Dr Alison Baxter
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alisonrbaxter.bsky.social
Dr Alison Baxter
@alisonrbaxter.bsky.social
Reader, writer, historian. Author of A Cornish Cargo https://amzn.eu/d/82n7ovn and Another Song at Sunset https://amzn.eu/d/8G3915h Home Library volunteer and Trustee of Asylum Welcome.
Pinned
Just published - my new book! Available in paperback and kindle editions. For anyone interested in Scottish history, the Scots language, or the work of Lewis Grassic Gibbon amzn.eu/d/heuqCJU
Another Song at Sunset: Jean Baxter, Scots poet and friend of Lewis Grassic Gibbon: Amazon.co.uk: Baxter, Alison: 9798340910509: Books
Buy Another Song at Sunset: Jean Baxter, Scots poet and friend of Lewis Grassic Gibbon by Baxter, Alison (ISBN: 9798340910509) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.
amzn.eu
My latest post should be of interest to maritime historians.

open.substack.com/pub/writingf...
Travelling through the Suez Canal
Stories from a Victorian ship's engineer
open.substack.com
January 30, 2026 at 8:02 PM
Reposted by Dr Alison Baxter
Today, we join forces with other creator-led organisations to co-launch Brave New World?, a groundbreaking report that shows the onset of a creative jobs crisis in the UK. Here's the link to the report, and to email your MP buff.ly/vIuLqfn
January 30, 2026 at 5:31 PM
open.substack.com/pub/writingf...
A Christmas read with added guinea pigs.
Who do we count as family?
Remembering our pets
open.substack.com
December 20, 2025 at 5:41 PM
A Christmas present for all lovers of Lewis Grassic Gibbon and Sunset Song. My biography of my grandmother, the dedicatee of Sunset Song, is available for just 99p on Kindle between now and December 25th. amzn.eu/d/fIHPuPA
Another Song at Sunset: Jean Baxter, Scots poet and friend of Lewis Grassic Gibbon
Another Song at Sunset: Jean Baxter, Scots poet and friend of Lewis Grassic Gibbon eBook : Baxter, Alison: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store
amzn.eu
December 18, 2025 at 10:09 AM
Reposted by Dr Alison Baxter
Applying the changes to settlement to refugees already here would be particularly cruel and will create so much anxiety.
@stellacreasy.bsky.social is quite right when she says "the Home Secretary needs to come clean asap as there will be refugees with jobs and mortgages that could be affected.”
The i Paper is reporting that once the changes are brought in, the 20 year route will be applied to refugees who are already here.

I can't over emphasise the level of terror this will cause to our refugee population, and the lack of detail and timescale will make it very difficult to calm nerves.
November 19, 2025 at 8:40 AM
The week of COP 30 seems a good time to republish something I wrote a couple of years ago about the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu. open.substack.com/pub/writingf...
My South Sea Bubble
Climate change and the islands of the Pacific
open.substack.com
November 11, 2025 at 1:51 PM
In Trieste, city of literature, for a few days. Museums closed for a general strike in support of Gaza (and why can’t we do the same?), but here are Italo Svevo, James Joyce, and Umberto Saba.
September 22, 2025 at 2:36 PM
To mark ten years of Sanctuary Hosting, I wrote about migration. With thanks to @asylumwelcome.bsky.social for the fact checker.
open.substack.com/pub/writingf...
'Don’t think your boys, far away as they are, ever forget'
A story of migration
open.substack.com
September 13, 2025 at 7:31 AM
Reposted by Dr Alison Baxter
This Sept, we're celebrating 10 years of Sanctuary Hosting!
www.asylum-welcome.org/services/san...

300 guests helped, 40,000 nights of safe sleep & countless acts of kindness - thanks to our wonderful hosts 💙

🎧 Listen to the story on our podcast #Welcomecast:
creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/...
September 7, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Reposted by Dr Alison Baxter
"We sat in stunned silence… wondering: what will this mean for the people we support now & those who will need us in future?" — Dr Hari Reed, our Co-CEO.

For many refugees, reunion is the only hope they have left. Suspending that right puts women & children at risk, @yvettecooper-mp.bsky.social.
September 2, 2025 at 11:45 AM
Reposted by Dr Alison Baxter
The Bear Tapestry
August 27, 2025 at 1:31 PM
Reposted by Dr Alison Baxter
Today, Nigel Farage used Oxfordshire to launch plans for “mass deportations” of people seeking asylum if he becomes Prime Minister.

We believe in a different vision: one rooted in dignity, safety, and welcome. Please add your name to our open letter: tinyurl.com/aw-letter
A call for Unity and Compassion in Oxfordshire (and beyond)
forms.gle
August 26, 2025 at 10:16 AM
A piece of Scottish family history to mark a significant date in the sporting calendar.
open.substack.com/pub/writingf...
The Glorious Twelfth
Grouse shooting - a controversial sport
open.substack.com
August 12, 2025 at 1:14 PM
This week’s story is about bad behaviour at the Royal Aircraft Establishment open.substack.com/pub/writingf...
The case of the illegal pigs
The Royal Aircraft Establishment in wartime
open.substack.com
July 21, 2025 at 7:04 AM
I’m sure my grandmother would have been dismayed at this threat to the burial place of her friend Lewis Grassic Gibbon.
July 3, 2025 at 8:00 AM
open.substack.com/pub/writingf...
A new post that may be familiar to readers of A Cornish Cargo!
A cargo of broccoli
Or how to encourage your children to eat their greens
open.substack.com
July 2, 2025 at 6:42 AM
An example of transferable skills? How a sea captain who learnt his trade on square riggers became a pilot in World War 1.
open.substack.com/pub/writingf...
From sea to air
Walter Price, master mariner turned pilot
open.substack.com
June 17, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Delighted to get my copy of this superb biography of Lewis Grassic Gibbon. With a couple of my family photos included!
amzn.eu/d/hXNRv0C
History of a Revoluter: The Life of James Leslie Mitchell/Lewis Grassic Gibbon: Amazon.co.uk: Malcolm, William K.: 9781910858387: Books
Buy History of a Revoluter: The Life of James Leslie Mitchell/Lewis Grassic Gibbon by Malcolm, William K. (ISBN: 9781910858387) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligi...
amzn.eu
June 1, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Back to maritine history for my latest family story
open.substack.com/pub/writingf...
Sailing to the Gold Coast
Captain Perceval Pennefather Dupen
open.substack.com
June 1, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Reposted by Dr Alison Baxter
A more personal substack post today about the first refugee I hosted through @refugeesathome.bsky.social .

It's not something I talk about much but I felt I needed to write something in response to the increasingly hostile environment for refugees.

christinapagel.substack.com/p/the-path-t...
The path to citizenship the UK has choked off - to our detriment
A story of hope and anger and one man called B.
christinapagel.substack.com
May 18, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Very sad. And in the same week that the definitive biography of Grassic Gibbon by Bill Malcolm is published.
May 18, 2025 at 5:39 PM
New Substack post, of special interest to anyone with ancestors in the north east of England open.substack.com/pub/writingf...
'Like a mole groping in the dark'
Coal miners of Northumberland and Durham
open.substack.com
April 24, 2025 at 5:23 PM