No matter how many emails I deal with the list still gets longer. Sisyphus is out of date - it's not a giant boulder rolled up hill, it's an academic inbox. #AcademicSky

CFP alert! "Filmstrips, slides and beyond: Entangled histories of projected images in Europe, 1945–2000” for TMG: Journal of Media History. Abstract deadline 1 October 2026. tmgonline.nl/announcement...

When I saw a comment on here about the White House hosting a UFC cage fighting event I honestly thought it was someone being sarcastic and flippant. I have no words. www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

it is in absolutely everybody’s best interests to develop some hobbies aside from Phone

Were you recently enthralled by INCANTATION, thrilled by DEAD TALENTS SOCIETY, annihilated by THE SADNESS? Corrado Neri has the book for you! "Taiwanese Horror Cinema" is out today from @anthempress.bsky.social to explain the terrors of a small but mighty island. anthempress.com/books/taiwan...

“Reform has the most extreme policy on energy and climate the UK has seen since modern science on the subject began. The party opposes solar; it opposes wind; it opposes batteries… Once again: Reform is largely funded by fossil fuels” Private Eye on the anti-thought, pro-corruption threat of Reform

Listen, when he said “tomorrow belongs to me”, he was referring to promising upcoming local elections,

Taking the morning off to take my elderly uncle to buy some shorts (he lives in them during the summer months and usually looks as though he's just returned from somewhere exotic). M&S coffee shop is currently packed but. He's had a pain au chocolat so all is good.

“Addressing the nation” 🙄 Who TF does he think he is, the PM, the King??? He leads a party of only EIGHT MPs, of which several weren’t even voted in as Reform but defected. Stop covering him, mainstream news ffs.

Regular reminder that trans rights are human rights:

one of the more moving, and more heartbreaking, moments this year was when students expressed real concern for me and my colleagues and our careers — obviously the crisis in the sector has enormous implications for public opinion

Throwback to when a TV station in Iceland accidentally aired an episode of Teletubbies with subtitles from the Sopranos 👌🏼

This is absolutely nuts: hackers are hijacking high-profile Instagram accounts by simply asking Meta's AI chatbot to change the email on the account. Meta's AI does it, hacker gets password reset code, they're in. A staggering security issue www.404media.co/hackers-simp...

Finally home.

Adorno turning in his grave

The Fire Brigades Union has made a statement on the proposed EHRC Code of Practice on Services. Our message is clear. Equality matters, solidarity is essential, and we will continue to fight for both.

This Vice headline is just missing the Top of the Pops hashtag…

Got another letter into @2000ad.bsky.social, fellow earthlets!

Just lost my dear friend to Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC). My 1st question: did Drs listen to her? Black women have the highest incidence of TNBC, experiencing roughly double the rate of white women. 1 of the disparities is systemic healthcare inequity. Let’s fight for equity. My friend Dawn.

Giving a two hour long lecture is really quite tiring. Not a fan. #AcademicSky

Someone said to me, "I'm sorry but I got your book from a library." Nobody should ever apologise for that. You read my book! That's brilliant! I grew up hanging out in libraries and the idea of a world without them fills me with dread. Without libraries, authors, like readers, will only suffer.

Even if this doesn't happen, I'm totally cool with Facebook dying anyway.

A leaked letter signed by 400 female writers has criticised the corporation for what it calls the ‘silencing of women’s voices’ in women’s stories for commissioning a male writer for a drama about the Met police and the Sarah Everard murder. Read it in full here: www.thenerve.news/p/female-scr...

Publishers: “Short stories don’t sell and are impossible to market so we are not going to take the risk of publishing them.” Also publishers: “What can we publish to fit this era of reduced attention spans when people are reading fewer novels?”

I am still deeply sad that our campus bookshop (which was right opposite the building where I have my office!) closed down. Sad times.

They should edit it so it plays "Young, Gifted And Black," "We Don't Need This Fascist Groove Thang" and "Black Steel."

As an aside, the 13 short horror stories I wrote and turned into a pod, all draw from this well. We need to be making this sort of content now or else there won’t be any for the next generation to find and enjoy.

Happy Pride month you buncha queers

Two questions for you all this morning: 1) Does the Pope swear? And 2) What's his favourite swearword?

Monday.

This is rather good www.theringer.com/2026/05/28/t...

Journalist Request! I'm writing a story about the high cost of summer camp (I know many of us have feelings!!) If you'd like to share your thoughts, here is a quick form: forms.gle/ttwbnWisTzzo...

As the end of term is finally in sight (tomorrow starts the penultimate teaching week at my uni), I'm thinking about writing again. I miss writing. I miss turning out a short bit of fiction each week. #AmNOTWriting

In hilarious contrast to my BACKROOMS reaction, I started my Substack series about digital horror creators that aren’t just cis white men. I start with looking at the 2016 Snapchat horror “film” Sickhouse, written and directed by Hannah Macpherson read more: substack.com/@marybethmca...

Spoke to my elderly uncle just now. He is not impressed because he went to a village meeting and apparently the presenter didn't do a good job. He was so unimpressed he didn't even clap at the end.

Happy Brian Harvey Day if you’re celebrating.

Oh hell yeah @amnesty.org comes out swinging: "Amnesty International finds that standalone generative AI systems... are fundamentally incompatible with IHRL. As such, Amnesty International is calling for a prohibition of such systems." www.amnesty.org/en/documents...

Look, plantar fascitis sucks but I think this guy has bigger issues going on

Have just seen a beautiful necklace worn by a woman on Instagram. It was a gold iud on a chain. Yes, dear reader, I found one on Etsy and bought it.

I told a high profile writer friend about this and he pointed out something I hadn't even considered. He said I needed to "bury this a mile deep" because if readers think I'm associated with it, they may wonder if I use AI to write my books. The reputational damage could be immense. Writers beware.

Deadline June 1st ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Since Google revealed its plans for an AI search overhaul, visits to our "No AI" search page have tripled…and they’re still rising! Want to make it your default on Chrome or Firefox? Grab our No-AI extensions and banish AI-assisted answers, chat, and AI images. (1/3)

It's Saturday morning so that means only one thing: elderly uncle time! No farmers market today, instead it's coffee and cake in the local coffee shop. We'll be planning when to go shopping for new shorts.

Right, time for #StarCity See you all next week for the same insults, jokes, and songs #totp

Obligatory Chris Amoo from The Real Thing (right) winning Crufts post #totp

Spitting Image is a real time capsule of mid-80s UK celebrities #totp

Napoleon Dynamite in the audience there #totp

Kryten's turned human again. #TOTP

Hazel O'Connor was so good #totp