Stewart Parsons
@libraryfiend.bsky.social
Founder of Get It Loud In Libraries www.loudinlibraries.com cool programme of doorstep library gigs with future BRIT & Grammy winners. Born to live in Scotland. Lover of music, books, libraries, radio, dogs, PNE & wife Elizabeth. A BEM, no less.
Pinned
Stewart Parsons
@libraryfiend.bsky.social
· Jun 17
So,as a little thought-experiment, tell me something about the United Kingdom that works well and is actually quite impressive. I am not trying to sound like some boosterish politician. I just genuinely believe that making people believe that all is lost is a convenient pretext for shady characters.
For 175 years, public libraries, despite often steeply declining Govt support, have served the educational, information and entertainment needs of the general public. Staffed by a committed national family of workers determined to transform the life chances of some 7.3mill people.Oh, and it's free.
Reposted by Stewart Parsons
I am delighted to be on the Gordon Burn longlist because number one, I am a Gordon Burn nut, and number two the books I have already read on this list are brilliant. Thank you so much.
November 27, 2025 at 1:08 PM
I am delighted to be on the Gordon Burn longlist because number one, I am a Gordon Burn nut, and number two the books I have already read on this list are brilliant. Thank you so much.
Quite.
I must have missed the wall-to-wall coverage of demands for an investigation into Nigel Farage's lies about being a racist
Or about whether he knew Nathan Gill
Or about who bought his house in Frinton
Or about whether he knew Nathan Gill
Or about who bought his house in Frinton
December 1, 2025 at 7:49 AM
Quite.
Allen Ginsberg turns in his grave....
I don't understand what is written on the screen in this photo, but it gives me life. Is it Dostoevsky?
November 30, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Allen Ginsberg turns in his grave....
Can only concur. And no voice intoning in your ear 'Because you read Donna Tartt why not try...' although a friendly bookseller or librarian might be positioned to help. Browsing with complete autonomy, free of influence. What joy.
Bookselling is like the most "people go to the store and buy what looks cool to them without a particular agenda" type business left, and your purchases have a huge influence on what is ordered, what is displayed, and what is recommended.
November 30, 2025 at 10:38 AM
Can only concur. And no voice intoning in your ear 'Because you read Donna Tartt why not try...' although a friendly bookseller or librarian might be positioned to help. Browsing with complete autonomy, free of influence. What joy.
Reposted by Stewart Parsons
How the right-wing newspapers still manage to dictate BBC coverage.
Almost all of the Beeb's big post-Budget interview with the Chancellor devoted to asking whether she is a liar.
Next to nothing on any of the big measures announced this week
www.adambienkov.co.uk/p/the-real-b...
Almost all of the Beeb's big post-Budget interview with the Chancellor devoted to asking whether she is a liar.
Next to nothing on any of the big measures announced this week
www.adambienkov.co.uk/p/the-real-b...
The Real 'Benefits Street' Protecting Britain's Wealthiest
The sheer scale of outrage about plans to lift children out of poverty, by taxing millionaire homeowners, tells you everything you need to know about the priorities of the British press
www.adambienkov.co.uk
November 30, 2025 at 9:36 AM
How the right-wing newspapers still manage to dictate BBC coverage.
Almost all of the Beeb's big post-Budget interview with the Chancellor devoted to asking whether she is a liar.
Next to nothing on any of the big measures announced this week
www.adambienkov.co.uk/p/the-real-b...
Almost all of the Beeb's big post-Budget interview with the Chancellor devoted to asking whether she is a liar.
Next to nothing on any of the big measures announced this week
www.adambienkov.co.uk/p/the-real-b...
Good comedy.
Chair in the Your Party debate on dual membership: "No booing, conference. If you are unkind, there will be consequences." (After lots of booing re dual membership)
"We do not want any fights or arguments. Let's be calm...I'm going to have to turn the mic off. Oh conference, dear dear dear."
"We do not want any fights or arguments. Let's be calm...I'm going to have to turn the mic off. Oh conference, dear dear dear."
November 29, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Good comedy.
Absolutely. Radcliffe & Maconie, weekends only but still distilling the best of music radio into 2 hours of joy - great tunes & a canny, droll insight into their audience, refusing to read shout outs from skiers tuning in from the alps but celebrating those listening in bed. Shame about the news...
Radio 6 is a tribute to all that is best at the BBC. It is inform, educate and entertain in musical form: Utter loveliness. And then they periodically allow the news department to mutilate it with these context-free anti-asylum bulletins, reminding you of all that's worst about the BBC.
Radcliffe and Maconie on BBC 6 music is one of my favourite things
Having it interrupted by breathless news bulletin telling me ‘government has banned taxis for asylum seekers’ *really isn’t*
New lines like ‘Home Office spent £1k over weekend on taxis’ would struggle to make a local newspaper
Having it interrupted by breathless news bulletin telling me ‘government has banned taxis for asylum seekers’ *really isn’t*
New lines like ‘Home Office spent £1k over weekend on taxis’ would struggle to make a local newspaper
November 29, 2025 at 10:08 AM
Absolutely. Radcliffe & Maconie, weekends only but still distilling the best of music radio into 2 hours of joy - great tunes & a canny, droll insight into their audience, refusing to read shout outs from skiers tuning in from the alps but celebrating those listening in bed. Shame about the news...
As the nation's thoughts turn to Christmas, candlelit peace and warm togetherness, performative oddball Kemi Badenoch, clinging to her leadership, has elected to put all her eggs into the basket of crowning herself the most obnoxious bag in the history of mankind...
"Give liberally and be ungrudging when you do so, for on this account the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake"
- Deuteronomy 15:10
"God loves a cheerful giver"
- 2 Corinthians 9:7
"Budget for benefit street"
- Badenoch - Odds of Remaining Leader 150:1
- Deuteronomy 15:10
"God loves a cheerful giver"
- 2 Corinthians 9:7
"Budget for benefit street"
- Badenoch - Odds of Remaining Leader 150:1
As Jesus once put it: "what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and then have to pay the mansion tax?"
November 28, 2025 at 2:12 PM
As the nation's thoughts turn to Christmas, candlelit peace and warm togetherness, performative oddball Kemi Badenoch, clinging to her leadership, has elected to put all her eggs into the basket of crowning herself the most obnoxious bag in the history of mankind...
Reposted by Stewart Parsons
My new single 'Frightening Machines' is out today ❤️ perhaps the most personal song from the new album. Give it a listen, let me know what you think, and join me for a live Q&A and Video Premiere on Youtube tonight... Https://kpriddy.lnk.to/fmachines
November 27, 2025 at 10:27 AM
My new single 'Frightening Machines' is out today ❤️ perhaps the most personal song from the new album. Give it a listen, let me know what you think, and join me for a live Q&A and Video Premiere on Youtube tonight... Https://kpriddy.lnk.to/fmachines
Reposted by Stewart Parsons
Boosting this wee beauty come Dec 7th @loudinlibraries.bsky.social the divine Katherine Priddy with stunning support form Yoshika Colwell ( thanks to @cerysmatthews.bsky.social for directing me her way via 6Music). Matinee show so everyone home for Countryfile
www.seetickets.com/event/kather...
www.seetickets.com/event/kather...
November 27, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Boosting this wee beauty come Dec 7th @loudinlibraries.bsky.social the divine Katherine Priddy with stunning support form Yoshika Colwell ( thanks to @cerysmatthews.bsky.social for directing me her way via 6Music). Matinee show so everyone home for Countryfile
www.seetickets.com/event/kather...
www.seetickets.com/event/kather...
Reposted by Stewart Parsons
Big news! My new album 'These Frightening Machines' arrives March 6th 2026 and can be pre-ordered now for early access to my biggest UK headline tour. I am so proud and excited to share this new chapter with you all. First single ‘Matches’ is out now... 🔥 kpriddy.lnk.to/TFM
October 9, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Big news! My new album 'These Frightening Machines' arrives March 6th 2026 and can be pre-ordered now for early access to my biggest UK headline tour. I am so proud and excited to share this new chapter with you all. First single ‘Matches’ is out now... 🔥 kpriddy.lnk.to/TFM
'You And Yours' on Radio 4 will be all over this....
Senile Satan, Con Junior and Fredo announced their phone in June, promising delivery in August to commemorate a decade since Satan came down the escalator. Not one phone has been delivered and good luck getting a refund. They took 590,000 deposits totaling $59 million.
November 28, 2025 at 9:47 AM
'You And Yours' on Radio 4 will be all over this....
Love.
Matisse lithograph of The Dancer from 1949 added to Leeds Art Gallery's Picture Library lending scheme. 👇
BBC News - Matisse lithograph added to Leeds art lending scheme - BBC News
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
BBC News - Matisse lithograph added to Leeds art lending scheme - BBC News
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Matisse lithograph added to Leeds art lending scheme
A print of The Dancer is available to borrow under Leeds Gallery's Picture Library project.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 28, 2025 at 7:39 AM
Love.
Hard to believe there was a DCMS select committee hearing on this wilful BBC impartiality just two days ago....
It's such a bizarre framing. Labour MPs think taking 450k kids out of poverty is putting the country first! That's why they wanted it to happen! It's not because they personally benefit.
Headline on The World at One just now:
"Sir Keir Starmer has denied putting the Labour Party before the country by ending the two-child benefit cap".
Can we please go back to reporting the actual news, not someone's partisan take on it?
"Sir Keir Starmer has denied putting the Labour Party before the country by ending the two-child benefit cap".
Can we please go back to reporting the actual news, not someone's partisan take on it?
November 27, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Hard to believe there was a DCMS select committee hearing on this wilful BBC impartiality just two days ago....
Boosting this wee beauty come Dec 7th @loudinlibraries.bsky.social the divine Katherine Priddy with stunning support form Yoshika Colwell ( thanks to @cerysmatthews.bsky.social for directing me her way via 6Music). Matinee show so everyone home for Countryfile
www.seetickets.com/event/kather...
www.seetickets.com/event/kather...
November 27, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Boosting this wee beauty come Dec 7th @loudinlibraries.bsky.social the divine Katherine Priddy with stunning support form Yoshika Colwell ( thanks to @cerysmatthews.bsky.social for directing me her way via 6Music). Matinee show so everyone home for Countryfile
www.seetickets.com/event/kather...
www.seetickets.com/event/kather...
Reposted by Stewart Parsons
Handing back student work that’s been written by ChatGPT with a 0 followed by the comment “This essay will never stand in authentic wonder before the Beauty of God’s creation.”
Pope Leo XIV told students not to use artificial intelligence for homework, saying that AI ‘won’t stand in authentic wonder before the beauty of God’s creation.’
Even God Is Worried About ChatGPT
Pope Leo XIV told students not to use artificial intelligence for homework, saying that AI ‘won’t stand in authentic wonder before the beauty of God’s creation.’
www.vulture.com
November 26, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Handing back student work that’s been written by ChatGPT with a 0 followed by the comment “This essay will never stand in authentic wonder before the Beauty of God’s creation.”
Reposted by Stewart Parsons
Think about this for more than twenty seconds and you’ll be thinking about it all morning
November 27, 2025 at 8:38 AM
Think about this for more than twenty seconds and you’ll be thinking about it all morning
Truth.
Any man who claims that females are the weaker sex, has obviously never tried to get a quarter of a duvet, off one.
November 27, 2025 at 10:03 AM
Truth.
Reposted by Stewart Parsons
Imagine TV News covering this farmer protest - banned, but turned up anyway, grinding capital to a halt - if it were about Palestine or climate change, not inheritance tax. Would they present protesters as heroes? Or showing "I need to get to work" and "me auld mam missed her hip operation" voxpops?
November 26, 2025 at 10:42 AM
Imagine TV News covering this farmer protest - banned, but turned up anyway, grinding capital to a halt - if it were about Palestine or climate change, not inheritance tax. Would they present protesters as heroes? Or showing "I need to get to work" and "me auld mam missed her hip operation" voxpops?
Reposted by Stewart Parsons
Bitter Literary Pigeon does NOT want your pity
November 22, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Bitter Literary Pigeon does NOT want your pity
Into the fray contesting the best signed Christmas books @gallovidiabooks comes Jamie Oliver, eating himself healthy after all these years. A cheery 'How you doin' then, alright?' Francis Rossi of a signature. But the 'O' at close of the flourish looks like a 'G' so a docked point and a worthy 6/10.
November 25, 2025 at 10:02 AM
Into the fray contesting the best signed Christmas books @gallovidiabooks comes Jamie Oliver, eating himself healthy after all these years. A cheery 'How you doin' then, alright?' Francis Rossi of a signature. But the 'O' at close of the flourish looks like a 'G' so a docked point and a worthy 6/10.
Reposted by Stewart Parsons
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
November 25, 2025 at 9:26 AM
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
All the magnums of Champagne to the first journalist to reboot Eddie Mair's You're a nasty piece of work, aren't you?' line on Nigel Farage.
Nice to see Betty a bit Sweaty.
Did you ever racially abuse fellow pupils?
It was years ago.
Did you ever racially abuse fellow pupils?
Not in a hurtful way.
Did you ever racially abuse fellow pupils?
Not with intent.
Did you ever racially abuse fellow pupils?
Not genuine abuse.
😮🫣😬😱 ~AA
It was years ago.
Did you ever racially abuse fellow pupils?
Not in a hurtful way.
Did you ever racially abuse fellow pupils?
Not with intent.
Did you ever racially abuse fellow pupils?
Not genuine abuse.
😮🫣😬😱 ~AA
November 25, 2025 at 8:29 AM
All the magnums of Champagne to the first journalist to reboot Eddie Mair's You're a nasty piece of work, aren't you?' line on Nigel Farage.
Proper incisive grilling from Dr Rupa Huq for Prescott now during this BBC hearing. His body language gives his slipperiness away...
November 24, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Proper incisive grilling from Dr Rupa Huq for Prescott now during this BBC hearing. His body language gives his slipperiness away...