Andrew Neilson
@andrewjamesneilson.bsky.social
Dishevelled wandering star. Director of Campaigns @thehowardleague.bsky.social Co-florist @badlilies.bsky.social andrewneilson.uk
Moving and honourable piece by Sarah Doyle. www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/...
I was the other poet in the Len Pennie row: here’s my story
Sarah Doyle’s poem Laika won high praise but when she queried similarities to it with the poem Good Girl she was caught up in a storm of accusation, denial and online vitriol
www.thetimes.com
November 23, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Moving and honourable piece by Sarah Doyle. www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/...
I don't do this so much these days but a poem for a Sunday. Leaves by Derek Mahon, from this beautiful book.
November 16, 2025 at 9:42 PM
I don't do this so much these days but a poem for a Sunday. Leaves by Derek Mahon, from this beautiful book.
Reposted by Andrew Neilson
Anybody who had a vision to bring American levels of political, cultural and social polarisation to Britain - whether their motive was clicks or cash, ideology, boredom or anything else - would make it their top strategic priority to abolish the BBC, or to damage and diminish it at the very least
Quick thread on the BBC and the political and societal significance of recent developments:
One of the main reasons the UK has historically been so much less polarised than the US, is that Britain has a shared source of information, consumed and trusted by most people regardless of their politics.
One of the main reasons the UK has historically been so much less polarised than the US, is that Britain has a shared source of information, consumed and trusted by most people regardless of their politics.
November 10, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Anybody who had a vision to bring American levels of political, cultural and social polarisation to Britain - whether their motive was clicks or cash, ideology, boredom or anything else - would make it their top strategic priority to abolish the BBC, or to damage and diminish it at the very least
Reposted by Andrew Neilson
Captain Haddock In Monte Carlo...
A post about context driven by an excellent poem by @andrewjamesneilson.bsky.social
matriches76.wordpress.com/2025/11/09/c...
A post about context driven by an excellent poem by @andrewjamesneilson.bsky.social
matriches76.wordpress.com/2025/11/09/c...
Captain Haddock in Monte Carlo
Christ on a Penny Farthing, it’s been a week. Yes, since the last post (perhaps the song choice of words on a day like today, but hey ho…), but it’s been a week. And I felt like t…
matriches76.wordpress.com
November 9, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Captain Haddock In Monte Carlo...
A post about context driven by an excellent poem by @andrewjamesneilson.bsky.social
matriches76.wordpress.com/2025/11/09/c...
A post about context driven by an excellent poem by @andrewjamesneilson.bsky.social
matriches76.wordpress.com/2025/11/09/c...
Bad day for the Beeb but hitting rock bottom is the start of the climb. www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cd...
BBC director general Tim Davie and News CEO Deborah Turness resign over Trump documentary edit
Deborah Turness, the CEO of news, says “mistakes have been made”.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 9, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Bad day for the Beeb but hitting rock bottom is the start of the climb. www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cd...
I love all the @badlilies.bsky.social babies (so to speak!) equally but this sequence by @ravoon.bsky.social is worthy of some attention ahead of his collection coming out next year badlilies.uk/graeme-richardson-1
Graeme Richardson — Bad Lilies
Three poems by Graeme Richardson
badlilies.uk
November 1, 2025 at 10:03 PM
I love all the @badlilies.bsky.social babies (so to speak!) equally but this sequence by @ravoon.bsky.social is worthy of some attention ahead of his collection coming out next year badlilies.uk/graeme-richardson-1
Busy week, and month! I turned 50 in the month, launched a debut poetry pamphlet last week (see pic, notice the trainers doing all the hard work) and put out a fantastic new Bad Lilies issue with Kathryn Gray! Frankly, I'm now knackered.
October 31, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Busy week, and month! I turned 50 in the month, launched a debut poetry pamphlet last week (see pic, notice the trainers doing all the hard work) and put out a fantastic new Bad Lilies issue with Kathryn Gray! Frankly, I'm now knackered.
Reposted by Andrew Neilson
Proofs to contributors are being prepared...our cracking new issue is out for Halloween in a week's time 👀👻⚓️ badlilies.uk
October 24, 2025 at 1:05 PM
Proofs to contributors are being prepared...our cracking new issue is out for Halloween in a week's time 👀👻⚓️ badlilies.uk
Reposted by Andrew Neilson
We’re very sorry to hear that Prunella Scales has passed away aged 93. Prunella was a longstanding supporter of the Howard League, and we shall miss her terribly. Our thoughts are with her family.
October 28, 2025 at 1:30 PM
We’re very sorry to hear that Prunella Scales has passed away aged 93. Prunella was a longstanding supporter of the Howard League, and we shall miss her terribly. Our thoughts are with her family.
Reposted by Andrew Neilson
We’ve a beautiful new @badlilies.bsky.social landing on Halloween! Expect poems that will stay with you at this time of the thin veil between worlds.
Proofs to contributors are being prepared...our cracking new issue is out for Halloween in a week's time 👀👻⚓️ badlilies.uk
October 25, 2025 at 8:06 AM
We’ve a beautiful new @badlilies.bsky.social landing on Halloween! Expect poems that will stay with you at this time of the thin veil between worlds.
Reposted by Andrew Neilson
The appalling report on Leeds prison, published today by HM Inspectorate of Prisons, highlights how chronic overcrowding in our prison system puts lives at risk.
Read our response: https://howardleague.org/news/leeds-prison-report-reveals-the-tragic-consequences-of-chronic-overcrowding/
Read our response: https://howardleague.org/news/leeds-prison-report-reveals-the-tragic-consequences-of-chronic-overcrowding/
October 21, 2025 at 4:58 AM
The appalling report on Leeds prison, published today by HM Inspectorate of Prisons, highlights how chronic overcrowding in our prison system puts lives at risk.
Read our response: https://howardleague.org/news/leeds-prison-report-reveals-the-tragic-consequences-of-chronic-overcrowding/
Read our response: https://howardleague.org/news/leeds-prison-report-reveals-the-tragic-consequences-of-chronic-overcrowding/
People (some people) complain about the commercialisation of literary publishing (a commercial venture) as if it were something new. I worked for a literary publisher more than 25 years ago and the first book launch of theirs I attended was for Mr Motivator (nice guy).
October 18, 2025 at 5:33 PM
People (some people) complain about the commercialisation of literary publishing (a commercial venture) as if it were something new. I worked for a literary publisher more than 25 years ago and the first book launch of theirs I attended was for Mr Motivator (nice guy).
Reposted by Andrew Neilson
Today I’ve written about a poem by Michael Longley and the questions it raises about obscurity, in-jokes and what makes a poem work.
The poet's joke
Does it matter if we don't get it?
open.substack.com
October 16, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Today I’ve written about a poem by Michael Longley and the questions it raises about obscurity, in-jokes and what makes a poem work.
Michael Longley described the Virgil line here, a sly reference to Seamus Heaney (post-Nobel), as "a learned leg-pull". But I think the poem as a whole is more than that...deadly serious, even. One of his marvellous unfolding single sentences too.
October 12, 2025 at 6:38 PM
Michael Longley described the Virgil line here, a sly reference to Seamus Heaney (post-Nobel), as "a learned leg-pull". But I think the poem as a whole is more than that...deadly serious, even. One of his marvellous unfolding single sentences too.
Autumn, Suffolk.
October 12, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Autumn, Suffolk.
Addendum: 'ten thousand' is basically the Tang Chinese version of saying 'infinity', it crops up a lot in Du Fu and elsewhere. I love this. The sophistication and modernity of these 10th century lyrics blows my mind.
My pamphlet of poems, Summers Are Other, is officially out now. Here's a taster, a version of Du Fu that Linton Kwesi Johnson used as an epigraph to Time Come, his Selected Prose. rackpress.blogspot.com?m=1
October 5, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Addendum: 'ten thousand' is basically the Tang Chinese version of saying 'infinity', it crops up a lot in Du Fu and elsewhere. I love this. The sophistication and modernity of these 10th century lyrics blows my mind.
My pamphlet of poems, Summers Are Other, is officially out now. Here's a taster, a version of Du Fu that Linton Kwesi Johnson used as an epigraph to Time Come, his Selected Prose. rackpress.blogspot.com?m=1
October 4, 2025 at 5:37 PM
My pamphlet of poems, Summers Are Other, is officially out now. Here's a taster, a version of Du Fu that Linton Kwesi Johnson used as an epigraph to Time Come, his Selected Prose. rackpress.blogspot.com?m=1
Poem for a Shabbat. By @jsaphra.bsky.social.
October 3, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Poem for a Shabbat. By @jsaphra.bsky.social.
Reposted by Andrew Neilson
I'm very much enjoying Andrew Neilson's pamphlet Summers Are Other from Rack Press, particularly the lovely lyric 'The Viaduct'
@badlilies.bsky.social
@badlilies.bsky.social
September 24, 2025 at 7:51 AM
I'm very much enjoying Andrew Neilson's pamphlet Summers Are Other from Rack Press, particularly the lovely lyric 'The Viaduct'
@badlilies.bsky.social
@badlilies.bsky.social
The government could stop spending £7bn on building yet more failing prisons and this would give it a head start on a far more promising route to cutting crime:
Child Poverty Task Force will recommend scrapping the two child limit according to The Times. But publication is being delayed and no clarity over whether Government will accept the recommendation even though it's coming from two cabinet ministers.
www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
Cabinet ministers to recommend lifting two-child benefit cap
Starmer to be urged by taskforce before the budget to make the change — but it will cost £3bn a year when Rachel Reeves is trying to plug a spending gap
www.thetimes.com
September 24, 2025 at 6:25 PM
The government could stop spending £7bn on building yet more failing prisons and this would give it a head start on a far more promising route to cutting crime:
Reposted by Andrew Neilson
My poetry pamphlet Summers Are Other is available for pre-order now from Rack Press: rackpress.blogspot.com?m=1. I also have copies available if you message me. And they're out in the very occasional wild! Official launch in London on 29 October...more info to follow. 🙏
September 18, 2025 at 4:18 PM
My poetry pamphlet Summers Are Other is available for pre-order now from Rack Press: rackpress.blogspot.com?m=1. I also have copies available if you message me. And they're out in the very occasional wild! Official launch in London on 29 October...more info to follow. 🙏
My poetry pamphlet Summers Are Other is available for pre-order now from Rack Press: rackpress.blogspot.com?m=1. I also have copies available if you message me. And they're out in the very occasional wild! Official launch in London on 29 October...more info to follow. 🙏
September 18, 2025 at 4:18 PM
My poetry pamphlet Summers Are Other is available for pre-order now from Rack Press: rackpress.blogspot.com?m=1. I also have copies available if you message me. And they're out in the very occasional wild! Official launch in London on 29 October...more info to follow. 🙏
Reposted by Andrew Neilson
Violent crime in London has dropped by 13%—a fall of nearly 10,000 attacks a year—as the capital records its lowest homicide rate in five years. www.standard.co.uk/news/london/...
Violent crime plunges 13% in London as homicide rate less than Paris and Berlin
Despite there being ‘tens of thousands of fewer victims,’ Mayor of London Sadiq Khan acknowledged that ‘one death and one crime will always be too many’
www.standard.co.uk
September 11, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Violent crime in London has dropped by 13%—a fall of nearly 10,000 attacks a year—as the capital records its lowest homicide rate in five years. www.standard.co.uk/news/london/...
Reposted by Andrew Neilson
Coming this autumn from Rack Press. Poems!
September 5, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Coming this autumn from Rack Press. Poems!
Coming this autumn from Rack Press. Poems!
September 5, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Coming this autumn from Rack Press. Poems!