Sally Goldsmith
@salthepoet.bsky.social
Writer and activist into landscape and radical history, natural world, voices, song, radio, allotments, utopias. Poetry at www.poetrybusiness.co.uk Working on memoir, #HoldingMyGround about connection to land, its romance and reality.
Robert Jenrick lives in Eye Manor, a Grade 1 listed building in rural Herefordshire bought in 2009 for over £1 million. I wonder whether he’s making an effort to integrate with his neighbours, especially poorer people?
October 7, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Robert Jenrick lives in Eye Manor, a Grade 1 listed building in rural Herefordshire bought in 2009 for over £1 million. I wonder whether he’s making an effort to integrate with his neighbours, especially poorer people?
Reposted by Sally Goldsmith
In case you missed this, natural areas equivalent in size to Cyprus have been lost across Europe in just 5 years (2018-2023). www.theguardian.com/environment/...
UK fifth-worst country in Europe for loss of green space to development
Exclusive: 1,680 football pitches of protected natural land in England, Wales and Northern Ireland lost in five years
www.theguardian.com
October 3, 2025 at 11:23 AM
In case you missed this, natural areas equivalent in size to Cyprus have been lost across Europe in just 5 years (2018-2023). www.theguardian.com/environment/...
As if it couldn’t get worse.
MSF forced to suspend activities in Gaza City:
“We have been left with no choice but to stop our activities, as our clinics are encircled by Israeli forces... This is the last thing we wanted.”
www.msf.org/msf-forced-s...
“We have been left with no choice but to stop our activities, as our clinics are encircled by Israeli forces... This is the last thing we wanted.”
www.msf.org/msf-forced-s...
MSF forced to suspend activities amid Israeli offensive in Gaza City | MSF
The intense Israeli forces' offensive in Gaza City, Palestine, is putting our staff and patients at an unacceptable level of risk to continue our lifesaving activities.
www.msf.org
September 26, 2025 at 9:36 PM
As if it couldn’t get worse.
Huge thanks to the wonderful @salthepoet.bsky.social for letting me write about her and her work on Ruskin and the communists
September 25, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Thanks for this John! Great to meet you and tell you about this 19th century experiment and mine from the 20th!
For @dispatchmedia.bsky.social i went on the trail of the Totley Communists and the radical history of Sheffield.
dispatch-media.com/the-commune-...
dispatch-media.com/the-commune-...
The commune on the moors
A spectre is haunting Sheffield • The spectre of Communism • And Coronation Street
dispatch-media.com
September 25, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Thanks for this John! Great to meet you and tell you about this 19th century experiment and mine from the 20th!
Reposted by Sally Goldsmith
In a Hitleresque speech, JD Vance says there can be no unity with the left and vows to use the government to dismantle non-profit NGOs and liberal civil society who he says promote violence and terrorism.
September 15, 2025 at 6:21 PM
In a Hitleresque speech, JD Vance says there can be no unity with the left and vows to use the government to dismantle non-profit NGOs and liberal civil society who he says promote violence and terrorism.
Fascinating programme about Orwell and how far Animal Farm reflects the way real mixed farms and farming in general was changing in the 1940s. Intriguing to an old anarcho-socialist grower like me, born not long after in the early 1950s. #farming #orwell
Artworks - The Farmer's Guide to Animal Farm - BBC Sounds
Why George Orwell's political satire also reveals his commitment to agricultural debates.
www.bbc.co.uk
August 27, 2025 at 8:33 AM
It’s a dog’s life.
August 21, 2025 at 7:01 PM
It’s a dog’s life.
Reposted by Sally Goldsmith
Glad to have signed this deeply thought-through letter. It often feels there’s little we can do, yet we can’t let what we witness on our screens & in print numb or paralyse us. Until the civilians of Gaza are safe & given adequate food, water, medical aid & relief. TY @horatioclare.bsky.social
Zadie Smith, Michael Rosen, Irvine Welsh and Jeanette Winterson sign letter calling for Israel boycott
More than 200 writers request cessation of all trade until people of Gaza given adequate food, water and aid
www.theguardian.com
August 7, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Glad to have signed this deeply thought-through letter. It often feels there’s little we can do, yet we can’t let what we witness on our screens & in print numb or paralyse us. Until the civilians of Gaza are safe & given adequate food, water, medical aid & relief. TY @horatioclare.bsky.social
Reposted by Sally Goldsmith
An important, uplifting piece from @patrickbarkham.bsky.social on the hope that springs from ‘a good year for wildlife.’ It proves the resilience of nature, & encourages those small, grass roots, ‘local’ efforts, despite the constant pummelling from government & many industry leaders…
I hope this summer's wildlife spectacles show more of us the wonders of (relative) abundance, and why it's worth fighting for. I wrote this for the Guardian comment pages... www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
This summer brought an abundance of butterflies and birds. Nature is ready to spring back – if we let it | Patrick Barkham
The recent hopeful surge of some wildlife isn’t down to us. But in an era of climatic decline, it shows the resilience of our fellow species, says Guardian nature writer Patrick Barkham
www.theguardian.com
August 8, 2025 at 6:55 AM
An important, uplifting piece from @patrickbarkham.bsky.social on the hope that springs from ‘a good year for wildlife.’ It proves the resilience of nature, & encourages those small, grass roots, ‘local’ efforts, despite the constant pummelling from government & many industry leaders…
Reposted by Sally Goldsmith
Reposted by Sally Goldsmith
Will we finally see action taken to address the hidden scandal of rampant farm waste dumping - aka slurry spreading. www.farminguk.com/news/defra-t...
Defra tightens rules to tackle farm pollution after legal pressure
Defra has issued tougher new guidance to clamp down on agricultural pollution following a landmark legal win by environmental campaigners.
www.farminguk.com
August 6, 2025 at 7:10 AM
Will we finally see action taken to address the hidden scandal of rampant farm waste dumping - aka slurry spreading. www.farminguk.com/news/defra-t...
Reposted by Sally Goldsmith
Remember all that fulminating in the billionaire press about "free speech" (ie their freedom to abuse Muslims, trans people etc with impunity)? Now that people are being arrested for speaking about an issue of the utmost gravity, the self-appointed guardians of liberty have fallen strangely silent.
It's utterly mad.
These people are the opposite of terrorists.
THEY WANT PEACE.
The police know they're not terrorists.
The government knows they're not terrorists.
Yet, on the Home Secretary's orders, they're being arrested under the Terrorism Act.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
These people are the opposite of terrorists.
THEY WANT PEACE.
The police know they're not terrorists.
The government knows they're not terrorists.
Yet, on the Home Secretary's orders, they're being arrested under the Terrorism Act.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
More than 100 arrested across UK at protests related to Palestine Action
Police in London detain scores of people and confiscate placards under section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000
www.theguardian.com
July 20, 2025 at 6:22 AM
Remember all that fulminating in the billionaire press about "free speech" (ie their freedom to abuse Muslims, trans people etc with impunity)? Now that people are being arrested for speaking about an issue of the utmost gravity, the self-appointed guardians of liberty have fallen strangely silent.
Our annual public swift walk for Swift Awareness Week. We’ve found around 50 nests on this small 1930s estate and there are certainly more. Managed to see 3 into nests tonight despite the cold wind.
July 4, 2025 at 9:24 PM
Our annual public swift walk for Swift Awareness Week. We’ve found around 50 nests on this small 1930s estate and there are certainly more. Managed to see 3 into nests tonight despite the cold wind.
Reposted by Sally Goldsmith
The folk horror is real, where there’s a shoot. It brings the predators in. A gruesome & strange danse macabre for my @theguardian.com Country Diary today. ‘A jewel-bright partridge’s head, tops the beads of its neck vertebrae like an umbrella handle’ & someone is playing curious games..
Country diary: Like wrecked prizes, the body parts of pheasants litter the landscape | Nicola Chester
North Wessex Downs, Hampshire: Predators are increasingly drawn by the shooting-season escapees. But, miserably, other ground-nesting birds and their eggs are being taken, too
www.theguardian.com
July 1, 2025 at 8:08 AM
The folk horror is real, where there’s a shoot. It brings the predators in. A gruesome & strange danse macabre for my @theguardian.com Country Diary today. ‘A jewel-bright partridge’s head, tops the beads of its neck vertebrae like an umbrella handle’ & someone is playing curious games..
Reposted by Sally Goldsmith
The villagers are here! 'Village', my new non-fiction prose book, is available to buy. Witches, wheelbarrows, cheerful survival... The villagers dictated the blurb in the image. To buy, please see LINK IN COMMENTS.
June 30, 2025 at 4:18 PM
The villagers are here! 'Village', my new non-fiction prose book, is available to buy. Witches, wheelbarrows, cheerful survival... The villagers dictated the blurb in the image. To buy, please see LINK IN COMMENTS.
Reposted by Sally Goldsmith
It's #PublicationDay for #LandBeneaththeWaves! Thank you to everyone who made it possible. Can't wait to celebrate at my #Hitchin launch tonight. Pls report any sightings & let me know how it's behaving in the wild! Here's the aquatic edition...
@summersdalebooks.bsky.social #booksky #naturewriting
@summersdalebooks.bsky.social #booksky #naturewriting
June 12, 2025 at 7:50 AM
It's #PublicationDay for #LandBeneaththeWaves! Thank you to everyone who made it possible. Can't wait to celebrate at my #Hitchin launch tonight. Pls report any sightings & let me know how it's behaving in the wild! Here's the aquatic edition...
@summersdalebooks.bsky.social #booksky #naturewriting
@summersdalebooks.bsky.social #booksky #naturewriting
Today a massive yew, big as a Boy Scout jamboree tent, at Monyash church yard. Probably predates the church.
May 30, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Today a massive yew, big as a Boy Scout jamboree tent, at Monyash church yard. Probably predates the church.
There’s an application near me on brownfield site within green belt and next moorland which is SSSI. Willow tits recorded here. Because only a few very expensive vast houses (prob costing £2-3 million) this will not be covered by Biodiversity net gain - which was pretty rubbish anyway. Seething!
.@wclnews.bsky.social are right - exempting small sites means almost three-quarters of developments would face no requirement to compensate for nature loss - let alone enhance it. Government pledges to restore nature clearly aren’t worth the paper they were written on
Environmental rules reviewed for small housebuilders - BBC News
Ministers are considering how costs can be reduced for small firms to help them build more homes.
www.bbc.co.uk
May 28, 2025 at 5:31 PM
There’s an application near me on brownfield site within green belt and next moorland which is SSSI. Willow tits recorded here. Because only a few very expensive vast houses (prob costing £2-3 million) this will not be covered by Biodiversity net gain - which was pretty rubbish anyway. Seething!
I read this too today. What a poem.
May 27, 2025 at 1:52 PM
I read this too today. What a poem.
Reposted by Sally Goldsmith
Today, 3pm BBC Radio 4 #GreatLives celebrates Emily Williamson who I nominated. Fellow guests Beccy Speight & Tessa Boase share insight into the epic begins of @Natures_Voice 🪶Tenacious women have been saving birds for centuries. Tune into find out more.
May 26, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Today, 3pm BBC Radio 4 #GreatLives celebrates Emily Williamson who I nominated. Fellow guests Beccy Speight & Tessa Boase share insight into the epic begins of @Natures_Voice 🪶Tenacious women have been saving birds for centuries. Tune into find out more.
Reposted by Sally Goldsmith
WTF? If this Government can’t even agree to this smallest of initiatives, which has no cost to them & absolutely no down-sides, what hope that it will step up to the bigger nature challenges we face? This is a *popular* policy, for heavens sake. Obstinate tin-eared stupidity doesn’t come close …
Labour blocks proposal for ‘swift bricks’ in all new homes
MPs had previously backed Conservative amendment to ask developers to provide hollow bricks for endangered birds
www.theguardian.com
May 23, 2025 at 6:26 PM
WTF? If this Government can’t even agree to this smallest of initiatives, which has no cost to them & absolutely no down-sides, what hope that it will step up to the bigger nature challenges we face? This is a *popular* policy, for heavens sake. Obstinate tin-eared stupidity doesn’t come close …
This is not only devastating for the future of swifts but plainly ridiculous. Too woke? Please do as Hannah asks.
Breaking news!The government has just voted against the same swift brick amendment they voted for 2 years ago. We can only save our swifts if we all act. Email your MP. Ask them to sign edm.parliament.uk/early-day-mo... MEET your MP. Tell them how much this matters or we’ll lose them
May 23, 2025 at 8:45 AM
This is not only devastating for the future of swifts but plainly ridiculous. Too woke? Please do as Hannah asks.