Ian Tattum

I will die on this hill.

As someone who grew up with and continues to know a lot of fundamentalists: state-funded faith schools are the *only way* to make sure that children growing up in religious extremism are receiving an education that broadly accords with modern life and values.

A short poem I wrote on 7th October 2 year ago in response to that cruel day.

Good morning

Ian Tattum (@iantattum) Two years ago I spent the night in the church garden to raise sponsored funds for our night shelter. Waking early I watched and listened to the wrens , before hearing the terrible news from Israel. ...

substack.com/@iantattum/n...

Conservatives vow to scrap UK carbon tax in latest climate policy U-turn Conservative Party unveils plans that suggest it would roll back the UK Emissions Trading Scheme and scrap the Carbon Price Support mechanism, the Renewables Obligation, and Great British Energy

Scorched Earth pseudo-Toryism. Not one MP speaking out against political/ecological/economic suicide.

I am reading this from two starting points.
The beginning and the October entries.
Such a beautiful book and a revelatory approach to Gilbert White. Like many recent books about writers it also acknowledges all his collaborators- from labourers to family- definitely not a solo creator

Finally managed to walk to my local stone circle

A promotional image for the Kendal Mountain Festival and an event with author Julian Hoffman.

So excited to be returning to the fabulous @kendalmountainfest.bsky.social to join a wonderful line-up of writers. I'll be in conversation about my new book, LIFELINES, with the brilliant author and biodiversity campaigner Kate Rawles on Nov 22nd.
tickets.kendalmountainfestival.com/schedule/689...

Having put the supper on just time for a quick foray into the green.

This morning

One of the problems with Miller is that when he says Republic he means something akin to the Roman Republic in the era of Crassus.

Photograph of a solitary standing stone in a stubble field with a rounded hill in the distance.

#StandingStoneSunday: the 3-metre tall standing stone on Pencraig Brae, East Lothian, looking south to the rounded Traprain Law with its hillfort, and the Lammermuir Hills beyond. The old Great North Road crosses this view, on the far side of the wall in the middle of this picture.

Good morning

One of the useful things about the era of Trump, the populists and the tech bros is that it has put paid to the Thatcherite capitalist myth that wealth and power correlate with intelligence and talent

Listen to Jane.

WOW

A rainbow over some Japanese mountains ⛰️

'I find this internal continuous prayer life absolutely essential...Such prayer of submission can be so simple. It is well to use a single sentence, repeated over & over & over again, such as this:.."See earth through heaven, See earth through heaven"' (Thomas Raymond Kelly) 🙏

Out to sea

The Ig Nobel is incredible , one year an Indian guy won it for calculating the average surface area of an elephant and during his acceptance they had an elephant hold up a sign with the surface area of the scientist on it, they do showbiz better than the Oscars

Libby Black (watercolor, 2024)

Anyone: Why are there suddenly so many AHDH diagnoses? Dr. Jen: Same reason there are suddenly more stars after we built telescopes.

The mystery of medical diagnosis!

Saraswati Nagpal's 'Drench Me in Silver' (Black Bough Poetry, 2025)

A review of Drench Me in Silver by Saraswati Nagpal (Black Bough Poetry, 2025) By Vikki C. Saraswati Nagpal’s Drench Me in Silver (Black Bough Poetry, 2025) demonstrates through precise, breathtaking language, that rapture resides in tender reverence for the rich fabric of heritage and familial legacy. A vivid and moving tribute to the complex nuances of culture and codex that influence and transcend the female experience, the poet evokes the sacred through place and seasonal migrations that mark the fluid nature of identity, juxtaposed with the duties and footholds of tradition. Nagpal conjures the fragrance and soul-song of a multitextured terrain where a singular voice cascades into an intergenerational chorale in honour of the divine feminine. From nascent wellspring to oneiric cameos of kinship, domesticities and ritual, we are held in mutual adoration for the transformative beauty of the natural world and the devotion of mythical female figures: “These women abound, adorned in ichor, blood and blossoms.” Meditations where for Nagpal, time is both vignette and luminous ancient light: “Year’s lived grow distant, city lights fading / to tarnished tinsel. Youth’s amber demands / have been savoured and sold.” I was enlightened by her elegant vernacular of loss—a liminality that rains, pools, evaporates in all its forms— yet, what endures, elides cinematically from both origin and otherness: “In a river, you pirouette at last: / a wild bird in love with the wind.” Distilling grace, intellect, defiance and empathy, this is poetry that incarnates the ardent love of forebearers with the alchemy of the sublime self, both in the moment, and the ages to come..

"...the poet evokes the sacred through place and seasonal migrations that mark the fluid nature of identity, juxtaposed with the duties and footholds of tradition."

My review of the luminous 'Drench Me in Silver' by @saraswatinagpal.bsky.social (@blackboughpoetry.bsky.social).

#poetry #reviews

Masefield was compulsory when I was at school 🦋

Ian Tattum (@iantattum) It is one of those Ladybird Book of Autumn days when the words of Shelley and Keats blast into your being and the sound of the gale in the trees brings back childhood imaginings of distant oceans brea...

substack.com/@iantattum/n...

They seem to have missed out the L in the second coin ,honouring his bravery.

Treasury Department considers minting a $1 Trump coin The draft design of the coin, which was overseen by the Office of the U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach, features Trump’s profile on one side of the coin.

In order to properly celebrate Trump's legacy, the $1 coin will be worth 75¢.

www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

Books at RSPB Titchwell.

The Cuckoo’s Lea, front cover.

Day birding in Storm Amy’s winds @rspbtitchwellsnett.bsky.social. A great selection of books in their shop, including, ahem, yours truly. #thecuckooslea #naturewriting

In Mary Anning’s journal she took the prominence of women around Jesus as a precedent for her importance in the male dominated fossilism of her time.