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kateem.bsky.social
Kate Macdonald 📚 🧶
@kateem.bsky.social
1.3K followers 820 following 1.5K posts
Mover of words at peachfieldpress.uk. Latest story out now! https://fiction-fans-shop.fourthwall.com/en-gbp/products/solstitia-issue-4 Book reviews at katemacdonald.net. Recorder of🏺finds, organiser, Q clerk, knitter, academis aegis @OxfordBrookes
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kateem.bsky.social
Kate Macdonald 📚 🧶 @kateem.bsky.social · Feb 14
Greetings, all those who wander in the Bluesky! I write SFF fiction at peachfieldpress.uk, I write about how I set up a small but doughty publishing house at katemacdonald.substack.com, I move words around, I measure excavated things and I organise. 💙📚🧶🏺🐸🌱🍫
The Handheld Diaries | Kate Macdonald | Substack
We published 48 books in seven years to recover forgotten fiction and lost authors. This is how we did it. Click to read The Handheld Diaries, by Kate Macdonald, a Substack publication with hundreds o...
katemacdonald.substack.com
kateem.bsky.social
Oh dear, that'll teach me not to contribute to a conversation among men who are using it to wave their egos around.
February 16, 2026 at 12:22 PM
Reposted by Kate Macdonald 📚 🧶
viviane49.bsky.social
This is the Gov looking for your input on the BBC. It takes a while to complete (15/20 mins) but it’s pretty comprehensive and covers most aspects.

Please share. I’m surprised many people haven’t seen it yet.

www.gov.uk/government/c...
Britain’s Story: The Next Chapter - BBC Royal Charter Review, Green Paper and public consultation
www.gov.uk
February 15, 2026 at 6:19 PM
Reposted by Kate Macdonald 📚 🧶
andrewprlevi.bsky.social
The entire UK diplomatic budget is about £1.4 billion a year. That’s pretty much precisely 0.1% of government spending.

BBC World Service is about £0.25 billion (it should be higher), or 0.02%.

These are rounding errors on rounding errors. Double each and public expenditure wouldn’t twitch.

Mad.
February 15, 2026 at 9:23 PM
kateem.bsky.social
Stonking good truth-telling writing here.
February 15, 2026 at 10:59 PM
Reposted by Kate Macdonald 📚 🧶
tomgauld.bsky.social
A romance cartoon for the @theguardian.com
A large Regency house. Two sisters named Emilia and Charlotte talk on an upper floor. "Mister Blackwell has come to call again." says Emilia as she looks out of the window "Oh, how I despise his uncouth manners and electric bicycle!" Charlotte says "Sister, you will end up a spinster if you insist on a historically accurate suitor." and continues "The romance novel has changed, Emilia, and so must we." Emilia replies "Easy for you to say. You are engaged to the richest werewolf in the county!" They are walking through the house. Charlotte says "Look at Cousin Lucy: She is quite plain, yet made a most advantageous match with the dragon queen of nalthrax." "True." says Emilia opening the door. The tall, solid figure of Miuster Blackwell stands at the door wearing a top hat and tailcoat: "Ladies, I triumphed In my ice hockey match and won ten thousand a year in sponsorship! Miss Emilia, will you be my bride?" he is holding a hockey stick. Emilia swoons into Charlotte's arms.
February 15, 2026 at 10:30 AM
kateem.bsky.social
Great review, with unnerving evidence of people who can remember the Wingspan attributes of birds in the wild.
February 14, 2026 at 11:39 PM
Reposted by Kate Macdonald 📚 🧶
leovongripsholm.bsky.social
Cartoon. Person says to other person „We invented a robot that answers questions.“, adding, „we just have to feed it 10 baby giraffes a day“. The other person asks „But it answers the questions correctly?“ Person responds „Oh my goodness, no. No no no no no.“ By Aram J. French Appropriated due to missing alt text
February 12, 2026 at 1:44 PM
kateem.bsky.social
Great review filling in the background to my novel The Shetland Witch!
gnofhorror.com Ginger Nuts of Horror @gnofhorror.com · 3d
Ancient Greek Fates meet Shetland’s Witches in Kate Macdonald’s The Shetland Witch. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 . 🔗👇 #ShetlandWitch #Folklore

Check these three books from @kateem.bsky.social along with a potted history on Shetland Witches

gnofhorror.com/the-shetland...
February 13, 2026 at 7:40 PM
Reposted by Kate Macdonald 📚 🧶
katrinanavickas.bsky.social
A reminder that my book on the history of protest is now published. It is superbly produced with a great cover. Buy it now from @reaktionbooks.bsky.social
Contested Commons Formidably erudite, compellingly argued, and dryly humorous, Contested Commons will change the way you think about the politics of space, the "myth of the commons", and the history of England since the eighteenth century: MATTHEW KELLy, author of The Women Who Saved the English Countryside "Starting with Kennington Common, and ranging from Steeple Bumpstead to Sheffield, Stonehenge and Brixton, and with a cast that includes ramblers, ranters, revolutionaries and ravers, this is a superb, sweeping but fine-grained history. It's also a highly necessary, politically urgent reminder of what public space is - places for everyone, owned by everyone, accessible to everyone, whether carefully tended or wild - and what it isn't, the tradition of pseudo-public space that runs from Victorian parks to privatised malls.' OWEN HATHERLEY, author of A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain
October 27, 2025 at 8:59 AM
Reposted by Kate Macdonald 📚 🧶
nataliethomlinson.bsky.social
Fantastic funded PhD opportunity here in the School of Humanities at Reading - please share widely! www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Young Refugees to Britain in the early Twentieth Century at University of Reading on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - Young Refugees to Britain in the early Twentieth Century at University of Reading, listed on FindAPhD.com
www.findaphd.com
February 13, 2026 at 10:17 AM
kateem.bsky.social
This seems unecessarily cruel and unfair for the vulnerable at their most vulnerable.
fiercemum.bsky.social Cal Horton (they/them) @fiercemum.bsky.social · 4d
New School Guidance announces:

Full bathroom ban.
Full PE ban.
Full school trip accommodation ban.

Trans kids will not go to the bathroom, do PE or go on any school trips. 1/
February 13, 2026 at 10:34 AM
Reposted by Kate Macdonald 📚 🧶
ilumium.eupolicy.social.ap.brid.gy
A major victory for #HumanRights in the #uk 🎉

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/feb/13/uk-ban-palestine-action-unlawful-high-court-judges-rule
UK ban on Palestine Action unlawful, high court judges rule
Protest group’s co-founder wins legal challenge against decision to proscribe it under anti-terrorism laws
www.theguardian.com
February 13, 2026 at 10:18 AM
kateem.bsky.social
A postcard from Japan for @everyheron.bsky.social A blue heron at Ueno Pond, Tokyo.
Blue heron perched on rotting reed stalks at Ueno Pond, Tokyo.
February 13, 2026 at 5:53 AM
kateem.bsky.social
Very rare vegetarian meal in Tokyo (actually vegan). My chopsticks game is quite good. And then we shopped for dessert to take back to the hotel.
Tradtional Japanese meal in Tokyo, served in lovely bowls in a wooden tray. It's strawberry season in Japan, very popular for Valentine's Day, so they are everywhere. Here's a patisserie counter in Ahikabara, Tokyo, groaning with the things.
February 12, 2026 at 10:33 AM
kateem.bsky.social
Who's the most famous former pupil of my school?

Lord Byron.
williamadler78.bsky.social William Adler @williamadler78.bsky.social · 4d
Who's the most famous alum of your high school?

I'll go first: David Draiman of Disturbed
marisakabas.bsky.social Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 7d
guys i just found out i went to the same high school as howard lutnick. please respect my privacy at this time.
February 12, 2026 at 5:48 AM
kateem.bsky.social
Post a banger that's not in English. Go Gaelic.
music.youtube.com/watch?v=OBeQ...
February 10, 2026 at 11:32 AM
Reposted by Kate Macdonald 📚 🧶
united24media.com
⚡️ BREAKING: International Olympic Committee has banned Vladyslav Heraskevych from using a custom helmet featuring images of Ukrainian athletes killed by Russia at the 2026 Olympics.
February 9, 2026 at 9:41 PM
Reposted by Kate Macdonald 📚 🧶
alkennedy.bsky.social
I hope Nigel Farage gets an intact cardamom pod in every mouthful of rice he eats from now until the day he dies
mckelvie.bsky.social Jamie McKelvie @mckelvie.bsky.social · 7d
The thing is he's not pitching this to people who work, he's pitching this to retired people who are furious that other people might get marginally better working conditions than they had.
peterstefanovic.bsky.social Peter Stefanovic @peterstefanovic.bsky.social · 7d
BREAKING: Nigel Farage calls for an end to working from home and the focus on work-life balance

"People aren't more productive working from home - it's a load of nonsense”

Whatever you do JUST DON’T VOTE REFORM!
February 9, 2026 at 7:21 PM
kateem.bsky.social
Off to Japan tomorrow. Packed. Kitchen cleaned and in order. Plants watered. Nothing else to do except play a ridiculously good and very long board game: Luthier.
A complex board game laid out on a table. Closeup of Luthier, a board game about making instruments and satisfying patrons
February 9, 2026 at 7:04 PM
kateem.bsky.social
I admire Madeline Miller immensely so this just goes to show that there will always be ... something.
February 8, 2026 at 3:11 PM
Reposted by Kate Macdonald 📚 🧶
rebeccasolnit.bsky.social
"you might stumble over a whole collective of people resisting in ways you didn't think of. There's a crew of carpenters just going around fixing kicked-in doors. There are tow truck drivers taking cars of detained people away for free...."
seachanger.bsky.social malena @seachanger.bsky.social · 9d
message from MN
From a Comrade 19h. C One of the nuts things about organizing in the Twin Cities right now is that even the most long term organizers who've been here for decades can't keep track of all the resistance that is going on. There are so many self-organized crews just doing work that in any conversation with someone from another neighborhood you might stumble over a whole collective of people resisting in ways you didn't think of. There's a crew of carpenters just going around fixing kicked-in doors. There are tow truck drivers taking cars of detained people away for free. People delivering food to families in hiding. So many local rapid response groups that the number is uncertain but somewhere between 80 and the low hundreds- especially when one considers that several immigrant communities have their own non-English rapid response networks usually uncounted in the main English-language directories. People standing watch outside daycares and schools. This whole resistance has so many poles of initiative and leadership, so many layers of self-organization, that it's extraordinarily difficult for the state to repress or for opportunists be they Democrats or movement-riding parties) to co-opt and control. Of course, that's built up through many years and decades of organization, and not only through explicitiv political campaigns or formations built during times of crisis and rupture like 2020. It is also built through day-to-day mutual aid, culture building, workplace and tenant organizing, and simple, basic relationship building among neighbors and coworkers here. From a Comrade 19h. C One of the nuts things about organizing in the Twin Cities right now is that even the most long term organizers who've been here for decades can't keep track of all the resistance that is going on. There are so many self-organized crews just doing work that in any conversation with someone from another neighborhood you might stumble over a whole collective of people resisting in ways you didn't think of. There's a crew of carpenters just going around fixing kicked-in doors. There are tow truck drivers taking cars of detained people away for free. People delivering food to families in hiding. So many local rapid response groups that the number is uncertain but somewhere between 80 and the low hundreds- especially when one considers that several immigrant communities have their own non-English rapid response networks usually uncounted in the main English-language directories. People standing watch outside daycares and schools. This whole resistance has so many poles of initiative and leadership, so many layers of self-organization, that it's extraordinarily difficult for the state to repress or for opportunists be they Democrats or movement-riding parties) to co-opt and control. Of course, that's built up through many years and decades of organization, and not only through explicitiv political campaigns or formations built during times of crisis and rupture like 2020. It is also built through day-to-day mutual aid, culture building, workplace and tenant organizing, and simple, basic relationship building among neighbors and coworkers here.
February 8, 2026 at 2:12 PM
kateem.bsky.social
I wrote about considering leaving Substack. Haven't done it yet (moving a subscription site needs careful financial untangling work). But the POV that throwing the Nazi sites off Substack might be a better way redress the damage to very encouraging.
open.substack.com/pub/katemacd...
Should I go or should I stay?
Is staying on Substack supporting the people who tolerate Nazis?
open.substack.com
February 8, 2026 at 7:23 AM
kateem.bsky.social
Witches and Sylvia Townsend Warner literary fantasy conference coming up in May, and registration is now open!
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lolly-will...
Lolly Willowes at 100
An international conference to mark the centenary of the publication of Warner's first and still her best-known novel, Lolly Willowes.
www.eventbrite.co.uk
February 7, 2026 at 7:37 PM
kateem.bsky.social
Murder in the garden while I was out: feathers are still quite dry. Pigeon's head was torn off (pic not shown, you're welcome) and feathers are still in 4 ripping-apart locations. Raptor? Fox? Both quite likely. Saw a buzzard on my way home.
Scattered pigeon feathers on the ground.
February 7, 2026 at 11:12 AM
kateem.bsky.social
Won't let my handknitted socks go in a machine wash set up by my husband again. Suggestions for repurposing hopelessly shrunk and felted wool socks? 🧶
Dark green handknitted wool socks now shrunk and felted by a washing machine to the size of a child's gloves.
February 7, 2026 at 8:58 AM