iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Mike Parker @mikeparker.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

The late, and truly great, Jan Morris, born 100 years ago today - 2 October 1926 - in Clevedon, Gwlad yr Haf (Somerset). I was proud to be part of this beautiful celebration of her life and work, anchored by her son Twm Morys. Watch here (English subtitles available): www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

A sketch by artist Annie Suganami for her portrait of author Jan Morris (1926-2020)

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Harry Taylor @harrytaylor.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Coventry Market confirmed as getting £1.5m in funding gives a good excuse to share this Harry Hill clip about it. youtu.be/pMh-i31VZCE?...

youtu.be

Harry Hill's Alien Fun Capsule | Coventry Market | ITV

YouTube video by ITV

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Mike Parker @mikeparker.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Last day today - pre-order and get a further 20% off the already discounted price.

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Mike Parker @mikeparker.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

This is absolutely magnificent. Make a cuppa and treat yourself.

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Mike Parker @mikeparker.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Marching with two of the very best - @leannewood.bsky.social and @carrieplaid.bsky.social - at the @yes.cymru march in Aberystwyth this afternoon. Mae pethau yn newid!

Mike Parker, Leanne Wood and Carrie Harper MS on the Yes Cymru march for Welsh independence in Aberystwyth.

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Mike Parker @mikeparker.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Until Sunday 27th, it's 20% off pre-orders @bookshop.org of my new book, Mid Land: a journey into England's heart. Pre-orders massively help a book, and it's worth getting the hardback, as photos & printing will be so much better in that. Please pass on! Ta. Offer: uk.bookshop.org/p/books/mid-...

Promo for 20% off at bookshop.org, who supply through the network of local independent bookshops, for the forthcoming book by Mike Parker, entitled Mid Land: A journey into England's heart. It's a good one, even if he does say so himself.

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Mike Parker @mikeparker.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

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Mike Parker @mikeparker.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Once did a book signing at WHSmith in Cardiff. Sat there an hour, no-one came. The manager was all a bit flustered, and flailing badly said “I don’t understand it. We had Derek the weatherman here last week, and they were queuing down the street.” Know your place in this world. Cheers Derek.

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Mike Parker @mikeparker.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Am raglenni hyfryd iawn! Diolch o galon @cwmnida.bsky.social. Honoured to be part of such a lovely, vivid portrait of my great hero Jan Morris, 100 years from her birth, by her son, the poet Twm Morys. Full of amazing archive and insight. English subtitles available. www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

bbc.co.uk

Chwedl Jan Morris

Rhiant, ffrind, cymydog, Cymraes. Portread personol ac unigryw o'r awdur byd-enwog Jan Morris gan ei mab, Twm Morys. A personal portrait of the world-famous author, Jan Morris, ...

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Mike Parker @mikeparker.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

bbc.co.uk

Chwedl Jan Morris

Rhiant, ffrind, cymydog, Cymraes. Portread personol ac unigryw o'r awdur byd-enwog Jan Morris gan ei mab, Twm Morys. A personal portrait of the world-famous author, Jan Morris, ...

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Mike Parker @mikeparker.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

On last night's BBC1 evening news, the report on the Piddington 'referendum' did not include a single voice in opposition to it. For an organisation that has defended its platforming of extremists for years as 'balance', it showed at best a glaring inconsistency, at worst something much darker.

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Mike Parker @mikeparker.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I’ve so enjoyed Julie Brominicks’ Cader Idris: Let the Mountain Speak. It’s a groundbreaking piece of work, both fascinating and fun, so I’m much looking forward to talking to her about it in Waterstones Aberystwyth this Thursday at 7. Details of the event here: www.waterstones.com/events/julie...

waterstones.com

Julie Brominicks' Cader Idris with Mike Parker | Events at Waterstones Bookshops | Waterstones

Events at Waterstones get you closer to the books and authors you admire most. Find information and tickets about Julie Brominicks' Cader Idris with Mike Parker today.

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Mike Parker @mikeparker.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Ooh. My forthcoming book (out February) seems to have escaped into the wild. I’m so excited to be getting this one out there. harpercollins.co.uk/products/mid...

The cover of a book, Mid Land by Mike Parker

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Mike Parker @mikeparker.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Ooh. My forthcoming book (out February) seems to have escaped into the wild. I’m so excited to be getting this one out there. harpercollins.co.uk/products/mid...

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Bobby | DJ BobaFatt @bobafatt.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Remember when Nigel Farage was more than happy to publicly big up the IRA for £74. The fuck you think he'll do for £72 million..

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Will Jennings📉🗳️ @drjennings.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

It is long beyond time to do something about this toxic and ungoverned social media culture. Under-16s are not the problem - the algorithmic rewarding of grift and extremism is poisoning our societies. Let's call it clicktremism.

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Mike Parker @mikeparker.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Sixty years ago today. (opening of All the Wide Border)

The opening section of All the Wide Border.

A cyclist using the foot/bike path across the Severn Bridge.

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Jonn Elledge @jonnelledge.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

I want the Prime Minister to look into a TV camera and say the RNLI are heroes, that we do not change policy by street violence in this country, and that he expects any criminal action to face the full force of the law. That's it. That's all he has to do.

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Mike Parker @mikeparker.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Though not as tight or powerful as the Jim Crace novel from which it’s adapted, this blood & guts rendition of the coming of the Enclosures/Clearances is well worth a watch. Atmospheric, unflinching and beautifully acted. #Harvest www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

bbc.co.uk

Harvest

A remote rural village with no name is thrown into turmoil over the course of a hallucinatory few days.

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Mike Parker @mikeparker.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Jenrick is a vortex of dark matter. Once got chatting to some nice ladies arranging roses in the Herefordshire church next to his sumptuous C17 mansion. I played dumb to find out what they thought of him. Very, very little. When you’ve lost the church flower rota, there’s no coming back 🤞🌻

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Mike Parker @mikeparker.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Google Maps' priorities are odd (and not just in Ontario!) At this zoom level, no mention of Worcester, Warwick, Droitwich or Kidderminster, but Rushwick, Broadheath & Harbury are there. And if you didn't know that Stratford was a middling market town, you'd think it was one of our great cities.

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Jesspooka Kant 🎃 @jessdkant.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

The coverage of the Welsh gender surgery cancellations is some of the most appalling and degrading reporting on trans health this year. Every mainstream editor, clearly tickled at the decision, is going out of their way to add wholly irrelevant sections debasing patients’ bodies to a surreal degree.

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Mike Parker @mikeparker.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Watching 9 to 5 (for the first time), and two things come to mind: 1. Dolly Parton was even better than I hoped. Lordy, she was the real deal. 2. Life doesn’t bring as many moments when a lasso saves the day as a 70s/80s childhood led you to expect.

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Mike Parker @mikeparker.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Just realised, it would be by dear old Nana's 110th birthday today. Here she is, in her late eighties, grinning happily in a flimsy garden chair, to which my dad has tied his two black labradors, because famously, they never run after anything.

An old photo of an elderly lady, Mrs Hilda Parker, sat in a garden chair to which two black labradors have been tied.

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Rhys Kaminski-Jones @rhyskamjones.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

The S4C public-service Welsh-language news managed to get through a whole interview feature and article on the same trans person denied healthcare without mentioning "biological sex" or a 29-year-old's lost breastfeeding opportunities, btw The BBC specifically is making a choice here

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Die Gordie @gordiek.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

@sathnam.bsky.social - has there ever been a truer observation put to paper?

A highlighted quote from Sathnam Sanghera’s book reads, “I sometimes think that a career in writing is just a fetish for stationary that has got out of control, […].”

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Mike Parker @mikeparker.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

The most unexpected reaction to On the Red Hill was the many people who wrote to thank me for having a bit of a rant about the month of August. It was like a secret club, we Augustphobics. I remember writing the final line here, and feeling a tingle of such joy at it. Feeling it again this morning!

A passage from On the Red Hill by Mike Parker

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Mike Parker @mikeparker.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Oh Google, you craven lickspittles.

A screengrab of Google Maps, showing Lake Ontario, with Lake America in brackets.

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Plashing Vole @plashingvole.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Penda's Fen was going to be on my Round The Wrekin module on West Midlands culture. Until the module was abolished without consultation. Watch it. You won't have seen anything like it.

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Mike Parker @mikeparker.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Worth remembering that the Old College only came into being because a fanciful scheme to build a mega-hotel in Aberystwyth quickly hit the buffers... what goes round etc etc. (see here for fascinating story of the building's origins historypoints.org/index.php?pa...) www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Aberystwyth University pauses £53m Old College upgrade

The university says it will review rising costs on the hotel and museum plan for Old College.

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Mike Parker @mikeparker.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Bullish monolingualism is a little discussed element of fascism. The ‘supremacy’ of English, and visceral hatred towards other languages, has always been key to the versions rampant in the US, UK and Australia.

A report that Trump ‘demands Canada change its French language culture’ in Quebec.

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🎃Autopsy of Ashley Lynch 🔪🎞️ @ashleylynch.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Just remember shit like this whenever you hear people talk about AI.

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Dr Debra Kidd @debrakidd.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Why has the British national media not bothered to report this? They've repeated the claim that Jason Ardey running 30 marathons in 35 days was unlikely and not even checked it to stem the cynicism. www.richmondandtwickenhamtimes.co.uk/news/8350040...

richmondandtwickenhamtimes.co.uk

College lecturer completes marathon challenge

Jason Arday completes 30 marathons in 35 days for Shelter and the Shooting Star Children’s Hospice.

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Toby Earle 🇺🇦 @tobyontv.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

colanders across the country are sharing incredible tales of parks and streets and high-rise locations with baking trays, pans, and dishes, all gathered round in a circle in their cupboard

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Mike Parker @mikeparker.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

So they were allowed home today, then evacuated, and allowed back again. They are in a rented flat six floors up. There are cracks in the wall.

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Mike Parker @mikeparker.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Any recommendations please for coverage of the earthquake in #Colombia? Brother-in-law and his wife live there, in Cali, and though they're ok, their block is unsafe and they are with many others in a leisure centre.

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Will Davies @will-davies.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

I've written about Neets for the LRB. It is odd listening to recent debates about this completely ignore the overwhelming fact of this current crisis, that it is one of inactivity, disability, mental ill-health and neurodevelopmental disorders (as I discuss) www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

lrb.co.uk

William Davies · Young People Are Different: What do Neets need?

The majority of Neets are not looking for work, but living outside of the labour market and the education system,...

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Mike Parker @mikeparker.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

This became quite a daft watch in the end. Daft is ok, but it promised more.

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Mike Parker @mikeparker.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

If you’re in London this evening, my good mate @jonwoolcott.bsky.social is presenting his book The Tattooed Hills at @stanfordstravel.bsky.social in Covent Garden. A wise and witty tour of England through its astonishing chalk figures, TTH is great, and Jon too! www.stanfords.co.uk/event-jon-wo...

stanfords.co.uk

Event- Jon Woolcott: The Tattooed Hills | Stanfords

The World's Biggest and Best Map and Travel Bookshop. For over 170 years, explorers, travellers and adventurers have looked to us as map specialists to get them where they need to go, and back again.

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Mike Parker @mikeparker.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

The Rapture is pretty good, a solid page-turner of a series, and I’m especially enjoying everyone pretending it’s the hottest summer on record in what is quite clearly a mildish Welsh autumn.

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Mike Parker @mikeparker.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

On Sunday Supplement this morning, was impressed to hear Jane Dodds declare herself the longest-serving political party leader in Wales, “and possibly in the United Kingdom too.”

static.klipy.com

Milhouse Van Houten Playing Frisbee Alone

Alt: Milhouse Van Houten Playing Frisbee Alone

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Mike Parker @mikeparker.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

The Rapture is pretty good, a solid page-turner of a series, and I’m especially enjoying everyone pretending it’s the hottest summer on record in what is quite clearly a mildish Welsh autumn.

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John Grindrod @grindrod.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Oh god. I sobbed my way through watching this. Music, dancing, and people being beautiful and brilliant.

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Mike Parker @mikeparker.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Made the mistake at looking at the X feed of a former friend. She was brilliant, solid Labour, but has tumbled down a rabbit hole into some dark and disturbing far-right shit. It hurts like hell to see - not so much the politics, weirdly, but just how brain-dead & cruel so many of her posts are.

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Mike Parker @mikeparker.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Five minutes of utter joy: hundreds in central Birmingham singing and dancing their hearts out to ELO's Mr Blue Sky. They performed it live on TV, part of the handover ceremony to the city for the last Commonwealth Games. As they say on Insta, watch to the end. #brum www.youtube.com/watch?v=zU_x...

youtube.com

Birmingham 2022 Handover

YouTube video by Leesha Mansell

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