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Helen Barrett

@helenbarrett.bsky.social

11K followers 2.2K following 5K posts

Features journalist - NYTimes, Financial Times, Telegraph. Writing a book about the Beatles, out spring 2027. Yes, we need another one. https://www.helenbarrettjournalist.com/ https://open.substack.com/pub/helenbarrett

www.helenbarrettjournalist.com

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Helen Barrett @helenbarrett.bsky.social · 17d

I wrote about a rush of new nightlife memoirs and the death of nightclubs for this week's @ftweekend.com books essay.

www.ft.com/content/a4ed...

Memoirs from the dance floor — the nocturnal universes of New York, London and Berlin

Three very different accounts by Mark Ronson, Jodie Harsh and Liam Cagney create a history of club culture since the 1990s

www.ft.com

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Reposted by Helen Barrett

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 3h

For reasons, it would be v. helpful to have information from a broad range of academic and non-academic (incl. GLAM) users of the BBC Written Archives OTHER THAN historians, briefly on: 1) What you've used it for and 2) How the proposed changes would impact on your research.

Reposts welcomed.

Historians dismayed by ‘scandal’ of BBC cutting access to...

Critics say new limit to trove of information sounds knell for independent research

observer.co.uk

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Helen Barrett @helenbarrett.bsky.social · 2h

Totally pointless, not least because books are worthless regardless of their condition. As anyone who has tried to foist a deceased relative's collection on a charity shop knows.

Helen Barrett @helenbarrett.bsky.social · 3h

"BATMAN!"

"TAXMAN!"

Of course.

Jon Dennis @jondennis.bsky.social · 3h

I’m enjoying Steve Turner’s Beatles ‘66 book, not least the claim that Neal Hefti’s Batman Theme was an inspiration for Taxman.

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Reposted by Helen Barrett

Grise l’Indécis @wildobliquities.bsky.social · 20h

everyone say thank you to Leigh again please

Pop Crave @popcrave.com · 5d

Nicole Kidman stuns for Vogue.

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Grise l’Indécis @wildobliquities.bsky.social · 16h

greatest book ever written

Cover:
The Cow Who Fell in The Canal
Phyllis Krasilovsky

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Reposted by Helen Barrett

John Grindrod @grindrod.bsky.social · 5d

There’s now ten episodes of Monstrosities Mon Amour available! That’s a lot of cheery chat about unloved and unfairly maligned places… podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/m...
- The Golden Mile with Kathryn Ferry
- The Drum, Margate, with Dan Thompson
- The Blue Bridge with Catherine Croft

Monstrosities Mon Amour

Places & Travel Podcast · Monthly · In Monstrosities Mon Amour we celebrate places and things that have been unfairly monstered in popular opinion. Host John Grindrod will be your excitable guide to a...

podcasts.apple.com

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Reposted by Helen Barrett

Brian Groom @groomb.bsky.social · 1d

Tib Street entrance to Affleck's Palace indoor market, Manchester, 1995 (Manchester Libraries).

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Helen Barrett @helenbarrett.bsky.social · 5h

That's my memory, too. The first to show food as pleasurable, convivial and part of the real world. Delia - the only other show that seemed to be around - was cooking for the terrified.

Reposted by Helen Barrett

Nicole Jenkins @frillseeker.bsky.social · 13h

C.S. Lewis created generations of people who grew up to be disappointed by Turkish Delight.

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Helen Barrett @helenbarrett.bsky.social · 18h

Ha, yes. Totally.

Helen Barrett @helenbarrett.bsky.social · 20h

It's a wonderful record, so direct.

Helen Barrett @helenbarrett.bsky.social · 21h

Crikey. We got taken to Manchester Airport to watch the planes take off.

Helen Barrett @helenbarrett.bsky.social · 23h

This is good, especially as Doig says he's not changing much, which hopefully means it's not going to be yet another Devonshire-type thing.

www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/10/09/p...

Peter Doig is bringing a cult classic London pub back to life—here's why it matters

The prominent artist and his partner, the gallerist Parinaz Mogadassi, will be preserving McGlynn’s in King's Cross at a time when such important community hubs are continuing to go under

www.theartnewspaper.com

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Reposted by Helen Barrett

Henry Mance @henrymance.ft.com · 1d

The right-wing campaign group that helped topple Roe v Wade in the US is now working to roll back abortion laws in the UK, with the help of Nigel Farage.

Its first step? Trying to create a debate around "free speech"
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/13/w...

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Helen Barrett @helenbarrett.bsky.social · 1d

A gorgeous thing to own.

C20 Society @c20society.bsky.social · 1d

🚨 A unique test panel from the Tottenham Court Road Station murals by Sir Eduardo Paolozzi (1924-2005) is coming up at auction with Lyon & Turnbull on Oct 31.

Created in 1982-86, the polychromatic glass mosaics at TCR are the ‘Sistene Chapel of art of the Underground’, yet remain unlisted.

1.5x1m butterfly / moth mosaic panel - gifted by Paolozzi to the architect who oversaw the installation of the murals, Duncan Lamb.

Tottenham Court Road Station murals - Sir Eduardo Paolozzi, 1982-86
Image credit: Historic England

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Reposted by Helen Barrett

Samira Ahmed @samiraahmeduk.bsky.social · 1d

My BFI Classic on The Beatles’ film A Hard Day’s Night is available to preorder now. Here’s the story behind it. I love the cover - inspired by the film poster and a key theme in the book: the power of television in transmitting the Beatles to the world. samiraahmed.blog/why-i-wrote-...

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Helen Barrett @helenbarrett.bsky.social · 1d

Yeah, I see that. But what seems to have radicalised my acquaintance most is the near impossibility of getting a GP appointment. The running down of primary health services is likely pushing people towards cranks and grifters. I wonder how effective health messaging would be without fixing that.

Helen Barrett @helenbarrett.bsky.social · 1d

Yeah, I see that. But what seems to have radicalised my acquaintance most is the near impossibility of getting a GP appointment. The running down of primary healthcare services is likely pushing people towards cranks and grifters. I wonder how effective health messaging would be without fixing that.

Helen Barrett @helenbarrett.bsky.social · 1d

Most of the time, the people who spout such lines have faces full of fillers.

Reposted by Helen Barrett

Bruno Tonelli @brunotonelli.bsky.social · 1d

Mantova

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Vitsœ @vitsoe.bsky.social · 11d

Are you a fan of modernist, mid-century and brutalist architecture? We have good news for you: the Modernist Book Fair is coming back to our London shop this month.

Find more details and mark your calendars: instagram.com/p/DPWB_WZDEwX

#vitsoe #vitsœ #modernistbookfair

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Reposted by Helen Barrett

Richard Littler @richardlittler.bsky.social · 1d

Station ident tele-snaps

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Lauren Elkin @laurenelkin.bsky.social · 6d

Best essay title ever?

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Helen Barrett @helenbarrett.bsky.social · 1d

Agree, though this was a documentary-drama hybrid (Xan Brooks explains it better than I could on this link). I think it was an attempt to get away from the talking-heads docu format.

www.theguardian.com/film/2025/au...

Broken English review – Marianne Faithfull’s last glow, as she recounts past lives

The charismatic Faithfull is quizzed by a fictional ministry fronted by Tilda Swinton about a confounding career, from 60s It girl to art scene doyenne

www.theguardian.com

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Helen Barrett @helenbarrett.bsky.social · 2d

BRILLIANT piece.

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