Really good to be at #WordsChangeThings (organised by @danthompson33.bsky.social) today. Got to talk about @thebaytrust.bsky.social #PinesCalyx, praise the #restoringnature aspect of @nationaltrust.org.uk 2035 strategy & show off @sulkrooms.bsky.social ‘Rewilding’ CD, among other things :-)

Thank you so much Margate! What a lovely group of people, thank you for having me along, for @caracourage.bsky.social for the brilliant interviewing and @danthompson33.bsky.social for inviting us to the Words Change Things festival

Books, ideas, and actions - Words Change Things is a mini-festival in Margate this weekend. Robin Ince, Ellen Jones, Dougald Hine, John Grindrod, Travis Elborough, Emily Buchanan, Christopher Beanland ... mrdanthompson.wordpress.com/2026/03/19/w...

This Clair Roberts, who came last in the London Marathon. Raising funds for Samaritans, hasn't made her target, and I think coming last is worth supporting. 2026tcslondonmarathon.enthuse.com/pf/clair-rob...

2026 TCS London Marathon Registrations - Charity Place

I can't quite believe I'm here writing this. I AM RUNNING THE LONDON MARATHON 2026! You are all probably thinking, why am I taking on the challenge of running the London Marathon 2026? The short answe

2026tcslondonmarathon.enthuse.com

Books, ideas, and actions - Words Change Things is a mini-festival in Margate this weekend. Robin Ince, Ellen Jones, Dougald Hine, John Grindrod, Travis Elborough, Emily Buchanan, Christopher Beanland ... mrdanthompson.wordpress.com/2026/03/19/w...

Glen Baxter, 1944-2026.

I’ve made a little one-off literary festival, just to prove something to myself. Robin Ince, John Grindrod, Travis Elborough, Ellen Jones, and a bunch more stuff being added still - but here’s the first bunch of listings. Margate, first weekend in May. mrdanthompson.wordpress.com/2026/03/19/w...

Words Change Things – books, ideas, action – Listings

Words Change Things – listings 18_03_26 (1)Download Words Change Things is a one-off mini-festival of books, ideas, and actions, with Robin Ince, Sarah P Corbett, Travis Elborough, John Grind…

mrdanthompson.wordpress.com

An incomplete map of public art in Margate, including temporary and lost works www.google.com/maps/d/edit?...

Margate Public Art - Google My Maps

A map of public art in Margate, including lost (purple) and temporary (turquoise) works

google.com

Words Change Things. For one weekend only, a festival about books, ideas, and action. 30 April - 3 May, Margate.

March is here, and so are the early signs of Spring. At The Pines Garden, we watch the seasons closely - paying attention to what's going on around us so that we can plant and grow with the natural rhythms of the garden. 📍 The Pines Garden and Cafe: Open Wednesday - Sunday, 10m - 3pm

“If we’re going to change the world, the first thing we have to be able to do is imagine a better world. Hope lets that imagining happen." danthompsonstudio.substack.com/p/the-ragged...

The Ragged Optimist 96

“If we’re going to change the world, the first thing we have to be able to do is imagine a better world.

danthompsonstudio.substack.com

An incomplete map of public art in Margate, including temporary and lost works www.google.com/maps/d/edit?...

Margate Public Art - Google My Maps

A map of public art in Margate, including lost (purple) and temporary (turquoise) works

google.com

The 94th edition of The Ragged Optimist's weekly newsletter - hope, joy, and optimism to start the week, every week. danthompsonstudio.substack.com/p/the-ragged...

Would you like a space to write, with sea views? Dan Thompson Studio are offering a desk at Marine Studios to a writer. You'll have your own desk, 24 hour access, seven days a week. Views over Main Sands, the studio is a five minute walk from the station, Turner Contemporary, and the Old Town.

Tomorrow is your last chance to catch Lost Margate at Pie Factory Gallery in Broad Street. Mixing contemporary art and historic artefacts to look at how Margate always reinvents itself has inspired lots of conversations over the weekend.

'If I could only quit my job I'd join the hippy elite' www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhG8...

Hippy Elite

YouTube video by Billy Nomates - Topic

youtube.com

In The Guardian, talking about Margate and Londoners - 300 years of gentrification. www.theguardian.com/cities/2026/...

Making hope normal again. Ten things, every Monday morning, to inspire hope and give you enough optimism to last til ... well, at least Wednesday. The Ragged Optimist's newsletter, 92nd edition. danthompsonstudio.substack.com/p/the-ragged...

The Ragged Optimist 92

Welcome, dear reader, to The Ragged Optimist’s 92nd newsletter, although I prefer to see them as pirate radio broadcasts from a hopeful near-future, only in text form.

danthompsonstudio.substack.com

On this day in 2009, I was on the beach at dawn making offerings to the sea mrdanthompson.wordpress.com/2009/01/19/t...

The Fisherman’s Prayer, The Ice Prince and Me

At 7am this morning, with the streets still dark and empty, I loaded the bike pannier with six chunks of ice. Inside each was a splinter of pine from the cargo of the Ice Prince, which sank a year …

mrdanthompson.wordpress.com

We are officially open! As of today, our new cafe and visitor centre is the place to start your visit to the Pines Garden (and end it, too!). It connects the work of the Bay Trust, the story of the Pines Garden, and the heritage of St Margaret’s. 🌱

'There are still things worth fighting for. La Resistance!' www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ttq4...

Stereolab - French Disko (Live on The Word)

YouTube video by Stereolab

youtube.com

I'm working on an exhibition in Margate, inspired by a collection of poetry. It takes the idea that different waves of people who’ve arrived in the town mourn a different version of the town, as it is constantly rewritten by newer arrivals. mrdanthompson.wordpress.com/2026/01/10/t...

The town that forgot itself

An exhibition inspired by a collection of poetry, which features international artists alongside some unlikely historic artefacts, will explore the impact of waves of incomers on the North Kent tow…

mrdanthompson.wordpress.com

View from my work digs this week. The White Cliffs. Although now it's dark, it's just a big fat moon, the rippling English Channel, the sound of waves on the beach. www.cottages.com/cottages/st-...

It's not all shit. Incredible things are happening in the world - rewilding and nature restoration, new ways of doing things, people making the world better, lots of beavers. Get ten hopeful things in your inbox, every Monday morning, for free. You'll be happier. open.substack.com/pub/danthomp...

The Ragged Optimist 88

It's getting better all the time

open.substack.com

We have enjoyed mooching about Rochester today, bumped into @danthompson33.bsky.social and had lunch in Tiny Tim's.

Feel like you need hope and optimism and maybe even a little bit of joy? Every week, I collect together ten hopeful and happy news stories and drop them in your inbox. It's free, too. Subscribe for some ragged optimism. danthompsonstudio.substack.com/p/the-ragged...

The Ragged Optimist 87

Have you got your 2026 diary yet?

danthompsonstudio.substack.com

Margate Zine Fair at Marine Studios was F U N ! A bunch of great people, all doing interesting work.

I'm really pleased that this year I introduced a zine making workshop (run by the amazing @danthompson33.bsky.social) into a Media module. Making stuff with your hands, writing by hand is more important now than ever if we want to fight against the ongoing enshitification of everything.

Leon Jackson@drleonj.bsky.social · 8mo ago

What else won't matter? Evidence from an author's handwriting, watermarks, paper, parchment, mold, folds, stains, seals, signatures, or other signs of usage. Guido Fawkes' signature after having been tortured will look the same as after he recovered; Emily's Dickinson's dashes will be em-dashes

I do turn up in some unlikely places.

Voltage Poetry Project@voltagepoetry.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Album purchases come with a copy of the ‘Western Verses’ liner notes by @danthompson33.bsky.social - once listed (by #GQ) as one of the 100 most influential men in Britain, has done a few things with @grindrod.bsky.social & is in this episode of ‘Mark Steel’s In Town’ www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Really nice exchange with @jonwoolcott.bsky.social last eve. I only knew of his upcoming #HillFigures book thanks to a @grindrod.bsky.social repost… his Monstrosities Mon Amour series features @danthompson33.bsky.social who was working with me at @thebaytrust.bsky.social today. Happy linkages :-)

Jon Woolcott@jonwoolcott.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Just sayin'.