*facepalm*

Tagging this for BSFA Award voters.

A Projection on the latest Norstat poll in Scotland: 🎗️ SNP — 59 🌹 Lab — 19 🌳 Con — 11 🌱 GP — 11 🐤 LD — 6 ➡️ Ref — 23 @devolvedelections.bsky.social devolvedelections.co.uk/scotland/

Thoughts on the first section of our reread of The Two Towers is now up, where we talked about narrative structure, a hero's death, Aragorn's leadership, how Tolkien talks about peoples as a whole, and the problems inherent in his portrayal of the orcs amongst themselves.

New post: LABOUR'S SECTION 28 IS HERE - ACT NOW. I explain how the Labour government's proposed revisions to the guidance on "keeping children in education" are designed to erase trans children in England. But it's not a done deal - there is plenty we can do to oppose this.

One of my all time favourite writers.

'Admitting the Americans may come across as a little direct and urgent, he said this was only because the US was profoundly concerned by the fate of Europe, and knew their destinies were intertwined.' This is basically grooming.

Any politician using the Cass Review to justify anything is dishonest, especially Bridget Phillipson. It is un-peer-reviewed pseudoscience that has been, & will continue to be, discredited by multiple peer-reviewed publications all of which have more credibility than Cass. These are listed here;

I feel like this is pointing at some of the same issues as the anti-LLM conversations - whether it's parenting or craftsmanship, caring is the truly human thing, it's what we need to grow & to thrive. Labour & relationships rooted in forms of intimacy, not hierarchical rules or black box code.

In what universe are universities dominated by women? I worked in academia my whole life & experienced plenty of sexism but this level of misogyny is beyond: www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

ICYMI

Absolutely everything is going on this week and it becomes easy to lose track of the relentless grinding of the authoritarian British state amidst the noise. But they are pursuing a hardline anti-trans agenda. We need to keep fighting back. I have just donated to GLP. Please do so too.

James Leslie Mitchell was born today in 1901. If you've not been, get yourself to the Lewis Grassic Gibbon Centre in Arbuthnott. It's a small community-run museum and café where you can view some fab Gibbon paraphernalia, have a gander at some books, and get a lovely homemade lunch.

I fought long & hard to keep the pun/claim of "the pee in [free] speech" in BAD LANGUAGE. I will defend it with my life. As I go on to say: "This is what makes peeing, and insisting on our right to pee, such an effective and mischievous protest against dominance."

Follow the money onto campus folks - it’s all happening. Does make me wonder about other heterodox activities we’ve seen over the past couple of years.

This sort of thing is also why Labour are unpopular: entrenching xenophobic Brexit Britain: 'The EU citizens’ campaign group The 3 million called for a low-cost, one-off travel authorisation similar to one in Canada in place of the £589 certificate currently available.'

& here’s @thehubble101.bsky.social on GAY HUNTER prospectiveculture.wordpress.com/2024/07/30/r...

Here’s @thehubble101.bsky.social on THREE GO BACK … prospectiveculture.wordpress.com/2024/07/26/r...

Just thought of 2 books by James Leslie Mitchell, better known as Lewis Grassic Gibbon: THREE GO BACK (an airship travels 25,000 years into the past) and GAY HUNTER (a young, female, American archaeologist & two ghastly English fascists are flung 20,000 years forward into a post-apocalyptic future)…

And people wonder why this Government and Prime Minister are so unpopular? The outrageous, draconian, Fascist and clearly illegal decision to ban Palestine Action has been one reason (alongside Labour's support for the genocide in Gaza and the attack on right to protest in general).

🚀 please be aware people! Voting is for BSFA members only👇

These things are also true.

Sooooo not long left to vote for the BSFA, and that means not long left to read this excellent essay for free! You should also check out Val Nolan’s and Abby Roberts’ essays at www.speculativeinsight.com/essays And, like, all the other essays, while you’re at it.

There is no LGB without the T. We rise together and we fall together. Part of my speech in Parliament for LGBTQ+ History Month:

Reposting this for those who might wish to know.

There were three political programmes on concurrently (for those of us in Cymru): Newsnight, Walescast and Peston. Objectively, Peston was probably the best and worth it for the John Curtice segment in which JC pointed out that it's not just left v right but culture wars which drive our politics.

Hugo nominations are open; our eligible title this year is Paul Kincaid's Colourfields: Writing About Writing About Science Fiction, for Best Related Work

We're looking to capture experiences of what it means to be queer in the UK today! To do that we're collecting day diaries for 12th February. It doesn't matter what you get up to, or how you record it, we'd love to have it!🧵 (1/4) #LGBTplusHM #lgbthm26

Any time is a good time to subscribe to Speculative Insight - AUD30/year gets you an extra dozen essays, AND the 6-monthly ebooks with exclusive content! It's just over USD21, and GBP15! Subscribe now and get the Dec 2025 ebook as a bonus... www.speculativeinsight.com/subs

"First the Angles, then the Saxons, and don't get me started on the Normans ..." Oh, no, wait, he doesn't mean that: he's a racist. OK.

I'm currently reading this too and it's very good.

My book is now up on the publisher website, although preorders haven't opened there yet (It is available for preorder on some online booksellers).

Advance UK won't run in the 2026 Welsh elections, as they are not ready to do so. They briefly had a leader in Wales who resigned a week ago: a former Brexit party candidate and right-wing podcaster nation.cymru/news/foul-mo...

The difference between Sarwar and Scottish Labour and Morgan and Welsh Labour is that the former know they are currently on course to come a poor third at best in the May elections. Welsh Labour (especially the anti-devo wing) are still in a state of complete denial in which they think they can win.

Denial of reality.

'My indecision is final'. I'm guessing we won't hear anything from Wales until Sarwar's speech has been digested and the Labour MPs meeting tonight has taken place. Unless we hear from the dissident faction of Welsh Labour.

It's #Tolkien time again and the 3rd in my blog series on rereading #LOTR 50 years after I first read it at the age of 10. Here I list all the named female Hobbits (there's more of them than you think!) and talk about Bilbo and Frodo's 'exceptionality' in not being married and having large families.

It's #Tolkien time again and the 3rd in my blog series on rereading #LOTR 50 years after I first read it at the age of 10. Here I list all the named female Hobbits (there's more of them than you think!) and talk about Bilbo and Frodo's 'exceptionality' in not being married and having large families.

We are living through a scandal that eclipses anything we have seen in the post-war era, a set of shocks to the British establishment from which it may not recover | The Crisis of the British State bellacaledonia.org.uk/2026/02/03/t...

Starmer should go now. No good is going to come of him trying to cling on. It's not just Labour being damaged but he's dragging the whole political system, which is damaged anyway, further into disrepute and instability. He gambled on Mandelson and lost. Time to pay the consequences.

We're looking for writers, editors, proofreaders and researchers at Bylines Scotland! We're all volunteers trying to tell Scotland's story without the influence of folk with the big bucks! If you think that's you... contact us asap! Scotland needs you! [email protected] 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Er, on a symbolic level: the whole falling in the river, drowning, and rescue scene (which, furthermore, is a steal from Wind in the Willows). As it happens, I'm half way through writing the next blog post on my #LOTR reread, which is about queer Hobbits, female Hobbits and the birthrate.

Starmer is clearly holed under the waterline now. He might float on a bit longer but he's going down and there is no way back. As personal failure goes, this is complete. But also it's such a waste. He had a huge majority and could have done something but instead will go down as one of the worst PMs

"If Mandelson's links to Jeffrey Epstein disqualifies him from holding power, why does the company controlled by Epstein's business partner and co-owner retain access to the UK's most sensitive national security infrastructure?" Peter Thiel. Jeffrey Epstein. Palantir. The UK Government.

Sssnnnwhuffffll? Hnwhuffl hhnnwfl hnfl hfl? Gdroblboblhobngbl gbl gl g g g g glbgl. Drublhaflablhaflubhafgabhaflhafl fl fl… —Edwin Morgan, “The Loch Ness Monster’s Song” published in CENTENARY SELECTED POEMS, @carcanet.bsky.social 2020 #WyrdWednesday #poem #poetry www.carcanet.co.uk/978178410996...

Delighted that my essay 'The Dublin Portal... Or The Dublin Intrusion?' has been BSFA longlisted for Best Short Non Fiction (among other great @speculativeinsight.bsky.social pieces by @arobertswrites.com & @thehubble101.bsky.social!). Check it out here: www.speculativeinsight.com/essays/dubli... 😀

ICYMI... and this fantastic cover from @bydhiyanah.bsky.social

Also on the BSFAs, really good to see @thehubble101.bsky.social recommend Adam’s history of fantasy for the BSFA awards (also happily, my essay on the book is also nominated). Gotta say, I find the lack of attention for the book really odd - it’s a super useful text. An SH review is in the works.

Here are my thoughts and recommendations after considering the BSFA longlists. Voting closes on 19 Feb, so there is still time to have a look at some more works but I'm pretty firm on my four selections for Best Collection and both Non-Fiction categories and I know the critical conversations I want.

Happy to see Paul Kincaid's Colourfields: Writing About Writing About Science Fiction on the @locusmag.bsky.social recommended reading list! locusmag.com/2026/02/2025...