Well, looks like I’ll be writing to my MP. Again. I’ll also be doing some fundraising for Step Forward - a youth centre in Tower Hamlets that have LGBTQIA+ youth groups, one of which my trans non-binary kid attends and which has been phenomenal for them and their understanding of who they are.

What movie villain is a horrible “person,” but an absolute joy to watch on screen?

If this is not the era in which we get the Milliband Premiership we deserved over a decade ago then I will cry. But probably we’ll get Wes ‘Fuck Your Healthcare’ Streeting.

Citation is power. Citation is epistemology. Citation is the creation of legitimacy and the gifting of authority. Some things should not be given currency in our disciplines.

There’s nothing in the USA that’s similar to party leadership removing the whip from (what they see as) rouge MPs, right?

Very pleased to see the WCC UK restate its commitment to the support of trans and non-binary folk in the discipline, particularly in light of the current political climate.

“Israeli ceasefire” continues to involve drone-striking children

Has there been an official government petition to force a debate about university job losses in parliament, and I've missed it?

Time to annoy my MP. Again.

Sewing Influencers Aren’t Immune From Glorifying Overconsumption. And it really bothers me. Just saw a post of a woman who made no less than 20 new garments last month. All from new fabric. It’s giving ‘I’m super environmentally friendly and driving my own car everywhere is totally fine’.

I just want everyone to have the experience of living in dignity with access to sufficient food, safe housing, needed medical care, high quality education, and time to engage with what sparks their curiosity and spirit this should not be controversial 🫠

Great to see our membership numbers still rising.... This morning on Sky News. 👇🏼 youtu.be/yTTPu02UWDw?...

Today’s half-marathon clarified something for me. I can - with 100% accuracy, I’m calling it - identify a runner behind me wearing Nike Vaporflys. It’s the clip clop of hooves.

The white poppy has been worn for over 90 years, as a symbol of remembrance & peace. By wearing a white poppy, we remember all victims of war, both civilian & military. We remember those who are so often overlooked, buried under the rubble, suffering from starvation or displaced from their homes.

I don't wear a red poppy, I remember the victims of war sent to their deaths by self-serving,war mongering governments sending innocents to the slaughter for their gains while governments prosper from death,war & destruction. I remember all our brave who died defending peace from wars caused by scum

ICE agents in Chicago violently detain a non verbal autistic man for being “non compliant” He couldn’t “comply” because of his disability…they don’t care This is not the first time they’ve gone after a disabled person They target the most vulnerable because it’s an easy way to meet their quota

"i asked grok" "i asked chatgpt" yeah well i asked carl sagan and he said the greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance but the illusion of knowledge 🧪

I know people talk a lot about quicksand but the thing I’m really annoyed about is how little the Bermuda Triangle impacts my life.

I am begging journalists to stop assuming that the Green Swing will just vanish but the Alt-Right will stay. If you want to talk about a threat to Labour: talk about the Greens.

I will forever be baffled by fireworks being just legal to buy and let off whenever you want.

Besties, we did this already and it turned out to be really bad.

This week has been so hectic that I have not run anywhere near as much as usual and I am quickly discovering that I am not a fun person when I have not run.

About to play my first years a bit of the first episode of Reign: The Conqueror and this is the only joy I get from teaching Alexander III of Macedonia.

Just saw a Labour ad attacking the Greens. Besties: where is that energy for Reform instead of being fucking alt-right simps.

I am so sick of overconsumption culture.

Who else is imagining the phone call between Sadiq Khan and Zohran Mamdani.

FYI: you don’t have to wear a red poppy to show your support for victims of war. You can wear a white peace poppy to remember all victims of war, to challenge global militarism, and signal your commitment to lasting peace.

The Special Issue of the Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, Orosius Through the Ages, is out!! Co-edited with Elisabeth Manzo & Cameron Wachowich, on the boil since 2019, we're so pleased with the final output. Both Dr M. & Dr W. have completed their PhDs since then too!

I know I say this every year, but you can't beat flagshagger poppyganda by oversimplifying shit to the other extreme. You beat it by actively encouraging people to understand that narratives around war and remembrance are COMPLEX. And that this is GOOD. Because it makes them interesting.

I am BEGGING Labour to start governing and stop executing an election that is four years away.

Going over my very old Alexander module for REASONS and I spent a full four weeks talking about Philip. 😆 I guess it’s obvious that I have never loved Alexander.

Learning to sew in our capitalist world is a radical act. Pass it on.

Finally Covid and Flu vaxxed and now awaiting the inevitable fever. But: I’m so appalled at the changes in eligibility for Covid vaccines, which honestly should be widely available for free (or at least for, say, a normal NHS prescription charge).

Tap tap tap

Well-meaning Americans in my mentions: kindly do not recommend extremely illegal actions that could land people in the UK with a ten year prison sentence

Frog came to Toad’s house. He looked in the window. “Good,” said Frog. “Toad is out. He will never know who raked his leaves.”

I require kittens!

The IOF violently dispersed Palestinians harvesting olives in Sinjil under the pretext that it’s a “closed military zone”. Then they stole the olives. World’s most heavily armed petty criminals.

Okay genuine question. I see something I like in a Shein ad which I don’t think I could/can’t be bothered to make and/or requires materials I don’t have. I assume they’ve stolen the pic from a real designer and are selling knockoffs. I reverse image search, only Shein results. What do I try next?

Interview with a vampire but there’s an inside vampire who had the selection criteria written just for them

I wish I had not accidentally found out how many MSCA fellowship applications there were this year, or that it's almost double the number submitted last year. Great.

IF A PERSON HAS HEADPHONES ON JUST ASSUME THEY DON’T WANT TO BE HIT ON.

Apropos of nothing: trans women are women, trans men are men, non-binary folks are neither and/or both and/or a secret third thing (that’s how my enby teen ids), and TERFs can fuck right off.

FYI: you don’t have to wear a red poppy to show your support for victims of war. You can wear a white peace poppy to remember all victims of war, to challenge global militarism, and signal your commitment to lasting peace.

I know it's harder and more dangerous to carve a turnip but the effect is so much more disturbing, and thus in keeping with the season

I would really like it if I didn't have to do all the boring parts.

After reading week my first years will be looking (briefly) at comedy and tragedy so obviously I wanted them to read a whole play from each genre. Today I polled them. These were the options:

Help required, fellow educators! I'd like to make an interactive timeline, where I can link videos, text, images, and links to external sources. Any suggestions for a programme that can do this?

"these arrangements are not 'partnerships' or 'collaborations' but contracts that bring profit and publicity to AI firms, while making universities complicit in the continued empowerment of tech oligarchy and expansion of their 'AI Empire' (Tacheva and Ramasubramanian, 2023; Adams, 2024; Hao, 2025)"