Watching Saint Etienne this evening at Wilderness Festival, Charlbury, West Oxfordshire. Very good.

The England football team: a national disgrace since 1966. Tuchel made exactly the same mistake that Southgate did against Italy in Euro 2020, namely sitting on a lead. It just doesn't work.

Should Tuchel drop Bellingham for gross insubordination? Such a brave gesture would raise the whole moral tone of the World Cup!

I suppose these endless heatwaves are Europe's revenge on Britain for Brexit: sending their horrid, Continental-European summer weather over to us in order to ruin our summer. Thanks, guys.

Heatwaves are the bullies of the meteorological world: they stop you doing the things you want to do, make you do things you don't want to do and turn every day into a near-identical mixture of fear and boredom.

Well done Arthur Fery! What a magnificent performance. Something to raise the spirits in the midst of this horrific weather.

I thought 'The Invite' was a very funny sex comedy. Brilliantly acted, edited, filmed and directed.

Starmer - resigned. Stokes - resigned. When will Key and McCullum do the decent thing and follow suit?

Worrying, very worrying. In 22 years living in West Oxon, this is the highest temperature the thermostat in my lounge has ever recorded.

Same old English dog shit. Croatia seems a long time ago.

When I republished this Nigel Balchin novel in 2023 it bombed. I’m pleased to say it has sold better since and you can boost sales still further by buying a copy! Available from Amazon, UK bookshops and elsewhere. I highly recommend this book: it’s definitely one of my top five Balchin novels.

Introduce yourself with ten bands you've seen live: New Order The Smiths Cocteau Twins Stereolab Sonic Youth Sebadoh Sigur Ros Godspeed You Black Emperor! Mercury Rev James (twice in 85, when they were very good)

I assume this is another staged assassination attempt by Trump designed to bolster his flagging approval rating? What do other people think?

I had been wondering recently whether Len Deighton was still alive and now I have my answer. RIP. Having enjoyed Bomber and, especially, SS-GB in recent times, what should I read next. Funeral in Berlin perhaps?

Here's another of my periodic film reviews that no one ever sees! This time it's Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die, which I saw yesterday at Curzon Oxford. Although it uses a sledgehammer to crack a series of similarly shaped nuts, it's hugely entertaining and I couldn't help liking it. Bit too long.

After 2 years of struggle, this novel I republished in 2023 has suddenly started to sell quite well. Find out what all the fuss is about by buying your own copy. Buy from Amazon, other online retailers or by ordering a copy from a UK bookshop and enjoy in time for Christmas!

RIP Robin Smith. As a student at Southampton University in the mid-1980s I had the great good fortune to watch him play for Hampshire a number of times. Best square cut I ever saw, with the possible exception of his Hants teammate Gordon Greenidge.

Members of Australia's youthful, dynamic and vibrant bowling attack limber up ahead of tomorrow's First Ashes Test...

I didn't think that the remainder of the movie lived up to the promise of the very fine opening half hour, but The Choral is warm, funny and beautifully made, with the occasional bit of grittiness thrown in to stop it ever becoming too saccharin. Almost an exemplary piece of British film-making.

This is arguably David's finest work as a solo artist, although all three of his albums are excellent.

David Lance Callahan@davidlancecallahan.bsky.social · 9mo ago

My 1st solo LP was released 4 years ago today with an amazing sleeve by Pinkie Maclure, sterling contributions by Rory Attwell, Katherine Whitaker, Terry Edwards, Daren Garratt, Alison Cotton and The Iskra Strings. Some songs are still relevant: davidcallahan.bandcamp.com/track/born-o...

Jane Austen has never appealed to me at all but this performance of 'Emma' at Oxford Playhouse, which I saw yesterday, was superb. Fast-paced, very humorous, brilliantly acted and simply but very effectively staged. I warmly recommend it.

Which genius decided to stage a major cricket tournament partly in Sri Lanka during the monsoon season?

Last night I dreamt that I was giving Emma Raducanu a lecture about the novels of Nigel Balchin. She looked bored, pissed off and as if it was frankly all rather beneath her. In fairness, I erroneously conflated characters from two different novels. Only in dreams, ladies and gents, only in dreams.

OTD in 1945, Nigel Balchin’s Mine Own Executioner first appeared. A riveting thriller, it is also a highly readable account of 1940s psychiatric practice. Back in print for the first time in decades, click the link to discover how to buy this fine novel. www.nigelmarlinbalchin.co.uk/books/mine-o...

Bloody Surrey! They have the most fans, the best ground, the biggest squad, the most money and get the most extensive media coverage and now they get the best weather too, no one else playing as much as a single over all day!

It's been a real struggle for Rob Jones this season but I'm delighted he came good today with a vital hundred, anchoring a big run chase for Worcestershire in company with his skipper. Well played, gents!

*Please RT and/or like this post* It’s warm, it’s holiday time and these four Nigel Balchin novels make perfect holiday reading: entertaining and easy to read yet also intelligent and jam-packed with clear-minded insight into the human condition. Buy online or order from UK bookshops.

Just come back from watching the film 'Weapons'. Until it descended into overfamiliar horror tropes towards the end, I thought it was a highly enjoyable blend of Stephen King and David Lynch: creepy and unsettling.

Front cover of Nigel Balchin's 1962 novel Seen Dimly Before Dawn, which I erroneously omitted from my previous post.

Although this book was originally published on 18 January 1962, it is the quintessential 'school summer holiday novel'. For full details of this mesmeric book, and to find out how to buy a brand-new copy packed with additional features, click this link: www.nigelmarlinbalchin.co.uk/books/seen-d...