Any machine can be a smoke machine if you operate it poorly enough
Mandy Hill
@msmandyhill.bsky.social
Reads a lot, drinks tea a lot, often both at the same time.
Can I get a pre-order in for this beauty please @bforbutterflybooks.bsky.social ?
Natalie Haynes@nataliehaynes.bsky.social · 5mo agoONE MONTH TODAY! Dropping in Independent Bookshop Week 2026, this beautiful knife-edge paperback of No Friend to This House is an indie exclusive 🗡️ Support real independent bookshops and pre-order now… 📗 linktr.ee/nofriendtoth...
Collagen is definitely the snake oil du jour for the middle-aged lady. According to approximately a million adverts all I need to do is spend all my money on powdered fish and/or cows 🤮 and I will suddenly be cured of being 52. I think I'll stick to spending it on wine and books thanks.
This Is How You Lose The Hundred Years' War
weird medieval guys@weirdmedieval.bsky.social · 6mo agoclose friends, france, 15th century
*youth pastor voice* I tell you someone else who got hammered on a Friday and didn’t get up until Sunday…
It’s Transgender Day of Visibility! Hello! I’m Disco, a British-Trinidadian, queer, trans, disabled author and bookish content creator. I love being trans! 🏳️⚧️🏳️⚧️🏳️⚧️🏳️⚧️🏳️⚧️🏳️⚧️
Did you know you can sing “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” whenever you feel like it? It’s literally a whim away.
Looking for a bespoke Christmas gift? Look no further! Let me know your preferred book genre/theme and budget and I'll put together a book box for you. Perfect for hassle-free Christmas gifting! Postage within UK. #saletown #christmasbookgifts
If we don’t signal our virtue every now and again - then so many believe they are utterly alone - “virtue signalling” is not there to say “aren’t I good” but “there are more of us than you might imagine” and “fuck you for demanding that only the brutal and the bullies may speak”
Master wearing a skirt you say? I'm not sure I'm ready for that, I've only just learned how to put on socks. FFS!
If you're a National Trust member, it's that time of year again: Midnight tonight is the deadline. It's a shame people have to keep doing this to keep a toehold on historical truth in this country, but here we are. Voting link: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/who-we-are/a...
![[Scene is the entrance cabin to a NATIONAL TRUST PROPERTY AND GARDENS]
1
NATIONAL TRUST EMPLOYEE [inside cabin]:
Hello there
2
[A young family - two parents two kids - have arrived at the front desk].
DAD:
Hi - do you have an activity trail, for the kids?
3
NT EMPLOYEE:
Of course – you’re just in time for the Autumn Gammon Trail!
4
MUM:
That sounds fun, doesn’t it kids?
5
NT EMPLOYEE [handing an activity sheet and pencils to the kids]:
Every autumn, the Reform Trust gammons flock back to the National Trust for the AGM. Just follow the trail round the grounds, and see how many you can spot!
6
NT EMPLOYEE [hearing something in the gardens]:
Listen - that's their call
[Calls emanating from the landscape]:
tut-tut
woke-woke
7
NT EMPLOYEE [showing the family an apparently empty fenced enclosure with some bushes in]:
They are extremely sensitive and fragile...
But you can bring them out of hiding if you put a little sign down mentioning slavery.
8
KIDS [pointing]:
There they are!
[Some little red faced PEOPLE wearing Barbour jackets and gilets emerge cautiously from the bushes. They are creeping towards a TINY SIGN in the middle of the enclosure].
[Little people noises]:
woke-woke
tut-tut
woke-woke
9
[Close-up of the TINY SIGN - we can read that it says]:
Slavery had a bit to do with building this massive house.
[Noises from the little people again as they inspect the tiny sign]:
tut-tut
woke-woke
10
MUM [pointing]:
What's that one doing there?
NT EMPLOYEE:
Oh, that's so sweet…
11
[We see that one of the people is sat on a rock, with a little laptop open on a tree stump, and they are furiously typing away].
NT EMPLOYEE:
I think he's writing a column for the Daily Telegraph…
12
[We see close up to the little person’s screen, it is a word document reading]:
Are National Trust scones secretly WOKE?
[ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreib7lt736b6rmzinml5s7kxjdaapo2a36xp4d4lssypimx3taqicdm)
Amazon is helping fund a $300 million build of a ballroom for the White House. Independent bookstores are donating to food banks and organizations that help with food insecurity. They are not the same.
Knickers at half mast today everyone, for Jilly Cooper x
BTW I’m assuming you’ve come across this lovely open letter for cisgender woman who support trans people? We’d love it if you would sign and share if you haven’t already 🤗🤗🤗 @nionwomen.bsky.social notinourname.org.uk/petition/not...
Women in support of the trans+ community - Not in our name
notinourname.org.uk
Starmer is the kind of guy who’d watch someone choke to death because the polls said Reform voters think the Heimlich manoeuvre sounds both German AND French
Ten writers by whom I've read more than five books (to my son): Julia Donaldson Maz Evans Sue Hendra Lynley Dodd Adam Blade (apparently several writers) Pamela Butchart Rev W Awdry Valerie Thomas Quentin Blake Katie & Kevin Tsang
Louie Stowell@louiestowell.bsky.social · last yr.Ten writers by whom I've read more than five books: Ben Aaronovitch JRR Tolkien PG Wodehouse Ursula Le Guin James S. A. Corey (technically 2 people) Sue Townsend N. K. Jemisin John Wyndham Mick Herron Terry Pratchett
A lot of the problem with our part of the world right now is that the press are treating trans people the way they ought to be treating billionaires and vice versa
Some of the offers you'll find in-store for Independent Bookshop Week #indiebookshopweek @booksaremybag.bsky.social
I’ve written books. And you can buy ‘em! All good bookstores etc, and if you want signed ones, you can get them direct from me… witchesofwoodville.com/the-village-...
Hello! It doesn’t cost anything to repost but it helps me spread the word about my small business. My online shop is full of bold & colourful prints, homewares and cards. I’m also available for freelance design work and art licensing. gailmyerscough.co.uk
We get lots of amazing books donated in our charity bookshop and this is my current favourite. I would never have guessed in a million years that this was a thing.
Sorry but I just don't feel comfortable sharing public toilets with transphobes. At any moment they could just demand to have a look at my gennies. The law should protect women's spaces from these creeps.
