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Richard Baker

@rchrdbkr.bsky.social
2.6K followers 1.8K following 1.3K posts

Composer based in Ceredigion, Wales, UK. Research Fellow @guildhallschool.bsky.social. Weithiau yn Gymraeg. Profile photo: Claire Shovelton Artist website: rchrdbkr.com

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Richard Baker @rchrdbkr.bsky.social · 2h
Somewhat reassuring to know this wasn’t only in one’s imagination:
theguardian.com
Covid, Brexit and Liz Truss mini-budget led to lasting decline in mental health, study finds
Researchers found five events, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, caused serious damage to mental wellbeing across UK
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Richard Baker @rchrdbkr.bsky.social · 22h
Bribes for LibDem-switchers in the Home Counties. IHT is a progressive tax, and helped rebuild Britain after the war (the aristos who lost their estates have long memories).
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Dan Davies @dsquareddigest.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
OH MA GAWD THAT'S ROGER SCRUTONS MUSIC
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Richard Baker @rchrdbkr.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Deep cut
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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
"When Rosa Luxemburg asked “socialism or barbarism?” she was posing too stark a choice. Ours is between mild reform and barbarism. And it’s not clear which our ruling class will choose." chrisdillow.substack.com/p/who-needs-...
chrisdillow.substack.com
Who needs thought?
Capitalist politics now militates against good ideas in politics
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Caroline Lucas @carolinelucas.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
“The only sensible solution at this point is a moratorium on datacentres until very basic questions about how many we need, what for, where, and how pollution will be avoided are answered satisfactorily by the government” - @olliehayes.bsky.social 👏
theguardian.com
Drax datacentre could create nearly twice the yearly emissions of all Gatwick flights
Exclusive: Campaign group’s analysis of North Yorkshire plans finds datacentre would have to burn 4.9m tonnes of wood a year
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Mathieu Duplay 🌈 @mathieuduplay.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
I see that the foreign press has finally taken notice of the French situation (better late than never). It bears mentioning that the "unrest" is not new and that trouble has been brewing *at least* since the 2024 snap election. It isn't just schools, it's the whole unholy mess, the unelected...
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Ignacio GHOULlup-Diaz @igallupd.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
“OpenAI agents tried to hack Wikipedia tools and flooded it with traffic: The reports of OpenAI agents harming third-party sites keep coming”
arstechnica.com
OpenAI agents tried to hack Wikipedia tools and flooded it with traffic
The reports of OpenAI agents harming third-party sites keep coming.
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Dik Liquor @chaensaw.com · 06/10/2026
The Onion newspaper headline pretending to be from 1929 saying "Stock Market Invincible" and "Buy, buy, buy! Experts Advise"
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Richard Baker @rchrdbkr.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Because of course he did 🙄
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Sam Bergman @violanorth.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
I def don't have all the answers as to why there is such a persistent crisis/lull cycle in US orchestras, but one thing I do know from my 25 years at the high end of that business is that WAY too many execs and board leaders are convinced there is a magic sustainability formula hiding somewhere.
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Richard Baker @rchrdbkr.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
I mean, who else is saying this stuff? Nobody consequential. Any port in a storm, I say!
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Richard Baker @rchrdbkr.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
‘Restlessness’ is so apt.
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Richard Baker @rchrdbkr.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
This, from Pope Leo’s speech to artists yesterday, caught my eye:
"Art, when it is authentic, is animated by restlessness. Art is an essential place of listening, where we allow ourselves to learn about the aspirations and wounds of humanity, its thirst for beauty, for justice and peace, and its search for meaning."
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Richard Baker @rchrdbkr.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Interesting letter in today’s Guardian
theguardian.com
A proportional representation voting system could spell disaster for Labour | Letters
Letter: Gian Lorenzo Spisso says his knowledge of Italian voting systems and British politics leads him to the view that first past the post is the lesser of two evils
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Postcard From The Past @pastpostcard.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
We have been to Harrods for a long visit. Saw Esther Rantzen outside filming an interview. Have booked seats to see EVITA on Wed evening. Going to Basildon.
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Kazimir Malevich @kmalevich.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Black Square www.wikiart.org/en/kazimir-malevich…
Black Square
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Dave Levitan @davelevitan.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
A fuckup so dumb even NYT homepage/headline writers have no choice but to describe it accurately
As Jack Smith Testifies, a Senator’s Accusation of Perjury Falters

A Republican eager to prove the former special counsel was dishonest appeared to instead demonstrate his own confusion over basic facts.
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Robin C-F @robin.cantrill-fenwick.uk · 28/09/2026
Is "the biggest uplift to the arts in any single parliament in the history of British democracy" in the room with you now, Secretary of State? www.artsprofessional.co.uk/news/nandy-i...
artsprofessional.co.uk
Nandy: 'It does my head in that people think I'm a philistine because I'm from Wigan' - Arts Professional
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has spoken out against critics of her support for the arts during her tenure, saying they're "doing a disservice to the whole
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Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Today, in Russian propaganda:
Schaeffer Marlyse. @Schaef... • 6h
S
• Translated from French Show original
I am a French mother with beautiful children.
I did not give birth to them for them to be sent to the trenches.
French and Russian mothers do not want their children to fight against each other.
We are not enemies.
#RuslandIsNotMyEnemyEls van Veen O
Follow
@veen_els
I'm a Dutch mother with beautiful sons. I did not give birth to my children to be sent into the trenches. Dutch and Russian mums don't want their boys fighting each other. We are not enemies. #RuslandIsNotMyEnemyNadja @EuropaNormal • 9h
• Translated from German Show original
I am a German mother with a beautiful son. I didn't give birth to my child to send him into the trenches. German and Russian mothers do not want their boys to fight against each other. We are not enemies.
#RuslandIsNotMyEnemyDday @DdayohneZiffern • 12h
I'm a German mother with beautiful sons. I did not give birth to my children to be sent into the trenches. German and Russian mums don't want their boys fighting each other. We are not enemies.
#RuslandIsNotMyEnemy
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Richard Baker @rchrdbkr.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Hmm. Last time I checked, I wasn’t the culture secretary.
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Richard Baker @rchrdbkr.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I wondered about it too. It’s so good, and made quite a stir I recall
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Katie Martin @katie0martin.ft.com · 27/09/2026
Just for once I'd like one of these "why I quit Britain" pieces to say "I hate poor people and I want to keep all my money, it's all miiiiiine, screw you guys"
static.klipy.com
Mr Rogers' Unexpected Response
ALT: Mr Rogers' Unexpected Response
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András Forgács W @andraswf.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Uh-oh
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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Via Wolf Financial:
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Ash @queerash.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I still absolutely don't believe it but Danny Tommo having an almost perfect background for an intelligence asset is so funny
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Richard Baker @rchrdbkr.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I’m sure our intellectual forebears would have been fascinated by the current real-time experiment we appear to be running to answer the question, ‘what happens when you give unlimited power to people without an education in the humanities?
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Richard Baker @rchrdbkr.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Perfection
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Katie Martin @katie0martin.ft.com · 25/09/2026
I have blamed The agents That hacked Your website And which You probably Reasonably thought I controlled Forgive me I am rich And unaccustomed To taking responsibility
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Working Class History @workingclasshistory.com · 24/09/2026
#OtD 24 Sep 1968 14 men (including five priests and a minister) raided a federal office in Milwaukee, took 10,000 draft cards, and set them on fire with homemade napalm in protest of the Vietnam war. Learn more about opposition to the war in our pod: workingclasshistory.com/2020/09/23/e...
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Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Hard to think of a starker London Vs England story than Council Tax Learnt a lot from helping out on this brand new report — have a look below
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Elise Thomas @elisethomas.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
If an individual did this, we'd treat it as a crime. We should treat this as a crime too, and hold OpenAI liable for what its models, under its supervision, did. www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09...
abc.net.au
OpenAI agent hacked Medicare portal, PM says
Anthony Albanese says he has spoken to the Open AI chief executive to express his concern about the incident and the length of time it took the tech company to inform the government of the breach.
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👻 🎃 🦇 Boola Lughosti's Dad 🏳️‍⚧️ 🇵🇸 @belalugosisdad.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Danny Tommo has been nicked for criminal damage and reckless endangerment, and for some reason the only outlet reporting it so far is the Sun.
thesun.co.uk
Far-right activist Danny Tommo arrested a day after 'slashing migrant boat'
FAR-right activist Danny Tommo has been arrested on suspicion of criminal damage with intent to endanger life, according to a video he posted this evening. Tommo is Tommy Robinson’s right-hand man …
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Richard Baker @rchrdbkr.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
*bows head in shame*
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Richard Baker @rchrdbkr.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
James Hepokoski would doubtless argue it rotates perfectly well on its own [this is a *terrible* musicology joke, for which I apologise]
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Nick Davies @njdavies.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Great to hear the PM say “We are going to be much prouder in standing up for our values and the rule of law” re foreign information warfare. I wonder if he or the Home Secretary might consider doing the same when it comes to masked vigilantes shutting down infrastructure and harassing the RNLI
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Cllr Dr Alex Powell @apowelllaw.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
So, just to be clear, Daniel Thomas was: 1- Carrying a knife contrary to section 139 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 2- Used that knife to commit criminal damage (Criminal Damage act 1971) 3- likely engaged in the criminal offense of endangering Life at Sea (Merchant Shipping Act 1995)
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Kevin Thurston @del-boy.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
This needs stopped. Hard.
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Jessica Elgot @jessicaelgot.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Started watching Sky’s War Game last night where Michael Gove is the PM during the Russian attack and I’m afraid it is just very difficult to watch it without thinking of this, one of the great cartoons ever published
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Katie Martin @katie0martin.ft.com · 22/09/2026
just waiting for some AI headbanger to suggest creating little child robots to fill the schools www.ft.com/content/5b01...
ft.com
London’s schools are running out of children
Councils want more powers to repurpose buildings and fend off academies
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Richard Baker @rchrdbkr.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
That one also splendid
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Richard Baker @rchrdbkr.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
There's a text score by the late British artist Tom Philips called 'Match me, Syndey'. For any number of players with matchboxes. Marvellous.
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Seth Cotlar @sethcotlar.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Back in the late 1780s the more conspiracy minded anti-federalists fixated on the idea of a new national capitol because they feared it would become an armed compound from which unaccountable and tyrannical leaders would rule the nation with an iron fist.
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Richard Baker @rchrdbkr.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Llandwrog too posh for this kind of smut
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Richard Baker @rchrdbkr.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Simon Jenkins is right to note that the three other nations of the UK have different relations with England. But the problem is the same: they have a sense of their place in the modern world in a way that England doesn't.
theguardian.com
Slowly then all at once: this emboldened Celtic alliance could spell the end of the UK | Simon Jenkins
It’s something akin to a quiet earthquake: home nations jointly declaring their wish to be freed from English domination. A big move needs a big response, says Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins
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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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Heather Burns @heatherburnstech.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Regular reminder that JG Ballard’s final novel, “Kingdom Come” (2006), is about a far-right English town which creates their own militarised breakaway state in a shopping mall, where they worship the gods of St George and consumerism. Old JG wrote it as tongue-in-cheek satire. At the time.
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Will Jennings📉🗳️ @drjennings.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Ed Sheeran vs Ed Miliband, the new realignment.
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Alan Sepinwall @sepinwall.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Around the 10th anniversary of Fleabag, I looked at the way the show turned the audience into one of its most important characters:
whatsalanwatching.com
Fleabag needed us even more than we needed her
10 years ago, Phoebe Waller-Bridge's masterpiece changed the way we looked at fictional characters looking at us
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Jeremy Millar @jeremymillar.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
This has got ‘limited series’ written all over it. In fake Cyrillic text.
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