turns out that parasocial relationships trump credentials every time, and we don't really have a good counter for it other than "hope we can get some people who are good at attracting a parasocial following who also know what they're talking about"

“Cancer in malignant form: the liberal movements” This could be from a modern right-wing politician rather than George Macdonald Fraser’s caricature of Otto von Bismarck. Disparaging the idea that others should have the rights you enjoy is not a new hobby.

I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day. A Willerby Story. Out now on @hauntedukfiction.bsky.social open.spotify.com/episode/5oZH...

A lot of people are baffled by the "six seven" thing. What you need to know is it's actually not new. The phrase goes back to the Old English "sige sefa" (=see-yah say-vah) meaning "Victorious Mind." This is why people say it to each other.

Boxing Day morning and I came across a couple of war graves in a Chesterton churchyard.

I feel seen.

Quality footnote

Oh, I really like this interpretation. Of course it relies on the historic western misinterpretation of Palestinian houses and their construction and what the words ‘inn’ and ‘barn’ mean in that context, but. The point holds and I like it

Today we learn that English have tails and that one goes into the past because one’s own time is boring.

They have scrobbled the Bishop, Peter, and clearly Caroline Louisa - things are looking black. The Reverend Boddledale claims never to have heard of Abner Brown - only one thing for it, Scotland Yard.

As an enthusiastically awful singer myself, this story delights me. willerby.substack.com/p/a-joyful-n...

Well, they scrobbled the old man - not bad work for the day before the solstice. An aeroplane at Bottler’s down, near to King Arthur’s camp.

This is really fun from @didau.bsky.social - daviddidau.substack.com/p/teaching-m... Metre makes verse memorable (useful if you need to unspool reams on stage) - playing with it lets you catch the ear to make a point. I wrote about this trick in Hamlet: james-handscombe.co.uk/scholarship/...

The real meaning of Hogswatch. And Christmas sits in the same shaped space - and also into one where the aged were reverently, passionately waiting for the miraculous birth - and also the one where the omnipotent creator slid into the world to sit on the sofa with you and me & see the winter through

Stayed Behind. A Willerby Story. Goblin Land in the snow. willerby.substack.com/p/stayed-beh...

This is selling quite fast. It's limited edition at 100 copies. We may reprint but any new edition won't be the same as this so this is the only chance for a first one. If you want one order sooner rather than later.

I am very much enjoying this introduction to a story about a witch

Sleigh bells ring. Are you listening? What does Christmas mean - what are the challenges it provides to a seventeen year old keen to make a success of their studies? james-handscombe.co.uk/ambition/sle...

She didn't live happily ever after?

It was hard to tell when she would be a witch and when she wasn't. Werewolves had the lunar cycles. All she had was an itchy palm, and it was hard to tell whether that was suppressed witchcraft or allergies. Sometimes she sneezed, which was a clue. Other times her door grew orchids and lianas.

The jingle she didn't live in wasn't like other jungles. She didn't find this amusing, perhaps because she wasn't a witch. But then, she wasn't not a witch either. This may be why everything didn't stay the same.

Tell me a story… Once, there wasn’t a witch and she didn’t live in the jungle…

“I bring you fun” “I bring you sunshine” “I bring you love” The Three Morecambe and Wise Men.

Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" Emma Lazarus, inscribed on the statue of liberty

My dad abhors any negative comments about immigrants. Asked him recently why he’s so strong on it: ‘Because we’re always happy to take the rich and clever ones. Which means it’s not about disliking immigrants. It’s about disliking the poor and vulnerable. And that’s a bad human instinct.’

I’m confused and delighted in equal measure by this kind of writing (from the middle of The Ministry of Utmost Happiness). I don’t know the answers to the questions, though.

A small cry over this. how wonderful

In this room we are CLASSY - an underemphasised virtue.

@samfr.bsky.social - have you written about how sane lifting the 2 child cap is (particularly from a standpoint of it not being a far left policy), and if not, do you know if anyone else has.

It's an archipelago off the north-east tip of Scotland, but that's not important right now.

Gentlemen, no fighting in the

This evening I was speaking about my book - I didn’t realize it at the time but it seems that when I talk about poetry my hand gestures mirror the falcon.

Capitalism, huh! I wanted to change some £20 notes into a larger number of £5s. There was a Lloyds near by, they have cash, I thought, let’s see if they can help. “Not a customer? We don’t do that.” “Why not?” “We choose not to” “Choose to be jerks, you mean,” I didn’t mutter.

Welcome to Willerby. A midlands village where the uncanny is only as remarkable as the weather. Fifty free short stories with art, music and other ephemere. Come find us. www.welcometowillerby.co.uk

There's a real power to leaving a universe's mythology unsaid. Not everything needs to have a canon page on a fanwiki.

Yesterday I was a net acquirer of pens. I’m not sure I need them all, but which shall I use to sign payroll?

Ordered!

I like the idea of curiosity as self-care: we say that in teaching every day is different and I can see that coming in each day full of curiosity for what might transpire would be healthy. I also think that curiosity can be developed and, in related news, my book “Cabinet of Curiosity” is out.

This looks BRILLIANT 👏

Exciting times - I now have a copy of my book!

What we have on our hands is a species problem - fascinating story from Arundhati Roy

We have news: willerby.substack.com/p/a-year-in-...

If the discussion with @lessoncopy.bsky.social left you wanting more enthusiasm & your copy hasn’t turned up yet: here I am talking to the library at @hachettelearning.bsky.social HQ. It seems I look at the ceiling when thinking (or that’s where the teleprompter is…) m.youtube.com/watch?v=55tR...

“He got off that camel like Marlon Brando getting off a motorbike.” This can only be one person, one event.

the only instance in recorded history of a traffic collision between a car and a u-boat!

somebody at the Clarion wrote an explainer of how to beat the Oxford congestion charge and i'm crying, help oxfordclarion.uk/twelve-easy-...

I have spent my Saturday lunchtime wisely and well and have the definitive ordering on the tracks of Simon and Garfunkel’s third studio album: Pardley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. 11. Obviously Silent Night. Sorry, Paul, this one doesn’t quite work 10. The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine (meh)

Tomorrow we lay wreaths for Magdalen members who died in both World Wars. I am deeply conscious of the terrible effects of war on a college like this. Imagine what it was like for the President to see so many students full of promise graduate, to die only months later. We will remember them.

I had dinner with old friends this week and learned that one of them had taken a sabbatical to learn bee-keeping. I, meanwhile, am reading Daniel Deronda and am here to tell you that Gwendolen’s main problem (apart from her name) is a lack of purpose. Night school - that’s what she needs.