth I got by without it. There’s a lightbulb moment. It reshapes, ever so slightly, the way I…

This year, I’ve spent more time than ever in fields, earning my crust as a stage manager at music festivals large and small. I’ve watched people of all colours and creeds come together in a shared love of music in…

Yesterday, on Facebook, someone I know posted the usual nonsense about asylum seekers getting free holidays in hotels. The facts don’t back them up, of course, but facts don’t matter in this world where “right or wrong, it’s my opinion”.…

After Glastonbury, I promised myself that once I’d caught up on sleep I’d try and write some kind of analysis of the BBC’s piece about Kneecap’s set at that festival. Sleep’s been a little hard to come by, this being…