72 Pete

The state of Pete

Mon, 24 Mar 2025 18:56:09 +0000

I’ve been unwell, and will continue to be unwell for a while. This is an account of where that unwellness is at.

Pete's zine timeline

Tue, 24 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The full-ish history of how I was involved in zines throughout the 1990s.

Pete's newsletter for the start of July

Sat, 06 Jul 2024 23:01:43 +0000

Got covid again, wrote some blog posts, watched some films, rabbit got ill, hedgehogs appeared in the garden, other stuff.

Reflections on the election

Fri, 05 Jul 2024 21:12:52 +0000

There was a general election in the UK. It was complicated.

Scanning the BugPowder zine archive

Tue, 25 Jun 2024 22:12:26 +0000

I have boxes containing thousands of zines. I’ve started scanning them. It’s going to take a while. I have time.

Pete Ashton's new newsletter of news

Tue, 28 May 2024 17:24:07 +0000

The never ending task of figuring out how best to get my ideas onto the internet and send them to you continues, and this here is the first stab at the latest attempt. In short, it’s a roundup of what I’ve put online in the last couple of weeks and whatever other bits and bobs I feel the need to communicate. Hope you enjoy it!

Thoughts on Furiosa

Tue, 28 May 2024 02:07:58 +0000

There’s something nihilistic about George Miller’s fifth Mad Max movie and it’s got me thinking…

Peely, twenty years on

Wed, 22 May 2024 22:38:13 +0000

This autumn it’ll be the twentieth anniversary of John Peel’s death.

About this site

Sat, 11 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000

You can email me at pete@peteashton.com - I’m either great at replying or terrible, so if it’s important and I don’t reply in a reasonable period of time, please feel free to nudge with another email.

The following was last edited on 11 May 2024.

Pete Ashton is me and I am a 50-something person living in Birmingham, a city in the middle of an island off the north-west coast of Europe.

Defining the weird

Sun, 28 Apr 2024 19:26:15 +0000

In which I revisit my obsession with the concept of Weird having found a useful working definition.

Blog posts I have not written

Thu, 28 Mar 2024 12:54:06 +0000

Given my burnout means I’m unable finish any writing I thought it might be useful to record the starts, if only to get them out of my head.

Grief and autistic burnout - 2023 was a lot

Wed, 14 Feb 2024 19:33:02 +0000

This is a 2,000 word post about the last 18 months and what happened to me during them. It contains a lot, and I thank you for your indulgence.

A Ralphie in Brighton

Mon, 12 Feb 2024 17:47:56 +0000

In January we went to Brighton for a week’s holiday. Usually we go to the Welsh coast for a winter break but this year we had my niece, Isobel, to stay and thought Brighton might be a bit more interesting.

A tale of two volcanic tourist destinations

Fri, 09 Feb 2024 19:52:14 +0000

Boom

Costumes and the erasure of self

Thu, 08 Feb 2024 18:39:14 +0000

Losing yourself in fur.

Systems of Interest

Mon, 05 Feb 2024 22:48:02 +0000

Post summary TK

Encouraging air flow in the heap

Sun, 30 Apr 2023 16:50:00 +0000

Post summary TK

Maybe inmates should take over asylums?

Wed, 18 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Post summary TK

Queering the Normal

Mon, 10 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Post summary TK

Owning a trampoline

Thu, 20 May 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Post summary TK

Oikos and Co-operatives

Tue, 18 May 2021 17:22:00 +0000

Post summary TK

Elinor Ostrom and the miracle of the commons

Tue, 18 May 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Post summary TK

A new Curtis lands

Wed, 17 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Post summary TK

Exeunt Corbyn

Fri, 30 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Post summary TK

Thoughts on The Social Dilemma

Tue, 29 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Post summary TK

Heritage Socialism – a working definition

Mon, 28 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Post summary TK

Dome Up

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Post summary TK

Economics and Epidemiology

Wed, 16 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Post summary TK

Revising the 1972 Project - Mrs America and Chernobyl

Wed, 19 Aug 2020 14:31:00 +0000

Post summary TK

History is constantly being "erased", and that's OK.

Fri, 12 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Post summary TK

Marching against racism in Birmingham

Sat, 06 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Post summary TK

We need social media literacy or the fascists will win

Wed, 03 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Post summary TK

Walking Weird Britain

Thu, 28 May 2020 10:03:00 +0000

In reviewing the first issue of Weird Walk, I survey the British "New Weird".

Good composition is ideologically fraught

Sun, 02 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Post summary TK

Understanding Gilliam, and other men of a certain age

Sat, 04 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Post summary TK

Pretty Trauma

Mon, 03 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000

With some trepidation I watched the first episode of season two of The Handmaids Tale the other night. The first season had been very good but I’d heard the next was a bit all-out brutal horrorshow and, oddly enough, I didn’t find myself needing that of an evening.

The danger of meaning

Mon, 03 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Post summary TK

Chamberlain Clock

Sat, 01 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000

On a number of Birmingham’s traffic islands you’ll find these iron clocks painted green. They’re total heritage but because they often have no pedestrian access it’s tricky to see them up close. While doing a reccy for my Jewellery Quarter walks this month I crossed over to read the inscription on the clock there and took a photo because it’s quite specific.