Fi
@ficooper.bsky.social
Uni Admin some of the time. Pottery a lot of the rest, when not with nose in book/up a hill/knitting.
Pinned
Fi
@ficooper.bsky.social
· Jul 4
A thread of books I've read in 2025, in no particular order:
Mischief Acts by Zoe Gilbert.
A sequence of stories set in one place (Ulverton-style). Earthy, magical and enchanting it's such a fantastic read! AND it has maps and songs. I've read it twice, so far.
#booksky #mischiefacts #folklore
Mischief Acts by Zoe Gilbert.
A sequence of stories set in one place (Ulverton-style). Earthy, magical and enchanting it's such a fantastic read! AND it has maps and songs. I've read it twice, so far.
#booksky #mischiefacts #folklore
Reposted by Fi
Powerful piece by @drrachelclarke.com on the COVID inquiry. Those who say it’s easy to be wise in hindsight are being utterly disingenuous. Many of us spoke out at the time, and it’s in the public record.
@independentsage.bsky.social
observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
@independentsage.bsky.social
observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
I’ll never forget the horror of the Covid wards | The Observer
observer.co.uk
November 23, 2025 at 8:02 AM
Powerful piece by @drrachelclarke.com on the COVID inquiry. Those who say it’s easy to be wise in hindsight are being utterly disingenuous. Many of us spoke out at the time, and it’s in the public record.
@independentsage.bsky.social
observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
@independentsage.bsky.social
observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
Reposted by Fi
I flew to Canada this week to go to a Paul McCartney concert and I wrote about it here:
open.substack.com/pub/naomiald...
open.substack.com/pub/naomiald...
going through hell, keeping going
on art, grief, and the emotional heroism of just bloody keeping on making your work
open.substack.com
November 23, 2025 at 8:23 AM
I flew to Canada this week to go to a Paul McCartney concert and I wrote about it here:
open.substack.com/pub/naomiald...
open.substack.com/pub/naomiald...
Reposted by Fi
If you would like a signed Everything Will Swallow You hardback for RRP + P&P, I have a fabulous selection of art by my mum, Jo, which I'm sending out for free (one linoprint with each book). Let me know your address via hello@tom-cox.com while stocks last.
Sorry, this is just for UK folk, BUT...
Sorry, this is just for UK folk, BUT...
November 22, 2025 at 7:57 AM
If you would like a signed Everything Will Swallow You hardback for RRP + P&P, I have a fabulous selection of art by my mum, Jo, which I'm sending out for free (one linoprint with each book). Let me know your address via hello@tom-cox.com while stocks last.
Sorry, this is just for UK folk, BUT...
Sorry, this is just for UK folk, BUT...
Reposted by Fi
Yn a free society, universitye-level studye of the artes and humanityes sholde not be avaylable onlye to the wealthye and privileged.
November 20, 2025 at 12:11 AM
Yn a free society, universitye-level studye of the artes and humanityes sholde not be avaylable onlye to the wealthye and privileged.
I'm *this close* to smashing my Hive thermostat with a mallet. Absolutely insane amount of rules about where it's allowed to live in order to fucking DO ITS JOB. Impossible to reset (90 minutes of my life I won't get back)
community.hivehome.com/s/article/Wh...
#hive
community.hivehome.com/s/article/Wh...
#hive
November 20, 2025 at 6:25 PM
I'm *this close* to smashing my Hive thermostat with a mallet. Absolutely insane amount of rules about where it's allowed to live in order to fucking DO ITS JOB. Impossible to reset (90 minutes of my life I won't get back)
community.hivehome.com/s/article/Wh...
#hive
community.hivehome.com/s/article/Wh...
#hive
Reposted by Fi
I do think British people need to understand that this is why Musk’s money is aiming at the UK now. The BBC and the NHS are trusted English-language sources that people in the US can access so the people who favour this disinformation would like to destroy them.
This does feel like a major crossing of the Rubicon – the world's best-funded and in many ways most powerful public health agency is now actively pushing disinformation.
I know there's a *lot* going on to care about at the moment, but this one really is significant, and matters well beyond the US.
I know there's a *lot* going on to care about at the moment, but this one really is significant, and matters well beyond the US.
The CDC website now disseminates disinformation about vaccines, claiming erroneously that infant vaccines might cause autism, when we know conclusively that they do not. It is difficult to overstate just how dangerous this is. www.cdc.gov/vaccine-safe...
November 20, 2025 at 2:14 PM
I do think British people need to understand that this is why Musk’s money is aiming at the UK now. The BBC and the NHS are trusted English-language sources that people in the US can access so the people who favour this disinformation would like to destroy them.
Reposted by Fi
Great story from the Guardian about radical folk singer Dick Gaughan and the on-going campaign to make his records available again
www.theguardian.com/music/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/music/2025/n...
‘I never wanted to sing into a vacuum’: Scottish folk pioneer Dick Gaughan’s fight for his lost music
A skilled interpreter and social justice champion, Gaughan is a hero to the likes of Richard Hawley and Billy Bragg. Yet much of his work has been stuck in limbo for decades – until a determined fan s...
www.theguardian.com
November 20, 2025 at 11:15 AM
Great story from the Guardian about radical folk singer Dick Gaughan and the on-going campaign to make his records available again
www.theguardian.com/music/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/music/2025/n...
Reposted by Fi
I'm giving away two signed copies of my (recently republished) book 21st-Century Yokel, with two postcards of this fab otters linocut by my mum, Jo.
Just repost this & pop a comment below to enter.
You might like it if you like:
Walking
Wildlife
Folklore
Bees
Ghosts
The Sea
Social history
Badgers
Just repost this & pop a comment below to enter.
You might like it if you like:
Walking
Wildlife
Folklore
Bees
Ghosts
The Sea
Social history
Badgers
November 19, 2025 at 12:00 PM
I'm giving away two signed copies of my (recently republished) book 21st-Century Yokel, with two postcards of this fab otters linocut by my mum, Jo.
Just repost this & pop a comment below to enter.
You might like it if you like:
Walking
Wildlife
Folklore
Bees
Ghosts
The Sea
Social history
Badgers
Just repost this & pop a comment below to enter.
You might like it if you like:
Walking
Wildlife
Folklore
Bees
Ghosts
The Sea
Social history
Badgers
Reposted by Fi
The really depressing thing about AI is it proves how little most people care about art. This is very funny, but also, so many people will have had to look at this and not one of them stopped and said "what is this absolute shit?"
This mural has gone up in Kingston, ostensibly for Christmas but AI has ensured it's actually to celebrate the return of our dark lord Cthulhu
November 18, 2025 at 1:58 PM
The really depressing thing about AI is it proves how little most people care about art. This is very funny, but also, so many people will have had to look at this and not one of them stopped and said "what is this absolute shit?"
Reposted by Fi
The contaminated waste piled high in a field near Kidlington is now washing into River Cherwell. In the last 48 hours, the water level has risen 4+ feet and is lapping against the illegal dump.
We stand on the edge of an environmental disaster. We need urgent action from the Environment Agency.
We stand on the edge of an environmental disaster. We need urgent action from the Environment Agency.
November 16, 2025 at 6:52 PM
The contaminated waste piled high in a field near Kidlington is now washing into River Cherwell. In the last 48 hours, the water level has risen 4+ feet and is lapping against the illegal dump.
We stand on the edge of an environmental disaster. We need urgent action from the Environment Agency.
We stand on the edge of an environmental disaster. We need urgent action from the Environment Agency.
This is up there with the 'did people really just memorise loads of phone numbers in the 1980s?!' reddit thread I saw someone post about the other day.
November 16, 2025 at 9:17 AM
This is up there with the 'did people really just memorise loads of phone numbers in the 1980s?!' reddit thread I saw someone post about the other day.
Reposted by Fi
Interesting to see so many great British patriots right now begging an American president to bankrupt one of Britain’s last remaining truly national institutions.
November 15, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Interesting to see so many great British patriots right now begging an American president to bankrupt one of Britain’s last remaining truly national institutions.
Reposted by Fi
I should probably add: only one chapter of the book is in this form. There are also several narrated by a hill, one by an ex-music journalist, and one by a 1930s gravedigger. But some are not as normal as that.
I've removed the paywall permanently from this piece, which is a chapter from my novel Villager, told entirely in the form of an online village message board. If you like it, you'll probably like the book. If you don't, you won't...
www.tom-cox.com/the-village-...
www.tom-cox.com/the-village-...
The Village Message Board
Its authenticity was discredited because of his reputation, but also because he was quick with gin at the time and wearing an item of knitwear back to front.
www.tom-cox.com
November 16, 2025 at 8:43 AM
I should probably add: only one chapter of the book is in this form. There are also several narrated by a hill, one by an ex-music journalist, and one by a 1930s gravedigger. But some are not as normal as that.
Reposted by Fi
Pan still up to his old tricks creating panic via the medium of a @helleborezine.bsky.social jumper
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
‘Demonic’ Wind in the Willows jumper banned from Westminster Abbey
Woman told to remove or cover up garment featuring 1908 illustration of Pan lest it offend worshippers
www.theguardian.com
November 14, 2025 at 8:16 AM
Pan still up to his old tricks creating panic via the medium of a @helleborezine.bsky.social jumper
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
This is truly excellent and worth winning (or buying if you don't win it!)
Author wrote best book he's ever written.
Publisher disintegrated/fucked off with author's earnings.
Book was finally published by new publisher.
Author has bought two hardbacks, for full price, to give away, signed.
Please repost/reply if you'd like a chance to win one..
bsky.app/profile/zygo...
Publisher disintegrated/fucked off with author's earnings.
Book was finally published by new publisher.
Author has bought two hardbacks, for full price, to give away, signed.
Please repost/reply if you'd like a chance to win one..
bsky.app/profile/zygo...
November 13, 2025 at 8:46 AM
This is truly excellent and worth winning (or buying if you don't win it!)
Reposted by Fi
the right winger who was appointed to lead the BBC in the hope of appeasing right wingers has been driven out by right wingers for not appeasing right wingers enough and the BBC has the chance to do the funniest thing ever
November 9, 2025 at 6:38 PM
the right winger who was appointed to lead the BBC in the hope of appeasing right wingers has been driven out by right wingers for not appeasing right wingers enough and the BBC has the chance to do the funniest thing ever
Reposted by Fi
inspired by this, I have done a free extract of this section of the book here. it is about understanding that *with all its problems* the BBC is as important for our intellectual health as the NHS is for our physical health:
naomialderman.substack.com/p/the-bbc-an...
naomialderman.substack.com/p/the-bbc-an...
November 10, 2025 at 7:52 AM
inspired by this, I have done a free extract of this section of the book here. it is about understanding that *with all its problems* the BBC is as important for our intellectual health as the NHS is for our physical health:
naomialderman.substack.com/p/the-bbc-an...
naomialderman.substack.com/p/the-bbc-an...
Reposted by Fi
I worked harder on this book than any before it. My ex-publisher then failed to pay me what they owed me for it & did their best to ruin its chances of survival. That robbed me of a year of my life & ruined my health.
After all that, to see reviews like this one brings me close to tears too.
After all that, to see reviews like this one brings me close to tears too.
Bloody hell! It’s been a long time since a book has brought me to tears. @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social Thank you so very much for writing Everything Will Swallow You. Book of the year. #BookSky #TheStorygraph
November 9, 2025 at 10:05 AM
I worked harder on this book than any before it. My ex-publisher then failed to pay me what they owed me for it & did their best to ruin its chances of survival. That robbed me of a year of my life & ruined my health.
After all that, to see reviews like this one brings me close to tears too.
After all that, to see reviews like this one brings me close to tears too.
Reposted by Fi
This must be why we're SO BLOODY TIRED all the time, all the ruining takes it out of a person.
A List of Things Said to Have Been Ruined by Women
🧵
🧵
November 6, 2025 at 9:27 PM
This must be why we're SO BLOODY TIRED all the time, all the ruining takes it out of a person.
Reposted by Fi
Oh how terrible, I can see why renewables are so unpopular...
Australia has so much electricity from solar power that it is going to start offering free electricity to everyone for at least three hours during the day as the wholesale price of power goes negative
electrek.co/2025/11/04/a...
electrek.co/2025/11/04/a...
Australia has so much solar that it's offering everyone free electricity
Australia's extensive solar power penetration makes so much energy that the government wants to offer free electricity at peak hours.
electrek.co
November 6, 2025 at 11:37 AM
Oh how terrible, I can see why renewables are so unpopular...
This truly is a fabulous thing.
(though I am behind on podcasts due to not having watched The Borderlands yet).
(though I am behind on podcasts due to not having watched The Borderlands yet).
We’re making more Broken Veil, thanks to our supporters. And the BV channel is going to be full of all sorts of related goodness, including our new Discomfort Blanket series on weird media.
Support the channel and get the goodness here:
patreon.com/BrokenVeil
Support the channel and get the goodness here:
patreon.com/BrokenVeil
Get more from Broken Veil on Patreon
podcasts
patreon.com
November 6, 2025 at 12:22 PM
This truly is a fabulous thing.
(though I am behind on podcasts due to not having watched The Borderlands yet).
(though I am behind on podcasts due to not having watched The Borderlands yet).
Reposted by Fi
Still time to enter this (entries are open worldwide). I'll choose and announce the winners this afternoon.
I have two - TWO - of these gorgeous original A4 meadow hare linoprints by my mum, Jo, to give away to a couple of lucky people here on Bluesky today.
Rules are simple: to be in with a chance to win, you just have to repost this piece I wrote about Jo and her art: www.tom-cox.com/the-magic-ro...
Rules are simple: to be in with a chance to win, you just have to repost this piece I wrote about Jo and her art: www.tom-cox.com/the-magic-ro...
November 6, 2025 at 7:31 AM
Still time to enter this (entries are open worldwide). I'll choose and announce the winners this afternoon.
Blatant pleading - I've always loved this hare!!!
The Magic Room is a brilliant piece of writing about those of us who finally get to devote so much more time to their art (I'd say to any beloved things) when they're a bit older. I really get it.
The Magic Room is a brilliant piece of writing about those of us who finally get to devote so much more time to their art (I'd say to any beloved things) when they're a bit older. I really get it.
I have two - TWO - of these gorgeous original A4 meadow hare linoprints by my mum, Jo, to give away to a couple of lucky people here on Bluesky today.
Rules are simple: to be in with a chance to win, you just have to repost this piece I wrote about Jo and her art: www.tom-cox.com/the-magic-ro...
Rules are simple: to be in with a chance to win, you just have to repost this piece I wrote about Jo and her art: www.tom-cox.com/the-magic-ro...
November 5, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Blatant pleading - I've always loved this hare!!!
The Magic Room is a brilliant piece of writing about those of us who finally get to devote so much more time to their art (I'd say to any beloved things) when they're a bit older. I really get it.
The Magic Room is a brilliant piece of writing about those of us who finally get to devote so much more time to their art (I'd say to any beloved things) when they're a bit older. I really get it.