iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Neil Tòmas Smith @ntsmith.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Glasgow Cathedral this eve. New choral+brass piece tomorrow in the Cathedral Fest. Fruity microtones ahoy.

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sound @soundscotland.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Great to see soundfestival featured by Creative Scotland as we look ahead to this year’s festival. “Audiences are guaranteed to hear something they’ve never heard before, challenging what they believe about music.” Read more: www.creativescotland.com/news-stories... #NewMusic #MusicScotland

creativescotland.com

Acclaimed new music festival reveals details of 2026 edition

The programme for the 2026 soundfestival, one of Europe’s leading celebrations of new music, has been announced.

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Neil Tòmas Smith @ntsmith.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Thanks for sharing. Battaglia von Biber finde auch ein schönes Beispiel!

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Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan @london.gov.uk · 19/08/2026

This stopped me in my tracks. An independent study by @qmul.bsky.social has found that after ULEZ was introduced, children’s lungs grew faster in Central London and have now caught up with children outside of the capital. Incredible.

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The Author, Séamas O'Reilly @seamas.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

On legitimising yet another pogrom.

Some prefer to step two degrees away from the above conclusion, blaming the violence not on one discrete crime, but rather on long-simmering discontent about “unfettered immigration”, to use the words offered by loyalist MP Jim Allister, in the wake of last year’s Ballymena riots. Such riots are appalling, the argument goes, but their anger reflects a legitimate concern; that immigration has simply gone too far.

Again, we risk demeaning ourselves by pointing out that rates of migration into Northern Ireland have never been connected to any rise in crime, and represent a tremendous benefit to the economy, from workers in hospitality and agri-business sectors to manufacturing and academia. Migrants are most beneficial in the health and care sectors, with 22 per cent of carers in the state coming from outside the UK and Ireland, without whom Tracey Reid, chief executive of the Northern Ireland Social Care Council, says the sector “could not survive”. Such statistics are, of course, broadly similar throughout the UK and Ireland, and were regarded as truisms until it became seemingly gauche for any prominent newspaper or politician to repeat them, in favour of contorting gymnastically to flatter the perceptions and prejudices of those who just hate migrants for entirely racist reasons. No matter how much they contribute to society, and no matter how few of them there are.

A compelling argument that this is the case can be found in the demographics of Northern Ireland itself. Its current population is just shy of two million. According to the most recent figures available, net migration in the state between 2001 and 2023 amounted to around 62,000 people, including less than 2,400 refugees in secure accommodation. Ballymena, which until this week had been the most prominent site of anti-immigrant violence in the state, sits in the Mid and East Antrim council area, which has seen fewer than 5,000 international migrants settle there this century. Only 3 per cent of Northern Ireland’s population belong to any ethnic minority at all.

For those of us who find the constant discussion of “the immigration problem” dehumanising and dishonest in any context, it’s revealing to see it deployed in places where immigration barely exists, not least for what it might suggest about such legitimate concerns everywhere else. We are left to presume that any number of non-white faces, no matter how few, is a salient enough horror for locals that their concerns become legitimised automatically. Even one, it would seem, is one too many.

Most confusing of all has been the near-total absence of any context regarding who, exactly, is committing all this violence. The reluctance among media outlets to specify that these pogroms are the work of far-right loyalist gangs is particularly odd, given that such groups are fond of signing their work. The LVF, and associated gangs, have for decades sprayed their tags on the houses of the people they burn out, whether Catholics, economic migrants or refugees. Even now their graffiti proudly adorns walls and estates, demanding they be reserved for “locals only”. I’m old enough to remember when the LVF attacked the specially modified home of a severely disabled child because his family was insufficiently Protestant. I’m old enough to remember it because it happened less than two years ago.

When loyalist gangs burned Catholic families out of their homes in past years, there were few stern and sombre pleas that we should understand the arsonists’ concerns. Nor was there a reflexive jolt to place such acts in a context the perpetrators themselves might have liked, perhaps by drawing direct links between their violent acts and the existence of alleged crimes committed by disconnected Catholics many miles away. That this same logic is no longer applied to vast acts of violence against dozens of non-white people of all nationalities in Belfast, purportedly due to the actions of a single man from Sudan, is as preposterous as it is repulsive.

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sound @soundscotland.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

sound is pleased to announce that we will be offering 13 places on three development opportunities for Scottish composers / composers based in Scotland. ⏰Deadline: Sunday 7th June 2026 For more information and how to apply: sound-scotland.co.uk/news/develop... #DevelopmentOpportunity #OpenCall

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Jo Grady @drjogrady.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

Yesterday Kier Starmer announced Labour will nationalise British Steel, and save 2700 jobs. Today, the Uni of Nottingham put 2700 staff at risk of redundancy. This is just one university. Across the UK 15,000 higher education jobs need saving. Where is the rescue package for our universities?

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Giles MacDonogh @gilesmacdonogh.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

The German painter Georg Baselitz has died. He was 88.

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Neil Tòmas Smith @ntsmith.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

I think this is a challenge to work through the entire Durex catalogue (in music writing to be clear).

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GOETHE @dailygoethe.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

…

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Neil Tòmas Smith @ntsmith.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

Re Moby, if you want a really quite genuinely problematic song by the Kinks, look no further than 'Apeman'. Made all the worse by a very catchy hook. Has anyone made a study of the Kinks as the sound of Empire? Maybe too obvious...

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Laurie Macfarlane @lmacfarlane.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

NEW: We often hear that Scotland’s more progressive income tax is “driving people out the country.” New HMRC data shows the opposite. Far more taxpayers are moving to Scotland than leaving it. Let’s look at the data 🧵

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Neil Tòmas Smith @ntsmith.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

Everyone in the arts: stop making art and start answering my emails. Also, sorry for the delay in getting back to you.

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Neil Tòmas Smith @ntsmith.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

Somewhere is a clip of Xenakis dancing uproariously to Superstition at a wedding.

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Neil Tòmas Smith @ntsmith.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

Three of the most incredible live performances I have ever experienced were Xenakis. To quote Peter Nelson after a full Pléïades* 'Somehow, he is a master'. *so loud, so amazing

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Neil Tòmas Smith @ntsmith.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

I can't pretend I am up on my accounting knowledge to fully grasp what is discussed here. But the conclusions are pretty stark.

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Neil Tòmas Smith @ntsmith.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

Cf. young composers on the second point.

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Neil Tòmas Smith @ntsmith.bsky.social · 25/12/2025

Pain Pain Pain Have a Beckett Christmas 🎄

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Neil Tòmas Smith @ntsmith.bsky.social · 28/11/2025

Though I feel I have to warn students not all players are quite as comfortable with much if this as EI players.

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Joanne Cormac @jcormac.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

Richard Morrison has reported on the suspension of our Music courses in yesterday’s The Times. Please keep sharing the petition www.change.org/p/stop-the-s.... @thetimes.com @adlington.bsky.social @royalmusical.bsky.social @nottinghampost.co.uk @nottinghamlive.bsky.social

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Neil Tòmas Smith @ntsmith.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

Hmmm, maybe a bad time to have released this... neiltomassmith.bandcamp.com/album/next-t...

neiltomassmith.bandcamp.com

Next time ur in london, by Neil Tòmas Smith

8 track album

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MedRen2025 @medren2025.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

This is awful news to come out of Nottingham. MedRen-ers will be aware that Nottingham has hosted three MedRens in 2012, 1985, and the first ever MedRen in 1972. Do consider signing the petition in the next post. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Music and modern languages courses suspended at University of Nottingham

In a statement the institution also says it is

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Neil Tòmas Smith @ntsmith.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

Seems pretty optimistic that the purported advantages of AI are going to be spread evenly. Some sense of the politics of the situation also plays on the 'pessimists' minds I imagine.

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Neil Tòmas Smith @ntsmith.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

Prepping up the first batch of books for Next time ur in london listeners. neiltomassmith.bandcamp.com/album/next-t...

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Neil Tòmas Smith @ntsmith.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

OUT TODAY! New album 'Next time ur in london' With a BEAUTIFUL accompanying book made with Desmond Clarke and Cassandra Barron. neiltomassmith.bandcamp.com/album/next-t...

neiltomassmith.bandcamp.com

Next time ur in london, by Neil Tòmas Smith

8 track album

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Neil Tòmas Smith @ntsmith.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

Campaign to rename mixed nuts 'stratified nuts'.

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Neil Tòmas Smith @ntsmith.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

New tunez out 1 week today! Some available now IF you would like: - Scotrail announcements + saxophones - a surreal podcast using AI trained on me doing a middling/poor impression of an American podcaster - an archived John Maynard Keynes speech neiltomassmith.bandcamp.com/album/next-t...

neiltomassmith.bandcamp.com

Next time ur in london, by Neil Tòmas Smith

8 track album

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Christiaan Monden @cmonden.bsky.social · 10/10/2025

Great (paid) PhD opportunity. Excellent environment, conditions, and supervisors. And a topic close to my heart. (Selfish reason for promoting this: I fear there won't be enough concerts for retired me to go to. Geen dag zonder Bach.) vacatures.knaw.nl/job/The-Hagu...

vacatures.knaw.nl

PhD position "Is the audience for classical music concerts fading out?"

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Neil Tòmas Smith @ntsmith.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

Trained a podcasting software on me doing a (middling to poor*) impression of an American podcaster. The results will ASTONISH** you. neiltomassmith.bandcamp.com/album/next-t... *In my defence, I had to do it for ca 15 mins **May not astonish you. Potentially will ASTOUND.

neiltomassmith.bandcamp.com

Next time ur in london, by Neil Tòmas Smith

8 track album

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Neil Tòmas Smith @ntsmith.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

Arts Council: ORIGINS. My contribution to the as-yet-non-existent Arts Council Cinematic Universe neiltomassmith.bandcamp.com/track/univer...

neiltomassmith.bandcamp.com

Universal Opportunity, by Neil Tòmas Smith

from the album Next time ur in london

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Neil Tòmas Smith @ntsmith.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

Next time ur in london releases in 1 month! Thoughts on London's place in British cultural life from someone who has taken many trains to the capital. Sound art meets contemporary composition meets experimental EP. 3 tracks available for prelistening: neiltomassmith.bandcamp.com/album/next-t...

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Neil Tòmas Smith @ntsmith.bsky.social · 21/09/2025

Did read a very entertaining Da Ponte biog at some point.

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Neil Tòmas Smith @ntsmith.bsky.social · 21/09/2025

Opera glasses with which to impress their friends?

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UCU Edinburgh @ucuedinburgh.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

HUUUGE turnout this morning to demand protection for our jobs and our students' learning conditions. There is no deficit!!!

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Alastair McIntosh @alastairmci.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

This, from Scotland’s first minister @johnswinney.bsky.social, is the most powerful statement that I have yet read on Israel & Palestine from the leader of a western nation. It calls for respect of the 1967 borders and a 2-state future. Read the full statement at: www.gov.scot/publications...

gov.scot

Situation in Gaza: First Minister's statement - 3 September 2025

First Minister John Swinney's statement to the Scottish Parliament on 3 September 2025.

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Neil Tòmas Smith @ntsmith.bsky.social · 24/08/2025

A Big Guy in the C19. My dad is a rarity in that, I believe, he has really his entire oeuvre.

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Maud Anne Bracke @maudannebracke.bsky.social · 24/08/2025

'the protests will continue until the PM stops treating migrants as a burden' - Dani Garavelli

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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 10/08/2025

Calls for a "huge nationwide wave" of protests in last 48 hours saw about 300 people attend one locally-organised protest in Nuneaton (serious charges in local case) + 19 protests range from 6 peoole (Wolverhampton) with about four more reaching 100-200 people (Altrincham,Canary Wharf) Total < 2000

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Hugh Morris @hwfmorris.bsky.social · 10/08/2025

“hit by gunfire”

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News Eye @newseye.bsky.social · 04/08/2025

This is amongst the most impactful two minutes of broadcasting I’ve ever seen. By Emma Murphy, International Editor, ITV News. #Gaza

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