What's your favourite song about rain? Used to get soaked to this on my paper route in Nanaimo, BC. And they opened with it when I saw them in Ottawa 2005 - we all fetched up to the stadium in a downpour, and they start with "Oh, please, let it rain today..." www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAgx...

Why is it so hard to run the BBC? Is impartiality possible? Is it even what polarised viewers even want? An essay for the Weekend FT: www.ft.com/content/7124...

Result for Nottingham! That was quick. Please, though it's exhausting, keep up the fight. All of us need to protect not only our workplaces and work conditions but also the social values our work (teaching and researching in the humanities) uphold and strengthen.

Woolf's editorial deserves a read all on its own.

Oh wow @reuters.com got the photo here:

Well done, that pope.

From a statement from faith leaders at Broadview this morning: "God does not bless cages. God does not sanction abductions. God demands freedom."

every day. women post their achievements online and get their hearts broken 😔

Developments at TAMU look wretched, and this post from the string hits the nail on the head. Higher education is in dire straits for work, so it's very hard for nonetheless highly qualified and experienced people to pick up their labour and take it elsewhere. One thing I can say: join a union.

Ultimately it comes down to what you're going to say at the next election. Would you rather say "we broke our pledge but at least things are better" or "everything's still shit but at least we kept our pledge"?

So yesterday was a big goose egg of words on project for the second day this week. I'm hoping today can be better, and the fact that zero students came to my 10:00 seminar actually helps that prospect. #AcWriMo #AcademicSky

Excellent piece by a survivor of the Sarajevo snipers who Britain took in as a child refugee.

In 1975, we were inhaling lead from petrol fumes, child molesters had their own tv shows, it was legal for a man to rape his wife, drink driving was normal, 260 people were murdered in Northern Ireland…

getting a text in the middle of the night and it's just my loathsome vizier saying "Your enemies lie in wait, my lord!!" what am I supposed to do with that. its four in the morning

Ffantasteg to hear @juderogers.bsky.social reading to kick off the launch for Folding Rock vol. 3 - a literary mag fron Wales whose theme this issue is, appropriately, music. And we're at The Canopi, my neighbourhood hang for an excellent open mic. foldingrock.com www.thecanopi.org

Nope. #AcWriMo

Big other writing deadline today, but also no teaching. If I'm disciplined (thank you, Bluesky), I can make some progress here after/concurrent with the other thing. See how it goes. #AcWriMo

emailing in a semi-literate manner isn’t a sign of stupidity, it’s another form of rich asshole arrogance because you don’t think you owe anyone coherent thoughts

Happy 80th birthday to a proper legend, Young Neil! Here's me playing the Branch in Kemptville a dozen years or more ago with another Neil, Neil Gerster on guitarrón. We did one of my faves, "Pocahantas". Thanks to Tony Copple, no longer with us, who posted the video. youtu.be/tVxjwVH3a3o?...

Happy 80th birthday to a proper legend, Young Neil! Here's me playing the Branch in Kemptville a dozen years or more ago with another Neil, Neil Gerster on guitarrón. We did one of my faves, "Pocahantas". Thanks to Tony Copple, no longer with us, who posted the video. youtu.be/tVxjwVH3a3o?...

Finished the day 426 words further in. It's not a lot, but it was sketching territory that can be expanded. But honestly, local to my work and global to <gestures vaguely> there is a lot interposing on this lovely little productivity goal of mine. Wish me luck for tomorrow, friends. #AcWriMo

This is good.

I got this useful bon mot from a middle school teacher recently. In response to, “I DONT UNDERSTAND,” he calmly said, “okay what steps have you taken to understand?” And that’s when I realized that a lot of folks have no steps.

This thread is worth reading through, though it is also repeated unkindness from family, friends, and co-workers, which as a Canadian I struggle with.

Aiming for better today. No teaching, just one meeting in the middle of the day. Yes, plenty of other tasks to sort as well (admin, marking), but I think I can do something useful on this. #AcWriMo (the hubris edition)

Got it.

Well, this can't be good.

I mean, an echo is technically a second opinion Wondermark #1577; The Objective Oracle

Started strong, 306 words added, started doing some reading and got into the weeds. Then teaching. Hoped and did not manage to return to it this afternoon. I'm getting worried, friends. #AcWriMo

This reminds me of watching Bond films with my dad as a kid. Me: Why doesn't James Bond ever die? Dad: Because then they wouldn't be able to make more James Bond movies. Straight talker, my dad. Helped me understand things about the world.

Okay. This is me getting off Bluesky, shelving my worries for the BBC and my enthusiasm for Gordon Lightfoot's "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" to get some writing in. Yesterday was a wash, but I hope for better today. #AcWriMo

I do not understand the Labour government's reticence over defending the BBC and social media regulation. Their long-term survival basically depends on it. Their cowardice in the face of it may be the single thing they are most remembered for. on.ft.com/3JVxC1Z via @FT

This from @arusbridger.bsky.social is excellent - correctly highlighting contemptible journalistic behaviour of the BBC's competitor-critics (esp the Telegraph). Bringing more journalistic expertise to the board is essential... but does the chair *want* it? www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/media/...

Nowhere in the hysterical pile-on against the BBC in the British press has anyone mentioned that BBC News now has 77 million viewers & listeners in the US and has established itself as the second most trusted news source there.

JEOPARDY "HEAVEN EDITION" ALEX TREBEK: Okay, God's up first in the Double Jeopardy round! GOD: I'll take Ron Sexsmith lyrics for 200 Alex... ALEX TREBEK: In his 2002 song "Who" loves everyone? GOD: Um, who is Oprah Winfrey? ALEX TREBEK: No, the correct answer is "God" GOD: Oh crap! RS

Oh yes! I've loved Lightfoot's song all my life, but I only learned about this cover today. Fab take. RIP to the workers from the wreck, 50 years ago.

Also in case its not being mentioned in your feed, there is still a remaining vote for this and Somehow they didn't anticipate the outrage, so there's apparently some hesitation now. If those were your senators, call them and don't stop. I will also be calling even though they arent mine

Okay. Teaching done, and I'm just trying to process my worries and frustration at this time. My eye's been off the ball last week with other stuff, so I had no wind of this business with the BBC. Anger from Trump about "unfair" edits seemed like more bloviating. But the peril for BBC is immense.

Fuming this morning after a shock at breakfast when I turned the radio on. I have sudden teaching in an hour. All I'll say now is this business with the BBC is terrible, and people with no understanding of journalism should not have such a massive hand in how a news organisation runs.

sometimes an Oxford comma can make all the difference

If you see this, post an album cover with a motor vehicle on it.

If you see this, post an album cover with a motor vehicle on it. (Even a gratuitous one.) The Fells were some fine early 90s Arizona garage-rock and no one knows about 'em...

If you see this, post an album cover with a motor vehicle on it. (does this count? Meh - too good an album not to post it) @annahmeredith.bsky.social

If you see this, post an album cover with a motor vehicle on it. (Even a gratuitous one.)

Lower the maximum wage.

Once more for the North Americans: I'm remembering Leonard Cohen, my inspiration, co-national, and songwriting buddy. Here's a video I stitched together of CC licensed photos for "On Hearing a Name Long Unspoken". Music by me, words by him in the 1970s. Dead nine years today. youtu.be/FycRg8IobCA

Well, things-to-do be damned, I still got my best day of the week in. The writing was less restrained, also less informed by scholarship. Also likely would need to be clawed back in final deliverable manuscript, so let's not big it up too much. #AcWriMo Here's the chart for the week.

It was great to have a chunk of the team from @britishacademy.bsky.social visit us at Cardiff for the day. I expect higher level talks also went on, but nice of them to give time to front-line academics and research support officers, talking about funding schemes and broader work. It felt useful.

Versions? There's a cool old demo I did, guitar and vocals with my flatmate at the time Ben Young adding a couple of layers of bouzouki. Great solo. michaelmunnik.bandcamp.com/track/on-hea... And a sweet recording of just me in Edinburgh at the Live Music Archive archive.org/details/mm20...

I wrote about that song's inspiration and progress on my blog. I still think it was one of the gutsiest but best things I've done musically. anearthwithoutgrammar.wordpress.com/2025/05/02/s... Of course, you can buy & download here... still a few CDs left! michaelmunnik.bandcamp.com/track/on-hea...