@alisonrbaxter.bsky.social
Reader, writer, historian. Author of A Cornish Cargo https://amzn.eu/d/82n7ovn and Another Song at Sunset https://amzn.eu/d/8G3915h Home Library volunteer and Trustee of Asylum Welcome.
My latest article is the first of two (possibly more) about emigration to Canada.
open.substack.com/pub/writingf...
My latest post should be of interest to maritime historians.
open.substack.com/pub/writingf...
Today, we join forces with other creator-led organisations to co-launch Brave New World?, a groundbreaking report that shows the onset of a creative jobs crisis in the UK. Here's the link to the report, and to email your MP buff.ly/vIuLqfn
30.01.2026 17:31 — 👍 17 🔁 7 💬 1 📌 2
open.substack.com/pub/writingf...
A Christmas read with added guinea pigs.
A Christmas present for all lovers of Lewis Grassic Gibbon and Sunset Song. My biography of my grandmother, the dedicatee of Sunset Song, is available for just 99p on Kindle between now and December 25th. amzn.eu/d/fIHPuPA
18.12.2025 10:09 — 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Applying the changes to settlement to refugees already here would be particularly cruel and will create so much anxiety.
@stellacreasy.bsky.social is quite right when she says "the Home Secretary needs to come clean asap as there will be refugees with jobs and mortgages that could be affected.”
The week of COP 30 seems a good time to republish something I wrote a couple of years ago about the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu. open.substack.com/pub/writingf...
11.11.2025 13:51 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
In Trieste, city of literature, for a few days. Museums closed for a general strike in support of Gaza (and why can’t we do the same?), but here are Italo Svevo, James Joyce, and Umberto Saba.
22.09.2025 14:35 — 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
To mark ten years of Sanctuary Hosting, I wrote about migration. With thanks to @asylumwelcome.bsky.social for the fact checker.
open.substack.com/pub/writingf...
The logo for Sanctuary Hosting at Asylum Welcome. It shows a tree growing from a blue doorway shape. Inside the doorway is a white key design that forms the shape of a heart. The text reads “Sanctuary Hosting” in blue and pink, with “at Asylum Welcome” underneath in smaller light blue letters.
Three women sit at a table with food and drinks, talking during a community event with bunting in the background.
An older woman and a younger woman wearing a headscarf sit together at a kitchen table, with books and papers spread out in front of them.
Four women smiling at a Sanctuary Hosting event, with musicians performing in the background.
This Sept, we're celebrating 10 years of Sanctuary Hosting!
www.asylum-welcome.org/services/san...
300 guests helped, 40,000 nights of safe sleep & countless acts of kindness - thanks to our wonderful hosts 💙
🎧 Listen to the story on our podcast #Welcomecast:
creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/...
"We sat in stunned silence… wondering: what will this mean for the people we support now & those who will need us in future?" — Dr Hari Reed, our Co-CEO.
For many refugees, reunion is the only hope they have left. Suspending that right puts women & children at risk, @yvettecooper-mp.bsky.social.
The Bear Tapestry
27.08.2025 13:31 — 👍 353 🔁 78 💬 8 📌 5
Today, Nigel Farage used Oxfordshire to launch plans for “mass deportations” of people seeking asylum if he becomes Prime Minister.
We believe in a different vision: one rooted in dignity, safety, and welcome. Please add your name to our open letter: tinyurl.com/aw-letter
A piece of Scottish family history to mark a significant date in the sporting calendar.
open.substack.com/pub/writingf...
This week’s story is about bad behaviour at the Royal Aircraft Establishment open.substack.com/pub/writingf...
21.07.2025 07:04 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0I’m sure my grandmother would have been dismayed at this threat to the burial place of her friend Lewis Grassic Gibbon.
03.07.2025 08:00 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Thanks for the mention, Neil. I imagine there was no space for my quote but my grandmother would definitely be backing this campaign.
03.07.2025 07:59 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
open.substack.com/pub/writingf...
A new post that may be familiar to readers of A Cornish Cargo!
An example of transferable skills? How a sea captain who learnt his trade on square riggers became a pilot in World War 1.
open.substack.com/pub/writingf...
Delighted to get my copy of this superb biography of Lewis Grassic Gibbon. With a couple of my family photos included!
amzn.eu/d/hXNRv0C
Back to maritine history for my latest family story
open.substack.com/pub/writingf...
A more personal substack post today about the first refugee I hosted through @refugeesathome.bsky.social .
It's not something I talk about much but I felt I needed to write something in response to the increasingly hostile environment for refugees.
christinapagel.substack.com/p/the-path-t...
Very sad. And in the same week that the definitive biography of Grassic Gibbon by Bill Malcolm is published.
18.05.2025 17:39 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
New Substack post, of special interest to anyone with ancestors in the north east of England open.substack.com/pub/writingf...
24.04.2025 17:23 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Fuckity bye
RIP, the Guardian-Observer 1993-2025. It wasn't a natural death.
The biggest journalistic bloodletting in a generation.
Rest in power ✊
open.substack.com/pub/broligar...
Asylum Welcome is looking for new trustees. If you’re based in the Oxfordshire area, do consider joining us.
www.asylum-welcome.org/trustee-recr...
This has turned out to be one of my most commented on posts on Substack so far.
open.substack.com/pub/writingf...
