Is this it then? Is spring finally here? Should we get excited? Before we get going, allow me to tell you why I’m excited in particular. In under a month’s time, my fourth (and best) novel LEADING MAN is released, and it’s a dark comedy about a gay drama teacher who hides his pain behind jokes and has an overbearing boss, a couple of self-centred friends, and a very hot face from his past to content with – and that’s before we even get to throwing up in the reception area of a gym after a spin class. Here are what some other authors, all of whose first names begin with L, for some reason, sai ..read more

What a week, huh? Let’s never speak of it again. But before we Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind the last few days – or should we go back and do the last few months? – let’s spend an evening with my fellow rainbow alphabet darlings Jordy and Luke. Jordy is 29 and works as a graphic designer, like every other 29-year-old in London who isn’t a Deliveroo driver, and Luke is 30 and a design consultant which sounds a little more grown up and like he has a few more Pilot 0.7mm pens littering his kitchen worktop. Anyway, here they are, as photographed in a very small room in the Guardian offices ..read more

This week the Guardian Blind Date is an over-60s special, and they devote oodles of pages to delightful senior romantic moments – and a couple of clangers tbh – plus an update on a date from last year which unfortunately I didn’t review. Of all the couples, I decided to review Angelica and Peter because Angelica is a GREAT name – say it in a French accent, gorgeous, I can’t stop – and I like her jumper. You think this is a strange decision? People get jobs as CEOs on even shakier criteria than that, believe me. (RIP Vice. ) I have a friend who cries if an old person doesn’t win the jackpot on ..read more

Today on the chopping block, two prime cuts in their early thirties: Mark, 33, a project manager, and Abby, 32, a lawyer. Ooh, haven’t they got good jobs, I bet their aunties boast about them to the lady on the cig counter in their local Co-Op. Read what happened on the date on the Guardian website and then return here for some choice barbs, observations, distracted looks over your shoulder for someone more interesting coming along. Mark | Abby What were you hoping for? To nick some Guardian stationery when I came into the office for my photo shoot. A fruitless pursuit, sadly. What on Earth fo ..read more

Mid-February looms, pink hearts and helium balloons festoon shop windows and Moonpig have cancelled all staff leave – Valentine’s Week is upon us. What are you doing for it? Sitting in a Frankie & Benny’s ordering a spaghetti so you can do the Lady and the Tramp pasta slurp kiss? Yeah, same. Anyway, baby, turn the lights down low, get Barry White on your tinny bluetooth speaker, and pour that £2.99 Blossom Hill vinegar you panic-bought on the way home from work, it’s another Blind Date. This week, Emily, 30, a videographer, meets Shivani, 28, a journalist and presenter. Disclosure: I follo ..read more

It’s the 300th of January, you’ve decided the fairy lights on your balcony – in your new-build flat overlooking a Kwik Fit next to a dual carriageway – might as well become a year-round feature, and there is no such thing as good news. Thankfully, love, or the search for it, endures, and as it approaches its 15th anniversary, the Guardian Blind Date is still throwing together the UK’s singles and seeing what happens (usually nothing). Today, your decorator and your bank manager have something very important to tell you about your plans for a new conservatory. Composite: Linda Nylind and Antoni ..read more

Now that 2024 has woken up, had its first ciggie, and finally chucked the Christmas tree out onto the pavement, let’s delve back into the broken hearts and dashed dreams factory that is the Guardian Blind Date. This week cybersecurity engineer Jayson, 26, meets fundraising and events manager Eleanor, also 26, in one of those small, local restaurants in a loft-conversion/double-basement heavy neighbourhood where main courses are inexplicably £28. Read the full version of the date (nothing happens, really) on the Guardian website so that they get the clicks and the advertising revenue and then r ..read more

I am delighted to announce that my fourth novel LEADING MAN, will be released on 9 May 2024. Here’s what the cover will look like! Here is a quick video of me revealing the cover (even though I’ve just done that above) and telling you a little about the novel (even though I do that further down this page). Maybe we should talk about the plot! Oh I love this book so much, I’m very excited about it. Here’s the official synopsis: “Leading Man is a hilarious and relatable queer coming-of-age story. It follows Leo, a thirty-something drama teacher in Edinburgh. Leo’s content to be in the backgrou ..read more

December rain. Not as bad as January rain, or maybe even November rain, but bad enough. There’s something miserable and uncivilised about Christmas shopping in a downpour, especially now all the shops give you paper carrier bags, which disintegrate before you get even 20 metres away from Boots, sending all your Frizz-Ease and Dulcolax tumbling into the kerb. Lucky then, that bringing sunshine to the last two weeks before tinsel starts to get on your nerves are Peter, 26, who works in film and TV (no actual job title, which is both mysterious and a refreshing change from the usual parade of Lin ..read more

You must look for beacons in a world where the darkness is becoming suffocating. There will always be some, here and there, the odd chink of light for you to latch onto: perhaps you happen to witness one of your several nemeses spill affogato down a pristine white T-shirt; maybe Sainsbury’s has started selling that variant of Boursin you’ve always liked; and there’s always the Guardian Blind Date. Whether it’s a couple of clean-shirts talking about the Hadron Collider over a chewy quattro stagioni, or two horned-up PR managers ripping off each other’s Uniqlo shackets, there’s always some pleas ..read more