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Richard Bates

@discript.com

4.6K followers 4.2K following 1.7K posts

Publisher – fiction and non-fiction. Friend to writers. Dementia carer. Cyclist. Activist. Cat parent. Liberal Democrat 🔶 elected to Chichester District Council (UK) in 2023, also on West Sussex County Council Health & Adult Social Care Scrutiny Committee.

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Richard Bates @discript.com · Jan 23

The reason we annually mark #HolocaustMemorialDay is so we never forget.

Baron of Booze @baronofbooze.bsky.social · Jan 22

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Richard Bates @discript.com · 22h

Where is this great bookstore, please?

Hart Cunningham @hpsc24.bsky.social · 22h

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Richard Bates @discript.com · 1d

Hollywood, San Francisco, Berkeley, Davis may not be “America”. California is the economic and intellectual engine room of USA. But it has produced some dangerous politicians. Nixon was born there. CA is where Reaganomics started. Proposition 13 cut property taxes by slashing education budgets.

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Richard Bates @discript.com · 1d

Cannot personally vouch for this writer, but spreading his online CV in case anyone needs a script, article, story or other writing ✍️

Matt Owen @mjowen174.bsky.social · 2d

If you could please do us a favour and RT (or whatever it is on here) my writing CV I would be extremely grateful. I am a very capable writer of words, mainly “humorous”’ and if you have some PROPER paid work for me, please DM me. Thank you for your time www.mathew-owen.co.uk

Home | Matt Owen | Freelance Writer

I offer a broad and diverse range of writing services. Get in touch!

www.mathew-owen.co.uk

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Richard Bates @discript.com · 1d

Then in 2024 we rescued a young #Bengal boy, not unlike your Mowgli, previously kept indoors by an owner who couldn’t cope with his physical energy. Now with access to gardens to explore and mice to catch, he has settled down after nearly a year with us, very intelligent and vocal. #AdoptDontShop

Our young Bengal rescue cat with a lot to say, caught mid-sentence.

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Richard Bates @discript.com · 1d

We never forget our dear sweet Minnie, much more than a cat, an empathetic companion through bereavements. She had a long happy life but sadly died in 2023. 💔

Beautiful black and white “Jellicle” cat at home on a lawn partly sunny, crouching in the shade, watching with affection the activities of her family.

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Richard Bates @discript.com · 1d

“Governments claiming to represent us, but responding instead to press barons and corporations? Politics on sale to the highest bidder, through political donations and paid lobbying? This is democracy? This is a system that requires no challenge?”
Good questions, @georgemonbiot.bsky.social!

George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 1d

How the Labour government would have banned the Labour movement.
My latest column.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Here’s what you need to know about Starmer’s illiberal protest curbs: they would have killed the Labour party at birth | George Monbiot

The rights we enjoy in the UK, and the movement the PM purports to lead, were built on protest. Those rights are in dire peril, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

www.theguardian.com

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Richard Bates @discript.com · 1d

“…and wasn't afraid to publish contentious titles like Jenny Lives with Eric and Martin, the children's book that "inspired" Section 28.”
www.theguardian.com/books/2006/a...

Rupert Smith: The closure of Gay Men's Press is bad for the industry

Rupert Smith on why the closure of Gay Men's Press is bad for the industry.

www.theguardian.com

Richard Bates @discript.com · 1d

“GMP, like other small publishers catering to women or black people, provided a vital break to new writers. It rescued forgotten gay authors such as James Purdy from oblivion…

Richard Bates @discript.com · 1d

The Whitest House under this administration IS an assisted living facility.
The staff are pumping the Acting President full of speed before he appears in front of a camera.

Richard Bates @discript.com · 1d

Signed & shared

Richard Bates @discript.com · 1d

To end the #SewageScandal, the regulator must uphold the law, NOT allow the water utilities to continue breaking it.
Please sign the petition if you agree.

We Own It @weownit.org.uk · 5d

🚨Urgent: Thames Water want permission from Ofwat to ILLEGALLY pollute rivers and seas until 2040.

🤮They want your bills to fill their pockets with gold, while they fill your rivers with sewage.

✍️Sign now. Tell Ofwat to say NO to Thames Water before Tuesday 21st October.

Thames Water want to pollute illegally until 2040. Ofwat must say NO.

Thames water want to make at deal with Ofwat, to pollute illegally for 15 years

weownit.org.uk

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Richard Bates @discript.com · 2d

Anyone who has ever taken part in the #WorldNakedBikeRide must take off their hat (and everything else) for residents of Portland who cycled naked through cold and rain yesterday to demonstrate the peaceful power of public nudity. Brrr! And BRAVISSIMI‼️

africanspacechrist.bsky.social @africanspacechrist.bsky.social · 2d

Here's footage from the World Naked Bike Ride today at the Portland ICE facility protest.

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Richard Bates @discript.com · 2d

Following this, Aubrey Walter then went on to co-found, with David Fernbach and Richard Dipple, The Gay Men’s Press on 1 August 1979 in London. #GMP published a diverse list, including “In Transit” #BrigidBrophy (recently reissued by @LuridEditions.bsky.social)
gmppubs.wordpress.com/a-short-hist...

A Short History of Gay Men’s Press

Aubrey Walter and myself, David Fernbach, had been living together since 1965. We were very involved in the political struggles of that decade, especially the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign. We were o…

gmppubs.wordpress.com

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Reposted by Richard Bates

Mrs. Betty Bowers @mrsbettybowers.bsky.social · 3d

This sadly demented man doesn't realize *he* was president on Jan 6, 2021. Get him in an assisted living facility ASAP.

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Richard Bates @discript.com · 2d

Public nudity is a great act of defiance, and is unlikely to be covered by mainstream media. Remember, you outnumber those trying to arrest you.

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Richard Bates @discript.com · 2d

Racism?
More like paranoia. He knows he is a criminal and his administration is illegal, so they’re constantly on the defensive.
But why would everyone believe what Faux News reports, unless the internet has gone down.

Richard Bates @discript.com · 2d

Of course he has totally lost touch with reality. But why are so many others drinking the Kool-Aid?

Richard Bates @discript.com · 2d

Fractured my little toe on vacation in Athens. Bandaging it to the next toe, applying local anaesthetic, I was undeterred. Travelled on to Crete, drove a car with a clutch and walked quite some distance every day for two weeks. Never affected the balance, but it hurt like hell.

undeterred.able

Richard Bates @discript.com · 2d

He credits producer Eddie Kulukundis for financing the first season of his play at The Royal Court. So much groundbreaking theatre owes its existence to Kulukundis, whose Knightsbridge Productions occupied our Covent Garden office before we did in the 1980s.

Richard Bates @discript.com · 2d

Don’t miss Martin Sherman on Private Passions on BBC-Radio 3, talking about the challenges when his play about Weimar Germany “Bent” was first produced in London. Catch up here:
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Private Passions - Martin Sherman - BBC Sounds

Michael Berkeley's guest is the playwright Martin Sherman.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Richard Bates @discript.com · 3d

David Sedaris doesn’t just make you laugh. He makes you think.
Reading essay “Bruised” in Happy-Go-Lucky took me across the channel to Normandy, and back to teenage. To read him is to travel in place and time without needing a passport.

Me @btrainbows.bsky.social · 23d

Day 22: A Queer Book that Made You Laugh 🌈📚

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris, razor-sharp essays, awkward moments, and laugh-out-loud humor. Sedaris proves sometimes stories are funniest when they’re painfully honest.
What queer book cracked you up?

#30DaysOfQueerBooks #booksky #books #gay

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Richard Bates @discript.com · 3d

In other news, Venezuelan María Corina Machado won the Nobel Prize for Peace ✌️
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

Venezuelan politician María Corina Machado wins Nobel peace prize

Opponent of Maduro regime receives award and praise for keeping ‘flame of democracy burning’

www.theguardian.com

Richard Bates @discript.com · 4d

“There’s just an inexplicable depravity at the heart of it that pretty much defines American contemporary society. It’s a nihilism and an apathy that swirls underneath everything.”
Good interview makes you want to read “The Four Spent the Day Together” by Chris Kraus

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 4d

‘I’m going to write about all of it’: author Chris Kraus on success, drugs and I Love Dick

A decade after her debut became a cult hit, the US author talks about the true crime that inspired her latest novel, #MeToo overreach and being married to an addict

www.theguardian.com

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Richard Bates @discript.com · 4d

New extension to Centurion Way in South Downs National Park near Singleton, West Sussex, UK advising:
“Left is best. Keep to the left for easier navigation and a more enjoyable experience for everyone!”
Good advice in any context.

New extension to Centurion Way in South Downs National Park near Singleton, West Sussex advising “Left is best. Keep to the left for easier navigation and a more enjoyable experience for everyone!”
Good advice in any context.

Reposted by Richard Bates

We Own It @weownit.org.uk · 5d

💩Thames Water's creditors are trying to strike a deal with Ofwat that could let them off complying with pollution rules until 2040.

There's a better way than their dirty tricks!

Public ownership - because we should have a say in how our water is run.

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