CW - sexual abuse, suicide. I wanted to write a reflection on a couple of books. With the enormous amount currently in the news about the #Epstein case, I wouldn't blame you if you were beyond saturation point. Please do skip on by if this is not for you. www.wedossett.com/post/lasting...

We didn’t get Books Council Wales funding, it would've meant 5 years of stability. It’s a blow, and it means a rockier road ahead, but our commitment to ambitious, inclusive, working-class publishing stays firm. If you want to help: buy a book, spread the word, or donate: ko-fi.com/brokensleepb...

Just heard Sky deputy political editor samcoatessky.bsky.social use the term Panglossian. Wow.

Just discovered this excellent podcaster/blogger. Makes me think of Laurence Fox’s legal action to prevent him being called racist, and his concomitant defence of his ‘right’ to call GNC people paedos. We’re getting nowhere if people don’t understand the relationship between rights & liberties.

Trying not to tax my life with forethought of grief (viz Caerphilly) - but it’s hard.

A reminder. Only 6.9% of people in Wales were born overseas. Just 2.9% of people in Caerphilly were born overseas. Whereas 38% of medical consultants in Wales were born overseas. Immigrants are not holding our NHS back, they are propping it up.

Issue 12 has landed! Our twelfth step… In this issue: Fallen Angels Dance Theatre @drdavidpatton.bsky.social Speakbeat Collective Sober IS Fun Jem Tovey Ameet Shah New Note Orchestra Daniel Leyton READ HERE: recovery-arts.org/pr-magazine/...

John keeps saying “Listen, Love, You’re trying everso hard.” Just to be funny. I’m feeling very, very, very, very tired. #farage #misogyny #racism

Stunning interview with Annie Farmer. I read parts of her story in Lucia Osborne Crowley’s The Lasting Harm. What strength and dignity in the face of decades of denial, minimisation and corruption.

This is a much better article on James Orr than the superficial one in the @telegraphnews.bsky.social this weekend. It engages with his actual thought. Orr’s work, like Nigel Biggar’s is not widely respected, but the status of his institution lends unwarranted leverage to his ideas.

Very sad. I read Baek Sehee’s book last year. It was was, indeed, frank, but, and this is no shade on the author at all, it was one of those books that makes me extremely concerned about the poor quality of much psychotherapy and about the toxic positivity of ‘wellbeing’ culture.

Shoutout to whoever was like the news sucks, let’s spice it up by doing a jewel heist at the Louvre

What a terrific night out! ⬇️

Whatever else you could say about Starmer's speech - forgtting that the women DID bring football home is surely a massive gaff.

"And that was how the Wittgensteinian dynastic wars began!"

Deleted my account with academia-dot-edu. New privacy policy is the last straw. It can sell all of your words, your profile picture, anything you post on it. I should have come off it a long time ago, like lots of people did, when it started to monetise the competition for citations.

This is awful news. Perhaps this a minority point given the horrific wider implications, but Texas Tech has been a beacon of hope for people in recovery from addiction seeking access to HE. Now it is actively erasing part of that community. #TexasTech

Subtly downgrade a band Moist Leg

Art is sexy. I mean, really fucking sexy. Historically fucking hot. And all forms of art "AI" is yet another attempt for uncreative, unsexy people to try to scream they are indeed sexy by screaming they know what sexy is therefore. While being sold by grifters. And fucking up a lot.

“Universities are perceived straightforwardly as places for people to gain a qualification for their career and personal advancement — completely ignoring their role as a public good and as the linchpin of civilised society.” unherd.com/2025/08/can-...

Grateful for the opportunity to add my name to this list of writers calling for a boycott. I remember the consumer boycott of South Africa towards the end of Apartheid. History shows that made a small difference. Thx @horatioclare.bsky.social for organising this. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Another one? If only there were other books with great stories written by women that could ve adapted for tv …. I love it by the way but really?

People who aren’t mothers also weep. And people who are mothers, sadly, do not weep. Motherhood does not make anyone uniquely compassionate, empathetic or invested in children. We should all weep. And then organise.

We're huge fans of The White Chip at @swkplay.bsky.social. Our latest issue (recovery-arts.org/pr-magazine/...) features playwright @seandaniels.bsky.social, lead actor Ed Coleman and a poetic response from @wedossett.bsky.social. Book to see the play here southwarkplayhouse.co.uk/productions/...

Thrilled to have my poetic response to the play The White Chip in the latest issue of Performing Recovery. Go and see the play at @swkplay.bsky.social if you can! @performingrecovery.bsky.social

‘long walks in nature can cure rare diseases’ grifters = every bit as bad as ‘don’t get chemotherapy, drink juice’ grifters

that's some vintage antisemitism holy shit

A meagre contribution by me to this week's #poemsabout on the theme of #burnitdown. Nonetheless, I feel it's not wholly out of place, what with the weather recently.

Message to the handful of people who’ve said they’re planning to read ‘Touch’ in due course: This is advanced warning that I’ll be taking it off my blog in the next few days so that I can submit it in comps, but if you wanted to read it just let me know. www.wedossett.com/posts/touch CW - Dementia

Dalai Lama says there will be search for his successor after his death, ending years of speculation

Beautiful Malcolm Edwards painting of a glas y dorlan/kingfisher at Ffin y Parc Gallery in Llandudno.

I recently had to wait in A&E for 30 hours before I could be admitted to a ward. (All's well now). While there, I met an extraordinary woman, and wrote this short piece. Hope you like it. CW: Dementia www.wedossett.com/post/touch #autofiction #creativenonfiction #dementia #fundthenhs

😂

These book bans! 😱

One of the local creative groups - the aptly named SAPS, and what a bunch we are - is putting on a show for the Conwy Fringe at the lovely, refurbished, Neuadd Ni - A Hall for All on July 30th. I’ll be performing some of my angst-ridden, navel-gazing poetry - but don’t let that put you off!

My Mum had lots of quirky housekeeping habits that I’ve not inherited. But this one I did. Collecting up the little pieces of ‘finished’ soap and every few months or so making them into a big new interesting bar of different scents. It makes me smile and think of her every time I do it.

maybe doctors could save money by treating fewer patients | maybe firefighters could save money by choosing the fires they put out more judiciously | maybe the bbc should save money by limiting broadcasts to 4 hours per day. in fact why don’t we all do the most cost-effective thing & simply give up

What you definitely want in the mountains is a nav app which isn’t actually deriving its advice from the real world. 🤦‍♂️

For Dawn and all who knew and loved her. We miss you Dawn. Thank you for everything #TeamRE @katiekates123.bsky.social @re-mcgee.bsky.social @re-runner.bsky.social @kairosbutterfly.bsky.social @mzmarxre.bsky.social @wedossett.bsky.social podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

I don't live in a nation of strangers. I live in a nation of friends and unknown friends. I live in a truly Great Britain

Brigitte Bardot thinks feminism is the hatred of men. It is nothing short of heartbreaking to consider the depth of the cultural faultlines that makes such a view even possible. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I like dystopian fiction I dislike dystopian reality. Make Dystopia Fiction Again.

#Cnicht #Eryri

This is a brilliant thread.

The last edition of Poetry Wales with a new one available via digital now and a print version in a couple of weeks. @zoebrigley.bsky.social @poetrywales.bsky.social poetrywales.co.uk

Finally, here is Richard Davies, 'Isgarn', the shepherd who wrote the poem 'Y Medelwr', 'The Reaper'. His lines form the lyrics to one of the most moving (and thought-provoking) songs of 'Shimli' by Owen Shiers, @cynefinmusic.bsky.social , who contributed a new verse...

One of the songs I most admire from 'Shimli' @cynefinmusic.bsky.social Words by Richard Davies, 'Isgarn', the shepherd who walked 8 miles to poetry classes.'The Reaper'not only celebrates the harvesters of the past, but warns that heavy machinery destroys soil, as English farmers now acknowledge.

Bright as the morning! Sunday CD review of 'Shimli' @cynefinmusic.bsky.social Tunes as fluent as water, intense & expressive singing, often of poems. Powerful Welsh lyrics, accompanied by moving English notes to this CD. The eloquence of the past, married to fierce concern for the future.

In an age of homogenisation and mass amnesia, Cynefin’s ‘Shimli’ looks to the diversity of our past for answers, a role he’s well-placed to comment on as a researcher and cultural historian. Another remarkable release from this unique musician. klofmag.com/2025/02/cyne... @cynefinmusic.bsky.social