TIME 2 LIVE AGAIN

Bond owns very little, and what he has is issued for the mission. Blown-up Aston Martins, thrown guns, exploding Omegas. So what can Q Branch teach the rest of us about buying fewer, better things? Four lessons from the 007 lifestyle: respect the build, trust the story, check your motive, and let it patina.

Timestamps

00:00 Consumption and the second act

01:21 It goes back to Q

01:50 Swedish Death Cleaning, 00 style

02:05 1. Respect the build

02:21 2. Trust the story

02:47 3. Check your motive

03:29 4. Let it patina

Amazon are taking their sweet time with Bond 26, so I went back to the books. Fleming first, then the continuation novels, On His Majesty's Secret Service, and finally King Zero.

I closed it feeling something I didn't expect: optimism. Not "decent stopgap" optimism. Proper, we're-on-our-way-somewhere-good optimism.

Spoiler-free. I cover how Higson handles the question the films have been chewing on since Skyfall (is Bond still relevant?), the standout moment, why it's villains plural, how close it sits to old Fleming, and whether you should buy it.

Read it? Tell me what you made of it. I suspect this one will split people.

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Cheers.

Charlie Higson’s King Zero landed today: his first full-length adult Bond, set in the modern day with a thirty-five-year-old 007.

In this one I take a quick look back at On His Majesty’s Secret Service, why “an analogue man in a digital world” still sounds about right for modern Bond, and how a second Higson book could beat Bond 26 to the shelves.

Plus, I’ll be at his talk in Penarth. I’ll report back.

Note : (Cwmbran got cancelled while editing - such is life)

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What Amazon Needs to Get Right with the Next 007 With Bond 26 casting reportedly underway, I’m sharing my full wishlist for what the next James Bond film needs to be, and what it shouldn’t. From Herne Bay, I break down why the gritty Peaky Blinders route isn’t the answer, why the Craig era was a triumph but not a blueprint, and why Bond 26 needs a return to the Roger Moore formula: scale, danger, laughs, and oodles of style. In this video I cover: • Why managing expectations matters for Bond fans • The challenge Amazon, the Fleming Estate, and the Broccolis face • What Goldfinger, Casino Royale, GoldenEye, and Skyfall all got right as “rebound” films • My casting picks, including Callum Turner as a normie choice • Why Bond should look like the man Fleming actually described (for once) • New brands, new locations, and the return of Bond’s elegance and charm • More Q, more gags, a good plot with twists, and what I don’t want • Why supporting 007 across books, games, and media keeps the fandom alive Whether your perfect Bond is in the continuation novels, in Bond 26, or somewhere in between… let’s just hope for good.

The casting question my wishlist dodged. I didn't dodge it here: Amazon Just Made the Case for a Brown James Bond.

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Bond 26 is finally real. Denis Villeneuve is directing, Steven Knight is writing, auditions start in August, and the film itself probably won’t land before 2028.

So rather than chase every rumour between now and then, here are five Bond films worth a revisit while we wait. One that set the formula, the one that’s criminally underrated, the one that proves an unknown lead can work, the one that answered “is Bond finished?” and one I’ll die on a hill for.

Every time Bond has been counted out, a new actor, a long gap, a changed world…the series has answered with one of its better films. There’s no need to panic about the wait. No matter how painful.

The films:Goldfinger (1964)From Russia With Love (1963)On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)GoldenEye (1995)Quantum of Solace (2008)

I’ll be tracking Bond 26 as the real news comes in. No rumours dressed up as facts. Subscribe for that and more rugged luxury.

Got your own rewatch list? Drop it in the comments.

And if you want the full wishlist, pour a drink first: Contemplating Bond 26.

More 007 at time2liveagain.com

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Tudor Black Bay Dark 79230DK: the long-term review. A year and change on the wrist. Not the spec sheet. What actually living with it felt like: some thoughts on Tudor, why I skipped the PVD bracelet, the leather strap that made it, the scratch I bought it with, and the only timekeeping test that matters.

The vintage Tudor it shares a watch box with: Long Term: The Tudor “Big Rose” Oyster Prince.

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Some books entertain us. Some unsettle us. And a rare few hold up a mirror so clear that we walk away seeing ourselves and the world differently.

Lately I have been drawn to books that do exactly that. Different genres. Different voices. Different worlds. But all circling the same human questions about belonging, truth, power, and what it really means to be alive right now.

Here are five that have stayed with me and quietly changed the way I think and move through the world.

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Rating: M for Masterclass

“Frivolity at its best”

The smartest Bond villain might be a parody of the very idea of Bond itself, and that’s where Percival Everett has the most fun.

2023’s Dr No isn’t trying to be a great Bond story. It’s something stranger and lighter, and it succeeds so completely that the only sensible critique is: nothing.

This is a review that isn’t really a review. I can’t pretend to be objective about a Bond‑adjacent book; I’m too far down the rabbit hole. We also don’t cover bad or mediocre things here. What I can do is talk about a story that lives near 007 and stubbornly refuses to be a Bond book.

Spoiler alert: Bond doesn’t show up. At all. He’s only ever glancingly referenced, and the plot touches his world in a way that’s loose enough not to trouble any IP people. The book is stronger for it.

Instead, Everett takes what we think we know, tweaks the characters and offers a masterful remix from the perspective of the afterthought: the self‑actualised Black man. Our main character, Wala, lives in that space. He’s not Bond, he’s a reluctant villain after all. He’s also a hero of sorts. Wala doesn’t try to be Bond, and isn’t interested in much. If he shares anything with 007, it’s a kind of mathematical “butt‑kicking ability” that runs under the surface of the story.

As readers of my work already know, I’m the Bond fan who actually tries to pay the cost of the lifestyle, not just watch it. So a book that exists in the 007 “world” and gives us interesting Black characters moving through that universe is rare enough to feel almost impossible. Wala may not be Bond, but the villains around him? They are perfectly 007.

The plot, in its loosest terms: a mathematician, more philosopher than lab‑rat, and a physicist are paid a kingpin’s ransom to help a deliberately blaxploitative villain get into Fort Knox. John Sill.

They are in search of “nothing,” which also happens to be Wala’s speciality. Nothing as concept. Nothing as object. Nothing as power.

Nothing is powerful here precisely because it is nothing, and that’s the joke the whole book dances around. The story unfolds in a world of limerick, riddle, absurdity, and deliberate literary frivolity. That mode is going to be majorly off‑putting to some readers. The sing-song villain sections remind me of Tolkien.

There are spies and government functionaries, including a version of Bill Clinton wandering through the pages. There are explosions. Talking dogs. Dreamy swings into mania. And, most importantly for me, Black angst and self‑questioning set against a backdrop of luxury.

The only way this book could resonate more with me is with nothing: more of that empty centre it keeps circling.

At the risk of rambling, I’m landing this non‑review right as rumours of Callum Turner stepping into the role of James Bond swirl across the internet.

I like Callum for Bond. People have sent me his name in DMs and asked what I think, and based on what I’ve seen, he’d be a strong choice.

He’s engaged to Dua Lipa, who I’d happily keep far away from 007 on screen. Argylle told us most of what we needed to know there. As a potential Bond theme artist, though, that’s a different story. A quick look at the Kanye leaks from Donda tells you she has the range. She has more cultural weight than just “Levitating” on repeat.

Interested to read other thoughts on this book and the state of 007.

She also did a sharp conversation with Percival Everett that I’d recommend tracking down. It’s part of the same through‑line: the Bond world, and the orbit around it, are expanding. Things are getting weirder, cooler, and less comfortable at the edges. And we’re better for it.

It’s not happening in the ways we’d usually expect, or always in ways fans are ready for. But that’s exactly why books like this matter: they show us what happens when you take the trappings of 007 and hand the centre of the story to someone like Wala instead.

From the outset, the book signals that this is a fun read, not a light one. The subject matter, the focus that it requires to read certain tricky portions of this book, the subtle jab at Fleming’s depictions of Bond girls. Sedated. Robotic. Solely there as incapable damsels in distress who serve the male gaze and please.

Percival Everett knows exactly what he’s doing, he’s tied this entire story into an earlier novel from his bibliography.

I haven’t read Glyph yet but that’s next on my list. I’d also recommend the exceptional White Teeth by Zadie Smith for a less frivolous, lower stakes satirical book tackling adjacent themes.

The continuation novel that finally won me back (after two books of wanting to throw it across the room): Kim Sherwood’s Hurricane Room.

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It’s the last episode of 2025 and the wrap for an exceptional Season 1.

Join us for a rundown of what we watched, a chat around a special timepiece… a TAG Heuer… and our song of the year choices.

Winter Essentials Guide

Tragedy as Reset, Book Review

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On this instalment of the podcast, we had a little bit of fun with some Bond-adjacent topics… We shared some of our favourite moments from Bond films with style and car shout-outs. Covered a cool article from GQ and discussed our dream theme music for Bond 26.

Winter Essentials Guide

The Berlin Brief Playlist (Apple) + Spotify

GQ: Rules for Modern Gentlemen

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