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David Belbin

@davidbelbin.bsky.social

Nottingham novelist. Music nerd, movie lover, theatre & gig goer, Dylan nut. My serial novel, 'Greeneland', an account of Graham Greene's four months in Nottingham from 1925-6, is free to read at davidbelbin.substack.com. Website: www.davidbelbin.com

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David Belbin@davidbelbin.bsky.social · yesterday

This hot afternoon my pal Ray Robinson and I visited the street where Kevin Coyne grew up in Normanton and the erstwhile Derby School of Art where he studied. There's a plaque, but he deserves so much more recognition. Here we are on our travels.

Belbin on Kitchener Avenue.Robinson on Kitchener Avenue, Normanton.The former Derby School of Art, owned by Derby University but seemingly abandoned.The plaque reads: Kevin Coyne 1944-2004 Musician, lyricist, composer and painter Studied here 1961-1965 Awarded by BBC Radio Derby.
David Belbin@davidbelbin.bsky.social · 2d ago

Two years ago I took redundancy from my temporary (22 years, as it turned out) part-time Creative Writing gig in academia. This new New Yorker cartoon by Guy Richards Smith neatly sums up what has happened to the Arts & Humanities since.

Dark haired man in an armchair (seen from behind) faces three managers (two smart females, one male in a suit) who are set at a table in front of a fireplace in a book-lined, high ceiling room. One of them, probably the woman in the middle, is saying "Not only are we denying you tenure–we're closing your department and setting the entire university on fire just to be safe."
David Belbin@davidbelbin.bsky.social · 2d ago

Two years ago I took redundancy from my temporary (22 years, as it turned out) part-time Creative Writing gig in academia. This new New Yorker cartoon by Guy Richards Smith neatly sums up what has happened to the Arts & Humanities since.

Dark haired man in an armchair (seen from behind) faces three managers (two smart females, one male in a suit) who are set at a table in front of a fireplace in a book-lined, high ceiling room. One of them, probably the woman in the middle, is saying "Not only are we denying you tenure–we're closing your department and setting the entire university on fire just to be safe."
David Belbin@davidbelbin.bsky.social · last wk.

Read two of this year’s longlist (2 more than usual) and agree with her remarks about Luke Kennard and John M Harrison (who was new to me & is great in a very Ballardian way). Several others I’m tempted by. This could just be a good Booker year. www.theguardian.com/books/2026/j...

This Booker longlist may have two previous winners, but it’s keen to experiment

Marlon James, Douglas Stuart and Elizabeth Strout may be names we know, but there’s a welcome element of absurdism and surrealist thought here

theguardian.com

Nicholas Whyte 白怀珂@nwhyte.bsky.social · 3w ago

Glorious bit of trivia from Eddie Johns on Threads: Since Abraham Lincoln's assassination in 1865, every single President has been alive at the same time as Herbert Hoover. It would still have applied even if Kamala Harris had won. She was born the exact same day Hoover died, October 20, 1964.

David Belbin@davidbelbin.bsky.social · 3w ago

Nice to find myself quoted by @hutchie.bsky.social in the new Mojo. Won’t spoil the rest of the Ry Cooder top ten except to say that, for me, Paradise & Lunch should be one place higher. Oh, and, where’s the wonderful Bop ‘til You Drop?

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David Hutcheon@hutchie.bsky.social · 3mo ago

The next How To Buy in @mojomagazine.bsky.social looks at Ry Cooder’s career. There’s a lot of ground to cover - solo, soundtracks, collaborations- so what albums should we feature and why? Make your voice count …

David Belbin@davidbelbin.bsky.social · 3w ago

RIP Pat Oliphant, one of the last great US political editorial cartoonists. At least he got to work at a time when papers would run scathing satire without hesitation, a freedom denied to most of today's satirists, for whom it's self-censor or starve... www.nytimes.com/2026/07/13/a...

Pat Oliphant, Cartoonist Who Skewered the Powerful, Dies at 90

The winner of countless awards, including a Pulitzer Prize, he was described in 1990 as “the most influential political cartoonist now working.”

nytimes.com

David Belbin@davidbelbin.bsky.social · 4w ago

Richard is my nomination. Haunting song. This is a beautiful version. youtu.be/s-ZY4j-9NwI?...

Richard Thompson & Danny Thompson - The Ghost Of You Walks (Later With Jools Holland, 8th June 1996)

YouTube video by Danny Thompson

youtu.be

Peoples Pop Polls: The World Cup Of 1996@peoples-pop-polls.bsky.social · 4w ago

#PPP96 GROUP 9 1 GENE! www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcmg... 2 LOW! www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_3q... 3 THE BLUE NILE! www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJ2e... 4 RICHARD THOMPSON! www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifm7... Vote! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

GENE: A yellow tinted photo of a theatre auditorium