Robert Sheppard
@robertsheppard.bsky.social
Poet, critic of recent formally innovative poetry & poetics, emeritus prof at Edge Hill, and all that follows. Books from Shearsman, KFS, Salt, Broken Sleep, Palgrave, LUP, & all that follow. Blog: www.robertsheppard.blogspot.com
Exciting news - the British Newspaper Archive's new platform is here Explore millions of digitised pages of newspapers and other publications from our British and Irish collections, dating as far back as the 1700s We can't wait to get exploring 🗞 link.bl.uk/7ci
A Reform UK council candidate's account has posted that 'a vote for Labour is a vote for Muslim rule' as well as bizarre conspiracy theories about Bill Gates and the World Economic Forum She is hoping to win a by-election later this month
Merseyside Reform candidate said 'Bill Gates wants to make us all vegan'
Karen Hatch is aiming to be the latest Reform councillor in St Helens, but concerns have been raised about comments linked to her social media account
liverpoolecho.co.uk
I didn't realise Rupert had reviewed this book for TEARS online. I've reviewed it for the print edition. But I reflect on the book and on its opening up of the poetry of John Tripp to me, here: robertsheppard.blogspot.com/2026/08/a-re...
A Review of Peter Finch’s The Literary Business in Tears in the Fence AND the poetry of John Tripp.
Tears in the Fence 84 is out and I have a review of The Literary Business by Peter Finch (Parthian, 2025) in it. More of that in a moment....
robertsheppard.blogspot.com
Mike Ferguson@mferguson-writer.bsky.social · 7mo ago
I've written a harsh review of a critical book I intended to like, about Peter Finch, a poet I admire greatly. I'd already decided the critical book was badly written before I found it slags me off twice. open.substack.com/pub/iralight...
Not sure this is a strategy or oblique, but it is uncharacteristically representative of this summer, poetry-wise.
Check out Isssue 36 of Blackbox Manifold. I have 3 poems in it: “planted,” “the relationship diminishing,” and “golden fruit.” I especially enjoyed poems by Dr. Alicia Byrne Keane & Ashik Kahina. @alexhouen.bsky.social #poetry #poetrycommunity #BlackboxManifold blackboxmanifold.sites.sheffield.ac.uk
Blackbox Manifold
Issue 36: Summer 2026
blackboxmanifold.sites.sheffield.ac.uk
There are many “problems” with Reform and one of them is that they think everyone is as stupid as they are!
Larry the Cat@number10cat.bsky.social · 2d agoThe picture on the front of Reform's policy is of HMS Ocean on the River Thames in 2012. It was sold by to the Brazilian navy in 2018. Turns out you can judge a book by its cover.
Such a waste. Thinking of my friends & colleagues in History & across Hums. UH History is where I really learned *how* to teach & how to drive my teaching with my research. A dept that really cared about their students. So many brilliant & talented people in my old dept.
Glen O'Hara@gsoh31.bsky.social · 4d agoSo it's farewell to the History subject area at the University of Hertfordshire, not the first nor the last to go. One of the best departments in the country, just extinguished like a snap of the fingers. Think of the waste. (1/2)
If we spend money supporting research, education and practice in areas we're actually good at, there might not be enough money to throw at the long shot of being 'world leaders" in AI.
Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 6d agoCreative & performing arts subjects received £16.8 million SPG 2024-25; £12.9 million in 2025-26; £ O million in 2026-27. The University of Creative Arts will thus lose half of its government funding this year; Art University Bournmouth 40.7%, Norwich U of Arts 40.4% and Leeds Arts U 30.3%. 1/2
Last Wednesday we drank beneath the gaze of the Gnome!
Keef mullin@tigger2017.bsky.social · 2mo agoNo prizes given 😋 #BskyBeer
So, Rod Liddle is dead. Meh. A deeply unpleasant and prejudiced man with no redeeming qualities. And then there was this...
![Personal life
Liddle met Rachel Royce, a television presenter, at the BBC in 1993, and the couple soon became romantically involved.[83] In January 2004 the couple married at a ceremony in Malaysia. They had been living in Heytesbury, Wiltshire, and had two sons together, Tyler and Wilder.[83] Six months later, Liddle moved in with Alicia Monckton, a 22-year-old receptionist at The Spectator. It transpired that he had cut short his honeymoon with Royce so that he could be with Monckton.[83] Following their divorce, Liddle and Royce exchanged attacks in the media. Liddle called her a "total slut and slattern",[84] and Royce wrote an article in the Daily Mail titled "My cheating husband Rod, 10 bags of manure and me the bunny boiler. As for The Slapper... she's welcome to him".[85][86] This incident was referred to by Irish sports journalist Eamon Dunphy on RTÉ during the analysis of the champions league, where when an opposing view was put to him he responded:
"I'll tell you who wrote it, I can remember his name. Rod Liddle. He's the guy who ran away and left his wife for a young one." The quote is widely regarded as one of the famous moments in Irish television history.[87][88][89][90]
On 5 May 2005, he was arrested for common assault against Monckton, who was 20 weeks pregnant at the time. He admitted the offence and accepted a police caution, but asserted later that he did so only because it was the quickest way for him to be released, and that he had not assaulted her.[91] The couple's daughter, Emmeline, named after the suffragette, Emmeline Pankhurst, was born in October 2005.[32]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:kbshjxnv5tdxrjre6u3cxrnn/bafkreidhleygmgxynkcy3tidzao5fuassmmcq673dyycx32zzs4fi7urly)
Thanks for your endorsement, Mary. It means a lot. More here: robertsheppard.blogspot.com/2026/06/trev...
TREV EALES AND ROBERT SHEPPARD: HOLME FELL: a sample of landscapes PUBLISHED NOW!
I’m pleased to say my new book is available. Holme Fell: a sample of landscapes , a collaboration with the photographer Trev Eales, is the m...
robertsheppard.blogspot.com
Mary Earnshaw@maryearnshaw.bsky.social · 2d agoFabulous moody images in here as well as words. I heard Robert read from the slate quarrying section pre publication & found it strangely intriguing. Not your average poetry volume as you'd expect from this author & publisher. I bought it from Waterstones www.waterstones.com/book/holme-f...
I have a review of Peter Finch's memoir The Literary Business in @tearsinthefence.bsky.social 84 just out. I write a little about the issue and my re-discovery of the poetry of John Tripp via Finch's book! here: robertsheppard.blogspot.com/2026/08/a-re...
A Review of Peter Finch’s The Literary Business in Tears in the Fence AND the poetry of John Tripp.
Tears in the Fence 84 is out and I have a review of The Literary Business by Peter Finch (Parthian, 2025) in it. More of that in a moment....
robertsheppard.blogspot.com
LLMs but only trained on the works of the OuLiPo
Laura Kerr@sedserio.com · 3d agoPataphysics has already done the impossible. AI, are you getting this down?
Can electoral lightning strike twice? #VoteBinface #Clacton
Lit Kids is in a tough spot! 🫣 We need submissions from 5-13 y/o creatives or we won't have Issue 11: Spooky Stories! Please send writing, art, and photos to our mentors by 8/7 for consideration. WE NEED YOUR HELP! Keep shining! ✨ www.litkidsmagazine.com/submissions #parents #teachers #kidlit #emag
Scared Pengu Penguin
Alt: The gif features a Scared Pengu Penguin.
static.klipy.com
Don’t make policy to appease reply guys because reply guys can never be appeased (and are also a small, extreme, self-selected and unrepresentative group)
Liam Thorp@liamthorp.bsky.social · 3d agoAndy Burnham correctly points out in an interview that small boat crossings are massively down this year compared with last. The comments in the post are filled with people suggesting he is lying about this very clear, data-evidenced fact. It’s almost as though they don’t want it to he true…
Today university fees rise again, while thousands of academics across the country face job cuts, crushing workloads and shattered morale. Students deserve better than this broken system of unfair repayment that widens inequality. Abolish fees and fund universities properly!
Some notes by little me on recent, hugely damaging, shamefully shameless events at Cambridge University. rorywaterman.substack.com/p/notes-on-a-cambridge-debacle If you read only one article about what has happened, try the new piece by Lanre Bakare in the Guardian, linked in my blog post.
Notes on a Cambridge Debacle
I’ve written this very hastily, but there are a few things I’d like to get off my chest and the situation seems to be evolving quickly. Pleze ekscus eny leters getin in the rong plaices etc.
rorywaterman.substack.com
The journal of British and Irish Innovative Poetry. Submissions poetry.openlibhums.org/submissions/ co-edited by Colin Herd, Wanda O'Connor, Eleanor Careless, Karenjit Sandhu, Rory Cook
Submissions
poetry.openlibhums.org
Reform ‘doesn't care about residents’ as plan to cut community grants put forward
Reform ‘doesn't care about residents’ as plan to cut community grants put forward
A proposal to remove funding for community groups in Bournemouth has drawn sharp criticism, with opposition councillors accusing Reform of not…
bournemouthecho.co.uk
Few people understand that the UK university system is in crisis, but even fewer realise that many of the people losing their jobs are amongst the best in their fields
Glen O'Hara@gsoh31.bsky.social · 4d agoSo it's farewell to the History subject area at the University of Hertfordshire, not the first nor the last to go. One of the best departments in the country, just extinguished like a snap of the fingers. Think of the waste. (1/2)
Thinking through the unedifying, un-evidence-based rush to an undefined, apparently unmodelled paradigm of 'specialisation, what's being lost/threatened? Herts History was an excellent example of performing to a top standard in REF, but also much more than that. Questions to think with include: 1/4
Glen O'Hara@gsoh31.bsky.social · 4d agoSo it's farewell to the History subject area at the University of Hertfordshire, not the first nor the last to go. One of the best departments in the country, just extinguished like a snap of the fingers. Think of the waste. (1/2)
So it's farewell to the History subject area at the University of Hertfordshire, not the first nor the last to go. One of the best departments in the country, just extinguished like a snap of the fingers. Think of the waste. (1/2)
Ignore the Russell Group-fixated headline. The universities with the largest declines are: Lincoln Bishop (down 51.4%), University for the Creative Arts (down 50.5%), Norwich University of the Arts (-40.4%), Falmouth University (-35.1%) and Goldsmiths, University of London (-30.0%). 1/2
Russell Group universities take £10m teaching grant hit - Research Professional News
Funding allocations confirm impact of £51m cut to Strategic Priorities Grant
researchprofessionalnews.com
