Christopher Silver
@silverscribed.bsky.social
Recovering freelance journalist/embattled early career academic: researching journalism, culture and place. 🏳️🌈🏴✊
https://www.christopher-silver.com/
https://www.christopher-silver.com/
Pinned
Ian Hamilton Finlay’s revolutionary instincts
What the centenary of Scotland’s avant-gardener reveals about the crisis in our cultural life
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk
Lots of debate recently on the state of Scottish cultural life - with plenty of omissions. For me it all comes back to the bigger (older) challenge of accommodating an avant-garde in a small country. Some provocative lessons from IHF here:
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/culture/art/...
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/culture/art/...
Reposted by Christopher Silver
An error in a way, but only an error that could be made in a society that had turned systematically against cultural and linguistic pluralism
This is a really appalling editorial error on BBC Question Time
"Apparently one in three children don't speak English as a first language, why does this matter?"
Chair says "have English as a second language"
Caption changes the meaning entirely
"Don't speak fluent English"
"Apparently one in three children don't speak English as a first language, why does this matter?"
Chair says "have English as a second language"
Caption changes the meaning entirely
"Don't speak fluent English"
December 12, 2025 at 7:56 PM
An error in a way, but only an error that could be made in a society that had turned systematically against cultural and linguistic pluralism
Reposted by Christopher Silver
This is a really appalling editorial error on BBC Question Time
"Apparently one in three children don't speak English as a first language, why does this matter?"
Chair says "have English as a second language"
Caption changes the meaning entirely
"Don't speak fluent English"
"Apparently one in three children don't speak English as a first language, why does this matter?"
Chair says "have English as a second language"
Caption changes the meaning entirely
"Don't speak fluent English"
December 11, 2025 at 11:11 PM
This is a really appalling editorial error on BBC Question Time
"Apparently one in three children don't speak English as a first language, why does this matter?"
Chair says "have English as a second language"
Caption changes the meaning entirely
"Don't speak fluent English"
"Apparently one in three children don't speak English as a first language, why does this matter?"
Chair says "have English as a second language"
Caption changes the meaning entirely
"Don't speak fluent English"
Reposted by Christopher Silver
Welcome to Britain, a country so short of dentists that an MP's 87-year-old mum pulled her teeth out with pliers. Also a country with thousands of foreign-qualified dentists who can’t work until they pass an exam so oversubscribed it’s like trying to book Glasto tickets. www.ft.com/content/f4e5...
December 9, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Welcome to Britain, a country so short of dentists that an MP's 87-year-old mum pulled her teeth out with pliers. Also a country with thousands of foreign-qualified dentists who can’t work until they pass an exam so oversubscribed it’s like trying to book Glasto tickets. www.ft.com/content/f4e5...
Reposted by Christopher Silver
If only there were a cautionary tale about being too eager to accept the apparent time-saving capabilities of new technology.
Aardman Animations will ’embrace AI’ while also being ‘cautious’, says Nick Park
Aardman Animations will ’embrace AI’ while also being ‘cautious’, says Nick Park
Aardman Animations will ’embrace AI’ while also being ‘cautious’, says Nick Park
www.independent.co.uk
December 8, 2025 at 1:05 PM
If only there were a cautionary tale about being too eager to accept the apparent time-saving capabilities of new technology.
Reposted by Christopher Silver
Can all the folk who just got reminded that they’ve listened to a tonne of music on streaming this year, have a look at the music they heard and buy some on bandcamp today? 🫡🙏🏼
December 5, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Can all the folk who just got reminded that they’ve listened to a tonne of music on streaming this year, have a look at the music they heard and buy some on bandcamp today? 🫡🙏🏼
Reposted by Christopher Silver
I'm not really starting a substack, I don't think. But 1 of the best things that happened to me this year was being shortlisted for the Anne Brown essay prize. The essay was on my great aunt, her house & her remarkable siblings. You can read it here, if you like. danigaravelli.substack.com/p/lepanto
Lepanto
LEPANTO
danigaravelli.substack.com
December 2, 2025 at 11:07 AM
I'm not really starting a substack, I don't think. But 1 of the best things that happened to me this year was being shortlisted for the Anne Brown essay prize. The essay was on my great aunt, her house & her remarkable siblings. You can read it here, if you like. danigaravelli.substack.com/p/lepanto
Reposted by Christopher Silver
Reposted by Christopher Silver
This is actually quite brilliant, up to and including the final sentence 🔥
December 1, 2025 at 11:09 AM
This is actually quite brilliant, up to and including the final sentence 🔥
Reposted by Christopher Silver
Sad to hear that Perth & Kinross Council has decided not to retain the William Soutar House. Family don't want it and so it is being sold. This is where the bed-bound Soutar wrote much of his poetry and his diaries. A blow to Scotland's cultural heritage.
share.google/tQQtdtkYpWfJ...
share.google/tQQtdtkYpWfJ...
Soutar House – Perth Civic Trust
share.google
November 30, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Sad to hear that Perth & Kinross Council has decided not to retain the William Soutar House. Family don't want it and so it is being sold. This is where the bed-bound Soutar wrote much of his poetry and his diaries. A blow to Scotland's cultural heritage.
share.google/tQQtdtkYpWfJ...
share.google/tQQtdtkYpWfJ...
Reposted by Christopher Silver
We can forget about Thatcher by just looking around us.
November 28, 2025 at 2:39 PM
We can forget about Thatcher by just looking around us.
Reposted by Christopher Silver
No matter how tough you say times are, there’s always enough money in the banana stand to pay an external consultant to scope ‘academic efficiency opportunities’ www.theferret.scot/consultancy-...
‘Nousferatu’: the notorious consultancy advising Edinburgh uni amid 'huge' cuts
Scotland’s largest university has turned to Nous Group at the same time as it is making savings that could lead to nearly 2,000 job losses. Staff say they were misled about the extent of its work.
www.theferret.scot
November 30, 2025 at 9:44 AM
No matter how tough you say times are, there’s always enough money in the banana stand to pay an external consultant to scope ‘academic efficiency opportunities’ www.theferret.scot/consultancy-...
Reposted by Christopher Silver
Like we’re all clear this is as dangerous as it is farcical right
The lengths the British government will go to please the Israeli government.
www.rte.ie/news/2025/11...
www.rte.ie/news/2025/11...
Sally Rooney books may be pulled from UK, court told
Normal People author Sally Rooney's books may have to be withdrawn from sale and none of her new works published in the UK due to "uncertainty" caused by the ban on Palestine Action, the British High ...
www.rte.ie
November 27, 2025 at 10:41 PM
Like we’re all clear this is as dangerous as it is farcical right
They sure missed a trick not having any twinks in the Kenneth Clark version
www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
Civilisations: Rise and Fall review – TV that will make you despair for our own plummeting society
The mightily stressful and incredibly close-to-the-bone BBC show traces the demise of four ancient worlds – and it’s wildly prescient stuff. Will we never learn?
www.theguardian.com
November 25, 2025 at 10:30 PM
They sure missed a trick not having any twinks in the Kenneth Clark version
www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
Reposted by Christopher Silver
If At First You Don't Secede, a Radio 4 documentary by @danigaravelli.bsky.social, offers a useful catch-up on where the Scottish independence movement is at, how it got there, and considers where – if anywhere – it might go in future.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
BBC Radio 4 - Currently, If at First You Don’t Secede
If at first you don’t secede, should you really try, try, try again?
www.bbc.co.uk
November 25, 2025 at 10:09 AM
If At First You Don't Secede, a Radio 4 documentary by @danigaravelli.bsky.social, offers a useful catch-up on where the Scottish independence movement is at, how it got there, and considers where – if anywhere – it might go in future.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
Reposted by Christopher Silver
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
November 25, 2025 at 9:26 AM
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
Reposted by Christopher Silver
When people in power are telling you there's a simple answer to all your problems and it involves attacking a specific group of people, that's fascism.
November 21, 2025 at 5:18 PM
When people in power are telling you there's a simple answer to all your problems and it involves attacking a specific group of people, that's fascism.
*Fash grifter points at immaculate new conservatory that obscures original building*
“Well done lads, we’ve really shifted the Overton window here”
“Well done lads, we’ve really shifted the Overton window here”
November 20, 2025 at 8:48 PM
*Fash grifter points at immaculate new conservatory that obscures original building*
“Well done lads, we’ve really shifted the Overton window here”
“Well done lads, we’ve really shifted the Overton window here”
Reposted by Christopher Silver
We’re watching a shift where AI simulates the cohesion and reinforcement that used to require an entire online community. A single person can now build a complete parallel reality with nothing more than a prompt window. Which seems bad.
November 19, 2025 at 2:25 PM
We’re watching a shift where AI simulates the cohesion and reinforcement that used to require an entire online community. A single person can now build a complete parallel reality with nothing more than a prompt window. Which seems bad.
Reposted by Christopher Silver
Please read, listen, and share widely. www.theguardian.com/music/2025/n...
‘I never wanted to sing into a vacuum’: Scottish folk pioneer Dick Gaughan’s fight for his lost music
A skilled interpreter and social justice champion, Gaughan is a hero to the likes of Richard Hawley and Billy Bragg. Yet much of his work has been stuck in limbo for decades – until a determined fan s...
www.theguardian.com
November 19, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Please read, listen, and share widely. www.theguardian.com/music/2025/n...
Reposted by Christopher Silver
The BBC Scotland commentary for Kenny McLean’s halfway line goal is glorious. Stuff of dreams. 🔥
Congratulations #Scotland, see you at the World Cup.
Congratulations #Scotland, see you at the World Cup.
November 18, 2025 at 10:00 PM
The BBC Scotland commentary for Kenny McLean’s halfway line goal is glorious. Stuff of dreams. 🔥
Congratulations #Scotland, see you at the World Cup.
Congratulations #Scotland, see you at the World Cup.
Reposted by Christopher Silver
Everything in the end comes back to 'there is no vision for what they want to achieve', because when you have a vision, you can form tactical alliances with Chris Mullin or Dennis Skinner or Clare Short or Peter Kilfoyle or Kate Hoey. But when you don't, you can't.
November 16, 2025 at 11:54 PM
Everything in the end comes back to 'there is no vision for what they want to achieve', because when you have a vision, you can form tactical alliances with Chris Mullin or Dennis Skinner or Clare Short or Peter Kilfoyle or Kate Hoey. But when you don't, you can't.
Reposted by Christopher Silver
Thinking about my own father, who arrived in 1946 with the Free Polish Army - when would Labour have sent him back to communist Poland? How could he have done anything to build a life and have children in the UK if he had had to beg to stay every two years? Disgusting. www.bbc.com/news/article...
UK set to limit refugees to temporary stays
Shabana Mahmood is expected to say the era of permanent protection for refugees is over, in major changes to the UK's asylum and immigration system.
www.bbc.com
November 15, 2025 at 9:28 AM
Thinking about my own father, who arrived in 1946 with the Free Polish Army - when would Labour have sent him back to communist Poland? How could he have done anything to build a life and have children in the UK if he had had to beg to stay every two years? Disgusting. www.bbc.com/news/article...
Reposted by Christopher Silver
Yesterday in Parliament I said that the government should leave X.
🔉What dangers does X pose to our democracy? And should the government stop using it?
Good to hear yesterday from @sundersays.bsky.social and @petergeoghegan.bsky.social on the immense risk of X as it ignores legal obligations and its owner tries to influence UK politics.
@commonswec.parliament.uk
Good to hear yesterday from @sundersays.bsky.social and @petergeoghegan.bsky.social on the immense risk of X as it ignores legal obligations and its owner tries to influence UK politics.
@commonswec.parliament.uk
November 13, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Yesterday in Parliament I said that the government should leave X.
Reposted by Christopher Silver
The value of reading history is you know that in 1860 there were abolitionists who were so demoralized that they thought chattel slavery would be permanent. 5 years later those still alive had lived to see its end.
November 12, 2025 at 8:05 PM
The value of reading history is you know that in 1860 there were abolitionists who were so demoralized that they thought chattel slavery would be permanent. 5 years later those still alive had lived to see its end.