Very happy that Catherine Connolly is just about to be inaugurated as the tenth president of Ireland #Spéirgorm

Today, in a very short section of a two hour seminar on queer poetry, I’ll invite my students to make a #blackoutpoem using the text of #Section28 I have the sharpies at the ready. This is my favourite part of teaching this Queer Lit course.

A free press is something worth standing for and probably a good moment for Keir Starmer to tell Trump that the BBC isn’t up tor debate or attack. And, yes, I know the BBC isn’t perfect. Let’s hope Labour get this much right.

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.

Remember, when journalists just let trans people live their lives in peace, it’s “ideological capture”, but when they use their own personal anti-trans beliefs to lead a campaign to close down the only place in the country trans youth received healthcare, it’s absolutely fine, nothing to see here.

We cannot understand the emboldening of racists/fascists on the ground without centring the role of the discourse of mainstream elite This Labour government, anything right of it and any media that does not cover them as enablers are responsible for this www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Once every 20 years or so, the director-general of the BBC is forced to resign for being insufficiently rightwing. Alastair Milne in 1987. Greg Dyke in 2004. Tim Davie in 2025. The great irony is that the BBC was in all cases profoundly biased towards established power. But just not biased enough …

I always think that Stoker has a face that wouldn’t seem out of place in a Dublin jersey.

Delighted to attend the 2025 Kent Staff Recognition Awards in my capacity as a staff rep. Looking forward to cheering on all of the wonderful awardees. Also looking forward to seeing what the illuminated cube does … I am guessing strobe light effects @kent.ac.uk

I didn’t love Bugonia. It jumps the shark towards the end.

Meanwhile, the UK government just huff and try to be as horrible as they can to minorities to out-Farage Nigel. They tank in the polls and assume all the left-leaning voters will “come home”. Their sole learning from this election will probably be to make Hot Girls For Starmer t-shirts

Always remember to click the ‘save progress’ button

Very interesting tour of Abney Park cemetery focusing on the women buried there for #LondonMonthoftheDead

I like eating the trick or treater sweets myself, turning all the lights off and ignoring the knocks. If I open the door how will I know that a ghost hasn’t slipped in?

Happy Samhain! 🎃

I hope this email kills us both

I really hope outrage builds over historic abuse in institutions *not* run by nuns or brothers. www.thejournal.ie/investigates...

And people say the British press doesn't know anything about Ireland. They got this scoop, didn't they.

I couldn’t vote because Irish citizens living abroad can’t, but I am delighted that Catherine Connolly won the Irish presidential campaign. You’ll hear lots about how this win isn’t actually a win for the Left but it is & more. It is a win for everyone who wants to live in decent world #Spèirgorm

Veteran far-left lawmaker Catherine Connolly wins Irish presidency in landslide. https://cnn.it/4hpeTrW

Just a reminder that #SoldierF (David Cleary) who shot and murdered unarmed civilians on #BloodySunday, also operated a "mobile torture chamber" to electrocute and mutilate Irish nationalists in the 6 counties after Bloody Sunday. So much for British Justice. villagemagazine.ie/bloody-sunda...

There was no conceivable world in which the British justice system would find one of their own guilty of war crimes when they're enthusiastically supporting a genocide. But even still, the Bloody Sunday verdict is a slap in the face for all Irish people.

ENGLISH STAFF COFFEE + CAKE morning was a huge success! My earl grey Barmbrack told many fortunes 🔮 & people brought some lovely bakes to the table as well as much laughter! Excited for the next one @kent.ac.uk

Home made Irish barmbrack

This crypt is purportedly said to house a Time Machine: cemeteriesroute.eu/projects/sto... #LondonMonthoftheDead

A piece of basalt reportedly from the Giant’s Causeway & stolen for use as a grave edifice in Brompton cemetery #StonyVictorians #GiantsCauseway #Spéirgorm

Another wonderful tour by #LondonMonthoftheDead festival - this time in Brompton cemetery. No ghouls but I did see the grave of a suffragette, a piece of the Giant’s Causeway stolen for a headstone, and a very dank crypt!

Happy Birthday to Oscar Wilde, whose British Library reader pass is being reinstated today.

Marking John Wilkes's 300th anniversary (coming up next week), there is a short piece about him in the History Matters section of the latest @historytoday.com www.historytoday.com/magazine

Was at a seance tonight as part of #LondonMonthoftheDead in Kensal Green cemetery & I LOVED how blunt Londoners are at a seance: ‘I am getting a Barbara here for you …’ ‘Don’t know a Barbara mate’. 💀😆

Does your university have a contract with Grammarly? Write to the decision-maker asking if they think the university should be paying for a tool that is fast integrating features that can only be used for academic misconduct and cognitive offloading and request they drop the contract.

UNTIL IT’S DONE, Ep. 4: Sylvia Rivera In the 1970s, queer New Yorkers had been pushed to the margins of NYC. Our trans neighbors faced immense cruelty. But in Sylvia Rivera, they found a champion. As we combat Trump’s politics of darkness, her legacy can light the path forward.

#SpookySeason reading suggestions from English and Creative staff @kent.ac.uk check them out here: www.instagram.com/p/DPo9iZijCx... @tramppress.bsky.social #DorothyMacardle #TheUnivited

Fair

Made my day!

Some pictures from @dannyrobins.bsky.social #Canterbury show. It was such a treat. Yes, I also bought another cup and a #BloodyHellKen Tshirt.

Good discussion with someone who was initially told he couldn't study computer science at uni because he is blind. Spoiler alert: he could, he did, and he is now employed as a computer scientist. #UKHE really needs to get better at understanding disability share.google/dGJSgCsHtvgy...

The cherry blossom in anti-blossom is something to behold @kent.ac.uk

Finally on 10 December we're delighted to be joined by @drdeclankavanagh.bsky.social who is giving a paper on Michael Clancy and queer/crip life-writing

Excited for this #Queer #Crip #18thC #Lifewriting

Preparing to lecture on Robinson Crusoe tomorrow. Been a few years since I read it.

Beautiful autumnal colours

This is a brilliant thread 🧛‍♂️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Well, if it’s 23 September... YES, THAT’S RIGHT! It’s the 71st anniversary of the hunt for the Gorbals Vampire, in which hundreds of children aged from four to 14, armed with dogs, knives and sharpened sticks went looking for an urban myth

There’s a certain kind of straight man who also sings ‘bananas in pyjamas’ to himself to dog whistle a homophobic slur & in my direct experience that man is always, without exception, wrecked looking. The confidence he must have to pronounce upon anyone should be studied.

This is what a sector in crisis looks like. It’s beyond time for support from government.

Very clear protesting a Far Right demo today in Canterbury that the group I stood with were a real cross section of people: age, gender, ethnicity, religion. The Far Right were quite the opposite. Totally unrepresentative of England in 2025.

Say it loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here! When refugees are under attack what do we do? Stand up, fight back! Canterbury is anti-fascist!

An empty Tayto packet on an English train. The emptiness I feel is something else.

www.theguardian.com/books/2025/s... great to see Maureen Duffy get recognised in this way.