Mike Parker
@mikeparker.bsky.social
Writer in the damp Welsh hills.
Books include All the Wide Border, Map Addict, On the Red Hill, The Wild Rover, Neighbours from Hell?
"No-one maps the secrets of the UK quite like Mike Parker" - Ayesha Hazarika, Times Radio
Books include All the Wide Border, Map Addict, On the Red Hill, The Wild Rover, Neighbours from Hell?
"No-one maps the secrets of the UK quite like Mike Parker" - Ayesha Hazarika, Times Radio
Reposted by Mike Parker
Anyone got an opinion of the mighty ten-part series of books called Places of Worship in Britain & Ireland? I’m toying with buying the full set at a good price, but would value any thoughts or insights.
February 11, 2026 at 3:05 PM
Anyone got an opinion of the mighty ten-part series of books called Places of Worship in Britain & Ireland? I’m toying with buying the full set at a good price, but would value any thoughts or insights.
Anyone got an opinion of the mighty ten-part series of books called Places of Worship in Britain & Ireland? I’m toying with buying the full set at a good price, but would value any thoughts or insights.
February 11, 2026 at 3:05 PM
Anyone got an opinion of the mighty ten-part series of books called Places of Worship in Britain & Ireland? I’m toying with buying the full set at a good price, but would value any thoughts or insights.
Reposted by Mike Parker
A ddylid nawr ei alw’n Andrew Mountbatten-Sandringham?
February 5, 2026 at 10:14 PM
A ddylid nawr ei alw’n Andrew Mountbatten-Sandringham?
Reposted by Mike Parker
Thursday’s @thetimes.com cartoon times.newsprints.co.uk/morten-morla...
February 4, 2026 at 9:08 PM
Thursday’s @thetimes.com cartoon times.newsprints.co.uk/morten-morla...
Reposted by Mike Parker
I have LOADS of Tales of the Suburbs events coming up! Announced so far: Foyles (with Luke Turner), Bookseller Crow (with Karen McLeod), Curious Minds festival in Bath and The Portobello Bookshop in Edinburgh. Loads more to come! www.johngrindrod.co.uk/events
January 27, 2026 at 7:50 PM
I have LOADS of Tales of the Suburbs events coming up! Announced so far: Foyles (with Luke Turner), Bookseller Crow (with Karen McLeod), Curious Minds festival in Bath and The Portobello Bookshop in Edinburgh. Loads more to come! www.johngrindrod.co.uk/events
From pub poets to pine martens, via Jan Morris and Owain Glyndŵr: a joyous piece by Jon Gower on Machynlleth. What a town it is! So proud to be part of it.
nation.cymru/feature/maki...
nation.cymru/feature/maki...
Making Tracks: Machynlleth
Jon Gower In A Machynlleth Triad the travel writer Jan Morris suggests that Machynlleth, known by locals as Mach, “seems to stand there beside its river thoughtfully, perhaps just a little cynically, ...
nation.cymru
February 2, 2026 at 8:01 AM
From pub poets to pine martens, via Jan Morris and Owain Glyndŵr: a joyous piece by Jon Gower on Machynlleth. What a town it is! So proud to be part of it.
nation.cymru/feature/maki...
nation.cymru/feature/maki...
Anyone know when the Wolverhampton - Walsall railway is to be reinstated, with its new stations at Darlaston and Willenhall? Opening date has been stated as 2023, 2024 and latterly "early 2026" but it all seems to have gone quiet?
January 30, 2026 at 1:44 PM
Anyone know when the Wolverhampton - Walsall railway is to be reinstated, with its new stations at Darlaston and Willenhall? Opening date has been stated as 2023, 2024 and latterly "early 2026" but it all seems to have gone quiet?
Reposted by Mike Parker
So much AI generated ‘fan’ mail these days purporting to love one of my books, which they talk about in great detail, and wanting - for a small fee, naturally - to promote it to the world.
Depressing that AI scammers have spotted such a lucrative pit of need in writers’ egos. They’re not wrong.
Depressing that AI scammers have spotted such a lucrative pit of need in writers’ egos. They’re not wrong.
January 28, 2026 at 11:01 AM
So much AI generated ‘fan’ mail these days purporting to love one of my books, which they talk about in great detail, and wanting - for a small fee, naturally - to promote it to the world.
Depressing that AI scammers have spotted such a lucrative pit of need in writers’ egos. They’re not wrong.
Depressing that AI scammers have spotted such a lucrative pit of need in writers’ egos. They’re not wrong.
So much AI generated ‘fan’ mail these days purporting to love one of my books, which they talk about in great detail, and wanting - for a small fee, naturally - to promote it to the world.
Depressing that AI scammers have spotted such a lucrative pit of need in writers’ egos. They’re not wrong.
Depressing that AI scammers have spotted such a lucrative pit of need in writers’ egos. They’re not wrong.
January 28, 2026 at 11:01 AM
So much AI generated ‘fan’ mail these days purporting to love one of my books, which they talk about in great detail, and wanting - for a small fee, naturally - to promote it to the world.
Depressing that AI scammers have spotted such a lucrative pit of need in writers’ egos. They’re not wrong.
Depressing that AI scammers have spotted such a lucrative pit of need in writers’ egos. They’re not wrong.
Reposted by Mike Parker
I'm now imagining your man attempting to argue that Kidderminster should be ceded to the US. Those are strategically important carpet factory shops and the enthusiasm for US troops at the steam railway 1940s day makes it clear that it's an American outpost.
January 18, 2026 at 7:57 PM
I'm now imagining your man attempting to argue that Kidderminster should be ceded to the US. Those are strategically important carpet factory shops and the enthusiasm for US troops at the steam railway 1940s day makes it clear that it's an American outpost.
Reposted by Mike Parker
Another BBC Archive cracker - superficially on (largely posh) urbanites seeking the real Good Life in rural Wales, but also fascinating on land values, corporate amalgamation & changing farming traditions (also excellent knitwear/70s garb & a bloke called Owen Slaymaker)
youtu.be/2526Nuy6xgk?...
youtu.be/2526Nuy6xgk?...
January 14, 2026 at 9:19 PM
Another BBC Archive cracker - superficially on (largely posh) urbanites seeking the real Good Life in rural Wales, but also fascinating on land values, corporate amalgamation & changing farming traditions (also excellent knitwear/70s garb & a bloke called Owen Slaymaker)
youtu.be/2526Nuy6xgk?...
youtu.be/2526Nuy6xgk?...
Google Street View can throw up such poetry. This is Martin Parr level.
Jaywick, Essex, June 2023:
Jaywick, Essex, June 2023:
January 14, 2026 at 12:00 PM
Google Street View can throw up such poetry. This is Martin Parr level.
Jaywick, Essex, June 2023:
Jaywick, Essex, June 2023:
Anne Widdicombe, Nadine Dorries, Jonathan Gullis, David Jones, Lee Anderson, Jake Berry, Andrea Jenkyns, Ross Thomson...some of the ex-Tory MPs who have jumped ship to HMS Reform Ltd. And now Zadhim Nahawi.
What a bumper crop of thugs, weirdoes and fanstasists Farage attracts. Why would that be? 🤔
What a bumper crop of thugs, weirdoes and fanstasists Farage attracts. Why would that be? 🤔
January 12, 2026 at 1:39 PM
Anne Widdicombe, Nadine Dorries, Jonathan Gullis, David Jones, Lee Anderson, Jake Berry, Andrea Jenkyns, Ross Thomson...some of the ex-Tory MPs who have jumped ship to HMS Reform Ltd. And now Zadhim Nahawi.
What a bumper crop of thugs, weirdoes and fanstasists Farage attracts. Why would that be? 🤔
What a bumper crop of thugs, weirdoes and fanstasists Farage attracts. Why would that be? 🤔
Once walked down a long corridor at the V&A with Nadhim Zahawi walking in the other direction. As we passed each other, I swear the ambient temperature dropped about 10 degrees. He is a cold, cold man.
(Unlike his toasty warm horses)
(Unlike his toasty warm horses)
January 12, 2026 at 11:30 AM
Once walked down a long corridor at the V&A with Nadhim Zahawi walking in the other direction. As we passed each other, I swear the ambient temperature dropped about 10 degrees. He is a cold, cold man.
(Unlike his toasty warm horses)
(Unlike his toasty warm horses)
Reposted by Mike Parker
Do not bother to write again.
January 8, 2026 at 7:52 AM
Do not bother to write again.
Frosty start this morning in Stourport-on-Severn, the mini-Scarborough of the west Midlands.
December 31, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Frosty start this morning in Stourport-on-Severn, the mini-Scarborough of the west Midlands.
Reposted by Mike Parker
Nominative determinism at its finest.
December 20, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Nominative determinism at its finest.
Google notifications of my book titles sure throw some interesting curveballs into the day.
December 9, 2025 at 9:53 AM
Google notifications of my book titles sure throw some interesting curveballs into the day.
Reminded today of when I tweeted in despair at the gruesome 2017 election campaign that the choice between Corbyn and Johnson was 'cult v cunt', only to get so piled-on by Corbynistas that I deleted it.
Hell, I was right though.
Hell, I was right though.
November 29, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Reminded today of when I tweeted in despair at the gruesome 2017 election campaign that the choice between Corbyn and Johnson was 'cult v cunt', only to get so piled-on by Corbynistas that I deleted it.
Hell, I was right though.
Hell, I was right though.
Reposted by Mike Parker
The excellent @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social (which has done such great reporting on the flag epidemic over the last few months) delivers the goods again today with this deep dive into the Midlands mythology of Penda's Fen.
Penda’s Fen reinvents Mercia for the modern age
How an experimental British 1970s television play pioneered a folk horror revival
www.birminghamdispatch.co.uk
November 22, 2025 at 10:13 AM
The excellent @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social (which has done such great reporting on the flag epidemic over the last few months) delivers the goods again today with this deep dive into the Midlands mythology of Penda's Fen.
Reposted by Mike Parker
Again, not to go on about ai but I have a few thoughts.
1. I've genuinely never seen an actual creative get excited about using it. Someone who has actually made something before. Its people from marketing and finance backgrounds getting excited about a false sensation of making something.
1. I've genuinely never seen an actual creative get excited about using it. Someone who has actually made something before. Its people from marketing and finance backgrounds getting excited about a false sensation of making something.
November 13, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Again, not to go on about ai but I have a few thoughts.
1. I've genuinely never seen an actual creative get excited about using it. Someone who has actually made something before. Its people from marketing and finance backgrounds getting excited about a false sensation of making something.
1. I've genuinely never seen an actual creative get excited about using it. Someone who has actually made something before. Its people from marketing and finance backgrounds getting excited about a false sensation of making something.
Wonderful news! Anthony’s book is exquisite.
I’ll be in conversation with Anthony at an event in Machynlleth next Tuesday (18 Nov), discussing our writing journeys as queer men.
Details: www.penralltgallerybookshop.co.uk/finding-a-pl...
I’ll be in conversation with Anthony at an event in Machynlleth next Tuesday (18 Nov), discussing our writing journeys as queer men.
Details: www.penralltgallerybookshop.co.uk/finding-a-pl...
November 13, 2025 at 8:54 AM
Wonderful news! Anthony’s book is exquisite.
I’ll be in conversation with Anthony at an event in Machynlleth next Tuesday (18 Nov), discussing our writing journeys as queer men.
Details: www.penralltgallerybookshop.co.uk/finding-a-pl...
I’ll be in conversation with Anthony at an event in Machynlleth next Tuesday (18 Nov), discussing our writing journeys as queer men.
Details: www.penralltgallerybookshop.co.uk/finding-a-pl...
A peace prize?
Yeah, you wouldn’t know it. It goes to a different school.
Yeah, you wouldn’t know it. It goes to a different school.
November 7, 2025 at 12:11 AM
A peace prize?
Yeah, you wouldn’t know it. It goes to a different school.
Yeah, you wouldn’t know it. It goes to a different school.
This is a great piece.
From here on, the monarchy dances to a new tune. Without magic blood, the performance will have to be up to scratch or new dancers will be found. That’s showbiz ✍️Ben Wildsmith wp.me/p8Mk4U-18fr
November 3, 2025 at 5:59 PM
This is a great piece.