I have a habit with social media of scrolling and bookmarking. Its instinctive. There is no bookmarking strategy as such. I only really noticed I did it around February 2020.
As it’s the end of the year I figured I’d take a look at the tweets I’ve bookmarked. This selection isn’t trying to be representative of the year, other than a record of the kind of things I’ve responded to in the moment.
Just a warning: there are fifty media-rich tweets in this blog post. So it does take a bit of time to load!
I’m particularly interested in the subjects which have resonated for me, especially discussions around workplace bullying, the advice from Phoebe Waller-Bridge about writing. These two things in particular were clearly dominant themes throughout the year.
Nearly all of the tweets I bookmarked featured video which I think also reminds me of where my thinking has been in terms of content creation strategy, and specifically work. This combination of videos creates a story that I find compelling, reminding me in some cases of pre-COVID news and its impact, in particular the suicide of Caroline Flack which hit colleagues hard.
They’re also illustrations of how thinking has changed throughout the year with regards to the pandemic. The Royal Albert Hall Organ was genuinely funny at the time when the pandemic was beginning to impact UK life. I’m just not sure one would post that now.
Seeing the Imogen Holst post again reminded me how when my mood was low the nostalgia contained within previously unseen footage created an emotional uplift.
Sheer Joy
Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s advice for writers: find a friend and write for them
Pre-COVID concert going experience
Mild news fail
Margaret Atwood on a scooter
Rite of Spring without a conductor
Tricky plane landing
Laura Whitmore’s on-air tribute following the suicide of Caroline Flack
Sir Philip Rutnam resigns from the Home Office
Supporting employees who call-out workplace bullying
Deborah Meaden on Workplace Bullying
Design choices inside the Festival Hall
Who wouldn’t want to be Cherry Wainer?
Painful journalism (stick around until 1.40″)
Priti Patel
Yay. Dogs.
Royal Albert Hall Organ to the rescue
Wash your hands to the lyrics of Britten’s Friday Afternoons
Memories of the last recital I attended
How Government changed in a short space of time
Before lockdown, there was self-isolation
Rotterdam Philharmonic play Ode to Joy in lockdown
Dealing with first UK lockdown with regular dance sessions in the street
Lockdown shoulds
CBSO trumpeter and viola player with a lockdown rendition of Star Trek theme tune
BBC News theme tune played by a weather guy and members of the public
Boris Johnson challenged in the park
Carrie Gracie’s last day on BBC News
Tristan Chord on a floor keyboard
Paul Harvey improvises on four notes
How France made concert going possible in September 2020
Freelance musicians protest in Parliament Square
Kevin Brennan MP asks Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden about false claims regarded self-employed musicians support
Samar Ginsberg plays Thomas The Tank Engine
Rishi Sunak’s reskilling comment is underlined in a Government campaign
Suffolk murmaration
Footage of Imogen Holst conducting her father’s brass band suite
Dominic Cummings leaving Downing Street cut to the Imperial March
Will society be back to normal by Spring 2021?
Reverend Richard Coles and Danny Jules sing and dance for Sally Phillips
If Carols for Choirs could talk
Original footage of Dave Brubeck’s Unsquare Dance
Charlotte Higgins writes about how British classical music is struggling in the pandemic
Why one Spanish opera house put on a performance to an auditorium full of houseplants
Oliver Dowden’s committment to the arts
Questionable social media posting from Andrew Lloyd Webber
Spotify’s committment to supporting artists comes to the fore at a time when musicians can’t perform live
Intrepid Dunedin Consort head back from France concert on a hired fishing boat before travel restrictions are imposed
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra’s return to the concert hall
Susan Calman’s re-post of her Strictly Semi-Final Dance with Kevin Clifton
