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Vincent O'Connell

@vincentoconnell.co.uk
999 followers 923 following 1.6K posts

Writer and film maker, here for distraction, information and (occasional) enlightenment. www.vincentoconnell.co.uk

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Reposted by Vincent O'Connell
Neglected Books @neglectedbooks.com · 26/09/2026
Imagine Don Draper out of a job. For months. A year. Allen R. Dodd's memoir, The Job Hunter, recounts the humbling experience of a once-hailed ad man having—unsuccessfully—to find work. A white-collar classic that belongs on the shelf next to Heller's Something Happened. neglectedbooks.com/?...
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Tom Cox @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I watched this last night. It's terrifying, but hopeful. I feel it's my duty, as a human, to share it. I'd appreciate it if you shared it too. It's specifically made for people in the UK, but it's about everyone, and, the more people see it, the better chance we'll have. www.nebriefing.org/the-film
nebriefing.org
National Emergency Briefing
A 50-min film centred around the National Emergency Briefing. The frank facts, but also the huge opportunity if Government steps up and leads a WW2-scale response. Designed to be watched by communitie...
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Jon Dalgaard @jondalgaard.com · 24/09/2026
This is the first starter pack I ever made. It's full of writers! The best people in the world! (Not biased) It includes book ones, article ones, TV ones, film ones, poem ones and also other ones. go.bsky.app/4q1TDUK
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Paul Whitelaw @paulwhitelaw.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Here's something: Dennis Potter's rarely seen Play for Today from 1974, Schmoedipus, will be repeated on BBC Four on Wednesday 7th October at 10pm. It's their tribute to Tim Curry, who stars alongside Anna Cropper and Bob Hoskins. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p...
bbc.co.uk
BBC One - Play for Today, Series 4, Schmoedipus
A strange young man turns up on Elizabeth’s doorstep and makes a frightening claim.
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Phil @philjbrett.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
John Coltrane born this day. 1936. Words like “genius”, “icon” “inspirational” and “influential” are nowadays bandied around like confetti, often to people who are quite the opposite; not so with Trane. He is all those things. And more. m.youtube.com/watch?v=HT_Z...
m.youtube.com
Blue Train (Remastered 2003/Rudy Van Gelder Edition)
YouTube video by John Coltrane - Topic
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Open Culture @openculture.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Listen to 4+ Hours of Jazz & Classical Music from Haruki Murakami’s Novels
openculture.com
Listen to 4+ Hours of Jazz & Classical Music from Haruki Murakami’s Novels
Before he became a novelist, Haruki Murakami ran a jazz bar in Tokyo, and music has filled his novels ever since. For your listening pleasure, NTS Radio has created two playlists of the jazz and class...
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Mik Duffy. @mikduffy.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Being as it is Earth, Wind and Fire day, you really ought to celebrate it by watching Pablo Berger's astonishing dialogue-free animated film Robot Dreamd and marvel at its incredible use of EF&F's eternal banger September, www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2Mq...
youtube.com
Robot Dreams - Official Clip - September
YouTube video by Madman Films
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The Quietus @thequietus.com · 14/09/2026
Marc Almond meets Patrick Clarke in Soho to discuss the death of Dave Ball, the final Soft Cell album Danceteria, his career as a shapeshifter, and why a tribute to the decadence of 80s New York marks a full circle moment Adapt or Don’t: #MarcAlmond Interviewed buff.ly/aVuB1oa
Dave Ball and Marc Almond, colour photograph by Mike Owen.
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John Hodson @mgcroadster.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
A snapshot of a footballing genius at play... #FilmSky boxd.it/8LFG23
boxd.it
A ★★★½ review of Football As Never Before (1971)
Saturday, September 12, 1970. A watery northern European sun lights a crisp autumn afternoon at Old Trafford, where a crowd of 48,939 fans of Association Football have gathered to watch Manchester Uni...
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Anne Billson @annebillson.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Eleanor Powell + Buddy Rich (+ Bert Lahr) = magic. Watch right to the end. No AI here. From SHIP AHOY (1942)
youtube.com
Best tap dancer and drummer in the world
YouTube video by eleanorpowell2007
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Anna Twigg @annatwigg.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
BBC4 tonight, at 10.15...
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Vincent O'Connell @vincentoconnell.co.uk · 09/09/2026
Share a smile.
Malcolm Macdowell compelled to smile with a slap to the face at the end of of O Lucky Man.
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THE FAR SIDE DAILY @bot.cowtools.org · 07/09/2026
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Old British Telly @oldbritishtelly.co.uk · 07/09/2026
[1980] 2 Tone Records - Nationwide reports on the Coventry based record label that is at the heart of the second wave of ska music, promoting groups like The Selecter and The Specials, bands who blend Jamaican rocksteady, ska and reggae with British punk.
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Matthew Stewart @roguestrands.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
I'm currently scheduling readings for 2027 and would be delighted to hear from any lit/book fests in the U.K. that might be able to offer me a slot. I've a decent track record and I don't require travel expenses from Spain. And I promise not to scare off audiences who think poetry's not for them!
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✨Directed by John Carpenter✨ @ourflagmeansbeth.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
We should be boycotting every company that uses slop shit technology to replace human beings in EVERY industry.
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Memorial Device @memorialdevice.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Worth noting that police in the UK have made over 2,700 arrests for peacefully protesting the banning of Palestine Action.
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Eddie Robson @eddierobson.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Boyle: “It doesn’t really matter what I think about AI. It matters what 20-year-olds think about it. Is the honest truth." Well Danny, my teenagers think it fucking sucks and they want nothing to do with it or anything made with it
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Vincent O'Connell @vincentoconnell.co.uk · 05/09/2026
Same old same old. "Fiscal rules" blah blah. There's a good time coming boys, a good time coming.
theguardian.com
John Healey warns of tough first budget as Middle East war puts pressure on economy
Chancellor says he wants to ensure country has ‘buffer’ against uncertainty as global bond yields hit 18-year high
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Brian Groom @groomb.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Comforting Arm, Gorbals, Glasgow, 1968, photo by David Peat (1947-2012), award-winning Scottish documentary-maker, cinematographer and photographer.
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Old British Telly @oldbritishtelly.co.uk · 31/08/2026
[1979] Something Else - BBC series targeted specifically at a youth audience and is an early example in British television of the genre known as "Youth TV". This episode features The Jam performing Eton Rifles, Tony Wilson, and Joy Division performing Transmission.
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Des @desdelboy.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
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Vincent O'Connell @vincentoconnell.co.uk · 28/08/2026
Not now Irish whiskey black fungus.
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Vincent O'Connell @vincentoconnell.co.uk · 27/08/2026
Spoiler: It’s fucking mental.
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John Bleasdale @www.johnbleasdale.com · 27/08/2026
I really poured my heart and soul into this piece. So read it. It won’t cost you a penny/dime/drachma
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JacquiWine @jacquiwine.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
This cause is close to my heart - please sign: you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/sa...
you.38degrees.org.uk
Save The Prince Charles Cinema
The future of the iconic Prince Charles Cinema in London’s West End is under serious threat! We are beyond disappointed that our landlords, Zedwell LSQ Ltd and their ultimate parent company Criterion...
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Vincent O'Connell @vincentoconnell.co.uk · 22/08/2026
Je suis Vince.
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Bertrom. @bertrom.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Bill Evans. ‘Peace Piece’. Magnificent. youtu.be/Nv2GgV34qIg
youtu.be
Bill Evans "Peace Piece"
YouTube video by William Repicci
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Ümit Ünal @asyadada.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Brings me to tears every time I read it.
The Mower

By Philip Larkin
The mower stalled, twice; kneeling, I found   
A hedgehog jammed up against the blades,   
Killed. It had been in the long grass.

I had seen it before, and even fed it, once.   
Now I had mauled its unobtrusive world   
Unmendably. Burial was no help:

Next morning I got up and it did not.
The first day after a death, the new absence   
Is always the same; we should be careful

Of each other, we should be kind   
While there is still time.
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Vincent O'Connell @vincentoconnell.co.uk · 19/08/2026
Single image from a film that immediately makes you hear the song from the soundtrack in your head.
Ray Liotta in a scene form Goodfellas, doing frantic cocaine deliveries with police  helicopters buzzing over his head.
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Vincent O'Connell @vincentoconnell.co.uk · 19/08/2026
A really nice interview which casually reveals, at the end, the secret of life.
theguardian.com
Jah Wobble on covering the Beatles, London buses and why punk went wrong: ‘Being kind is seen as square’
The maverick former Public Image Ltd bassist takes us on a typically picaresque journey through his ‘Kafka-esque’ days at Transport for London, being named by Sid Vicious and his spiritual learnings
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Sardonicus @sardonicus.eu · 19/08/2026
Nick Drake photographed by Keith Morris 1969.
6 photos of a man leaning against a brickwall, in each frame are different passersby.
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www.slowtravelberlin.com @slowberlin.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
gm to this memorial to Otto and Elise Hampel, the couple that bravely distributed hundreds of anti-war postcards around the city. They were eventually executed and their story became the basis for Hans Fallada’s novel Alone In Berlin. 📍 Rathaus Berlin-Wedding, Mũllerstrasse
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Vincent O'Connell @vincentoconnell.co.uk · 16/08/2026
How big a Fuck Off can I give this?
theguardian.com
‘I see the incredible promise’: on set of an AI film shoot as new studios embrace controversial tech
Amid fears for jobs, some film-makers say AI could enable them bypass studio giants and take more creative risks
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Vincent O'Connell @vincentoconnell.co.uk · 14/08/2026
Feeling very sick about this. Although different in many ways, I am compelled to remember the Guardian’s front page one Monday morning in February 1999- “Playwright Kane Found Dead” (“Found Hanged” in the earlier editions). Sarah was my friend, and had been hounded by the press who then got so sad.
theguardian.com
Jason Arday, professor at centre of Cambridge plagiarism row, found dead
Academic was pronounced dead at his home in south London after police called to address after 3pm on Friday
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Gaia Vince @wanderinggaia.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
This is such a brilliant powerful piece, please read it. AI doesn’t have to be inevitable; we can choose a human future.
theguardian.com
‘I hate what AI is doing to the minds and happiness of the young’: Katherine Rundell on the view from the classroom
Education is at a crossroads, argues the author and academic. Should we embrace new technology in the name of efficiency, or is it time to fight back?
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Vincent O'Connell @vincentoconnell.co.uk · 08/08/2026
The film rights are mine, ok?
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Vincent O'Connell @vincentoconnell.co.uk · 06/08/2026
My son (7) started to build a camp today. His chum tried to steal the branches and knock it down. My son continued. Friend then sat watching while blasting a party blower. My son endured. The mate then joined in to help him finish it, and sat in with him for photos, saying they'd done it together.
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Vincent O'Connell @vincentoconnell.co.uk · 05/08/2026
theguardian.com
Peter Gill showed theatre audiences that anywhere could be the centre of the world
The playwright and director, who has died aged 86, completed DH Lawrence’s revolution in spotlighting the stories of working people
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Edvard Munch @edvardmunch.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
The Three Stages of Woman (Sphinx). 1894 botfrens.com/collections/90/content…
The Three Stages of Woman (Sphinx).
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Vincent O'Connell @vincentoconnell.co.uk · 05/08/2026
20 years ago this headline would have been incomprehensible.
theguardian.com
Mexican influencer shot dead while streaming live on social media
César Gastélum was filming outside a fast-food outlet in Sinaloa state when he was killed by a motorbike driver
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Another Cinna @anothercinna.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Aaww heck. Never a word or a move out of place. Always on target. RIP Peter Gill.
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Paul Duane 🥔 @paulduane.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
This film of the story is extraordinary, but don't watch it if you're feeling in any way fragile. youtu.be/4oxP3TyuQx0?...
youtu.be
Будет ласковый дождь / There Will Come Soft Rains (1984) [Eng CC]
YouTube video by Алекс Кэрролл
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James Aithie 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @jamesaithie.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...
bbc.co.uk
Play for Today - Series 4: The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil
The 1974 TV adaptation of John McGrath's iconic 7:84 play about the exploitation of the Scottish people through history, from the aftermath of Culloden to the oil boom.
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Vincent O'Connell @vincentoconnell.co.uk · 31/07/2026
Hastings friends, dine out at the Grumpy Cook, and dine there often.
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pasttensehistories.bsky.social @pasttensehistories.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
#OnThisDay in London's anti-fascist history, 1962: Would-be fuhrer Oswald Mosley gets a kicking, Dalston wp.me/p74yfw-1Bq
wp.me
Today in London’s anti-fascist history, 1962: Would-be fuhrer Oswald Mosley gets a kicking, Dalston
The first half of the 1950s was a quiet time for anti-fascists in the UK. The postwar threat of fascist revival, in the form of Oswald Mosley’s Union Movement, had been battered off the streets lar…
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newmexicanextexan.bsky.social @newmexicanextexan.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Meta will train its AI on far-right media outlet open.substack.com/pub/populari...
open.substack.com
Meta will train its AI on far-right media outlet
This week, Newsmax — a far-right news organization with a strong allegiance to President Trump and a history of pushing wild conspiracy theories — announced it had struck a deal with Meta.
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Vincent O'Connell @vincentoconnell.co.uk · 30/07/2026
AI is intimately aligned with Fascism. Once we can take that on board, we understand what the fight is.
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Writers' Guild of Great Britain @writersguildgb.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
We're joining @creatorsrights.bsky.social in calling on Government to protect creators from the existential threat of GenAI Help get the petition to 10,000 signatures - sign the petition 🔽 petition.parliament.uk/petitions/76...
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