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Ken Worpole

@kgeorgew.bsky.social
95 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 · 11/09/2026
A very special place. On a nearby island everybody had the same surname, that of the island, evident at the island cemetery. Takk for alt.
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Ken Worpole @kgeorgew.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Always worth checking out the Red Heaven blog.
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Ken Worpole @kgeorgew.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
The best of America.
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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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Ken Worpole @kgeorgew.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Alan Powers is always interesting and the story of the enlivening role of art colleges in provincial towns and cities, especially in post-war UK, is badly needed.
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Ken Worpole @kgeorgew.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
It is indeed a lovely little film, as one might expect if it involves Billy Jenkins.
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Ken Worpole @kgeorgew.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
We used to do that in the UK through the programme called ‘Learning Through Landscapes’, and very effective it was.
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Ken Worpole @kgeorgew.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
I love Billy Jenkins, remembering so many wonderful live events and recordings.
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Ken Worpole @kgeorgew.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
But the best thing on ARTE right now is the documentary about Italo Calvin. Unmissable.
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Ken Worpole @kgeorgew.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Microdisney. Yes.
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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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Ken Worpole @kgeorgew.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
I included it as a case study in Contemporary Library Architecture, published in 2013. Liked it then, and like it now.
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Ken Worpole @kgeorgew.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
South Riding, the best novel about local government written.
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Ken Worpole @kgeorgew.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
The novels of Sylvia Townsend Warner, Winifred Holtby & John Cowper Powys.
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Ken Worpole @kgeorgew.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Her most wonderful book is 'One Day a Year' in which she recorded what she did every 27 September for 50 years. Now easy to get, but it wasn't for many years. A person I would have loved to have met.
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Ken Worpole @kgeorgew.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
Thank you Daniel & Jo for thoughtful clarity.
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Ken Worpole @kgeorgew.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
Very sorry to hear that. Get well soon.
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Ken Worpole @kgeorgew.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
Agree. This is a great introductory essay to a big, big issue.
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Ken Worpole @kgeorgew.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
Agree. His book, House, about the ‘simple’ job of designing and building a house, is a work of studied perfection.
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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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Ken Worpole @kgeorgew.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
It helps distinguish parks from commons in many towns.
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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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Ken Worpole @kgeorgew.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
I am not sure this is likely to be honest, even though it has happened in the residential care home sector. UK hospices have uniquely religious, locally self-determined, origins, still strong.
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Ken Worpole @kgeorgew.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
And eventually the Ashington Painters Group…
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Ken Worpole @kgeorgew.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
A marvellous book to relish again and again.
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Ken Worpole @kgeorgew.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
And eventually the Ashington Painters Group…
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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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Ken Worpole @kgeorgew.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
My favourite Ray film, and his apparently.
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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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Ken Worpole @kgeorgew.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
They should by rights shout 'OIL' every time they see a car, if cycling in a group.
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Ken Worpole @kgeorgew.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
Agree. Such a good channel for European films.
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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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Ken Worpole @kgeorgew.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
John Berger born 5 November 1926 in Stoke Newington.
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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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