Aidan Baker
@aidanbaker.bsky.social
Team member, @eastangliabylines.co.uk ; other writing at https://blurtmetry.blogspot.com/
Pinned
Why walking our street is now dangerous
A street in Cambridge has problems. Community groups are presenting a petition to their local authority. They live in interesting times.
bit.ly
Clare and I don't live in Mill Road, but we're in it as walkers or cyclists most days of the week. No surprise that I should report on it for @eastangliabylines.co.uk bit.ly/4qGugk1
Reposted by Aidan Baker
BYLINES NETWORK SPECIAL
For 30 years, survivors of abuse by Mohamed Al Fayed have been silenced, threatened and blocked from justice. Their voices must be heard.
Isabella reveals the barriers they face and the vital changes that need to happen.
Read it at sussexbylines.co.uk & bit.ly/LegalAbyss
For 30 years, survivors of abuse by Mohamed Al Fayed have been silenced, threatened and blocked from justice. Their voices must be heard.
Isabella reveals the barriers they face and the vital changes that need to happen.
Read it at sussexbylines.co.uk & bit.ly/LegalAbyss
November 9, 2025 at 7:00 PM
BYLINES NETWORK SPECIAL
For 30 years, survivors of abuse by Mohamed Al Fayed have been silenced, threatened and blocked from justice. Their voices must be heard.
Isabella reveals the barriers they face and the vital changes that need to happen.
Read it at sussexbylines.co.uk & bit.ly/LegalAbyss
For 30 years, survivors of abuse by Mohamed Al Fayed have been silenced, threatened and blocked from justice. Their voices must be heard.
Isabella reveals the barriers they face and the vital changes that need to happen.
Read it at sussexbylines.co.uk & bit.ly/LegalAbyss
I've blogged some recently published poems of mine. 'Red (Westminster Bridge)' is at bit.ly/43eBEsX , and 'That terrible vestry meeting' at bit.ly/4oU9ED6 .
Red (Westminster Bridge)
Red (Westminster Bridge) “Earth has not anything to show more fair.” Our bridge, from decades after Wordsworth wrote, still sees triumphan...
bit.ly
November 5, 2025 at 10:57 PM
I've blogged some recently published poems of mine. 'Red (Westminster Bridge)' is at bit.ly/43eBEsX , and 'That terrible vestry meeting' at bit.ly/4oU9ED6 .
Clare and I don't live in Mill Road, but we're in it as walkers or cyclists most days of the week. No surprise that I should report on it for @eastangliabylines.co.uk bit.ly/4qGugk1
Why walking our street is now dangerous
A street in Cambridge has problems. Community groups are presenting a petition to their local authority. They live in interesting times.
bit.ly
November 3, 2025 at 10:33 PM
Clare and I don't live in Mill Road, but we're in it as walkers or cyclists most days of the week. No surprise that I should report on it for @eastangliabylines.co.uk bit.ly/4qGugk1
Me with a new poem sequence, about Robert Jackson of Oldham.
That terrible vestry meeting
YouTube video by Aidan Baker
youtu.be
October 28, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Me with a new poem sequence, about Robert Jackson of Oldham.
Poems by me in _The punch_ -- Indian online publication, unconnected to _Punch_, the London humorous magazine that some of you may remember.
As We Were and other poems by Aidan Baker
A mosaic of English memory and moral reckoning — from war and worship to class, cruelty, and fading glory — these poems trace how history, hierarchy, and human frailty echo through landscape, time, an...
thepunchmagazine.com
October 23, 2025 at 10:47 AM
Poems by me in _The punch_ -- Indian online publication, unconnected to _Punch_, the London humorous magazine that some of you may remember.
My poem 'Exhibit at "Inside"' is now published in _Fringe999 poetry forum_
The Fringe 999 Poetry Forum
Volume 3, Issue 1, October 2025Come on Down by Duane Anderson She called on her phone telling the person on the other end to come on down to see us, except that the blood drive was taking place on the...
thefringe999.substack.com
October 11, 2025 at 9:32 PM
My poem 'Exhibit at "Inside"' is now published in _Fringe999 poetry forum_
My latest for _East Anglia bylines_ is an interview with a retired classics teacher seeking to add a pedunculate oak to the Woodland Trust's Ancient Trees Inventory.
The lesson of the lost oak: why one Suffolk man’s mission matters
Suffolk tree-lover David Hopkins talks about the work of adding to the Woodland Trust's 'Ancient Tree Inventory'
eastangliabylines.co.uk
October 8, 2025 at 4:50 PM
My latest for _East Anglia bylines_ is an interview with a retired classics teacher seeking to add a pedunculate oak to the Woodland Trust's Ancient Trees Inventory.
26 Bridges, Day 19
Westminster Bridge. Poem by me! Artwork by Clare Trowell. 5 Transport for London bus routes cross Westminster Bridge, and I spent a Saturday and a Sunday morning in January riding all of them end to end.
Westminster Bridge. Poem by me! Artwork by Clare Trowell. 5 Transport for London bus routes cross Westminster Bridge, and I spent a Saturday and a Sunday morning in January riding all of them end to end.
26 Bridges - Westminster - Day 19 - Bloomsbury Festival
Bridge: Westminster Bridge Writer: Aidan Baker Artist: Clare Trowell. Title of poem: Red Title of artwork: Westminster Bridge The work: Framed linoprint, showing red bus crossing Westminster Bridge am...
bloomsburyfestival.org.uk
October 8, 2025 at 3:35 PM
26 Bridges, Day 19
Westminster Bridge. Poem by me! Artwork by Clare Trowell. 5 Transport for London bus routes cross Westminster Bridge, and I spent a Saturday and a Sunday morning in January riding all of them end to end.
Westminster Bridge. Poem by me! Artwork by Clare Trowell. 5 Transport for London bus routes cross Westminster Bridge, and I spent a Saturday and a Sunday morning in January riding all of them end to end.
Me reading five colour poems to Mill Road Poetry in Hot Numbers, Cambridge
Colour poems
YouTube video by Aidan Baker
youtu.be
September 26, 2025 at 12:13 PM
Me reading five colour poems to Mill Road Poetry in Hot Numbers, Cambridge
The 26 Bridges project (my own assignment was Westminster Bridge) is live. go.rallyup.com/26bridges/Ca... .
The Westminster Bridge artwork is a fine print by Clare Trowell. My poem will appear, alongside Clare's print, on Wednesday 8 October. Meanwhile -- bid for the print!
The Westminster Bridge artwork is a fine print by Clare Trowell. My poem will appear, alongside Clare's print, on Wednesday 8 October. Meanwhile -- bid for the print!
🖋️ 26 Bridges: Raising money for a UCLH specialist clinical nurse
Join me in supporting UCLH Charity: https://go.rallyup.com/26bridges
go.rallyup.com
September 17, 2025 at 11:11 PM
The 26 Bridges project (my own assignment was Westminster Bridge) is live. go.rallyup.com/26bridges/Ca... .
The Westminster Bridge artwork is a fine print by Clare Trowell. My poem will appear, alongside Clare's print, on Wednesday 8 October. Meanwhile -- bid for the print!
The Westminster Bridge artwork is a fine print by Clare Trowell. My poem will appear, alongside Clare's print, on Wednesday 8 October. Meanwhile -- bid for the print!
Happy 90th birthday to Estonian composer Arvo Pärt!
Here's a poem I wrote some years ago, inspired by his #CantusInMemoryOfBenjaminBritten -- a piece which i have loved since I first heard it, probably some time in 1981.
Here's a poem I wrote some years ago, inspired by his #CantusInMemoryOfBenjaminBritten -- a piece which i have loved since I first heard it, probably some time in 1981.
Music by Arvo Pärt
The Estonian composer Arvo Pärt celebrates his 75th birthday on 11 September 2010. Allow me to blog a poem that I wrote in 1987, attempting...
bit.ly
September 11, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Happy 90th birthday to Estonian composer Arvo Pärt!
Here's a poem I wrote some years ago, inspired by his #CantusInMemoryOfBenjaminBritten -- a piece which i have loved since I first heard it, probably some time in 1981.
Here's a poem I wrote some years ago, inspired by his #CantusInMemoryOfBenjaminBritten -- a piece which i have loved since I first heard it, probably some time in 1981.
And that list doesn't include the Little Ouse Headwaters Project eastangliabylines.co.uk/environment/... , whom I wrote about in November 2022. But I think my #CharityDay posts are done now.
Looking after the land
A trustee of a charity making waves in Thelnetham explains how they are helping restore the Little Ouse's natural conservation function.
eastangliabylines.co.uk
September 5, 2025 at 10:03 AM
And that list doesn't include the Little Ouse Headwaters Project eastangliabylines.co.uk/environment/... , whom I wrote about in November 2022. But I think my #CharityDay posts are done now.
And when the war broke out in Ukraine I wrote about the response of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, the professional body for librarians #CharityDay eastangliabylines.co.uk/news/world/l...
Libraries and the war in Ukraine
Retired librarian Aidan Baker looks at the response of British librarians to Russia's war on Ukraine.
eastangliabylines.co.uk
September 5, 2025 at 10:00 AM
And when the war broke out in Ukraine I wrote about the response of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, the professional body for librarians #CharityDay eastangliabylines.co.uk/news/world/l...
And AgeUK eastangliabylines.co.uk/news/welfare... -- an old article but today's #CharityDay
AgeUK and ‘People at the heart of care’
Melanie Wicklen tells Aidan Baker what she and her AgeUK colleagues think of what's in the social care White Paper.
eastangliabylines.co.uk
September 5, 2025 at 9:48 AM
And AgeUK eastangliabylines.co.uk/news/welfare... -- an old article but today's #CharityDay
This is about Granta Chorale eastangliabylines.co.uk/lifestyle/cu... #CharityDay
Singing and winning: Saffron Walden fosters young talent
Meet Claire Middleton, first prizewinner in the 2023 Granta Chorale carol competition, a multi-talented musician with a promising future
eastangliabylines.co.uk
September 5, 2025 at 9:44 AM
This is about Granta Chorale eastangliabylines.co.uk/lifestyle/cu... #CharityDay
This is an article about City of Sanctuary a few years ago, worth remembering on #CharityDay eastangliabylines.co.uk/news/welfare...
How Diss is becoming a ‘Town of Sanctuary’
A movement countering the media portrayal of migrants is putting roots down across the country
eastangliabylines.co.uk
September 5, 2025 at 9:42 AM
This is an article about City of Sanctuary a few years ago, worth remembering on #CharityDay eastangliabylines.co.uk/news/welfare...
And I wrote for @eastangliabylines.co.uk about the choir I sing in, Cambridge Philharmonic Society eastangliabylines.co.uk/lifestyle/co... #CharityDay
Cambridge celebrates the talent of refugee musicians
Iranian refugee Rouzbeh Parsa will premiere his Kamancheh Concerto in Cambridge on 24 May, in a concert of works by refugees
eastangliabylines.co.uk
September 5, 2025 at 9:37 AM
And I wrote for @eastangliabylines.co.uk about the choir I sing in, Cambridge Philharmonic Society eastangliabylines.co.uk/lifestyle/co... #CharityDay
Most recent for #CharityDay is East Anglian Air Ambulance eastangliabylines.co.uk/news/health/...
Inside the remarkable, lifesaving world of East Anglia’s Air Ambulance
East Anglia’s air ambulance flies eight times a day – but it’s your donations keeping them airborne
eastangliabylines.co.uk
September 5, 2025 at 9:35 AM
Most recent for #CharityDay is East Anglian Air Ambulance eastangliabylines.co.uk/news/health/...
Today is #CharityDay. I've written about quite a few charities for @eastangliabylines.co.uk . See coming skeets.
September 5, 2025 at 9:33 AM
Today is #CharityDay. I've written about quite a few charities for @eastangliabylines.co.uk . See coming skeets.
For _East Anglia bylines_, I interviewed people who'd taken part in a counter-demonstration outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Diss, Norfolk. bit.ly/4ftzDOc
Caught in an unpleasant middle
Activists in Diss tell of their counter-demonstration in solidarity with migrants in the Park Hotel, and their plans for the future
bit.ly
August 12, 2025 at 10:34 AM
For _East Anglia bylines_, I interviewed people who'd taken part in a counter-demonstration outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Diss, Norfolk. bit.ly/4ftzDOc
Wrote this for Ledbury carnival programme bit.ly/4os2G99
Sonnet for Ledbury
Last year Robin Hiseman asked me for something from my back catalogue for the Ledbury Carnival https://ledbury-carnival.co.uk / programme...
bit.ly
August 8, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Wrote this for Ledbury carnival programme bit.ly/4os2G99
I wrote this last autumn, for @eastangliabylines.co.uk . I don't know how things have changed in this evening's demo in Diss.
eastangliabylines.co.uk/news/welfare...
eastangliabylines.co.uk/news/welfare...
How Diss is becoming a ‘Town of Sanctuary’
A movement countering the media portrayal of migrants is putting roots down across the country
eastangliabylines.co.uk
July 21, 2025 at 10:02 PM
I wrote this last autumn, for @eastangliabylines.co.uk . I don't know how things have changed in this evening's demo in Diss.
eastangliabylines.co.uk/news/welfare...
eastangliabylines.co.uk/news/welfare...
As promised this afternoon, an update to @eastangliabylines.co.uk bit.ly/4kQmUGC about potholes in Cambridge. The repair in Mill Road that had become a hump has now been smoothed down. The Race-for-Life-coloured potholes on Riverside now have the council's 'mend in 21 days' yellow round them.
July 18, 2025 at 9:34 PM
As promised this afternoon, an update to @eastangliabylines.co.uk bit.ly/4kQmUGC about potholes in Cambridge. The repair in Mill Road that had become a hump has now been smoothed down. The Race-for-Life-coloured potholes on Riverside now have the council's 'mend in 21 days' yellow round them.
I wrote about potholes for _East Anglia bylines_, and learned on the way some surprising things like the existence of dragon patchers and C roads. bit.ly/4kQmUGC
Potholes, dragons and pothole slayers – Cambridgeshire’s massive challenge
Potholes in roads: Cambridgeshire repairs up to 66,000 of them in a year, but they are still a nuisance to drivers and cyclists
bit.ly
July 18, 2025 at 10:38 AM
I wrote about potholes for _East Anglia bylines_, and learned on the way some surprising things like the existence of dragon patchers and C roads. bit.ly/4kQmUGC
I interviewed East Anglia Air Ambulance people for _East Anglia bylines_ about their work. bit.ly/4kON2lu
Inside the remarkable, lifesaving world of East Anglia’s Air Ambulance
East Anglia’s air ambulance flies eight times a day – but it’s your donations keeping them airborne
bit.ly
June 7, 2025 at 5:25 PM
I interviewed East Anglia Air Ambulance people for _East Anglia bylines_ about their work. bit.ly/4kON2lu