This was the first indication of the level of p***taking the elites were about to embark on.

This is lovely.

Just a reminder that you need to sign up for this if you'd like to green up your poetry!

At long last!

quick reminder that NT's production of The Importance of Being Earnest, starring human ray of sunshine Ncuti Gatwa, will be streaming FOR FREE on YouTube this weekend www.radiotimes.com/movies/ncuti...

I spent 4 months trying to answer a simple question: has this book been translated into my language? Turns out no one tracks this. Not ISBN registries. Not Amazon. Not Google. Not libraries. So I built a tool that crosses four databases to piece it together. zenodot.app

The National Theatre will stream The Importance of Being Earnest starring Ncuti Gatwa for free. The performance from the winter 2024/25 run will be on YouTube from 12 March. A watch-along premiere will be at 7pm GMT, during which viewers will have the opportunity to interact through chat/polls. 👜

A leaked secret memo that Starmer sent to his cabinet says that the UK Government should directly spend in the devolved nations "even when devolved governments may oppose this.” Labour has no respect for Scotland’s Parliament or Government. It’s time for independence. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

The King’s estate is treating people in the north of England as 'second-class citizens' by refusing to clear a massive, illegal dump, Andy Burnham has said

The most fun you're likely to have of the internet this morning!

Some American spouting garbage on Newsnight. Victoria Derbyshire responds with a withering’Oh, right, is it?’ So proud of her!

War crimes upon war crimes. And now ecocide and genocide, no? And please call out the BBC for platforming Israeli lobbyists trying to goad us into their horrific war.

Some people are not as worried about this eventuality as they need to be.

Please read this thoroughly!

Thanks to The Friday Poem for republishing this. I'd forgotten how open and honest I'd been! #writingcommity

"Forcibly displaced Lebanese are now gathering along the sea; they have nowhere to go; Israel has announced its intent to make conditions that render civilian life unsustainable. A second genocide. Now in Lebanon."(Philip Proudfoot on X) #Israel #Lebanon

“Ok so the basic premise of this one is that there’s a coyote and a roadrunner and the coyote’s efforts to catch the roadrunner become ever more elaborate and comical but – and this is the crucial bit – he never catches the roadrunner. Here are some of the common tropes used…”

Blatant advertising, I admit, but look, I got to make room on these shelves for the new book somehow! burnedthumb.com

The IDF just ordered the *entirety of south Lebanon* to be forcibly displaced. They are emptying the land of its population, creating a massive crisis, and will now proceed to further annihilate large parts of Lebanon. The very nation state of Lebanon is being destroyed.

Let me tell you that the only thing that makes the nit-picking drudgery of correcting spelling and typos etc. is getting the chance of a deep acquaintance with the style of a real person writing what they want to write. AI destroys this - I can't imagine a worse experience than editing a machine.

Upcoming workshop!

👇

It ought to be funny, but it isn't.

I do not like this gen AI I do not like what it implies I do not want it in my art I do not think it makes you smart I do not want it in my games I do not like its goals and aims I do not want it in my books I do not like the way it looks I do not like it, I don't care I do not want it anywhere

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed." -Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953

If America still had the rule of law, this would be the easiest prosecution ever, but we all know absolutely nothing will happen.

This can't have been easy to write, but who better to do it than a linguist with Tourette’s? A really excellent piece. theconversation.com/im-a-linguis...

*eyes brimming with tears* “The inability to simply be polite about people’s preferred pronouns no matter what your own bloody opinions are is a path that leads to hell.”

One thing I learned from speaking to people in Gorton and Denton is that Reform canvassers were... odd. Strangely dressed, speaking in overly familiar or stilted tones, using a lot of strange idioms. It was like how people who see UFOs describe meeting Men in Black.

She won. And by miles. On every level this is a wonderful result for England.

@turnupthedial.bsky.social what about this then?

I was at the Kenmure Street protest – here's my verdict on the documentary 👇

Upcoming workshop!

“People need to hear a story like this now,” says Pinar Aksu … “We don’t always have a victory at the end of our stories, but hope is all we’ve got.” The award-winning EVERYBODY TO KENMURE STREET premieres at the Glasgow film festival, 25 February www.theguardian.com/film/2026/fe...

Floating an idea here. The Reform party aren’t supposed to get elected, they’re supposed to cause chaos and persuade the other parties move to the right. (1).

On Reform's "British culture" bullshit. I grew up in a culture that has endured for 800 years despite attempts, both obvious and insidious, to snuff it out by a much more powerful neighbour. If your culture can't withstand a few Turkish kebab shops, your culture ain't all that. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

IV just signed, please sign and share folks. 👍

From 2.09.45 hear Cambridge languages expert Laura Wright on Llanito, a threatened working-class language in Gibraltar. I connected her with the work of Elio Cruz, my primary school teacher who wrote in it & first got me writing poetry. She reads my elegy as shown below. bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

🐿️ In April, the lovely #RedSquirrelPress turns 20 🐿️ Founded by Sheila Wakefield in 2006, this #Scotland-based, #self-funded #smallpress has published more than 300 titles inc my 2022 short story collection Three Roads 🐿️ 🐿️Do check out their wonderful list 🐿️ www.redsquirrelpress.com/product-page...

#GoodNews - saving a language means saving human knowledge and understanding, as well as lifeways www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...

Nicholas Witchell has arrived at New Scotland Yard with a fishing rod, some chicken and four cans of lager

I just had the mental image of Andrew being given a pre-wrapped cheese & ham sandwich for his lunch and started laughing all over again.

More Council of Nicaea action!

Alternatively ‘Head of @COPFS complies to the letter with important Crown office Standards of Service for Victims & Witnesses policy document and Victims etc Act 2014 - by advising victim of crime of an important procedural step in the progress of the prosecution’. Don’t read the Sun #bothvotessnp

This poem. How do you say so much, so quietly.

Excited to be co-running, with @burnedthumb.bsky.social, a #poetry #workshop themed around indoor and outdoor #plants‬. Online, Saturday April 18th, 2-5pm GMT.

An #Otwituary for Civil Rights activist #JesseJackson I fell into the company of marchers standing at the foot of a rainbow, half way between the mountain and the ghetto. Their leader told me in a voice of fire Progress is not walking away from something bad, but marching towards it.

New online poetry workshop with @susanrichardson.bsky.social has just been announced burnedthumb.com

Thank you, Nicola. 👍 talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2026/02/16/a... 👍 MAY 7TH 2026 👍 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿SNP1 Green2🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿