Mark Liam Piggott

"Imagine for a moment you're sitting at your kitchen table making bombs. Knowing that should you sweat too much, or make a sudden move, you will be terribly maimed or killed. Then, later, weaving through the happy crowd: seeing the faces of smiling children. Knowing that if you succeed in your terrible mission, your name will be cursed by millions; and when you are eventually killed (the brothers Tsarnaev may not have been suicide bombers exactly, but they must have known the

"I left school in 1983, the same month Margaret Thatcher won her second election. In my Yorkshire hometown there was disbelief that once again the south had returned to power someone who had transformed the industrial heartlands in much the same way the US infantry transformed Baghdad..." READ THE REST OF MY BLOG IN TODAY'S HUFFINGTON POST

Just spoke on BBC Ulster about why the Beeb was wrong to "ban" the witch is dead, why I won't be celebrating or mourning on Wednesday and why "Kill the Poor" would have been far more appropriate. You can catch the show here...

...in more ways than one. When people (or, more frequently, forms) ask the name of my hometown, I’m never sure what to say. Is it London, home for the last 28 years? Hebden Bridge, where I grew up? Or the town where I was born? For today, I’ll make it the latter: Manchester, where I’m heading to attend a series of events at the university. Although I was born in Withington, living briefly in Burnage and Longsight, we left when I was five. I went back a few times, staying in F

Yes – tomorrow. As in - Sat 16th Feb. Oh, the wonders of google, you can now read tomorrow’s papers today (but remember – you read it here first)...

If you live in London you might still be able to pick up a copy of the Evening Standard (30/1/13) featuring my - um - feature on how to organise your own council house swap – or not, as the case may be. Can’t find a link online* so if you’re outside London – move. My article will tell you how... *Found one! (MP 2015)

“IT IS unfortunate that Conservative peer Baroness Warsi picked last week to claim Muslims feel alienated in British society, while across London in Whitechapel arrests were made after Muslim gang members apparently filmed themselves confiscating alcohol from revellers in a pathetic ­attempt to impose a form of Sharia Law...” Read the rest of my article about Islam, Warsi and the East End in today’s Sunday Express...

A Channel 4 programme will make a stunning revelation at 9pm tonight: some people in Britain like to drink. According to the promotional blurb for 999: What's your emergency?: "With more than a quarter of adults drinking to hazardous levels, alcohol is a major factor in half of all crime and more than 70% of violent crimes, and costs the NHS £2.7bn a year."... Read the rest of my Guardian blog here. Emails putting me right always welcome...

As I drive through the Arctic night, the snow falls so thick our wipers struggle to push it aside. The no.4 highway, linking Kemi at the northern end of the Gulf of Bothnia with Rovaniemi, is covered with ice and there are warning signs for elk, 500-kg beasts that have an unfortunate habit of crashing through your windscreen. At eleven a.m. the sun finally appears, an impotent orange blob which barely illuminates the ghostly yet beautiful birch forests of Northern Finland; it

Is there a better feeling for a writer than having a Jiffy bag land on your doormat? I don’t mean one of those ominous, bulky, A4 ones that you addressed yourself - I mean a small, neat, A5 one containing a book you’re involved in. Thankfully I don’t get the A4s any more (maybe because I submit my books to my agent by email), but this morning one of the A5s arrived: the hard copy of STILL. I’ve written about STILL before and will do so again, but just had to express my deligh

“MY CHILDHOOD was marred by having my grammar corrected, writing out lines and being put on detention, and that was just at home. Being the son of teachers probably explains my gut instinct that whatever they demand we should do the opposite but on hearing the news that they have threatened to strike unless their six-week summer holiday is preserved, I find myself on the side of the“mortarboard mafia”. However, my stance is less about sympathy for the teachers and more about

“The decision by Bob Ashford to withdraw from the race to become police commissioner for Somerset and Avon is a reminder that we Brits aren’t always the forgiving bunch we think we are. Coming in the wake of a similar decision by Falklands war hero Simon Weston, who last month withdrew as candidate to become police commissioner for South Wales when it emerged he’d been a passenger in a stolen car at 14, Ashford’s withdrawal reflects poorly on a nation which seems less incline

“DO you ever get the feeling that all anyone and everyone wants to do is to take your money as quickly as possible, under the flimsiest of pretexts? Your mobile is filled with texts offering to compensate you for mis-sold PPIs, when you venture down the high street you are surrounded by 20somethings in luminous bibs, you answer your phone to hear a recorded -message offering to help manage your debt, debt you wouldn’t have if people would just stop asking you for money...” Re

Last New Year I went with my family to Northern Finland. As we were driving through the dark forests (22 hours of night), I started to get an idea for a short story. We stayed in an “Overlook”-style-hotel in Ranua and on TV there was a programme about the so-called “shadow people”. I decided to put the two strands together into a ghost story, which you can now read at the uniquely groovy 3AM magazine.

Fellow Legend Presser Andrew “On the Holloway Road” Blackman recently asked me and a few other authors to write some sample blogs for his website. This seems a great idea, far easier than writing one yourself, so I’ve just invited David Mitchell (either of them), Philip Roth and William Shakespeare to write for MY blog – keep your eyes peeled to see how they get on. Anyway my “guest spot” has just gone “live”. Here’s the first para: “When Barack Obama was elected US President

I’m reading a lot of the unique writings of William Saroyan at the moment. There’s something so modern and yet timeless about his work; his voice is so fresh and individual he’s truly inspiring. Other writers and aspiring writers might take heart from this, from 1956: "A writer's declaration"...

Great to be invited to the launch of artist Ruth Ewan’s latest project last night: “How to make Archway Tower disappear”. The project is all about the aforementioned tower, which has loomed large over my life for much of the past thirty years. I have a rather rambling monologue in the accompanying booklet and am proud to have been included. The launch itself took place at St John the Evangelist church on Holloway Road. Though I’m not normally one for churches I suppose they d

Are mobile phones safe for our children to use – or not? Read my major feature in today’s "Sunday Express". As usual, I’m not going to post a link so if you want to read it you’ll have to buy it. Support our papers or they’ll go under... FIVE YEARS LATER - I THINK IT'S OK TO POST A LINK NOW!

Returned from Skye (as staggeringly beautiful as I remember) to discover I’ve been asked to judge this year’s “Prolitzer Prize” by the fabulous Prole Books. Open to writers of fiction and creative non-fiction, the prizes include cash and publication in the magazine, which is actually more like a book, a sort of mini-Granta. Very honoured to be given such responsibility – and I can’t wait to read some of the fantastic new writers that are out there. Although the deadline is 1s

Tomorrow first light we fly to Inverness, from where we drive across the Highlands to Skye. Very excited about taking the kids back to a place I spent several happy holidays as a child (except when the midges were around). Last time I went to Skye, almost 30 years ago, there was no bridge; be interesting to see how the place has changed. It will also be good to do something to take my mind off my inbox: no internet access where we’re heading. Maybe that’s a good thing. All th