Via @sifaelizabethreads.bsky.social

I had reason (entirely innocent and benign) to look up the collective noun for assassin's and surely we can do better than "a murder". @runalongwomble.bsky.social

Enjoy the Sunday caption contest, give away lots of ❤️s, repost to encourage more competitors, include #GirlsOwnCC

Enjoying this from @benaaronovitch.bsky.social a delightful novella in the Rivers of London series. I suspect he has read a lot of PG Wodehouse in his life.

Good Morning Blue Sky! Hope you’re all ok? Today I’m currently reading the last chapter of Moon Over Brendle by Jeff Noon a magnificent fantastical love letter to the power of creating stories. What are you reading at the moment?

Sharing some gorgeous Northern #bookpost that's come. First, from @carnyxpress.co.uk, here's Oaths and Offerings, their first anthology - 8 folklore inspired tales from authors living in the North of England. A bold and intriguing venture, out on 4 June. carnyxpress.co.uk #BookSky 💙📚 Thanks Carnyx!

Congratulations to the witty winners of last Sunday’s caption contest: 🥇 @thewrongdetail.bsky.social (this one might puzzle anyone unaware of curry house decor in the UK and our post-drinking order-a-curry habits) 🥈 @erburyoldboy.bsky.social 🥉 @sarah-drew.com 4th @heidipeeps.bsky.social and…

The Last Contract of Isako, by @fondalee.bsky.social (pub by @orbitbooks.bsky.social) is a well-executed space opera with dystopian elements, a murder mystery with an older and competent FMC at the center. Full thoughts: jamreads.com/reviews/the-... 💙📚

None of this is to express an opinion on lack of media coverage or public awareness of this case, but to provide some information and context on what has happened and why Several other terror attacks of different ideologies have gone largely unnoticed in recent years in similar circumstances

This will be the first search for a new James Bond that won't involve the film's long-standing producers, the Broccoli family. Which is a shame, because they had an interesting way of screentesting all potential new Bonds with a really odd scene, for a really clever reason. Mini 🧵

It’s a somewhat humbling feeling when you read a period book complete with now-discredited belief, and realise that’ll be our current literature’s position in 70 years. (Context: 1951 children’s book set in Australia, talking about the wonderful just-imported cane toads which eat pests.)

This summary of different early medieval literature is still one of my favourite things on the internet. #medievalsky

Day got off to a bad start. Greggs in Westminster Tube Station is shut. Was forced to go to Pret. What are things coming to.

Angela Rayner was dragged through every front page for weeks... HMRC's verdict: NOT deliberate. NOT even careless. Farage pockets £5 million and chooses not to declare it So where's the wall-to-wall coverage? Tell me this isn't a rigged game.

Oxfordshire Community Rail Partnership are consulting on a potential expansion to include the Henley Branch Line. If you would like to share your thoughts please fill out the below form by Friday 15th May✍️🚂 forms.office.com/e/bU8MSVNz5W

For my birthday the lovely Bookshop.Org people are giving you 20% A NUMBERS GAME by RJ DARK! Working class boys getting themselves in trouble with the crims? Yes please! Use code PREORDER20.

New review by Womble today!

Casting around for who could possibly lead Labour well, I’ve just realised we might finally get the long-promised Chaos With Ed Miliband. Though I suspect he doesn’t want the gig.

Been a student in Edinburgh. Can confirm. You’d leave Waverley on the other side and it would be a short walk.

Can we start compiling a list of every policy you'd like to see a new Labour leader make? Big or small, what would actually start to make the country feel better for people?

Prohibitive taxation for monster sized, hulking cars. Long prison sentences, with hard labour, for people who are cruel to animals. 4 day working week. At least one Bank Holiday every month.

#OtD 9 May 1921 Sophie Scholl was born in Germany. Scholl became an anti-fascist activist, helping form the peaceful White Rose resistance group and was executed by the Nazis in 1943. Learn more about German youth resistance to Nazism in our podcast: workingclasshistory.com/podcast/72-e...

Fine. I'LL be prime minister. All data centres to become Raven Sanctuaries. Universities to be saved and also become Raven Sanctuaries. All flags to be replaced with MORE RAVENS.

*NEW BLOG POST* Today on #damppebbles I am sharing this week's #TopTenTuesday post. My theme for this week is 𝐓𝐄𝐍 𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐋𝐘 𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐒𝐋𝐔𝐌𝐏 😟📚😀 Check out my list here... ➡️ buff.ly/cvd804G #BookSky #skybrarians #books #top10 #list #bookrecommendation #bookish #whattoread

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Help the author rebound from his publisher, Unbound’s, failure.

For every like, I'll share a Springsteen lyric I love. Not sure if I'm doing this right, but I like it.

Can't prove this but maybe the reason for Attenborough's longevity is that whenever Paddington arrives to shepherd his soul on, he fends him off with his powers of nature narration. "The perplexed ursine psychopomp withdraws, his hunt unsuccessful. Perhaps a 1970s bass player will make easier prey."

Agreed comrade! First again the wall come the revolution! (It’s only a #Staycation if someone stays in their own house. Otherwise it’s a domestic holiday)

LIFE RULES: Insulate your house with books to ward off evil Oppose the zombie AI apocalypse Never click on a link to the Daily Mail Use double the recommended amount of garlic Always stop to say hi to sheep And to horses too (but in a fake posh voice) I think that's more or less everything covered?

Absolutely no idea how it's friday again so quickly. But since it is, it's time for the weekly good news thread! (I forgot til about 4pm last week so doing it bright an early this time). What's YOUR good news from the week? What's made you smile? What's brought some joy into your life?

David reviews Quite Ugly One evening today.

Ladybird book in the spotlight. The Stars and their Legends (1973) Artist: Robert Ayton

Iranian state media is questioning whether an Axios reporter and US state officials are manipulating markets for profit after Axios published reports of an “imminent” deal five times over the last 19 days. No agreement was reached.

I’ve reviewed Quite Ugly One Evening, the new Jack Parlaband book from Chris Brookmyre, out today from Abacus. Death, culture wars and classic kids TV - and Parlabane in trouble. Excellent. bluebookballoon.blogspot.com/2026/05/revi... #BookSky 💙📚j

I'm 56. Racism was everywhere when I was a kid. People just did it, without comment. Normalised. In the 90s political correctness (later: Woke) appeared, and racism withdrew. I'm not saying it vanished. But by 2015, it was socially unacceptable, even in the rough areas I grew up in. Then Brexit.

New Review - I absolutely loved this thoughtful, unusual and timely space opera - Slow Gods by Claire North was a beautiful read I strongly recommend! www.runalongtheshelves.net/blog/2026/5/...

I am loving @rjbarker.bsky.social’s “Mortedant’s Peril” but the frequent references to pies are making me hungry…

*NEW BLOG POST* Today on #damppebbles I am sharing this week's #TopTenTuesday post. The theme for this week is 𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐒 𝐈 𝐖𝐈𝐒𝐇 𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐎𝐃𝐀𝐘 💔📚😢 Check out my list here... ➡️ buff.ly/3qjNwhC #BookSky #skybrarians #books #top10 #list #bookrecommendation #bookish #whattoread

We have an *extremely* important announcement to make. From Wednesday, we will be launching our puffin live cam, coming to you from the Farne Islands. So you can watch puffins all day long. In celebration, please enjoy this clip of puffins being really busy for 39 seconds straight.

Always love to be reminded of this. A lot of it was hand-stitched too. Really amazing, precise work. Women’s work is so often minimised and forgotten.

New Review - I strongly recommend The Killing Spell by Shay Kauwe - a very smart fantasy story of magic, language and culture - out now and huge thanks to @solarisbooks.bsky.social www.runalongtheshelves.net/blog/2026/5/...

For the first in a new series Jonathan Nevair talks about little characters who make a big impression over on Jodie’s blog.

There is a tax case in which judgement has recently been given, with the splendid name of "Orsted West of Duddon Sands". supremecourt.uk/cases/uksc-2.... Orsted West must, surely, be the protagonist of a 1930s romance - Duddon Sands being his crumbling mansion on the foreshore...

Reform is a racist party. Voting Reform is a racist act. We must not shy away from calling this out. They don’t get to hide behind “legitimate concerns” and feel sorry for themselves. Their hatred and inadequacy has made them very ugly indeed.

1/ 🧵 The Festival of Britain opened this day in 1951 - according to its official guide a 'united act of national reassessment, and [a] corporate reaffirmation of faith in the nation’s future’.

On this Star Wars Day, tell the fascist scum where to go!

KEEP REFORM OUT!! Fantastic site to help stop Reform by tactical voting: stopreformuk.vote/elections Search by postcode! stopreformuk.vote #Reform #VotingReform #FairVotes #ProportionalRepresentation #Labour #GreenParty #Sunderland #SAFC #NUFC #YourVoteMatters #NorthEast @reecedinsdale.bsky.social

In a rational world the government would be asking people to respond to the current fossil fuel crisis by car sharing, turning lights off, and generally saving fuel and energy. And yet Ministers can’t even propose better efficiency standards for tumble dryers without the right wing press going mad.

Read this thread.

When I hear the word Gun I reach for my culture