You want performative?

What's lost when we lose staff, departments, programmes and faculties in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, and what's that got to do with organ donation? Amid the looming losses faced by Cardiff, Edinburgh, Lancaster, Leicester and Nottingham (among many others), here's a worked example. 1/8

@moderniststudies.bsky.social @modernistudies.bsky.social @beckettletters.bsky.social @beckettreading.bsky.social 29th November 2025 is scheduled for the online Samuel Beckett seminar, “Decoding Colding in Beckett.” Please share the details (below)with your colleagues, students, and friends.

"Vignacourt [un village de la Somme] se situe comme une base arrière du front. Des soldats y affluent d’Australie comme d’Afrique, d’Asie comme des États-Unis. Et nombreux sont ceux qui souhaitent envoyer, avant de repartir en enfer dans les tranchées, un cliché à leur famille."

I helped out at an event this weekend, that took place in a museum store. Asked if the public were normally allowed access to the space, staff said yes - people who've donated things to the collection often go in to look at them there. Which I've not heard of before, and seems kind of intriguing

“As images become historic they reflect the creator as much as the subject.” *And their critics*

"British politicians are taking note. In 2022 Labour’s shadow education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, visited to see what Estonia is doing right." Gosh, wonder what happened between then and now

"Unlike many glacier retreats around the world... the Mer de Glace is unusual because its changes have been captured in painting, photography and literature. By comparing [these] across the years, it's possible to see how this once-stunning sea of ice has transformed."

Science: Well, the earth may *appear* flat but it's not 🙄 Also science: We can now read the minds of mice just by observing their facial expressions (people next, mwahaha!) [Douglas Adams: These creatures you call mice, you see, they are not quite as they appear...] Source for the Libé article ⤵️

"social data helps map lived experiences" Really?

🎶 Some boys ❤️ me, some boys 👍 me I think they're okay If they don't give proper credit I just walk away They can 🙏 and they can 🥺 But they can't see the light 'Cause the boy with the cold hard cash Is always Mister Right 'Cause we are living in a material world And I am a material girl 🎶

www.plutobooks.com/product/disa... Today is penultimate reading group for this historical materialist account of disability in UK. I started the Disability Praxis Reading Group because I felt I knew nothing of a 'shared' history, but recognised a shared struggle. And I was p lonely in France.

There's a difference between artists freely making work for themselves, faute de mieux - as they often need to (like breathing) - and being asked/expected to produce work for free/peanuts by others The notion that innovative work can only best emerge from unpaid hardship is a load of old bollocks

*Sends 'Doctor Who' to join 'Harry Potter' in the muted words zone*

"You must be [an early career researcher] based at a UK research organisation [to be] eligible for this opportunity." 🙄

As stripping titles off people for their associations with Epstein has begun, can Lord Mandelson be next?

"Each mound is composed of approximately 50 cubic meters of soil that required the excavation of over 10 km3 of earth, equivalent to ∼4000 great pyramids of Giza — making this the greatest known example of ecosystem engineering by a single insect species." 😮

Oh, and Riot Women (BBC)? Meh

Sort of in connection with this piece by @alixbeeston.bsky.social I read yesterday - and highly recommend! - I've spent today wondering how different photography might seem if it had been considered similarly to creative non-fiction (rather than inherently mendacious etc) doi.org/10.1525/fmh....

This one is a bit special. I feel very lucky to have been invited to contribute an essay to a special issue of dream journal Feminist Media Histories on new methods in feminist film and media studies, edited by one of my very favourite scholars @katherinegroo.bsky.social: doi.org/10.1525/fmh....

We publish *imaginary* research abstracts! The Journal of Imaginary Research is now accepting submissions of new short fictional pieces. Click to read: Why Abstract fiction? The theme How to get started What to submit to us What *not* to submit journalofimaginaryresearch.home.blog/2025/10/28/c...

I NEED TO SEE THIS

"So, the arts then?" "No, not like that!"

"The arts are to tourism in Britain what the sun is to Spain." 👀 From the Arts Council England's 1985 annual report, link below. [Someone asked a question on here about ACE earlier, and in the quick search for an answer I found this instead]

Nobody in authority ever suggested that "Essay mills are just an inevitable part of modern life, you should change your teaching-methods to circumvent them". They fucking MADE THEM ILLEGAL.

The Ukrainian national kettlebell team (some of whom had to get leave to compete) also smashed it at the recent world kettlebell championships - victories that may have been especially delicious considering that this sport is Russian in origin

🖤

"The team discovered that [the KDM6A] gene increases inflammation in the brain by affecting microglia... [T]he findings may also offer insight into why many women experience “brain fog” during menopause, when protective oestrogen levels drop." Sounds promising?

"Running on extreme right platforms doesn't just alienate most of the voters, it actively makes them work against you." 🤞

"L’auteur (anonyme) [du blog Le Réseauteur - lien dans l'article], actif sur le réseau 1972-1980s, raconte avoir découvert [l'existence de cette connexion pirate] par hasard, en appelant l’horloge parlante et en entendant un brouhaha de voix échanger leurs états d’âme et leurs numéros." Fascinating

What TF is going on here @theguardian.com? This article is peppered with references to 'beliefs' (see below), 'arguments', 'views' etc, as if the work of "special rapporteurs [as] independent experts appointed by the UN" is more personal opinion than fact-based! www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

Any academics following me who saw my posts about kettlebell sport might have 🙄 🥱 But comps are like confs - it's just that 3-6 people might be on stage together at a time, and whoever fits the most and best 'moves' into a 10/12/30 min slot gets a chunky medal for it 🏅 #WakingThoughtOfTheDay 😏

Last day! And a sample of what this event is like. The winner of this particular round* (from Ukraine, of course 🇺🇦💪🏻🥇) threw a 32kg weight above his head 234 times in 12 mins 👀 It’s quite tiring to watch… *of something called military snatch, which is not what you** expect **Me. It me.

Dinner (at last)

And the winner of my informal national anthem competition is… India! 👏🏻

Well here in Kalisz it’s day 3 of the world kettlebell championships, and in a few hours my partner will be competing in the 16kg* long cycle for the 65-69 age group * that’s 16kg x2 👀 so not far off half his weight

In a rare break in gold medals for Ukraine (💪🏻🥇🤩), today got to hear Ireland’s national anthem briefly and was delighted by it sounding like a rugby drinking song (IMO)

And this is what we’re here for, in Kalisz, Poland - the world kettlebell championship, where my partner and just about everyone from our gym but me are representing England and Scotland

" Here we present a large-scale longitudinal analysis of health records from more than 100 million individuals in the U.S that demonstrates a consistent relationship of VZV reactivation with dementia after controlling for nearly 400 measured characteristics." #Neurovirology #Alzheimer

In need of academic copyediting and/or proofreading? Please consider me: allitteditorialservices.co.uk Please share! Strictly no AI is used! I love correcting spelling! #Editing #Spellcheck #Proofing

The first 50 pages of Sebald’s The Emigrants have knocked me unconscious. Twice. Is there an alternative translation to the Hulse? Otherwise, third strike and they’re both out

Good morning from Wrocław

Poland! I am in you (but in a totally no strings consensual quickie kind of way)

After complaints about Timothy Dexter's A Pickle for the Knowing Ones (1797) being entirely devoid of punctuation, in future editions the eccentric businessman supplied a supplemental page so that people “may peper and solt as they please”: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/dexter-pickle

It don't mean a thing (if it ain't got that swing) (doo wap doo wap doo &c)

not now migraine aura

Post you from a different era 1989 me getting pissed at a Magnum Photos anniversary party (with Glenn the printer photobombing) in my Diane Keaton hat