Somhairle MacGill-Eain (Sorley MacLean) – one of the greatest European poets of the 20th century – was born #OTD, 26 Oct A 🎂🧵 Watch “Sorley MacLean’s Island” via @natlibscot.bsky.social – Sorley MacLean in conversation with fellow writer Iain Crichton Smith #poetry 1/8 movingimage.nls.uk/film/3141

I just learned of the passing of Joanna Macy. I re-read her work recently & listened to her podcast 'We Are The Great Turning.' I was so grateful for it, her words a deep resource for transforming despair into hope & action @workthatreconnects.bsky.social workthatreconnects.org/joanna-macy-...

Gaelic singer Mairi MacMillan, from South Uist, sent me this gorgeous song about the skylark, the uiseag, as a symbol of hope 🤍🎶 mairimacmillan.bandcamp.com/track/uiseag... Words from my Substack essay: open.substack.com/pub/mairimcf...

My latest post on Substack; an attempt to make sense of what it means to be a parent in a world convulsing with crisis 💔 Aiseag is the Gaelic word for a ferry boat—it also simply means a ‘return.’ Here I return to a place, to what matters, to #activehope. open.substack.com/pub/mairimcf...

Aiseag | Return

On the active hope of parenthood, of wrens and skylarks

open.substack.com

Sailing Against the Tide #GazaFreedomFlotilla #BreaktheSiege bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/06/08/s...

Sailing Against the Tide

In September 2024 I was criticised for writing the following sentence: “We have a black mirror in history with Gaza and the Warsaw Ghetto and a dreadful symmetry between Arendt’s Banality of …

bellacaledonia.org.uk

Why reading books is essential.

A look by the @economist.com at how community landowners are creating economic and social change in Scotland - and at Scottish land reform more widely www.economist.com/britain/2025...

Scotland’s outdated land laws threaten the future of rural towns

But progress in reforming them is sluggish

economist.com

Apparently "Sunday 4 May is International Dawn Chorus Day and it's celebrated by people around the world who rise early to appreciate this natural symphony." Luckily we are away camping in Achiltibuie and didn't need to leave the tent! Woke up to the curlew 😍

Just went to see this in Inverness. As a former Scottish literature student (and total nerd), it was MAGNIFICENT 👏👏👏 Last night tomorrow, I hope it goes on tour again...

National Theatre of Scotland@ntsonline.bsky.social · 2y ago

Ready yersels fur a journey thro Scots cultur, myths, history an identity as we daunder Through the Shortbread Tin tae explore the greatest literary rise ae aw time, James Mapherson’s Ossian Through the #ShortbreadTin is a brand-new show by Martin O’Connor, directed by Lu Kemp 👇

"Gug-ùg’ ars a’ chuthag latha buidhe Bealltainn” (cried the cuckoo on yellow Beltane day) dasg.ac.uk/blog/249/en 🌼

Have you booked for SCAN Summit 2025: The Grid? Join us in Inverness for a programme of talks, films + activities interrogating the systems that distribute power, energy and communications ⚡️ 📍Eden Court 📅 Tuesday 13 May 🎟️FREE for SCAN members/£10 non-members : sca-net.org/summit25/

Woke up this morning to the song of a wee wren and a chiffchaff, so tiny, so loud! 🎶🎵

He's here! I just heard my first cuckoo, a sure sign of spring - and almost time to plant my potatoes! Absolutely delighted 😅

Myself, @elsa-panciroli.bsky.social and many others will be talking at this event which promises to be lively! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-sennac...

The Sennachie Festival (Weekend Pass)

A Festival of storytelling, music & poetry inspired by Hugh Miller & his passion for the stories passed down through generations.

eventbrite.co.uk

Happy to be invited to give a talk at the fledgling Starling Cafè in #Ullapool on 6th May - a space for ideas, reflection and conversation - on community, hope, belonging, diversity, resilience and resistance. If you are in the baile, tickets here 👉 tickets.highlifehighland.com/events/highl...

“there is no way to build the artificial mirror world that AI promises to construct without sacrificing this world – these technologies consume too much energy, too many critical minerals, and too much water for the two to coexist in any kind of equilibrium.”

Naomi Klein@naomiaklein.bsky.social · last yr.

THE RISE OF END TIMES FASCISM My first major piece of the new Trump era, co-written with @astra.bsky.social. The governing ideology of the far right has become a monstrous, supremacist survivalism. Our task is to build a movement strong enough to stop them. www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

"Is your heart beating and do you plan to live? Then come this way and we will figure out the rest on the other side.”

Naomi Klein@naomiaklein.bsky.social · last yr.

THE RISE OF END TIMES FASCISM My first major piece of the new Trump era, co-written with @astra.bsky.social. The governing ideology of the far right has become a monstrous, supremacist survivalism. Our task is to build a movement strong enough to stop them. www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

THE RISE OF END TIMES FASCISM My first major piece of the new Trump era, co-written with @astra.bsky.social. The governing ideology of the far right has become a monstrous, supremacist survivalism. Our task is to build a movement strong enough to stop them. www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

The rise of end times fascism

The governing ideology of the far right has become a monstrous, supremacist survivalism. Our task is to build a movement strong enough to stop them

theguardian.com

“No single decision is to blame” for UK universities' dire financial situations, writes @rostaylor.bsky.social. “But many trace [the crisis] back to a decision made by chancellor George Osborne in December 2013.” www.prospectmagazine...

How universities were sent over the edge

UK higher education institutions did as the government asked and took on more students. Now many face collapse

prospectmagazine.co.uk

Epic week taking nearly 100 Geography MA students & staff to the Highlands, working with the inspiring @mmcfadyen.bsky.social & the Abriachan Forest Trust. 👏👏

In my first-year English literature tutorial at the University of Edinburgh I overheard the comment, "don't the Scottish girls sound so thick when they talk?!" It was followed by mocking laughter. I was one of two Scottish state school-educated girls in the room. Did wonders for my confidence

The National@scotnational.bsky.social · 2y ago

NEW: Staff at the University of Edinburgh are reportedly undergoing training sessions to help tackle 'accent bias' when teaching students Last year, the university issued guidance to its student where it encouraged them not to be 'snobs'

On Compost: @frasermacdonald.bsky.social "I make my own compost so that I can convince myself that even when the world seems socially and ecologically broken there are still mechanisms for recovery: it shows that change is possible." www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Fraser MacDonald · On Compost

I sometimes wonder whether my love of compost is a response to the dispiriting cleanness of modern life – the spray’...

lrb.co.uk

Curlew Nesting - by North Yorks printmaker, Lyn Bailey More of this artists beautiful work, here: www.lynbaileyprintmaker.com #linocut #printmaking #art #birds #birdart #Yorkshire

hello little bold one! first daffoldil I have found in the garden 💛🌼

Today we launched our positive/creative/community-driven political initiative, *Spring*, at spring.site & @wearespring.bsky.social. Read essay on @bellacaledonia.bsky.social https://[bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/03/01/spring-a-social-and-political-invitation/] Join us! spring.site/become-a-member

Wren - garden wildlife, Argyll

The landscape of Scottish media is completely broken and uneven and people rarely even talk about it anymore. Support the alternative - donate to Bella Caledonia today #BackingBella www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/backing-be...