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Clare Simpson

@claremsimpson.bsky.social
928 followers 726 following 756 posts

Reading, writing, theatre (including theatre reviews for @FringeReview) Finding out there’s life after work. Trustee @opfs

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Reposted by Clare Simpson
LegalAliens Theatre @legalalienstheatre.bsky.social · 15h
Do you want to play a part shaping the future of our company? Join our Board!
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Duncan Hothersall @dhothersall.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Pretty comprehensive endorsement of the proposed scrapping of the triple lock from @resolutionfoundation.org here.
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Damian Barr @damianbarr.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Morning pals. Can someone pass the coffee? Tonight my exhibition previews at the Dick 5-7 - all are welcome! Tomorrow night I’m on in Glasgow with fab @nicolameighan.bsky.social Tickets via @waterstones.bsky.social ❤️ www.waterstones.com/events/an-ev...
waterstones.com
An Evening with Damian Barr | Events at Waterstones Bookshops | Waterstones
Events at Waterstones get you closer to the books and authors you admire most. Find information and tickets about An Evening with Damian Barr today.
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The Empty City @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Happy Autumnal Equinox. Six months now until we have this much daylight again.
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Books,Craic,Cake @bookscraiccake.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Thought I’d share this site for mapping memorials for women in Scotland. It’s populated with information and biographies for the memorials they have listed and more can be added. womenofscotland.org.uk
womenofscotland.org.uk
Putting Scotland's Women on the Map | Mapping Memorials to Women in Scotland
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Paul Whitelaw @paulwhitelaw.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Here's something: Dennis Potter's rarely seen Play for Today from 1974, Schmoedipus, will be repeated on BBC Four on Wednesday 7th October at 10pm. It's their tribute to Tim Curry, who stars alongside Anna Cropper and Bob Hoskins. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p...
bbc.co.uk
BBC One - Play for Today, Series 4, Schmoedipus
A strange young man turns up on Elizabeth’s doorstep and makes a frightening claim.
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Andy Arthur💃🏰⚓🦌 Threadinburgh 🧵 @threadinburgh.scot · 23/09/2026
The actual best website on the internet by a country mile.
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Pete Fraser @petefrasermusic.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
A century 🎂
John Coltrane, holding a tenor saxophone
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Tom Freeman @tomfreeman.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
I mean, any time now would be good. If it's not too much trouble
Headline: "‘Outright racist’ Daniel Thomas will face full force of law over any crimes, says home secretary"
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Holyrood @holyroodmag.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
The number of children living in temporary accommodation has reached a new record high, new Scottish Government figures show www.holyrood.com/news/view,nu...
holyrood.com
Number of children in temporary accommodation reaches record high
Scottish homelessness statistics published
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Reunite Families UK @rfuk.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
🚨 £5bn. The Home Office made almost £5bn in profit last year from visa, citizenship and immigration fees — more than it gets in corporation tax from energy, gas, water, sewage and hospitality combined. 🧵
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Rob Edwards @robedwards5.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
This is utterly fascinating.
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Doc Sarah Lonsdale @sarahjlonsdale.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Just days to go until the wonderful Wigtown Book Festival with events including poetry reading, writing, nature walks and also...me! I'll be talking about Wildly Different and the ongoing project of writing overlooked women into the history books. A long way to go. share.google/SQAdLCwkfHRu...
share.google
Wigtown Book Festival | Literary festival and events through the year
Our ten-day book festival in Scotland’s National Book Town is part of a year-round programme for readers and writers of all ages in Dumfries and Galloway
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Leana Hosea @leanahosea.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
In New York, as air pollution fell, the toddlers' cognitive processing improved, the study found. In London, ULEZ coincided with improved lung health in children. When elected representatives take action to clean up air, our children benefit from better health: share.google/rnnWnmxNOzWF...
share.google
Improved air quality linked to better mental development in toddlers, study finds
Long-term research in New York shows efforts to reduce air pollution associated with higher cognitive test scores
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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
I'm pleased this thread has proved so popular it's such an important and relevant bit of history.
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womensartbluesky.bsky.social @womensartbluesky.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
So sad to hear of the death of Bonnie Greer, novelist, broadcaster and hugely inspiration woman. She was a great supporter of this Womensart project & WA books and our chats will be cherished always. A true intellectual & beautiful person. RIP xx
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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 17/09/2026
Annie Dillard, Pulitzer prize-winning author of nonfiction and nature essays, dies aged 81
theguardian.com
Annie Dillard, Pulitzer prize-winning author of nonfiction and nature essays, dies aged 81
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, published when Dillard was 28, skyrocketed her to become one of the most prominent nonfiction writers of her generation
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Heather Burns @heatherburnstech.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Regular reminder that JG Ballard’s final novel, “Kingdom Come” (2006), is about a far-right English town which creates their own militarised breakaway state in a shopping mall, where they worship the gods of St George and consumerism. Old JG wrote it as tongue-in-cheek satire. At the time.
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Katherine Mendelsohn @katherinemend.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Bonnie Greer: British-American author and critic dies at 77
Her husband says the playwright and cultural and political commentator died after a brief illness.
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Marion Davis @mariondavis.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
We need a more progressive tax system in the UK to achieve a fairer society and to eradicate child poverty.
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Clare Simpson @claremsimpson.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Absolutely this. Criticism of some cyclists’ behaviour is not condemnation of them all, nor does it imply ignorance of the greater dangers of cars. (Spoken as someone who was run over by a bicycle breaking both my feet)
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Hassinator @hassinator.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
a great letter in the times today. perhaps worth sharing in these troubled times. #RNLI #heroes
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Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan @london.gov.uk · 13/09/2026
Look up next time you're crossing Trafalgar Square. Perched above the crowds, Lady In Blue brings a fresh perspective to one of London's most recognisable landmarks. A bold new chapter for the Fourth Plinth programme.
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Brian Groom @groomb.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Cranes and Ships, Glasgow Docks, 1947, painting by L.S. Lowry, 1887-1976 (Glasgow Museums Resource Centre).
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Emathion 📯 @emathion.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
The French made a short film about what could happen after all immigrants would follow the ‘white, angry old man’s’ advice to go back where they came from.
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Dee Lomas @deelomas.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
The RNLI volunteer has told us that donations usually run at £20,000 per day. Currently running at £100,000 per day! Bloody brilliant!
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Andrzej Łukowski @mrlukowski.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Ava Pickett was basically unknown two years ago and now she’s fired out her fourth banger – Bloodsport at Stratford East is very good and does not really go where you’re expecting at all www.timeout.com/london/theat...
timeout.com
Bloodsport: After Helen of Troy, Stratford East review: Ava Pickett’s superb new play is a rip-roaring dark comedy set in the aftermath of a British Trojan War
TOWIE meets Blasted by way of the Iliad in this breezily provocative fourth play from rising star playwright Ava Pickett. Bloodsport is both fresh but also plea
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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 11/09/2026
One in nine migratory birds threatened with extinction, global report says
theguardian.com
One in nine migratory birds threatened with extinction, global report says
Findings on decline of species such as Arctic tern and turtle dove published alongside flyways pledge at Kenya summit One in nine migratory birds are threatened with extinction and 45% of migratory species such as cuckoos, turtle doves and Arctic terns are in decline, according to a global report. The migratory slender-billed curlew was officially declared extinct last year, the first global bird extinction in mainland Eurasia and Africa in recent centuries. Worldwide, seven migratory bird species have been confirmed or are suspected to have become extinct over the last 150 years. Continue reading...
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Lee Randall @leerandall.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
And if you can come to Wigtown, please do. Terrific authors and performers are appearing and they warrant your support! As does Scotland’s National Book Town Www.Wigtownbookfestival.com
nationalwww.wigtownbookfestival.com
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Sinéad Gleeson @sineadgleeson.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Such a great festival and a gorgeous setting by the sea. It had such an impact that I based a geographical feature in Hagstone on a local Wigtown landmark (The Martyr's Stake).
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Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
We only went and won it (again) Democracy for Sale specialist newsletter of the year at the Future of the Media awards @lucasamin.bsky.social @jennacorderoy.bsky.social @isabelleroughol.com Thanks so much to all our supporters. If you don’t subscribe, do! 😊 democracyforsale.substack.com
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Writing for Wellbeing @writeforwellbeing.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
🤣😂
Sometimes I like to get all dressed up and pretend I am always this kempt. Shevled. Gruntled. Whelmed. Dare I say, combobulated.
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HOPE not hate @hopenothate.org.uk · 08/09/2026
Tomorrow night, Channel 4 Dispatches airs the findings of a year-long investigation into Tommy Robinson’s finances. Watch it. Then come back here. We’ve got more to show you.
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Eric Columbus @ericcolumbus.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Happy 72nd Birthday to Ruby Bridges, who at the age of 6 desegregated the New Orleans public schools. She’s younger than 30 senators and our last two presidents—and only 7 years older than Barack Obama. The past isn’t past.
Ruby Bridges, age 6Ruby Bridges flanked by three U.S. Marshals on the steps of her schoolNorman Rockwell’s painting depicting the event, “The Problem We All Live With,” originally published as a centerfold in the January 14, 1964 issue of Look magazine. Ruby Bridges talking with President Obama as they look at Rockwell’s painting while it was temporarily displayed at the White House in 2011.
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Lucy Fisher @lucyfisher.ft.com · 08/09/2026
NEW: Britain announces trade ban on goods and some services linked to illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank Plus accuses settlers of “ethnically cleansing” Palestinians in parts of the territory, in a major reset of UK-Israeli relations www.ft.com/content/990e...
ft.com
UK announces import ban on goods linked to Israeli settlements in West Bank
Action planned against companies and individuals involved in settlement expansion, Miliband tells MPs
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Annie, as ever @annieasever.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Donate to the RNLI and help save lives at sea share.google/JNy3j4H1W1nk...
share.google
Donate to the RNLI and help save lives at sea
Your donations really make a difference. We depend on your generosity to educate people to stay safe and prevent tragedies on and offshore. Donate here.
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Heather Clark @heatherjc.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
A date for your diary.
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Raven Books @ravenbooks.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Sometimes we actively encourage you to judge a book by its cover
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Clare Simpson @claremsimpson.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Spontaneous my arse
A bunch of thugs in similar black uniforms- balaclavas, masks and black clothing- queueing for their train home
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Andy Scollick @andyscollick.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Another compilation video from yesterday's fascist paramilitary 'storm' action in #Dover town and at the Port of Dover. #FarRight Some national security-related observations below.
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Dorian Lynskey @dorianlynskey.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
I love this Auden quote I haven't read before: "All good drama has two movements, first the making of the mistake, then the discovery that it was a mistake."
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Lee Hurley @hleehurley.com · 05/09/2026
As gangs of masked men block Dover port, I will just leave this here www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Five Just Stop Oil activists receive record sentences for planning to block M25
Campaigners receive longest ever sentences for non-violent protest after being convicted of conspiracy to cause public nuisance
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Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Apparently it’s because this popped up behind Tice on a timer while he was speaking. So, now they are checking for other protests.
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Ellie Mae O'Hagan @elliemaeohagan.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
I love the dedication in My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinhem
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Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 03/09/2026
Gloria Steinem taught America that sexism is a symptom of a system that can be changed. 

From the fight for equal pay to abortion access and political representation, she showed that progress comes when people organize, build power and refuse to accept inequality as inevitable.

She staged protests, established domestic violence shelters, created a magazine owned and operated entirely by women and helped build a movement that fundamentally changed this country.

Her legacy is the millions of people she inspired to believe that a more just world was possible.

She lived in New York for 70 years. We were lucky to have her. We mourn her loss and will carry her work forward.
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Alex Paknadel from off of comics @alexpaknadel.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Literally when Johnson left to now. Unbelievable. Sadiq really is an all-timer.
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Tom Reagan’s Hat @rufustsuperfly.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
David Bowie as Tilda Swinton, Tilda Swinton as David Bowie
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Maxine Joselow @maxinejoselow.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Outdoor apparel company @patagonia.com just joined conservation and tribal groups to sue President Trump over his move to shrink Bears Ears National Monument in southern Utah by over 1 million acres. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/02/c...
nytimes.com
Patagonia Sues Trump Over Reduction of Bears Ears National Monument in Utah
The outdoor apparel maker joined environmental and Native American groups in challenging President Trump’s reduction of Bears Ears National Monument.
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