Author | Lightnews

Alex North @alexnorth.co.uk · 2d

I forgot to mention on here that I had a ‘new’ book out in the UK last week. Dark Room was previously published years ago under my real name, and then went out of print.

It won’t set the world on fire, or anything, but it’s nice to have it out there again.

Four more of them to come…

The cover of Dark Room by Alex North, previously published under the name Steve Mosby. A greeny-black background, with a half-open door with yellow light spilling through.

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Keith W. Dickinson @keithwdickinson.bsky.social · 17d

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

The Verge @theverge.com · May 26

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.

buff.ly

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Adam Sternbergh @sternbergh.bsky.social · Sep 18

reminder: Jimmy Kimmel is enough of a mensch that he devised a segment on which actors who are just short of having enough work to qualify for union healthcare come on his show and deliver a single line of dialogue

deadline.com/2024/07/jimm...

‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ Once Again Aims To Help Working Actors Get Health Insurance With New Casting Notice

Jimmy Kimmel wants to help actors get health insurance with a new casting notice for his talk show

deadline.com

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Joe Lanman @joelanman.bsky.social · Aug 26

Avery Edison
@aedison
I wrote “I am alive” on a piece of paper, and placed it into a photocopier. What I saw next has shocking implications
11:53 am · 24 Mar 2023
·
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Views

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John Self @john-self.bsky.social · Aug 2

The link below is a subscriber link with a handful of free clicks.

Maybe a kindly FT staffer will share a gift link... 👀

John Self @john-self.bsky.social · Aug 2

“It’s almost taboo among writers to say, ‘I am interested in finding out what a person could do with this technology.’”

I spoke to @naomialderman.bsky.social, @richbeard.bsky.social and Sarah Hall about what AI means for novelists, in this week’s @ftweekend.com Books Essay:

Will AI put fiction writers out of work?

Authors Naomi Alderman, Curtis Sittenfeld and more on why artificial intelligence is stirring fears for the future of book publishing

on.ft.com

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Alex North @alexnorth.co.uk · Jul 30

Filmed in Leeds city centre! And judging by the clock, if it had been ten minutes later then I’d have been in the background. (Really lovely song too.)

youtu.be/BQDDbesNPJ4?...

TIM MINCHIN - NOT PERFECT (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)

YouTube video by Tim Minchin

youtu.be

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Gabino Iglesias @gabino.bsky.social · Jul 18

New—and packed!—column is up at @crimereads.bsky.social. This time, I talk about novels by Michael Farris Smith, @alexnorth.co.uk, @carlhiaasen.com, @kairarouda.bsky.social, Katia Lief, and Rob Hart.
crimereads.com/gabino-igles...

Gabino Iglesias: Let’s Talk About Some New Books

I have such a fantastic column for you this month! Want to know why? Well, there are half a dozen awesome novels here, but the main reason you’re getting such a lengthy column is that I read …

crimereads.com

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Wednesbury Addams @davidallengreen.bsky.social · Jul 17

This post by @lewisgoodall.com on the Afghan super-injunction should be read - and read *very* carefully - by all with any interest in law and policy in the UK.

And he is spot-on about Mr Justice Chamberlain.

goodallandgoodluck.substack.com/p/my-two-yea...

My two years in secret court: How UK governments hid a national scandal

The government put 100,000 Afghans at risk of death. Then used the force of law in a constitutionally unprecedented way to prevent anyone finding out.

goodallandgoodluck.substack.com

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Harrogate International Festivals @harrogatefestivals.bsky.social · Jul 10

⏰ Last chance to vote! The shortlist vote closes tonight, Thursday 10 July at 23.59. Hurry and vote for you favourite to win the coveted Theakston's cask 👉 https://bit.ly/VOTETOP25

@brookmyre.bsky.social @mwcraven.bsky.social @ellygriffiths.bsky.social @radiomukhers.bsky.social

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Alex North @alexnorth.co.uk · Jul 8

Absolutely brilliant news!

Harrogate International Festivals @harrogatefestivals.bsky.social · Jul 8

We are thrilled to announce that Elly Griffiths has been awarded the Theakston Old Peculier Outstanding Contribution award in recognition of her exceptional contribution to crime fiction. Congratulations @ellygriffiths.bsky.social!

Find out more 👉 https://bit.ly/EllyGriffithsOCAward

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Paul Cornish @paulgcornish.bsky.social · Jul 6

The Salt Path (post-credits scene):

*Moth & Raynor Winn enter their home to find Hannah Ingram-Moore & Johann Hari waiting for them*

Hari: "I'm putting together a team."

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Andrew Martin @andrewmartin.bsky.social · Jul 6

With this and Captain Tom, it's getting hard to trust people who go on really long walks.

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Anne Cater @annerandomthings.bsky.social · Jun 30

The Man Made of Smoke by Alex North #TheManMadeofSmoke @alexnorth.co.uk @michaeljbooks.bsky.social #BookReview

randomthingsthroughmyletterbox.blogspot.com/2025/06/the-...

The Man Made of Smoke by Alex North #TheManMadeofSmoke @alexnorth.co.uk @MichaelJBooks #BookReview

You never forget the day you meet a serial killer. Dan was just a teenager when he had a chance encounter with the elusive killer known on...

randomthingsthroughmyletterbox.blogspot.com

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Alex North @alexnorth.co.uk · Jun 29

The Prodigy are laying absolute fucking waste to that field right now.

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Count Chuckula 🧛🏻‍♂️ (AH AH AH AH!) @sazeracla.bsky.social · Jun 27

OK, so here’s my JJ Abrams story…

Before I started working in digital restoration one of my primary jobs in post-production support was running the in-house theater and screening rooms at work. Every now and again it would get booked for casting sessions, because it was perfectly suited for that…

Count Chuckula 🧛🏻‍♂️ (AH AH AH AH!) @sazeracla.bsky.social · Jun 27

Happy birthday to the composer of the theme music to the nonexistent 70s private detective TV series “Chuck Taggart, Private Eye!”

That’s one hell of a story. I suppose it’s about time I told it…

todayinnerdhistory.bsky.social @todayinnerdhistory.bsky.social · Jun 27

Happy birthday J.J. Abrams, born June 27, 1966.

Full Post
www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=...

#TodayInNerdHistory #June27 #jjabrams #startrek #starwars #lost #fringe #revolution #personofinterest #RegardingHenry #ForeverYoung #Armageddon #Cloverfield #TheForceAwakens #Felicity #Alias #birthday

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The Secret Barrister @barristersecret.bsky.social · Jun 19

Oh my.

I can’t stop rewatching.

The stuff of courtroom nightmares.

(H/T @timmorton2.bsky.social)

Mrs. Detective PikaBOO, Esq. @clapifyoulikeme.favrd.social · Jun 19

I need all of #lawsky to see this video from a Colorado appeals court livestream yesterday. I am in actual tears. Sound *incredibly* on, the subtitles will not help.

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Harrogate International Festivals @harrogatefestivals.bsky.social · Jun 16

Outreach work is at the heart of our ethos: promoting engagement with the arts in Harrogate & beyond through collaborations with our local communities. We're incredibly grateful to our funders, the Wild Foundations, for supporting us to make these workshops happen.

‘Who dunnit’ murder mystery workshops for school kids | Harrogate International Festivals

bit.ly

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Brendel @brendelbored.bsky.social · Jun 14

“A deranged maniac impersonated a police officer and killed lawmakers but if you’re an immigrant be sure you immediately comply with plain clothes people who won’t identify themselves telling you to get in a van”, what a fuckin country

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Dave Hutchinson @hutchinsondave.bsky.social · Jun 13

You’ll be too young to remember, but there was a time when you could wake up as many as three mornings in a row and not find the world had lost its fucking mind.

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Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · Jun 12

No one is safe.

California Sen. Alex Padilla handcuffed at Noem presser

The senator was stopped and shoved back by multiple men.

www.politico.com

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Bloody Scotland @bloodyscotland.bsky.social · Jun 12

A fantastic launch for the 2025 programme which has now been let loose on the world! Tickets at bloodyscotland.com/whats-on

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Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · Jun 9

Newsletter: I want my damn tech industry back. I'm sick of these sociopathic and directionless freaks wasting hundreds of billions of dollars on AI and ruining products in search of perpetual growth.

It has never been more urgent to hold them accountable.

www.wheresyoured.at/never-forget...

Never Forget What They've Done

Soundtrack: Queens of the Stone Age - Villains of Circumstance Listen to my podcast Better Offline if you haven't already. I want my fucking tech industry back. Maybe you think I sound insane, bu...

www.wheresyoured.at

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Tim Onion @bencollins.bsky.social · Jun 9

It is genuinely unsafe for average people to use Twitter and speak freely. It appears to be this administration's primary intelligence gathering operation.

onion person @junlper.beer · Jun 9

this is genuinely insane. we’re going to need to jail people involved with this administration

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Nick Harkaway @nickharkaway.com · Jun 9

There’s a fairly significant effort underway to conflate “software which can simulate conversation” with “a machine which has a meaningful experience of the world” and it’s hurting people, the planet and policy-making.

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Brian PJ Cronin @brianpjcronin.bsky.social · Jun 8

Think about all the incredible writers you know who can’t get any publicity but James Fucking Frey gets the front page glow up in the Sunday NY Times, called a “literary outlaw” for making shit up in a book billed as non-fiction, and a whole paragraph devoted to him describing his orgasms.

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