Find someone to look at you like I looked at Robert Hardman yesterday after a thoroughly enjoyable discussion and book signing at the lovely Chiswick Book Festival.
Catherine Mayer
@mayeroflondon.bsky.social
Author, journalist, activist, reluctant music biz participant. DIVIDE & RULE: Royal Women and their Battles out now. Novel TIME/LIFE published 2025.
Imagining Queenie listening to the intro to Anthrax, eyes wide, jaw dropped.
Catherine Mayer@mayeroflondon.bsky.social · 2d agoTime machine: 30 March 2009, on the way to a state banquet as the guest of Elizabeth II, who would benefit later that evening from my husband Gang of Four founder Andy Gill’s explanation of the beauties of guitar feedback.
Time machine: 30 March 2009, on the way to a state banquet as the guest of Elizabeth II, who would benefit later that evening from my husband Gang of Four founder Andy Gill’s explanation of the beauties of guitar feedback.
Me on the BBC talking about unhinged coverage of Meghan. This Saturday I’ll be in a longer discussion at the Chiswick book festival about the misrepresentation of royal women as villains or perfect saints and how that damages not only all women but democracy www.ticketsource.com/chiswickbook...
READ ALL ABOUT IT - DAYLIGHT ROBBERY! If media treats its own this way, no wonder so many outlets dehumanise their subjects. Demand better. Good journalism is needed more than ever. pressgazette.co.uk/publishers/d...
Imagine the self restraint to wait two and a half decades to tell this story for the first time.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 5d agoTrump claims he was basically lifted out of the rubble on 9/11: "Two fireman, big strong guys, they grabbed me under the arms -- 'got to get our of here!' -- and they literally lifted me up, and they started running with me."
How to set about creating the world as it should be? Well, a first step is to imagine that world. That’s why I am delighted to announce the return of the Primadonna Prize and the creation of a brand-new publishing imprint, Primadonna Publishing. 🧵
Imagine writing this piece. Imagine watching Reform leaders not only shrug off delegates beating up protestors but say these women brought it on themselves and then writing this piece.
He’s in fantastic company with those other greats. He deserves all that praise, because he made the world a richer place.
This is all true about Andy. But did you know that he attempted to explain the beauty of guitar feedback to Elizabeth II? www.classical-music.com/rock/guitari...
A panel about battles royal. I mean, what will we talk about? There’s so little royal news. Bwhahahaha. www.ticketsource.com/chiswickbook...
Blackshirts marching. Peaceful protestors beaten. Corruption scandals brushed aside. Vulnerable communities demonised. Eugenicists platformed. And we still quibble over whether to use the word fascism? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Disruption at Port of Dover as masked men hold protest
Protesters, all dressed in black and with their faces covered, are heard chanting "stop the boats".
bbc.co.uk
Thrilled to see my pome on the longlist
Renard Press@renardpress.com · 2w agoDelighted to announce the longlist for this year’s poetry open call 🙌 renardpress.com/regeneration... 100 brilliant poems exploring the environment. Watch this space for the shortlist and anthology… #poetsofinsta #bookstagram #poetry
So At Home He’s a Tourist is currently the 46th most Shazammed track in the UK. Odd because it hasn’t been synced recently. Hotspots for listening are Sheffield, Northampton and Cambridge. Can anyone solve this mystery? I mean, it is a BRILLIANT track, but… Hmmm. www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI-9...
Gang of Four - "Damaged Goods" (Live on Rockpalast, 1983) [21/21]
YouTube video by Isak Borg
youtube.com
“It wasn’t words that killed the princess,” protested Carole Malone inelegantly and less than accurately after the Paris car crash 29 years ago. Here is my final excerpt from Divide and Rule and as you see, I was almost too angry to read it. Here’s why 🧵
This was literally in the post above yours on my timeline.
“Female columnists are often used this way by editors, as if misogyny voiced by women were legitimate.”
Kara Swisher calls @Google @googlemaps @googleearth “NOODLE SPINED” “UNCTUOUS QUISLINGS” who “SOIL THEMSELVES” 🔥
Oh Diana! 29 years tomorrow since the death of the princess, nearly three decades in which women in public life, including her daughters-in-law, continue to be remorselessly & recklessly chased, anatomised and cartoonified by the media only and inevitably to be accused of orchestrating the attention
This Monday, 31 August 2026, marks a bleak milestone: 29 years since Princess Diana died. Many people and institutions are still in denial about the forces that placed her in the back of that speeding car. 🧵
Does this mean Andy Burnham is the Meghan Markle of British politics @telegraph.co.uk? I’m confused.
Here's the booking link www.ticketsource.com/chiswickbook...
"Robert Hardman & Catherine Mayer: Elizabeth II and Battles Royal" at St Michael & All Angels
Tickets are now available for Robert Hardman & Catherine Mayer: Elizabeth II and Battles Royal at St Michael & All Angels, London on Saturday 12th September 2026 at 11:00AM. Click the link for further...
ticketsource.com
Catherine Mayer@mayeroflondon.bsky.social · 3w agoOh, and if you’re in London and interested in hearing me talk about how the misrepresentation of royal women impacts everyone, Robert Hardman and I will be in conversation with Julian Worricker at the Chiswick Book Festival on September 12th.
It is pretty easy to spot the people (and bots) attacking my book Divide and Rule without having read it. This commenter clearly didn’t make it to the first page 🤣
“Nietzsche would not be impressed”. Great explainer from @samfr.bsky.social on the phrase “suicidal empathy” and the confused, self-pitying thinking of its promoters samf.substack.com/p/the-war-ag...
The war against empathy
Last week Reform’s treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick set out proposals to cut welfare spending on working age adults in half.
samf.substack.com
My brilliant, hilarious father David Mayer died three years ago today. So many things I remember and miss: the way he laughed until he cried; the way he made us laugh until we cried…
#quiztime For one point, who is this piece seeking to defend? For another point, who wrote it? Wrong answers only.
If there really was an agreement rather than, ie, a conversation that ran into the sand, this illustrates a point in Divide and Rule: that the attacks on Meghan create a feedback loop allowing media to crow about her unpopularity as their coverage drives sentiment, impacting her attempts to work
What next? There are calls for a public inquiry and the only reason I haven’t yet joined them is because I have seen some public inquiries create the (expensive) illusion of making change while relieving the pressure for immediate action. Curious to know thoughts on best ways forward
Carole Cadwalladr@carolecadwalla.bsky.social · 3w agoNEW: I can't get this story out of my head. And I know I'm not alone. The attempt to cover up the complicity of the UK media's role in Jason Arday's death may be its sickest move yet. broligarchy.substack.com/p/the-jason-...