Living each day as it comes with incurable bowel cancer. Dad, husband, vinyl enthusiast, runner, West Ham, Worcs CCC, write stuff. Seeking the kind way through. Where I’m at: petesprogress.com
RIP Glen Hansard. One of my fave gigs ever seeing The Frames tour this album at Ronnie Scott’s in Brum. Great songwriter and a gracious, generous human being. youtu.be/4d5ZwrkLtiE?...
The Frames - Lay Me DownYouTube video by irishmusiccentralyoutu.beNew blog post up featuring gelato, marriage & cancer, Monty Panesar and a poem on a train from @robinince.bsky.social 🇮🇹🏏🫶 www.petesprogress.com/post/to-have...
To have and to hold (and catch)I've slowly realised that there's a difference between living with cancer and living with cancer.It seems possible to do both in one month, one week, or one day even.Last week, Lisa and I headed to So...www.petesprogress.comHey @graemethomson.bsky.social Wondered if you’d heard this new pod with Mick MacNeil? It mentions your SM books and gives a good counterpoint to the Jim/Charlie perspective. Impressed with his warmth and openness. He seems genuinely thankful for his SM legacy. open.spotify.com/episode/0EXC...
Episode 581 - Mick MacNeil of Simple MindsThe Hustle · Episodeopen.spotify.comHere’s my review for @spectrumculture.bsky.social of the immersive In Another World about Talk Talk/Mark Hollis. Kudos to @graemethomson.bsky.social for bringing out the beauty and humanity of these timeless albums. @newmodernbooks.bsky.social spectrumculture.com/2026/06/18/i...
In Another World: by Graeme Thomson - Spectrum CultureThomson sidesteps hagiography in teasing out the best and worst of Mark Hollis’ humanity as he outlines his obsessive creative routines.spectrumculture.comJanis Chen’s description of living with incurable cancer - including the analogy of being stuck in extra time of a football match - resonates deeply. I’ve borrowed from it in my new post about 1,000 days with Stage 4 cancer. www.petesprogress.com/post/1-000-d...
1,000 days in the long middleIt's a few days after my 52nd birthday. We had a great Bank Holiday weekend, celebrating with friends and family; even the weather held out until my annual birthday barbecue was winding down.There ha...www.petesprogress.comJohns Hopkins Berman Institute of BioethicsJanis Chen - I have stage four cancer – there will be no cure, but death isn’t necessarily imminent: this is how it feels to live in the long middle | Death and dying | The Guardian www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
As someone who has always loved Hot Chip, I enjoyed reviewing Alexis Taylor’s new LP for @spectrumculture.bsky.social . Probably his strongest solo album yet 🎷 spectrumculture.com/2026/03/18/a...
New blog post - featuring ashes, @sultansofping.bsky.social, The Ballad of Wallis Island and God being on the losing team. Thanks to @petepaphides.bsky.social for the Richard Rohr/U2 link 👌🏼 www.petesprogress.com/post/pullove...
Pullover for LentAs the season of Lent begins again, it's like slipping on my old blue woolly jumper. Probably about 15 years old, the jumper is stretched and saggy and, following Lisa's frown, I tend not to wear it i...www.petesprogress.comHere’s my review of the thrice-renewed ‘Our Secrets Are The Same’ for @spectrumculture.bsky.social spectrumculture.com/2026/02/15/o... @graemethomson.bsky.social
Our Secrets Are the Same: by Jim Kerr & Charlie Burchill with Graeme Thomson - Spectrum CultureMore of a love story than a memoir, the duo's secrets - many shared with us in this honest, enchanting book - remain at the heart of an enduring relationship which continues to outlive the whims of fa...spectrumculture.comPete BateCurrently enjoying a pristine virgin copy of ‘Our Secrets Are The Same’ from my local library 🤓
New blog post up featuring this superb @robinince.bsky.social couplet: ‘Much that destroys me/Also creates me’ from this wonderful book. www.petesprogress.com/post/keeping...
My latest blog post: www.petesprogress.com/post/phantom...
Two wings and a phantom fringeI'm four chemo tablets into today and feeling pretty good, considering. The sun is spilling between the part-closed curtains into the spare room, my 'Fall' playlist is swirling out of a blue-tooth sp...www.petesprogress.comI’m loving the Elijah Jamal Asani album. Would’ve never heard it if not for your chart. So thanks @thequietus.com 🤠
The QuietusThanks for the great reception to our AOTY Chart - have you found any new favourites? buff.ly/HP76GUt
The Blue Nile’s Heatwave - the perfect pop song for an early autumn evening, despite its title?! Paul Buchanan’s aching melody over the bouncing bass line in the chorus gets me every time. @petepaphides.bsky.social youtu.be/PypoQDHG6Kg?...
The Blue Nile - Heatwave (Official Audio)YouTube video by The Blue Nile Officialyoutu.beMy For Folk’s Sake review of the timely new Mavis Staples album. www.forfolkssake.com/reviews/4198...
This was such a refreshing, fun, life-affirming listen. Thanks Tim and Elliot 👍🏼
Nomad PodcastIn the new Nomad Podcast episode, Tim and his 11-year-old son Elliot look back on a year of experimenting with spiritual practices — from activism and art to bird song and pilgrimage.
Bloggin’ www.petesprogress.com/post/eight-b...
Eight biscuits, and a slice of lifeIt's been many months since I've felt the urge to capture a day in words before it fades into a sea of memories. Wednesday was one of those days.Wednesday was biopsy day. A new experience to tick off the cancer list, I was offered it (the NHS equivalent of a Virgin Experience Day?) by my oncologist a fortnight ago to try and get to the bottom, or more accurately the middle, of the slowly expanding 1.6cm lesion in my liver. The lesion looks like cancer but isn't acting like cancer, its cells dormwww.petesprogress.com