Tom Morton
@thebeatcroft.bsky.social
Writer, talker, wanderer. Shetland, Scotland.
Read all the Zoë Boehm books in gaps waiting for the next Slough House from Mick Herron. If anything, the TV adaptation of Down Cemetery Road is even better than Slow Horses. Adeel Akhtar’s presence brought Utopia (UK version) to mind.
November 3, 2025 at 11:51 PM
Read all the Zoë Boehm books in gaps waiting for the next Slough House from Mick Herron. If anything, the TV adaptation of Down Cemetery Road is even better than Slow Horses. Adeel Akhtar’s presence brought Utopia (UK version) to mind.
Puts the whole Boorman/McGregor cavalcade in perspective. #Itchyboots really is awe-inspiring. “I left Afghanistan🇦🇫 - how this motorcycle journey changed me forever.” youtu.be/xqZMZpgeALM?... via @YouTube
I left Afghanistan 🇦🇫 - how this motorcycle journey changed me forever.
YouTube video by Itchy Boots
youtu.be
November 3, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Puts the whole Boorman/McGregor cavalcade in perspective. #Itchyboots really is awe-inspiring. “I left Afghanistan🇦🇫 - how this motorcycle journey changed me forever.” youtu.be/xqZMZpgeALM?... via @YouTube
Original Mackendrick version of #WhiskyGalore on TV. Joy. Watched it on a big screen in Strontian at the Ardgour book festival years ago. Audience singing along in Gaelic. 2016 remake is perfectly OK but this is wondrous.
November 2, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Original Mackendrick version of #WhiskyGalore on TV. Joy. Watched it on a big screen in Strontian at the Ardgour book festival years ago. Audience singing along in Gaelic. 2016 remake is perfectly OK but this is wondrous.
Railway station roofs. They are undoubtedly deep spiritual codes. Transcendence beckons.
October 30, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Railway station roofs. They are undoubtedly deep spiritual codes. Transcendence beckons.
If you've never read/are addicted to @adrianmckinty's Northern Ireland-set #SeanDuffy thrillers, he's got some stories on Substack for free. This is great. open.substack.com/pub/adrianmc...
Murder In The Red Barn - A Sean Duffy Story
Murder in the Red Barn - A Sean Duffy Story
open.substack.com
October 25, 2025 at 3:27 PM
If you've never read/are addicted to @adrianmckinty's Northern Ireland-set #SeanDuffy thrillers, he's got some stories on Substack for free. This is great. open.substack.com/pub/adrianmc...
The Ballad of Memory Foam Insoles (Wellington Boot Version)
beatcroft.com/2025/10/23/t...
beatcroft.com/2025/10/23/t...
The Ballad of Memory Foam Insoles (Wellington Boot Version)
I don’t want a Hermes tie or a Paul Smith suit I just want a decent pair of Wellington boots So that through the deepest mud I can easily trudge Ones that sit secure on my feet, so they never…
beatcroft.com
October 23, 2025 at 2:59 PM
The Ballad of Memory Foam Insoles (Wellington Boot Version)
beatcroft.com/2025/10/23/t...
beatcroft.com/2025/10/23/t...
Shetland-the-series is coming back. Unofficial merch! utter-tosh.teemill.com/product/no-s...
No scratchy gansies
All soft and cosy…
utter-tosh.teemill.com
October 22, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Shetland-the-series is coming back. Unofficial merch! utter-tosh.teemill.com/product/no-s...
I think this weekend saw Deacon Blue and Wet Wet Wet playing major gigs in Glasgow with Hue And Cry in The City of Paisley, and Edwyn Collins in Edinburgh. Meanwhile, Caught Up In This Big Rhythm, - 72-pages of 80s Scottish pop snapshots and memories by me and Stewart Cunningham - is coming soon
October 12, 2025 at 1:10 PM
I think this weekend saw Deacon Blue and Wet Wet Wet playing major gigs in Glasgow with Hue And Cry in The City of Paisley, and Edwyn Collins in Edinburgh. Meanwhile, Caught Up In This Big Rhythm, - 72-pages of 80s Scottish pop snapshots and memories by me and Stewart Cunningham - is coming soon
Perfect in tone but somehow lacking in space. Feels dense, crammed. Always that sense of both lightness and movement in Le Carré’s prose. Fascinating though.
October 11, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Perfect in tone but somehow lacking in space. Feels dense, crammed. Always that sense of both lightness and movement in Le Carré’s prose. Fascinating though.
Hilux, baby!
"Sheepdogs in the back
With a shotgun rack
A rocket launcher if you insist
Regime change is right on track
No weak government is gonna resist
A Hilux baby
Toyota Hilux!"
Latest Beatcroft newsletter with song by Scar Quilse beatcroft.com/2025/10/10/n...
"Sheepdogs in the back
With a shotgun rack
A rocket launcher if you insist
Regime change is right on track
No weak government is gonna resist
A Hilux baby
Toyota Hilux!"
Latest Beatcroft newsletter with song by Scar Quilse beatcroft.com/2025/10/10/n...
No truck: the mysterious Toyota ‘customer satisfaction campaign’ that most definitely isn’t a recall. And a new company song…
The grey beast of Hillswick, now somewhere in Derbyshire Hilux, Baby! Lyrics after the main article, but play the song here. The rumours began last year, on internet forums for farmers and Toyota H…
beatcroft.com
October 10, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Hilux, baby!
"Sheepdogs in the back
With a shotgun rack
A rocket launcher if you insist
Regime change is right on track
No weak government is gonna resist
A Hilux baby
Toyota Hilux!"
Latest Beatcroft newsletter with song by Scar Quilse beatcroft.com/2025/10/10/n...
"Sheepdogs in the back
With a shotgun rack
A rocket launcher if you insist
Regime change is right on track
No weak government is gonna resist
A Hilux baby
Toyota Hilux!"
Latest Beatcroft newsletter with song by Scar Quilse beatcroft.com/2025/10/10/n...
Latest weekly Beatcroft newsletter. As we prepare for a battering by Amy, the ferries are off and every scrap of sooth bread has been snatched from the supermarket shelves. There is a Dearth of Warburtons in the Zetlandics… beatcroft.com/2025/10/03/t...
Ten things I can do in Shetland that are illegal or at least difficult in Glasgow
The view from our old front room. Currently occupied by Italian tourists stranded due to the ferries being cancelled. Hmm…activities or substances that would be frowned upon, if not ruled completel…
beatcroft.com
October 3, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Latest weekly Beatcroft newsletter. As we prepare for a battering by Amy, the ferries are off and every scrap of sooth bread has been snatched from the supermarket shelves. There is a Dearth of Warburtons in the Zetlandics… beatcroft.com/2025/10/03/t...
This week's Beatcroft newsletter. Free to read or subscribe.
"Autumn in Glasgow’s west end is where I came in. Freshers Week, 1973. I came up from Ayrshire with a Framus guitar and my dad’s old RAF greatcoat, complete with illegal buttons..."
beatcroft.com/2025/09/28/w...
"Autumn in Glasgow’s west end is where I came in. Freshers Week, 1973. I came up from Ayrshire with a Framus guitar and my dad’s old RAF greatcoat, complete with illegal buttons..."
beatcroft.com/2025/09/28/w...
Wild West End: triumphing over ‘curation syndrome’ at Kelvingrove
A long stay in Glasgow, the Covid comeback that began it finally receding. It’s the curse that keeps on giving, this plague, isn’t it? Malevolent in its ever-changing variety of symptoms, this time…
beatcroft.com
September 28, 2025 at 10:34 AM
This week's Beatcroft newsletter. Free to read or subscribe.
"Autumn in Glasgow’s west end is where I came in. Freshers Week, 1973. I came up from Ayrshire with a Framus guitar and my dad’s old RAF greatcoat, complete with illegal buttons..."
beatcroft.com/2025/09/28/w...
"Autumn in Glasgow’s west end is where I came in. Freshers Week, 1973. I came up from Ayrshire with a Framus guitar and my dad’s old RAF greatcoat, complete with illegal buttons..."
beatcroft.com/2025/09/28/w...
I thought Spinal Tap II was great, particularly the early cheesy/sticky stuff. And good to see Artie Fufkin again.
September 25, 2025 at 6:11 PM
I thought Spinal Tap II was great, particularly the early cheesy/sticky stuff. And good to see Artie Fufkin again.
New Beatcroft newsletter. Fear of curry: beatcroft.com/2025/09/21/d...
Dishoom, Glasgow’s ‘Curry Canyon’, and the hot breath of fenugreek over Kelvingrove
We feared curry. My parents were more than nervous; I was terrified. Mum’s wee brother had become a curry convert and we were following in his experimental footsteps up an aromatic stair to the Kas…
beatcroft.com
September 21, 2025 at 3:46 PM
New Beatcroft newsletter. Fear of curry: beatcroft.com/2025/09/21/d...
This week’s newsletter. Hunger, appetite, drugging away desire. Essay, jokes, poem, playlist. beatcroft.com/2025/09/04/p...
Pure fantin’: the hunger games
Welcome to the Beatcroft newsletter. This week there’s an essay fuelled by the news that the top appetite suppressant drugs are going up in price – and popularity. Read or listen to me readin…
beatcroft.com
September 4, 2025 at 10:13 PM
This week’s newsletter. Hunger, appetite, drugging away desire. Essay, jokes, poem, playlist. beatcroft.com/2025/09/04/p...
So it begins. Doing this is all too easy #AI www.bbc.com/news/article...
'AI slop': Emily Portman and musicians on the mystery of fraudsters releasing songs in their name - BBC News
Artists on the mystery of being targeted by fraudsters releasing "AI slop" songs in their name.
www.bbc.com
August 24, 2025 at 8:55 AM
So it begins. Doing this is all too easy #AI www.bbc.com/news/article...
Thirty-nine years ago, Del Amitri and Kevin McDermott set out to conquer the USA, devoid of work visas, cash or any sense that they might be biting off more than they could chew. It seemed like a good idea at the time...
beatcroft.com/2025/07/19/t...
beatcroft.com/2025/07/19/t...
Thrawn in the USA, 1986
All come to look for America: Del Amitri and me You know The Sopranos title sequence? Tony’s trip from Manhattan to Newark on the New Jersey Turnpike, soundtracked by The Alabama 3? Thirty-nine yea…
beatcroft.com
July 19, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Thirty-nine years ago, Del Amitri and Kevin McDermott set out to conquer the USA, devoid of work visas, cash or any sense that they might be biting off more than they could chew. It seemed like a good idea at the time...
beatcroft.com/2025/07/19/t...
beatcroft.com/2025/07/19/t...
So many memories with this. #MarquesdeRiscal. Never imagined I’d find it in the Lerwick #Tesco
July 15, 2025 at 7:14 PM
So many memories with this. #MarquesdeRiscal. Never imagined I’d find it in the Lerwick #Tesco
My Best Temporary Friend beatcroft.com/2025/07/12/m...
My Best Temporary Friend
Please be understanding and careful with this. It’s a rough sketch of a performance, needless to say with no artificial intelligence involved. There are a few stumbles and buzzes, but to be h…
beatcroft.com
July 12, 2025 at 2:26 PM
My Best Temporary Friend beatcroft.com/2025/07/12/m...
Beware evil paragliders!
June 19, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Beware evil paragliders!
Potentially disastrous issue with Bank of Scotland - be warned if you have a HOBS ‘instant access’ account. Bank is blocking access to mine as they’ve declared it ‘dormant’ with no consultation despite deposit 30 months ago.
June 10, 2025 at 8:44 AM
Potentially disastrous issue with Bank of Scotland - be warned if you have a HOBS ‘instant access’ account. Bank is blocking access to mine as they’ve declared it ‘dormant’ with no consultation despite deposit 30 months ago.
Full of jarring, sometimes bizarre anomalies and clangers from 1971: the Tory PM is called Patrick Harvey, there’s a Soho nightclub called The Gaza Strip. But pacey as hell and still with weird political relevance in places. #Hurd #ScotchontheRocks
June 7, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Full of jarring, sometimes bizarre anomalies and clangers from 1971: the Tory PM is called Patrick Harvey, there’s a Soho nightclub called The Gaza Strip. But pacey as hell and still with weird political relevance in places. #Hurd #ScotchontheRocks