Standing for Ukraine in Brighton

Bonus #DarwinDay content: Six of the best grumpy Darwin quotes.

Take the time to do this folks. The proposed changes to ILR are shocking and cruel, which is made abundantly clear in the text of the public consultation linked below. Please lend your voice to try to mitigate the cruelty.

We're just coming up to the 6th anniversary of Brexit, and to the time I imagined, nearly 20 years ago, that it would happen. For my 2010 book Turned Out Nice, about how climate change would shape the British Isles, Brexit was in 2026/7. The future arrived faster than I expected. (See Alt text)

We're just coming up to the 6th anniversary of Brexit, and to the time I imagined, nearly 20 years ago, that it would happen. For my 2010 book Turned Out Nice, about how climate change would shape the British Isles, Brexit was in 2026/7. The future arrived faster than I expected. (See Alt text)

Please spread this far and wide, as stories don't get much bigger than this. When the government blocks even the intelligence services from telling us we're heading for environmental catastrophe, you know we have a problem. A very big problem. Thank you. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

British citizens and UK-based folks: please consider signing and sharing this petition: petition.parliament.uk/petitions/75... #RefugeesWelcome

A family's night-time routine in Kyiv; shelter at night, kindergarten in the morning. This ‪@kyivindependent.com‬ video is thoughtful, respectful and eloquent. www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGEI...

don't suppose the menu at the Grenadier is as traditional as Google makes it look

Yes, the answer to 'do you trust me?' has to be 'to do what?', as Russell Hardin pointed out long ago.

'130,161 people in Scotland had some Gaelic skills in 2022, an increase of 43,105 from 2011 ... 2,444,659 people in Scotland had some Scots skills in 2022, an increase of 515,215 from 2011'. What's driving this impressive stat surge?

Excited and honoured to be one of the judges! Looking forward to reading all that lit fiction:)

Very proud and thrilled to be on this shortlist, for books that 'stimulate new ways of thinking about contemporary Europe as a whole' nanovic.nd.edu/news/2026-la...

‘Defensive Wall: Why Ukraine’s Culture Is Everyone’s Fight’ by Uilleam Blacker @uilleamblacker.bsky.social londonukrainianreview.org/posts/defens... 6/10

The Belgian government is called Arizona. Central Brussels currently full of people protesting against it

Yeah, I'd like to hear less about mastering and odysseys, more about the humbler rewards of speaking a different language even if you have no idea how you're going to finish a word when you start it

Nature, belonging, and drones in the night: moments from our conversation at the edge of a wetland in the middle of Ukraine kupalabrighton.org/trubaitsi.html

Teenagers grass up guerrilla gardening, police 'rehome' cannabis plants 😉 World's turned upside down in Eastbourne, isn't it? www.theargus.co.uk/news/2552206...

My book about climate change and the British Isles is in the new @bookshop-org-uk.bsky.social ebook range; turns out that the 2100 future I imagined in 2009 is approaching faster than scheduled. #Climate breakdown and Britain's national identity crisis are on course to merge. tinyurl.com/4663bue2

My book about climate change and the British Isles is in the new @bookshop-org-uk.bsky.social ebook range; turns out that the 2100 future I imagined in 2009 is approaching faster than scheduled. #Climate breakdown and Britain's national identity crisis are on course to merge. tinyurl.com/4663bue2

Yes. Remember the unbearable smugness of those remainers who were absolutely sure that they'd be in the majority at the Brexit vote? We might not be so far down this road now if they had been a little less smug and sure that we would win because we were right.

The immigrant experience, even the second or third generation immigrant experience, so often adds up to keeping the suitcases handy.

'Bilingualism should not be reduced to a talking point about brain training ... it’s about helping children stay connected to their families, their heritage'. Yes. But brain training is an easier sell than helping children and communities keep their culture. www.psychologytoday.com/sg/blog/empo...

'Are you writing in Polish?' No, Bluesky, I'm trying to reply to a post in English by @benstanley.eu , why do you ask? now let me get back to complaining about ios26 pls

A siren on the audio tracks and Cuyahoga playing in my head as I edited this #R.E.M.

Splendid reconstruction at Tustan Fortress in the #Ukrainian #Carpathians – not of the fort, but of the camp made by the archaeologists who investigated it in 1970. Material culture and way of life authentically represented; Volga in surprisingly good nick #HillfortWednesday

The sounds of war just reached deep into the Polish countryside too. Surreal experiences are often previews of a new reality. #Poland #Ukraine

'I heard the air siren from the nearby village, and that was a really surreal experience, because you know that place where you grew up, running with friends, swimming in the river, herding cows, going for walks, and then that surreal sound …' youtu.be/oB_HOjDeUyQ

also on Spotify audio-only: Apple, Amazon podcasts YouTube has English subtitle option

We travelled to the Ukrainian village that is the deep inspiration for our project, and talked on the edge of its wetlands: about nature, childhood, imagination, the sounds of war in the air, and why places must not be stolen from people. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vx_X...

The flag of St George tops the Bhangra Fusion outfit off perfectly, don't you think? Well done and thanks @bestfootmusic.bsky.social for yesterday's Summer Fusion Festival in Brighton yesterday ☀️

I bought some dried mushrooms in the Ukrainian Carpathians, but not the ones in the tub on the right, this isn't a fairy tale 🍄

If you're in the UK and your phone sounds a strident alarm this Sunday 7 at 3pm, don't panic. This is just the alert from Penguin Random House signalling one month till the publication of the new Pynchon novel

All these brilliant performers, and we'll be there too! Looking forward hugely to the Summer Fusion Festival at the Jubilee Library in Brighton, Sun 7 Sept, 11 – 3, free, all welcome! bestfootmusic.net/2025/07/10/s...

"The rise of the city's #underground nightlife." Today's book pick from Damn History, a free monthly newsletter for readers/writers of #popularhistory. Congrats to author @marekkohn.bsky.social & @grantabooks.bsky.social! Read/subscribe to Damn History: damn-history-16d93f.beehiiv.com/subscribe

A week ago I was eating grapes from a Ukrainian kitchen garden (= small farm in UK city terms) and thinking I should follow the example in my own small way back home so ... rose hip syrup (too early, but best I can do) soundtrack: The Ukrainian Shelf 5: Food www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwOD...

'These are not images of this reconstruction': renovation work in Lviv's old town confronts passers-by with a street screen showing the aggressor's destruction of #Ukrainian built heritage.

We made it, 2700km from Brighton to the birthplace of Kupala in the middle of Ukraine! We’ll tell you all about it when we’re back in the UK

The vogue for reconstructing imagined European glories. Includes some comments from me.

Science podcasts hosted by Vania from Ukraine 🇺🇦 - worth a look, and worth supporting www.youtube.com/@Conversatio...

That Co-op has a poster in the window about how its members own it, but it's a faceless corporate that won't respond to members questioning why it wants to evict its neighbours, destroy buildings that have been part of the place's character since the 1840s, and make itself a local monopoly #brighton

'Every Motanka I make is a quiet storyteller of our homeland and our hopes for the future.' Hanna Mariienko on what making traditional #Ukrainian motanka dolls in Sussex means to her and her community. kupalabrighton.org/motanka.html

#STANDBY for an #ANNOUNCEMENT which will #TRANSFORM #UK #politics #FOREVER

We found a new place to celebrate Kupala this midsummer, and wrote a new piece to accompany it as well 🌿 kupalabrighton.org/kupala25.html

Head to our website to read our latest guest blog. This time we hear from @kupalabrighton.bsky.social to learn how this Ukrainian midsummer festival has got underway in Brighton since refugees began arriving in 2022. www.nationalfolkloresurvey.co.uk/news/kupala-...

Pagans set wheels on fire and rolled them down hills at midsummer in 4th-century France. More recently Ukrainians did the same with car tyres 🔥☀️🔥

As it's Rusalnyi Week, when #rusalka spirits come out of water, and sea-themed #FolkloreThursday, we'd like to point out it's a myth that rusalky are #mermaids. Key differences: Fish-tails: mermaids✅ rusalky❎ Complex, tragic backstories: rusalky✅ mermaids ❎ More: kupalabrighton.org/rusalnyi.html

Since it's Rusalnyi Week, when #rusalka spirits come out of water, we'd just like to point out that rusalky are❗️not #mermaids❗️Key differences: Fish-tails: mermaids✅ rusalky❎ Complex, tragic backstories: rusalky✅ mermaids ❎ More info: kupalabrighton.org/rusalnyi.html #MythologyMonday

Dangerous spirit alert ⚠️ Today is the start of Rusalnyi Week, when #rusalka water spirits emerge onto dry land. They can be deadly, so ⚠️ Keep away from rivers, pools etc ⚠️ Also fields ⚠️ Put bread, milk, shirts out for them Stay Rusalka-Safe! #folklore kupalabrighton.org/rusalnyi.html

It's Trinity Sunday, and here's a priest in #Ukraine blessing people who have brought greenery to the church. They'll also put branches around their homes, to protect against spirits from before Christianity arrived. kupalabrighton.org/rusalnyi.html #folklore