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Roland Bates

@rolandbates.bsky.social
817 followers 856 following 12K posts

The gift horse of accounts! The sweet sweet taste of manchineel. "Four oysters? Pointless"

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Reposted by Roland Bates
Moby Dick @mobydickatsea.bsky.social · 6h
and while we are very sad about that, Lord! how we suddenly jump, as Scorpio, or the Scorpion, stings us in the rear
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flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Ten years of relentlessly hateful, comically elitist anti-democratic politics across the white people world, helpfully summarised. The wrong people are talking, the wrong people are deciding and it’s harming the careers of important people who actually matter. Smithers! Release the hounds
The incident fits a broader pattern in the discourse around 'free speech' and 'cancel culture': whatever comes from the top down is freedom; whatever comes from the bottom up is bullying and censorship. When Macklemore is dropped at the behest of the billionaire stadium owner Robert Kraft, it's an exercise of the freedom of businesses to 'demonstrate their values' by deciding whom to platform. But when Ed Sheeran's fans decide not to buy tickets to his performances, or even demand refunds, it's bullying, mob behaviour. Since most people are not billionaires and do not own stadiums, they can exercise meaningful power only collectively. The collective exercise of power must therefore be demonised.
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Roland Bates @rolandbates.bsky.social · 6h
Esther Rantzen was a very big deal when I was young. That's Life. Childline. She was big on the Ben Needham campaign. An amazing person. I'm on her side when it comes to assisted dying. But even if you aren't, she lived well and I am glad her suffering has ended. Plus she was really funny.
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Roland Bates @rolandbates.bsky.social · 7h
Read the last line. These guys totally Rock.
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Lev Parikian @levparikian.bsky.social · 11h
Really sad to hear of the death of @annapicard.bsky.social, who I only knew on the other place and then here, but who I nevertheless felt I knew. A great loss to music and writing.
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Roland Bates @rolandbates.bsky.social · 8h
I get this a lot.
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Strategic Tape Reserve @strategictaper.bsky.social · 9h
Rather than pop songs, what the supermarkets should really be playing over the PA is longform, slowly developing drone and sound collage kind of stuff because shoppers would stay in the supermarket to find out what the sound does next, and during that time they’d buy additional stuff.
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Roland Bates @rolandbates.bsky.social · 9h
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Roland Bates @rolandbates.bsky.social · 9h
I had somebody pop into my mind today but I couldn't remember the name. Or much else, beyond a vibe. This continued for hours. It was Hera Lindsay Bird FFS
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Roland Bates @rolandbates.bsky.social · 10h
Another email from the US Democrats. This one is headed "You're Wrong, Roland". Do they want my vote or not? Truly they are the gift horse of political parties.
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Roland Bates @rolandbates.bsky.social · 10h
A day spent largely on my own while colleagues were at a memorial service. And now the PCC.
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Roland Bates @rolandbates.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Tomorrow I am flying solo as my colleagues attend the memorial service for Simon Trewin, the very best of men.
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Roland Bates @rolandbates.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I used to work in Purley one day a week. Trains meant I always arrived early, so I would treat myself to a coffee in a place run by a gay couple who bitched at each other continually. Éducation sentimentale
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Daniel Kennedy @fliglman.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Before and After
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The Whimsical Muse @whimsicalmuse.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Remember, if someone tells you that your dream of having a bookshelf with a rolling ladder is "unrealistic", they were never your friend to begin with.
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RRRMMM @strongmisgiving.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
John Lewis ad with a sad ukele cover of the Hofmeister Bear rap
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Brían Hanrahan @hanrahanistan.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
hide in the library
B/w photo of the dramatic open plan library interior Biblioteca Vasconceles
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Roland Bates @rolandbates.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Love Perutz. Endlessly recommended to me by the wine writer Malcolm Gluck.
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Roland Bates @rolandbates.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I have just listened to thirty minutes of Geoff Norcott. Keep an eye on me
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Roland Bates @rolandbates.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
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ya ya yanina @yanina.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Big Moby Dick energy.
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Postcard From The Past @pastpostcard.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Fritz has an ENORMOUS collection of fossils in his cellar.
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Roland Bates @rolandbates.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Cheers Google. Heard this on the radio today.
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IndifferenceEngine @guyware.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Siri, show me what “cognitive dissonance” means
Shabana Mahmood, Minister for Evil, at a lectern emblazoned with the slogan “HOPE AGAIN”
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Moby Dick @mobydickatsea.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
there is all the difference in the world between paying and being paid
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IndifferenceEngine @guyware.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I'm too lazy and cheap to run an actual website, but there's a link tree thing here I update from time to time, where you can find a lot of what my writing life's about. If you're that way inclined. No pressure. Obviously. linktr.ee/guyware
linktr.ee
guyware Official: X | Linktree
View guyware’s Linktree to discover and stream music from top platforms like Spotify here. Your next favorite track is just a click away!
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Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Russell Brand, who's awaiting trial in London next month on rape and sexual assault charges, will moderate a panel at DC's MAHA summit tomorrow on reforming a U.S. health agency
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Roland Bates @rolandbates.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Tax the rich, like a socialist party would do. You fucking imbecile
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Michael Warburton @michaelwarburton.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
“I don’t think being good at things is the point of doing them.” How an Archeologist changed KURT VONNEGUT’s life.
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James @zemblamatic.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Mum semblable, Mum frere
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Roland Bates @rolandbates.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Fantastic work
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Roland Bates @rolandbates.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Beckenham, where I grew up, is being actively infiltrated by a Christian cult which is overrunning the place. They are called City Gate. They are planning to take over the cinema. These people are evil (I am a real Christian btw) take a look online and shut these fucking fuckers down.
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Roland Bates @rolandbates.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Not really my kind of thing.
Annie Dillard
Holy the Firm
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Roland Bates @rolandbates.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
See? It doesn't make any sense!
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Steven Poole @stevenpoole.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
whoever would have guessed that the AI doom/EA cult is exactly like all other cults in history inasmuch as its members' primary motivation is to gaslight women into having sex with them
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Roland Bates @rolandbates.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Fantastic. This is our world.
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Roland Bates @rolandbates.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
It's the 65 that gives it granularity. 65.
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David Collard @davidcollard.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Empson lived at 65 Marchmont Street, a few doors along from the barber's shop run by Kenneth Williams's father.
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Roland Bates @rolandbates.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Win. Win.
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Roland Bates @rolandbates.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
@lbfew.bsky.social
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harrysword.bsky.social @harrysword.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
100% - this is why I never use self checkout.
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Roland Bates @rolandbates.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
The only book you need
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Roland Bates @rolandbates.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Facilis descensus Averno
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Roland Bates @rolandbates.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Sound advice
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Roland Bates @rolandbates.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Lloyds Bank has an advert for a particular account. The ad describes the account as "the gift horse of accounts". Idiots.
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Rob Morgan @durutti74.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Choosin' Texans?
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Roland Bates @rolandbates.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
UNIVERSAL INDIANS banger
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Roland Bates @rolandbates.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Very funny to see that much of Tony Archer's chest.
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Roland Bates @rolandbates.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Exhausting
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Roland Bates @rolandbates.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Seen today, something I had forgotten "I've got a really nice stepladder at home. Sadly, I never knew my real ladder"
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