I don't do this so much these days but a poem for a Sunday. Leaves by Derek Mahon, from this beautiful book.

Anybody who had a vision to bring American levels of political, cultural and social polarisation to Britain - whether their motive was clicks or cash, ideology, boredom or anything else - would make it their top strategic priority to abolish the BBC, or to damage and diminish it at the very least

Captain Haddock In Monte Carlo... A post about context driven by an excellent poem by @andrewjamesneilson.bsky.social matriches76.wordpress.com/2025/11/09/c...

Bad day for the Beeb but hitting rock bottom is the start of the climb. www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cd...

I love all the @badlilies.bsky.social babies (so to speak!) equally but this sequence by @ravoon.bsky.social is worthy of some attention ahead of his collection coming out next year badlilies.uk/graeme-richardson-1

Busy week, and month! I turned 50 in the month, launched a debut poetry pamphlet last week (see pic, notice the trainers doing all the hard work) and put out a fantastic new Bad Lilies issue with Kathryn Gray! Frankly, I'm now knackered.

Proofs to contributors are being prepared...our cracking new issue is out for Halloween in a week's time 👀👻⚓️ badlilies.uk

We’re very sorry to hear that Prunella Scales has passed away aged 93. Prunella was a longstanding supporter of the Howard League, and we shall miss her terribly. Our thoughts are with her family.

We’ve a beautiful new @badlilies.bsky.social landing on Halloween! Expect poems that will stay with you at this time of the thin veil between worlds.

The appalling report on Leeds prison, published today by HM Inspectorate of Prisons, highlights how chronic overcrowding in our prison system puts lives at risk. Read our response: https://howardleague.org/news/leeds-prison-report-reveals-the-tragic-consequences-of-chronic-overcrowding/

People (some people) complain about the commercialisation of literary publishing (a commercial venture) as if it were something new. I worked for a literary publisher more than 25 years ago and the first book launch of theirs I attended was for Mr Motivator (nice guy).

Today I’ve written about a poem by Michael Longley and the questions it raises about obscurity, in-jokes and what makes a poem work.

Michael Longley described the Virgil line here, a sly reference to Seamus Heaney (post-Nobel), as "a learned leg-pull". But I think the poem as a whole is more than that...deadly serious, even. One of his marvellous unfolding single sentences too.

Autumn, Suffolk.

Addendum: 'ten thousand' is basically the Tang Chinese version of saying 'infinity', it crops up a lot in Du Fu and elsewhere. I love this. The sophistication and modernity of these 10th century lyrics blows my mind.

My pamphlet of poems, Summers Are Other, is officially out now. Here's a taster, a version of Du Fu that Linton Kwesi Johnson used as an epigraph to Time Come, his Selected Prose. rackpress.blogspot.com?m=1

Poem for a Shabbat. By @jsaphra.bsky.social.

I'm very much enjoying Andrew Neilson's pamphlet Summers Are Other from Rack Press, particularly the lovely lyric 'The Viaduct' @badlilies.bsky.social

The government could stop spending £7bn on building yet more failing prisons and this would give it a head start on a far more promising route to cutting crime:

My poetry pamphlet Summers Are Other is available for pre-order now from Rack Press: rackpress.blogspot.com?m=1. I also have copies available if you message me. And they're out in the very occasional wild! Official launch in London on 29 October...more info to follow. 🙏

My poetry pamphlet Summers Are Other is available for pre-order now from Rack Press: rackpress.blogspot.com?m=1. I also have copies available if you message me. And they're out in the very occasional wild! Official launch in London on 29 October...more info to follow. 🙏

Violent crime in London has dropped by 13%—a fall of nearly 10,000 attacks a year—as the capital records its lowest homicide rate in five years. www.standard.co.uk/news/london/...

Coming this autumn from Rack Press. Poems!

Coming this autumn from Rack Press. Poems!

'The Viaduct': poem and construction. My uncle was a coal miner at Bilston Glen. Thank you to Gerry Cambridge of The Dark Horse for publishing the poem, and my thoughts on Seamus Heaney. This is a poetry magazine everyone should read.

Back from a trip to see my family in Scotland and what was awaiting me on my return but this grand wee magazine. Featuring the final part of a trilogy of essays therein I've written on excellence, entertainment, and edification...the final essay being on Seamus Heaney.

"… great sonics, an authoritative tone (even, or perhaps most especially, in expressing vulnerability), attentiveness to the line (for non-prose poems), and, very obviously, a freshness of language (free of cliché, invigorating)" thefridaypoem.com/in-conversat...

"We must love one another or die" wrote Auden in 'September 1, 1939'. That was a truly great public poem by a truly great poet (if seriously flawed). The last of that type, I think...writing at a time when poetry itself was publicly recognised as a major art form. 1/2

Poem by me. I've lived in London for most of my adult life but I am Scottish. This one is about another Scottish poet. Sometimes the emotions run so deep you have to access the language.

The poet Alice Oswald being among those arrested for supporting the right to protest has to be one of the most depressing things to happen this weekend. What country is this? www.bbc.com/news/article...

Great poem by Rebecca Watts.

I just spent a moment staring at this old friend and feeling whole again. Reasons for why forthcoming. ❤️

"This is a truly shocking report and children at Oakhill have been profoundly failed." Oakhill has been issued its second Urgent Notification after inspectors found serious and systemic failures. The prison holds children as young as 12. Read our response: howardleague.org/news/howard-...

“Prisons cannot go on like this. It is unconscionable to see the huge rise in deaths in custody, as well as continued spikes in self-harm and in assaults." A staggering 401 people died in prison in the last year. Read our response to MoJ's safety in custody stats: howardleague.org/news/shockin...

"That any prison would report such poor standards is shocking, but to read of such standards in an institution holding children is inexcusable." ➡️Our latest blog from Legal Director, @gemabbott.bsky.social, on failures at Werrington and why PAVA is not the answer: howardleague.org/blog/pava-wi...

If you have subscribed to our new mailing list then you got the inside track on (and early access to!) our upcoming activities earlier today. If you haven't subscribed yet, then do! badlilies.uk/subscribe

PENALTIES! And ABROAD! A salute to England's women. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

We have begun legal proceedings in the High Court to challenge the government’s decision to authorise the use of PAVA spray in prisons holding children. Please support us: www.crowdjustice.com/case/stop-th...

NEW: We have begun legal proceedings in the High Court to challenge the government’s decision to authorise the use of PAVA spray in prisons holding children. Read more: howardleague.org/news/howard-...

A treasured possession. 'Black Spiders' (1982) by @kathleenjamie.bsky.social . Possibly the only poet I know of who shares my interest in the 5,000-year-old Caiy Stane. undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/edinburgh/ca...

I am very, very sorry to hear this. A long time ago, when I had just joined @thehowardleague.bsky.social, I met Malcolm and, apropos of nothing, he said to me: "you write extremely good press releases, Andrew". It made my month. t.co/Fq0e5VNAjQ

“The details emerging from this inspection are appalling and outrageous, and they represent a new low for an overcrowded and under-resourced public service that stands on the brink of collapse." Pentonville prison has been issued with an urgent notification. howardleague.org/news/urgent-...

OK, we need to talk about sentencing. howardleague.org/what-is-sent...

Cyril Connolly asked Wystan Auden to write a poem that would make him cry. Here is the poem. It has perhaps the greatest ending to a poem ever. It also (always) feels timely.

Bad Lilies has had almost 1,300 unique visitors since our new issue dropped just over a week ago. That's around twice the number of subscribers of a 'healthy' poetry magazine, and many are less than healthy. Subscribe to our new mailing list and we'll keep you in the loop!

A great piece on possibly my favourite writer. Good critical writing about poetry is increasingly rare. I'm biased perhaps, because I was born and grew up by the North Sea, but this collective just keeps putting out great content. I wish I was part of it!

July, not June. But still.#JaneKenyon

Apparently America has not had a Poet Laureate (Consultant to the Library of Congress) since April. Make of this what you will! Here's Anthony Hecht's (tongue-in-cheek) summary of the privileges incumbent to the role:

OUT NOW. Issue Twenty-One: Long-limbed Darlings badlilies.uk/issue-twenty-1

Very proud of my daughter, Eleanor, getting a first overall in her first year studying Politics at York. If I'm the old block, she is very definitely more than just a chip. ❤️