George XI: 1. Michael, 2. Jones, 3. C. Scott, 4. Hamilton IV, 5. Fame, 6. From Rainbow, 7. H. W. Bush, 8. W. Bush, 9. Susan, 10. Harrison, 11. Moroder (c). Manager: Martin.

Jeff XI: 1. Boycott, 2. Wayne, 3. Bridges, 4. The Talking Mongoose, 5. Capes, 6. Goldblum, 7. Lynne, 8. Chaucer (c), 9. Hurst, 10. Palmer, 11. Hayes. Manager: Of Monmouth.

Here's a weird, horrory short story I wrote for issue 8 of the excellent @bansheepress.bsky.social, which they've just put online: bansheepress.org/read/the-red... (It's quite different from Experts in a Dying Field)

‘The Red Child’ by Patrick Freyne — Banshee Press

My child was born in the time when newborn babies would leap from the womb and run for higher ground. This was new then and it was shocking to us, though it seems like nothing compared to all of the t...

bansheepress.org

Arthur XI: 1. Conan Doyle, 2. Tatum, 3. Albiston, 4. Brown, 5. Lowe (c), 6. Scargill, 7. King, 8. Ui, 9. Ashe, 10. Schopenhauer, 11. Garfunkel. Manager: Wellesley.

The Doctors’ XI: 1. John, 2. Kildare, 3. Nick Riviera, 4. David Owen, 5. Teeth (c), 6. Graeme Garden, 7. Phibes, 8. Robin Nedwell, 9. Strange, 10. Strangely Strange, 11. Strangelove. Manager: No.

Born #OTD in 1862, Montague Rhodes James (1 August 1862 – 12 June 1936) influential master of the English ghost story, medievalist scholar and provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905–18), Eton College (1918–36), and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge (1913–15).

Everyone should have both volumes!

Swan River Press@swanriverpress.bsky.social · 4d ago

“Ghosts of the Chit-Chat is now complemented by the equally elegant Friends and Spectres, spotlighting work by participants in a Cambridge University debate on the existence of ghosts. M. R. James supported the case for the spectral.” – Washington Post swanriverpress.ie/srp-title/fr...

Ghosts of the Chit-Chat features earlier, slightly different versions of two of M. R. James’s best-known ghost stories; Robert Lloyd Parry’s profiles and commentaries on each featured Chit-Chat member sheds new light on the supernatural tradition. swanriverpress.ie/srp-title/gh...

Bruce XI: 1. Grobbelaar, 2. Hornsby, 3. Robert The, 4. Willis, 5. Banner, 6. Forsyth, 7. Campbell, 8. Wayne, 9. Dickinson, 10. Springsteen (c), 11. Fiona. Manager: Almighty.

Michael XI: 1. Stipe, 2. Heseltine, 3. Spillane, 4. McManus, 5. Gorbachev (c), 6. Dukakis, 7. Ronson, 8. Foucault, 9. Holding, 10. Most, 11. Strachan. Manager: Parkinson.

The Captains’ XI: 1. Bly, 2. Underpants, 3. Birdseye, 4. Caveman, 5. Mainwaring (c), 6. Mark Philips, 7. And Tenille, 8. Peacock, 9. Scarlet, 10. Kirk, 11. Corelli. Manager: Bob Maxwell.

Charlie XI: 1. Watts, 2. Bronson, 3. Cairoli, 4. Chan, 5. Atlas, 6. Charlemagne (c), 7. Dimmock, 8. Smash, 9. The Jackal, 10. Aznavour, 11. Hawtrey. Manager: De Gaulle.

Richard XI: 1. Wakeman, 2. Davies, 3. Turpin, 4. Nixon, 5. Stilgoe, 6. Van Dyke, 7. Blackmore, 8. Montalban (c), 9. The Lionheart, 10. Burton, 11. Penniman. Manager: Dimbleby.

Al XI: 1. Bowlly, 2. Alda, 3. Pacino, 4. Sensational Harvey, 5. Steptoe, 6. Einstein, 7. Bongo, 8. Lifeson, 9. Shearer, 10. The Great (c), 11. Wells. Manager: Partridge.

Ron XI: 1. Size, 2. Pickering, 3. Reagan (c), 4. Kray, 5. Tolkien, 6. Wood, 7. Spector, 8. Mael, 9. Barker, 10. Corbett, 11. Ronaldinho. Manager: Manager.

Brian XI: 1. Boru, 2. Murphy, 3. Cohen, 4. Blessed, 5. Glover, 6. Dennehy, 7. Robson (c), 8. May, 9. Eno, 10. O’Blivion, 11. Rix. Manager: Clough.

Harry XI: 1. Worth, 2. Hill, 3. Sakata, 4. Hardrada, 5. Secombe, 6. H. Corbett, 7. Wilson (c), 8. Styles, 9. Kane, 10. Houdini, 11. Nilsson.

Frank XI: 1. Assisi, 2. Black, 3. Bruno, 4. Muir, 5. Leavis, 6. Nero, 7. Furillo (c), 8. Sinatra, 9. Kermode, 10. Worthington, 11. De La Tour.

Lionel XI: 1. Jospin, 2. Jeffries, 3. Stander, 4. Barrymore, 5. Shriver, 6. Bart, 7. Hampton, 8. Trilling, 9. Blair, 10. Messi (c), 11. Richie.

I hope Chancellor Healey doesn't turn out to be a silly billy.

Lucy Fisher@lucyfisher.ft.com · 2w ago

John Healey’s elevation to chancellor comes with a hefty price tag: he quit govt last month arguing the UK needed to set out a deadline to reach military expenditure of 3% of GDP At present Britain is only on track to reach 2.7% of GDP by 2030...

JOBS! We’re currently looking for two people to join us in the School of English @universityofleeds.bsky.social: Lecturer in Creative Writing jobs.leeds.ac.uk/AHCEN1086; Lecturer in English Language (with interests in DH) jobs.leeds.ac.uk/AHCEN1087 Both are FT ongoing appointments

Same energy

Joe Noonan@joenoonan.bsky.social · 2w ago

One of these things is not like the other

Hydration break.

Argy-Bargy! (Or, as the Argentinians call it, Malvy-Balvy.)

Well said, Wayne Rooney!

Robbie Williams on fine form tonight

Congratulations to the government on saving 2700 jobs by nationalising British Steel. Now, about the 18,000 university jobs lost in the last 18 months, with more coming…

Spot of argy-bargy. Or, as the Argentinians call it, malvy-balvy.