Glen Wilson
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glenglenglen.bsky.social
Glen Wilson
@glenglenglen.bsky.social
570 followers 340 following 250 posts
Gogledd-based writer | Senior Digital Editor at the Southbank Centre | popular STAND | Views not completely those of my employer, but we’ve time yet
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Of all the possible permutations I ran through of tonight’s game none of them ended with fans chanting ‘We want eight!’. At least not Welsh fans. And certainly not earnestly.

A silly silly silly night in Cardiff.
Wales players and fans celebrate Harry Wilson making it 5-1 to Wales against North Macedonia. Wilson is sliding toward the corner flag on his knees followed by Welsh players. The North Macedonian goalkeeper is sitting in his goal-line; a North Macedonian defender is retrieving the ball from the back of the net. Throughout the packed crowd arms are raised in celebration.
November 18, 2025 at 10:46 PM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
Stopped by the Hip Hop: A Welsh Story exhibition at Amgueddfa
Genedlaethol Caerdydd today…

Still reeling from the fact that Welsh hip hop began in Blaenau Ffestiniog and Dyffryn Conwy.

Look at these heroes… in Blaenau… in the 1980s!
Two young aspiring B-Boys in Blaenau Ffestiniog in the 1980s stand shoulder to shoulder in a classic folded arm pose; one wears sunglasses, a cap and a bomber jacket; the other has a massive VW logo chain.
November 18, 2025 at 2:28 PM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
Monument to the Worker Who Has Just Realised He’s Forgotten His Keys,
Sir Henry Pegram, Amgueddfa
Genedlaethol Caerdydd.
A bronze statue depicting a man with a long tool who has taken a break from his labour to put his hand to his forehead
November 18, 2025 at 2:15 PM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
If you enjoyed some, all, or one bit of that then make sure you subscribe to our email newsletter The Tonic, to get the latest highlights from our Magazine, and some archive gems, direct to your inbox every month.

Sign up here: secure.southbankcentre.co.uk/account/crea...
The words 'The Tonic' emerging jauntily from an envelope
November 13, 2025 at 9:08 AM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
In the latest edition of @alternativewales.bsky.social (out now) I’ve written about searching for ‘good soccer’ in the guise of Eduardo Galeano and finding it in a third-tier Welsh midfielder with massive calves.
A copy of Alternative Wales magazine, open on a two-page article titled ‘Keepy-ups with the Joneses’ which features a photo of a non-league footballer placing the ball for a corner kick. The words of the article are blurred out.
October 13, 2025 at 8:35 AM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
Shout to Avanti for advertising the merits of visiting Colwyn Bay… with a picture of Barmouth… a mere four and a half hours away by train.
Part of an email from Avanti that encourages people to visit Colwyn Bay, North Wales. The text reads: ‘Bucket and space list. From beautiful beaches to massive mountains, have an adventure.’ Above the text is a picture of a small town by a sandy beach with a mountainous landscape rising behind it. The town is Barmouth.
September 20, 2025 at 9:02 AM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
Still a buzz seeing my name in @wsc.co.uk after all these years.

In the latest issue (455) I’ve written about how weird (and ultimately rubbish) it is not being there for your hometown team’s big day.

Available in shops & online now, with a free Euro 2025 wall chart included! They’re spoiling us.
The front cover of issue 455 of iconic football magazine When Saturday Comes A close up of the opening paragraph of an article titled ‘From afar’ by Glen Wilson, on the page it’s accompanied by an image of Doncaster Rovers fans invading the pitch in April 2025 to celebrate promotion from League Two.
June 27, 2025 at 2:46 PM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
Odd paragraph in a North Wales News piece about Reform, which suggests two independent councillors in South Wales joined the party having become 'disillusioned'

...disillusioned with their own independence?
A section from a news article about Reform that reads 'He also announced independent councillors Andrew Barry and David Hughes, both members of Merthyr Tydfil council, have joined Reform UK, as they also took to the stage to explain how they had become disllusioned and moved to Reform.'
June 9, 2025 at 2:25 PM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
The choice of image makes this read more like a threat than a promise
An advert for Donny Fest that features the words ‘4 days to go’ and ‘Heather Small will perform’ over an image of singer Heather Small, a Black woman with long straight hair. Small looks angry, pointing a finger skyward as she sings in a microphone, as if she’s saying ‘I will, I fucking will, you know’
June 3, 2025 at 8:45 AM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
Maybe he just had a plug-in alarm clock
Screengrab of a BBC news headline that reads ‘Heathrow chief slept as power outage closed airport, inquiry finds’
May 28, 2025 at 7:34 PM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
The dating app Hinge has introduced AI powered ‘tips to improve your profile’ and, well, let’s just say humour is not in its wheelhouse…
A screen capture from the dating app Hinge in which the app’s in-built AI suggests a change to how a person has answered the prompt ‘Unusual skills’. It suggests changing the answer “Unicycling; Grade 8 bassoon; ice-sculpting; knowing exactly how much spaghetti to cook; singing a note so high it shatters a wine glass; being able to write a killer dating profile... sadly I do not possess any of these” by “considering elaborating on one unusual skill or share a funny story. What's the most surprising reaction you've gotten from your unicycling?”
April 4, 2025 at 6:46 PM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
Haven’t posted any photos of great Welsh football grounds in a while, so to live up to @dannylast.bsky.social’s billing…

Here’s a few from a sunny Saturday at Mynydd Llandegai’s Penrhiw
Two teams of footballers and a referee stand on the edge of the centre circle to observe a minute’s silence, beyond the pitch is the mountainous landscape of Eryri with snow on top of its highest peaks A footballer in maroon volleys a shot over the crossbar from eight yards as a goalkeeper and two defenders in blue look on; beyond the pitch are a white house, a ruined stone outbuilding and the mountainous landscape of Eryri with snow on top of its highest peaks Football match action between a team in blue and a team in maroon; the ball is in midfield. There is a grey village hall pavilion and a small metal grandstand on the side of the pitch; beyond those is the mountainous landscape of Eryri with snow on top of its highest peaks A corner flag on a football pitch, surrounded by a low metal barrier on which a couple of advertising boards hang. Beyond these is the mountains of the Carneddau, they look yellow in the sun with the shadows of clouds drifting over them.
March 5, 2025 at 11:51 AM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
The bus stop in Mynydd Llandygai is well stocked…
although it doesn’t suggest your wait for a bus will be brief
March 2, 2025 at 11:24 AM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
It remains my go-to question for any scenario… although that’s not really panned out well for me on dating apps tbf
Screenshot of a dating app profile on which the prompt ‘The one thing I’d love to know about you is’ has been answered “Did you insinuate my wife was a prostitute on the Plymouth Herald comments section?”
February 28, 2025 at 1:52 PM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
Attention culture lovers!

Today @southbankcentre.bsky.social launches 'The Tonic', a new content-only email newsletter.

It's something I've pushed for pretty much since I joined the place and I'm delighted to see it finally realised.

Check out issue 1, here: tracking.wordfly.com/view?sid=MTE...
An illustration of a yellow envelope from which the words 'The Tonic' are emerging.
February 7, 2025 at 10:06 AM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
Joined the ‘Nextdoor’ app to help find a local tradesman and it is certainly something…
A post on the Nextdoor app from a user that reads “A few minutes before o clock today there was an enormous noise over Craig y Don as two very low flying jet aircraft flew over Craig y Don. Was this something to do with Trumps re-election, was the Senedd involved in some way. I think we should be told.”
January 26, 2025 at 8:09 PM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
I went to see the excellent exhibition, ‘The 80s: Photographing Britain’ at @tate.bsky.social Britain last month.

The photograph in the 4th image here really hit me. It’s not the most spectacular in the exhibition, but it was taken in the village I grew up in, when I was two years old...
In a gallery space an older man sits on a bench in front of a landscape photograph, around him other visitors look at photographs hung on the white walls A woman looks at a collection of black and white photographs hung in a grey gallery wall. The woman and the photos are reflected in the top surface of a glass vitrine in the foreground. Two black and white photographs on a grey gallery wall adjacent to a doorway; through the doorway additional colour photographs can be seen in the white walls of the adjoining gallery space. A black and white photograph on a gallery wall. The photograph depicts a march of striking miners and supporters in the village of Rossington in 1985. The march is led by women two of whom are holding aloft a banner of ‘Rossington women’s support group’.
January 19, 2025 at 4:08 PM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
I dedicate this pint to the four West Walian women who chose to have three separate lengthy chats with our already late bus driver meaning I missed my train and had an hour to kill in Bangor…
May your drive home to Aberystwyth be plagued by lengthy and poorly signposted diversions
A pint of bitter in a glass from the Purple Moose brewery on a table in a small bar
January 18, 2025 at 6:22 PM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
As a kid, I hated that there were ‘loads of old films’ on the tv over Christmas… now it’s one of the things I love most about it. Especially as they get added to iPlayer.

Casablanca, Strangers on a Train, The Big Sleep, Dial M for Murder, North by Northwest all helping kill cold January nights
A television screen on which is the title card for the film North by Northwest
January 11, 2025 at 8:05 AM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
Is… Is Duolingo offering me out?
A screen capture from language learning app Duolingo with the Welsh ‘Wyt ti eisiau pel ddu?’ and its English translation ‘Do you want a black ball?’
December 28, 2024 at 5:17 PM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
In the latest issue of @alternativewales.bsky.social I’ve tried to cram two decades of watching #WalesAway into 850ish words.
I’ve probably done as good a job as anyone could.

Get your copy now. Makes a great* late Christmas present.

(*views of recipients may differ)
An open copy of Alternative Wales on a table top. The magazine is open on a two-page spread titled ‘Finding Love in a Hopeless Place’ though the article copy is blurred out. There is a large image on the spread of soggy Wales fans in the open away end in Zenica in Bosnia Herzegovina in 2015.
December 18, 2024 at 6:06 PM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
Had to leave a WhatsApp group of mates planning the logistics of getting to Wales football matches, because I can't envisage a point where I'll be able to afford to go to any of them, and I don't want that disappointment to manifest into resentment of good people having a good time.
A screenshot of a tweet by Carl Anka that reads 'The rising price of 'everything' makes you feel as if you've gone backward in the key areas of your life. It's frustrating and maddening'.
December 17, 2024 at 10:05 AM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
For the latest issue of @wsc.co.uk I was asked to write about Doncaster Rovers’ former home ground Belle Vue.

I probably could’ve written a book, but mercifully for all involved, they kept me to 875 words.

It’s available in all good newsagents, and some ropey ones, now.
An open two page spread from When Saturday Comes issue 449. They feature an article titled ‘Belle Vue, 1922-2006’ written by Glen Wilson. There are five images of the old football ground - former home of Doncaster Rovers - across the spread. The text of the accompanying article is blurred out in a desperate effort to make people buy print magazines.
December 11, 2024 at 6:13 PM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
For all the huge names and stars the Southbank Centre manages to attract, it’s in its free and community events programme that it is at its absolute best.

Huge props and respect to my colleagues behind events like today’s joyous Simmer Down
December 6, 2024 at 5:36 PM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
But… but it has to… the track doesn’t go any further.
A graphic that reads ‘Disruption alert, the 7.40 train won’t stop at London Euston’
December 1, 2024 at 6:52 PM