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Stephen Watt

@stephenwatt.bsky.social
505 followers 487 following 165 posts

Working in Scottish politics but somehow still finding the time to tweet about the Labour Party, Generic Nerdy Stuff and, of course, the Kingdom of Strathclyde.

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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Lincluden Collegiate Church in the north of Dumfries was very beautiful but sadly all the information panels about it were destroyed/covered by foliage. At first I thought it was a site that was half abandoned, but the only surviving sign says everything was done up in 2014!
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
September Weekend means a great opportunity for a road trip. Took the A76 route to Dumfries - and beyond - and ended up on a Keir Hardie pilgrimage in surprisingly sunny Cumnock!
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Made Welsh Rarebit rather than just grilling cheese on toast and honestly might be one of the best life decisions I've ever made. (No picture cause you've got to eat it as soon as the cheese is out of the pan!
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Book 20 of 2026 Le Morte d'Arthur remains my favourite non-Welsh medieval Arthurian text* but the 13th century Parzival is surprisingly funny and actually well-paced! Also Sir Gawain fights a cursed bed at one point so what's not like?
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Wild to think that when the Aberdeen Craft guilds held pro-Chartist pageant in the 1840s they wrre channelling a tradition that goes back before the Reformation.
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
"The Empire Long Divided, Must Unite - Emperor Palpatine's Restoration of Galatic Civilisation", Journal for Imperial Security and Stability, (44, 18 AFE), pp 14 - 32
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The deeply worrying implication being that Morris Dancing once cast it's terrible shadow over Lowland Scotland! Thankfully those day are past now, and in the past they must remain!
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Don't know what I've done to deserve it but my Facebook algorithm is now just AI generated maps of Scottish local government reform. Always knew I shouldn't have renegaded on that deal with the Chaos Gods!
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Think I have a new favourite piece of artwork in the Scottish Parliament!
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Queen Street can't obviously compete against Glasgow Central, but even in it's far more utilitarian set-up I enjoy the rows of columns painted gold. A small reminder thst the public realm can (and should) have beauty in it.
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Personal growth is buying a tea at the cinema rather than a Flat White at 8:30pm.
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Book 19 of 2026 Despite having one of the most generic fantasy novel names of all time - this is actually a really good and brutal folk horror-esque fantasy story from the ancient past of 1991.
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Reposted by Stephen Watt
Tom Ewing @tomewing.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Narnia books as Isekai Manga
1. My Sweet Tooth Made Me The Villainess’ Slave
2. In Another World, The Dwarves Picked Me To Lead The Revolution
3. All At Sea With My Level 0 Sailing Skills
4. On A Mission In Another World And I Can’t Remember The Cheat Codes
5. That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Horse
6. Help! My Uncle’s In Love With The Demon Queen!
7. Reincarnated In Another World Just As The Game’s Ending
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Unfortunately all that remains of the incident is a blurry video of something walking backwards and forwards through the patio.
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
The British response to Live at Folsom Prison was not quite as successful...
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
For a second confused Daniel Craig with Daniel Radcliff and got very confused! Anyway strong Wizard of Oz vibes for Uncle Andrew - which works since he's basically a failed occultist who only accidentally manages to do real magic.
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
The tallest man in the Labour Party being given the biggest job in the Labour Party seems very fitting. Also fair play to the Coop Party you played the best long game in British history!
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Finally bought Baldur's Gate 3. Let's see if my PC can actually run it once it finishes its 1000 year download!
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
For professional purposes I watch a lot of the Scottish Parliament and there is something quite unsettling how climate change is no longer something that gets talked about in the future, and instead is now just this constant ongoing crisis.
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
The Incomer might now be onr my favourite films. Scottish mythology, touching themes of identity & abandonment, a villainous council chief, the North East setting - what's not to like? Also really fun to see nerdy Scots being featured on the big screen!
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Book 18 of 2026 Do you find big numbers scary? If so you'll find A Short Stay in Hell more frightening then me - honestly it's got a fun concept but for supposedly being a modern classic of psychological horror I found it to be very tame.
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Don't know what I've done to my Instagram algorithm but this must be the worst targeted ad I've ever seen!
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
So that's us going from five massively underfunded environmental bodies - each doing radically different things - to one underfunded jumbo environmental body. Good news for Scotland's polluters, shame for those of us living here! www.scotsman.com/news/politic...
scotsman.com
John Swinney to merge Scotland's environmental agencies
It is understood the move will form part of efficiency measures contained in the programme for government
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
"Less local democracy, more centralisation" is the worst possible answer for Scotland's problems www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politic...
dailyrecord.co.uk
Council mergers could be given green light under plans by John Swinney
EXCLUSIVE: Enabling legislation allowing fewer local authorities is being considered by the Scottish Government.
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
The Bachelor's Club in Tarbolton was a fun visit - one of the only remaining non-ecclesastical community halls from before the 19th century. Also where Burns came to debate politics... and drink!
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Reading an account of the 1968 Italian elections and genuinely quite jaw dropping just how openly corrupt campaigning was in the slums of Naples. (And proved a very significant barrier for organising workers outside of the biggest factory and municipal bodies)
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Book 16 of 2026 Didn't have high expectations of this one - a comic fantasy novel from 1996 starring the fairies from A Midsummer Night's Dream but actually this is a really lovely and funny novel by someone clearly very knowledgeable about British folklore.
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Book 15 of 2026 Decided to support Scottish poetry by reading this book by an obscure Ayrshire poet. He's going to get some flak for referring to Scots as "The Scottish Dialect" but I do get the feeling Robert Burns is one to watch!
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
It really is hard to find "boiling fowl" in the supermarket these days!
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Improving my Letterboxd pretentiousness by watching Orson Welles interviews - need my reviews to capture the contempt he had for hacks and the joy he felt towards sincerity.
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Reposted by Stephen Watt
Duncan Hothersall @dhothersall.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
"Over the next month, Marra and Fagan will compete to become the next leader of Scottish Labour, setting out their solutions to what they see as the problems facing the party in the wake of its fifth consecutive election defeat. Unfortunately, they are answering largely the wrong questions."
labourhame.com
Moving the dial on the constitution
James Gray, Political Education Officer of Edinburgh Southern CLP, says the candidates for leadership of the party need to grasp the nettle of the constitution if Scottish Labour is to have any hop…
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Definitely not an omen that I return home the day after Scotland has an eclipse! ***Writes memo "Don't Anger the Gods on Thursday"***
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
When a museum has a statue of a guy who looks a bit like Clement Attlee outside it you know it will be good!
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Girvan is looking different from how I remember!
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Commonwealth Games are really fun and friendly - would recommend your city hosting them! (Also we need to have it that legally they must be live on BBC 1)
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Just saw the Odyssey - lots of thoughts, all positive! Genuinely think Nolan could now make an Aeneid sequel if he wanted to do so - with a shell-shocked Aeneas learning how he, and the Trojan refugees have to learn to live in a world where the laws of Zeus are shattered!
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Very powerful article - I've lived in Glasgow for eight years now and I've never seen the city like this. We can't let this summer of far-right "protests" become the norm for the city.
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Something deeply symbolic about the state of Scotland's paths about this "To Old Friends" bench being broken in such a way no-one can sit on it!
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
The traditional site where Thomas the Rhymer was taken away by the Queen of the Fairies. "True Thomas lay on Huntlie bank, A ferlie he spied wi’ his e’e, And there he saw a lady bright Come riding down by the Eildon tree."
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Wasn't expecting this walk to include Final Fantasy style random encounters!
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Safely made my commute through "lawless" Glasgow - and after fighting my way through the zombie hordes, out-racing the cannibal biker gangs and escaping from the gaping maw of a traction city I discovered that the worst possible thing has happened. Glasgow has fallen to the French!
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
I guess it's probably for the best that vicars are no longer allowed to carry cudgels!
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Finally completed Dawnguard last night - so only one more Skyrim DLC to complete before Elder Scrolls VI comes out in 2055!
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
One of the most dispiriting things online is looking up a niche topic and basically every website other than government officials ones using the same AI generated text copy and pasted ad infinitum. Getting quite close to needing to actually look in an actual book to find the answers to my query!
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
This is the cultural equivalent of turning a working mine into a museum of mining. The CCA plays a vital role in the cultural ecosystem in Glasgow, providing jobs and opportunities for artists & creatives. There's nothing wrong with tourism - but we also need to create and not just commemorate.
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Online Medieval Fan - No I refuse to play that game as the shields are so inaccurate Medieval Romance - And so Sir Trebuchet left Arthur's Britain, crossed the Alps & arrived in the land of bodacious babes where he fought under Emperor Saladin against Attila the Hun, the King of Orkney & a dragon.
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Not a fan of the new Copilot banner in Microsoft Word. What makes it worse is that all the evidence shows that people find it easier to start writing in a box with text - then they do a blank page; so lots of people will be "nudged" to use Copilot rather than use their own words.
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
So basically the options for Burnham are - a snap election or deal with a by-election that has a strong chance of a Farage triumphant. (And then a high chance of a global recession in September) Don't envy the choice - though Makerfield IMO shows Burnham absolutely could win a snap election.
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
"And lo, at the same time as the victorious King of the North made his plans known, his enemies found themselves in disarray and distress as their own schemes and traps turned against them. And their was great rejoicing across the land"
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Stephen Watt @stephenwatt.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
We talk about the New Towns but I am fascinated about those in the "Glasgow Overspill" who ended up in Turiff, Macduff & Wick. (And since they had their own burgh councils the arrival of new populations from Glasgow would have been agreed by the local democratic institutions)
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