FORTY YEARS LATER, ‘BOYS DON'T CRY 86 MIX / 2026 REMASTER’ IS AVAILABLE ONCE AGAIN ON 7" & 12" VINYL. GET YOUR COPY NOW VIA https://t.co/bcwGAWrkfX
This is a fresh start. New music—on a whole different level from anything we’ve done before. We’ve learned the game now, and we’re here for our fans, always ✊💥
Big drop. Thursday. 6pm! #ASAW
Ramadan arrived this year, and for the first time in my life, my mother did not clean the house.
Not just any cleaning, but the ritual every Muslim family knows: washing the walls, rearranging the rooms, brushing away a year’s worth of dust as if we were preparing our souls before preparing the space.
This year, nothing happened.
Yesterday, I told her that some corners of the apartment needed thorough cleaning, that they might become a breeding ground for insects if we continued to ignore them. We had spoken about it many times before, and each time she and my sister refused without explanation. I thought I understood the reason, but I had never heard it spoken aloud.
Until yesterday.
With a voice that sounded as if something inside her was breaking, she said:
“This is not our home.
It will never become our home.
And I will not treat it as if it were.”
Five months ago, the Israeli army destroyed our house.
Since then, my mother has refused to return and see what remains of it. As for this small rented apartment, which we pay for only because we have nowhere else to go, she refuses to call it home. To her, it is nothing more than a temporary shelter, a waiting room between two lives her heart still cannot accept.
At first, I thought it was only emotion. Perhaps mothers cling to places more deeply than we men do. I expected my father to say something practical, something that would help her move forward.
But when I looked at him, waiting for reassurance, he said quietly, with a pain that filled the room:
“Every night I wake up in the middle of the night.
I look around and ask myself:
Why are we here?
Why aren’t we in our home?”
And in that moment, I realized something about myself.
I understood why, even now, when I write about this place in English, I cannot use the word home. I always write apartment.
As if language itself refuses to lie.
As if words know what we are trying to deny.
That was when I understood that war does not only destroy walls.
It destroys the very idea of belonging.
It turns families into tenants in their own lives, and strangers within their own memories.
We didn’t just lose a house.
We lost the word “home.”
#WoundedGaza
Gary Speed, fine player and even finer human being, passed away 14 years ago today. On Saturday, Everton unveil the Gary Speed Memorial Bench at Hill Dickinson Stadium before the game with Newcastle United, who he also represented with such distinction. The bench bears the message: “IN MEMORY OF GARY SPEED, EVERTONIAN, CAPTAIN, LEADER 1969–2011. A place for what is often unspoken. A place to sit, share and listen.”
The “talking bench” is one of a series introduced across the UK. In the words of @Everton, it’s “a simple but powerful way to encourage conversation, tackle loneliness and isolation, and signpost people to mental health support”. Via a QR code to programmes delivered by Everton In The Community.
“As part of the Club’s commitment to the Premier League’s ‘Together Against Suicide’ pilot, trained @EITC staff will be based in the area around the bench before every home fixture. Supporters who wish to talk, seek support, or learn more about the services available will be able to approach staff confidentially and without appointment”.
The bench, which has the full blessing of Speed’s family, was proposed by @EFC_FansForum as “a meaningful and positive legacy in Gary’s name”. Everton add that it's "a permanent space for reflection, conversation and connection - and a reminder that no Evertonian ever has to struggle alone". #EFC
Sup up your beer and collect your fags,
There's a row going on down near Slough,
Get out your mat and pray to the West,
I'll get out mine and pray for myself…
Happy birthday to The Eton Rifles.
Can you believe this thundering masterpiece is 4️⃣6️⃣ years old today?
British Airways was fine sponsoring Louis Theroux's podcast when he was interviewing Daniella Weiss, the psychopathic genocide-supporting Israeli settler leader.
But their red line was Bob Vylan's hurty words about the IDF.
British Airways was fine sponsoring Louis Theroux's podcast when he was interviewing genocide-supporting Israeli settler leader Daniella Weiss.
But he's now apparently overstepped the mark by talking to a punk musician who made a mean chant about Israel's genocidal army.
A bit of good news on x for change! String section booked for the Music Hall. This is gonna be a dream playing along side a full string section 🎻 #ASAW
“Say Hello, Wave Goodbye” is one of my favourite songs from the 80s - favourite songs, period Paul.
One I’ve played countless times on the radio over the years. Among many other songs touched by Dave.
Godspeed to him.