Monday Moan day or Come on! day? #positivity

Losing Christmas Pounds A #poem to remind us that the urge to spend spend spend at Christmas is insidious. Driven by retailers, advertisers etc. But Christmas should be about presence, not presents. Time spent with those we love. Spend less on presents, but be present more. #Christmas #poetry

No More Politics Just tea and cricket and poetry and books and music and kindness. And a timeline cleanse. And a little digital break as always this time of year. Be good to yourself and others. #bekind #kindness #mentalhealth

Eurovision. It's all a bit naff, but harmless fun once a year. Yet it seems despite Israel's heinous persecution of the Palestinians, they get a pass. Sign the petition. BBC should not broadcast the Eurovision song contest unless Israel is banned. #bbc #boycott 38d.gs/eurovision-b...

We are a long way from 'Stokes hammers it for four' Major reset needed. 2-0 down to Australia 🇦🇺 and in danger of folding and succumbing to a Glen McGrath 5-0 whitewash. Where do England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 go from here? Absolutely humiliating. Again. #Ashes #cricket 🏏 #testmatch #AusvsEng

Right then.... Jofra Archer 9-17 Will Jacks 1-20 Gus Atkinson 0-10 Brydon Carse 0-15 Extras 7 Australia 59 all out England will by 6 runs.* This Bazball is incredible. -- *Dreams, nightmares and unlikely scenarios. #cricket #testmatch #AUSvsENG #Ashes #testcricket

For Gus Sake! Gus Atkinson. What is the point? Just tossing your wicket away. 7 fielders on the leg side, little pull and caught. Where's the trench mentality...dig in! Geoffrey Boycott will be chuntering 'Absolutely brainless crickeeeet' The end is nigh #Ashes #cricket #testmatch 🏏

7:30am Define 'pleasantly surprised' Turning on the cricket 🏏 and hearing that Stokes and Jacks are still in, England with a lead of 44... 4 wickets still remaining. #ashes #testcricket #Australia #England #cricket

I wonder if #Liverpool had cruised to a comfortable win at Leeds (as looked possible at 2-0 up), whether Mo #Salah would have come out with the statement he released after the game? The wheels on the bus under which Mo says he has been thrown are well & truly coming off. Sad to see.

Give @brianbilston.bsky.social a follow & check his website / books of fantastic #poetry - witty, wry, thought-provoking. A voice we need 'And when I die I will be the scattered ashes that attach themselves to the lashes and blind the eyes of racists and fascists.' brianbilston.com/2017/02/02/a...

Just woke up Bit of a nightmare I dreamed England were 134-6 in the second test 🏏 at the Gabbatoir, in Brisbane, with a rampant Australia 🇦🇺 slicing through the England batting line up, helped by a propensity to drive inadvisably - England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 heading to defeat. Oh, bugger. #Ashes #testmatch #cricket

Trump winning the FIFA Peace Prize is like Trump winning his own golf tournaments...no style, grace, class, substance, merit, worth, significance, importance. Except to Trump. To the victor the spoils eh? What a farce. #Trump #fifa #peaceprize

The #WorldCup 2026 I will be giving it a pretty wide berth. I'll watch the England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 & Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 games (& other home nations if they qualify) - depending what time they are on. But no other matches. Sod Trump & FIFA. Today was a sycophantic grotesque. And if anyone calls it soccer! 😡 ⚽️ #football

Gianni Infantino prostrating himself before Doddery Donald Drumpf and presenting him with a massive FIFA Peace Prize trophy, covered in Gianni's spittoon...egregious, cringeworthy I miss the innocent halcyon days of FIFA...come back Sepp Blatter all is forgotten. #trump #fifa #worldcup

Prize Haiku FIFATrumpTrophy You've got to hand it to him You really have to Fake News Media Report news of Donald Trump's Shiny Fake Peace Prize Stop the War! They said I did I stopped 9 Count them So where's my trophy? FFS Peace Prize? For football's sake really why? Ego has landed #fifa #trump

Mr President, I present to you the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize, made out of 24 Carat Pure Cringe. #FIFA #WorldCup #Trump #footballnotsoccer #football

I would not be surprised if Giani Infantino announces to the gathered luminaries of World Football 'Ladies & gentlemen, please welcome back to the international football family, a man who shoots & scores Russian President Vladimir Putin!!! Vlad, Donald Now you sign the Ukraine peace accord!' #fifa

Bald Infantino presents Piggy Infantino with a little peace prize for his contribution to world peace before Drumpf rummages in his ballsack Venezuela abstaining from applauding the 🍊 stain on the world FIFA is a fxxxing joke #fifa #worldcup #trump www.theguardian.com/football/202...

@zackpolanski.bsky.social Zack, a brilliant appearance on Question Time this evening. On the issue of immigrants, I wonder how people would feel if they actually sat down and talked to them? I've taught asylum seekers. They are people, just like us. My poem: We Don't Like Immigrants

Some things in life are inevitable, unwanted. Taxes, utility bills, running out of teabags. But the most egregious, odious and consistent fact of life in the UK remains #Christmas Day 🎄 BBC1 10:15pm The annual steaming pile of 💩 that is Mrs Brown's Boys I'll be face down in the trifle.

Day 1 of the 2nd #ashes Test at the Gabba, Brisbane 🏏 🇦🇺 vs 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Swings and roundabouts Brilliant 💯 from Joe Root, his 1st in Australia 🇦🇺 135* Incredible 6 wickets from Mitchell Starc - again Fantastic power hitting 32* from Jofra Archer England 325-9 Game nicely balanced going to day 2 #cricket

And that's tea... er, sorry, dinner Down Under. Day 1 2nd Test from the Gabba. England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 196-4 Honours even after 2 sessions. Early inroads from Starc, excellent partnership between Crawley and Root, Australia threatening as dusk fell. Root and Stokes digging in. Marvellous #Ashes #testcricket

Nigehell Fartage goes after Glasgow, attacking the schoolkids over English language. Has Nigella's Frottage not learned anything? Ya dinnae upset tha Scots The wee bawbag. #farage #noracism Fury as Nigel Farage launches 'vile' attack on Glasgow schoolkids The National share.google/m4l5bOzNTYnq...

It's almost here The Second Ashes Test 🏏 Australia & England Day/night pink ball test match, under floodlights at the Gabba A historically difficult place for 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 to win, winning only 4 out of 22 matches since 1933 🇦🇺 have won 12 of 13 pink ball tests Cue a thumping 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 win! #theashes #testcricket

Rage Baiting Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the ridiculous nonsense that people keep posting, with the sole intention of making people angry and encouraging engagement. The d*ckheads. #ragebait #words #dictionary

2025 has been a challenging year personally, impacting both my mental & physical health My weight has increased a lot, making me unhappy & uncomfortable Time to take back control Project 80kg begins again Starting with running more, eating better! Wish me luck #mentalhealth #fitness #running

Reforming Banter Banter, racist slurs. Unintentional hurting? But teens know everything. __ #Farage. I'd trust him as far as I could throw him. Leopards and spots. No sign of apology, remorse or contrition. #Haiku #poem #poetry @ateafilledpoet

We Don't Like Immigrants A #poem (Extract) 'We don't like immigrants, Unless they score. On a Saturday afternoon, Oh, hear the crowd roar.' #noracism #immigration #weareallpeople #bekind #stopracism #poetry

England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏏 1st Ashes Test Perth Australia 🇦🇺 win by 8 wickets Performance Review 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 1st Innings 'Whimper' 172 🇦🇺 1st Innings 'Bang!' 132 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 2nd Innings 'Whimper' 164 🇦🇺 2nd Innings 'Whimper' 205-2 England. Woeful. A Whimper not a Bang. Blame? Preparation? Bazball? Mentality? #theashes #cricket

The Ashes 1st Test Not yet lost...but England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏏 Bazball - as ever, mercurial & not a little maddening & confusing. Test Cricket...it isn't & can't always be crash bang wallop It is not the Hundred Patience, building innings & partnerships wins matches #theashes #cricket

Hmm...England vs Australia in #theashes Absolute carnage. Some reckless batting from England's middle order...'only' 205 for the Aussies to win. Off to a flyer with Head. But...you never know with the Beast of #Bazball. #cricket 🏏 #testmatch #engaus

Not even 6am and England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 are teetering yet again Down Under in Perth. 🇦🇺 88-6 Starc 10 in the match. A lead of 200 might be enough. Might, if England can get there. #theashes #testcricket #engaus

Saturday. 5:25am. Up early. Cricket on. Bloody hell. 76-3...oh no...76-4...oh come on...76-5!!!!!! England collapsing. Oh. #theashes #testcricket 🏏

Explain #cricket 🏏 to our American cousins. 'Baseball-ish, except it is more nuanced, incomprehensible, huge set of 'laws,' played between 3 hours & up to 5 days (sometimes without finding the winner) Played in white or different colours, jumpers & in long format matches, stopping for lunch & tea'

10th – 13th March 2020. 250,000 people attended the Cheltenham Horse Racing Festival, while coronavirus deaths were rising & countries were in lockdown 10 days later the UK went into lockdown According to #covid19inquiry a week too late 23,000 lives could have been saved My #poem from May 2020

Test Cricket A game like no other Unpredictable, fluctuating fortunes, heroics Enthralling, exciting, intriguing Played over 5 days & with a possibility no side wins Subject to the vagaries of the weather Baffling but beautiful It has captivated me for Over 45 years🏏 #testcricket #theashes

I absolutely love test cricket 🏏 The Ashes never disappoints. From the despair of England's batting, to the high of an incredibly skilled, hostile, brutal fast bowling display. Astonishing day. Stokes gets a 5-fer. Australia rattled. 121-9 WOW! #theashes #testcricket #cricket #engaus #sport

England 🏏... Bowling has been exceptional. Australia finding scoring difficult. Archer has been astonishingly good...quick, nasty, accurate Wood, express pace hurrying the batsmen every ball Atkinson unnerringly accurate and hostile Carse quick, accurate 30-2 after 16 overs. #theashes #cricket

Oh FFS...should have stayed in bed. A summary England 172 all out. 32.5 overs Starc 7-58 Brook 52 All out and it is still dark...not even sunrise in the 🇬🇧 yet. A Starc day indeed. Time to unleash Jofra Archer & Mark Wood. #theashes #cricket #engaus 🏏

Good morning. Just after 5am. The Ashes, a summary so far. A Starc morning for England 115-5 Teetering on the brink. FFS...Twas ever thus. #cricket #theashes 🏏

How's the weather in the UK 🇬🇧... Ah, you know...we had a month's worth of rain in one day last week, the river flooded...oh then it was -3⁰C last night and the flood waters froze. Bit parky out this morning in #Worcester #ukweather 📸 Worcester Pitchcroft racecourse, next to the River Severn.

Porcine POTUS Haiku (Of pigs & men) A question? Quiet. Quiet piggy, I'm talking. Everyone loves me. Napoleon spoke. All animals are equal. But quiet piggy. Ah, the emporer. New clothes have left him naked, Look a curly tail. His snout in the trough A greedy little piggy t.r.u.m.p #trump #piggy

The question remains...where the xxxx is Cilla? My money is hidden under MBS' robe. @coldwarsteve.bsky.social Chris you have excelled yourself. I think I can see the ghost of Adnan Khashoggi in the background. And how the blazes did you wedge Persona Non Grata Herr Musk into the collage?

Scotland eh? Ya wee beauty! Never an easy ride with the Scots, but a well deserved win and off to the World Cup. 🏆 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 ⚽️ #Scotland #SCODEN

Like Us* The immigrants, refugees they fear Who they would not approach or go near For fear they might just might Like them Because they might just might Be like us -- Immigrants, asylum seekers, refugees We are all people too. #noracism #immigration *extract from Like Us (full poem in photo)

Worcester UK in flood When I moved to Worcester in 1986, floods were a relatively infrequent occurrence Of course they happened But the frequency of flooding from the River Severn nowadays is extraordinary Every winter our city succumbs, regularly. 📸 #photos #worcester in #flood November 2025

'Golden tickets' and 'asylum shopping'....'illegal immigration tearing the UK apart.' The incendiary language of Nigel Farage, Tommy Robinson et al. on the far right of public political discourse. Oh, it's actually Labour's Home Secretary. Just awful to hear this misguided rhetoric. #immigration

@tomcollinsworcs.bsky.social Would be interesting to hear what my Worcester MP thinks on this issue. What Tony Vaughan says makes sense. What Shabana Mahmood is proposing is pandering to Reform and is lurching the Labour Party further to the right. Not what I voted for.

You're Welcome. A #poem to reflect the anticipated revised #asylum laws being introduced by *checks notes* the Labour Party. A 2 year temporary #refugee status, with the possibility of being returned if the government deems the country of origin safe. Heinous. #refugeeswelcome

Apropos of Nothing Lunch. Freshly baked bread, scrambled tofu with garlic mushrooms and baked beans. #vegan #delicious #nutritious #tasty #veganfood #fortheanimals #forhealth #healthyeating