Luke Turner
@luketurner.bsky.social
Author: Men at War - Loving, Lusting, Fighting, Remembering 1939-1945 on British masculinity, sexuality & the cultural memory of WWII on W&N Books/Orion. First 📖 Out of the Woods, 2019. Co-founder: The Quietus. My stuff: https://linktr.ee/luketurner ⚒️🏳️🌈
How it started / how it’s going
(The Deeney’s haggis cheese chutney bacon toastie is a work of genius but has consequences)
(The Deeney’s haggis cheese chutney bacon toastie is a work of genius but has consequences)
November 23, 2025 at 3:32 PM
How it started / how it’s going
(The Deeney’s haggis cheese chutney bacon toastie is a work of genius but has consequences)
(The Deeney’s haggis cheese chutney bacon toastie is a work of genius but has consequences)
Proper and perfect weather up in Epping Forest on the morning constitutionals this week, colour washed out save the green blast of the grass in the V-2 crater
November 21, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Proper and perfect weather up in Epping Forest on the morning constitutionals this week, colour washed out save the green blast of the grass in the V-2 crater
Man Panic sounds like a little-known horny pumper reissued, compiled and repackaged with plenty of other hot meat on one of the recent Disco Discharge compilations
November 20, 2025 at 9:04 AM
Man Panic sounds like a little-known horny pumper reissued, compiled and repackaged with plenty of other hot meat on one of the recent Disco Discharge compilations
They’re holding an Octoberfest! R brave boys didn’t die to have fackin German pints and leatherhosen
November 17, 2025 at 10:21 PM
They’re holding an Octoberfest! R brave boys didn’t die to have fackin German pints and leatherhosen
On the recent Quietus Low Culture Podcast I talked about how I hoped the bouncing soles of Dr Martens boots were going to save me from having to wear orthopaedic shoes for my dodgy knees as I age. And hey presto, Google ads are now advertising me old people shoes on the sodding Quietus.
November 17, 2025 at 9:54 AM
On the recent Quietus Low Culture Podcast I talked about how I hoped the bouncing soles of Dr Martens boots were going to save me from having to wear orthopaedic shoes for my dodgy knees as I age. And hey presto, Google ads are now advertising me old people shoes on the sodding Quietus.
The internet served me this horror of home improvement: on the left, original beautiful 1930s fire surround, ripped out and replaced by the ‘tasteful’ generic white minimalism and nauseous blueish tiling. And this was being celebrated! Truly we deserve the coming doom.
November 15, 2025 at 11:29 AM
The internet served me this horror of home improvement: on the left, original beautiful 1930s fire surround, ripped out and replaced by the ‘tasteful’ generic white minimalism and nauseous blueish tiling. And this was being celebrated! Truly we deserve the coming doom.
Thomas The Tank Engine serves up some incredible bleak paired pages. Always loved the cocky American engine getting turned into a pump, the mountain locomotive falling off the cliff, the crushed brake van, the dismembered truck - but this is especially haunting for all steam enthusiasts:
November 14, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Thomas The Tank Engine serves up some incredible bleak paired pages. Always loved the cocky American engine getting turned into a pump, the mountain locomotive falling off the cliff, the crushed brake van, the dismembered truck - but this is especially haunting for all steam enthusiasts:
I saw it was suspiciously round and went onto the Layers of London aerial photography map – and hey presto
www.layersoflondon.org/map/overlays...
www.layersoflondon.org/map/overlays...
November 14, 2025 at 12:00 PM
I saw it was suspiciously round and went onto the Layers of London aerial photography map – and hey presto
www.layersoflondon.org/map/overlays...
www.layersoflondon.org/map/overlays...
14 November and welcome rain rattles the Epping Forest Woodfordish V-2 crater, finally starting to fill up. How many years until it becomes just another grassy hollow?
November 14, 2025 at 10:24 AM
14 November and welcome rain rattles the Epping Forest Woodfordish V-2 crater, finally starting to fill up. How many years until it becomes just another grassy hollow?
Had a lovely walk round the local bit of Epping Forest earlier with Inside The Rose in the headphones, still buzzing from this gig. Turns out there were at least three of us there from Pride Of Irons, West Ham’s LGBT+ group, which I like a lot. ⚒️🏳️🌈🌳🔥
November 13, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Had a lovely walk round the local bit of Epping Forest earlier with Inside The Rose in the headphones, still buzzing from this gig. Turns out there were at least three of us there from Pride Of Irons, West Ham’s LGBT+ group, which I like a lot. ⚒️🏳️🌈🌳🔥
also, Michael Davidson's The World, the Flesh and Myself. I read it while researching Men At War, but didn't write about him in the end – the book is a jolly travelogue in which he wanders the world abusing boys (that most aren't white gives a racial dimension to the exploitation too)
November 13, 2025 at 10:51 AM
also, Michael Davidson's The World, the Flesh and Myself. I read it while researching Men At War, but didn't write about him in the end – the book is a jolly travelogue in which he wanders the world abusing boys (that most aren't white gives a racial dimension to the exploitation too)
These New Puritans tonight: murky, defiant, romantic, rattling; still they dig emotion out of unlikely places. In a recent review @katefmkatefm.bsky.social wrote that they “weigh up man and machine, medieval and modern, pastoral and industrial, and decide to keep it all.” I think that nails it.
November 13, 2025 at 12:28 AM
These New Puritans tonight: murky, defiant, romantic, rattling; still they dig emotion out of unlikely places. In a recent review @katefmkatefm.bsky.social wrote that they “weigh up man and machine, medieval and modern, pastoral and industrial, and decide to keep it all.” I think that nails it.
that looks handsome! I was so stuck and desperate for new big much I got this one for a fiver at TK Maxx.
November 10, 2025 at 10:23 AM
that looks handsome! I was so stuck and desperate for new big much I got this one for a fiver at TK Maxx.
Really happy that the Royal British Legion now have a Pride poppy. I will be wearing mine in memory of everyone I wrote about in Men At War, the members of the military who were persecuted for their sexuality, and for all those LGBTQ+ people who served but whose lives we will never know 🏳️🌈
November 6, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Really happy that the Royal British Legion now have a Pride poppy. I will be wearing mine in memory of everyone I wrote about in Men At War, the members of the military who were persecuted for their sexuality, and for all those LGBTQ+ people who served but whose lives we will never know 🏳️🌈
...and as the effigy failed to detonate right at the end, perhaps the fiery Cosmos agrees
November 6, 2025 at 12:42 PM
...and as the effigy failed to detonate right at the end, perhaps the fiery Cosmos agrees
Coming back to earth after another magnificent Lewes Bonfire, how they make the fireworks get louder, heavier, more creative each year is beyond me. Glorious to watch it all drifting over the full moon. Effigy was Starmer over the farmer inheritance tax – perhaps more deserving targets in 2025...
November 6, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Coming back to earth after another magnificent Lewes Bonfire, how they make the fireworks get louder, heavier, more creative each year is beyond me. Glorious to watch it all drifting over the full moon. Effigy was Starmer over the farmer inheritance tax – perhaps more deserving targets in 2025...
I’ve been going to Lewes Bonfire since the 90s, generally there was a lovely autumnal chill in the air. I can barely remember one feeling like that in recent years and just look at the forecast for Wednesday - 14 degrees at night! It’s about burning things, not getting sweatily broiled. Ffs
November 3, 2025 at 6:24 PM
I’ve been going to Lewes Bonfire since the 90s, generally there was a lovely autumnal chill in the air. I can barely remember one feeling like that in recent years and just look at the forecast for Wednesday - 14 degrees at night! It’s about burning things, not getting sweatily broiled. Ffs
November 3, 2025 at 12:02 AM
Indeed. I don't really like Halloween (you are not a zombie, you have ripped an old shirt and work at Foxtons the estate agent) but if you're going to do it, do it properly. Was quite pleased with the 'plague dktr and diseased rat' outfit me and the missus did a few years ago:
October 31, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Indeed. I don't really like Halloween (you are not a zombie, you have ripped an old shirt and work at Foxtons the estate agent) but if you're going to do it, do it properly. Was quite pleased with the 'plague dktr and diseased rat' outfit me and the missus did a few years ago:
Somebody stop this monster! Farage fusion Clarkson cheese reacharound jamboree! Come on, the rest of Blur, surely this is a sackable offence? If not, what does it say about the rest of you? Eh? Eh?
October 30, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Somebody stop this monster! Farage fusion Clarkson cheese reacharound jamboree! Come on, the rest of Blur, surely this is a sackable offence? If not, what does it say about the rest of you? Eh? Eh?
...and then went to maps to find the spot and the Pathe archive where there's footage of the raid, and I think you can see the splash left by the Tallboy that didn't go off at 1:03. So odd to think of it sat there in the middle of a major shipping canal for years.
www.britishpathe.com/asset/67365/
www.britishpathe.com/asset/67365/
October 29, 2025 at 9:07 PM
...and then went to maps to find the spot and the Pathe archive where there's footage of the raid, and I think you can see the splash left by the Tallboy that didn't go off at 1:03. So odd to think of it sat there in the middle of a major shipping canal for years.
www.britishpathe.com/asset/67365/
www.britishpathe.com/asset/67365/
Here's the sort of thing I like to do to de-stress of a Wednesday evening – was watching this BBC news report on an unexploded 12,000lb Tallboy bomb dropped by 617 Squadron on the cruiser Lützow in 1945 finally exploding during an attempt to defuse it... (1/2)
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-e...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-e...
October 29, 2025 at 9:07 PM
Here's the sort of thing I like to do to de-stress of a Wednesday evening – was watching this BBC news report on an unexploded 12,000lb Tallboy bomb dropped by 617 Squadron on the cruiser Lützow in 1945 finally exploding during an attempt to defuse it... (1/2)
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-e...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-e...
National Trust types! It's AGM time, do vote for the suggested candidates & block the right-wing, 'anti-woke', mysteriously-funded Restore Trust, who are against eg rewilding and discussing colonial history / LGBT+ heritage (last week my sister saw OOTW in an NT shop, would it be if they had power?)
October 29, 2025 at 1:24 PM
National Trust types! It's AGM time, do vote for the suggested candidates & block the right-wing, 'anti-woke', mysteriously-funded Restore Trust, who are against eg rewilding and discussing colonial history / LGBT+ heritage (last week my sister saw OOTW in an NT shop, would it be if they had power?)
One of the joys of being with someone from abroad is getting to do tourist things in London when friends and family visit, eg. introducing them to the budget Bladerunner vibes of being at the front of a driverless DLR train
October 27, 2025 at 11:41 AM
One of the joys of being with someone from abroad is getting to do tourist things in London when friends and family visit, eg. introducing them to the budget Bladerunner vibes of being at the front of a driverless DLR train
I don’t have professional regrets except I would have loved to have sailed the ocean waves as a naval officer. I vaguely thought about it as a kid but then the whole “being told what to do” and “being a bit ‘hello sailor’” put an end to what could have been a glistening career on the briny.
October 26, 2025 at 5:21 PM
I don’t have professional regrets except I would have loved to have sailed the ocean waves as a naval officer. I vaguely thought about it as a kid but then the whole “being told what to do” and “being a bit ‘hello sailor’” put an end to what could have been a glistening career on the briny.