Ben Wyer
@benwyer.bsky.social
Gardener, lapsed artist, endlessly curious underachiever, lives by the sea
Reposted by Ben Wyer
Twitter accounts are based in Russia. BlueSky accounts are based in homes with, frankly, too many books, plants, obsolete cables, and pieces of rustic pottery, that could do with a bit of a tidying up, to be honest.
November 23, 2025 at 8:29 PM
Twitter accounts are based in Russia. BlueSky accounts are based in homes with, frankly, too many books, plants, obsolete cables, and pieces of rustic pottery, that could do with a bit of a tidying up, to be honest.
Reposted by Ben Wyer
If I’m understanding this correctly, X is owned by a white nationalist who pays poor people of color in developing countries to pretend to be working class white Americans to scare other white Americans into being afraid poor people of color from developing countries are going to ruin America?
November 23, 2025 at 7:30 PM
If I’m understanding this correctly, X is owned by a white nationalist who pays poor people of color in developing countries to pretend to be working class white Americans to scare other white Americans into being afraid poor people of color from developing countries are going to ruin America?
Reposted by Ben Wyer
Reposted by Ben Wyer
this week's newsletter is titled "aren't you tired of feeling insane all the time?" and I think it speaks for itself
it is also free to read
youngvulgarian.substack.com/p/arent-you-...
it is also free to read
youngvulgarian.substack.com/p/arent-you-...
November 21, 2025 at 10:18 AM
this week's newsletter is titled "aren't you tired of feeling insane all the time?" and I think it speaks for itself
it is also free to read
youngvulgarian.substack.com/p/arent-you-...
it is also free to read
youngvulgarian.substack.com/p/arent-you-...
Reposted by Ben Wyer
From today, since we've raised about £500 (thank you!) for the RNLI, one screenshot of a donation to this bunch gets you one recipe.
Type, difficulty, tolerance friendliness, all up to you.
Give me a screenshot, feed a family, eat well.
Type, difficulty, tolerance friendliness, all up to you.
Give me a screenshot, feed a family, eat well.
As winter starts to bite, please think of the refugees and asylum seekers who depend on organisations like ours for food and shelter on a freezing cold day.
Just £5 could buy a hot meal for someone at one of our winter Drop-ins. Visit www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/stand-with... Every donation doubled. 🙏
Just £5 could buy a hot meal for someone at one of our winter Drop-ins. Visit www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/stand-with... Every donation doubled. 🙏
November 19, 2025 at 10:19 AM
From today, since we've raised about £500 (thank you!) for the RNLI, one screenshot of a donation to this bunch gets you one recipe.
Type, difficulty, tolerance friendliness, all up to you.
Give me a screenshot, feed a family, eat well.
Type, difficulty, tolerance friendliness, all up to you.
Give me a screenshot, feed a family, eat well.
Reposted by Ben Wyer
Have been thinking about “immigration has been tearing this country apart.” Surely I’m not the only person to think that it isn’t true, but inflamed rhetoric about immigration by politicians is what is tearing this country apart and so statements like that only makes it worse.
November 18, 2025 at 6:37 AM
Have been thinking about “immigration has been tearing this country apart.” Surely I’m not the only person to think that it isn’t true, but inflamed rhetoric about immigration by politicians is what is tearing this country apart and so statements like that only makes it worse.
Reposted by Ben Wyer
40 years ago today, right about now i.e. after school, I was listening to Psychocandy for the first time, as was anyone within fifty feet of my bedroom. Still one of the most exciting things ever to have happened to me.
Four decades back a major label released a debut album that sounded like almost nothing on earth while still sounding incredibly familiar. Our man in San Francisco Ned Raggett takes stock of it all
Happy Birthday to the JAMC's Psychocandy, which turns 40 today!
buff.ly/nflmjN6
Happy Birthday to the JAMC's Psychocandy, which turns 40 today!
buff.ly/nflmjN6
November 18, 2025 at 4:36 PM
40 years ago today, right about now i.e. after school, I was listening to Psychocandy for the first time, as was anyone within fifty feet of my bedroom. Still one of the most exciting things ever to have happened to me.
Reposted by Ben Wyer
Reposted by Ben Wyer
Reposted by Ben Wyer
Helpful list of some of the people who, or whose families, Shabana Mahmood thinks should only have been allowed to stay temporarily
Famous Refugees
Famous or not, refugees bring much more than their belongings with them to their new countries.
Here's a list of public figures you might not know were
refugeeweek.org.uk
November 15, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Helpful list of some of the people who, or whose families, Shabana Mahmood thinks should only have been allowed to stay temporarily
Reposted by Ben Wyer
There’s a missing link in British public life – and it underpins crises from the BBC to our prisons | Rafael Behr
There’s a missing link in British public life – and it underpins crises from the BBC to our prisons | Rafael Behr
A declining sense of collective identity is corroding trust in our institutions and undermining democratic politics, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr
www.theguardian.com
November 12, 2025 at 6:33 AM
There’s a missing link in British public life – and it underpins crises from the BBC to our prisons | Rafael Behr
Reposted by Ben Wyer
Personal note: London has been home for a very, very long time, but as of today, I am also officially a Brit - that is to say, a British citizen. I feel relieved and I feel grateful - but not, perhaps, in the forelock-tugging way GB News/Starmer expect a new immigrant to be.
November 12, 2025 at 7:08 AM
Personal note: London has been home for a very, very long time, but as of today, I am also officially a Brit - that is to say, a British citizen. I feel relieved and I feel grateful - but not, perhaps, in the forelock-tugging way GB News/Starmer expect a new immigrant to be.
Reposted by Ben Wyer
Reposted by Ben Wyer
Imagine if you met someone irl who kept talking like people do on here, throwing under the bus, kept the receipts, lives rent-free etc, you'd quite rightly punch them in the face
November 7, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Imagine if you met someone irl who kept talking like people do on here, throwing under the bus, kept the receipts, lives rent-free etc, you'd quite rightly punch them in the face
Reposted by Ben Wyer
You're welcome
October 29, 2025 at 10:02 PM
You're welcome
Reposted by Ben Wyer
Inside a Cello
Charles Brooks Photography
Charles Brooks Photography
October 28, 2025 at 11:39 AM
Inside a Cello
Charles Brooks Photography
Charles Brooks Photography
Reposted by Ben Wyer
"The idea of deporting people with settled status is disgusting, and anyone proposing it should be immediately drummed out of polite society. Breaking promises made in good faith to our friends and neighbours is racist, extremist and immoral."
I'm basically shouting at the sky here, but still.
I'm basically shouting at the sky here, but still.
It’s racist, it’s extremist and it’s immoral
The right is still calling for deportations, and the government is still being cowardly about it. Also: London’s first green belt; some notes on a shark; and some news, on my next book.
jonn.substack.com
October 22, 2025 at 1:22 PM
"The idea of deporting people with settled status is disgusting, and anyone proposing it should be immediately drummed out of polite society. Breaking promises made in good faith to our friends and neighbours is racist, extremist and immoral."
I'm basically shouting at the sky here, but still.
I'm basically shouting at the sky here, but still.
Reposted by Ben Wyer
Have been reminded of the time my girlfriend met a chihuahua called Death Row on her dog walk who turned out to actually be called Jethro.
October 21, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Have been reminded of the time my girlfriend met a chihuahua called Death Row on her dog walk who turned out to actually be called Jethro.
Reposted by Ben Wyer
![1
Nurse:
It’s become a real problem in this area
2
Nurse:
We’ve seen the whole community lost to addiction
3
Show a building sign posted:
Westminster ‘X’ Addiction Clinic
With various Westminster people or looking at their phones outside it
Nurse:
Ministers, Spads, Researchers…
4
Nurse:
Most mornings we’ll get a call about someone acting strangely
[Nurse on phone taking a call]
Ok - we’ll be right over
5
Nurse:
We just have a gentle chat
[Nurses approach a minister –Robert Jenrick? - standing in the Palace of Westminster
Minister:
I understand your concerns…
6
Nurse:
Are you OK love?
Minister:
Yes I’m just hearing legitimate concerns from real voters
7
Nurse:
That’s a robot, a Nazi and a poorly-disguised Russian
[Show that the people he is talking to are precisely these characters]
Nurse 2:
Give us your phone, love
8
Nurse:
At the clinic we put them in a Grass-Touching Pod, with a real voter to talk to
[We see them back at the clinic, holding the minister's head and pushing him into a glass isolation booth with a grass floor. And it is a baffled looking woman, on a chair, ready to talk to him.]
9
Minister:
YOU MUST BE WORRIED ABOUT THE COMING CIVIL WAR
[woman looks baffled]
10
woman:
I just want a bus service
Minister:
LOOK AT MY FLAG
[produces a St George's flag]
[ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreicahofq6s4xow7vowj7dx6odw6ejdwr4kwcmzta7qwi4hg2nvywji@jpeg)
Reposted by Ben Wyer
‘It’s a bit clandestine, a bit punk’: the guerrilla scheme letting skint artists mass-share gallery membership cards
‘It’s a bit clandestine, a bit punk’: the guerrilla scheme letting skint artists mass-share gallery membership cards
Now 600 strong, the Artist Membership Project is helping young artists see exhibitions while dodging hefty entry fees at top British institutions. We meet the founder of the scheme
www.theguardian.com
October 20, 2025 at 11:20 AM
‘It’s a bit clandestine, a bit punk’: the guerrilla scheme letting skint artists mass-share gallery membership cards
Reposted by Ben Wyer
OK guys, post your best signs from today for entry into my Top 15 No Kings Sign Contest.
October 18, 2025 at 7:34 PM
OK guys, post your best signs from today for entry into my Top 15 No Kings Sign Contest.
Reposted by Ben Wyer
Reposted by Ben Wyer
Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.
Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry
Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry
Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.
buff.ly
October 8, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.