Ian Tattum
banner
iantattum.bsky.social
Ian Tattum
@iantattum.bsky.social
Writer and independent scholar.
Used to be a vicar.
Writing in Spelt, Black Bough Poetry, BB journal, Frost Magazine, The Clearing,The Pilgrim, Landlines for Nature ,The Church Times.

Fellow of the Linnaean Society and the Zoological Society of London,
Pinned
A piece I wrote about having a nature deprived childhood.
There don’t seem to be enough articles about working class childhoods which were just a bit dull because you didn’t get out much , and family members were not very enthusiastic.
But you did have picture books of stuffed birds.😊
Reposted by Ian Tattum
Here's a thread with all my starter packs. First, here's a FULL starter pack full of great writers looking for an agent. Please follow them and repost the pack if you can #booksky #writingcommunity
November 3, 2025 at 8:41 AM
Reposted by Ian Tattum
Bribery is a "malignancy" at the heart of British public life, says judge.

The law responds with "stern punishment"
November 21, 2025 at 12:51 PM
At the Blue Pool today
November 21, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Reposted by Ian Tattum
Well worth a read. It’s so sad what AI is doing to students’ ability to think for themselves👇
To “my students and to anyone who might listen, I say: Don’t surrender to AI your ability to read, write and think when others once risked their lives and died for the freedom to do so.”

www.huffpost.com/entry/histor...
I Set A Trap To Catch My Students Cheating With AI. The Results Were Shocking.
"Students are not just undermining their ability to learn, but to someday lead."
www.huffpost.com
November 21, 2025 at 10:21 AM
Reposted by Ian Tattum
I do hope @quietriotpod.bsky.social
might cover this story
Very good New York Times reporting on the influx of converts into the Orthodox Church and the rise of "Orthobros." www.nytimes.com/2025/11/19/u...
Orthodox Church Pews Are Overflowing With Converts
www.nytimes.com
November 19, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Reposted by Ian Tattum
So yesterday Trump was holding hands with MBS, and today he's demanding the execution of two Senators and four Representatives.
Seems like something rubbed off
November 20, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Peter Mattheissen proved his literary credentials by having a face off with Norman Mailer.
I hadn’t even heard of Mattheissen’s Wildlife in America, which was as influential on the conservation movements as Silent Spring.
November 20, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Reposted by Ian Tattum
The bedwine - betwine, betwined, between - coming into its smoky, wreathing, tiny gas lamp light, right now ..
November 20, 2025 at 1:54 PM
For all wild clematis lovers including @nicolawriting.bsky.social @nicwilson.bsky.social
November 20, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Stinking iris
November 20, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Reposted by Ian Tattum
🚨Reminder🚨

Westminster Hall debate on
Government support for people with ME

is TODAY (19 Nov) at 4.30pm
Delighted that I’ve secured a debate in Parliament on ‘Government support for ME’ next Wednesday 19 November. This provides a valuable opportunity for MPs to share views - the first in years. I hope that many MPs will join me. Do encourage yours! #pwME
November 19, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Thanks to @reaktionbooks.bsky.social .
Two more to review.
Katherine Mansfield a crafter of superlative short stories , Richard 1 a king whose legend was crafted by ingenious story tellers.
November 19, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Back home to Swanage
November 19, 2025 at 3:49 PM
In William Cowper’s garden with the parish church in the background.
Cowper’s home was linked via adjoining orchards to John Newton’s vicarage
November 18, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Reposted by Ian Tattum
“Around six months after the cyber incident I talked to the then chair of the science select committee, who was not aware of this incident” w o w
I’ve written a piece on the curious lack of media and political interest in the issues faced by our national @britishlibrary.bsky.social. This is strange given we live in a world where ideas, knowledge and research are a long-term source of innovation and insight
www.cityam.com/the-british-...
The British library is in crisis: why does nobody care?
The widespread indifference to the British Library's crippling cyberattack demonstrates a perilous failure to value the knowledge infrastructure vital for national prosperity
www.cityam.com
November 18, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Reposted by Ian Tattum
Archaeologists have unearthed a Bronze Age metropolis in the heart of the Eurasian steppe: an early form of city as complex as those of contemporary, more traditionally 'urban' civilisations, showing how steppe polities were just as sophisticated.

🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...

🏺 #Archaeology
November 18, 2025 at 8:17 AM
I went to look at the yaks but they ran away but was delighted to find the peewits
November 17, 2025 at 10:07 PM
On my way to Olney to see my mum I stopped off at Whipsnade Zoo.
Over 60 years of visiting now.
November 17, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Good late afternoon
November 17, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Reposted by Ian Tattum
Here is a reading of my poem- 'Zephyr's Lost Winds' 🌬️
First published in The Starbeck Orion, Issue 13 🕊️
#PassageOfTime
#AllThingsMustPass
#WindsOfChange
#Poems
#BlueskyPoetry
youtube.com/shorts/2cpGn...
ZEPHYR'S LOST WINDS 🕊️ by Carmella de Keyser
YouTube video by Poetry with Carmella
youtube.com
November 17, 2025 at 8:11 AM
Evensong
November 16, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Reposted by Ian Tattum
A poem of mine for this slow approach of Wintering. It’s called Blackthorn.
November 16, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Reposted by Ian Tattum
The BBC is the biggest thump of soft power the UK has and its reach and influence to the benefit of the country is extraordinary. Destroy it, hugely damage the UK. The same people who helped weaken us over Brexit are seeking to do it again.
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 16, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Patsy Southgate- Peter Mattheissen’s wife - on her husband’s and fellow founders of the Paris Review.

‘ They’re a bunch of reactionaries; their idea of a radical step is to eliminate the comma.’
❤️👏
November 16, 2025 at 4:28 PM