114: November 2025
Hello, welcome to Border Crossing issue one hundred and fourteen, crash landing into the exhausted smokey-eyed glottal-stop after Bonfire Night and the ‘beaver super-moon’, whatever that was.
What shall we burn next?
I hope you’re doing very well, thank you so much for continuing to read these zines and supporting my writing work.
The 12” vinyl LPs of my old albums London Is Sinking and 9 Red Songs arrived and look wonderful. New sleeves by One Thirty Eight hark back to Joel Morris’ original designs from more than twenty years ago, adding an elegant stylised minimalism, plus gorgeous spot colours, so they pop like fuck. I’m beyond chuffed with these.
If you play records, you can order copies for £20 each) and they’ll show up at the end of next week.
It’s been a heady few days in New York City. Here’s Zohran Mamdani’s victory speech in full, via Zeteo.
So on we roll, with some actual hope.
xx
gems
1
If you’re considering wearing a white poppy this coming Remembrance, instead of (or alongside) a red one, there’s still just about time to order online from Peace Pledge Union. They post out First Class within a day or two. Or if you’re in London, yesterday I spotted them on sale at Housmans Bookshop on Caledonian Road, three minutes’ walk from Kings Cross station. You’ll find them at many Quaker Meeting Houses too.
2
Jameela Jamil in conversation with Romesh Ranganathan for his podcast. Fantastic, very funny interview, end to end, she’s incredible value.
3
I’m reading an inspiring short book, long essay, Pirate Care: Acts Against the Criminalisation of Solidarity, written collaboratively by Valeria Graziano, Marcell Mars and Tomislav Medak. It’s #7 in the Vagabonds series of radical pamphlets that Max Haiven is editing for Pluto Press. I may have to go buy all of them. Pirate Care compiles grass-roots activist-led acts of mutual aid, emergency care and protection for vulnerable and oppressed people, case studies from around the world, which sit both as ‘good works’ in and of themselves, while also forming a positivist, non-violent pushback against re-emerging Empire behaviours from the forces in power. A readable, beautifully constructed argument for healing as anarchism.
4
Back in September, a not-that-well-known but admired American essayist — whose work I absolutely loved — a writers’ writer — passed away at just thirty-seven years old. Over the past decade, Kaleb Horton from Bakersfield, California has made it into these gems a couple of times, into my ‘essays of the year’ more than once. He was regarded as a ‘real California’ writer, focused away from the rock’n’roll / Hollywood / tech bro facade, back towards the shadows and grime and smaller towns. Also, a writer of quiet but deeply held faith. Here’s Matt Pearce on the man he dubbed ‘the last magazine writer’. And a personal eulogy by Stephen Thomas Erlewine. Finally here’s Kaleb Horton’s own newsletter via Ghost (a constantly tempting Substack alternative) which was active this year and is a rewarding read. A deep thinker and beautiful prose writer, a regionalist who deserved far wider recognition.
5
Within this (already fascinating) Athletic article by Michael Walker about Bobby Charlton’s 1960 picks for the world’s best football XI is an eye-opening potted bio of German goalkeeper Bert Trautmann, who excelled for Manchester City in the late 1950s, despite having flown in the Luftwaffe and been a prisoner-of-war.
6
If you’ve only encountered Victoria Coren Mitchell in her role as droll British television quiz host, here’s a rad little YouTube vid telling the story of her first EPT (European Poker Tour) triumph in 2006, winning as the only amateur and the only woman. It makes clear how world-class she is at the game — later she became the first person ever to win two EPT titles. Also, I love how the poker world calls her ‘Vicky’, she’s a whole different vibe.
potato gems
• Everyone covered it, it’s basically just a daft photo opp, but fuck it here’s Queen Camilla with the Tamworth Spudman. ffs.
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get in touch
email: chris@christt.com
Instagram: @cjthorpetracey.
always there
Check out the other newsletter Double Chorus about songwriting and the music industry.
Order two classic Chris T-T albums, on vinyl for the first time —
If you might benefit with a creativity/life balance reset, please check out my personal Creativity Consulting service.
Listen to series eight of Refigure podcast, the fun bitesize arts review show I make with Rifa.
Check out the Border Crossing Press shop.
My Pact Coffee discount code is CHRIS-A8UKQG. Sign up for coffee bean delivery, use this code, you get £5 off and I get £5 off a bag.
Thanks again. Look after yourself and your people.
All my love,
Chris
x