Sign in

Christopher Cotton - poet

@pjbloke.bsky.social
113 followers 77 following 54 posts

Thoughtful chap, increasingly bemused by the society surrounding him. Happily married, Humanist, dogfather, grandparent, home cook, and appreciator of all things progressive. Poet and writer.

PostsRepliesMedia
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Today is World Suicide Prevention Day. I wrote this last year - it still carries relevance. If it helps just one person, it will be worth it.
000
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Monday 3 – 215/365 Strewingherb The essence of our summer days Another anchor to our former ways The creamy splendour of meadowsweet A herb to scatter ‘neath our feet Where crushed and bruised, a heady release
Photograph of Meadowsweet flowers by a canal with a bridge in the background
000
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Sunday 2 – 214/365 – 31/52 Resin Summer swelter Larch resin seeps Once essential A special tree From soothing balms To hard varnish Chest-clearing scent Aromatic, clean and deep Another flora We ignore now. Inured by commerce, We've lost the how.
000
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
Saturday 1 – 213/365 Vetch Striking, vibrant minuscule Vetch in flower, a tiny jewel But pay close attention, girls and boys For the streak of purple Lost in the grass's noise
000
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
Seen elsewhere..."Le Pen is not mightier than le fraud" 😆
000
Reposted by Christopher Cotton - poet
Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
NEW: "America is your enemy," I interviewed Jason Stanley for this week's newsletter & podcast. A Yale professor, who's a leading expert in fascism. We're normalizing what's happening & we urgently need to stop. Please read/listen/share. 🙏 broligarchy.substack.com/p/the-united...
broligarchy.substack.com
'The United States is Your Enemy'
A conversation about fascism as Europe faces the darkness in the west
471772767
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
24th February - SCN 2A Awareness Day. Missing my grandson today ❤️
020
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
We reap what we sow, despite a lot of folks warning that this was what was going to happen...
030
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 23/02/2025
I posted this over on threads and a small discussion ensued... About how the word could also mean 'Red'. I love how etymology works 😊 Red beauty makes so much more sense 😂🤣
000
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
So, now we know... "The Russian word Krasnov (Краснов) translates to "Krasnov" in English. It is a Russian family name that comes from the word krasota, which is a diminutive of krasa meaning "beauty". The feminine form of the name is Krasnova."
120
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
Yes, there was a Guardian story about it about five years ago. Makes absolute sense, if true.
010
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
Seems clear that the Waitrose edition of the Daily Mail has taken a side. Farewell, Pax Americana.
120
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
A song for our times, a song for the populists of the world and for the people who blindly enable them. We reap what we sow. youtu.be/q0BOpkA2Vs4?...
youtu.be
TOOL - Ticks & Leeches (Audio)
YouTube video by TOOLVEVO
000
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 15/02/2025
Last night's moon, peeking through the clouds.
010
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 15/02/2025
Adam's Broadside, ahead of a pub lunch, after a long muddy trudge with the dogs. There are few things finer.
020
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
Only the once, all those years ago...
000
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
The roses are dead They got put in a vase They cost a damn fortune And the payoff is sparse...
110
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
Just wondering whether Trump and Putin will be meeting in Munich... They could call the meeting the Chamberlain accords. 🙄
000
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
Another day, another cavalcade of WTF from the Tumeric Tyrant / Mango Mussolini and his coterie of psychopaths. I always thought that the end of civilisation as we know it would involve more explosions and flames, but there is still time, I guess?
010
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
My companion this evening, is a tired and yet content spaniel...
120
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
Yep, class.
010
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
Prejudice is the emotional commitment to ignorance, Nathan Rutstein. Words to think about today.
000
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
Since being diagnosed with cancer, I've gone right off fatty meat. Now, I'm not gonna call myself a vegetarian or vegan, but I'm really enjoying eating fewer dead things. Cheers! Pasta with black olive sauce and feta.
020
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
Botulism, n. The poisonous consequences of allowing too many bots to infiltrate social media discourse, with the intent of achieving polarisation on a pre-defined, pseudoscientific spectrum.
030
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
Just scumballs... Nationality, race, belief systems etc are irrelevant - anyone who does what they did deserves no sympathy.
010
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
Somehow, I don't think these convictions will see riots on the streets or indeed, much in the way of comment from Tommy Ten Names, Nigel Farage, Elon Musky or even the Mango Mussolini. BBC News - Glasgow child sex abuse gang given life sentences www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
Glasgow child sex abuse gang given life sentences
The victims were abused over a seven-year period in a Glasgow drug den which became known as "the beastie house".
021
Reposted by Christopher Cotton - poet
Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla.bsky.social · 26/01/2025
Finally, there's a big up for @bloomberg.com's brilliant investigation on the podcast bros. Culture is now men talking to other men on tech platforms owned by men. If that fucks you off as much as it does me,please consider subscribing. Thank you, xx broligarchy.substack.com/p/seig-heil-...
17562130
Reposted by Christopher Cotton - poet
Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla.bsky.social · 26/01/2025
Nigel Farage's inauguration party was sponsored by Arron Banks & the "New Federal State of China". That's an organisation set up Steve Bannon & Guo Wengui that considers itself "the Chinese government in exile". Nope, nothing to see here. 5/
5310104
Reposted by Christopher Cotton - poet
Alastair Campbell @alastaircampbell2.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
I’m sure the Sunday papers will be doing massive write throughs on the amazing story of how a Royal and a minister forced Murdoch empire to admit widespread Sun criminal activity. I mean look how the dailies covered it next day!! All in this together! So they bury it. Mail still in firing line 2026
28975201
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
Today we visited my namesake's house in Harwich, UK. Without whom we would most likely not have Turkey for Christmas, or Thanksgiving at all, and America would barely be the same place... has anyone got a time machine I can borrow?
010
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 20/01/2025
No age... Tragic loss..
010
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 20/01/2025
youtube.com/watch?v=LfS4... Four years old, and now unexpectedly relevant again...
youtube.com
000
Reposted by Christopher Cotton - poet
Jonathan Pie @jonathanpienews.bsky.social · 20/01/2025
Pie on Trump.
24472157
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 20/01/2025
Well, today's the day when America's recurrence of malignant neoplasm is rethroned. I fear that this will affect us all. But, I'm certainly not going to be boosting his viewing figures today.
010
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 19/01/2025
open.substack.com/pub/broligar... Our new dystopia. No one can say they weren't warned... The dumbing down of the polity, our new kings are ennobled.
open.substack.com
The tech gods arrive
As our new broverlords ascend to the presidential dais, it's up to us now
000
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 19/01/2025
You know your weight loss program is going well when the wildlife mistakes you for a small grassland mammal...
030
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 18/01/2025
Trump’s Deportation Plan Is Said to Start Next Week in Chicago www.nytimes.com/2025/01/17/u... From the NYT. Having just watched SILO, a dystopian tale of a future Georgia... "Operation Safeguard" has really sinister overtones. If you know, you know. 🙄
nytimes.com
Trump’s Deportation Plan Is Said to Start Next Week in Chicago
The size of the planned immigration raids is unclear, but they would be the opening step in the president-elect’s goal of overseeing the largest deportation program in history.
000
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 17/01/2025
Just finished watching the second series of Silo on Apple TV. Fabulous sci-fi and a great adaptation from the books. If you like stuff to make you think, I recommend it.
000
Reposted by Christopher Cotton - poet
Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla.bsky.social · 16/01/2025
NEW: Elon Musk’s X is a weapon currently owned and controlled by a non-state entity. But from January 20, that changes. At that point, we need to understand in the context of information warfare from a hostile nation state. open.substack.com/pub/broligar...
open.substack.com
Total information collapse
It's started. And it's only going to accelerate from here.
19945349
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 15/01/2025
From Ben Jennings in today's Guardian... The new normal...
000
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 13/01/2025
In other news, ursine quadrupeds defecation habits are found to be arboreal in nature... It's all going to become very strange... The dynamics that polarise us on social media are about to get worse theconversation.com/the-dynamics...
theconversation.com
The dynamics that polarise us on social media are about to get worse
Relying on social media users to police information accuracy could further polarise platforms and amplify extreme voices.
020
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 12/01/2025
My car appears to be growing feathers...🤔
010
Reposted by Christopher Cotton - poet
Susie Dent @susiedentwords.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
This was a joy; do have a listen on iPlayer. I could chat with @michaelrosenyes.bsky.social for days.
19793111
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 11/01/2025
On the nose, as ever 👍
010
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
Quick snap of the moon, Jupiter and mars (and Orion) from outside my house just now. I missed Venus and Saturn which had set about an hour ago. I love these clear winter nights 😊
030
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
Worth sharing, I thought... But also... No shit Sherlock! All British politicians should immediately distance themselves from the foreign interference of Elon Musk theconversation.com/all-british-...
theconversation.com
All British politicians should immediately distance themselves from the foreign interference of Elon Musk
Constant X posts about the UK amount to meddling in another country’s democratic processes – a practice that should not be enabled by any party.
120
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
... And nothing at all to do with the market share of a Chinese Company eating in to X and Meta users? 🤔 Yes, I'm cynical, it's born of years of experience...
000
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
Hopeful news. Kudos to the UK for moving towards renewables, a long way to go, but progress. www.reuters.com/world/uk/win...
reuters.com
Wind Britain’s top electricity source in 2024
Wind power was Britain’s largest source of electricity in 2024, topping gas-fired power plants for the first time, data showed on Tuesday.
010
Christopher Cotton - poet @pjbloke.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
Sorry, baubles like that only serve as a misplaced psychological crutch to support male insecurity, that and a need to 'intimidate' the less fortunate... Irony is, the effect is the opposite...
000