Jonathan Coe
@jonathancoe.bsky.social
Writer. New novel is THE PROOF OF MY INNOCENCE. Previous titles include WHAT A CARVE UP!, THE ROTTERS' CLUB, MIDDLE ENGLAND, MR WILDER AND ME ...
https://linktr.ee/coelinks
https://linktr.ee/coelinks
The excellent @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social (which has done such great reporting on the flag epidemic over the last few months) delivers the goods again today with this deep dive into the Midlands mythology of Penda's Fen.
Penda’s Fen reinvents Mercia for the modern age
How an experimental British 1970s television play pioneered a folk horror revival
www.birminghamdispatch.co.uk
November 22, 2025 at 10:13 AM
The excellent @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social (which has done such great reporting on the flag epidemic over the last few months) delivers the goods again today with this deep dive into the Midlands mythology of Penda's Fen.
Is the Telegraph finally acknowledging that Thatcher wrecked British society?
November 14, 2025 at 10:42 AM
Is the Telegraph finally acknowledging that Thatcher wrecked British society?
Congratulations to the fabulous composer Mike Gibbs who today, aged 89, received an honorary degree from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. On display, delighted to see artefacts from his collaboration with Bill Forsyth on Housekeeping, plus the score of a tune that is very close to my heart.
November 13, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Congratulations to the fabulous composer Mike Gibbs who today, aged 89, received an honorary degree from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. On display, delighted to see artefacts from his collaboration with Bill Forsyth on Housekeeping, plus the score of a tune that is very close to my heart.
Not a half-baked gesture at all. Tidal has much better quality and pays artists four times as much as Spotify.
I just switched from Spotify to Tidal as a half-baked ethical gesture and maybe this is some sort of aural placebo effect but the difference in sound quality is startling, as though Spotify plays everything through a sock. Or am I just imagining this
November 10, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Not a half-baked gesture at all. Tidal has much better quality and pays artists four times as much as Spotify.
This is such a graceful post, from someone I worked with forty years ago (before she was a published poet or I was a published novelist) and whose work I admire very much.
I have found this whole episode incredibly distressing and isolating, so I'm grateful to see Rory Waterman's analysis shine a light on both the poetry and the poison. Whatever your views, we need a more courteous and humane public discourse, from and for all parties. Please.
My comment, for @pnreview.bsky.social, on the Len Pennie & Sarah Doyle affair - or Canongagegate, as I like to think of it. Honourable mentions: @naush.bsky.social, @thetimes.com.
Feel free to share, to attack me with your little jelly pitchforks, or to ignore.
www.pnreview.co.uk/archive/rema...
Feel free to share, to attack me with your little jelly pitchforks, or to ignore.
www.pnreview.co.uk/archive/rema...
November 10, 2025 at 7:37 PM
This is such a graceful post, from someone I worked with forty years ago (before she was a published poet or I was a published novelist) and whose work I admire very much.
This does an excellent job of summarising a novel which (in my recent experience at book events) is very hard to summarise.
I reviewed my favourite reads of 2025 for Shepherd Books: Year of the King by Antony Sher from @nickhernbooks.bsky.social, Karla's Choice by @nickharkaway.com and The Proof of My Innocence by @jonathancoe.bsky.social. I was asked to rank them, but all are first class...
shepherd.com/bboy/2025/f/...
shepherd.com/bboy/2025/f/...
November 8, 2025 at 11:31 AM
This does an excellent job of summarising a novel which (in my recent experience at book events) is very hard to summarise.
Kindle edition is £1.99 today until midnight.
www.amazon.co.uk/Proof-My-Inn...
www.amazon.co.uk/Proof-My-Inn...
November 2, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Kindle edition is £1.99 today until midnight.
www.amazon.co.uk/Proof-My-Inn...
www.amazon.co.uk/Proof-My-Inn...
Reposted by Jonathan Coe
The Proof of My Innocence by @jonathancoe.bsky.social is a bargain £1.99 on Kindle today #affiliatelink
amzn.to/4oUrfuV
amzn.to/4oUrfuV
The Proof of My Innocence: A hilarious new novel from the bestselling author of Middle England
amzn.to
November 2, 2025 at 8:03 AM
The Proof of My Innocence by @jonathancoe.bsky.social is a bargain £1.99 on Kindle today #affiliatelink
amzn.to/4oUrfuV
amzn.to/4oUrfuV
Thank you Apple, but the file I’ve just downloaded is a text file so ideally I’d like you to find a way for me to read it, not ‘use it as my ring tone’.
October 30, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Thank you Apple, but the file I’ve just downloaded is a text file so ideally I’d like you to find a way for me to read it, not ‘use it as my ring tone’.
Unfortunately, 'ideology over sense and pragmatism' has been the credo of the British right since 2016.
Ideology over sense and pragmatism
'Net migration will fall very sharply in future years... Any political benefit the government may gain from this fall in immigration could be jeopardised by the economic damage that it causes'. Some eye watering estimates here from @jamesbowes01.bsky.social ukandeu.ac.uk/the-coming-c...
October 30, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Unfortunately, 'ideology over sense and pragmatism' has been the credo of the British right since 2016.
Reposted by Jonathan Coe
10/29/70: Billy Wilder's The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
Considered his most personal project
More:
@jonathancoe.bsky.social [AU of Mr. Wilder & Me]: theguardian.com/theobserver/...
@cineoutsider.bsky.social: www.cineoutsider.com/reviews/blur...
@aadowd.bsky.social: avclub.com/forty-years-...
Considered his most personal project
More:
@jonathancoe.bsky.social [AU of Mr. Wilder & Me]: theguardian.com/theobserver/...
@cineoutsider.bsky.social: www.cineoutsider.com/reviews/blur...
@aadowd.bsky.social: avclub.com/forty-years-...
October 29, 2025 at 6:58 PM
10/29/70: Billy Wilder's The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
Considered his most personal project
More:
@jonathancoe.bsky.social [AU of Mr. Wilder & Me]: theguardian.com/theobserver/...
@cineoutsider.bsky.social: www.cineoutsider.com/reviews/blur...
@aadowd.bsky.social: avclub.com/forty-years-...
Considered his most personal project
More:
@jonathancoe.bsky.social [AU of Mr. Wilder & Me]: theguardian.com/theobserver/...
@cineoutsider.bsky.social: www.cineoutsider.com/reviews/blur...
@aadowd.bsky.social: avclub.com/forty-years-...
Finally caught up with One Battle After Another and those have to be 165 of the most enjoyable and exciting minutes I've ever spent in the cinema.
Thought it played at times like a mash-up of Running On Empty and Midnight Run, two of my favourite films of the 1980s.
Thought it played at times like a mash-up of Running On Empty and Midnight Run, two of my favourite films of the 1980s.
October 24, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Finally caught up with One Battle After Another and those have to be 165 of the most enjoyable and exciting minutes I've ever spent in the cinema.
Thought it played at times like a mash-up of Running On Empty and Midnight Run, two of my favourite films of the 1980s.
Thought it played at times like a mash-up of Running On Empty and Midnight Run, two of my favourite films of the 1980s.
Reposted by Jonathan Coe
AI “art” is boring because it can do anything, but means nothing. It’s as tedious as other people’s dreams or drug experiences. There’s no art without human connection and shared feeling.
October 21, 2025 at 9:16 AM
AI “art” is boring because it can do anything, but means nothing. It’s as tedious as other people’s dreams or drug experiences. There’s no art without human connection and shared feeling.
This is a great film, well worth recording. Naunton Wayne (minus Basil Radford) especially good as the laconic detective. Surprised to learn it must be at least twenty years since I've seen it!
#blackandwhitefilm of the day: Obsession, 1949. Rarely shown British #FilmNoir, last on TV 20 years ago. Psychiatrist Robert Newton plans the perfect murder of his wife's US lover, but the cops are closing in as suspense rises on @talkingpicturestv.bsky.social at 10.05pm youtu.be/YBW2zg6cHdA?...
Noir Alley - Obsession (1949) intro 20220911
YouTube video by Noir Fan (not affiliated with Eddie Muller or TCM)
youtu.be
October 20, 2025 at 2:57 PM
This is a great film, well worth recording. Naunton Wayne (minus Basil Radford) especially good as the laconic detective. Surprised to learn it must be at least twenty years since I've seen it!
Reposted by Jonathan Coe
I've had a few new followers today so if you're already starting to regret it and looking for an excuse to unfollow, here's some shameless self-promotion to make it easier for you.
October 18, 2025 at 4:18 PM
I've had a few new followers today so if you're already starting to regret it and looking for an excuse to unfollow, here's some shameless self-promotion to make it easier for you.
Reposted by Jonathan Coe
Pete Townsend and Prince in this ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ show from the great Arthur Jafa at Sadie Coles HQ and Karma Ashadu at Camden Arts Centre...loved these shows @theobserveruk.bsky.social @timadamswrites.bsky.social
observer.co.uk/culture/art/...
observer.co.uk/culture/art/...
Arthur Jafa is a sound-and-vision genius | The Observer
The multimedia artist creates hypnotic, cinematic forms of homage to music greats from Pete Townshend to Prince. Plus, Karimah Ashadu’s meditation on men
observer.co.uk
October 19, 2025 at 8:36 AM
Pete Townsend and Prince in this ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ show from the great Arthur Jafa at Sadie Coles HQ and Karma Ashadu at Camden Arts Centre...loved these shows @theobserveruk.bsky.social @timadamswrites.bsky.social
observer.co.uk/culture/art/...
observer.co.uk/culture/art/...
My 14-year-old self would never have guessed that, in 50 years' time, all the world's music would be available at the click of a button, you'd navigate the globe by carrying a tiny computer around in your pocket, and the US President would post a video of himself shitting over American citizens.
October 19, 2025 at 9:34 AM
My 14-year-old self would never have guessed that, in 50 years' time, all the world's music would be available at the click of a button, you'd navigate the globe by carrying a tiny computer around in your pocket, and the US President would post a video of himself shitting over American citizens.
X is incredible these days. We all know social media erases nuance, but X has taken this much further. It's not enough to express a loud opinion there now: to get heard, you have to couch everything in terms of riot, civil war, societal collapse, the end of civilisation, apocalypse. It's exhausting.
October 18, 2025 at 5:13 PM
X is incredible these days. We all know social media erases nuance, but X has taken this much further. It's not enough to express a loud opinion there now: to get heard, you have to couch everything in terms of riot, civil war, societal collapse, the end of civilisation, apocalypse. It's exhausting.
I've had a few new followers today so if you're already starting to regret it and looking for an excuse to unfollow, here's some shameless self-promotion to make it easier for you.
October 18, 2025 at 4:18 PM
I've had a few new followers today so if you're already starting to regret it and looking for an excuse to unfollow, here's some shameless self-promotion to make it easier for you.
I've had the pleasure of being interviewed by Mishal Husain three times. One of the most intelligent and accomplished people I've ever met.
Here's Nigel Farage trying to shut her down with the words "Listen, love ..." like it was still the 1970s. I'd say it was unbelievable, only it isn't.
Here's Nigel Farage trying to shut her down with the words "Listen, love ..." like it was still the 1970s. I'd say it was unbelievable, only it isn't.
Nigel Farage says"gotta shoot" down Russian jets | The Mishal Husain Show
YouTube video by Bloomberg Podcasts
www.youtube.com
October 18, 2025 at 1:11 PM
I've had the pleasure of being interviewed by Mishal Husain three times. One of the most intelligent and accomplished people I've ever met.
Here's Nigel Farage trying to shut her down with the words "Listen, love ..." like it was still the 1970s. I'd say it was unbelievable, only it isn't.
Here's Nigel Farage trying to shut her down with the words "Listen, love ..." like it was still the 1970s. I'd say it was unbelievable, only it isn't.
A bleak dystopia where Sharia law predominates, while economic and cultural divisions mean that the different communities live parallel, segregated lives.
Oh, wait, that’s Dubai …
Oh, wait, that’s Dubai …
October 18, 2025 at 8:24 AM
A bleak dystopia where Sharia law predominates, while economic and cultural divisions mean that the different communities live parallel, segregated lives.
Oh, wait, that’s Dubai …
Oh, wait, that’s Dubai …
A Vintage Obscura track from the Obscure Records label. Beautiful setting of James Joyce (from an artist namechecked in my Rotters’ Club).
Jan Steele-All Day [UK, Jazz] (1976)- Very chill avant-garde
https://redd.it/3649bz
https://youtu.be/z8SpYnYe77s
https://redd.it/3649bz
https://youtu.be/z8SpYnYe77s
Jan Steele-All Day [UK, Jazz] (1976)- Very chill avant-garde
youtu.be
October 17, 2025 at 7:20 PM
A Vintage Obscura track from the Obscure Records label. Beautiful setting of James Joyce (from an artist namechecked in my Rotters’ Club).
Reposted by Jonathan Coe
a truly amazing song
October 14, 2025 at 11:46 AM
a truly amazing song
It's not out until Boxing Day, but last night I was lucky enough to see Joachim Trier's Sentimental Value. An amazingly moving, near-perfect family drama: up there with the best of Bergman. And just when I thought it couldn't get any better, this absolute beauty comes up over the end credits ...
Labi Siffre - Cannock Chase
YouTube video by Groovy Attack
www.youtube.com
October 14, 2025 at 11:31 AM
It's not out until Boxing Day, but last night I was lucky enough to see Joachim Trier's Sentimental Value. An amazingly moving, near-perfect family drama: up there with the best of Bergman. And just when I thought it couldn't get any better, this absolute beauty comes up over the end credits ...
Reposted by Jonathan Coe
I am once again begging you to boycott Tesla
Musk is funding the legal battle of UK Far Right activist Tommy Robinson - real name Stephen Yaxley Lennon - as he faces charges brought by counterterrorism police.
Tommy Robinson claims Elon Musk is funding his legal battle — The Times and The Sunday Times
Tommy Robinson has claimed Elon Musk was paying his legal costs as he went on trial for refusing to comply with a request made by counterterrorism police as he tried to leave Britain last year. Robins...
apple.news
October 14, 2025 at 10:02 AM
I am once again begging you to boycott Tesla