Colin West

@MsPollyClark @SpeechUnion PS Congratulations on the book. Fine work, if I may say so

@caileansiar @SpeechUnion Thank you and yes, you're absolutely right. Without the FSU I'd have been completely stuck. Authors join!

🚨📣 New FSU Member Testimonial Polly Clark is a novelist and TS Eliot Prize–shortlisted poet who recently published Afterlife: New and Selected Poems. Before publication, Polly was informed by her publicist that Gutter Magazine had selected her book as its ‘Book of the Month’, describing it as ‘funny, feminine and violent; confessional yet mysterious’. The review was initially published but disappeared after a few days. When pressed on why it had been removed, Gutter said: ‘A reader drew our attention to social media posts by Polly Clark that they considered to be offensive.’ Gutter added that it is a ‘welcoming publishing space’, including for trans writers and that, by promoting Ms Clark, it ‘risked undermining this goal’. Ms Clark has raised the issue with both Gutter and Creative Scotland — the body that provides funding to the magazine — but neither has agreed to reinstate the review or address its removal. Gutter has described this as an ‘editorial decision’, while Creative Scotland has stated that it ‘does not play a regulatory role’ in relation to the organisations it funds. Far too often, writers are censored because someone has taken offence at their work. In this case, it is almost certainly due to Ms Clark’s gender-critical views — which are protected under the Equality Act 2010 and reaffirmed by the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling last April. The Free Speech Union and Freedom in the Arts are supporting Polly and have helped her submit a Subject Access Request (SAR), as well as draft complaint emails to Creative Scotland. We are awaiting the SAR results. Watch Polly below 👇

@ognittis37 The word "tànaiste" is a Gaelic word meaning "second in command" or "second in line". Weird thing to call your child. (It should however be spelt with an accent on the 'a'.)

A unique glimpse into the whacky world of the Scottish Green Party , The story concerns “Tanaiste Custance”

@msjlindsay Add cheese into the snippet for all future posts, is my suggestion.

This one's gone well so far! I should've added: new paid subscribers shall be worshipped by my catnip adoring kitties, and their owner, whose main job is to keep them sweet. But you shall receive an instant karmic reward for hitting 'subscribe' at any rate 😘 x

@BillyM2k Les Visiteurs, great film.

@KateClanchy1 @MsPollyClark Well put. (Like the Scottish touch: a stooshie. A rammy, one might even say. A stramash, even.)

I wrote about Gutter, @MsPollyClark , my Afghan women poets, and why poetry reviewing happens. Link in next tweet.

@MsPollyClark What snivelling invertebrates these ghastly people are.

This is about what happened to me in the days leading up to publication of my 25 year poetry retrospective Afterlife: New and Selected Poems. Please read and share. Link follows.

@KeenanPeachy Have you hacked Lemony Snicket's account?

Yesterday I trimmed the lemon tree I planted when the pandemic started. 40 lemons harvested. These lemons are incredible and delicious. What can we do with these? Lemonade stand?

@CoisirLunnainn Does this count?

Seachdain na Gàidhlig sona dhuibh! 'S e Latha nan Lèintean-T Gàidhlig a th' ann an-diugh. We didn't forget 😌 Reply and show us yours ⬇️ #LnLTGàidhlig #SeachdainNaGàidhlig2026 #WorldGaelicWeek2026

It's Gaelic Week - @sngaidhlig! And so, mar bu dual dhuinn [as has become traditional], @MarcMacUilleim and I have recorded a Gaelic song. Tha mi an dòchas gun còrd e ruinn! [Hope you enjoy it!]

@ThePosieParker Well done! Isn't freedom of speech amazing?

Trailer for Disney's "The Caliphate"

@RosieKayK2CO Fantastic result. Well done to all involved! Other academic institutions / conservatoires etc.: take note.

This is a huge moment for artistic and academic freedom. Martin Speake has been vindicated. Institutions cannot discriminate against staff for holding protected philosophical beliefs. @Freedom_in_Arts supported Martin from the beginning. Freedom of expression matters. #FreedomInTheArts #FreeSpeech

Just in: Gaelic supergroup Mànran to play the Hootananny in Brixton on 16 May. Ticeaidean gu h-ìosal. (Last time GIL saw Ewen Henderson he was holding court in the Ben Nevis bar in Fort William during the Mòd; this time GIL will be the one on home turf.) hootanannybrixton.co.uk/manran/

@KemiBadenoch Absolutely. The crucial words are "third country deterrent"; that holds the key to a policy that could actually work.

I can’t express just how sickened I am by this story…on so many levels. As a woman, as a mother. It’s grotesque. An illegal immigrant treated humanely by our country repays us with a depraved, barbaric act. Only a monstrous creature would do this -to a child, no less. We have been far too complacent and far too kind and we are failing our children by not getting rid of these monsters. This is why I’ve toughened Conservative policy. ⚫️Leave the ECHR that stops us sending grifters who’ve learned how to game our system back where they came from. ⚫️ Deport all foreign criminals, no ifs no buts. ⚫️ Many should serve their prison sentences in the places they came from and not be a drain on the British taxpayer (this needs a 3rd country deterrent for those places that won’t take their criminals back). We’re the only party that has a fully worked up policy on all of this. It’s time to get serious. Stronger borders will create a stronger country.

@MsPollyClark @WomenReadWomen @joerogan @salltweets He's had the great @BridgetPhetasy on there talking about that topic amongst others. Have your people spoken to his people? Let's make this happen.

@WomenReadWomen @joerogan @salltweets I am a bit tired of all the men talking to men.

It would be wonderful if @joerogan would have more women on to discuss our reasons for opposing gender ideology, and the personal toll the battle has had on so many of us. @salltweets would be a magnificent start

@CleverclogsNina Although we on this side of the culture war can separate the art from the artist.

I have waited a long time for it to be socially acceptable to admit I’ve always found Olivia Coleman bloody insufferable

@Tonisenior I have also never watched any of them.

Am I the only person in Britain who has never watched an episode of traitors, strictly or bake off?

@SexMattersOrg @MForstater @simon_telegraph @Telegraph I am a lawyer. We are a collegiate profession. We put our heads round each others' doors. But my work goes out in my name. If I am sued for negligence I cannot blame the person down the corridor whose ear I bent. That goes for judges, too - à fortiori, as we lawyers say.

.@MForstater: “It’s not good enough. Judges hold one of the most respected and responsible positions in the land. Claimants are seeking justice, not watching a game show. They do not expect judges to phone a friend.” @simon_telegraph for @Telegraph telegraph.co.uk/politics/2026/…

@msjlindsay @ColetteColfer Just wonderful! And an honourable mention for another little poem of hers (let's hear it for short poems) about falling in love on Waterloo Bridge.

@caileansiar @ColetteColfer Oh I love The Orange. 'I love you. I'm glad I exist.' A perfect little poem about simple happiness and ordinary day-to-day contentment with yer lot. Who doesn't want to feel like that? It's lovely.

One of the best poems. It’s by Wendy Cope. Always makes me think of ⁦@msjlindsay⁩ ‘She cannot win. He stands his ground. The planet goes on being round’

@msjlindsay @ColetteColfer My choir performed a song-cycle of her poems before Christmas, including probably her best-known poem about the orange. Also her poem about recycling ("A Green Song"), which has always struck a chord with me for some reason... The lady herself is still going strong, apparently.

@ColetteColfer That was my pinned tweet here for ages!! Fantastic poem. Love her.