Hypermasculine? Why? Because he has a beard? Even JD Vance has one of those.

Oh my god, will you look at these two? Willow looking after her ailing elderly brother.

A slide of imperative verbs (addressed to himself? Or to the narrative?) gleaned from Dickens’s memoranda and notes as part of www.dickensnotes.com project and a session with the manuscripts themselves in the V&A National Art Library. Thanks to Anna Gibson and Adam Grener for a great workshop!

I think it’s irrelevant that Noem was fired and they should RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES.

What’s happening in the Middle East is tragic and complex. Release the Epstein Files.

He’ll probably use the SOTU to announce the start of war with Iran. Or something equally horrible and immoral.

Oh, by all means, let’s teach only things that everyone already “knows”and about which there can be no uncertainty or debate. Why think?

Don’t speak, Gwen. I know just what you’re sayin’.

Ngl, I low-key liked the new WH adaptation. All the characters hateful, everything Nelly’s fault, absolutely insane at times. Just as it should be, except for the casting. Had no idea Isabella was such a *freak*. 😬 Don’t @ me.

Wow.

At Dickens conferences, over-speakers spontaneously combust, leaving the room coated in a vile, nauseous, greasy yellow liquid.

Good morning. The President of the United States was in the middle of the most serious child sex trafficking ring of the last quarter century. He is referenced not a dozen times in the case files. Not 100 times. Not 1,000 times. He’s referenced 38,000 times.

Amen

Get a load of these asshats.

A million times this.

This a million times forever

I begged for it to stop too. All of the race-baiting, replacement theory, fascist bullshit being spewed by Homan and his kind. But it never stopped.

NEW ISSUE OUT NOW Dickens Quarterly 42.4, Dec 2025 tinyurl.com/55ers5m6   CONTRIBUTORS Annette Federico Christian Dickinson Diem Trinh Bùi Thiện Thảo Su Yeon Kim Tristan Donal Burke James Armstrong Elizabeth Bridgham Chris Louttit Christian Lehmann Natalie McKnight Dominic Rainsford

Completely indefensible, those 7 Dems who “protected their seats” by voting to fund DHS. Indefensible, cynical, smug, narcissistic, immoral. Jeffries needs to resign his leadership role for letting them off the hook.

In solidarity with today's ICE OUT OF MINNESOTA blackout, MinnMax is donating $1 to the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota for every share of this Bluesky post for the next hour.

He’ll burn in hell. And should.

There was an attempt to try and distract people from the Epstein files...

Great. A stupider version of Fox News.

Oh my, just seen there's a Muppet Christmas Carol Soft Toy Advent Calendar...

She is, and has always been, gross. Nothing new here.

Feel like I grew up to Rob Reiner. First became politically aware watching him in All in the Family. Watched film after excellent film. Whispered “amen” to so many of his political takes the last 10 years. What a loss. And apparently, what a tragic and terrible end. Rest in Power.

One of us is grading papers.

Fire Mike Tomlin. Five years late is better than never.

GO AND MAKE THESE CHANGES unless you are okay with gmail scanning all your emails and attached content.

Just received a lovely email from a listener who enjoyed my introduction to the new audiobook of Dickens's complete works....which was doubly nice to receive as I hadn't realised it had come out!

Reading buddy.

He was a fop when he ran with Hillary. Nothing new.

At "Why major/minor in English?" event last night, 4 current majors were eloquent, charming, incisive & practical about why this study matters so much to them personally now & how they're getting incredible internships & insights about its value to their futures. The humanities matter y'all. #HeyMac

I have always disliked that book. And now I know it’s because it was a prophecy.

The Walton family (who own Walmart) are worth over $400 billion, yet many of their employees are on SNAP. Bezos is worth over $400 billion, many Amazon employees require SNAP. The people who need help are not the problem. It’s corporate greed. It’s an unwillingness to pay a living wage.

Get off X. Get off TikTok. Boycott/cancel Paramount and WB. Get off Facebook, Insta, and WhatsApp. Easy.

The Victorians were right!

Color me shocked.

Printing presses kept their letters in cases. Capital letters went in the upper case. Smaller letters went in the lower case. This is why we say ‘UPPER CASE’ and ‘lower case.’ Ok, but what did we call them before the invention of the printing press? MAJUSCULE and minuscule.

This week in Dickens's Our Mutual Friend. Boffin and Wegg near the Bower, in a still from the 1921 Danish silent film version, direct by A. W. Sandberg. Check out the amazing Danish Silent Film website for (most of this) film and more. www.stumfilm.dk/en/stumfilm/...

Got my performance review.

1. Charles Dickens 2. The Pittsburgh Steelers 3. Why music pre-1995 was better than music since.

Finished all my prep for the upcoming Dickens Day on 11 October, where the theme is Dickens and Art. I'll be talking about the use of art in Hard Times. So what does this 1842 watercolour have to do with Hard Times? A good question. You can still register to attend: www.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...

🎉 Happening TOMORROW! Make sure to follow #DHSS2025 #DataGenderSociety to join us from afar!

Drones n Roses

Ah yes, the hardcore libertarian.