Frank Podmore
@frankpodmore.bsky.social
Award-winning poet published in @pwritersu.com, @stanzacannon.bsky.social, @apparitionlit.com and others; occasional opinions for @roadcc.bsky.social, @labourlist.bsky.social and Sublation Magazine
Pinned
In Defence of Empathy
Both the MAGA-techbro and identity-political views of empathy share the idea that it can be (or is) in some way fenced off. Both share the view that humans are in some way isolated within siloes, with...
www.sublationmag.com
I wrote a piece for Sublation Magazine on why MAGA-types don't want to have empathy and why they do have it regardless:
www.sublationmag.com/post/in-defe...
www.sublationmag.com/post/in-defe...
William Empson had magnificently odd facial hair
November 16, 2025 at 7:39 PM
William Empson had magnificently odd facial hair
Reposted by Frank Podmore
The Prime Minister said in September that we are at a fork in the road. These asylum proposals suggest we have taken the wrong turning.
The idea that recognised refugees need to be deported is wrong.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
The idea that recognised refugees need to be deported is wrong.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Asylum system in UK ‘out of control’ and dividing country, home secretary says
Shabana Mahmood to unveil new proposals modelled on Denmark’s controversial system
www.theguardian.com
November 16, 2025 at 5:45 PM
The Prime Minister said in September that we are at a fork in the road. These asylum proposals suggest we have taken the wrong turning.
The idea that recognised refugees need to be deported is wrong.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
The idea that recognised refugees need to be deported is wrong.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Reposted by Frank Podmore
I've been very soft on this Labour government. They inherited a booby-trapped nightmare and even though they're even now probably still the best of all our shitty options, the immigration thing is draconian, stupid and deliberately cruel.
Starmer and McSweeney must go. Now.
Starmer and McSweeney must go. Now.
November 16, 2025 at 4:38 PM
I've been very soft on this Labour government. They inherited a booby-trapped nightmare and even though they're even now probably still the best of all our shitty options, the immigration thing is draconian, stupid and deliberately cruel.
Starmer and McSweeney must go. Now.
Starmer and McSweeney must go. Now.
Please enjoy this short rant about anti-immigration voters:
frankpodmore.wordpress.com/2025/11/14/o...
frankpodmore.wordpress.com/2025/11/14/o...
Of course anti-immigrant voters are racist
It’s often claimed that anti-immigrant views are actually expressions of something else, of ‘economic anxiety’, for example, or as Zack Polanski put it even more bluntly, that …
frankpodmore.wordpress.com
November 16, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Please enjoy this short rant about anti-immigration voters:
frankpodmore.wordpress.com/2025/11/14/o...
frankpodmore.wordpress.com/2025/11/14/o...
Reposted by Frank Podmore
The government is forever striving for the positive Daily Mail headline that will never, ever come.
November 16, 2025 at 12:47 PM
The government is forever striving for the positive Daily Mail headline that will never, ever come.
Reposted by Frank Podmore
Wheeling and dealing
November 14, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Wheeling and dealing
Last two books I've read both contained references to illustrations that weren't actually in the editions. Just incredibly lazy
November 14, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Last two books I've read both contained references to illustrations that weren't actually in the editions. Just incredibly lazy
Worth watching for the lovely moment this guy says, matter-of-factly, 'I always wanted to teach an animal piano'
Preserving Human Ingenuity for a Future Planet Ruled By Octopuses scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2025/11/14/t...
Preserving Human Ingenuity for a Future Planet Ruled By Octopuses - The Scholarly Kitchen
An engineer and musician teaches an octopus to play the piano.
scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org
November 14, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Worth watching for the lovely moment this guy says, matter-of-factly, 'I always wanted to teach an animal piano'
Reposted by Frank Podmore
I write it as A.I. because I kept thinking “AI slop” was something you dumped into Al Roker’s feed trough
November 14, 2025 at 11:02 AM
I write it as A.I. because I kept thinking “AI slop” was something you dumped into Al Roker’s feed trough
Reposted by Frank Podmore
I talk about this in Immortal Gestures, what I call “thentasy”: the fantasy of back then.
While nostalgia for childhood can be therapeutic, this is nostalgia for nonexistent common past. And it’s loved *because* it didn’t exist, and can’t be sullied by reality.
While nostalgia for childhood can be therapeutic, this is nostalgia for nonexistent common past. And it’s loved *because* it didn’t exist, and can’t be sullied by reality.
Ah the 1970s.
Stagflation, three day weeks, collapsing infrastructure. Civil War in Northern Ireland. In yer face racism and bigotry everywhere. Bin strikes. Strikes in general. Blackouts. Industrial decline. Wage inequality. Dog crap everywhere. And households spent 25% of their income on food.
Stagflation, three day weeks, collapsing infrastructure. Civil War in Northern Ireland. In yer face racism and bigotry everywhere. Bin strikes. Strikes in general. Blackouts. Industrial decline. Wage inequality. Dog crap everywhere. And households spent 25% of their income on food.
November 14, 2025 at 11:03 AM
I talk about this in Immortal Gestures, what I call “thentasy”: the fantasy of back then.
While nostalgia for childhood can be therapeutic, this is nostalgia for nonexistent common past. And it’s loved *because* it didn’t exist, and can’t be sullied by reality.
While nostalgia for childhood can be therapeutic, this is nostalgia for nonexistent common past. And it’s loved *because* it didn’t exist, and can’t be sullied by reality.
Reposted by Frank Podmore
The British public yearns for the creations of autistic elderly shed-hermits and their well meaning grandsons
November 13, 2025 at 12:30 PM
The British public yearns for the creations of autistic elderly shed-hermits and their well meaning grandsons
Reposted by Frank Podmore
Empathy is a moral virtue. The fact that so many people (on the left, no less) are trying to tell Liam that it's morally good to not empathize with "them" makes me sad.
... I am entirely sure this is a bad thing. It makes me a less effective political agent, but much more importantly it makes me a worse person. I suspect I'm not alone in this.
November 13, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Empathy is a moral virtue. The fact that so many people (on the left, no less) are trying to tell Liam that it's morally good to not empathize with "them" makes me sad.
Reposted by Frank Podmore
As of this morning, Starbucks workers across the country are officially ON STRIKE. And we're prepared for this to become the biggest and longest ULP strike in Starbucks history.
Say #NoContractNoCoffee with us: DON'T BUY STARBUCKS for the duration of our open-ended ULP strike! $SBUX
Say #NoContractNoCoffee with us: DON'T BUY STARBUCKS for the duration of our open-ended ULP strike! $SBUX
November 13, 2025 at 11:33 AM
As of this morning, Starbucks workers across the country are officially ON STRIKE. And we're prepared for this to become the biggest and longest ULP strike in Starbucks history.
Say #NoContractNoCoffee with us: DON'T BUY STARBUCKS for the duration of our open-ended ULP strike! $SBUX
Say #NoContractNoCoffee with us: DON'T BUY STARBUCKS for the duration of our open-ended ULP strike! $SBUX
Reposted by Frank Podmore
We have chaos and Ed Miliband, they're just not evenly distributed.
November 13, 2025 at 1:15 PM
We have chaos and Ed Miliband, they're just not evenly distributed.
Reposted by Frank Podmore
Verdict of one Labour grandee I just bumped into: “Ed Miliband is the person most likely to be the most next Prime Minister”.
November 13, 2025 at 12:46 PM
Verdict of one Labour grandee I just bumped into: “Ed Miliband is the person most likely to be the most next Prime Minister”.
Reposted by Frank Podmore
Actual genuine bona fide good news. www.businessgreen.com/news/4521786...
'Tremendous news': Certified solar rooftop installations smash all-time UK record in 2025
More than 200,000 certified solar installations have been added to household rooftops across the country so far this year, according to the latest MCS data
www.businessgreen.com
November 13, 2025 at 12:23 PM
Actual genuine bona fide good news. www.businessgreen.com/news/4521786...
Reposted by Frank Podmore
Southwark Underground Station, designed by MacCormac Jamieson Prichard (MJP) as part of London’s Jubilee Line extension in the 1990s, has been Grade II-listed
MJP’s ‘memorable and theatrical’ Southwark Tube station listed
MJP’s ‘memorable and theatrical’ Southwark Tube station listed
www.architectsjournal.co.uk
November 13, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Southwark Underground Station, designed by MacCormac Jamieson Prichard (MJP) as part of London’s Jubilee Line extension in the 1990s, has been Grade II-listed
Reposted by Frank Podmore
Reposted by Frank Podmore
Reposted by Frank Podmore
*whispers* ed miliband
November 12, 2025 at 10:05 AM
*whispers* ed miliband
Reposted by Frank Podmore
Sadly, there is no precedent for fictional characters inexplicably returning from the dead
James Bond’s death in No Time to Die is causing a nightmare for the next film. Writers are stuck because Bond “was blown to pieces.”
Anthony Horowitz, author of three 007 novels, says:
“You can't have him wake up in shower and saying it was all a dream."
radaronline.com/p/james-bond...
Anthony Horowitz, author of three 007 novels, says:
“You can't have him wake up in shower and saying it was all a dream."
radaronline.com/p/james-bond...
November 11, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Sadly, there is no precedent for fictional characters inexplicably returning from the dead
Reposted by Frank Podmore
Is anyone else also internally screaming about this BBC nonsense? I feel like someone's pumping hallucinogenic gas into my house. Nothing makes sense
November 11, 2025 at 12:13 PM
Is anyone else also internally screaming about this BBC nonsense? I feel like someone's pumping hallucinogenic gas into my house. Nothing makes sense
Reposted by Frank Podmore
Trump is incredibly unpopular here! including amongst Tory voters. What are they doing?
Conservative Shadow Culture Secretary Nigel Huddleston tells GB News that the BBC should "grovel" to Trump.
Amazing how many British 'patriots' are spending their time telling our national broadcaster to prostrate itself before a hostile foreign leader
Amazing how many British 'patriots' are spending their time telling our national broadcaster to prostrate itself before a hostile foreign leader
November 11, 2025 at 11:22 AM
Trump is incredibly unpopular here! including amongst Tory voters. What are they doing?
Another example of the well-established principle that crimes aren't crimes if you do them in a car, nor if you do them because you're upset about being caught for the crime you did in a car
![Telegraph headline: Terminally ill man tackled to the ground by six police officers after mooning speed camera as part of his 'bucket list' before dying (subhead: Retired lecturer Darrell Meekcom had been irritated for years at being caught for "silly speeds" while only marginally over the limit). Plus photo of “Darrell Meekcom, a wheelchair user, [who] criticised the police response as "completely disproportionate"”. He is an older man with little hair and an understandably downbeat expression, holding a walking stick which has a head shaped like a bird’s](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vckf3haopb3yncclmf7o2m3f/bafkreidaovzz3ewtmvdh5oxu4j5vo7lokofefxh2reeerchbrhxqogeaua@jpeg)
November 11, 2025 at 10:51 AM
Another example of the well-established principle that crimes aren't crimes if you do them in a car, nor if you do them because you're upset about being caught for the crime you did in a car