I have read Joshua Bonehill-Paine’s blogpost from April entitled “Inside the Mind of an Antisemite -and How I Escaped It”. It’s a fascinating account of being consumed by hateful, extremist ideology. You know what’s not in there? An apology. To Luciana Berger or the wider Jewish community

Hands up if you just knew Polanksi was going to wade in on this one and stick up for the guy jailed for a prolonged campaign of antisemitic harassment against a Jewish MP

Jordan@jordanpfot.bsky.social · 7h ago

Why are you commenting if you don’t know the specifics of the case!!!!!

A dating app exclusively for current and former central bankers, called “Reservd”. Yes, it’s all fun and games in the Cunliffe-Douglass household tonight

you can't build a big enough coalition if Gavin Barwell is too radical for you but an ex-Neo Nazi who broke into a police station isn't

“Odysseus is yours too. Read the poem (pick any translation you like) and make up your own mind.” I told you I had Odyssey thoughts. Written before the latest Emily Wilson discourse but featuring her anyway - plus Euripides and Virgil for good measure www.newstatesman.com/culture/2026...

I fucking love this. Christopher Nolan has done exactly what a blockbuster director should do, and Emily Wilson is doing exactly what a classics academic should do. Top marks all round!

EMILY WILSON@emilyrcwilson.bsky.social · 4d ago

I cannot rest from discourse. I will see that film again tomorrow. I will drink life to the lees. Again I will enjoy greatly, will suffer greatly, both with those that love me, and in Pleasantville NY. I am become a meme. Film showing: burnsfilmcenter.org/booking/the-...

Really not sure why Odysseus left here, is all I’m saying

“Odysseus is yours too. Read the poem (pick any translation you like) and make up your own mind.” I told you I had Odyssey thoughts. Written before the latest Emily Wilson discourse but featuring her anyway - plus Euripides and Virgil for good measure www.newstatesman.com/culture/2026...

For three minutes, we had a sense of patriotic unity that could have re-taken Calais

Jamie Douglass@jamesldouglass.bsky.social · last wk.

Given we regularly discuss whether an alternative national anthem is required, and what it would be, I feel I should report that in this Corfiot hotel the DJ just played “Mr Brightside” and every single Brit, tho strangers all, went FULL ON BATSHIT, while everyone else looked on, bemused

Given we regularly discuss whether an alternative national anthem is required, and what it would be, I feel I should report that in this Corfiot hotel the DJ just played “Mr Brightside” and every single Brit, tho strangers all, went FULL ON BATSHIT, while everyone else looked on, bemused

“Segued” here is doing a lot of heavy lifting. “Just started playing, simultaneously, regardless of key, tempo or mood” would be less charitable but more technically accurate

Rachel Cunliffe@rmcunliffe.bsky.social · last wk.

In non-Odyssey news, the DJ tonight has now segued from Money For Nothing, to Say A Little Prayer For You, to Play That Funky Music White Boy, to Don’t Stop Me Now, to September, to Shut Up And Dance With Me… to SOS by ABBA. To say we are getting musical whiplash is an understatement

In non-Odyssey news, the DJ tonight has now segued from Money For Nothing, to Say A Little Prayer For You, to Play That Funky Music White Boy, to Don’t Stop Me Now, to September, to Shut Up And Dance With Me… to SOS by ABBA. To say we are getting musical whiplash is an understatement

men when christopher nolan casts a non-white actor: that is not ACCURATE they were all WHITE men when emily wilson points out christopher nolan’s inaccuracies: oh come on it’s just a film it can’t be 100% faithful to the original

YES PLEASE. With extra psychological Discourse as the internet tries to figure out if Aeneas’ final move is noble or barbaric, and what that says about them

John Bull@garius.bsky.social · last wk.

Aeneid next on screen please. Not just because it's fucking amazing, but also for the double manosphere explosion of: 1) The casting of Dido 2) Seeing themselves on screen as the incel bad guy (Turnus)

By sheer coincidence / psychic powers, I wrote about the idea of compulsory voting in last week’s New Statesman column before I escaped to Greece, and predicted it might be on Andy Burnham’s radar pretty soon www.newstatesman.com/politics/dem...

Should Andy Burnham make voting compulsory?

When voters stay at home, progressives lose out

newstatesman.com

Nick Garland@npjgarland.bsky.social · last wk.

1/ Great reporting in The Times on the emerging momentum behind support for compulsory voting, which @ippr.org called for a couple of weeks ago: www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

By sheer coincidence / psychic powers, I wrote about the idea of compulsory voting in last week’s New Statesman column before I escaped to Greece, and predicted it might be on Andy Burnham’s radar pretty soon www.newstatesman.com/politics/dem...

Should Andy Burnham make voting compulsory?

When voters stay at home, progressives lose out

newstatesman.com

Nick Garland@npjgarland.bsky.social · last wk.

1/ Great reporting in The Times on the emerging momentum behind support for compulsory voting, which @ippr.org called for a couple of weeks ago: www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Muppet hecklers Statler and Waldorf as Scylla and Charybdis

Philip Coggan@philipcoggan.bsky.social · last wk.

Yes! Kermit as Odysseus, Miss Piggy as Penelope, Cookie Monster as the Cyclops...

Look out for this week’s New Statesman for some thoughts on this very translator - and how the poem has been interpreted through the centuries! And now, back to the island where Odysseus met the Phaeacians…

Karen K. Ho@karenho.bsky.social · last wk.

on the bright side, it's kind of awesome that so many people are talking about THE ODYSSEY, the translation the movie is based on, the translator's own thoughts in the LRB, and what a big, ambitious film can mean in a market oversaturated with movies about superheroes and nostalgia for old titles

I think we're all ready for The Muppet Odyssey.

This is just to say I have turned into pigs the men that were on my island and which you were probably saving to row you to Ithaca Forgive me they were disgusting so male and so disrespectful.

Jessica Ritchey@jmritchey.bsky.social · last wk.

This is just to say I have eaten the sun god's cattle on the island which you were probably saving for Apollo Forgive me they were delicious and so charred and so warm

This is just to say I have eaten the sun god's cattle on the island which you were probably saving for Apollo Forgive me they were delicious and so charred and so warm

On holiday on an idyllic Greek island so of course we’re having an intense discussion about whether “it was only a kiss” in Mr Brightside refers to him seeing the girl he likes kissing the other guy, or him kissing her and acknowledging he shouldn’t be this upset when they only got as far as kissing

I said I had THOUGHTS about the Odyssey! You can listen to them here. Especially enjoy the bit where I talk about laundry. And also Greek translation. And whether Homer was a woman

The Bunker podcast – News without the nonsense@bunkerpod.bsky.social · 2w ago

🐴 ΝΕΟ ΠΟΔΚΑΣΤ 🐴 The right-wing culture war moaners get it colossally wrong as #TheOdyssey proves a massive global hit. What makes it tick? 🐴 Ardent classicist @rmcunliffe.bsky.social & ignorant commoner @nndroid.bsky.social indulge in Socratic dialogue 🐴 Listen linktr.ee/bunker_pod

It’s 25 years since we lost Douglas Adams. I am happy to have been able to get a reference to him into this piece in the FT about why the humanities are essential www.ft.com/content/fbde...

What a good cat!

Justin Ng@justin-ng.bsky.social · 2w ago

Larry brought a mouse to us today upon his return from the FCDO. ive managed to find a less gruesome pic to post (slightly different to the twitter one). showing us all that despite being 19, he is still quite capable of doing his job. RIP mouse.

So. The Odyssey. I have THOUGHTS. And most of my thoughts are that a lot of critics seem to have missed the point entirely, which is a bit embarrassing for them. But you know what? That’s okay! Because if it gets more people talking about and interested in and reading Classics, that’s what counts!

Rewinding back to check something in Burnham's speech and went too far, caught the BBC tracking on the convoy and explaining how it was "not waiting for the traffic lights, they don't have to worry about that as prime minister" I renewed our licence fee last night. Nice to know what it pays for...

A real shame, this. One of the best ministerial appointments of recent times:

Cassia Rowland@cassiarowland.bsky.social · 2w ago

The day’s first casualty: James Timpson resigns as prisons minister. This is a big surprise! Timpson had a long history as a prisons reformer before entering government and seen as one of Starmer’s more innovative & exciting appointments. He’s also delivered a big change programme in gov. So: why?

Simon Hart, former chief whip to Boris Johnson, told me recently that the ideal size of a majority was 30 - big enough to get things done, but small enough to focus minds and discourage people from causing trouble

Tim Bale@timbale.bsky.social · 2w ago

Reminded of this by @stephenkb.bsky.social's observation that "landslide majorities create more problems than they solve. Large majorities create a class of MPs who, to be blunt, are not that likely to be re-elected, who know they have no hope of promotion and just in general create trouble."

Book recommendations please! I will soon be off to lie by a beach for a week and need things to read. Nothing bleak, ideally with humour and intrigue. Thrillers/crime is great (huge fan of eg @brookmyre.bsky.social and @richardcoles.bsky.social), but other genres also welcome. I want to have *fun*