Mike Parker
@mikeparker.bsky.social
Writer in the damp Welsh hills. Books include All the Wide Border, Map Addict, On the Red Hill, The Wild Rover, Neighbours from Hell? "No-one maps the secrets of the UK quite like Mike Parker" - Ayesha Hazarika, Times Radio
I've written about Neets for the LRB. It is odd listening to recent debates about this completely ignore the overwhelming fact of this current crisis, that it is one of inactivity, disability, mental ill-health and neurodevelopmental disorders (as I discuss) www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
William Davies · Young People Are Different: What do Neets need?
The majority of Neets are not looking for work, but living outside of the labour market and the education system,...
lrb.co.uk
This became quite a daft watch in the end. Daft is ok, but it promised more.
Mike Parker@mikeparker.bsky.social · 4d agoThe Rapture is pretty good, a solid page-turner of a series, and I’m especially enjoying everyone pretending it’s the hottest summer on record in what is quite clearly a mildish Welsh autumn.
If you’re in London this evening, my good mate @jonwoolcott.bsky.social is presenting his book The Tattooed Hills at @stanfordstravel.bsky.social in Covent Garden. A wise and witty tour of England through its astonishing chalk figures, TTH is great, and Jon too! www.stanfords.co.uk/event-jon-wo...
Event- Jon Woolcott: The Tattooed Hills | Stanfords
The World's Biggest and Best Map and Travel Bookshop. For over 170 years, explorers, travellers and adventurers have looked to us as map specialists to get them where they need to go, and back again.
stanfords.co.uk
The Rapture is pretty good, a solid page-turner of a series, and I’m especially enjoying everyone pretending it’s the hottest summer on record in what is quite clearly a mildish Welsh autumn.
On Sunday Supplement this morning, was impressed to hear Jane Dodds declare herself the longest-serving political party leader in Wales, “and possibly in the United Kingdom too.”
Milhouse Van Houten Playing Frisbee Alone
Alt: Milhouse Van Houten Playing Frisbee Alone
static.klipy.com
The Rapture is pretty good, a solid page-turner of a series, and I’m especially enjoying everyone pretending it’s the hottest summer on record in what is quite clearly a mildish Welsh autumn.
Oh god. I sobbed my way through watching this. Music, dancing, and people being beautiful and brilliant.
Mike Parker@mikeparker.bsky.social · 4d agoFive minutes of utter joy: hundreds in central Birmingham singing and dancing their hearts out to ELO's Mr Blue Sky. They performed it live on TV, part of the handover ceremony to the city for the last Commonwealth Games. As they say on Insta, watch to the end. #brum www.youtube.com/watch?v=zU_x...
Made the mistake at looking at the X feed of a former friend. She was brilliant, solid Labour, but has tumbled down a rabbit hole into some dark and disturbing far-right shit. It hurts like hell to see - not so much the politics, weirdly, but just how brain-dead & cruel so many of her posts are.
Pleased with that as a first attempt! Map nerd joy. Nice graphics too. www.maptap.gg August 1 100🎯 97🔥 99🎯 97🔥 98🎯 Final score: 980
🎯MapTap Daily Geography Game
Play MapTap - the daily geography game! Find 5 world locations on a 3D globe with historical stories. Free browser-based daily game for geography lovers.
maptap.gg
Five minutes of utter joy: hundreds in central Birmingham singing and dancing their hearts out to ELO's Mr Blue Sky. They performed it live on TV, part of the handover ceremony to the city for the last Commonwealth Games. As they say on Insta, watch to the end. #brum www.youtube.com/watch?v=zU_x...
Birmingham 2022 Handover
YouTube video by Leesha Mansell
youtube.com
Great title! Look forward to seeing this.
Seren Books@serenbooks.bsky.social · last wk.How do you discover the joys of Wales without car? Alice Hughes lovingly guides us around the country, travelling by bus, train and her town two feet, sharing useful advice, unmissable landmarks and her favourite foodie highlights. Pre-order via our website www.serenbooks.com/book/every-o....
Always aspired to be a Bungle or a George, but fear I was much much more of a Zippy.
Watching (lurking at) the online Welsh Art Sale auction, and interested to see that a whole load of Kyffin Williams pieces are not reaching their estimate price. Some by quite a way. Has Wales passed peak Kyffin?
Mesmerised by the scene of early C20 Newtown, Powys, in the window of an empty retail unit there. So much going on in it! Proper Wild West vibe.
Mesmerised by the scene of early C20 Newtown, Powys, in the window of an empty retail unit there. So much going on in it! Proper Wild West vibe.
just heard a foundation declare its mission as reducing "polarization" as though there's some sweet spot halfway between white supremacy/radical inequality/climate denial and the opposite we should all aim for. There isn't. Been railing against it forever.
Stop glorifying ‘centrism’. It is an insidious bias favoring an unjust status quo | Rebecca Solnit
The notion of a neutral and moderate middle is a prejudice of people for whom the system is working, against those for whom it’s not
theguardian.com
Done the first Ann Droid. Very promising. Diane Morgan and Sue Johnston both bloody brilliant.
For no reason other than it's fucking brilliant, here's Chris Lowe from the Pet Shop Boys playing It's A Sin on the wurlitzer organ at the Blackpool Tower Ballroom
Chris Lowe from the Pet Shop Boys plays It's a Sin on a Wurlitzer Organ
YouTube video by stoneybee
youtu.be
The Burnham accession feels like a coup staged by Radio 6 Music. Fully expecting all policy announcements to be made by that excitable lady with the echo effect on her microphone.
The Burnham accession feels like a coup staged by Radio 6 Music. Fully expecting all policy announcements to be made by that excitable lady with the echo effect on her microphone.
Always love a stop at the mega Co-op (former Harry Tuffin’s) at Churchstoke. You get a few essentials, and can also pretend you’re in some weird dystopian drama set in a completely deserted supermarket.
@mrjamesob.bsky.social a dollop of Kidderminster love for you, from a fellow Kiddy ex-pat
John Grindrod@grindrod.bsky.social · 3w agoNeed something cheery? Explore William Mitchell’s Great Wall of Kidderminster and the joys of The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady with me and @mikeparker.bsky.social on the latest Monstrosities Mon Amour, half an hour of curious chat podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/m...
Need something cheery? Explore William Mitchell’s Great Wall of Kidderminster and the joys of The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady with me and @mikeparker.bsky.social on the latest Monstrosities Mon Amour, half an hour of curious chat podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/m...
podcasts.apple.com
for the next hydration break france have chosen a 2003 sancerre, let's see if that helps
Sam Neill's death has made me realise that Peaky Blinders began its slow nosedive after his departure from the series.
