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George McKay

@georgemckay.bsky.social
412 followers 277 following 97 posts

Prof Media Studies. Writes about popular music, festival, disability, jazz, peace, protest, gardening, + most recently Oxford Handbook of...Punk Rock. Charcot Marie Tooth. Plays music: double bass, bands (jazz)

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Reposted by George McKay
Campaign for Disability Justice @campaignfdj.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
If there's a news story about Disabled people, Disabled people should be part of it. It's obvious, right? But research being shared for the very first time shows that stories about Disabled people rarely include us. Find out what's going wrong, and how CDJ is putting it right: buff.ly/KPZTJZl
Exclusive. What press reports say about disabled people. An icon of a megaphone.
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Norwich Cycling Campaign @norwichcycling.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Dom Whiting, the Drum and Bass DJ on a Bike, will be coming to Norwich this Sunday! The ride starts at 2pm in Chaplefield Gardens. Be there! More details: domwhiting.co.uk/events/dnb-n...
Poster advertising Drum & Bass on the Bike, Norwich, Sunday 4th October.
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National Library of Scotland @natlibscot.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
We're hiring! We're looking for passionate, skilled people to help us preserve and share Scotland's cultural heritage.
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Julie's Bicycle @juliesbicycle.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
We’re looking for an exceptional, values-led Chief Executive to lead JB into our next chapter. This is a unique opportunity to boldly lead our organisation with imagination, clarity & care as we turn the power of culture into meaningful climate action. Deadline 18 Oct >> tinyurl.com/2zz96uau
The text reads - Could you be our new Chief Exec? With the JB logo in the top corner and an image of a musician performing with decks.
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George McKay @georgemckay.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
I’d definitely like to hear Mark E Smith’s cover of Madonna’s ‘Material girl’, mentioned here as the music he was working on when he died www.theguardian.com/music/2026/s...
theguardian.com
‘Love and respect’ or ‘a cash grab’? The furious battle over the final album by the Fall
Creators of Post Script, made with vocals by the late Mark E Smith, defend it as ‘a great, positive record’, but fiancee describes it as ‘ethically wrong’
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Association for Scottish Literature @asls.org.uk · 21/09/2026
Listen to Jackie Kay read “George Square” on the Poetry Archive #peace #poem #poetry poetryarchive.org/poem/george-...
poetryarchive.org
George Square - Poetry Archive
My seventy seven year old father Put his reading glasses on To help my mother do the buttons On the back of her dress. ‘What a pair the two of us are!’ my mother said, ‘Me with my sore wrist,...
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Association for Scottish Literature @asls.org.uk · 21/09/2026
My seventy-seven-year-old father put his reading glasses on to help my mother do the buttons on the back of her dress… —Jackie Kay, “George Square” from LIFE MASK, @bloodaxebooks.bsky.social 2005 Today, 21 September, is the International Day of Peace #peace #poem #poetry www.un.org/en/observanc...
George Square
by Jackie Kay

My seventy-seven-year-old father
put his reading glasses on
to help my mother do the buttons
on the back of her dress.
‘What a pair the two of us are!’
my mother said, ‘Me with my sore wrist,
you with your bad eyes, your soft thumbs!’

And off they went, my two parents
to march against the war in Iraq,
him with his plastic hips, her with her arthritis
to congregate at George Square where the banners
waved at each other like old friends, flapping,
where they’d met for so many marches over their years,
for peace on earth, for pity’s sake, for peace, for peace.
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George McKay @georgemckay.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Currently losing the will to live as I try to get a functioning computer to allow me to do my final prepping for next week’s start of the year’s teaching
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George McKay @georgemckay.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Tangential Trio back in NR3, Urban Lounge, Magdalen Road, Thursday early evening 7-9pm #norwichmusic
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Daniel C. Blight @danielcblight.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
***URGENT PLEASE SHARE*** University of Brighton management have announced today that they ‘give notice of termination of all collective agreements’. This is a fundamental erasure of workers' rights. Management have announced the termination of all contractual documents, which includes:
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Campaign for Disability Justice @campaignfdj.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
News stories usually quote someone who's been through the issue they're discussing, but Disabled people are often invisible in our news. We’re asking the press to let us speak, and tell the real story about Disabled people’s lives.
People who've experienced something understand it best. Let us speak. Only 11% of news stories about disabled people quote a disabled person. A pie chart showing 11% highlighted in red. The logo of the Campaign for Disability Justice.
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George McKay @georgemckay.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Shocked & saddened to hear of the death too young of Cassandra Wilson, who was for a while really the best jazz singer, and with quite brilliant musicians around her. Was just dancing to Drunk as Cooter Brown with my wife in our van last Saturday night XXX youtu.be/QDAj17T_Ukk?...
youtu.be
Cassandra Wilson - Drunk As Cooter Brown
YouTube video by Tim Parker
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Disability Arts Online @disabilityarts.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
💻 @together2012cic.bsky.social is seeking a disabled creative intern to help produce inclusive online events, from artist booking and access support to audience engagement and evaluation. Closes: 09 Sept Location: UK Pay: London Living Wage disabilityarts.online/opportunity-...
An individual Jobs & Opportunities listing graphic with a blue background, a yellow megaphone illustration and white text that reads: DAO Listings, Jobs & Opportunities. A teal rectangle contains the listing details: Creative internship: Online Events Producer, Together! 2012 CIC, UK, London Living Wage, Closes 9 Sept 2026. At the bottom, white text reads: Find this listing and more at disabilityarts.online/opportunities.
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Paul Bassett Davies @thewritertype.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Dear government, don’t send startling, high-pitched alerts about wildfires to ordinary people's phones. Send them to the CEOs of fossil fuel companies and make them impossible to switch off until they stop the destructive plunder that's contributing to climate change.
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Cold War Steve @coldwarsteve.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
The Haywain 2026
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George McKay @georgemckay.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Personalised number plates on cars are naff ofc, but oof this one! Agree, fellow bassists? #bassace
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George McKay @georgemckay.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
The view from near our caravan this evening at Dunwich Heath, Suffolk, 2 1/2 hours before our warden drove round the park to say we should all evacuate …
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George McKay @georgemckay.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
If you are @latitudefestival.bsky.social this weekend do come & hear me in conversation with festival director & head of #festivalrepublic Melvin Benn, a collab event with @uniofeastanglia.bsky.social Sunday 12.50 The Listening Post #20yearsoflatitude
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Association for Scottish Literature @asls.org.uk · 17/07/2026
jack an jill went up thi hull “tay huv a wee refreshmint” guess whut —From Tom Leonard’s INTIMATE VOICES 1965–1983 (Galloping Dog Press, 1984) #poem #poetry #GlasgowFair #KeepTheHeid
jack an jill
went up thi hull
“tay huv a wee refreshmint”


guess whut
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George McKay @georgemckay.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
I attended online the editorial board meeting of the @journals.sagepub.com DIY, Alternative Cultures & Society last week, edited by the brilliant Andy Bennett & Paula Guerra. This slide popped up to my surprise and delight, woohoo #waspunkdiy
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Disability Arts Online @disabilityarts.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
@iaponline.bsky.social is offering an 18 month role for a Sensory Producer to join the Sensory Collective and support a team of 4 artists co-creating multi-sensory arts projects. Closing: 24 August 2026 Location: Edinburgh Pay: 32K FTE disabilityarts.online/opportunity-...
Independent Arts Projects logo in black
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elia ayoub @ayoub.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Jesus. 35 UK universities quietly- without debate - joined the Ministry of Defence’s “Battlefield Alliance” which seeks to “reorientate academia towards Defence and National Security” They’re destroying the social sciences and humanities while militarising the institutions
• Durham University
• Newcastle University
• Northumbria University
• Lancaster University
• University of Cumbria
• University of Lancashire
• University of Liverpool
• University of Manchester
• University of Huddersfield
• University of Sheffield
• University of York
• Loughborough University
• University of Lincoln
• University of Nottingham
• Aston University
• University of Birmingham
• University of Warwick
• King's College London
• Kingston University
• Queen Mary University of London
• University College London
• University of Oxford
• University of Portsmouth
• University of Surrey
• University of Bath
• University of Bristol
• University of Exeter
• University of Plymouth
• University of Edinburgh
• University of Glasgow
• University of Strathclyde
• Cardiff University
• Swansea University
• Queens University Belfast
• Cranfield UniversityFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
14 July 2026
UK Universities Betray Public Trust by Joining MoD's 'Battlefield Advantage' Alliance
Without Debate
A coalition of campaign groups has accused UK universities of quietly integrating themselves into Britain's defence infrastructure after 35 institutions signed up to the Ministry of Defence's Defence Universities Alliance (DUA).
The Ministry of Defence says the alliance aims to "reorientate academia towards Defence and National Security", strengthen links between universities and the defence sector, and translate research into "battlefield advantage".
Campaigners say the move represents a significant shift in the role of higher education and has taken place without meaningful public debate.
Among the founding members are the University of Oxford, University College London, King's College London, the University of Manchester, the University of Edinburgh, Cardiff University and Queen's University Belfast.
"We are witnessing the formal incorporation of Britain's universities into the defence ecosystem," said Jinsella Kennaway, Founder and Executive Director of Demilitarise Education.
"The Ministry of Defence is explicit about its intentions. Universities exist to advance knowledge and foster critical inquiry, not to become pipelines for military research and defence recruitment.
Students and staff deserve to know who agreed to this and why."
Campaigners are calling on all 35 universities to publish the governance documents and board minutes relating to their decision to join the alliance, and to explain whether staff and students were consulted.
Many UK universities already maintain relationships with major defence companies, including BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, Leonardo, Thales, Lockheed Martin and QinetiQ. Critics argue that the DUA formalises and accelerates the integration of academia, industry and the state.
The coalition warns that, at a time of rising defence spending, universities risk becoming increasingly aligned with governme…
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Association for Scottish Literature @asls.org.uk · 14/07/2026
Robbie Coltrane reads “The Tree of Liberty” on BBC Sounds 🇫🇷 #BastilleDay #C18 #C19 #poem #poetry 2/3 www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p...
bbc.co.uk
BBC Radio Scotland - The works of Robert Burns, The Tree of Liberty
A poem by Robert Burns.
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Mat Fraser @matfraser.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
If you're in London, come along! I'll be on the punk and disability panel on the 19th, and the whole wknd is a must for crip film folks x
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Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
LRB is my subscription that humbles me the most
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Liesbeth Corens @onslies.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
This petition needs as many signatories as the Exeter one. Please sign and share — don’t let Hertfordshire managers get away with this just because a Russell Group one took the spotlight. #UKHE
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Francesca Stavrakopoulou @proffrancesca.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
I’d love it if you’d sign this. It might not prevent me and my colleagues losing our jobs, but it will draw attention to the ideological vandalism being perpetrated by the wealthy execs running our university. Stop Redundancies at the University of Exeter - sign the petition below! c.org/NpvY4sR9gH
c.org
Sign the Petition
Stop Redundancies at the University of Exeter
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Adam Tranter @adamtranter.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
If you're in the UK and looking at this, thinking "This doesn't look like a very good thing", please do head to pavementoverload.com and support the campaign (you can send a letter to your MP).
pavementoverload.com
Pavement Overload | Britain's Pavements Are Not For Sale
Delivery robots are operating on Britain's pavements with no law to permit them. The Living Streets Pavement Overload campaign is demanding Government action to protect pedestrians and public space.
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Adam Tranter @adamtranter.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Humans should not be forced off pavements by delivery robots, but that's exactly what's happening. The people who pay the price are those with the least room to give it up.
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Disability Arts Online @disabilityarts.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
💬Have you got a disability arts story to tell? We’ve just opened a call out for our new project ‘Cripping Culture: A Journey into Disability Arts Heritage’ – and we want to hear from you. disabilityarts.online/magazine/new...
A teal background with a black and white photo of a group of disabled performers in a chorus line. Text above reads: Cripping Culture: A Journey into Disability Arts Heritage, Get involved. Text below the image reads: Share your memories. Find out more at disabilityarts.online/cripping-culture
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Andy Page @vonzipperuk.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
@cerysmatthews.bsky.social 👀
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Frances Ryan @francesryan.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
The DWP’s own guidance says disabled people with lifelong and progressive conditions should not be reassessed more than once a decade – but the data shows these rules aren’t being followed. “Each time I have less fight left. They take lumps out of you,” Steve, who has a brain injury, told me.
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University of East Anglia (UEA) @uniofeastanglia.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
A new documentary, 'A Basket Full of Eggs', from UEA and Patrin Films, reveals the often “anonymous” Gypsy, Romani and Traveller singers who helped shape British folk music. Read more: bit.ly/4wVivcz #GypsyRomaTravellerMonth
A person is looking at an open book in a library, pointing to a page with a black-and-white photograph. Shelves filled with books are visible in the background.
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johnglenn.bsky.social @johnglenn.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
He also took an anti-apartheid stance. ayewellhmm.wordpress.com/2021/01/23/g...
ayewellhmm.wordpress.com
George Formby; Anti-Apartheid Hero
Yes, you read that title right! After blogging about how my neighbours and friendly rivals the Wiganers came by the name ‘pie eater’ earlier in the week, I thought I’d shed the sp…
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Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
"One thing is for sure – a heritage crime is being committed here and it stinks."
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Gregory Norminton @gregorynorminton.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
The RHS Chelsea Hard Landscaping Show begins today. Sponsored by Range Rover, Britain's most polluting car brand. I'd rather sit out in my own garden, thanks.
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Association for Scottish Literature @asls.org.uk · 18/05/2026
See thon raws o flint arraheids in oor gret museums o antiquities awful grand in Embro – Dae’ye near’n daur wunner at wur histrie? Weel then, Bewaur! The museums of Scotland are wrang… —Kathleen Jamie, “Arraheids” from SELECTED POEMS (Picador 2018) A #poem for #InternationalMuseumDay
Arraheids
by Kathleen Jamie

See thon raws o flint arraheids
in oor gret museums o antiquities
awful grand in Embro –
Dae’ye near’n daur wunner at wur histrie?
Weel then, Bewaur!
The museums of Scotland are wrang.
They urnae arraheids
but a show o grannies’ tongues,
the hard tongues o grannies
aa deid an gaun
back to thur peat and burns,
but for thur sherp
chert tongues, that lee
fur generations in the land
like wicked cherms, that lee
aa douce in the glessy cases in the gloom
o oor museums, an
they arnae lettin oan. But if you daur
sorn aboot an fancy
the vanished hunter, the wise deer runnin on;
wheesht … an you’ll hear them,
fur they cannae keep fae muttering
ye arnae here tae wonder,
whae dae ye think ye are?
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CRIPtic Arts @cripticarts.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
Are you a wheelchair user aged 18 to 30? Want to help shape our new programme? 🎭 Join our Project Board for Embark! 🎉 Fee: £1,000 per person. Time commitment: 6 meetings across the year, plus a handover meeting in 2027 Location: Zoom Deadline: Fri 5 June cripticarts.org/embark-2026/
A graphic with text reading "Join our project board" digitally imposed behind a photo of Dr Jessi Parrott in a rehearsal room. Jessi, a white person with short brown hair, is in their powered wheelchair wearing rainbow dungarees. They look off camera with a smile across their face.
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Natalia Cecire @ncecire.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Academic departments deserve to be saved, supported, resourced, allowed to grow even if they're not "best in the country," "first in the REF," "top-ranked," "at a Russell Group uni," or whatever other austerity-brained nonsense senior managers have been using to flimflam you out of solidarity
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Jo Grady @drjogrady.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
Yesterday Kier Starmer announced Labour will nationalise British Steel, and save 2700 jobs. Today, the Uni of Nottingham put 2700 staff at risk of redundancy. This is just one university. Across the UK 15,000 higher education jobs need saving. Where is the rescue package for our universities?
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George McKay @georgemckay.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
Lovely day for the welcome weekend of @nnfest.bsky.social in Norwich!
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George McKay @georgemckay.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
Today marks 30 years since the publication of my first book, Senseless Acts of Beauty. Here’s a photo from the launch party (!) in London, with my brilliant editor Malcolm Imrie (centre) and me (left). Still in print! well, POD. @versobooks.bsky.social #youreonlyasgoodasyourfirstbook
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George McKay @georgemckay.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
Researching links between beliefs & music this morning I come across this #exaggeratedbass
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Aparna Nair @disabilitystor1.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
apparently Wikipedia has more rigorous standards than every university on the planet, university administrators, edtech enthusiasts, (certainly more than) AI bros, several prominent academic journals, and too many professors and teachers
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Andy Tattersall @andytattersall.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
If you are part of a university or UK facing research organisation, publisher, funder, learned society and they are still posting on X - they're in a rather uncomfortable minority now. Perhaps point them to the eXit. My piece for the @lseimpactblog.bsky.social blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsoci... 1/3
An infographic with weighing scales showing that the majority of universities not on X outweigh those still using the platform
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Claire E. Aubin @ceaubin.com · 03/03/2026
I have seen a lot of cursed stuff in my time in academia but this is among the *most* cursed. Grammarly is generating miniature LLMs based on academic work so that users can have their writing ‘reviewed’ by experts like David Abulafia, who died less than two months ago.
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Observations of Deviance @obsofdeviance.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
The Jazz Pictures the FBI Silenced @hyperallergic.com hyperallergic.com/the-jazz-pic...
Lisette Model, “Afterparty in Marshall Stearns’s hotel room with Ollie McLaughlin and others, Newport, Rhode Island, July 5-7” (1956) (© Lisette Model Foundation; courtesy Eakins Press Foundation/Baudoin Lebon)

Model was eager to publish these images as a book, a relatively unusual move at the time, given that the fine art photo book didn’t become a mainstream practice until the 1970s. In 1952, she commissioned Langston Hughes to write an essay for it, though this was never completed — her project came to an abrupt halt as the 1950s Red Scare reached a fever pitch. As Sands explains, she, like many fellow Jewish refugees in the New York City jazz scene (including the founders of Blue Note Records), was an outspoken leftist. Furthermore, jazz was the site of radical integration, as Model’s images of a jubilant, racially mixed 1956 party, for example, demonstrate. Laying out the “racialized dynamics” of McCarthy’s attacks, Sands explains “how deeply McCarthyist red-baiting was intertwined with anti-Black racism” as he persecuted civil rights champions under the guise of fighting Communism.
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Rick McLaughlin @rickmclaughlin.com · 20/02/2026
Very interesting, but probably just to bassists. Charlie Haden talking about his bass, and about basses in general, as well as talking about some of the challenges of touring with a bass. #music #musicsky #jazzmusic #jazzsky #doublebass www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFXM...
youtube.com
Charlie Talks About His Bass (Live)
YouTube video by Charlie Haden - Topic
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Disability Arts Online @disabilityarts.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
Matthew Bourne's New Adventures are looking for a Development Officer to support Matthew Bourne’s artistic vision by working to maximise voluntary income. Closing - 09 Mar Location - London ££ - £33K-£35K disabilityarts.online/opportunity-...
Red capital letters spelling New Adventures with a slash between the two words
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Jason Sanford @jasonsanford.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
Check out my report from last year for more on these book club scams and how they work. 5/ www.patreon.com/posts/genre-...
patreon.com
Genre Grapevine: Book Club Scams Are a Warning of Emerging AI Super-Scams | Jason Sanford's Genre Grapevine
Get more from Jason Sanford's Genre Grapevine on Patreon
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