All posts tagged: Written

Richard Gadd argues pivotal scene of Half Man is the best he’s written

Richard Gadd argues pivotal scene of Half Man is the best he’s written

Published by Daniella Wilson

It can’t be easy following up a smash hit like Baby Reindeer, one which was hugely popular around the world on Netflix and also won a vast number of awards. However, that’s just what creator and star Richard Gadd has done with his new BBC/HBO series Half Man, which he has not only written, but also stars in alongside Jamie Bell. In fact, speaking with us exclusively for our video interview series The Radio Times Writers’ Room, in which we get to know what makes screenwriters tick, Gadd has teased that the new series contains perhaps the best scene he has ever written, right at the end. Asked for the best scene he’s ever written, Gadd said: “I think, just because I’m naturally self flagellating, my head sometimes goes to scenes that have had to be cut. And I sometimes go to them because I think I’ve convinced myself that they were sort of ‘the one.’” He continued: “I think, potentially, the best one I’ve ever written, although it’s so hard to say that, because …

Ukraine Has Written Off the United States

Ukraine Has Written Off the United States

Published by José Betancourt

For more than a year after Donald Trump returned to the White House, Ukraine held out hope—at least publicly—of winning him over. Trump, who revealed his affection for Russia’s Vladimir Putin again and again, largely halted American military aid to Kyiv. He insulted Ukrainian leaders regularly, personally berating President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office in February 2025. Nevertheless, Ukraine diligently took part in Trump’s peace negotiations, which were tilted to reward Putin’s invasion and turned out to be fruitless. Zelensky agreed to mineral deals that supposedly promised to enrich Americans. He even lavishly praised Trump himself. Despite Ukrainian leaders’ growing doubts, they calculated that speaking sweetly of the American president would do no harm and just might gain his favor. But now Kyiv appears to have given up on the United States. It is aggressively seeking new diplomatic and military partners—for instance, by sharing its hard-won expertise in drone warfare with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates and forging arms-production agreements with Germany. Ukraine has sent drones to attack oil-export facilities near …

4 classics that were basically written as propaganda

4 classics that were basically written as propaganda

Published by Jenni Sidey

Authors write novels for many reasons. Anthony Burgess, of A Clockwork Orange fame, was once described as a man “always on a money-fishing expedition.” Ernest Vincent Wright wrote Gadsby, a novel that avoids using the letter E, as a self-imposed challenge. Joan Didion processed her grief following the sudden death of her husband in her memoir The Year of Magical Thinking. The books on this list were basically written as propaganda. Their authors devised them to advance a particular ideology or party line, with the hope that readers would be persuaded to take up the cause. We’ll dive into why they were written, what ideology they promoted, and how effective they were at achieving their goals. Before that, we should note that we aren’t using the term propaganda in a moral or artistic sense. We’re instead using it to describe works that place heavy emphasis on influencing readers through symbolism and emotional appeals. Whether they are narrative masterpieces or utter dreck, whether they conform to reality or distort it beyond recognition, and whether we agree …

Court Documents Reveal Confession Note Hand Written By Alleged Kirk Assassin

Court Documents Reveal Confession Note Hand Written By Alleged Kirk Assassin

Published by Jenni Sidey

In September of 2025, prosecutors in the Charlie Kirk murder case alleged that they had access to a hand-written note left by prime suspect Tyler Robinson for his trans boyfriend which contained a confession to the crime.  Tyler Robinson, 22, left a note under a keyboard for his roommate/romantic partner to discover, said Utah County Attorney Jeffrey Gray.   According to Mr Gray, the note said: “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk, and I’m going to take it.”  Newly unsealed court documents now reveal that this letter does indeed exist.  An affidavit for a search warrant outlined a letter that Tyler Robinson allegedly wrote before Charlie Kirk’s assassination.  Robinson is accused of shooting and killing the conservative political activist on September 10, 2025, at Utah Valley University. Detectives seized ammunition, computers, a DNA sample, and a copy of a note that Robinson allegedly left for his roommate, with whom he had a romantic relationship.  The affidavit states that an FBI agent met with Robinson’s partner, Lance Twiggs, whom Robinson sometimes referred to as “Luna.”  …

Discover Gadsby: The 50,000-Word Novel Written Without Using the Letter E (1939)

Discover Gadsby: The 50,000-Word Novel Written Without Using the Letter E (1939)

Published by José Betancourt

“If Youth, through­out all his­to­ry, had had a cham­pi­on to stand up for it; to show a doubt­ing world that a child can think; and, pos­si­bly, do it prac­ti­cal­ly; you would­n’t con­stant­ly run across folks today who claim that ‘a child don’t know any­thing.’ ” Ranked along­side the oth­er notable open­ing sen­tences of Amer­i­can lit­er­a­ture, this falls some­what short of, say, “Call me Ish­mael.” The entire nov­el that fol­lows is writ­ten in the same odd­ly stilt­ed, cir­cum­loc­u­tive prose, and a read­er who skips the author’s intro­duc­tion may not per­ceive just what has set it askew for some time. They’d also have to be read­ing an edi­tion oth­er than the first, with its bold promise of a “50,000 WORD NOVEL WITHOUT THE LETTER ‘E.’ ” The book is Ernest Vin­cent Wright’s Gads­by (1939). Though self-pub­lished in the late nine­teen-thir­ties to no fan­fare, it’s now acknowl­edged more or less wide­ly as a lit­er­ary odd­i­ty, far more often cit­ed as a piece of triv­ia than actu­al­ly read. (I first learned of it from a list of fun facts on the back …

The 10 Best Debut Romance Books Ever Written

The 10 Best Debut Romance Books Ever Written

Published by Jenni Sidey

This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Reflecting on the best debut romance novels has made me contemplate how many ways people operate as romance writers—not to mention how much the job has changed over the years. Nowadays, a large portion of romance writers get their start by self-publishing, and some get traditional publishing deals once they’ve proven their success. Back in the day, many big-name writers like Nora Roberts and Jennifer Crusie got their start writing category romances. These shorter trade paperback romances were written to fit the theme of a particular line—for example, Harlequin Presents = bonkers plotlines—so the authorial voice was never the emphasis. Category romances are great, don’t get me wrong, but they typically don’t have the staying power or cultural impact of full-length romances. If you know of a debut category romance that belongs on this list, please let me know. Another major source of debut romance is fanfic, whether it’s an alternate universe story or something edited to remove …

Band behind ‘best song ever written’ returns to the charts almost 30 years later

Band behind ‘best song ever written’ returns to the charts almost 30 years later

Published by Sam Flores

It might have been nearly three decades since American rock band the Goo Goo Dolls released one of the most popular anthems of the ’90s, but Iris is well and truly having a resurgence in 2026. Taylor Swift once praised the track, which spent 92 weeks in the UK top 100 charts and has been used to soundtrack countless movies and TV shows, as “the best song ever written”. Now, the hit has reached a whole new generation as it climbs its way back up the charts almost 28 years later. As of 26 March, the track is back on the UK top 100 single chart at number 48 after making the rounds on social media for a popular TikTok trend. Hollywood icons like Drew Barrymore, Kevin Bacon and Courteney Cox have all used the Goo Goo Dolls song for throwback video montages reminiscing on what they were like in the ’90s. With Iris getting more love than ever, what is the band behind the hit up to? Read on to see where The Goo …

Schizophrenia symptom profiles are reflected in patients’ written language

Schizophrenia symptom profiles are reflected in patients’ written language

Published by José Betancourt

Recent research published in the Journal of Writing Research suggests that the written language of people with schizophrenia provides evidence about their specific symptom profiles. The study indicates that analyzing how these individuals summarize a story can reveal distinct patterns in their writing, depending on whether they experience predominantly positive or negative symptoms. These findings highlight the potential of using writing tasks to monitor clinical changes and tailor therapy interventions for people with schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a severe mental health condition that affects thinking, emotion, and behavior. The condition tends to be divided into two main categories of symptoms. Positive symptoms involve an excess of abnormal experiences, such as hallucinations or delusions, which are fixed false beliefs. Negative symptoms involve a decrease in typical behaviors, such as a lack of motivation, emotional flatness, and reduced speech. Scientists recognize that schizophrenia often disrupts how a person uses and understands language. This disruption typically affects the social and practical use of language, making effective communication difficult. While speech difficulties are well documented, writing is an area that …

It Sounds Like Hachette Really Investigated Whether “Shy Girl” Was Written With AI Before Pulling It From the Market

It Sounds Like Hachette Really Investigated Whether “Shy Girl” Was Written With AI Before Pulling It From the Market

Published by José Betancourt

Sign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech A prominent publisher is pulling a horror novel after the author was widely accused of using AI to help write the book, The New York Times reports. Hachette Book Group, one of the largest publishing houses in the US, said it will discontinue selling “Shy Girl” by Mia Ballard in the UK, where it was released last fall and sold 1,800 print copies, per data cited in the reporting. It will also cancel plans to publish a US edition, which was slated to release this spring through its Orbit imprint.  “Hachette remains committed to protecting original creative expression and storytelling,” a Hachette spokeswoman said. The spokesperson noted that Hachette requires all submissions to be original to the authors and that the authors disclose whether AI is used during the writing process, suggesting it views alleged AI usage not merely as an affront to creative principles, but as a contractual violation. (Several publishers have released books whose marketing explicitly …

Iran’s Khamenei says enemy ‘defeated’ in written Nowruz message | US-Israel war on Iran News

Iran’s Khamenei says enemy ‘defeated’ in written Nowruz message | US-Israel war on Iran News

Published by Sam Flores

Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has said Iran’s enemies were being “defeated” in a written message for the Persian New Year, as the US and Israel continue to pound the country with attacks. In a statement read on Iranian television on Friday, Khamenei praised the steadfastness of the Iranian people marking Nowruz, which he said ushered in ‌the year of a “resistance economy under national unity and national security”. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list “At the moment, due to the particular unity that has been created between you, our compatriots – despite all the differences in religious, intellectual, cultural and political origins – the enemy has been defeated,” he said. Khamenei has not been seen in public since he became supreme leader, following the assassination of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, at the start of the war on February 28. Iran’s supreme leader said that while the US and Israel believed that after one or two days of attacks, the Iranian people would overthrow the government, but this was a “gross miscalculation”. The …