Tim Hartley
@timhhartley.bsky.social
Travel, football - Wales and Cardiff, politics, community. Like a bit of humour with my real ale and wine!
Trio gadael y byd yma ychydig yn well na ffeindiais i e. Dyw e ddim wastod yn hawdd cofiwch.
https://www.pitchpublishing.co.uk/shop/world-your-feet
Trio gadael y byd yma ychydig yn well na ffeindiais i e. Dyw e ddim wastod yn hawdd cofiwch.
https://www.pitchpublishing.co.uk/shop/world-your-feet
Phone hacking, intimidation, cover up and criminality. This detailed expose shames not only the Murdochs but also the police, politics and regulators. Beware the concentration of media power and influence. Shocking stuff. And I fear it's still going on.
November 24, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Phone hacking, intimidation, cover up and criminality. This detailed expose shames not only the Murdochs but also the police, politics and regulators. Beware the concentration of media power and influence. Shocking stuff. And I fear it's still going on.
#Kazakhstan's economy is on the up, forging closer ties with China. I returned there after two decades as I followed the #Wales football team and consider how the country has changed. My report on @BBCRadio4 From our own Correspondent is at 1130 today.
November 8, 2025 at 9:37 AM
#Kazakhstan's economy is on the up, forging closer ties with China. I returned there after two decades as I followed the #Wales football team and consider how the country has changed. My report on @BBCRadio4 From our own Correspondent is at 1130 today.
Once allies, a Labour MP and Conservative minister are forced to face their murky past. A tale of power and ambition. Lobbyists, big business and the media are all skewered in this gripping political thriller. Can friendship, loyalty and love survive Westminster?
November 6, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Once allies, a Labour MP and Conservative minister are forced to face their murky past. A tale of power and ambition. Lobbyists, big business and the media are all skewered in this gripping political thriller. Can friendship, loyalty and love survive Westminster?
Just for fun. Some of my portraits down the years
Nagyw bywyd yn braf?
Nagyw bywyd yn braf?
November 4, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Just for fun. Some of my portraits down the years
Nagyw bywyd yn braf?
Nagyw bywyd yn braf?
A group of brilliant students kill a man in a pseudo dionysian frenzy. Do they care? Will Bunny talk? Part coming of age tale, this gothic horror page turner takes us to the heart of darkness. Superbly icky and I'm still asking myself why?
October 21, 2025 at 8:11 AM
A group of brilliant students kill a man in a pseudo dionysian frenzy. Do they care? Will Bunny talk? Part coming of age tale, this gothic horror page turner takes us to the heart of darkness. Superbly icky and I'm still asking myself why?
The innocence of children, nature and me.
Often profound, is it sometimes twee?
God in Man and Man in God.
Not being Christian you may find it odd.
Forgive not forget! Whatever your take.
On balance I think, like me you'll like Blake.
Often profound, is it sometimes twee?
God in Man and Man in God.
Not being Christian you may find it odd.
Forgive not forget! Whatever your take.
On balance I think, like me you'll like Blake.
October 14, 2025 at 10:48 AM
The innocence of children, nature and me.
Often profound, is it sometimes twee?
God in Man and Man in God.
Not being Christian you may find it odd.
Forgive not forget! Whatever your take.
On balance I think, like me you'll like Blake.
Often profound, is it sometimes twee?
God in Man and Man in God.
Not being Christian you may find it odd.
Forgive not forget! Whatever your take.
On balance I think, like me you'll like Blake.
A fatal ballooning accident brings a religious, pathological nutcase into the lives of Joe and Clarissa. He thinks he and Joe are in love and it goes horribly wrong for all three. Is rationality v belief always the best answer? Some great twists of plot if you stick with it.
October 10, 2025 at 12:58 PM
A fatal ballooning accident brings a religious, pathological nutcase into the lives of Joe and Clarissa. He thinks he and Joe are in love and it goes horribly wrong for all three. Is rationality v belief always the best answer? Some great twists of plot if you stick with it.
Josef K faces trial for an unspecified crime. The torturous legal process demonstrates the absurdity of a bureaucracy which internalises guilt. I think it's about totalitarianism or maybe God. Who knows? An unsettling read but I preferred his 'Amerika.'
September 22, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Josef K faces trial for an unspecified crime. The torturous legal process demonstrates the absurdity of a bureaucracy which internalises guilt. I think it's about totalitarianism or maybe God. Who knows? An unsettling read but I preferred his 'Amerika.'
Ambition, ego, money and sex motivate these television rivals as the 80s franchise bidding war begins in rural England. Gloriously vulgar, riddled with snobbery and with characters you hate to love. What a romp. There. You're holiday reading is sorted!
August 18, 2025 at 10:57 AM
Ambition, ego, money and sex motivate these television rivals as the 80s franchise bidding war begins in rural England. Gloriously vulgar, riddled with snobbery and with characters you hate to love. What a romp. There. You're holiday reading is sorted!
A Victorian orientalist, a Yazidi seer, a C21 water scientist and King Ashurbaneepal. The enduring secrets and conflict of Mesapotamia run through the centuries. Exquisite story telling by rounded characters. What an epic journey this book is.
August 5, 2025 at 12:40 PM
A Victorian orientalist, a Yazidi seer, a C21 water scientist and King Ashurbaneepal. The enduring secrets and conflict of Mesapotamia run through the centuries. Exquisite story telling by rounded characters. What an epic journey this book is.
Today's room with a view
Ah the glamour of the #Edinburgh Festival.
Ah the glamour of the #Edinburgh Festival.
August 1, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Today's room with a view
Ah the glamour of the #Edinburgh Festival.
Ah the glamour of the #Edinburgh Festival.
A Californian rich kid defies her family and survives as a nurse in the Vietnam war. But Frankie's ghosts follow her home. The USA in the 70s is wracked with prejudice and sexism and is at war with itself. Great evocation of the period and of a generation in motion. Diolch Helen am hon. #books
July 23, 2025 at 8:01 PM
A Californian rich kid defies her family and survives as a nurse in the Vietnam war. But Frankie's ghosts follow her home. The USA in the 70s is wracked with prejudice and sexism and is at war with itself. Great evocation of the period and of a generation in motion. Diolch Helen am hon. #books
A dysfunctional family leaves London for Margate, but for young Chance love and loyalty are sorely tested. She's just one more victim in this futuristic, apocalyptic vision of Britain. Too near the truth to be fiction? Brilliant writing and characters.
July 17, 2025 at 12:27 PM
A dysfunctional family leaves London for Margate, but for young Chance love and loyalty are sorely tested. She's just one more victim in this futuristic, apocalyptic vision of Britain. Too near the truth to be fiction? Brilliant writing and characters.
A talking cat who badmouths your guests, an ox in the morning room. Tricks, pranks and bonkers house parties. Ladies, generals bishops and butlers. Saki satirises Edwardian England, its manners and propriety in these laugh out loud stories. (I wonder if Wodehouse read him.)
July 2, 2025 at 11:16 AM
A talking cat who badmouths your guests, an ox in the morning room. Tricks, pranks and bonkers house parties. Ladies, generals bishops and butlers. Saki satirises Edwardian England, its manners and propriety in these laugh out loud stories. (I wonder if Wodehouse read him.)
An amoeba in love, a paean to Ceredigion, death in Gaza, President Trump and short nosed elephants in Aberaeron. This eclectic, quirky, Milliganesque collection of poems every so often delivers a punch of sorrow or truth. Da iawn.
June 26, 2025 at 12:38 PM
An amoeba in love, a paean to Ceredigion, death in Gaza, President Trump and short nosed elephants in Aberaeron. This eclectic, quirky, Milliganesque collection of poems every so often delivers a punch of sorrow or truth. Da iawn.
Sourdough. Is it really worth it? £4-50 for a single loaf. Nightmare to cut and you lose a tooth chewing it. #firstworldproblems
June 20, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Sourdough. Is it really worth it? £4-50 for a single loaf. Nightmare to cut and you lose a tooth chewing it. #firstworldproblems
While apartheid South Africa was banned from international sport, football remained a big deal in Robben Island prison. Between beatings and hard labour the game flourished with its own FA, clubs, refs, even player poaching. A remarkable story of so much more than a game. #football #southafrica
June 20, 2025 at 7:51 AM
While apartheid South Africa was banned from international sport, football remained a big deal in Robben Island prison. Between beatings and hard labour the game flourished with its own FA, clubs, refs, even player poaching. A remarkable story of so much more than a game. #football #southafrica
6 year old Mary survives the tortures of an Irish orphanage. Hoping married life in Cardiff will be better she and her
husband arrive during the city's race riots. Evocative pictures of the daily struggles of early C20th life down the docks. But there is beauty amid the drudge.
husband arrive during the city's race riots. Evocative pictures of the daily struggles of early C20th life down the docks. But there is beauty amid the drudge.
June 11, 2025 at 3:00 PM
6 year old Mary survives the tortures of an Irish orphanage. Hoping married life in Cardiff will be better she and her
husband arrive during the city's race riots. Evocative pictures of the daily struggles of early C20th life down the docks. But there is beauty amid the drudge.
husband arrive during the city's race riots. Evocative pictures of the daily struggles of early C20th life down the docks. But there is beauty amid the drudge.
'What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.' (Hitchens) Overlong but persuasive takedown of religious faith. Harris posits that tolerance of moderate religion validates the core beliefs of extremists. Pertinent and not a little scary.
May 21, 2025 at 3:06 PM
'What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.' (Hitchens) Overlong but persuasive takedown of religious faith. Harris posits that tolerance of moderate religion validates the core beliefs of extremists. Pertinent and not a little scary.
Cry freedom of course, but has the democracy movement in Africa's only absolute monarch been killed off? My report from #Eswatini is on Radio 4s @BBCFooC at 1130 this morning.
May 17, 2025 at 6:34 AM
Cry freedom of course, but has the democracy movement in Africa's only absolute monarch been killed off? My report from #Eswatini is on Radio 4s @BBCFooC at 1130 this morning.
It's 1934 and a young man tramps across Spain in the shadow of war. Playing his fiddle and sleeping where he, can he crosses mountains and deserts meeting nuns, beggars and shepherds. Superb travel writing. You simply could not do this kind of journey in the modern age.
May 14, 2025 at 12:09 PM
It's 1934 and a young man tramps across Spain in the shadow of war. Playing his fiddle and sleeping where he, can he crosses mountains and deserts meeting nuns, beggars and shepherds. Superb travel writing. You simply could not do this kind of journey in the modern age.
Khaled and Mustafa get shot at a protest outside the Libyan embassy. As the anti Gaddafi revolution gathers pace they and their writer friend Hosam have to make serious choices. Stay or go back. A beautiful, sweeping story of exile, friendship and what 'return' actually means.
May 8, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Khaled and Mustafa get shot at a protest outside the Libyan embassy. As the anti Gaddafi revolution gathers pace they and their writer friend Hosam have to make serious choices. Stay or go back. A beautiful, sweeping story of exile, friendship and what 'return' actually means.
Who needs more regulation? #Facebook have taken down this pic from my review of a book for going against 'community standards on nudity or sexual activity.' Thoughts?
May 4, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Who needs more regulation? #Facebook have taken down this pic from my review of a book for going against 'community standards on nudity or sexual activity.' Thoughts?