Very sad to hear this, Merril. All good wishes.
28.02.2026 14:20
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Very sad to hear this, Merril. All good wishes.
Glow stick colours deep enough to swallow or shallow asa Blackpool paddle lime-light lifeboat-orange pistachio-ice bruise-mauve
For #fragmentsfriday and @blackboughpoetry.bsky.social @matthewmcsmith.bsky.social:
🙏
Three turquoise poetry books titled Permanence in yellow, a spoon full of plastic multi coloured bits, and in black the names of the Authors, Lesley Curwen and Stephen Paul Wren.
My latest book is Permanence, written with Stephen Paul Wren, a surreal dive into the world of microplastics. @betarish.bsky.social said: 'a series of striking reflections on plastic, how it has shifted from wonder substance to menace.' Published by Atomic Bohemian. DM me for a signed copy.
February is flying by! Time for another Last Saturday cornucopia of poetry! With guests Alan Humm, @corinnaboard.bsky.social @samszanto.bsky.social @missyerem.bsky.social @carmellapoetry.bsky.social and @moiragauthor.bsky.social (tbc)
Online and free! 7.00pm on Saturday 28 Feb. tinyurl.com/y5mhz2bz
Gordon Brown is not a man without faults (and goodness knows the media made it their job to make sure we knew all about them), but he IS a living rebuke to the corrosive idea that all politicians are the same and all corrupt.
‘this is poetry as bright and fleeting as embers’ 🔥
Our Black Bough book of the month is Louise Longson’s ‘The How in the World’ - Hedgehog poetry. Reviewed by @victoriaspires.bsky.social
@louisepoetical.bsky.social @hedgehogpress.co.uk
www.blackboughpoetry.com/book-reviews...
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Just arrived!PERMANENCE
A poetry collaboration on plastics and microplastics from
chemist
Stephen Paul Wren & historical plastics collector Lesley Curwen
@elcurwen.bsky.social published by @
Atomic Bohemian⚡️
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The Legislation Upon winning a general election, a Reform government under Prime Minister Nigel Farage will: 1) Leave the ECHR 2.) Repeal the Human Rights Act and replace it with a British Bill of Rights. 3.) Pass The Illegal Migration (Mass Deportation) Bill: This Bill will: Create a legal duty to remove illegal migrants for the Home Secretary The Bill opens with a blunt obligation for the Home Secretary: "The Secretary of State shall ensure the removal from the United Kingdom of each person who does not have extant leave to remain and is not an Irish citizen or otherwise protected by regulations made under this Act." The following parts of the legislation are introduced on an emergency basis, with an in-built sunset clause after 5 years: Disapply the 1951 Refugee Convention, the UN Convention Against Torture, the Council of Europe Anti-Trafficking Convention (ECAT) Derogation is justified under the Vienna Convention doctrine of state of necessity: Britain faces a national emergency in which uncontrolled illegal migration undermines public order. These treaties will otherwise be used by activist judges to frustrate deportations, even after the repeals of the HRA and ECHR. Create Detention Power Without Hardial Singh Constraints This means illegal migrants can be detained until they are deported. Activist lawyers routinely use Hardial Singh to secure their client's bail, after which the client absconds. If you came to the UK illegally, you are ineligible for asylum. End of story All asylum claims will become inadmissible if made by a person within the Act's scope. If you came to the country illegally, you are ineligible for asylum in the UK. This strips the Home Office, the immigration tribunals and the higher courts of jurisdiction to even consider claims. A claim that cannot be considered cannot suspend removal and therefore, cannot delay a flight. Re-entering after deportation and destroying ID becomes a serious criminal offence Re-entry after deportation will be…
The Operational Plan We will create an enforcement unit called UK Deportation Command, including an Illegal Migrant Identification Centre - harnessing cutting edge data fusion A Reform government will create a cutting edge enforcement data centre to relentlessly identify and detain all illegal migrants in the UK. Using powers granted by the new legislation, it will automatically share data between the Home Office, NHS, HMRC, DVLA, banks and the police. It will power bulk warrants, including mandatory biometric capture during any police encounter. Each power addresses a failure mode observed over the past decade - for example, banks and GP surgeries unaware of a customer's status, or overstayers slipping through because a warrant covered only a single property. Secure Immigration Removal Centres (SIRC) will be built rapidly to detain up to 24,000 Detention capacity for up to 24,000 will be created within 18 months. The Home Office will build Secure Immigration Removal Centres. This will be modular accommodation built in remote parts of the country. Conditions are basic but not punitive: prefabricated two-person rooms, canteen catering, on-site medical suites. Robust perimeters and internal movement controls prevent escapes. This enables detention-on-arrest: no more bail. This capacity would allow for up to 24,000 illegal migrants to be deported per month. Initial Voluntary Return Window A six-month Assisted Voluntary Return window precedes large-scale raids. Illegal migrants will be offered a financial incentive to self-deport. An app will be launched to facilitate this. The Deportation Flights The Home Office will scale up charters to 5 flights per day. To guard against last-minute aircraft unserviceability, the RAF will keep one Voyager aircraft on six-hour 'hot-spare' readiness. If a commercial charter breaks down, detainees can still be flown out that night, preserving operational integrity. The legal reset will mean activist lawyers will no longer be able preven…
The UK version of “Project 2025” by the Reform party includes a British ICE, a concentration camp for 24,000 people, mass surveillance and withdrawing from refugee, anti-torture and anti-trafficking conventions.
It’s on their website. That’s how comfortable fascists are in the UK today.
What would be really useful is if the good folks at @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social War Studies dept put on a series of rapid public lectures towards the end of this term, under the heading 'What the f--- is going on?' They'd sell out.
Excited eager nervous
Thank you! x
Thank you so much!
Light is abundant in Lesley Curwen's 'Valentia Light', offering both protection from and disguising the dangers of an anticipated storm. @elcurwen.bsky.social
Watch it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/lesley-curwe...
#FilmPoem #InkSweatAndTears
Dear Jan, that's quite a line-up of poets. Congratulations on issue nine. I am wondering where I might find submission details for future issues? Thank you and Happy New Year.
Thank you, Dave! Happy festive season to you 🎄
When I Met Jane Austen: each day this week 11.45 & 13.45 @BBCRadio4
250 years after the birth of #JaneAusten, ten writers & thinkers discuss her work, wit & influence - incl @realbaddiel.bsky.social & @valmcdermid.bsky.social in conversation with Paula Byrne www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
Beginning life here with three new poems in Ambient Receiver www.ambientreceiver.org/rebecca-goss
Our hardback Christmas and Winter anthology adorning the Christmas tree.
Packed with festive, poetic gems!
www.blackboughpoetry.com/news
Thank you, Paul.
Three blue poetry books, title Permanence by Lesley Curwen and Stephen Paul Wren, showing a spoon filled with multicoloured blobs of plastic.
Copies of Permanence have arrived! Thanks to co-author Stephen Paul Wren, publisher Atomic Bohemian, and to @betarish.bsky.social and Greta Stoddart for their kind words. Come to our online launch on Thursday! www.eventbrite.com/e/state-of-t...
A starter pack of Journalists on BlueSky featuring @zamirarahim.bsky.social @elcurwen.bsky.social @rosannamcglone.bsky.social and many more. Please follow and repost if you can
Thrilled to be hosting the imminent take-off of @elcurwen.bsky.social & Stephen Paul Wren's collaboration, plus a few poems from my new one and very special guests @jirobb.bsky.social @paulwritespoems.bsky.social and @annasaund.bsky.social 29 Nov at 7.00pm
eventbrite.co.uk/e/last-satur... Join us!
This was such a lovely surprise!Thank you to @catherineredford.bsky.social & @tarawheeler.bsky.social for this vote of confidence 🤩
Wow! This feels like it was an AGE ago ... when in fact, it's been less than a year since this appeared.
My thanks, still, to @matthewmcsmith.bsky.social, @blackboughpoetry.bsky.social, and my former BBC journalist interviewer @elcurwen.bsky.social. 🙏🏼
Never buy leasehold (if you can avoid it) part 94 bit.ly/4qG8soL “escalating charges, poor service quality, opaque fees and a lack of communication” MB these are failings, not alleged failings.
It's not a grassroots working class movement.
"Wherever we looked for prominent flaggers and leaders of this movement, we found people smugglers and sex doll salesmen, people with dubious criminal pasts and people willing to put in a good word for Adolf Hitler."
manchestermill.co.uk/the-men-who-...
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So excited for tomorrow’s Dublin launch @eatthestorms.com Issue V when we will celebrate with some of our wonderful contributors whose stunning work makes this issue so special. It’s been amazing to be subeditor to our phenomenal EIC Damien B Donnelly. Time to Shine Stormers!⭐️🍾 🥂 ⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️
