Penny Kiley
@pennykiley.bsky.social
Oxford-based writer and editor, working mostly in digital and mostly for non-profits. Former music journo. Autistic. Memoir 'Atypical Girl' published by Polygon March 2026. https://linktr.ee/pennykiley
Sudden rush of nostalgia as I remember the toy post office set I got one Christmas. Definitely Today's Nice Thing.
the seven stages of a letter, GPO, 1966 designed by Negus & Sharland
www.designreviewed.com/artefacts/th... #gpo #negussharland #britishdesign
www.designreviewed.com/artefacts/th... #gpo #negussharland #britishdesign
November 12, 2025 at 9:44 AM
Sudden rush of nostalgia as I remember the toy post office set I got one Christmas. Definitely Today's Nice Thing.
Reposted by Penny Kiley
EXCLUSIVE: My @bylinetimes.bsky.social investigation reveals: 'memo' which sparked President Donald Trump to threaten a $1bn lawsuit against BBC was written by lobbyist at firm paid by pro-Trump tech giants and Trump donors bylinetimes.com/2025/11/11/b...
'BBC Bias' Memo Was Authored by Lobbyist Tied to Pro-Trump Tech Giants
The leaked memo that fuelled Trump’s attack on the BBC was written by a lobbyist at a firm paid by US tech giants tied to the President
bylinetimes.com
November 11, 2025 at 2:24 PM
EXCLUSIVE: My @bylinetimes.bsky.social investigation reveals: 'memo' which sparked President Donald Trump to threaten a $1bn lawsuit against BBC was written by lobbyist at firm paid by pro-Trump tech giants and Trump donors bylinetimes.com/2025/11/11/b...
Reposted by Penny Kiley
Worth noting of the initial leaked memo that it does not detail the pronounced and demonstrable bias exhibited by Laura Kuenssberg and Chris Mason, the former of whom objectively broke impartiality guidelines and was not similarly called to account. Presumably it's fine if it's bias to the right.
November 10, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Worth noting of the initial leaked memo that it does not detail the pronounced and demonstrable bias exhibited by Laura Kuenssberg and Chris Mason, the former of whom objectively broke impartiality guidelines and was not similarly called to account. Presumably it's fine if it's bias to the right.
Reposted by Penny Kiley
I honestly believe we should be asking anyone who ever offered Farage a platform to explain themselves. All the way from news producers to Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse. I refuse to believe any of them didn't know what they were doing.
November 10, 2025 at 6:22 PM
I honestly believe we should be asking anyone who ever offered Farage a platform to explain themselves. All the way from news producers to Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse. I refuse to believe any of them didn't know what they were doing.
Reposted by Penny Kiley
This is a clever letter from the Lib Dems, challenging other party leaders to say whether they support the BBC or Trump. For the Tories in particular there is a real risk their inherent anti BBC-ness makes them look like they endorse Trump’s fairly deranged comments about the BBC.
I’ve written to Keir Starmer, Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage urging them to condemn Donald Trump’s attack on the BBC.
The BBC belongs to Britain, not Trump. We must defend it together.
The BBC belongs to Britain, not Trump. We must defend it together.
November 10, 2025 at 1:35 PM
This is a clever letter from the Lib Dems, challenging other party leaders to say whether they support the BBC or Trump. For the Tories in particular there is a real risk their inherent anti BBC-ness makes them look like they endorse Trump’s fairly deranged comments about the BBC.
Great bit of dialogue in #RiotWomen last night.
“We’re sixty next year and you know what comes next... seventy!”
It reminded me of When Harry Met Sally and "I'm going to be forty!"
#CarpeDiem
“We’re sixty next year and you know what comes next... seventy!”
It reminded me of When Harry Met Sally and "I'm going to be forty!"
#CarpeDiem
November 10, 2025 at 9:57 AM
Great bit of dialogue in #RiotWomen last night.
“We’re sixty next year and you know what comes next... seventy!”
It reminded me of When Harry Met Sally and "I'm going to be forty!"
#CarpeDiem
“We’re sixty next year and you know what comes next... seventy!”
It reminded me of When Harry Met Sally and "I'm going to be forty!"
#CarpeDiem
Reposted by Penny Kiley
@naomialderman.bsky.social's new book: "A friend - who’s read the book - texted me yesterday to say “I see they’ve decided to burn Tim Davie at the stake today”. And so I thought it was probably the right time to put this extract on Substack." naomialderman.substack.com/p/the-bbc-an...
the BBC and why it needs defending
even if you don't always agree with it, and sometimes it does things that you think are outright terrible
naomialderman.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 9:47 AM
@naomialderman.bsky.social's new book: "A friend - who’s read the book - texted me yesterday to say “I see they’ve decided to burn Tim Davie at the stake today”. And so I thought it was probably the right time to put this extract on Substack." naomialderman.substack.com/p/the-bbc-an...
Can't disagree with that.
All housing ought to be social housing when you think about it
November 9, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Can't disagree with that.
Today's Nice Thing
November 9, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Today's Nice Thing
"The ghost of Malcolm McLaren hovers over Adam And The Ants on stage"
My latest Substack is a 1980 review of Adam and the Ants at the Royal Court theatre in Liverpool.
pennykiley.substack.com/p/adam-and-t...
My latest Substack is a 1980 review of Adam and the Ants at the Royal Court theatre in Liverpool.
pennykiley.substack.com/p/adam-and-t...
Adam and the Ants, November 1980
"A group with a vision"
pennykiley.substack.com
November 7, 2025 at 12:34 PM
"The ghost of Malcolm McLaren hovers over Adam And The Ants on stage"
My latest Substack is a 1980 review of Adam and the Ants at the Royal Court theatre in Liverpool.
pennykiley.substack.com/p/adam-and-t...
My latest Substack is a 1980 review of Adam and the Ants at the Royal Court theatre in Liverpool.
pennykiley.substack.com/p/adam-and-t...
Reposted by Penny Kiley
HEY if you are reading Patti Smith’s new book BREAD OF ANGELS & want more, my book WHY PATTI SMITH MATTERS is on sale for 40% off right now (use code UTXGIFTS) utpress.utexas.edu/9781477320112/
Why Patti Smith Matters
Patti Smith arrived in New York City at the end of the Age of Aquarius in search of work and purpose. What she found—what she fostered—was a cultural rev...
utpress.utexas.edu
November 5, 2025 at 8:38 PM
HEY if you are reading Patti Smith’s new book BREAD OF ANGELS & want more, my book WHY PATTI SMITH MATTERS is on sale for 40% off right now (use code UTXGIFTS) utpress.utexas.edu/9781477320112/
It’s 5th November which means it’s Firework Night. It also means it is exactly three months until my book Atypical Girl comes out on 5th February.
There’s a chapter in the book called Fireworks. It quotes from this song by @ianprowse.bsky.social.
youtu.be/QnQpc5vl1zg?...
There’s a chapter in the book called Fireworks. It quotes from this song by @ianprowse.bsky.social.
youtu.be/QnQpc5vl1zg?...
Pele-Fireworks-Granada Reports.avi
YouTube video by pongo1128
youtu.be
November 5, 2025 at 4:07 PM
It’s 5th November which means it’s Firework Night. It also means it is exactly three months until my book Atypical Girl comes out on 5th February.
There’s a chapter in the book called Fireworks. It quotes from this song by @ianprowse.bsky.social.
youtu.be/QnQpc5vl1zg?...
There’s a chapter in the book called Fireworks. It quotes from this song by @ianprowse.bsky.social.
youtu.be/QnQpc5vl1zg?...
Excellent. I wish the alt text had the actual text of the letter, though.
Did you know Mary Shelley once had to correct Sir Walter Scott for crediting her novel, Frankenstein, to her husband? 🔍
For one day only, see this story on paper at the National Library:
➡️ Mary Shelley's letter to Sir Walter Scott
➡️ Rare early editions & items from our archives
➡️ and more!
For one day only, see this story on paper at the National Library:
➡️ Mary Shelley's letter to Sir Walter Scott
➡️ Rare early editions & items from our archives
➡️ and more!
November 4, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Excellent. I wish the alt text had the actual text of the letter, though.
Read a book. Got cross. Wrote this. #autism #ActuallyAutistic crimesagainstenglish.wordpress.com/2025/11/03/h...
How not to write about autism
The National Autistic Society has a useful checklist called “How to talk and write about autism”. Unfortunately it’s a bit hidden away on their website. It takes three clicks to get to …
crimesagainstenglish.wordpress.com
November 4, 2025 at 8:53 AM
Read a book. Got cross. Wrote this. #autism #ActuallyAutistic crimesagainstenglish.wordpress.com/2025/11/03/h...
That's what I've been thinking, too.
If you do need a kneejerk reaction, the correct one might be the people who run the railways should have listened more closely when the Unions warned against driver-only trains with nobody in the carriages to help passengers hellorayo.co.uk/greatest-hit...
Long-running South Western Railway dispute ends
A dispute over the role of guards on trains operated by South Western Railway...
hellorayo.co.uk
November 3, 2025 at 9:02 AM
That's what I've been thinking, too.
Books I read in October.
Not as many as usual in this photo because I also read a 600-page book about punk (pdf only so didn't make it onto the pic). And a very bad book about autism which I am not even going to include. These four were all good though.
Not as many as usual in this photo because I also read a 600-page book about punk (pdf only so didn't make it onto the pic). And a very bad book about autism which I am not even going to include. These four were all good though.
November 3, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Books I read in October.
Not as many as usual in this photo because I also read a 600-page book about punk (pdf only so didn't make it onto the pic). And a very bad book about autism which I am not even going to include. These four were all good though.
Not as many as usual in this photo because I also read a 600-page book about punk (pdf only so didn't make it onto the pic). And a very bad book about autism which I am not even going to include. These four were all good though.
Very well argued. TLDR = no, sack McSweeney.
A world without Keir Starmer: Is it time to change the Labour leader? iandunt.substack.com/p/a-world-wi...
A world without Keir Starmer
Is it time to change the Labour leader?
iandunt.substack.com
November 1, 2025 at 11:07 AM
Very well argued. TLDR = no, sack McSweeney.
One for @remembrancewatch.bsky.social. In local @thebhf.bsky.social shop.
November 1, 2025 at 10:59 AM
One for @remembrancewatch.bsky.social. In local @thebhf.bsky.social shop.
Reposted by Penny Kiley
It's not a grassroots working class movement.
"Wherever we looked for prominent flaggers and leaders of this movement, we found people smugglers and sex doll salesmen, people with dubious criminal pasts and people willing to put in a good word for Adolf Hitler."
manchestermill.co.uk/the-men-who-...
"Wherever we looked for prominent flaggers and leaders of this movement, we found people smugglers and sex doll salesmen, people with dubious criminal pasts and people willing to put in a good word for Adolf Hitler."
manchestermill.co.uk/the-men-who-...
The men who raised the flags
Nigel Farage says this summer’s movement was led by ‘ordinary people’ expressing their patriotism. That’s not what we found
manchestermill.co.uk
November 1, 2025 at 7:58 AM
It's not a grassroots working class movement.
"Wherever we looked for prominent flaggers and leaders of this movement, we found people smugglers and sex doll salesmen, people with dubious criminal pasts and people willing to put in a good word for Adolf Hitler."
manchestermill.co.uk/the-men-who-...
"Wherever we looked for prominent flaggers and leaders of this movement, we found people smugglers and sex doll salesmen, people with dubious criminal pasts and people willing to put in a good word for Adolf Hitler."
manchestermill.co.uk/the-men-who-...
This morning's earworm. youtu.be/O_KF-LdHK8Q?...
Tommy McLain - Before I Grow Too Old
YouTube video by Bradley Smith
youtu.be
November 1, 2025 at 8:36 AM
This morning's earworm. youtu.be/O_KF-LdHK8Q?...
Monthly comms and content blog, in which I share interesting new words, phrases and ideas. This month: tactical frivolity, organic literature and ultra-processed information.
pennykiley.com/2025/10/30/c...
pennykiley.com/2025/10/30/c...
Cry havoc and release the frogs of war - Penny Kiley
Topical comms and content blog looking at accessibility, AI and a potential word of the year.
pennykiley.com
October 31, 2025 at 10:43 AM
Monthly comms and content blog, in which I share interesting new words, phrases and ideas. This month: tactical frivolity, organic literature and ultra-processed information.
pennykiley.com/2025/10/30/c...
pennykiley.com/2025/10/30/c...
Just switched my phone to @ecotalk.bsky.social. Lovely customer service people and instead of horrible hold music you get birdsong!
October 31, 2025 at 10:10 AM
Just switched my phone to @ecotalk.bsky.social. Lovely customer service people and instead of horrible hold music you get birdsong!
Reposted by Penny Kiley
Big accounts On Here that get loads of traction and shared thousands of times but don't use ALT text in their images. Why?
It's such an easy thing to do that makes social media more usable for more people. Takes no time at all.
Truly cool, suave and debonair people use alt text every time!
It's such an easy thing to do that makes social media more usable for more people. Takes no time at all.
Truly cool, suave and debonair people use alt text every time!
October 31, 2025 at 8:54 AM
Big accounts On Here that get loads of traction and shared thousands of times but don't use ALT text in their images. Why?
It's such an easy thing to do that makes social media more usable for more people. Takes no time at all.
Truly cool, suave and debonair people use alt text every time!
It's such an easy thing to do that makes social media more usable for more people. Takes no time at all.
Truly cool, suave and debonair people use alt text every time!
Reposted by Penny Kiley
Being reminded of Sue Townsend's novel 'The Queen and I' where the royal family are abolished and have to move to a council estate.
Not that it would be appropriate to put Andrew to one, considering the risk he'd pose to any children and young folk who live there.
Not that it would be appropriate to put Andrew to one, considering the risk he'd pose to any children and young folk who live there.
October 31, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Being reminded of Sue Townsend's novel 'The Queen and I' where the royal family are abolished and have to move to a council estate.
Not that it would be appropriate to put Andrew to one, considering the risk he'd pose to any children and young folk who live there.
Not that it would be appropriate to put Andrew to one, considering the risk he'd pose to any children and young folk who live there.
Reposted by Penny Kiley
If you're a National Trust member, it's that time of year again: Midnight tonight is the deadline. It's a shame people have to keep doing this to keep a toehold on historical truth in this country, but here we are. Voting link: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/who-we-are/a...
![[Scene is the entrance cabin to a NATIONAL TRUST PROPERTY AND GARDENS]
1
NATIONAL TRUST EMPLOYEE [inside cabin]:
Hello there
2
[A young family - two parents two kids - have arrived at the front desk].
DAD:
Hi - do you have an activity trail, for the kids?
3
NT EMPLOYEE:
Of course – you’re just in time for the Autumn Gammon Trail!
4
MUM:
That sounds fun, doesn’t it kids?
5
NT EMPLOYEE [handing an activity sheet and pencils to the kids]:
Every autumn, the Reform Trust gammons flock back to the National Trust for the AGM. Just follow the trail round the grounds, and see how many you can spot!
6
NT EMPLOYEE [hearing something in the gardens]:
Listen - that's their call
[Calls emanating from the landscape]:
tut-tut
woke-woke
7
NT EMPLOYEE [showing the family an apparently empty fenced enclosure with some bushes in]:
They are extremely sensitive and fragile...
But you can bring them out of hiding if you put a little sign down mentioning slavery.
8
KIDS [pointing]:
There they are!
[Some little red faced PEOPLE wearing Barbour jackets and gilets emerge cautiously from the bushes. They are creeping towards a TINY SIGN in the middle of the enclosure].
[Little people noises]:
woke-woke
tut-tut
woke-woke
9
[Close-up of the TINY SIGN - we can read that it says]:
Slavery had a bit to do with building this massive house.
[Noises from the little people again as they inspect the tiny sign]:
tut-tut
woke-woke
10
MUM [pointing]:
What's that one doing there?
NT EMPLOYEE:
Oh, that's so sweet…
11
[We see that one of the people is sat on a rock, with a little laptop open on a tree stump, and they are furiously typing away].
NT EMPLOYEE:
I think he's writing a column for the Daily Telegraph…
12
[We see close up to the little person’s screen, it is a word document reading]:
Are National Trust scones secretly WOKE?
[ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreib7lt736b6rmzinml5s7kxjdaapo2a36xp4d4lssypimx3taqicdm@jpeg)
October 31, 2025 at 9:02 AM
If you're a National Trust member, it's that time of year again: Midnight tonight is the deadline. It's a shame people have to keep doing this to keep a toehold on historical truth in this country, but here we are. Voting link: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/who-we-are/a...