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Mark Blacklock

@drblacklock.bsky.social
114 followers 115 following 107 posts

Novelist, journalist, lecturer, esotericist. Author of Hinton and I'm Jack. Editor of J.G. Ballard's Nonfiction. markblacklock.com / offaloffaloffal.com

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Reposted by Mark Blacklock
PARIAH PRESS 🍷 @pariahpress.bsky.social · 16h
Pleased to announce on #InternationalTranslationDay that Michel Butor's Passing Time [translated into English by Jean Stewart] has a new trade distributor... Antenne Books, London. Ships worldwide. www.pariahpress.com/product-page... 'The great, lost Manchester novel' #booksky #books #publishing
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Mark Blacklock @drblacklock.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
coming soon: Offal 3 @luketurner.bsky.social
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The Fence @thefence.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Issue 29 Is Here 🌦️ With fiction from William Boyd; more writing from @drblacklock.bsky.social, @jimmymcintosh.bsky.social, Kate Spicer, Precious Adesina, @nivenj1.bsky.social, Leo Robson, Nell Whittaker, @williamasclarke.bsky.social & more, plus illos by @daveyjones.bsky.social. the-fence.com/shop
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Mark Blacklock @drblacklock.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
““It’s all one way, isn’t it? I can have milkshakes chucked in my face, be bashed over the head with placards and that’s all fine. That’s absolutely fine.” As Farage well knows, 2 people who’ve thrown things at him have been convicted of assault. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Victoria Thomas Bowen sentenced for Nigel Farage milkshake attack
The Reform UK party leader was drenched in liquid when he started his constituency campaign in June.
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Mark Blacklock @drblacklock.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
I have fantasised many times about vandalising turnberry specifically. It’s an obscenity that trump quite happily maintains a leisure facility for rich shitbirds in the UK. And if it’s terrorism to do this, then I daydream and applaud terrorist acts.
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Mark Blacklock @drblacklock.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
e.g. "Farage using Christianity 'to stir anti-Muslim feeling', says Robbie Williams"
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Mark Blacklock @drblacklock.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
I can never read headlines about the former archibishop of canterbury Rowan Williams without thinking that Robbie is straying from his lane again.
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Matt Muir @mattmuir.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
I wrote about the weird and vaguely-psychotic test you're asked to take when being recruited by Steven Bartlett - this is quite fun, even if I do say so myself: www.thenewworld.co.uk/matt-muir-ap...
thenewworld.co.uk
Applying for a job with Steven Bartlett – very odd and very revealing
The podcaster and digital marketing man has an unusual hiring style, during which a candidate will learn just as much about him as he does about them
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The Fence @thefence.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Huge new investigation from @coramazov.bsky.social on the Afghan trio who pioneered the model of the 'dodgy shop' that litter Britain's high streets. the-fence.com/article/grav...
the-fence.com
The Graveyard of Empires
Cormac Kehoe went shopping for a souvenir.
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Matt Muir @mattmuir.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Friday! Lunchtime! A special, commemorative Burnham Bounce edition of Web Curios! Share, enjoy, CLICK THE PAIN OF DEFEAT AWAY! webcurios.co.uk/webcurios-17...
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PARIAH PRESS 🍷 @pariahpress.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
We've moved over to Antenne Books to distribute Anthony Burgess' Obscenity & the Arts to worldwide territories. Neat little video too... antennebooks.com/products/obs... #publishing #booksky
antennebooks.com
Obscenity & the Arts
Obscenity & the Arts is the first new work from Anthony Burgess in over twenty years. The story of his struggle with censorship, religious conservatism and a vengeful government on the island of M...
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Karen Dalton Beninato @kbeninato.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Death passes Mitch and eyes Lindsey.
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The Fence @thefence.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Issue 28 Is Here 🤭 With writing from @coramazov.bsky.social, James Ramsden, @heawood.bsky.social, @danielshailer.bsky.social, Lucy Peett, Clive Martin, Zara Meerza, @williamasclarke.bsky.social & many more www.the-fence.com/shop
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Mark Blacklock @drblacklock.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Down with the elitist binface. It’s clear that if this circus is to mean anything we will need a people’s binface. Is it time for General Waste to enter the fray?
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Mark Blacklock @drblacklock.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
I was on The World Tonight last night remembering Humphrey Smith and his works www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
bbc.co.uk
The World Tonight - Kane's rescue act sends England into World Cup last 16 - BBC Sounds
Harry Kane's two late goals against DR Congo spare England from a humiliating exit
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Mark Blacklock @drblacklock.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
More than one, I’d say.
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Mark Blacklock @drblacklock.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Eventful. That’s my analysis. There were events.
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Mark Blacklock @drblacklock.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Farewell Humph. He remained Chairman of Samuel Smiths to the end. A version of my Long Read is in press for the print magazine, so it won't be able to record his death, but I'll raise a pint in The Sun Inn to toast the ending of one era and the beginning of another. Plannings barristers will be sad.
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Alan @alanofthenorth.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Humphrey Smith has died. An endlessly fascinating character, this from @drblacklock.bsky.social remains the go to insight into Humphrey's World. www.theguardian.com/news/2024/de...
theguardian.com
Humphrey’s world: how the Samuel Smith beer baron built Britain’s strangest pub chain
Since the 1970s, Humphrey Smith has acquired scores of pubs and historic properties around the UK. But time after time, he has left the buildings empty. Why has he allowed his empire to moulder?
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Matt Muir @mattmuir.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Friday! Lunchtime! Something to read to distract you from all the very, very boring chat about What The Burnham Win Means! Web Curios! So many links, so little Tedious Westminster Psychodrama! Click! Share! Enjoy! webcurios.co.uk/webcurios-19...
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Mark Blacklock @drblacklock.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
The White Hotel is a special and rare thing. DIY, avant garde, unapologetic, hedonistic and mischievous, everything corporate places can never be but would love to be. I was grateful to have the opportunity to celebrate its decade of achievement and to break the news of its mutation into new arenas.
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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 27/05/2026
Raves, Brecht and re-enacting Diana’s funeral: the White Hotel bows out as the north’s bravest music venue
theguardian.com
Raves, Brecht and re-enacting Diana’s funeral: the White Hotel bows out as the north’s bravest music venue
After 10 years of avant-garde mayhem, the rough-diamond Salford venue is set to close. Its founders look back on their artistic free-for-all and explain how its spirit will continue
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Mark Blacklock @drblacklock.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
wonder at the timing of the future king selling off 20% of the duchy of Cornwall. were I an incoming PM with a big debt bill and a desire to renationalise crucial services, I’d see the disputed duchies as a potential target. windsors not popular, their medieval income clearly unjust. Let’s have it.
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Mark Blacklock @drblacklock.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
I was very excited about The Groucho snapping up Breton Hall, which has been falling into ruin for years, and wrote it up for Off the Fence. But nothing has happened there, and this brilliant piece of reporting begins to explain why.
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Mark Blacklock @drblacklock.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
I love italy so much. I'm going to Bologna on 17th June and I've just had an email back form a restaurant at which i tried to book a table saying it was way too early to reserve and suggesting I get back in touch "a metà giugno"
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Mark Blacklock @drblacklock.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
I do so enjoy a shit cocktail.
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PARIAH PRESS 🍷 @pariahpress.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
The 90s: Art & Fashion at Tate Britain Oct 26 — Feb 27 Featuring images by @stuartlindenrhodes.bsky.social As seen in the two Linden Archives publications so far. www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tat... #photography #photographyexhibition #booksky
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Mark Blacklock @drblacklock.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
Oh deary me this thread has me cackling through tears
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Mark Blacklock @drblacklock.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
great piece
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Mike Bonsall @mbonsall.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
“How the World Declared War on America” In the wilderness of America, JG Ballard foresaw the gangster imperialism of Donald Trump By Mark Blacklock ( @drblacklock.bsky.social ) archive.ph/8T8qc
archive.ph
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The New Statesman @newstatesman1913.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
“How the World Declared War on America” In the wilderness of America, JG Ballard foresaw the gangster imperialism of Donald Trump By Mark Blacklock
newstatesman.com
"How the World Declared War on America"
In the wilderness of America, JG Ballard foresaw the gangster imperialism of Donald Trump
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Henry Dyer @direthoughts.com · 18/03/2026
Fantastic video podcast with @helenpidd.bsky.social and the Today in Focus team talking about Farage on Cameo. Really brilliant editing and presentation of the material we’ve analysed. www.theguardian.com/news/video/2...
theguardian.com
What Nigel Farage will say for money
The Reform UK leader has a lucrative side-hustle sending paid-for Cameo messages. But an analysis of more than 4,000 of them show they include videos for a neo-Nazi group and a rioter. Henry Dyer repo...
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Mark Blacklock @drblacklock.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
whenever these stories come around i wonder what my former editor Jo lamb thinks. We identified Banksy in Bizarre magazine in 2001 in a piece by Jamaican snapper Peter dean rickards. @admiralbooth.bsky.social will back me up on this www.theguardian.com/culture/2026...
theguardian.com
Banksy has been unmasked (again). But does this major Reuters investigation actually tell us something new?
British street artist’s ‘real’ name reported after an investigation stretching from Ukraine to New York and London. Kelly Burke explains all to Nick Miller
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Mark Blacklock @drblacklock.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
“Nine of Farage’s Cameo videos appear to have been recorded on Christmas Day. Four were seemingly recorded on the day of the queen’s funeral, including one produced for a stag do, and another in which Farage made a vulgar sexual reference to “shenanigans” in a cabin and “Deez Nuts”.”
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Paul Prudence @mrprudence.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
Guy Debord and Asger Jorn Mémoires, 1959 Famously wrapped in a détournement of sandpaper to rub any books near to it, up the wrong way.
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Paul Prudence @mrprudence.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
Robert Smithson's secrets of the ambulatories....
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Mark Blacklock @drblacklock.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
This was my absolute favourite from the last issue. I walk the dog sometimes across the river Wharfe from Heselden's estate near to Boston Spa. I had heard of his unfortunate demise, but had no idea of his amazing life. What a mensch.
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Will Davies @will-davies.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
Fascinating insights to the ideological and biographical rumblings in the background of Anthropic/Hegseth fight from @maxread.info open.substack.com/pub/maxread/...
open.substack.com
What Anthropic's fight with the Pentagon tells us about the politics of Silicon Valley
Trying to make sense of the conjuncture
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Henry Dyer @direthoughts.com · 27/02/2026
pipeline from @thefence.bsky.social to guardian going strong
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Mark Blacklock @drblacklock.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
A bandcamp debut! offalindustries.bandcamp.com/album/an-alb...
offalindustries.bandcamp.com
An Alboniad, by Offal Industries
2 track album
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Henry Dyer @direthoughts.com · 27/01/2026
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood citing the work of dystopian cyberpunk author William Gibson to justify more facial recognition vans
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Henry Dyer @direthoughts.com · 07/01/2026
Updated again: www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Nigel Farage’s shifting answers on school-days racism claims – a timeline
Reform UK leader’s responses to allegations of racist and antisemitic behaviour at Dulwich college have varied over time
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Mark Blacklock @drblacklock.bsky.social · 23/12/2025
New episode of Offal. Support underground cloning and pirate AI slop. Macca and Linda, Kenneth Williams reads Richard Milward, Antichrist clone circle jerk plus Manning, Rickman, Burton. All the greats. Keep it locked. steady.page/en/offal/pos...
steady.page
Offal #31 – Lubricate Reality With Dreams (A Finale)
In the archive of glitched intentions, beneath the floorboards of your browsing history, we found your secrets— wrapped in greaseproof memory, flickering in the dying…
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Mark Blacklock @drblacklock.bsky.social · 20/12/2025
Train journey to town with the beloved to go see The Spy Who Came in From the Cold and onto drinks party with auld pals means 2 hours with @thefence.bsky.social and the joy of a @williamasclarke.bsky.social quiz
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The Fence @thefence.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
There is not one, but TWO nominations for The Fence in the @financialtimes.com's list of articles of the year! www.ft.com/content/72d0...
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Mark Blacklock @drblacklock.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
The Fence is extraordinary - funny, brilliant, couldn't be dull if it tried, and read by tastemakers and senior pols alike. I've been very lucky to have pieces in its pages. A sub makes a great xmas present, and this draw has banging prizes. www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/fences-fig...
crowdfunder.co.uk
The Fence's Fighting Fund
Fund the future of British magazines, win something incredible.
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Mark Blacklock @drblacklock.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
Following a long email discussion with a devotee of popular behavioural science, who invokes left- and right-brain, and talks of cut-through, opposing emotions to facts, I'm left wondering: has this branch of psychology essentially wound back the Enlightenment? Paging @thatneilmartin.bsky.social
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davidedgarwolf.bsky.social @davidedgarwolf.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
“This will not be business as usual, but rather business unusual, business unconventional,” said the BVI premier at the start of his tenure. But no one knew quite how unusual it would turn out to be. Today's Guardian long read by @edsiddons.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...
theguardian.com
Walking into disaster: the narcotrafficking scandal that blew up the BVI
The long read: When the new premier of the British Virgin Islands said he needed an armed security detail, his chief of police knew trouble was on its way
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