David Kendall
@manwithbooks.bsky.social
Big Issue #changemaker, Co-director of Penned Up https://pennedup.org.uk/ - a literary festival curated with people in prison for people in prison.
Reposted by David Kendall
It was an honour to be asked to do this BBC Look North West tribute to Mani youtu.be/23N1ds3vl74?... via @YouTube
BBC Look North West tribute to Mani featuring John Robb
YouTube video by JOHN ROBB
youtu.be
November 21, 2025 at 12:17 PM
It was an honour to be asked to do this BBC Look North West tribute to Mani youtu.be/23N1ds3vl74?... via @YouTube
Reposted by David Kendall
Just been ranting about it in the newsletter but Game is glorious bit of British cinema. Nasty, unpredictable, properly bonkers. One of a kind.
November 21, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Just been ranting about it in the newsletter but Game is glorious bit of British cinema. Nasty, unpredictable, properly bonkers. One of a kind.
Reposted by David Kendall
Centrepoint has launched an installation in central London telling the story of several young people who have experienced homelessness.
23,500 young people face homelessness this winter in 'worst time to be homeless'
www.bigissue.com
November 20, 2025 at 10:58 AM
Centrepoint has launched an installation in central London telling the story of several young people who have experienced homelessness.
Reposted by David Kendall
To put another way…. Everybody is in the minus figures.
The term omnisbambles was created too soon. Back then we didn’t know what it was describing.
The term omnisbambles was created too soon. Back then we didn’t know what it was describing.
Latest party leader net favourability ratings, November 2025
Nigel Farage: -32
Kemi Badenoch: -32
Jeremy Corbyn: -40
Keir Starmer: -54
Zack Polanski: -2 (58% DK)
Ed Davey: -9 (40% DK)
Zarah Sultana: -19 (58% DK)
yougov.co.uk/politics/art...
Nigel Farage: -32
Kemi Badenoch: -32
Jeremy Corbyn: -40
Keir Starmer: -54
Zack Polanski: -2 (58% DK)
Ed Davey: -9 (40% DK)
Zarah Sultana: -19 (58% DK)
yougov.co.uk/politics/art...
November 20, 2025 at 11:01 AM
To put another way…. Everybody is in the minus figures.
The term omnisbambles was created too soon. Back then we didn’t know what it was describing.
The term omnisbambles was created too soon. Back then we didn’t know what it was describing.
Reposted by David Kendall
Indeed, they seemed to be undervalued here & in the US
It seems not everyone values knowledge
bsky.app/profile/moni...
It seems not everyone values knowledge
bsky.app/profile/moni...
November 18, 2025 at 7:33 AM
Indeed, they seemed to be undervalued here & in the US
It seems not everyone values knowledge
bsky.app/profile/moni...
It seems not everyone values knowledge
bsky.app/profile/moni...
Reposted by David Kendall
And the BL isn’t just for researchers; it’s a public institution available to all. I always loved this about it - that my mother who left school at 15 could use it if she wanted.
November 18, 2025 at 6:52 AM
And the BL isn’t just for researchers; it’s a public institution available to all. I always loved this about it - that my mother who left school at 15 could use it if she wanted.
Reposted by David Kendall
Guards at the Rankin County jail beat people behind closed doors and encouraged some inmates to join in on the brutality, former inmates and guards said. The violence created a culture of fear, widely accepted by officials to keep order, a New York Times and Mississippi Today investigation found.
In a Brutal Mississippi Jail, Inmates Say They Were Enlisted as Enforcers
www.nytimes.com
November 15, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Guards at the Rankin County jail beat people behind closed doors and encouraged some inmates to join in on the brutality, former inmates and guards said. The violence created a culture of fear, widely accepted by officials to keep order, a New York Times and Mississippi Today investigation found.
Reposted by David Kendall
The Justice Select Committee has published a new report outlining how dire prison conditions are putting the reduction of rehabilitation and reoffending at risk.
Read the report: publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5901/cm...
Read the report: publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5901/cm...
Ending the cycle of reoffending – part one: rehabilitation in prisons
publications.parliament.uk
November 14, 2025 at 2:31 PM
The Justice Select Committee has published a new report outlining how dire prison conditions are putting the reduction of rehabilitation and reoffending at risk.
Read the report: publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5901/cm...
Read the report: publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5901/cm...
Reposted by David Kendall
This is a really good piece by @adey70.bsky.social for The Big Issue. An accurate assessment of what to expect of Channel 5's new Play for Today, which mentions some of the less often trumpeted greats from the original strand, like Destiny (1978), Sorry (1981) &, actually, The Spongers (1978).
Play for Today helped launch the careers of Ken Loach, Ray Winstone, June Brown and Kenneth Branagh. Now Channel 5 is bringing it back…
Why the return of Play for Today is good news for British televisio
www.bigissue.com
November 14, 2025 at 2:57 PM
This is a really good piece by @adey70.bsky.social for The Big Issue. An accurate assessment of what to expect of Channel 5's new Play for Today, which mentions some of the less often trumpeted greats from the original strand, like Destiny (1978), Sorry (1981) &, actually, The Spongers (1978).
Reposted by David Kendall
i know we won't, but we have got to understand that a keystone of the republican project is to both categorize whole classes of people as criminal to justify locking them up, or to make them so broken and desperate that lawbreaking is all but certain to happen.
Justice Sam Alito was v disturbed yesterday by the mere possibility that judges might be using the federal compassionate release statute to *checks notes* grant incarcerated people's requests for compassionate release
ballsandstrikes.org/scotus/ferna...
ballsandstrikes.org/scotus/ferna...
Sam Alito Very Concerned About the Possibility of People Not Being In Prison For As Long As Possible
Interesting to which issues prompt judges to get worked up about other judges deciding cases in line with their personal ideological agendas.
ballsandstrikes.org
November 14, 2025 at 3:13 PM
i know we won't, but we have got to understand that a keystone of the republican project is to both categorize whole classes of people as criminal to justify locking them up, or to make them so broken and desperate that lawbreaking is all but certain to happen.
Reposted by David Kendall
Positively the last pre-publication plug for Greeneland, my serial novel about the critical four months Graham Greene spent in Nottingham - each chapter free: 100 years to the day after the events it describes. On Friday, I’ll publish the title page, epigraph and prologue.
davidbelbin.substack.com
davidbelbin.substack.com
Greeneland | Substack
A serial novel set a hundred years ago when the author Graham Greene moved to Nottingham, where he trained to be a journalist, lived among the working classes, cared for a puppy, wooed the woman he lo...
davidbelbin.substack.com
October 25, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Positively the last pre-publication plug for Greeneland, my serial novel about the critical four months Graham Greene spent in Nottingham - each chapter free: 100 years to the day after the events it describes. On Friday, I’ll publish the title page, epigraph and prologue.
davidbelbin.substack.com
davidbelbin.substack.com
Reposted by David Kendall
Nearly two years ago, I wrote about the extraordinary influence of former Tory spin doctor Sir Robbie Gibb on the BBC. It's still a helpful backgrounder for what's going on now. New readers start here: www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/media/...
How the government captured the BBC
A right-wing cabal, largely unaccountable, is waging war on the principles that made our public broadcaster great. It must not succeed
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Nearly two years ago, I wrote about the extraordinary influence of former Tory spin doctor Sir Robbie Gibb on the BBC. It's still a helpful backgrounder for what's going on now. New readers start here: www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/media/...
Reposted by David Kendall
Almost 300,000 individuals and families are experiencing the worst forms of homelessness in England, according to new research from Crisis.
3 things Labour must do to help record-high number of homeless families
www.bigissue.com
November 10, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Almost 300,000 individuals and families are experiencing the worst forms of homelessness in England, according to new research from Crisis.
Reposted by David Kendall
I mean, what kind of legal action would this be exactly? Defamation? I would truly love to see it. 'They made it look like I instigated a coup during my very well recorded coup attempt.'
The US president has sent a letter to the corporation threatening legal action.
Donald Trump Preparing To Sue BBC Over Panorama Speech Row
The US president has sent a letter to the corporation threatening legal action.
www.huffingtonpost.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 2:12 PM
I mean, what kind of legal action would this be exactly? Defamation? I would truly love to see it. 'They made it look like I instigated a coup during my very well recorded coup attempt.'
Ben Jennings on the prison overcrowding crisis in England and Wales – cartoon
November 9, 2025 at 10:29 PM
Ben Jennings on the prison overcrowding crisis in England and Wales – cartoon
Reposted by David Kendall
Laurence Fox is never again going to be able to threaten to sue anybody for calling him, an increasingly overt racist, racist
November 8, 2025 at 12:32 AM
Laurence Fox is never again going to be able to threaten to sue anybody for calling him, an increasingly overt racist, racist
Reposted by David Kendall
This is a dreadful idea. The UK Government is plumbing new depths.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
UK seeks inspiration from Denmark to shake up immigration system
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is taking cues from some of the toughest migration laws in Europe.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 8, 2025 at 9:45 AM
This is a dreadful idea. The UK Government is plumbing new depths.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by David Kendall
PLEASE DO NOT ASK STAFF WHERE DRACULA’S GRAVE IS THERE ISN’T ONE.
Iconic sign from St Mary’s Church next to Whitby Abbey. I love that people think Bram Stoker’s Dracula was a real person/vampire who lived and died in Whitby.
Iconic sign from St Mary’s Church next to Whitby Abbey. I love that people think Bram Stoker’s Dracula was a real person/vampire who lived and died in Whitby.
November 8, 2025 at 10:15 AM
PLEASE DO NOT ASK STAFF WHERE DRACULA’S GRAVE IS THERE ISN’T ONE.
Iconic sign from St Mary’s Church next to Whitby Abbey. I love that people think Bram Stoker’s Dracula was a real person/vampire who lived and died in Whitby.
Iconic sign from St Mary’s Church next to Whitby Abbey. I love that people think Bram Stoker’s Dracula was a real person/vampire who lived and died in Whitby.
Reposted by David Kendall
#Data shows that #prison deaths have risen by 30% over the past year and staff #assaults have reached a record high.
The Howard League | Howard League responds to safety in custody statistics
The number of people dying in prison rose by 30% in the past year and assaults on staff reached a record high, official data seen by the Howard League for Penal Reform reveal today (Thursday 30…
howardleague.org
November 4, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Reposted by David Kendall
Reposted by David Kendall
Reposted by David Kendall
The two-child benefit cap is a controversial policy which was introduced by the Conservatives. Here's what you need to know about the policy
What is the two-child benefit limit and how does it impact families?
www.bigissue.com
November 2, 2025 at 11:05 AM
The two-child benefit cap is a controversial policy which was introduced by the Conservatives. Here's what you need to know about the policy
Reposted by David Kendall
Nice to read about something positive in the prison system - the work of @libertychoiruk.bsky.social!
“Hans is distressed, angry. But then he sings. He smiles. A first moment of calm.”
Read more as Paul Webster shares what he learned singing with prisoners every week.
https://bit.ly/3JDjnPg
Read more as Paul Webster shares what he learned singing with prisoners every week.
https://bit.ly/3JDjnPg
What I learned singing with prisoners every week
Behind bars, violence and despair are overwhelming. But when Liberty Choir meets, something extraordinary happens
bit.ly
November 2, 2025 at 11:44 AM
Nice to read about something positive in the prison system - the work of @libertychoiruk.bsky.social!
Reposted by David Kendall
Five literary dystopias to get lost in and remind yourself that however bad things seem, they could get even worse.
Top 5 literary dystopias, chosen by award-winning author Matt Greene
www.bigissue.com
November 2, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Five literary dystopias to get lost in and remind yourself that however bad things seem, they could get even worse.
Reposted by David Kendall
"As for the monarchy, it will end not with a bang but a whimper. Giuffre’s book, with all its harrowing details, is one more wave battering against its cliff face, eroding the public’s faith." My @heraldscotland.bsky.social column. www.heraldscotland.com/politics/vie...
'From beyond the grave, Virginia Giuffre has proved not even princes are untouchable'
Virginia Giuffre has proved that not even princes are untouchable. From beyond the grave, she is doing her best to ensure nobody else is ever…
www.heraldscotland.com
November 2, 2025 at 8:10 AM
"As for the monarchy, it will end not with a bang but a whimper. Giuffre’s book, with all its harrowing details, is one more wave battering against its cliff face, eroding the public’s faith." My @heraldscotland.bsky.social column. www.heraldscotland.com/politics/vie...