'He characterised the true soul of football.' Love this tribute to Kevin Keegan RIP (who I was lucky enough to see play at Anfield when I was a child) by @davidsquires.bsky.social at the end of his take-down of the Trump dominated world cup. Worth reading in full: www.theguardian.com/football/pic...

Tremendous tributes to Tom Stoppard from Mick Jagger and Richard Eyre at Sir Tom’s memorial service. Part of the luck we had, indeed.

Radio 3 live broadcast this Saturday with a TV edit on July 24, for my prog adjacent mutuals eg @jonathancoe.bsky.social @whichdecadetops.bsky.social

Nice to find myself quoted by @hutchie.bsky.social in the new Mojo. Won’t spoil the rest of the Ry Cooder top ten except to say that, for me, Paradise & Lunch should be one place higher. Oh, and, where’s the wonderful Bop ‘til You Drop?

Great to see the original line up of Gaffa perform (for the first and possibly last time this year) at tiny Hedley Park's lovely outdoor festival on Saturday afternoon. In fine form, too, doing numbers new and old for a crowd full of faces from their (and my) past. fiveleaves.co.uk/product/dont...

With the publication of Single Tangle Mine & Which Scarf Match, my J.H. Prynne collection is - sadly - complete. WSM is dated March 2026, a month before his death. STM's dated April 2.

The Onion keeps nailing it politically. Their culture takes are sharp too. Worth subscribing @theonion.com membership.theonion.com?campaign=701...

The Great Work. Terrific new poem by Martin Stannard on Litter. www.littermagazine.org/2026/06/mart...

Remembering my dear friend, John Lucas, poet, professor, publisher, essayist, memoirist, novelist, anthologist, critic & jazzman (not necessarily in that order), who died last September. He'd have been 89 today. davidbelbin.substack.com/p/rememberin...

How quickly we forget. But this is how he campaigned to the left. Or lied, if you want to kick a man when he's down.

A happy 81st birthday to the great jazz composer and multi-instrumentalist, Anthony Braxton, WKCR is running a birthday broadcast of Braxton's music all day today. 1440 minutes! www.cc-seas.columbia.edu/wkcr/story/a...

Browsing 1966 issues of The Beatles Book, as you do, I came across this interview with Paul McCartney, asking why the US LPs and UK ones still had different track listings. I hadn’t heard this answer before (everything changed after Revolver anyway). Is it true? (see third image, others for context)

Lovely launch @fiveleavesbooks.bsky.social for 'Devils in the Details', essays around Lincolnshire Folk Tales by @rorywaterman.bsky.social with short readings by two great Lincolnshire poets, Rob Etty & Kathryn Daszkiewicz. Well worth it for the packed house who braved a thunderstorm to get there.

Congratulations, County. 11 years after dropping out of the league, Notts County are promoted to the first division after outplaying Salford and winning 3-0. Outstanding.

Tonight on one of those tucked away freeview channels, what appears to be the full length version of one of the greatest films ever made, Sergio Leone's masterpiece Once Upon A Time in America. If it is (4+ hours I've only seen on a bootleg print) definitely worth setting your digi-device to record.

Maria Taylor and Alan Baker reading at Five Leaves Bookshop at a lovely, packed launch for Alan's new 64 poem pamphlet, A Book of Psalms, from Shearsman Books. About to read it.

August 1, 2007, my late partner, Sue Dymoke, surrounded by poppies in Yorkshire Sculpture Park, where there’s a path with our names on it.

Glorious, exuberant opening night of the UK tour from The Lemon Twigs at The Rescue Rooms in Nottingham. Their new album is so good, I would’ve happily heard them play it all. Those hooks, those harmonies and those crunchy, catchy riffs!

A rare appearance by Nottingham's finest, Gaffa (+ many others & a side project or two) at Hedley Villas, Forest Fields, on July 4th, in memory of Jenny Snell, 2-7pm. Free. And Pizza! My memoir, Don't Mention the Night, with a long chapter about Gaffa, still available from Five Leaves Publishing.

The early show at Peggy’s Skylight. Packed for ‘Dennis Rollins & Tony Kofi play Bob Brookmeyer & Gerry Mulligan’. Subtle swing & contrasting moods from fantastic musicians. What a treat. Such a diverse audience too, with great food and drink. How lucky we are to have this unique venue in Nottingham.

29.2.68. Ornette Coleman appears at the Royal Albert Hall with guest appearance by Yoko Ono. 'A Leap Year Special.' A friend who was at the gig kept the programme. Here it is (minus the 4 ad pages). Lovely photo on the cover. Very few people at the gig, Dave tells me, but a really memorable show.

Update. Congratulations to my sister, Fran Belbin, reelected to Sheffield City Council in a close race. Here she is at the snooker, which she was instrumental in keeping at The Crucible.

Gwendoline Riley is flavour of the month with her new novel. It may be great - that shouldn't allow her to get away with the mean-spirited, petty reading of Beryl Bainbridge's oeuvre she published in the last issue of the TLS. Good to see this robust response from Jane Thomas in this week's letters.

So sorry to hear of the death of J.H. Prynne, whose work I've followed closely for 48 years. He taught two of my friends at Caius, his poems provoking endless conversation & bemused stimulation. He was a friend of Stanley Middleton, from whom I inherited this dedicated book. 'Oh, the world.' R.I.P.

Outstanding sold out show by @joshuaidehen.bsky.social at Nottingham's Rescue Rooms last night: part poetry & pure positivity, a charismatic preacher putting together his own church with discourse & dance. Go see. Here's a taste.

Three years late but worth the wait, it's a lovely, airy space with flowing shelves and an outside terrace. Tardis-like, it does seem bigger on the inside. Great to meet so many old friends there. Here's a poem by Bridie Squires that you'll find on the staircase when you check it out for yourselves.

After closing during Covid, Sherwood’s new library opens at last. Going in!

Two years ago yesterday I saw Jon Dee Graham, RIP, for the 2nd & last time. He was in a chair but in great spirits (we chatted after). Here's my video of Something Wonderful, the song of his I first fell for, in his spiritual home, Austin's Continental Club, where he had a record breaking residency.

Who was Cecil Roberts? As popular & respected as Ian McEwan or William Boyd in his day, now remembered, if at all, as a Graham Greene footnote. And even then he was excised from 'A Sort of Life'. I explain why in this bonus post to serial novel, 'Greeneland'. davidbelbin.substack.com/p/cecil-robe...