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Ken Worpole

@kgeorgew.bsky.social
93 followers 98 following 45 posts
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Reposted by Ken Worpole
Gerry Hassan @gerryhassan.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
As the UK sleepwalks towards being even deeper in the racist politics of hate & division with the UK govt complicit the threat of Elon Musk's weaponisation of X grows. From @robertshrimsley.bsky.social in the FT. www.ft.com/content/f270...
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Ken Worpole @kgeorgew.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
‘At Quayne, that Saturday evening, after beans and bacon, there were stewed windfalls, and a reading from D.H.Lawrence.’ Elizabeth Taylor, The Wedding Group
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Ken Worpole @kgeorgew.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
‘These are two very different books, that crystallise the perennial question, what is folklore? Whatever you might decide, and although this review does neither Worpole nor Boyd justice, it is impossible to recommend these two books too highly.’ Richard Jenkins, Folklore Journal, 24 July 2026
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Alix Mortimer @alixmortimer.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Real misfire this, we could talk about shutters (new and old builds), tree planting, restrictions on hard surface in new public realm, restrictions on paving front gardens, reuse canals for cooling, solar panels in car parks, solar panels in playgrounds, dozens of low effort things to investigate!
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Five Leaves Bookshop @fiveleavesbooks.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
leftlion.co.uk/features/2026/08/putting-down-roots-the-story-of-the-windrush-generation-and-st-anns-allotments-explored-in-a-new-book/ Published by Five Leaves #Booksky #Nottingham
leftlion.co.uk
Putting down roots: the story of the Windrush Generation and St Ann's Allotments explored in a new book
Colin Haynes’ book, Caribbean Pioneer Gardeners, tells the story of men whose love for gardening gave them much more than callaloo and oxheart tomatoes. It shares the true story of a group of Windrush...
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Dr Seth Thévoz @seththevoz.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
This is a dreadful development in our politics, which is bound to see dodgy & illegal lobbying now go unnoticed. And I say this as someone who, 20 years ago, was included in the register of MPs’ staff interests, when I worked for an MP. I never begrudged my inclusion on the register.
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Newham Bookshop @newhambookshop.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Please read and share widely.
Newham Bookshop facing 32% rent increase with £20K due immediately.
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Brandi Buchman @brandibuchman.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Library funding is tied to usage.
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Glen O'Hara @gsoh31.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
*Government: we need a sense of place and stronger regional policy to bring us together! *Also government: it's okay to shut this local uni campus in an area of high deprivation! *Thick-as-mince country. No joined-up thinking anywhere. 🇬🇧 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
University of Essex's Southend campus shuts and staff say goodbye
The university says the closure is due to financial pressures, leading to 400 staff redundancies.
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The BREAK—DOWN @the-breakdown.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Cars have long been synonymous with speed, progress and individual freedom. Perhaps this is why cars are getting ever bigger and heavier, in a process that activists have termed “carspreading”. 🚙 ’Driving Progress’ by John Merrick
Driving Progress by John MerrickCars have long been synonymous with speed, progress and individual freedom. 

To drive a car is to grasp hold of the potentials of individual choice: to close oneself off from the swarming crowds; to take to the open road in a giant, gleaming can of steel; to drive headlong into the sunset, pursuing the future at dizzying speed; to pursue self-fulfillment at the expense of the collective. To drive, in short, is to be the archetypical capitalist self-actualiser: individualist and forward moving, forever in search of the new. 
Perhaps this is why cars are getting ever bigger and heavier, in a process that activists have termed “carspreading”.

Since 2000, new cars have grown each year an average of 1.2cm longer, 0.5cm taller and 0.5cm wider. 
 
If this trend continues, it will see cities like London and Berlin lose around 10 per cent of all their parking spaces by 2040, while also resulting in around 400 extra pedestrian deaths per year (as cars expand, the surface area for collisions with non-drivers grows, as does the driver's blindspots).
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Future Lidos @future-lidos.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Thanks to Greg Rosen and The Fabian Society for this excellent paper, just published, which argues for lidos for all and sets out a possible road map. As @andyburnham.bsky.social said yesterday, 'Let's make it happen'. fabians.org.uk/wp-content/u...
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Leo Hickman @leohickman.carbonbrief.org · 24/06/2026
Also see letter by Sir Brian Hoskins in today's Times... bsky.app/profile/did:...
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Five Leaves Bookshop @fiveleavesbooks.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
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History Workshop @historyworkshop.org.uk · 25/03/2026
OTD in 1943, a pacifist settlement was founded on Frating Hill Farm. In this piece from the archives, Ken Worpole examines the lives of those who contributed to the project - including the future cabinet minister Shirley Williams.
historyworkshop.org.uk
Radical Object: Potato Planter at Frating Hall Farm
How did Russian anarchism, Teesside socialism and Jewish phenomenology find a home in rural Essex? Ken Worpole delves into the fragile archive of an influential pacifist settlement at Frating Hall farm.
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LRB Bookshop @londonreviewbookshop.co.uk · 21/03/2026
New podcast alert! Iain Sinclair, Susie Thomas and Ken Worpole, discussing Alexander Baron's *The Lowlife*. Listen here: www.londonreviewbookshop.co.uk/podcasts-vid...
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Chris Bertram @crookedfootball.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
Milan Kundera, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
How Paris beat the car www.ft.com/content/882e...
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Keiron Pim @keironpim.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
The man who turns the music off at the end of the clip is a legend of the East End over the past half-century: the artist and youth worker Dan Jones, whom I’ve also interviewed. More info about Dan and his much-loved paintings here courtesy of The Gentle Author: spitalfieldslife.com/2017/06/14/d...
spitalfieldslife.com
Dan Jones, Artist | Spitalfields Life
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Keiron Pim @keironpim.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
TUNDE’S FILM (1973) really should be better known — it’s a gritty, authentic portrayal of East End life in the early ’70s created by 18-year-old actor, writer and co-director Tunde Ikoli. There’s much to love about it, not least this scene showing Tunde’s friends’ glorious dancing to Prince Buster!
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Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
If Starmer wants a reset - and not yet another U-turn when the parliamentary party balks at a policy - here is his chance.
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Chris Bertram @crookedfootball.bsky.social · 08/02/2026
A continuing scandal. And as some of the symposium participants said, we need legislation now, but Labour's immigration policies are hardening.
theguardian.com
‘Hurry for justice’: Windrush victims dying without redress, commissioner says
Clive Foster says action needed now to deliver justice to UK residents who had been wrongly classified as illegal immigrants
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John Merrick @johnmerrick.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
A brilliant essay by @sammyfeldblum.bsky.social on what the unravelling of Thames Water tells us about privatisation, market failure and the place and politics of water in the climate crisis
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Ken Worpole @kgeorgew.bsky.social · 02/01/2026
John Berger, one of Europe’s most influential post-war writers and intellectuals, was born 100 years ago on 5 November 1926 in Stoke Newington, and happily the subject of many planned commemorative events in the UK and across Europe this year.
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Natalie Bennett @nataliegreenpeer.bsky.social · 27/12/2025
My letter in @thetimes.com today: what is the economy for? #PublicHealth #Wellbeing #Environment #Inequality
Slipping standards
Sir, The headline on your report, “UK forecast to become world’s fifth-largest economy by 2040” (news, Dec 26), begs the question: so what? Way down in the report, it is noted that “the UK will continue to suffer from falling living standards”. This is not an Olympic running race or a children’s pony club event. What we need to ask about the economy is whether it is meeting the needs of all people in Britain, providing a secure future and starting to restore the poisoned, depleted natural world on which all of our futures, and the economy, are entirely dependent. And when it comes to those living standards, there’s a further crucial question: is everyone getting enough for a basic decent standard of life? In foodbank Britain, the answer today is clearly no.
Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle
House of Lords
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David Atkinson @davidatkinsonpoet.bsky.social · 26/12/2025
“The poet does not use poetry, but is at the service of poetry. To use it is to misuse it.” - Denise Levertov I love the images in this poem. Also something clever about the repetition and effect of the line breaks in the final stanza #poetry #poemoftheday
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Ian Christie @ianpchristie.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
Books of 2025: The Meaning of Growth - Richard Douglas A Climate of Truth - Mike Berners-Lee Climate Injustice - Friederike Otto Brightening from the East - Ken Worpole Homework - Geoff Dyer Books of the half-decade : Late Soviet Britain - Abby Innes Twilight of Democracy - Anne Applebaum
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John Merrick @johnmerrick.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
Including my personal pick, from the great @kgeorgew.bsky.social
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Ken Worpole @kgeorgew.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
'It was in July, 1922, a hot day, I bought a Bartholomew map of Essex, inch to the mile, coloured for elevation. The blue creeks, the wide expanses of green for marsh, all delighted me.' 'I knew that extraordinary sensation of being where I wanted to be...socketted in the universe.' Essex Marshes
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Patrick Dunleavy @patrickdunleavy.bsky.social · 07/12/2025
Will Hutton “When the story of the 2024 - 29(?) Parliament is told one of the strangest chapters will be the refusal to close down foreign donations to British political parties”. What on earth do Labour MPs think their ministers are doing here? observer.co.uk/news/politic...
observer.co.uk
Reform’s record £9m crypto donation is just the latest offering from abroad | The Observer
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Ken Worpole @kgeorgew.bsky.social · 07/12/2025
Surprised and delighted to be alongside Philip Hoare as writing one of the New Statesman’s ‘Books of the Year 2025’, chosen by Geoff Dyer. Dyer is kind and generous to us both, characterising Hoare’s writing as ‘ecstatic, kaleidoscopic and visionary’, and mine as consistently thoughtful and moving.’
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Gerry Hassan @gerryhassan.bsky.social · 30/11/2025
Jeremy Seabrook died one year ago today aged 85. One of the most original & pioneering voices for social justice, human rights & dignity in post-war Britain. He asked: “Why is it that the rich must become immeasurably more rich before the poor can become even fractionally less poor?”
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Richard Baker @bakerpictures.bsky.social · 27/11/2025
Damilola Taylor: The fight to protect young lives www.bbc.com/news/article... And the full-frame image from his memorial on the Peckham Estate #DamilolaTaylor
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Ian Waites @ianwaites.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
My new book, all about how, in the 1970s and 80s, the good architects and planners of the Peterborough Development Corporation tried to create pedestrian-friendly places to live. Available here: theradburnidea.bigcartel.com/product/the-...
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Dr William Tozer | RIBA ANZIA 📍 @williamtozer.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
‘Designing social housing for later life is too often reduced to a simple provision of service. Appleby Blue, however, is a provision of pure delight . . . high-quality spaces that are generous and thoughtful, blending function and community . . .’ www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
theguardian.com
Spa vibes with a grow-your-own-dinner option: Britain’s best new building is a revamped almshouse
With its shimmering ginkgo trees, tinkling pools and a rooftop garden, the Appleby Blue Almshouse housing complex for older people is a worthy winner of RIBA’s prestigious Stirling prize
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Hana Loftus @hanaloftus.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
I'm too inactive here, but just to say I have an exhibition opening this weekend, plus events etc coming up... If you are in an Essex direction pls come by! firstsite.uk/event/into-t...
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Caught by the River @caughtbytheriver.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
We should all be deeply grateful for Emma Warren’s timely cultural history of the youth club (@faberbooks.bsky.social), writes social historian and former youth worker Ken Worpole (@kgeorgew.bsky.social) www.caughtbytheriver.net/2025/09/up-t...
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Swedenborg House @swedenborghouse.bsky.social · 11/08/2025
Please join us at Swedenborg House on Thursday 25 September 7pm-9pm (doors open 6.30pm) for 'BUILDING A WINDMILL | KEN WORPOLE & MELISSA BENN IN CONVERSATION.' FREE. For more information please visit: www.swedenborg.org.uk/events/build... @kgeorgew.bsky.social @littletollerbooks.bsky.social
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Ken Worpole @kgeorgew.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
Just published, two inspiring collection of essays on the prospects for rural Britain in the future. Vol 1: Land, food & farming. Vol 2: Housing, planning & construction. From Assemble, Little Toller Books and the inestimable Common Ground. Fabulous photos by Kaye Song, designed by Polytechnic.
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Design Reviewed @designreviewed.com · 14/08/2025
Child and art, Child Welfare, Netherlands Stamps, 1964. Designed by Ootje Oxenaar designreviewed.com/artefacts/ch...
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Future Lidos @future-lidos.bsky.social · 02/08/2025
Thanks to @thetcpa.bsky.social for commissioning this article for the latest edition of their Journal. Hope you enjoy the read. 😊 www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...
A magazine headline reading 'Lidos: the right to joy' with a picture of a group of people joyously jumping into an outdoor pool on a sunny day.
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Simon Kuper @simonkuper.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
Why Unicef almost always concludes that Dutch children are the happiest in the world. Me on what makes a good childhood, based partly on having grown up in the Netherlands @financialtimes.com on.ft.com/45o0cjh
on.ft.com
The magic of childhood in the Netherlands
[FREE TO READ] And what other countries can learn from it
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Ken Worpole @kgeorgew.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
Looking forward to seeing old friends at the wonderful Wivenhoe Bookshop on Friday, 5 September, 2025 at 7pm. I'll be talking about rural socialism, artists's colonies, post-industrial landscapes, and eco- futurism, all part of the county's febrile 20th century history.
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Ken Worpole @kgeorgew.bsky.social · 03/08/2025
This documentary history of Frating Hall Farm in Essex, a unique pacifist community - taped interviews, photographs, letters, diaries - has now been given its own archive at Essex Record Office. 'What Worpole's account attests to is the paradise of making paradise...' Olivia Laing, TLS, 2021
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Steve Hill @stevehill.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
Interesting new publication from @littletollerbooks.bsky.social arrived today. First in a series. You can find out more on their website 👍
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LRB Bookshop @londonreviewbookshop.co.uk · 24/07/2025
☀️☀️ MORE SUMMER PICKS ☀️☀️ lrb.me/e63 David’s pick of summer treats, ft. new novels from Gary Shteyngart & Nicola Barker, an ecofictional fable from Sarah Hall, a final collection of essays from the much-mourned Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o and a pair of primers on environmental futures from Little Toller
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Ken Worpole @kgeorgew.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
'No one knows where I am and that's the way I like it.' Congratulations to Jeff Young & Little Toller Books for winning the TLS Ackerley Prize last night for Wild Twin, the definitive British post-Kerouac road trip and dream diary.
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The TLS @thetls.bsky.social · 23/07/2025
Congratulations to Jeff Young, winner of this year’s TLS Ackerley Prize for his highly original and exhilaratingly written memoir ‘Wild Twin’, published by @littletollerbooks.bsky.social‬
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Tim Burrows @timburrows.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
"As Worpole so beautifully puts it, ‘we are always living in different periods simultaneously; time is malleable within our inner selves. To be wholly modern would be to have no inner life at all." Lovely @luketurner.bsky.social review of the new Ken Worpole www.caughtbytheriver.net/2025/04/ken-...
caughtbytheriver.net
Caught by the River Book of the Month: April | Caught by the River | Caught by the River
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Luke Turner @luketurner.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
“Landscape is a combination of the human world and the natural world and therefore people are very important in it” hard recommend for the great Ken Worpole on the @oldweirdalbion.bsky.social podcast… open.substack.com/pub/uncannyl...
open.substack.com
The New English Landscape with Ken Worpole: Uncanny Landscapes podcast S2E4
The influential writer and social historian talks about his life and his new book, Brightening from the East: Essays on Landscape and Memory
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Micro Moon @micro-moon.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
Our music features in this fascinating podcast from writers Justin Hopper and Ken Worpole. A wonderful conversation on notions of landscape and Essex (subjects very close to our hearts) give it a listen. XX @claypipemusic.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/uncannyl...
open.substack.com
The New English Landscape with Ken Worpole: Uncanny Landscapes podcast S2E4
The influential writer and social historian talks about his life and his new book, Brightening from the East: Essays on Landscape and Memory
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