“Reliably excellent.” – The Year's Work in Critical & Cultural Theory Interested in contributing to the Methuen Drama Engage series, edited by Mark Taylor-Batty @cupofassam.bsky.social & Enoch Brater? We’re welcoming proposals now. Details here: https://bit.ly/3T7T6tG

There were a lot of people hanging about in Shipley market square last night.

Prog rock trivia. It is now the same amount of time since the last Genesis studio album as there was between their first and that last studio album.

More time has elapsed between the release of the Beatles’ Anthology series and the new Anthology 4 this year, than between the Beatles disbanding and that first 3 Anthology releases.

Me (1985), my son (2025), same @marillion.com t-shirt, same garden.

Watching Live Aid in iPlayer. I was 18 and it was the summer before going to university. Looking back, even the old people look young. The oldest songs performed were only twenty years old or so at that time.

The coffee at the Greek Corner in Shipley is reliably good. Thought I’d try the baklava today. Fantastic, but at £6.50 it needs to be! (Yes, I checked).

Thinking back to the Oasis/Blur rivalry, and how it was paralleled to the Beatles/Stones in the media if the time. Despite their overt homages to the Beatles, Oasis played The Rolling Stones role in that parallel. They had none of the invention, eclecticism and progression, which Blur so clearly did

The British national anthem, God save the King/Queen* originally contained a verse about crushing the Scots. Don't sing it at Glastonbury. *Delete as appropriate

Yesterday was the 125th anniversary of the birth of Antiine de Saint-Exupéry, author of Le Petit Prince, the first book I ever translated (as a gift to my then girlfriend). “You are forever responsible toward those you have tamed”.

Romana II - Princess Astra The Master - Consul Tremas 6th Doctor - Commander Maxil 12th Doctor - Lobus Caecilius 16th Doctor - Rose Tyler? #regenerationadoptions

At #UCU2025 we passed motions to reaffirm our commitment to trans rights. We’ll keep fighting for inclusive spaces, supportive policies and real solidarity. #TransRightsAreHumanRights #UCU2025 #UnionPower

I dedicate this to female friends currently putting up with crap. youtu.be/Iiqf2R462lo?...

#UCU2025 congress has passed a motion to prepare to raise a formal dispute with the Education Secretary over the devastating funding crisis in higher education. Our message is clear: if Labour won’t intervene, we will. #UCU2025 #ProtectEducationNow #UnionPower #Post16Crisis #HigherEducation

Absolute scenes in Liverpool. Celebrations everywhere. Some kind of football thing. Not a language I speak, so can’t translate. Great vibe.

#UCU2025 Congress has voted to raise a trade dispute with the government. @drjogrady.bsky.social On BBC Radio 4 this morning our general secretary @drjogrady.bsky.social lays out the stark reality of the crisis facing our sector

#UCU2025 as it is Sector Conference today, and we will be talking about USS and the ongoing sceptical exploration of CI here is something I wrote on this last year medium.com/@sarahcjoss/... I am standing. Please vote for me, Vicky & Jackie 🧵

Definitely checking this out. Probably not first date material.

Getting the train to the wrong side of the Pennines to the glorious port of Liverpool for the UCU congress. HE and FE need a solid set of resolutions in the current climate.

I had fun watching the practical presentations of the Avant Garde Theatre students of the University of Lincoln yesterday. From Dada to the Absurd, via Artaud and biomechanics. Thinking and articulating through practice is not easy. Great work.

This is a clear cut coordination policy intended to force independent institutions into loyalty with the regime. It is obviously the behaviour of an authoritarian state and anyone who claims otherwise needs their fucking head examined www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

A day at the University of Lincoln to watch students’ creative practice.

“I woke up with a sense of dread…” A moving, deeply personal account from an EU citizen in Cambridge on how Labour’s new rhetoric is shaking people’s sense of belonging. Don’t miss this powerful open letter. 👇

Anagapesis is the sad condition that might first promote the breakdown of a relationship, and becomes then the goal of the discarded person. It is the nirvana of post-break-up experience. It is naturally resisted, but necessarily achieved.

Elder son decided to make a butterscotch cake. Result.

Preparing for their SATs.

Today I walked with a group of friends, across the moors, from Saltaire to Ilkley. Bar t’at an’ all. #yorkshire

The MLA, @acls1919.bsky.social, and @historians.org have filed a lawsuit in federal district court today, seeking to reverse the recent actions to devastate the National Endowment for the Humanities. www.mla.org/Resources/Ad...

I brought Anna’s bear and a birthday bun to her woodland grave today.

Today should have been my daughter’s 16th birthday.

The time of year when the cat chases the sunbeams.

Happy Easter.

Proud as always of our union’s unequivocal support of trans people. There’s also a demo Friday afternoon at 3pm in Manchester. Hope to see many of you there.

Pickle locates and occupies the sunlight.

Break for lunch.

Got a three day travel pass in Stockholm for £28. What would all zones for three days in London cost? Anyway, had to run for the bus at Slussen because they’ve moved the station (during the restoration works) from where I remember it. Doing a few nostalgia runs.

The powerful scent of dill rising as you descend the escalator into Hötorgshallet was an abiding memory of my time in Stockholm in the 1990s. Not so much dill as fish and cheese this time, and it seems more touristy than I recall. Decent fish soup for lunch.

There is years of work going on to the civic infrastructure around Slussen in Stockholm. Literally ‘the sluice’, Slussen is where lake Mälaran gives way to the Baltic Sea, where Stockholm (the islet on logs) was founded. Looks like it’s going to be grand.

Today’s @MattCartoonist

First morning in Stockholm. The view from my Airbnb apartment in Gamla Stan.

I have a big doorbell. You can’t miss it. Royal Mail did. Stayed in for a parcel. Got an email to say it’s with a neighbour. Go immediately the email arrives to check with the neighbour. They are not in. I am. 21st century problems.

Experimenting with gluten-free recipes. Lentil and spinach bread.

Failed Siri requests, no. 732. Me: Siri, add Ghee to the shopping list. Siri: Ok, Mark, I’ve added tea to the shopping list. Me (moving closer, enunciating exaggeratedly): Siri, add GGGhee to the shopping list. Siri (nonchalantly): Ok, Mark, I’ve added tea to the shopping list. [continued…]

I’m back at the Workshop Theatre for the penultimate set of Practical Essays. Good to be home.

Fennel and linseed loaf for lunch.

* Woke Shakespeare: Rethinking Shakespeare for a New Era * (ebook, free to download on Kindle Unlimited) www.amazon.co.uk/Woke-Shakesp...

The 13 year old set his alarm early this morning to check out the new @stevenwilsonhq.bsky.social album, The Overview, on Apple Music before school. He has already added it to his ‘best to less best’ survey of the man’s output.

Happy to receive and check out my blu-ray of Kraftwerk’s Autobahn in glorious 5.1 surround.