Reposted by Helen BarrettHenri Matisse @henrimatisse.bsky.social · 21/09/2026The Toboggan, 1943 botfrens.com/collections/48/content… 0356
Helen Barrett @helenbarrett.bsky.social · 8h'Girl-pop/soul' compilation from the vaults of Laurie Records, 1985, featuring young Tracey Emin as a retro-retro cover model. 0182
Helen Barrett @helenbarrett.bsky.social · 10hThe worst cover version you've ever heard: I will not be taking questions etc. etc. m.youtube.com/watch?v=JNYX...m.youtube.comJoe Cocker - With A Little Help From My Friends (How It Is, 1968)YouTube video by Joe Cocker 170
Helen Barrett @helenbarrett.bsky.social · 10hThe garden bridge we didn't build next to it cost £43m. www.standard.co.uk/news/london/...standard.co.ukWaterloo Bridge could close 'within four years' with major repairs neededAn inspection of the bridge has found water damage and 2 millimetre cracks, with Westminster City Council asking for £6 million to fund the repairs 0161
Reposted by Helen BarrettOdd This Day @oddthisday.bsky.social · 03/10/20263 October 1840 is sometimes given as the date Sheela-na-gigs were ‘discovered’, but of course the people on whose buildings they appeared had known about them for a while. It’s really the first date they were officially recorded, because as far as anyone knows, they date back centuries (at least) 1616
Reposted by Helen BarrettJim Waterson @jim.londoncentric.media · 03/10/2026There’s a lot of grumbling in London about new flats being sold to Chinese investors. But you never hear from the Chinese buyers. I asked Helen Gao to travel around Beijing property fairs and learn how you sell life in Woolwich to the Chinese elites. www.londoncentric.media/p/london-pro...londoncentric.mediaHow London flats are marketed in ChinaChinese buyers of London homes say they feel like “chives” • Bafflement at Londoners’ love of old homes built during the “Qing dynasty” • Fascination with the enigma of the British electrician 1814445
Reposted by Helen BarrettPeter Ormerod @bowiegod.bsky.social · 03/10/2026I’m delighted to say I’ll be appearing at a few literary festivals this month. It would be lovely to see you if you can make it along to one or more of them - details coming up 131
Reposted by Helen BarrettPaul Eric @pauleric70.bsky.social · 03/10/2026Reporter: "What do you say to those who are struggling to afford gas, groceries, diesel?" Trump: You're losers. It's the greatest. If you're struggling in this economy, you're a loser. There's your midterm messaging from the GOP 🤬🤡🎪 1511468
Reposted by Helen BarrettDavid Quantick @quantick.bsky.social · 02/10/2026Good Lord: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Mxf...youtube.comIt's EasierYouTube video by Stevie Wonder - Topic 3142
Helen Barrett @helenbarrett.bsky.social · 02/10/2026Remind me: where are we up to with Medpro, Michelle Mone and that £60m? 0134
Helen Barrett @helenbarrett.bsky.social · 02/10/2026If you're in the West End today, there's a beautiful collection of Ghanaian and other African record sleeves on show as part of an installation by Harris Elliott in the basement at The Casbah gallery on Little Portland St. 1259
Reposted by Helen Barretteminemerald fennell @fireh9lly.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Here is an interview with Daphne and Celeste following the legendary performance at Reading Festival where they got pelted off stage by Slipknot fans 54011
Helen Barrett @helenbarrett.bsky.social · 02/10/2026Like most Londoners, I take elaborate detours to avoid Oxford Street. But it looks great in photographs. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/01/w...nytimes.comTake a Historic Stroll Down Oxford Street, London’s Shopping Artery (Gift Article)London is making a stretch of the street, long central to the city’s identity and sense of style, car free. 1130
Reposted by Helen BarrettBrian Groom @groomb.bsky.social · 02/10/2026Martin Degville of Sigue Sigue Sputnik having breakfast in a Newcastle B&B, 1986, photo by Homer Sykes. 1224950
Helen Barrett @helenbarrett.bsky.social · 01/10/2026Saw this at a packed screening with Madness last night. It's very, very funny - A Hard Day's Night's scrappy, anarchic little cousin. And a great London film. Restored and on general release this month. 2222
Helen Barrett @helenbarrett.bsky.social · 30/09/2026‘The Sixties never happened in Blackburn.’ www.ft.com/content/4277...ft.comDeep into the Sixties: Britain 1965-66 — David Kynaston’s latest vivid historyThe historian richly evokes the texture of a decade that was often dubbed ‘swinging’ — but was, for many, a time of unsettling change and death of tradition 2235
Reposted by Helen BarrettBrian Groom @groomb.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Buying an ice cream at Yorkshire Miners' Gala, June 1984, photo by Brenda Prince. 08920
Helen Barrett @helenbarrett.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Do read. Patricia is a brilliant journalist. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...theguardian.com‘Online sex workers literally have to bare it all’: why Patricia Nilsson is exposing the world’s biggest porn bossesAs a business journalist, Nilsson began rigorously reporting on the power players of the adult industry, who prefer to remain in the shadows. Along the way, she uncovered how porn has shaped the inter... 010
Reposted by Helen BarrettRock ‘n’ Roll Book Club @rnrbook-club.bsky.social · 29/09/2026📻 Travis Elborough was @RobertElms guest on Saturday discussing The Philosophy of Vinyl. Listen here (1hr 35m in). www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...bbc.co.ukRobert Elms - 26/09/2026 - BBC SoundsEverything you need to know about London from architecture to accents and great music. 143
Helen Barrett @helenbarrett.bsky.social · 29/09/2026"'The film [A Clockwork Orange'] made it easy for readers of the book to misunderstand what it was about, and the misunderstanding will pursue me till I die.’ It’s exactly the kind of killing irony that might bring low a Burgess character." www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...lrb.co.ukIan Penman · AB Fab: Anthony Burgess heads southFor a certain kind of northern man, Burgess has always been – for once the term is apt – something of an icon. A bit... 061
Reposted by Helen BarrettJohnny Mains @johnnymains.co.uk · 28/09/2026Rabies posters - Royal Veterinary College (1980s) 261
Reposted by Helen BarrettMeg @roaringmeg.bsky.social · 28/09/2026#Misericords Christchurch Priory #Hampshire 0112
Reposted by Helen BarrettIan Duhig @ianduhig.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Itō Jakuchū's 'Frog' of 1790 for me is the iconic image of numbed uncomfortable bafflement at the predicament of existence in the coming modern world, much as Munch's 'Scream' expressed it through horror. 121883
Reposted by Helen BarrettCarausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 28/09/2026A Roman mosaic of snails escaping a basket. 🏛️ Basilica Patricale, Aquileia 🇮🇹 🕰️ 4th century AD #MosaicMonday 10476108
Reposted by Helen BarrettHelen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 28/09/2026Beautiful everyday Ladybird things Before the blue Smartie Artist: Harry Wingfield (First Picture Book, 1970) 1261674
Reposted by Helen BarrettSam Leith @questingvole.bsky.social · 28/09/2026On my growing gloom about booksspectator.comThe real reason kids are giving up readingEven popular books are getting shorter and easier to read: their sentences are shorter, their paragraphs are shorter 81311
Reposted by Helen BarrettDan of the Year @downwithdan.bsky.social · 28/09/2026Ah yes the circle of life 14297981639
Reposted by Helen BarrettJohnnie Johnstone @johnniejohnstone.bsky.social · 27/09/2026Salvador Dali at a book signing. Philippe Halsman, 1963. 0318
Reposted by Helen BarrettJohn Grindrod @grindrod.bsky.social · 27/09/2026Had a great time at the Southbank Centre this afternoon talking Brutalism with Noris Obijiaku, Sandy Rattray, Eva Branscome, @samiraahmeduk.bsky.social and Rhael ‘LionHeart’ Cape. Here we are backstage lined up like we’re on Bargain Hunt. Thanks to everyone who came along x 4331
Helen Barrett @helenbarrett.bsky.social · 27/09/2026Can't stop thinking about this story, esp. the co-owner who left to enroll in clown school. www.bostonglobe.com/2026/09/22/m...bostonglobe.comA Western Mass. lesbian bar required KN-95 masks. When it changed the rules, all hell broke loose. - The Boston GlobeLast Ditch Bar in Greenfield wanted to build community. They got a firestorm instead. 191
Helen Barrett @helenbarrett.bsky.social · 26/09/2026This is excellent. Started reading and couldn't stop. 1130
Helen Barrett @helenbarrett.bsky.social · 26/09/2026Have some post-Tropicália from military dictatorship-era Brazil. m.youtube.com/watch?v=G-7U...m.youtube.comSecos & Molhados Sangue LatinoYouTube video by Lost Samba 142
Reposted by Helen BarrettBrian Groom @groomb.bsky.social · 26/09/2026Singer and songwriter Bryan Ferry was born on this day 1945 in Washington, County Durham. 58517
Helen Barrett @helenbarrett.bsky.social · 25/09/2026I'm sure someone will be along to tell me Plastic wasn't a One-Hit Wonder, but this was unimprovable. Extra points for Legs & Co wearing plastic bin-bags and waving baguettes (he was Belgian, oc). m.youtube.com/watch?v=GW7d...m.youtube.comPlastic Bertrand - Ca Plane Pour Moi - Top Of The Pops - Thursday 8th June 1978YouTube video by mymusicfootage 3153
Reposted by Helen BarrettNeil Norman And His Cosmic Orchestra @fubsyshabaroon.bsky.social · 24/09/2026You’ve never truly experienced A Hard Day’s Night until you’ve heard it in the original Shakespeare. 04724
Reposted by Helen BarrettLondon Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 24/09/2026‘Marr played the beginning of “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now”. “The guitar made me do it,” he said quietly. “I was always looking for the next song.” Andrew O’Hagan on Johnny Marr’s guitars, from the blog. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/se...lrb.co.ukAndrew O’Hagan | Johnny Marr’s GuitarsThe Smiths kicked off the Scottish leg of their Meat is Murder tour at the Magnum Leisure Centre in Irvine New Town on... 0112
Reposted by Helen BarrettJohnny Nice Painter @ Eurosky! @johnnynicepainter.eurosky.social · 24/09/2026Buy some RNLI Christmas cards or I will come round to your house and paint your living room and YOU DO NOT WANT THAT shop.rnli.org/products/chr...shop.rnli.orgChristmas Carol Christmas Cards, Pack of 8Wish someone a merry Christmas with these RNLI-themed cards, featuring a cheerful carolling scene outside a lifeboat station - and help support the lifesavers. 43521
Reposted by Helen BarrettJohn Grindrod @grindrod.bsky.social · 23/09/2026The latest Monstrosities Mon Amour is out, with novelist @willwiles.bsky.social choosing the bonkers postmodern extravaganza of Onyx House in Mile End, and the no less outrageous fantasy art of Boris Vallejo johngrindrod.substack.com/p/monstrosit...johngrindrod.substack.comMonstrosities Mon Amour: Onyx House, Mile End, with Will Wiles#21 John Grindrod and novelist Will Wiles explore the postmodern outrageousness of Onyx House in Mile End and the kitschy, fleshy fantasy art of Boris Vallejo 55011