Damian Barr
@Damian_Barr
Followers
39,029
Following
10,283
Media
3,184
Statuses
101,913
Writer📚 You Will Be Safe Here 📚Maggie & Me 🎭 ‘We’re not all in the same boat.We are in the same storm’ 👀 #BigScottishBookClub BBCiPlayer PhD FRSL FRSE He/Him
Brighton, London, World.
Joined October 2007
Don't wanna be here?
Send us removal request.
Explore trending content on Musk Viewer
Mother's Day
• 2110060 Tweets
Ángel
• 213618 Tweets
Travis
• 176973 Tweets
Cataluña
• 88514 Tweets
#GrandConcertENGLOTinNYC
• 72861 Tweets
Racing
• 58304 Tweets
#Amici23
• 55198 Tweets
Pacers
• 44280 Tweets
Vitória
• 38866 Tweets
Hawks
• 35581 Tweets
Trae
• 34175 Tweets
#ConexiónHonduras10
• 30530 Tweets
Brad
• 28592 Tweets
Abel
• 27837 Tweets
Bahia
• 26616 Tweets
Romero
• 25212 Tweets
Rony
• 24034 Tweets
Pistons
• 23197 Tweets
雨の月曜日
• 22253 Tweets
Costas
• 18364 Tweets
Veiga
• 17372 Tweets
Belgrano
• 13754 Tweets
土砂降り
• 13559 Tweets
Medina
• 13266 Tweets
Rory
• 13059 Tweets
Fabra
• 11842 Tweets
Payet
• 10057 Tweets
Pinned Tweet
You never know what your words might do. In April 2020 I tweeted about the inequalities exposed & exacerbated by
#covid
& by government (non)responses. A cinema in NY displayed my quote outside & director Peter Hedges saw it. It helped inspire his new movie: The Same Storm 1/3
64
205
2K
Matt Hancock was allowed to choose to leave as and when it suited him. He was not sacked. He remains an MP on £81,932 a year.
*That* is privilege.
329
8K
51K
A reminder: local Conservatives are the same as Conservatives in Westminster. They’re just nearer. Vote them out, everywhere.
47
6K
31K
I *love* Netflix - I really do. I’m happy to pay for it. I’m even happier to pay for BBC because: Netflix doesn’t do News
Netflix doesn’t do Schools programs
Netflix doesn’t do radio
Netflix doesn’t do podcasts
Netflix doesn’t do National Events
Netflix is not the BBC.
1K
4K
28K
Gordon Brown 🔥 in Guardian today: ‘You cannot rely on a heartless government having a change of heart, but concerted action by the public can force a change of mind…The coming war must be against poverty, not against the poor.’
246
5K
23K
More out gay and bi players on the England Women’s Team than in the entire Men’s League.
Again, women leading the way. 🌈
43
1K
21K
Dear UK Publishing,
Please do not buy any of their memoirs.
9
1K
14K
Dear Disgusted Lady at Gatwick Airport Drop-Off Just Now: couples often have a hug and maybe a kiss when they say goodbye. That includes you and your husband, the two guys in front of us this morning and me and my husband. Your scowls and mutterings and dirty looks were Not Nice.
238
245
11K
Once again my husband has come into the living room and TURNED ON THE BIG LIGHT.
Once again, I am divorcing him quietly in my head and building a new lamp-filled life for myself in Scandinavia.
455
162
8K
Remainers: don't forget it's somehow our fault that the goverment we didn't vote for hasn't secured the deal we don't want.
104
1K
8K
Thank you all the Jills: for standing by us and dancing with us, for making joy bigger and sadness smaller, for your bravery in the face of fear, for that special love that isn’t gay or straight but something else entirely. Thank you all the Jills. You know who you are.
#ItsASin
75
663
7K
So much of the anger about Harry seems really to be about therapy, specifically a man going into therapy. The basic misunderstanding being that therapy is somehow indulgent navel-gazing when it’s really one of the hardest and bravest things a person can do.
214
684
6K
Our fridge was never full when I was growing up. Often it was just the light in there. I remember lying awake hungry, counting the hours till my free school lunch. My mum going without.
This is still so hard to say. It didn’t need to happen then. It doesn’t need to happen now.
94
576
6K
If Tories think Greenpeace unfurling a banner is ‘dangerous and disruptive’ wait until they see what’s happening to our seas, our nature and our weather.
32
969
5K
There is no anti-growth coalition. There are no enemies of enterprise. These are the imagined enemies of an exhausted ideology hell-bent on the destruction of the institutions, environment and communities that are the heart of this country.
84
1K
5K
Your daily reminder that Dolly Parton is one of the main funders of the
#Moderna
vaccine. Dolly will save us all.
47
756
4K
Why straight people don’t need straight pride:
Your sexuality isn’t criminalised in 70 countries
Your sexuality isn’t punishable by death anywhere in the world
You’ve never been attacked, fired or evicted for being straight
Every country in the world sanctions your marriage
🌈
41
706
4K
The Society of Authors AGM just ended. Resolution 7 was defeated by 79% to 21%. Resolution 6 was defeated 81% to 19%.This means Joanne Harris continues in her role as Chair of the Management Committee.I remain thankful to Joanne & the SOA team for their hard work for ALL authors.
72
448
4K
On the longest day I left some apricots out in the sun. They soaked it all up. I put them in a bottle with brandy and spices let them sit. Today, on the shortest day, I’m raising a glass of unfiltered sunshine to you all. From now on, it gets lighter every day. See you in 2024 x
83
106
4K
On a train in Glasgow and nearly every passenger is wearing a mask and taking care.
Wearing is caring!
Almost exactly the opposite on public transport in London :/
#WearingIsCaring
#MaskforMask
#CovidIsNotOver
38
462
3K
Tonight conservative MPs voted against extending lunch vouchers for school children. Let’s put it another way: they voted for 2.4m children in England to go hungry. Some days my school lunch was the only meal I got. This government is disgusting.
83
885
3K
I’m renaming this city
#Glasglow
PS Sorry-not-sorry for not being able to stop sharing this view
100
125
3K
It’s that time of year so let’s be very clear: you do not have to go ‘home’ for Christmas. You can spend it wherever you want with whoever you want and that’s ok. You can ignore it entirely. I am issuing permission slips if needs be.
78
469
3K
Today I am doing the Big Shop and the Big Clean*.
Wish me luck.
*the Big Light will be turned on for the duration of the Big Clean and then switched off again for the other 364 days of the years, as stipulated by common law.
83
47
2K
This was a casual thought back in April and i’m amazed how it’s taken on a life of its own. Now the storm is whipping up again and some have lost the one oar they had.
21
479
2K
Every year, Scotland’s First Minister publishes a list of her favourite books. And every year she gets load of abuse for *reading books*. Whatever your politics, surely you want your leader to be a reader?
📚Reading is important to me.
It helps me switch off from the daily stresses and strains occasionally. I highly recommend it as a way of maintaining some perspective, even in the busiest of lives.
So, in that vein…here are the novels I’ve enjoyed in 2022 📚
794
401
6K
98
145
2K
Thank you NHS ambulance crew for taking such good care of me.I was their 6th covid case today: it’s not over. It’s not ‘mild’.Last night I struggled to breathe.I’m healthy & supported:I’m lucky!I know what to do if gets worse but plan on getting well soon. Offline till then ❤️
241
111
2K
I came out to my mum when I was 16 - I refused to read one of the grimmer bits of Leviticus at a family wedding. Yesterday I came out to a woman in bookshop who clocked my wedding ring & asked me if missed my wife while working away.
#comingout
isn’t one moment - it’s a lifetime.
45
150
2K
Intensely British moment at the train station just now where two strangers bumped into one another on the platform and I SAID SORRY.
55
142
2K
Tonight I had this unexpected chat with my dad. I missed his call but rang him back. I was at a work thing and there was music and all. He said he missed me and he never really says that. I said i miss him too and that I think about him every day. He told me he’s glad I’m happy.
96
17
2K
I remember watching the icebergs and the tombstones and waiting for that leaflet to fall through the door. I was convinced I would die and never ever find love or friends. Sitting here with my husband watching
#itsASin
and feeling fortunate. Our stories have to be told.
44
96
2K
I’ve never known so many folk feel so tired & sad. Every fretful pal I’ve listened to, every worried person...they’re all labouring under the illusion they’re somehow failing. I just want to say: you’re not alone & this shit-show is not your fault (unless you’re Boris Johnson).
34
146
2K
I’m sick of cooking. I never ever want to cook a single one of the things I’ve been cooking during lockdown ever again. I feel like I’ve done nothing but chop onions for centuries.
149
64
2K
Thank you to: every teacher who encouraged me, all the dinner ladies & cleaners & janitors, my therapists, all at Lancaster University, my logical family, my family, and my husband - who I sledged into one snowy campus day. Congrats to all fellow graduates! Love, Dr Barr.
197
23
2K
I cannot believe the news about Hilary Mantel. With every book she redefined what words can do. She’s the only person I ever interviewed that speaks in whole, flawless paragraphs. I can’t believe we won’t have another book from her. Thinking of her family and friends. Such a loss
37
110
2K
I can never forget the funerals I couldn’t go to because I obeyed the rules.
I can never forget my mum being rushed to hospital alone and afraid because my siblings and I obeyed the rules.
I can never forget our Prime Minister and his pals drinking & laughing.
But I can vote.
17
202
2K
It’s graduation day! I’m wearing pyjamas & the only smile bigger belongs to my mum-she didn’t get to finish school but always wanted me to be a dr! Thank you Mum & every teacher, librarian, dinnerlady, therapist & cleaner. Thanks to
@LancasterUni
&
@cloudatlaskid
for supervising
187
28
1K
After booster I saw a much older lady w a zimmer at back of queue. I told stewards who said she’d been invited forward but refused. I asked her & she said ‘I’ve just finished my cancer pills and I’m happy to wait. I don’t do anything at home but watch telly. This is a day out’❤️🩹
16
41
1K
On a snowy day in 1995 I sledged into this amazing man.We were barely legal then. I didn’t dare count anniversaries because the future seemed impossible. In 2013 we married.Thank you to everyone who supported us then and now. It’s love - not hate - that makes the world go round.
64
38
1K
Every day is
#ComingOutDay
I’ve been coming out since 16yo me finally plucked up the courage to tell my Mum. This week I’ve come out to a cabbie, several new colleagues and a neighbour. It takes a little bit of energy and courage every single time. 💓 🌈
16
98
1K
Tomorrow, Liz Truss will be anointed as our next Prime Minister.
Remember this the next time you’re hit by imposter syndrome.
21
205
1K
When I met this man we weren’t allowed to marry. The law changed & we had our trip to the registry office & our official day of love because society changed -is still changing- thanks to all the brave allies of all genders & loving families &
#ProudBoys
#LoveMakesTheWorldGoRound
50
89
1K
Growing up I thought all writers were dead. I didn’t know I could just pick up a pen and start. I hid in Newarthill library when home was scary (too often). Recently I helped save ‘my’ library from closure & now my first novel is their book of the week & wee me can’t believe it.
38
101
1K
I lived through Section 28. My best friend - same age, same year at school, also gay - struggled even more than I did. He’s not here here now and I miss him ever day. That wicked law has gone, thanks to Stonewall, other groups & allies. We must protect our young people from hate.
Today,
@thetimes
ran with the headline ‘Teachers told to avoid the ‘biased’ views of BLM and Stonewall’.
This is factually incorrect. We will be making a formal complaint to the Times and asking for a correction. Read below for the truth behind the headline ⬇️
33
799
2K
35
297
1K
@KwasiKwarteng
No you don’t, no you haven’t.
If you had listened, you’d have resigned and joined the calls for a General Election.
9
57
1K
I really think
#strictly
is quietly and joyfully revolutionary. I have never seen a big family show like this properly and joyfully celebrate love between two men like that. I wish I hadn’t had to wait a lifetime to see it. And I don’t take it for granted. But it gives me hope.
25
56
1K
Jacinda Ardern just cancelled her own wedding to help slow Omicron. That’s leadership. “Such is life. I am no different to, dare I say, thousands of other New Zealanders who have had much more devastating impacts felt by the pandemic.”
How many parties did our PM host or attend?
36
200
1K
After I posted this I got death threats. I was called a paedophile and told I was going to hell. Some of the accounts were bots but most were not. When this message is redundant here and in every country where people can’t march, I’ll be happy to stop sharing it.
#BrightonPride
59
193
1K
This is Daniel Davis Aston.
He moved from Tulsa to Colorado Springs to be a bartender at Q Bar. He is one of five people killed there, on the eve of Transgender Day of Remembrance. At least 25 are injured. Two club-goers stopped the gunman.
Info:
@alexanderchee
& Randy R Potts
9
222
1K
I never dreamed of getting married because it wasn’t possible when I was growing up, it wasn’t legal - there were no examples I could look to the joy of. Today is our 10th day-of-love anniversary. I feel lucky. And even luckier to be able to share it with all the folk we love.
114
26
1K
People who work from home, do you find it almost impossible to get down to it until your flat mate/partner/cat has gone to their job?
271
24
1K
Already sick of hearing the World Cup in Qatar being described as ‘controversial’.
Flogging, jailing & threatening to kill LGBTQ+ people is not ‘controversial’. It’s horrific.
And the minimising of this grim reality with mimsy words like ‘controversial’ adds insult to injury.
38
307
1K
Thank you for all the kindness and concern. This stuff is so everyday, still. You can see that from the open-hearted responses on this thread. BUT, HAPPILY, generosity and allyship are also everyday, as this thread shows. 🌈
#PrideMonth
9
9
1K
My wee Mum got married yesterday to her wee Jimmy. She looked like a movie star and he looked like a man marrying a movie star and my wee sister and brother and me couldn’t be happier for them both. PS the poem was magic!
93
12
1K
Farewell Olympia Dukakis and thank you for everything- especially Mrs Madrigal.
“Listen dear, when you get this old lady, you get her for life."
#TalesOfTheCity
#OlympiaDukakis
#ArmisteadMaupin
#ThankYou
35
112
1K
I remember when my wee mum had to learn to walk again (after brain injury). All her life she’s defied the odds. During lockdown she broke her hip. And here she this wknd having her first dance with her new husband, wee Jimmy. I couldn’t be more proud of her or happy for them. ❤️
64
7
1K
This little scamp walks me along my street every time she spots me. Sometimes I’ll be getting off a very late train and she’s there waiting. Actually maybe it’s her street.
42
46
1K
I am at home in new house under old blanket. I’ve got oximeter and someone to watch it and care for me and a brilliant inhaler and all the usual drugs and every intention of being annoyingly robust again in the very near future. Thanks for your loveliness. And thanks again NHS
56
14
1K
My husband made me this amazing tunnocks birthday cake. Moments later I dropped it.
121
11
1K
I’m never, ever going to complain about any government spending £29m on culture.
But this isn’t culture - it’s propaganda.
#FestivalOfBrexit
32
142
1K
Checked back to see if this had been amended in the hope that it was a misprint or misinformation, but no. This isn’t sinister - it’s terrifying. This is actual culture being actually cancelled. Artists being defunded and punished for making art. Who ordered this change & why?
APNews: Arts Council England (
@ace_national
) has updated its policies, warning that "political statements" made by individuals linked to an organisation can cause "reputational risk", breaching funding agreements (1/5)
761
774
888
53
387
994
We are nearing the point where Dolly Parton could afford to just buy the UK. And I’m here for it.
73
67
986
One of the most horrible things about homophobia is that it’s always so surprising. Doesn’t matter how often it happens, or that it’s happened my whole life, I’m still taken aback when it does. There’s always that ‘is this real?’ moment.
Today has been no exception.
78
41
976
I just received £644.43 from
@PLR_UK
Thanks to this scheme, writers get 11.63p every time a reader borrows one of their books from a library. So, thank you readers & librarians! Never feel bad about 'not buying' a book: that's what libraries are for! Writers: register for PLR!
25
161
981
Dolly Parton is proof you can be a billionaire and not care about space. She makes a difference here on earth. Her Imagination Library is a wonder! I still haven’t washed my face after this photo. I met dolly when interviewing her for Front Row on Radio 4.
19
90
977
There is no benevolent interpretation of our Prime Minister’s language choice regarding Germany. Either he’s ignorant about one of those most significant moments in world history or he’s using it as a dog-whistle. Ignorance or racism?
#Kristallnacht
70
165
939
Deep poverty is: taking 50ps from your gas meter to buy food & hoping you can put them back before the gas man checks; burning shame of handing over your free lunch ticket but being glad of it; going to bed hungry & waking up cold.
#mychildhood
#brexit
hits the poor hardest.
More than 4m in UK are trapped in deep poverty, study finds
37
290
324
49
267
951
I find myself really in need of a feeling of space and freedom today. This view, from a place I stayed in when I was filming, really lifted me every day. I hope it lifts you too.
#GlasgowViews
52
37
933
Lockdown is extrovert hell. It’s not just that I miss people, it’s that a part of me is missing.
I miss a touch on my arm while I’m listening to a friend. I miss running into someone on the street. I even miss trains
I’m self-sufficient & well-supported. I just miss you all.
63
35
932
Burst into tears just now watching the News. I miss my mum and dad and sister and brother. I miss all my pals. And I’m lucky to have folk to worry for. ‘I know how you feel,’ said Boris Johnson. No, you don’t. So stop saying it. False sentiment & false promises.
46
25
924
Fever so bad I hallucinated - a Spanish talk show lived in my throat and I could hear them all talking. Chest feels like I’ve got a box of books on it. Glands are blades. Not left bed since tested positive. But, sure, it’s ‘just a cold’. Thanks for all the nice messages. Be safe.
99
38
924
I’ve just finished
#ItsASin
More accurately, it finished me.
This history, these stories, must be told. HIV is no longer the death sentence it was - thanks to activists & scientists & families who stood up.
But prejudice remains fatal. Hate still kills. We can all fight that
39
79
905
My mum often went without for us. I relied on free school lunches - some days it was the only meal I could count on. I was always glad of the baked potato w/ battered sausage & beans. In the ‘holidays’ I missed them. We need to stop shaming families & start feeding children.
20
95
896
I was terrified of football as a boy - angry lads calling me names. Kicking me not the ball. To this day I feel my heart beat faster when i see football lads about. Growing up, Saturdays ended in angry men and fights at home. So I feel quite brave watching this. There.
34
11
901
The couple at the table next to me are solving a cryptic crossword together over lunch. Their combined brain-power is impressive and their shared shorthand ‘it’s not a pediment, remember?’ is so intimate. One of the most romantic things I’ve ever seen.
25
35
887
I hate the way the Tories talk about family - they think you’re not in a family if you’ve not got children. And only then if it’s the right number of children. And if you have two working parents. People without children have families. You don’t need to have kids to count.
41
58
902
Writers, repeat after me: It is okay to 'retweet praise'.
You're not being smug or inviting envy or incurring the wrath of the book gods. You're just sharing the love: somebody else loves your book! YAY! You're allowed to feel good about YOUR MANY ENDLESS YEARS OF WORK. The End.
32
114
889
I love this man. Wonderful to see him get the BAFTA fellowship.He’s a joyful pioneer. And ‘the world is a different place’ partly because of him. ❤️
20
25
885
The accidental triangle, the wandering ‘feel it’ logo and the cat dress. I’m screaming.
#sewingBee
Also, once again, this is one of the most joyfully diverse shows on telly. Joy of
@paddygrant
Esme and
@joelycett
17
34
885
I am having to go to the bank to deposit an actual cheque. Later I plan to send a fax then update my Filofax before sorting my CDs.
135
33
878
Stanley Baxter has come out. He is 94. I hope the years he has left are happier. ‘He struggled to come to terms with his sexuality’. Did he? Or do gay people struggle against hatred from that first unkind word or deed? Homophobia keeps people in the closet not ‘homosexuality’.
50
125
874
Christmas is complex.I do not begrudge anyone any joy - we need it now more than ever! I just find it hard that all the ads and movies and culture is about the joy of family ie kids. I don’t have kids and many people don’t or can’t. But I do have a family. That is all. 🌈 💓 🌲
69
27
859
Not long ago I went back to my old school (I was a white working-class pupil). It was exactly the same, only smaller. And the library-my refuge-was shut, shelves bare. And now they feed kids in the holidays too. THIS is what hurts children & families, not teachers tackling racism
13
175
841
Holding paperback of my first novel for the very first time...! All those years of researching and writing and editing and doubting and here it is!
#youwillbesafehere
is out in paperback in April. Writers: keep writing!
#writerSupport
#novelistsNeedLove
#LGBTHM2020
#scruff
72
53
839
I’m off for the year now! Inbox closed (if not cleared). Loving this pic of my and my wee mum from graduation yesterday. Thanks for all the lovely messages of joy, proving Twitter can be nice! See you on Sunday for final
#BigScottishBookClub
!
62
8
839
For anyone who’s writing or painting or making something creative today.
18
246
824
Every morning, one of my neighbours sits in her garden with one of her cats and has a wee chat with her about their plans for the day. And the cat chats back. And every day it makes me smile.
12
10
831
Priti Patel is racist. Gay people can be homophobic. Women can be sexist. And so it goes. We all make choices. Choose not to be vile, where possible.
23
69
819
As a gay man - one of Boris’s ‘tank-topped bumboys - I genuinely fear that I’ll wake up tomorrow in a country where my rights and freedoms are once again up for debate. And soon there may be no Europe to save me. 🌈
72
114
806
How wild is this? In the depths of lockdown I tweeted ‘we are not all in the same boat. We are all in the same storm.’ That tweet inspired this movie - by Peter Hedges starring Sandra Oh 🧵
#samestorm
45
68
817
All the days and weeks I spent worrying after sex, the lost sleep and constant searching of skin in mirror. It was terrifying. And for the longest I couldn’t talk about it to anyone.
#itsASin
really brought it all back.
23
13
810
Rees-Mogg offers such a rich menu of unlikeable qualities in just one person but I reserve a special disdain for his pathetic penchant for alliteration.
35
55
799