Susannah Walker
@susannahwalker.bsky.social
Author + campaigner for gender equality and safety in public space + post-war graphics + other stuff.
Rants about stately homes here:
https://susannahwalker.substack.com
Co-founder of @makespaceforgirls and formerly @QuadRoyal
Rants about stately homes here:
https://susannahwalker.substack.com
Co-founder of @makespaceforgirls and formerly @QuadRoyal
This one is so excellent it is getting a post all of its own...
January 13, 2026 at 6:04 PM
This one is so excellent it is getting a post all of its own...
I could spam you with pictures of Harry Stevens posters if you want
January 13, 2026 at 6:04 PM
I could spam you with pictures of Harry Stevens posters if you want
I am campaigning about this, along with many others and my excellent local MP Anna Sabine (sadly not on here yet) has written a letter to the relevant ministers.
Even if you don't feel able to talk about planning or respond to the NPPF, could your MP write something too?
Even if you don't feel able to talk about planning or respond to the NPPF, could your MP write something too?
January 13, 2026 at 5:22 PM
I am campaigning about this, along with many others and my excellent local MP Anna Sabine (sadly not on here yet) has written a letter to the relevant ministers.
Even if you don't feel able to talk about planning or respond to the NPPF, could your MP write something too?
Even if you don't feel able to talk about planning or respond to the NPPF, could your MP write something too?
Just a couple of weeks earlier, and still in December, the second part of the Angiolini inquiry into the Sarah Everard case was published. This too recommended that national planning and design policy should consider VAWG and it even singled out the NPPF.
January 13, 2026 at 5:22 PM
Just a couple of weeks earlier, and still in December, the second part of the Angiolini inquiry into the Sarah Everard case was published. This too recommended that national planning and design policy should consider VAWG and it even singled out the NPPF.
The NPPF was published in December 2025. Two days earlier, the government's shiny new guidance on Violence against Women and Girls, which said that public realm policy should include women's safety as a priority.
January 13, 2026 at 5:22 PM
The NPPF was published in December 2025. Two days earlier, the government's shiny new guidance on Violence against Women and Girls, which said that public realm policy should include women's safety as a priority.
Things I do, in real time.
Right now I am campaigning about the new National Policy Planning Framework - but hold on a minute, this does affect you.
One of the things it does is set out how our public spaces are designed - and who they are designed for.
Illustration below is a spoiler, from Sweden.
Right now I am campaigning about the new National Policy Planning Framework - but hold on a minute, this does affect you.
One of the things it does is set out how our public spaces are designed - and who they are designed for.
Illustration below is a spoiler, from Sweden.
January 13, 2026 at 5:22 PM
Things I do, in real time.
Right now I am campaigning about the new National Policy Planning Framework - but hold on a minute, this does affect you.
One of the things it does is set out how our public spaces are designed - and who they are designed for.
Illustration below is a spoiler, from Sweden.
Right now I am campaigning about the new National Policy Planning Framework - but hold on a minute, this does affect you.
One of the things it does is set out how our public spaces are designed - and who they are designed for.
Illustration below is a spoiler, from Sweden.
For those of you who run multiple accounts on here (personal/work/whatever rather than sock puppetry) what's the best tool for doing this? I need to set up a work account but can't quite face it....
please have a #cat in thanks for your time reading this
please have a #cat in thanks for your time reading this
January 13, 2026 at 2:02 PM
For those of you who run multiple accounts on here (personal/work/whatever rather than sock puppetry) what's the best tool for doing this? I need to set up a work account but can't quite face it....
please have a #cat in thanks for your time reading this
please have a #cat in thanks for your time reading this
Now much handier for the motorway
January 9, 2026 at 2:22 PM
Now much handier for the motorway
But I've also been thinking about it a bit this week because it involved looking at family history, and I discovered that one of my grandfather's had been brought up in what was basically the Traitors Castle.
This is Eaglesham, in Scotland.
This is Eaglesham, in Scotland.
January 9, 2026 at 2:14 PM
But I've also been thinking about it a bit this week because it involved looking at family history, and I discovered that one of my grandfather's had been brought up in what was basically the Traitors Castle.
This is Eaglesham, in Scotland.
This is Eaglesham, in Scotland.
In the daily 'what does Susannah do' post, I want to share this really excellent report by @abigailgaines.bsky.social on all the work she has done creating a more equitable space for teenage girls in @rowntreepark.bsky.social in York.
She's a total inspiration and I just help her a bit sometimes.
She's a total inspiration and I just help her a bit sometimes.
January 9, 2026 at 9:52 AM
In the daily 'what does Susannah do' post, I want to share this really excellent report by @abigailgaines.bsky.social on all the work she has done creating a more equitable space for teenage girls in @rowntreepark.bsky.social in York.
She's a total inspiration and I just help her a bit sometimes.
She's a total inspiration and I just help her a bit sometimes.
A bit late today, but another thing I am doing is writing a new book, taking a look at our stately homes and what they really mean (spoiler alert: they don't like us very much).
It's called Burning Down The House, and, subject to all going well with the contract, will be published in Spring 2026.
It's called Burning Down The House, and, subject to all going well with the contract, will be published in Spring 2026.
January 7, 2026 at 5:19 PM
A bit late today, but another thing I am doing is writing a new book, taking a look at our stately homes and what they really mean (spoiler alert: they don't like us very much).
It's called Burning Down The House, and, subject to all going well with the contract, will be published in Spring 2026.
It's called Burning Down The House, and, subject to all going well with the contract, will be published in Spring 2026.
Were I not rather busy writing a book (another one) I could do a whole long thread on this, but here is just one more for fun - here is a brilliant inclusive park in Copenhagen with swing seats which are beloved of women and girls, making them feel welcome in public space.
January 6, 2026 at 12:27 PM
Were I not rather busy writing a book (another one) I could do a whole long thread on this, but here is just one more for fun - here is a brilliant inclusive park in Copenhagen with swing seats which are beloved of women and girls, making them feel welcome in public space.
As promised, one aspect of what I do every day this week.
I also work on 'gender mainstreaming' which is basically creating better places which are more gender equal. The great thing about this is that great examples of good practice already exist in Europe so I get to be positive.
I also work on 'gender mainstreaming' which is basically creating better places which are more gender equal. The great thing about this is that great examples of good practice already exist in Europe so I get to be positive.
January 6, 2026 at 12:27 PM
As promised, one aspect of what I do every day this week.
I also work on 'gender mainstreaming' which is basically creating better places which are more gender equal. The great thing about this is that great examples of good practice already exist in Europe so I get to be positive.
I also work on 'gender mainstreaming' which is basically creating better places which are more gender equal. The great thing about this is that great examples of good practice already exist in Europe so I get to be positive.
Some bits are good, but it is a total failure in terms of gender equity. It came out in the same week as the VAWG strategy, which contains the very clear statement below, but absolutely nothing about this in the NPPF, and have changed advice on green spaces which will reduce equity.
January 6, 2026 at 12:19 PM
Some bits are good, but it is a total failure in terms of gender equity. It came out in the same week as the VAWG strategy, which contains the very clear statement below, but absolutely nothing about this in the NPPF, and have changed advice on green spaces which will reduce equity.
Happy New Year. In the spirit of this, I intend to spend this week posting about all the wildly various things I am doing in 2026.
First, my book The Hard Way will be coming out in paperback in the spring, although perhaps not with exactly the same cover.
First, my book The Hard Way will be coming out in paperback in the spring, although perhaps not with exactly the same cover.
January 5, 2026 at 3:23 PM
Happy New Year. In the spirit of this, I intend to spend this week posting about all the wildly various things I am doing in 2026.
First, my book The Hard Way will be coming out in paperback in the spring, although perhaps not with exactly the same cover.
First, my book The Hard Way will be coming out in paperback in the spring, although perhaps not with exactly the same cover.
Here you go…the cats of light
January 3, 2026 at 4:59 PM
Here you go…the cats of light
And also some amazing work being done in Umeå in North Sweden - this project was co-designed with teenage girls and is just one of the many beautiful thing that their gender mainstreaming has produced.
January 2, 2026 at 4:06 PM
And also some amazing work being done in Umeå in North Sweden - this project was co-designed with teenage girls and is just one of the many beautiful thing that their gender mainstreaming has produced.
I totally agree, but with older children we still tend to prioritise the needs of boys over girls.
Amsterdam is considering all of its new planning decisions through the lens of young women, on the basis that they are an indicator species like otters... 1/2
Amsterdam is considering all of its new planning decisions through the lens of young women, on the basis that they are an indicator species like otters... 1/2
January 2, 2026 at 3:59 PM
I totally agree, but with older children we still tend to prioritise the needs of boys over girls.
Amsterdam is considering all of its new planning decisions through the lens of young women, on the basis that they are an indicator species like otters... 1/2
Amsterdam is considering all of its new planning decisions through the lens of young women, on the basis that they are an indicator species like otters... 1/2
Christmas is all about Ottoline. Says Ottoline
December 27, 2025 at 10:48 PM
Christmas is all about Ottoline. Says Ottoline
I was caught up in the great #Unbound debacle, but am pleased to say that thanks to Wilton Square books, if you buy The Hard Way now, I will actually get paid for writing it, and it makes a lovely Christmas present for anyone who likes walking.
December 10, 2025 at 5:47 PM
I was caught up in the great #Unbound debacle, but am pleased to say that thanks to Wilton Square books, if you buy The Hard Way now, I will actually get paid for writing it, and it makes a lovely Christmas present for anyone who likes walking.
Hodge (Hodgepodge, Splodge, Hodgissimo, Splodgeness Abounds) does not need an alibi.
December 5, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Hodge (Hodgepodge, Splodge, Hodgissimo, Splodgeness Abounds) does not need an alibi.
Ottoline (Ot Pot, Pottoline, Potpot, Gnang) is so bad that she has an alter ego, The Hon Mavis Portal, for when she has to check into a hotel to hide from her misdeeds.
December 5, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Ottoline (Ot Pot, Pottoline, Potpot, Gnang) is so bad that she has an alter ego, The Hon Mavis Portal, for when she has to check into a hotel to hide from her misdeeds.
Friday afternoon obscure question:
can anyone tell me what the highest viewer rating figures were for Brideshead Revisited in 1981?
doesn't seem to be out there anywhere
can anyone tell me what the highest viewer rating figures were for Brideshead Revisited in 1981?
doesn't seem to be out there anywhere
December 5, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Friday afternoon obscure question:
can anyone tell me what the highest viewer rating figures were for Brideshead Revisited in 1981?
doesn't seem to be out there anywhere
can anyone tell me what the highest viewer rating figures were for Brideshead Revisited in 1981?
doesn't seem to be out there anywhere
It gets better.
November 21, 2025 at 12:49 PM
It gets better.