This day once again brought to you by Writing is Hard (tm)

Litany of failure here from Port of Tyne and companies involved in perhaps worst ever plastic pollution event in UK/Europe: No immediate containment of spillage No mention of spillage in press releases until day 4 *Still* no large-scale clear-up operation Nurdles found 20 miles N and S of Tyne

Port of Tyne criticised over River Tyne plastic nurdle spill response

Port of Tyne says it acted to tackle the spillage of nurdles once it was aware.

bbc.co.uk

Alison Stenning@alisonstenning.bsky.social · last wk.

“This incident is believed to be the largest recorded nurdle spill in Northern Europe and the UK.” @northwildlife.bsky.social

Haven't shared this yet, largely because it makes me just so so sad. To be clear this is a devastating environmental catastrophe that will continue to impact our coastline for decades.

Alison Stenning@alisonstenning.bsky.social · last wk.

Sharing again for more reach - A spillage of approx one billion (25 tonnes) of nurdles (plastic pellets) following a collision at the Port of Tyne is washing up on beaches from Northumberland to Sunderland, with North & South Tyneside hardest hit. Huge volunteer effort underway. Press release ⬇️

Used them 'only' to research and organise - in other words to do the vast majority of the intellectual work fof writing?

Pete Fraser@petefrasermusic.bsky.social · last wk.

I can’t quote @helenbarrett.bsky.social’s original post, but have borrowed the image from it. Now, I’ve never written a book, nor had to do attributions and citations for one. I’m sure it’s tortuous, but this is something *everyone did* until like last year.

Cities dismantled their tram networks to become “motor cities of the future”. The result? You could travel further within 30 mins via public transport in 1957 than you can in 2026. Cities are seeking billions to rebuild networks. Incredible piece of work this.

The Exchange@theexchangeleeds.bsky.social · 2w ago

If you stood on Briggate at 8am on a weekday in 1957, and stood there again in 2026, in which year could you reach more of the city in half an hour? Samuel Bancroft has crunched the numbers. Since the 1950s, Leeds has got bigger - but the city has effectively shrunk.

Hear me out, what if Nolan tried to keep the linearity by cutting the timeline down to a day and setting it in Dublin

I have written a piece on nurturing lifelong readers inspired by the wonderful Aidan Chambers (pages 4-5) booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/u... @booksforkeeps.bsky.social

Controversial, but the movie I am still holding a grudge about is The Master. Objectively had many fine qualities but approximately three lifetimes longer than it needed to be and such wasted potential.

Defector@defector.com · 3w ago

What's the worst movie you've ever watched in a theater? defector.com/whats-the-wo...

Can’t help but reflect on the *5 years of strikes* we did to defend our pensions, on this, the day USS announce their £10 billion surplus.

Currently in 'why is writing so hard?' mode so needed to see this!

Alastair Millar@skriptorium.info · 3w ago

In the age of AI slop, people would do well to remember words ascribed to Samuel Johnson: "What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure"

🥈 We're proud that The Carnegies, delivered by CILIP, have won Silver for Best Longstanding Awards Event at the Awards Awards! A fantastic recognition of almost 90 years of championing children's books, librarians and reading for pleasure. https://carnegies.co.uk/cilip-silver-2026-awards-awards/

Congratulations to the government on saving 2700 jobs by nationalising British Steel. Now, about the 18,000 university jobs lost in the last 18 months, with more coming…

Fantastic choice! Congratulations @lawrencepatrice.bsky.social !

Books for Keeps, the children's books review journal@booksforkeeps.bsky.social · 4w ago

Congratulations to Patrice Lawrence, just announced as the new Waterstones Children's Laureate. She pledges to ‘champion the power of books to make us feel like we belong and stories as a tool for bringing people together.’ #KidLitUK #BookSky @booktrust.org.uk booksforkeeps.co.uk/patrice-lawr...

We (adults) have created a world in which teens use smartphones to "navigate daily life" and "access to support networks" over exactly the same period that we have diminished the infrastructures that enable all this in 'real life' - accessible public space, youth clubs, reliable transport, etc etc.

School smartphone bans seen as ‘punitive’ by young people, study says

Outright bans may have unintended negative consequences for young people, University College London report warns

theguardian.com

A bit more of Mahmood’s performative cruel stupidity here Most asylum seekers have no control over where they are housed or for how long or how long it will take the H.O. to make a decision and for appeals to be heard AND, meanwhile, THEY‘RE NOT ALLOWED TO WORK www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Asylum seekers to pay £10,000 towards living costs under new UK law

Means-tested scheme included in immigration and asylum bill condemned by charities for placing tax on refugees

theguardian.com

Academic departments deserve to be saved, supported, resourced, allowed to grow even if they're not "best in the country," "first in the REF," "top-ranked," "at a Russell Group uni," or whatever other austerity-brained nonsense senior managers have been using to flimflam you out of solidarity

The UN commission of inquiry has published a report on how Israel targets & kills Palestinian children "There can be no doubt in anyone who reads todays report that every intl legal norm has been violated by the actions of the Israeli authorities towards Palestinian children"

Each uni has a consultancy in that tells them how to run a degree cheaply. They all simply say 'mega lectures' (LOL, infrastructure) & 'generic modules staff is interchangeable on'. It's pitched as rationalising, creating a 'sustainable' portfolio. But its destroying what university actually is.

Jo Wolff@jowolff.bsky.social · last mo.

I don’t know the details but they may well targeting modules with lower registration, where a world expert gets to teach their research to a relatively small number of the keenest students. You know. Those modules that stick in the students’ minds for the rest of their lives.

Congratulations to the winners of #Carnegies2026 @carnegiemedals.bsky.social Beth O'Brien wins the Medal for Writing AND the Shadowers Choice Award. Kate Rolfe wins the Medal for Illustration. Shadowing Medal for Illustration goes to Aimée de Jongh 💐#booksky booksforkeeps.co.uk?p=60318&prev...

I'm only adding to the praise others have been giving this piece, but it's the best response I have so far read to today's events, by quite some margin. Every paragraph, every line is pointed, accurate, and powerful. www.liberalcurrents.com/starmer-out/

Starmer Out

Starmer did not "do nothing": he made the country radically more regressive. No wonder he fell.

liberalcurrents.com

So my five year old daughter has lived under 2 monarchs, 2 popes, and is about to see her 5th PM.

Hah! I had a mostly tame childhood / adolescence but it still included knocky nine doors and occasionally building fires and exploding deodorant bottles in them. There wasn’t even a McDonalds in my town so we had to make our own fun.

Kimmylea@kimmylea.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Heard a radio segment driving to work once where they asked people to call in about "how kids use to make their own entertainment". It was supposed to be positive, but then calls came in like "we used to throw wire coat hangers into the power lines to make them spark". They stopped the segment

Important reporting on the growing links between UK politicians and US anti-abortion organisations. The aggressive rollback of reproductive rights in parts of the US has shown how quickly hard-won rights can be undermined. Read the iPaper article via the link in our bio.

Every time my child brings a book home from school I am reminded of the need for qualified librarians in all schools. 2/3 are unsuitable for her age / contain something she finds scary / just plain terrible. Today was especially bad : a ‘variant spellings’ book for about five stages further on.

Very sorry to hear of the death of @raulpachecovega.bsky.social . I never met him but - like many others - greatly benefited from his generosity in sharing details of his research processes and pedagogy. @jovanevery.bsky.social has written a lovely memorial piece: jovanevery.co.uk/in-memoriam-...

In memoriam: Raul Pacheco-Vega - Jo VanEvery

Raul had been conscious of his mortality for a long time. Many years ago he came to terms with his workaholism and took serious steps to change his behaviour for the sake of his health. I know he stil...

jovanevery.co.uk

If you, like me, have been wondering what the hell you can do in relation to the relentless stripping away of trans rights, this is one clear concrete action.

Ailbhe @ailbhe.ossifrage.net · 2mo ago

https://writetheletter.bimini.workers.dev "Parliament has until ~30 June to stop the new EHRC Code. Then it becomes law. Your MP can object. They won't unless you ask. 29 Days left to act."

Modern fairy tale adaptations: ‘the original tale is probably too bloody for children‘. My child, watching the ballet of Cinderella: ‘They should take those bad sisters and put them in the bin and mash their heads!’

Absolutely this. Already a lot of things are operating on the goodwill of staff keeping it all going. It’s pretty astounding how universities seem to have bought into a cultural narrative that theyre full of dead weight which can be shed without consequence

Dominic Dean@drdominicdean.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Re. universities cutting Professional Services staff, I worry some may be risking a situation where some basic but essential things just won't function. I don't think every senior management team (genuinely not referring to any in particular) quite get how precarious a lot of operations really are.

Every summer I repost this article on how to spot drowning. Please read it and pass on. In the last few years I’ve had SIX messages from people who saved a kid’s life after clicking on the link from my feed. slate.com/technology/2...

Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning

Drowning is not the violent, splashing call for help that most people expect.

slate.com