Tauranga. This is where my brother used to live, so it’s very bitter sweet being here. I can see why he loved it so much though, it’s just beautiful

Cricket at Eden Park tonight. Bit different to the tiny (yet gorgeous) Hagley Oval…

A toaster clearly labelled as only for gluten free bread? Be still my beating heart!

I like flying. I'm a good flyer who actually enjoys a bit of turbulence (feels like you're a baby being rocked to sleep by nature). Today, however, flying up to Aukland in very strong winds was a deeply stressful experience, not helped by the woman sat behind me praying out loud for our souls...

If you believe in a royal family, you get what you're given. Paedophiles, Nazis, racists, lunatics, adulterers, alcoholics, wife-beheaders, toe-suckers, It's-A-Knockouters, fraudsters, ... the lot. You don't get to choose. That's how inherited power works.

Discworld QOTD, from Feet of Clay

These skies do not look promising…

I find myself at the International tree climbing competition. I have no idea what is going on but I’m already hooked. Unexpected weird sports are always a fun way to spend a Saturday morning

Dinner on a tram. Making @graysonscolumn.bsky.social jealous for sure

Christchurch. Finally I am here. 36 hours door to door, lost my purse, but now I can sleep and tomorrow we begin a holiday proper (and emailing all the lost property people)

Unexpected addition to the journey - Melbourne is next! And this is all fine and hunky dory and I am not getting hysterical over this even slightly

I am in Sydney. I should be in Christchurch. My luggage apparently should be in Sydney but is nowhere to be seen. I think I live in this baggage hall now.

Just as I had said to someone how smoothly it was all going…

I am now officially beginning my odyssey. I begin happy, positive and full of excitement. Let’s see how the mood changes as the travels commence…

Uk library peoples! Concerned about inter library loans and copyright in the light of potential journal cancellations? Well m’colleague and all round delightful chap, Andrew Johnson, has written all about it here so hopefully you can stop your panics doi.org/10.1629/uksg...

Today I am channeling my inner Kermit, cause today is a truly excellent day! Holiday!

The joy of working in the library on a Sunday is there's nobody else in the office or the one below so I can have my music on full blast without headphones. This makes me happy.

I have to give an 8 minute talk tomorrow. Just timed myself for the first time and BOOOOM!

TONIGHT! Come along if you’re within reach of Sheffield and/or on a mercy dash from the south to get some Hendo’s. This is going to be fab. I’m (a) super excited; (b) on my way! musicintheround.co.uk/events/chris...

I love getting emails from @scholtom.bsky.social. His predilection for all caps rivals that of the orange abomination yet somehow it is always entirely appropriate for whatever he's asking/haranguing/gossiping about!

In the footsteps of giants

After 24 hours in Belfast I can safely say I still know my way round without any issue or map, but good lord this place has changed. Mostly (and fairly obviously) for the better but I’d prefer far fewer hen parties. These were not a feature in my childhood and teen years for sure.

A rainy day in the motherland, so a museum trip is always the way to go and I very much enjoyed both this piece but also the confusion of many Americans as to what it was

Anne- what we need from publishers is transparency, and evidence of impact. Explain to us why you need the money you do. Seems overly difficult to get/ understand usage - need both data and user stories about impact. Helps make case to administration. #OASPA2025

Imagine the righteous rage I'd be spewing!

Chonky boi clearly prefers sausage rolls to dainty sandwiches. Like a proper Yorkshire lad. @wrunipress.bsky.social

🧵 (5/5) So the TL;DR is if you're tired of constantly trying to find an academic profile and open repository system that is a nonprofit alternative to other for-profit options, create a free account today and check us out. Visit hcommons.org to get started 😊😊😊

🎬 Today’s the Day! – Screening the Fleet Join us this evening for drinks, nibbles, and good conversation as we celebrate Screening the Fleet. Don’t miss out!

I treated myself to a bottle of fizzy wine tonight, cause I deserve nice things. Just opened it and the cork exploded out of the bottle without me touching it, wine went everywhere and I've somehow sliced my finger open in quite a blood spurty manner on the muselet. Good mood, ruined.

I'm sorry, worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, transferable permission to my voice and likeness? For what now? In any manner for any purpose??? This is in academia/.edu's new ToS, which you're prompted to agree to on login. Anyway I'll be jumping ship. You can find my stuff at hcommons.org.

To call any research hobbyist is to deliberately demean it, as if what really has value is 'stuff which flatters the plans of a here to day gone tomorrow Minister' Specialisation is one thing, but what of breadth, of truly supporting a community? You can't build a University for Current Fads & hope

🚨 Reminder! We still have tickets available for Screening the Fleet – 50 Years of the Navy on Screen 🎬 If you—or anyone you know—are interested in media, military history, or British TV, don’t miss this one. Come along and get signed up!

Won the conference pub quiz, as is right and proper. My competitive nature was on full show and now I have chocolate for my prize. WINNER! #Icepops25

I chose Ares cause I am a big fan of debating/fighting. #Icepops25

A very exciting day today where my daughter has her first day at big school. And by big school I mean the BBC, where she’s going to spend the next two years doing an apprenticeship in production. She refuses to send me a photo of herself on her doorstep in her smart clothes, though, which is sad.

Just read that Bridget Phillipson is considering entering the deputy Labour leader race, and you’d think she might want to focus on her main job, ignoring the crisis in the university sector.

In town for work today so stopped to listen to Sheffield Palestinian Solidarity Campaign read out the names of the children killed in Gaza. 6 hours of reading and they were still on the 3 year olds, if you want to know the scale of the devastation

Yeah well whose fault is that??

The four UK higher education funding bodies confirm the pause in the criteria setting and publication of final guidance for REF 2029 for a short period, as announced by the UK Science Minister Lord Vallance today at the Universities UK conference. 2029.ref.ac.uk/news/pause-t...

Today I have had to think properly about the REF OA policy details and exceptions. I was under the impression my current job had rid me of such nonsense, yet seemingly not.

Potatoes for every meal!

Always a pleasure to hear @simonxix.com @kjsanders.bsky.social and @samuelmoore.org articulate their vision of open access publishing - also thanks to Hannah Hillen from @thoth-metadata.bsky.social & @reddite.bsky.social for being an excellent chair

Librarians assemble, our time has come #Library #LibrarySky

Possibly not genial per se, but far more entertaining so far than most event hosts! #OpenFest25

Libraries, publishers, and authors should all be concerned about the political censorship (especially of LGBTQ+ work) enabled by the UK's Online Safety Act.

There will be many casualties from UChicago ending ('pausing') PhD admissions in Humantities, but one which I am keenly aware of: this is close to a death sentence for teaching cuneiform in the United States (esp. Sumerian, Hittite, Elamite, Eblaite, Luwian) and it will affect the whole world.

As I slowly download 32 chapters of a single work, I can only ask: who hurt you, JSTOR Books?

Bought myself a fantastic hoody today with this label. Am I to assume that whilst it does not contain cashmere it may still, in fact, be made of cupcakes?

At the nail salon and having a total meltdown about what colour to go for, so have resorted to the standard question I ask at any moment of panic - what would Wayne Coyne do?

Investing in and partnering with open software, open infrastructures, and open publishing is how to develop a viable future to mitigate the instabilities of the contemporary context. We need to work collaboratively rather than competitively.