Hi

As co-manager of this List I just wanted to apologise for appearing to have 
nothing to say on this lively thread. For once I can plead ignorance as 
nearly a week's mailings from the British & Irish failed to gain access to 
my inbox. Though I did think it odd that the List had fallen so quiet, life 
being a bit helter-skelter right now, I didn't check the archives until I 
received a b/c mail from Mairead. Then today, a whole week's List mail 
stampeded into my Inbox, and I've spent a long stretch of the afternoon 
reading the book of it, when I had imagined a pamphlet.

In the various missives there are actually some very positive points made, 
together with arguments which have challenged my previous views. Though I 
have a blog or two, I do now appreciate cris's point about them being fenced 
in; that they appear to encourage contact and dialogue but by their very 
technical features, can't really encompass dialogue and discussion. This is 
precisely why the British & Irish Poets List is so important, as evidenced 
by the discussion on this thread.

In a different sphere, The Socialist Unity website now carries links to 
literally dozens of individual political blogsites. And ironically in my 
view, I understand that these replaced a discussion List (where fall outs 
were common indeed). Yet, in place of the fire of that list, there are now 
atomised blogs.

Of course, blogs have a huge upside (which I won't go into here) but they 
can never substitute for a List. However, I have nothing against links to 
blogs when members here are posting 'thread' items for discussion, reports 
of readings and conferences, and poetry. As Mairead has pointed out, 
amendments in this sphere could be useful.

I too have been co-managing the List for two years and support all Mairead's 
ideas about possible changes to the List. I would like to hand over the 
baton by the end of the year - and it would be brilliant to hand over that 
management on an 'up' for the List. So, if members have ideas as to who 
might like to take over from myself....

***
These days, living in Lowestoft is as distant to poetry as one can imagine. 
Moving just up the road to Norwich in a few weeks will be like moving to 
another country - not for the place itself alone - but it has an airport, 
and easy train access to London and... know I can contribute to this List 
and life thereby.

Best wishes, Rupert