Mark Robinson

YouTube video by Cannonball Adderley - Topic Walk Tall (Live From The Troubadour, Los Angeles, CA/1972)

"...No matter how dreary the situation is, and how difficult it may be, the storm really doesn't matter, until the storm begins to get you down. …it is rough and tough in this ghetto, a lot of funny stuff going down, but you got to walk TALL. WALK TALL. WALK TALL.” m.youtube.com/watch?v=JtTz...

Bet the people on the next table took notes!

In some ways I'm maybe just slow on the uptake. But also the idea of ordinary has been quite important to me,I guess. Definitely not a bubble of wierdos. Could maybe have done with more of that.

Indeed. He does love his choir actually.

Having said that, it's only of late I've properly realised I'm a non-standard fit. (I don't mean the diagnoses described in that piece.)

If I think back to when we first met in our youth I see it now as - 1 or 2 exceptions maybe - essentially some irritants and pieces of grit finding each other...

My grandson will go to secondary in Sept and has already said he's 'only going to make friends with wierdos who play instruments'.

Guidance for responding to 'A Fairer Pathway to Settlement' consultation We are Amnesty International UK. We are ordinary people from across the world standing up for humanity and human rights.

The UK government is proposing radical and punitive changes to settlement rules. This is settlement, not citizenship. The consultation is open until 12 February; please respond to it and oppose these evil proposals. Amnesty have a good guide: www.amnesty.org.uk/resources/gu...

Not a video but here's our cat choosing her next poetry anthology to cheer you up.

A lot of the rhetoric is kind of reminiscent of 'plastic as space age future' too.

Better people than me. I'd have just linked to a bunch of 'anonymous' accounts to entertain myself.

YouTube video by Felt - Topic Rain of Crystal Spires

In happier news I'm in a cafe in Deptford and they're playing this loud and it's proper cheered me up www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjRL...

But cuts to PE. Make this government make sense please.

Excellent.

Marginally safer to visit than the states atm?

I will offer every adult in the country a 20 minute course in understanding and applying the possibilities of my own books. I'm as 'generous' as Microsoft.

Channelled Swift for a minute or two… Poetry or policy, you decide.

Five Modest Proposals for Preventing the Children of Rich People Becoming A Burden on the Arts

stridemagazine.blogspot.com/2026/01/five...

Very good. Now do all my other book covers!

Having seen the length of his thread I'm saving my time for browsing in a bookshop. Or indeed a record shop. Weird policing behaviour.

I'm sure I remember us going to the Batcave that time. That usually makes goths look at you twice.

This new bit seems to be built in that little triangle where First Out used to be - unless memory is playing tricks. Should have a plaque saying ‘Mark’s friend James sold a painting to Jimmy Somerville here’ as I always think of that.

Been walking central LDN wearing my 1988 goggles wondering where all the cool things went. Yes, like old folk do. I used to exit Tnham Court Rd tube at 5.45am (to chef on Wardour St). - v.glad I wasn’t faced with this howge video wall. & I still can’t afford anything the remains of Denmark St.

I kind of felt the air clear

I’ll believe that when I see it

Happy birthday! Good to see you here.

Museums and galleries' financial shift drives DCMS underspend - Arts Professional Financial management of state-sponsored museums and galleries, including increased reliance on visitor income and reserves, was a key factor behind a £356

Museums helping the government (DCMS) not spend money. Hmmm. Puzzled by this tbh. What am I missing? I bet @tonybutler could make sense of it. (And spend that money.)

www.artsprofessional.co.uk/news/museums...

Different world of course, but this idea has echoes of the semi-magical thinking in the Hodge Review that Arts Council should profit if an NPO has a big hit. (Even if funding was made as part of the generally 'required' mixed contributed/earned model rather than as guarantee against loss or equity.)

Rewind/Remix/Reset: Some Thoughts on the Hodge Review Rebuilding whose trust?

I can see this is getting passed around so re-upping here ICYMI.

"Who benefits, who feels more secure, and whether culture’s role in society (or indeed the economy) is more central or more marginal remains to be seen."
tacticsforthetightrope.substack.com/p/rewindremi...

40+ years on I still vividly remember this happening to me on my very first night.

Photos of me by Ian Robinson (no relation). great photos even I’m still at the stage of looking at what my ‘new’ ear looks like.

A weekend full of Borderlands CPP dreaming. Started with a packed book launch on Friday where I got to close a brilliant night with 2 poems from a book I published 30 year ago. Then today hearing some great examples of works done in Borderlands Communities of Possibility