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Finn Pollard

@heresfinn.bsky.social
301 followers 533 following 3.9K posts

Head of Academic Quality. Associate Prof (US History). Pollard's US Politics Thread (Fridays). Arts Reviewer. Lib Dem/Remainer. Views my own not UoL.

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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
In other news concerned by the reports that Radio 4 Extra is once again under threat. The BBC has a unique audio archive & rediscovered stuff is regularly being broadcast. It doesn't need to be tied to a schedule but the corporation must provide a reliable route for this material to be heard.
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Greetings Friends! Welcome to the slightly belated US Politics Thread for w/e 4th October 2026, or The Trying to Work Out What Might Be Going On In Some Strongly GOP States Edition…
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Note for our regular readers owing to work commitments the US Politics Thread will be out on Sunday this week.
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Beyond me at the interval why Donmar Month in the Country has been apparently so well reviewed. Confused set mirroring a failure to correctly balance the tone. Voice overs a mistake.
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Hi there and hello! Welcome to the US Politics Thread for w/e 25th Sept 2026, or, The Signs of GOP Anxiety Were Becoming More Conspicuous Edition...
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
My thoughts (rather a lot of them) on Catarina and the Beauty of Killing Fascists at the NT: www.wheresrunnicles.com/2026/09/cata...
wheresrunnicles.com
Catarina and the Beauty of Killing Fascists at the National, or, I'm Sorry But the Premise Just Gets More and More Unbelievable
Note: This is a review of the only preview on Saturday 19th September 2026. The Press Night took tonight (Monday 21st September 2026).
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
ROH Alcina: A mixed afternoon for me. Best production of their recent Handels but for me didn't quite accommodate range of emotion in the work. David Bates on the podium didn't to my ear find the full dramatic & emotional range of truly great Handel. Singing solid but diction an issue for several.
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
My thoughts on Elektra/Persona at the National: www.wheresrunnicles.com/2026/09/elek...
wheresrunnicles.com
Elektra/Persona at the National, or An Unpersuasive Mash-up
Note: This is a review of the matinee on Saturday 12th September 2026.
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
NT Caterina & the Beauty of Killing Fascists: premise is ludicrous, the arguments badly one sided & thus increasingly interminable even with the cheat of the last half hour when I was sorely tempted to take my headphones and book out. A show that thinks it’s much cleverer than it is.To be avoided.
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Greetings Friends! Welcome to the US Politics Thread for w/e 18th Sept 2026, or, The Some Suggestive Signals from the Heartland on the GOP Situation Edition…
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
NT Elektra/Persona: Elektra (50m) has points of interest. Persona (1h10) is gimmicky and increasingly tedious (& several times made me laugh at rather than with it). Not worth queueing for returns.
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Proms 2026: I've never managed to get on with Mahler 9 and tonight wasn't an exception. Sometimes sparked into life but mostly felt a bit shapeless and didn't sufficiently hold my attention.
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Hi there and hello! Welcome to the US Politics Thread for w/e 11th Sept 2026, or The Supreme Court Debates Whether To Disenfranchise Voters Edition…
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Fantastic news that Maxim Emelyanychev is staying on at the SCO to 2031. His Mozart operas with them have been a highlight of recent EIFs.
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
I’ve got sadly used to not being enthused by an NT season announcement. Death of a Salesman & the Stoppard have had comparatively recent London outings (the Old Vic’s R & G are Dead being outstanding). Really not clear to me we needed new revivals so soon.
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Proms 2026: Eloise Werner’s Wood Pigeon is a strong candidate for the worst new commission I’ve heard so far this season. Maybe it played better in the hall but I just found it thin and irritating.
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Having unusually failed to book tickets for the Odets revival at the Almeida (as I don't watch much TV these days I hadn't realised Mr O'Connor would sell it out) pleased to have picked up tickets in the second release.
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
BBC Proms 2026: There was lots of lovely detail in Brahms 4 from Munich 4/Lahav Shani but sometimes felt so slow I thought it was going to grind to a halt, not compensated by sufficient depth of feeling or sense of overall shape.
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Proms 2026 (slowly catching up via Sounds): Think it’s clear why Weber’s Oberon has gone out of fashion. Not sure this revival was helped by the new (lengthy) linking narration.
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
NT The Story: “This story doesn’t add up.” No indeed it does not & increasingly so after the interval. Ensemble do their best but couldn’t cover the inconsistencies. Riot at the end tries unsuccessfully for a big finish.
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Greetings Friends! Welcome to the US Politics Thread for w/e 4th Sept 2026, or, The Attention People of America I’ve Got Another Brilliant Plan To End the War I Already Won Edition… (1/48)
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Oh the irony of the Aurora Orch finishing up their Proms drama on Mahler 1 by quoting his own words about discarding the programme notes so the audience can make up their own minds about the piece…
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
NT Pride: The transfer doesn’t surprise me (nor did the standing ovation). The ensemble is v strong & there are some effective moving character moments. However the work is at root a superior example of a “message“ show & it doesn’t wholly avoid the flaws of that genre.
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Nearly cried sitting over my coffee in Waterstones finishing this superb BBC adaptation of Small Island. Originally broadcast in 2006 but speaks all too powerfully in our current political times. Understated & all the more devastatingly powerful because of that: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...
bbc.co.uk
BBC Radio 4 Extra - Small Island by Andrea Levy (Omnibus), Episode 1
Jamaican Hortense Roberts emigrates to London.
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Catching up with some late theatre reviews from EIF 2026. First [seagull] seen at the beginning of the first week: www.wheresrunnicles.com/2026/08/eif-...
wheresrunnicles.com
EIF 2026 - [seagull], or, Lacking the Courage of Its Convictions
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Closed out my 2026 EIF with a very fine Elektra. Strongly sung across the board & found a lot of the emotional punch & tension required. The BBC SSO were on electrifying form.
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
EIF 2026: I fear there is a reason why Coleridge-Taylor’s The Song of Hiawatha is not performed. Very well done but like Delius’s Mass of Life I don’t think it needs to be done again in a hurry.
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
EIF Elektra cast change - am disappointed not to hear what Stemme would make of Klytamnestra but it’s luxury casting to have Karen Cargill stepping in to make a role debut.
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
EIF 2026: At the interval van Hove’s Angels in America is better than any of his other work I’ve endured but there are significant weaknesses: the projections, the soundscape & the fact that the soundscape means the ensemble is miked. So far it isn’t moving & gripping me as Elliott’s NT prod did.
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
EIF 2026: Four Walls and a Roof. Comfortably the worst show I’ve so far seen at the Festival this year. An interminable theatre as lecture piece. Why did Brecht leave with boxes and return with suitcases? I really did not care.
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
EIF 2026: Outstanding Don Giovanni from Maxim Emelyanychev & the SCO. As ever Emelyanychev brought a real sense of drama & the SCO played with verve & feeling. A very fine line up of singers with Louise Alder (Donna Anna) & Giovanni Sala (Don Ottavio) esp standing out for me.
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
EIF 2026: Underwhelmed by LA Phil/Dudamel’s Beethoven 6 (I was clearly in a minority). Some good details & moments of attack but I wasn’t convinced by it as a whole & the slower movements to my ear needed more momentum. Interested to see a number of lukewarm reviews of their Proms perf of the work.
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
This EIF policy of requiring water bottles to be emptied before entry to Usher Hall concerts is just ridiculous. No venue I know down south requires this. The Albert Hall used to & stopped. Ed Playhouse used to require it for EIF gigs. When that stopped I thought EIF had seen sense but seems not.
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
EIF 2026: I was clearly v much in a minority in not being wowed by Gabriela Ortiz’s Revolucion diamantina. There didn’t seem to me to be enough musical range for the complex textual descriptions. The final movement left me cold. Fine vocal work from the Women of the Los Angeles Master Chorale.
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
When I first heard Jazz at Lincoln Center in an electrifying gig at the Jazz Festival in I think 2004 ticket sales were sufficiently low that I got promoted from the Upper Circle to the Dress Circle. Interesting to contrast that with tonight’s near sell-out.
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
My thoughts on EIF The Galloping Cure (I seem to have been less persuaded than many others): www.wheresrunnicles.com/2026/08/eif-...
wheresrunnicles.com
EIF 2026 - Mazzoli's The Galloping Cure, or, In the Shadow of Past Glory
Back in 2019 the EIF brought Mazzoli's opera Breaking the Waves to Edinburgh. I found that work a powerful dramatic experience and have been keenly looking forward to this new commission. Although this new opera starts strongly I'm afraid I found it increasingly unpersuasive as a drama.
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
EIF [seagull] - nearly buried under a lot of tiresome in vogue directorial tics I suspect there might have been a good show but sadly those ticks largely overwhelmed it.
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
My thoughts on Tansy Davies's Passion of Mary Magdalene at the EIF: www.wheresrunnicles.com/2026/08/eif-...
wheresrunnicles.com
EIF 2026 - Tansy Davies's Passion of Mary Magdalene at the Queen's Hall, or, An Undramatic, Unmoving Passion
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
EIF The Galloping Cure: V well performed but sadly as a work I thought it much less strong than Breaking the Waves, it isn’t helped by dealing with some similar themes. Was especially unconvinced by treatment of Mack & the Doctor at the end and didn’t feel the big plea for humanity was really earned
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
EIF All Rise: An outstanding performance. Superb work across the board from Jazz at Lincoln Center, the RSNO and the Festival Chorus. The closing parade & the rising stars playing us out on the Usher Hall steps was a lovely touch.
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Opened my EIF with Tansy Davies’s Passion of Mary Magdalene at QH. The live perf did not make me revise my view from the R3 broadcast. V well performed but I found the work fundamentally undramatic & it left me cold and increasingly bored.
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Looking up my calendar for 2014 I find I did see Inala when it originally played the EIF (it's just been booked back in to replace a cancellation). It hasn't stuck in my mind at all, whereas many other shows have from what was a memorable final Festival of the Mills era.
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Thought Oramo/BBC SO gave a compelling Mahler 6 at BBC Proms tonight (listening courtesy R3).
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Not impressed by Burnham's decision to retain Nandy as Culture minister. Waiting to see if the invisible Smith is also to survive as HE minister.
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
I see BBC White House reporter on Burnham is indulging in fantasy that there could be “ an opening for British "soft power" diplomacy to create a connection between the two men.” The refusal to face that no reliable relationship is possible with Trump despite all the evidence is really something.
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Superb Ariadne at Glynde. Wittily staged (but also moving & refreshingly not afraid of stillness). Outstanding singing & playing. V well worth picking up a ticket if you can. I’d forgotten how much marvellous music there is in the opera proper.
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Wondering if any followers have had occasion to hear Ingela Brimberg live and can report following the cast change email I’ve just had from the EIF…
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
NT Misanthrope. A dreary, overlong show that failed to make me care about anybody on stage & even more failed to interest me in their increasingly interminable talk.
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Hi there and hello! Welcome to the US Politics Thread for w/e 10th July 2026, or The Ceasefire is Off, No It’s On Again Edition… (1/36)
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Finn Pollard @heresfinn.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Listening to the R3 relay of Du Yun's Angel's Bone before it falls off Sounds tonight is not tempting me to book for the Oct run of perfs at the Coliseum...
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