This is quite the article (and I enjoyed the excerpt of Wayne Koestenbaum’s poetry).

Re Labour ‘losing’ votes to ‘don’t know’: there’s surely partly a factor that - esp. if you’re not very into politics - that’s a reasonable response between elections when lots could change (inc. who could win in a given seat) / you’ve not seen an election campaign.

A great post from @djnavarro.net, providing an accessible explanation of why statistics that can appear to reveal our ignorance may actually do the opposite. Makes excellent use of #datavis to provide visual support for the argument. blog.djnavarro.net/posts/2025-0...

#SmallPoemSunday (from my collection Holding Pattern)

Tony Harrison was an Honorary Fellow of @britishacademy.bsky.social. I love this which says what was shocking about his poem V wasn’t the swearing but the iambic pentameters www.bbc.co.uk/culture/arti...

RIP Tony Harrison: the first poet from my home city I read. I remember my first girlfriend calling me downstairs when she saw the re-showing of 'V' in the late 80s. 'There's a poet on TV! He's from Leeds!' The School of Eloquence is his masterpiece, & The Loiners is underprized.

On Not being Milton

Just reread Tony Harrison’s ‘V’: famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/tony_h... “Beneath your feet's a poet, then a pit. Poetry supporter, if you're here to find How poems can grow from (beat you to it!) SHIT find the beef, the beer, the bread, then look behind.” V and UNITED: news that stays news. RIP.

1/ Whatever you think of digital ID, the process matters. And in 2025, this is still how we make big public policy. 👇

Poetry Sub Club: a great sounding #poetry magazine swap/reading/discussion/submissions session in #Sheffield on Weds, organised by @concordmoose.bsky.social (a couple more sessions are planned for later in the autumn too…).

This book had nothing whatever to say about lemurs, refund now please.

because "this is easy for me to use" is very often not a valid data point if you have a top-of-the-range set of devices, unlimited data, good digital skills, and the flexibility of a knowledge-working job in which you can do personal admin as and when. It gives the impression of ease

TFW you’re a consultant and the charity you’re on the board of get consultants in, who ‘reassure’ you “we’re not like other consultants” so that every positive claim they then make about themselves feels like a veiled insult… 🤨

An interesting piece. I think there’s something important in it, even if it’s too black and white (there are gains from screen-based culture as well as losses; the past wasn’t as high-minded as he makes it sound). But where we’re headed is different, for sure…

Reminder that my new poetry collection (my SEVENTH because I apparently cannot take a hint) is available from Picador www.panmacmillan.com/authors/luke...

Reading in York next Wednesday, where I once worked for the Council. The visit has reminded me of this sign in Museum Gardens which apparently banned cycling while allowing you to injure young and old alike by way of recompense. The good management of municipal facilities is all about give and take.

I mean:

The denial of Peter… (Luke 22:54-62)

Great quote (without underrating what language *can* do…). Similarly, from The Cloud of Unknowing: “The universes which are amenable to the intellect can never satisfy the instincts of the heart.” (Which I have on the wall by my desk, as a caution against being too rational…)

Looks like an important and well-done report, with clear, sensible and actionable recommendations.

To understand how AI will reconfigure humanity, try this German fairytale | Clemens J Setz

In the latest Private Investment in Culture Survey, The Audience Agency finds that private investment – although growing – is outweighed by rising costs. It shows that, in the mixed funding model of the creative sector, public funding is key. Read more 👇 buff.ly/oKKwtnG

I am (self-evidently) very interested in language. And also in technology. From that perspective, the rise of LLMs has created many new things for me to think about. One is: why is it that certain very small clusters of words are *clearly written by an LLM*? What is the quality of that writing?

Jeremy Noel-Tod on the importance of ‘unfunded’ or ‘hobbyist’ research in academica. open.substack.com/pub/someflow...

There is a serious failure in UK govt, politics & media to take sufficiently seriously what Musk said & meant with "fight back or die" = Violence (interethnic civil war) is inevitable so pre-emptive violence - vs migrants, minorities & political opponents - is necessary to avoid existential erasure

Imprisoned for dance crimes

I think about this poem by Ian Duhig — about Jo Cox, the Labour MP assassinated by a man shouting ‘Britain first’ — every day at the moment. No other contemporary poet has looked so clearly at the political reality of the far right as a minority who must always be appeased

You can tell #ReadingFC are in town: Barnsley have run out of vegan pies already… 🤣

Eldest child - can I do your radio interview for you? - no - why? It’s easy - “the economy is really difficult, cost of living, blah, blah, blah”.

All football clubs should be majority fan owned (cf. the 50+1 rule in the Bundesliga).

“500MB/3.7GB downloaded: 35% complete” Erm, Steam, RUOK…?

Could someone please check in on modern football coverage and make sure it's ok

A poetic response to some of this flag business…

Lots of interest in here: a pamphlet called Tasting Notes at a themed wine-tasting sounds like a *great* idea (and something that it’d be possible to imagine inviting non-poetry-concert friends to come along to: and who might buy the pamphlet as a souvenir…).

❤️

Readers have long been frustrated by Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken". Thanks to AI, it is now possible to explore BOTH of the paths described by the speaker

At current prices, and scarcity of C20th pics of sufficient quality that are worthy of NG and not already in museum collections, they’ll need all that £350m just to buy a decent Picasso/Rothko or two.

I was at an event at Leicester Uni yesterday and Prof Ross Parry’s heartfelt opening statement about the value of universities (and what remarkable institutions they are and how much they can do for their local communities) was truly inspiring. Feels like something that’s not said often enough…

One of the best places on Earth is about to get better.

What an amazing curatorial challenge…

Lots of people mocking this for being *obvious* advice, but arguably it’s _wrong_. Of all the people who need to be told to be more risk averse, Starmer-in-government ain’t one… [AFAICT]

The perpetual frustration of knowing I own a book I want to read, but not knowing where it is… (more precisely than: ‘in a box in the attic: no, not that one…’).

What subjects did Britons enjoy at school? English: 70% enjoyed History: 66% Geography: 61% Biology: 58% Food tech: 54% Art: 51% D+T: 50% Maths: 49% PE: 47% Chemistry: 45% Music: 44% Languages: 43% Physics: 39% IT: 37% RE: 32% Drama: 29% yougov.co.uk/society/arti...

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

It has to be asked: why has the Times Literary Supplement, in the year 2025, relaunched with an all-white list of star contributors on the cover? Is the UK literary world done with making an effort on representation now? I'm a big TLS fan, but this is a bad start if it's trying to reimagine itself.

Neat analogy on clumsy issue-based polling…

One to watch: I’m curious about the proposed changes to the Howard Assembly Room programme…

Covering a council is covering a community. It’s fascinating, entertaining, tragic. it’s all human life. It’s all the things that make a country a country but in little important and hilarious bits.