Andrew Kelly
@andrewkelly.bsky.social
Writer, festival director, interviewer, visiting professor. Projects: ideas events, Future City Film Festival, John Boorman, John Berger, William Gray Walter, revisiting J B Priestley, and Isambard Kingdom Brunel book. https://festivalofideas.substack.com
For a view on Bristol in the 1960s see Eugene Byrne in my newsletter: festivalofideas.substack.com/p/newcomers-.... Subscribe for free in the link.
November 10, 2025 at 7:06 AM
For a view on Bristol in the 1960s see Eugene Byrne in my newsletter: festivalofideas.substack.com/p/newcomers-.... Subscribe for free in the link.
Good review of Andrew Miller’s book in the NYT about the UK - in the 1963 big freeze - on the world of change. Added bonus is that it is partly set in Bristol, also on the cusp of change.
A Tale of Two Couples, and a Nation, Emerging From a Deep Freeze
www.nytimes.com
November 10, 2025 at 7:03 AM
Good review of Andrew Miller’s book in the NYT about the UK - in the 1963 big freeze - on the world of change. Added bonus is that it is partly set in Bristol, also on the cusp of change.
More fears about employment losses due to AI. We look at this - and the impact of technology changes in the past - with Tim Harford and Sarah O’Connor 21 November www.waterstones.com/events/festi...
One in six employers expect job cuts from AI in next year
Survey by Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development reveals the extent of the threat to white-collar workers from artificial intelligence
www.thetimes.com
November 10, 2025 at 6:46 AM
More fears about employment losses due to AI. We look at this - and the impact of technology changes in the past - with Tim Harford and Sarah O’Connor 21 November www.waterstones.com/events/festi...
Paul Johnson: ‘There is an underlying problem here, one that has existed for decades, but seems more acute than ever right now. There is simply no strategy, no sense of direction, no coherent policy.‘
More for discussion at Festival of Economics: www.economicsobservatory.com/festival-of-...
More for discussion at Festival of Economics: www.economicsobservatory.com/festival-of-...
These are the tax reforms Britain needs, but is Reeves listening?
The chancellor lacks any sense of direction, which is causing chronic uncertainty. And all this while there is a consensus among tax experts on a way forward
www.thetimes.com
November 10, 2025 at 6:38 AM
Paul Johnson: ‘There is an underlying problem here, one that has existed for decades, but seems more acute than ever right now. There is simply no strategy, no sense of direction, no coherent policy.‘
More for discussion at Festival of Economics: www.economicsobservatory.com/festival-of-...
More for discussion at Festival of Economics: www.economicsobservatory.com/festival-of-...
Has Bristol experienced a cultural renaissance since the 1960s? Is this more than civic boosterism? What are the lessons for planning for the future? festivalofideas.substack.com/p/the-newcom...
Subscribe for more at the link. Next piece is on the film Paths of Glory.
Subscribe for more at the link. Next piece is on the film Paths of Glory.
November 9, 2025 at 10:24 AM
Has Bristol experienced a cultural renaissance since the 1960s? Is this more than civic boosterism? What are the lessons for planning for the future? festivalofideas.substack.com/p/the-newcom...
Subscribe for more at the link. Next piece is on the film Paths of Glory.
Subscribe for more at the link. Next piece is on the film Paths of Glory.
“We are very ready, today, to concede people’s need for ‘meaningful relationships,’” she wrote in “The Fields Beneath.” “Yet we fail almost entirely to realize that other relationships, with places, objects, views — other supporters of the human psyche — may be just as profoundly important.”
Gillian Tindall, 87, Dies; Author Who Probed the Layers of Places
www.nytimes.com
November 9, 2025 at 10:09 AM
“We are very ready, today, to concede people’s need for ‘meaningful relationships,’” she wrote in “The Fields Beneath.” “Yet we fail almost entirely to realize that other relationships, with places, objects, views — other supporters of the human psyche — may be just as profoundly important.”
Questions Peter Watkins asked his class in his Columbia University film course in the late 1970s: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/m...
November 9, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Questions Peter Watkins asked his class in his Columbia University film course in the late 1970s: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/m...
Breakfast today is with Andre Previn, or Mr Preview to lovers of classic TV comedy.
November 9, 2025 at 9:48 AM
Breakfast today is with Andre Previn, or Mr Preview to lovers of classic TV comedy.
Always a fine list. Some I’ve read/ watched, many not. All worth reading and watching. Welcome back.
The Sunday dozen
A venerable tradition returns to the re-booted Illuminations blog with a weekend selection of links
www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/the-sunday-d...
A venerable tradition returns to the re-booted Illuminations blog with a weekend selection of links
www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/the-sunday-d...
The Sunday dozen - Illuminations
John Wyver writes: As part of the overall re-boot of the blog, let’s see together whether it is interesting once again to share a dozen recommendations from my reading (mostly) and viewing (minimally)...
www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk
November 9, 2025 at 7:22 AM
Always a fine list. Some I’ve read/ watched, many not. All worth reading and watching. Welcome back.
This is a terrific piece on cataloguing Cormac McCarthy’s library of 20,000 books.
Two Years After Cormac McCarthy's Death, Rare Access to His Personal Library Reveals the Man Behind the Myth
The famously reclusive novelist amassed a collection of thousands of books ranging in topics from philosophical treatises to advanced mathematics to the naked mole-rat
www.smithsonianmag.com
November 8, 2025 at 5:30 PM
This is a terrific piece on cataloguing Cormac McCarthy’s library of 20,000 books.
Breakfast with Ronnie Scott; lunch with Nina Simone.
November 8, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Breakfast with Ronnie Scott; lunch with Nina Simone.
Reposted by Andrew Kelly
My new series - Empire With David Olusoga - starts 9pm on BBC Two. Whole series on @bbciplayer.bsky.social from tonight.
November 7, 2025 at 8:56 AM
My new series - Empire With David Olusoga - starts 9pm on BBC Two. Whole series on @bbciplayer.bsky.social from tonight.
I asked Margaret Heffernan why she liked working with artists and what we can learn from them: ‘…I was just in awe of their capacity without support, without encouragement, often without very much money, to just keep doing astonishing things.’ festivalofideas.substack.com/p/festival-o...
November 7, 2025 at 10:12 AM
I asked Margaret Heffernan why she liked working with artists and what we can learn from them: ‘…I was just in awe of their capacity without support, without encouragement, often without very much money, to just keep doing astonishing things.’ festivalofideas.substack.com/p/festival-o...
Margy Kinmonth’s War Paint – Women at War got a very limited cinema release which I missed. It’s on Sky Arts this coming Sunday with her documentary Eric Ravilious: Drawn to War.
WAR PAINT - WOMEN AT WAR official trailer
YouTube video by Conic
youtu.be
November 7, 2025 at 8:27 AM
Margy Kinmonth’s War Paint – Women at War got a very limited cinema release which I missed. It’s on Sky Arts this coming Sunday with her documentary Eric Ravilious: Drawn to War.
Coming up 18-21 November: Festival of Economics 2025. Many sessions looking at AI and jobs, doom and gloom in the economy, trade and tariffs, housing and land, migration, art and the economy, aid vs defence, working class men, and polarisation. Details: www.economicsobservatory.com/festival-of-...
November 7, 2025 at 8:18 AM
Coming up 18-21 November: Festival of Economics 2025. Many sessions looking at AI and jobs, doom and gloom in the economy, trade and tariffs, housing and land, migration, art and the economy, aid vs defence, working class men, and polarisation. Details: www.economicsobservatory.com/festival-of-...
Margaret Heffernan hosts the session Do we still need artists in a generative AI world?, 14:00–15:15, Wednesday 19 November in Festival of Economics. Book here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/do-we-stil...
November 7, 2025 at 6:20 AM
Margaret Heffernan hosts the session Do we still need artists in a generative AI world?, 14:00–15:15, Wednesday 19 November in Festival of Economics. Book here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/do-we-stil...
Saw the new Frankenstein yesterday which I had greater hopes for. It remains an incredible story. We ran a project in 2016 which looked at Mary Shelley and Frankenstein (and Bristol). Alys Jones created this image which we thought captured the creature well.
November 7, 2025 at 12:50 AM
Saw the new Frankenstein yesterday which I had greater hopes for. It remains an incredible story. We ran a project in 2016 which looked at Mary Shelley and Frankenstein (and Bristol). Alys Jones created this image which we thought captured the creature well.
I’m keen to find these, too.
Question for BlueSky mind: who are the great contemporary sociologists? People writing ethnographic studies of the character of daily life in a digital / social media age.
“Each decade we shiftily declare we have buried class and each decade the coffin stands empty.”
November 6, 2025 at 9:27 AM
I’m keen to find these, too.
Coming up 21 November: Tim Harford and Financial Times columnist and technology expert Sarah O'Connor discuss the impact AI will have on all of our jobs, and explore the cautionary tales we can learn from technology revolutions of the past. www.waterstones.com/events/festi...
Festival of Economics presents Tim Harford: Cautionary Tales - LIVE PODCAST | Events at Waterstones Bookshops | Waterstones
Events at Waterstones get you closer to the books and authors you admire most. Find information and tickets about Festival of Economics presents Tim Harford: Cautionary Tales - LIVE PODCAST today.
www.waterstones.com
November 6, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Coming up 21 November: Tim Harford and Financial Times columnist and technology expert Sarah O'Connor discuss the impact AI will have on all of our jobs, and explore the cautionary tales we can learn from technology revolutions of the past. www.waterstones.com/events/festi...
What can we learn from Bristol’s experience of cultural development since the 1960s? festivalofideas.substack.com/p/the-newcom...
The Newcomers 4: Bristol's Cultural Renaissance - Learning From the Past 65 Years
Andrew Kelly
festivalofideas.substack.com
November 5, 2025 at 8:54 PM
What can we learn from Bristol’s experience of cultural development since the 1960s? festivalofideas.substack.com/p/the-newcom...
‘Her learning (always worn lightly) was peerless. And she was one of the few critics who really looked.’
I always liked reading Laura Gascoine’s reviews. Excellent critic.
I always liked reading Laura Gascoine’s reviews. Excellent critic.
Remembering The Spectator's chief art critic Laura Gascoigne (1950-2025)
Readers of this journal will be shocked at the death of Laura Gascoigne, the brilliant chief art critic at 22 Old Queen Street for five years (2020-24), in succession to Martin Gayford. She contribute...
www.spectator.co.uk
November 5, 2025 at 8:38 PM
‘Her learning (always worn lightly) was peerless. And she was one of the few critics who really looked.’
I always liked reading Laura Gascoine’s reviews. Excellent critic.
I always liked reading Laura Gascoine’s reviews. Excellent critic.
Margaret Heffernan: ‘I think we’re taking a 20th century mindset, which is a linear managerial focus on efficiency, and we’re trying to use that mindset for 21st century problems and I don’t think it’s going to work.’
festivalofideas.substack.com/p/festival-o...
festivalofideas.substack.com/p/festival-o...
November 5, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Margaret Heffernan: ‘I think we’re taking a 20th century mindset, which is a linear managerial focus on efficiency, and we’re trying to use that mindset for 21st century problems and I don’t think it’s going to work.’
festivalofideas.substack.com/p/festival-o...
festivalofideas.substack.com/p/festival-o...
New interview online. Margaret Heffernan: ‘…it really pisses me off when people talk about artists as luvvies, as if they’re infantile, slightly fey, weak people. These are the toughest people I’ve ever known in my life. And I’ve worked with some tough people.’ open.substack.com/pub/festival...
November 5, 2025 at 9:15 AM
New interview online. Margaret Heffernan: ‘…it really pisses me off when people talk about artists as luvvies, as if they’re infantile, slightly fey, weak people. These are the toughest people I’ve ever known in my life. And I’ve worked with some tough people.’ open.substack.com/pub/festival...
As the Christmas market starts to be built in Broadmead Bristol, nothing beats the spirit of Christmas than these jolly fellows.
November 4, 2025 at 8:45 PM
As the Christmas market starts to be built in Broadmead Bristol, nothing beats the spirit of Christmas than these jolly fellows.
Good to read the @filmnoiruk.bsky.social catalogue (especially as Melanie Kelly has written about The Asphalt Jungle for this).
November 4, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Good to read the @filmnoiruk.bsky.social catalogue (especially as Melanie Kelly has written about The Asphalt Jungle for this).