Ben Taylor

Weekend - Deadly Russian drone strike hits Kyiv as peace talks loom - BBC Sounds Russian drone strike hits Kyiv as negotiators head to Washington amid Yermak's exit

I've just been interviewed on the BBC World Service about the situation in Tanzania. I think anyone who is interested can listen back with this link, from 26 mins 52 seconds www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Tanzania After October 29, 2025: Reclaiming the Island of Peace - The Chanzo If we truly want to prevent another crisis like October 29, we must start not with more police, but with conscience. Peace is not enforced by guns; it is cultivated through fairness.

Tanzania After October 29, 2025: Reclaiming the Island of Peace, by my #Twaweza colleague, Baruani Mshale
thechanzo.com/2025/11/10/t...

After the coronation In Tanzania, the Gen Z uprising meets a state whose old bargains have collapsed.

In Tanzania, the Gen Z uprising meets a state whose old bargains have collapsed.
africasacountry.com/2025/11/afte...

What Went Wrong in Tanzania? How the “island of stability” in a turbulent region descended into chaos—and where it goes from here.

What Went Wrong in Tanzania?
How the “island of stability” in a turbulent region descended into chaos - and where it goes from here.

foreignpolicy.com/2025/11/06/t...

What Went Wrong in Tanzania? How the “island of stability” in a turbulent region descended into chaos—and where it goes from here.

My two cents on the mess in Tanzania:

foreignpolicy.com/2025/11/06/t...

people have no idea what time is. They think it's a line, spinning out from three seconds behind them, then vanishing just as fast into the three seconds of fog just ahead. They can't see that time is one spreading ring wrapped around another, outward and outward until the thinnest skin of Now depends for its being on the enormous mass of everything that has already died.

That fella Powers is more than a little bit of genius

Jane Goodall and Greta Thunberg sharing a look of real affection and respect.

Glad you liked it

And a few more for good measure #NewMills

And I took my camera out this time, not just my phone, which brings the bunnies into range

More from #NewMills. It's quite pretty round here.

What I found on my walks around #NewMills this week: badger up close, fox cubs at a distance, many many rabbits (not shown), and some distant glimpses of Manchester

Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.

Henry W Longfellow

3/3

I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong
That it can follow the flight of song?

2/3

The Arrow and the Song.

I SHOT an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.

1/3

Stunning here this week #NewMills

The world exists in black and white and green this morning #NewMills

IN THE NAME of the PRESIDENT: MEMOIRS of a JAILED JOURN… Discover and share books you love on Goodreads.

I can't wait to read this: In the name of the President, by my friend Erick Kabendera. All about Tanzania's late strongman leader, President Magufuli, under whom Erick was jailed on dubious charges. My copy is on its way. www.goodreads.com/book/show/22...

Stolen skulls and colonial trauma: the Tanzanians searching for ancestral remains Documentary about families’ mission to return relatives’ remains reveals how pain passes through generations

Now reading: www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

Happy New Year

My walk today was full of such:

My plan for 2025: seek and take joy in the small beauties of nature that surround us #NewMills

Some highlights of today's walk. #Eskdale

Tanzania opposition laments its ‘naivety’ over president as repression intensifies Recent killings and arrests of government critics suggest end of reformist approach under Samia Suluhu Hassan, say political rivals

It's hard to argue with Tundu Lissu's line that President Samia "has done with a smile what Magufuli did with a snarl." #Tanzania

www.theguardian.com/world/2024/d...

Loving the exterior decor at Torr Vale Mill, New Mills.

Absolutely. The Overstory genuinely changed my life. #1

Anything by Richard Powers. His latest, Playground, is brilliant. And there's one about trees.

Ben Taylor - The red fox (Cover) YouTube video by Semitone Studios

I haven't posted much of my music online before, but here's my setting of the wonderful poem Red Fox by @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C_0...