Andy Turner

Poster for Andy Turner gig at Acoustic Cabaret

I'm heading North tomorrow to meet up with old friends, and to do a solo gig on Saturday night at Acoustic Cabaret in Brinscall, Lancs
- that's at St Joseph's Community Club, 42 School Lane, Brinscall PR6 8QP

"...and that we trashed the whole notion of what further education can be for when we subscribed to Tony Blair’s ugly “the more you learn, the more you earn” doctrine in the 90s".

With many more bon mots and thoroughly sound arguments - worth reading and sharing.

"At no point did anyone make the case that the knowing of knowledge can and should be an end in itself in a civilised society; that universities were once set up to preserve and extend knowledge as an end in itself, irrespective of whether doing so enhanced the financial future of the student..."

Stewart Lee: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse all work for Pimlico Plumbers I heard the prophet of the AI-driven end times foretell our doom in chilling detail last week. It was Reform donor Charlie Mullins on LBC

More on the same theme from Stewart Lee
www.thenerve.news/p/stewart-le...

I'm reading Maggie O'Farrell's memoir 'I am I am I am'. Sitting in a pub, waiting for a train, I read the chapter about her miscarriages. And it seems one of the saddest, most beautiful things I've ever read.

Defence secretary says he hopes to deploy British troops to Ukraine - UK politics live European leaders said in December that Europe was ready to lead a “multinational force” in Ukraine as part of a peace agreement proposal

As the Guardian so rightly says "Many degrees that are derided as low-value or soft often are meaningful for the students who study them and have valuable economic and cultural impacts that are not always easily quantifiable".
So bugger off Tories.
www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

...he's in serious danger of giving Little England tax-dodging overseas-resident billionaires a bad name

Well, that Jim Ratcliffe turned out to be a nice bloke...

Sounds like sensible advice, born of experience.

Oh God. Just one more thing to worry about... and if Reform get in here they'll try the same sort of tricks.

Thanks to everyone who came to see us at Readifolk last night. As you can see, we had a really good time.

Elon Musk is a white supremacist. Case closed.

Looking forward to playing at Readifolk on Sunday - have played a few gigs there with @magpielane-oxford.bsky.social but this will be the first time Mat and I have done it as a duo.

THIS SUNDAY at the club!
@rdgwhatson.bsky.social @acespacenewbury.bsky.social @magpielane-oxford.bsky.social #SundayNight is #FolkMusicNight in #TheDing

I blame the Norwegians. They say they don't control the Northern Lights, but we know better.

From the "Laborer's Union Chronicle" - so another one from the National Agricultural Labourers' Union, like Walter Pardon sang?

I've heard Bob & Gill Berry sing that, but hadn't really thought about when it cam from. My hunch that it would be pre-1884 seems to be borne out by this sighting from Montreal, 1874 numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/d...

It's come to something when a non entity like Cleverly is held up as a potential saviour of the Tory party!

If you don’t pay attention to UK politics, “what is their policy on civil servants wearing fetish clothing in the workplace” sounds absurd because noone wears gimp masks to their office job.

If you do, you immediately know she wants a policy prohibiting trans women from wearing skirts or dresses.

There are now at least 365 UK MPs with accounts on Bluesky – more than half (56%) of all MPs

🔴 This includes nearly 70% of Labour MPs
🔶 Nearly 90% of Lib Dem MPs
🟢 All the 4 Green MPs

🔵 But only 5% of Conservative MPs
➡️ No Reform MPs

Blessed be the fruit

Of course, when a President has broken so many of his own domestic laws, it's hardly surprising that he doesn't give a damn about the international rule of law. But I expect UK leaders - especially when they're former Human Rights lawyers - to call out such illegality.

I have no time for dictators, nor for drug dealers. But The US intervention in Venezuela is a fragrant breach of international law, and must be unequivocally condemned by all democratic leaders.

Well done flag-shagging RefUK supporters. That's £16K that won't get spent on education or social care or mending potholes.

Thanks for these Howard. It was a glorious day - although pretty cold on the fingers!

This is all true, of course. Except there's no 'e' in Sharp.

St Saviour's, AL14DF 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ on Instagram: "@magpielaneoxford in concert to close a busy and packed out Sunday!" 14 likes, 1 comments - stsaviour_sta on December 21, 2025: "@magpielaneoxford in concert to close a busy and packed out Sunday!".

Thanks to St Saviour's at St Albans for providing such a glorious space for our final Christmas concert of 2025. Even more splendid than usual, decked out as it was with dozens of decorated Christmas trees.
Merry Christmas one and all.
www.instagram.com/reel/DSief-c...

Group photo of the band Magpie Lane

Magpie Lane singing acapella in the Wesley Memorial Church

Thanks to Dick Wolff for some fantastic photos from our gig in Oxford on Saturday. More on our Instagram - www.instagram.com/magpielaneox...

There you are @jackieoates.bsky.social - I told you you're now officially iconic!

Magpie Lane singing acapella in the Wesley Memorial Church - photo taken from the gallery, facing the stage.

Thanks to everyone who came to see us at the Wesley Memorial Church in Oxford on Saturday. I think we're all agreed it's a very good venue for us - we'll see you there again next December.
Here's a photo from first time visitor Maria, who says she's coming every year from now on! More to follow.