We need to bring back “iconic actor branded horror anthology” as a publishing genre.

Bede's World! Bede's World! Party time! Venerable!

This week's work view isn't bad.

Absolutely insane for a university to get rid of people on the basis that there isn't enough work for them to do, and then have to hire a lot of different people to do the work that apparently wasn't there to do.

Plashing Vole@plashingvole.bsky.social · 3d ago

Definitely the case here. In two weeks we find which 9 of 12 in my group will be gone. The other 3 will then have a month to prepare and find hourly-paid replacements for all the classes across two degrees. And supervise 25 PhDs. Plus admin and pastoral care and research. Management doesn’t care.

Definitely the case here. In two weeks we find which 9 of 12 in my group will be gone. The other 3 will then have a month to prepare and find hourly-paid replacements for all the classes across two degrees. And supervise 25 PhDs. Plus admin and pastoral care and research. Management doesn’t care.

Glen O'Hara@gsoh31.bsky.social · 4d ago

If you're arriving at uni this autumn, or maybe dropping your kids, remember that there could be a ghostly phalanx of absent redundant staff, lost modules and degraded degrees making it a very unhappy place. It may *look* the same, but it won't *be* the same. www.ft.com/content/e5b0...

So a whole lot of my talented Humanities colleagues are now unemployed as of today. A lot of understandable concern over Exeter. But for over two decades my Hums colleagues were in the top quartile for their research contribution to society. History top 10. Now gone with only a national whisper.

Bought @nicholasroyle.bsky.social's *Finders Keepers* and started reading it in the pub (pictured). Kept reading as I walked up Banbury Road, Oxford, just as it mentioned Banbury Road, Oxford A bit later (p.31) Oxfam St Giles is mentioned, which is the shop across the road in this picture. Help.

Nobody remembers anything. In September - as with every September - there will be people complaining that Britain didn't get a proper summer.

William Carruthers@williamcarruthers.bsky.social · 5d ago

God, the Covid ‘school closures were wrong’ argument is ridiculous: no one knew what was happening! Everyone was terrified! Do people not remember this?!

Wondering if I should start that detective novel. I'm considering a locked room mystery with an updated Gervase Fen who would love to be the dashing literature academic but is too worried about the REF, external funding, and the collapse of the job market and its implications for career progression.

Christopher Nolan going back to cinematic experimentation with adaptation of Edward Lear where the final 20 minutes of the film are the same as the first 20 minutes.

Jesse Hawken@jessehawken.bsky.social · last wk.

Studio execs are going to want to adapt more poems for the big screen now

When you have all the right sections for your chapter but not necessarily in the right order.

I knew my travel for #rsvp2026 was too easy after the disasters of #vpfa. Having had to miss the final sessions to get my plane, the plane is now delayed, possibly beyond the last train from Gatwick to Portsmouth.

Brilliant panel on Sherlockian Migrations first thing on the last day of #RSVP2026, featuring @jnam.bsky.social of @litattention.bsky.social, Antonija Primorac & @christopherpittard.bsky.social (pictured) #MovementsAndMigrations #PrintInMotion @rs4vp.org

Appreciative of the tendency of Dublin bookshops to have Bowie as a soundtrack (the film of *A Reality Tour* was, of course, recorded at the Point Arena). #rsvp2026

Repeating this advice for #rsvp2026... I suspect it's true of most academics, though.

Christopher Pittard@christopherpittard.bsky.social · 4w ago

Had a great time at #vpfa this year (car issues aside), but it's occurred to me that someone mentioned that a PhD student was quite keen to talk to me, but was a bit reluctant to do so. I never found out who it was. But - if you want to talk to me at a conference, please come on up...

Great first day at #RSVP2026; enjoyed Beth Rodgers on LT Meade and @mercedessheldon.bsky.social on Grant Allen and Gordon Browne. I was on the Colby book prize committee last year so nice to finally meet the winners Andrew Lewis and Teja Varma Pusapati. Ended the day in the Palace Bar, of course.

Oho! Some exciting media-related news has just been confirmed. More details to follow soon.

This kind of thing happens so often now that I wonder if half of these mistakes are deliberate attempts to get articles noticed on social media.

Jim Caris@jimcaris.eurosky.social · 2w ago

Is "ball" now an accepted alternative spelling of "bawl", or are standards in British news media just that low? metro.co.uk/2026/04/30/a...

Universities exist to teach students & produce research This brings in the money. Academics generate the value. Everyone else is paid from that income stream. University senior management has forgotten who creates the income & who depends on it They behave as if system runs the other way around

Fortunately, my Dublin trip coincides with a rereading of *Dracula*. I'd completely forgotten that the final thing Lucy's mother does as she dies is to headbutt her daughter.

Here for #rsvp2026, by the way (in Dublin, not the pub, though that's a bonus).

Christopher Pittard@christopherpittard.bsky.social · 2w ago

In Dublin for the first time since 2017, and I remember the back room at the Palace Bar being *much* bigger.

In Dublin for the first time since 2017, and I remember the back room at the Palace Bar being *much* bigger.

Not to worry - I can make it utterly unsexy again.

Rob Palk@robpalk.bsky.social · 2w ago

Oh good, reading is sexy again, we've not had this conversation in a few weeks

Received a second HMRC letter this year. The first said I'd paid too much tax and was due a refund. The second, as I wearily predicted before opening the envelope, said I hadn't paid enough tax and needed to stump up. I think I'm about £70 ahead between the two, but still...

The recent low point was having a beautifully-constructed introductory module abolished without our consent, followed by school managers presenting us with a ChatGPT-generated list of topics we could teach instead. Then they got angry that we weren’t impressed.

Despite the fact that I'm the one who works on detective fiction, my wife went to the same school as James Garner, and my brother to the same school as John Nettles. The most famous person to have gone to my school was one of Altern-8.

A reminder that the US networks initially turned down The Muppet Show so it ended up being made in the UK.

ceej@ceej.online · 6mo ago

production of The Muppet Show should not be dependent on petty vulgarities like “ratings” or “revenue.” it should be preserved as a vital function of american culture. it should have a taxpayer-funded budget rivaling the CIA

How you can submit a paper created by LLMs as an academic is mind boggling. Like what are you doing with your life? Where is the satisfaction and dignity? What are your principles and values? What does establishing a body of work look like to you? You are not an academic. You are a fraud.

Ben Williamson@benpatrickwill.bsky.social · 3w ago

The anatomy of an AI-supported academic article is becoming more apparent. I desk reviewed ~70 manuscripts this week for our journal. Reckon 20ish had significant AI assistance. On top of hundreds of others recently I'm starting to see patterns. Are other editors are seeing the same or similar? 1/

"The newly appointed Minister for AI is expected to meet with the Minister for NFTs, Lord Blockchain and the Secretary of State for Pogs this afternoon."

Lots of Christopher Nolan chat, which reminds me of when I showed my wife *The Prestige* as she'd never seen it. Just about to press play when she said "There isn't a scene where a magician struggles to escape from a tank of water, is there? That stuff just freaks me out." Reader, I pressed play.