Stephen Watkins

Woman’s memoirs give fascinating insight into life in 17th-century northern England Newly reunited manuscripts by Alice Thornton show how she navigated personal crises during tumultuous events such as the civil war

Alice! Top work @hagenilda.bsky.social @cordeliabeattie.bsky.social @sharonhoward.bsky.social et al!

www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...

Stumbled across a kestrel in a tree on my walk. Got 3m from it before it flew off. Parakeets sounded the alarm but it remained beautifully unbothered. Magic. (I walk phonelessly, so no pic - sorry!)

I remember exactly what swayed me to pick Soton: Bella Millett in the open day taster lecture. She was exactly what I wanted an academic to be: erudite, enthusiastic, eccentric. And she made the course sound life-changing (which it was). Everything else was background colour.

Inside the relentless race for AI capacity The quest for superintelligence is spurring a data centre boom — but critics question the cost, environmental impact and whether it is all needed

Imagine if we put the resourcing (even just in terms of infrastructure square-footage) dedicated to this crap into something like housing or hospitals... ig.ft.com/ai-data-cent...

Not a fan of pitting subjects against each other (PE is important too!) but I am sad that Languages have been so neglected by successive Education policies. Part of the broader apathy/hostility towards Arts & Hums in this god-awful, race-to-the-bottom, 0-sum death-drive we've got ourselves into.

And lo, the Withering putdown was born.

Alas, you have the relevant analytical skills (not to mention a soul), so you’d be disqualified from any such post.

We’re skirting Monte Python territory here… Luxury!

This mini-thread on 2 v 3 terms at different unis made me smile (in despair). You can hear the “we need to be different from our ‘competitors’” shtick, but the absolute lack of imagination at senior level means everyone just veers between the two poles in a binary model. Transformational indeed.

"Dishonest love, my wearied breast forsake!", etc.

We already know exactly what it's going to be, don't we...

Ouch! Hope you're on the mend now, at least!

My wife, Sarah, is currently on #BBCRadio #Essex talking about Romantic Comedies and her AHRC/BBC residency www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

naff?? State-of-the-art!

Thanks Sally! (Just Googled the first link I could find... 😬)

Jo Johnson: ministerial ‘dereliction of duty’ behind university crisis - Research Professional News Whitehall split between universities and research has “damaged policymaking”, says architect of OfS and UKRI

'[Universities] are being regulated like big schools, treated like big schools, and that connection between the research and innovation part of what they do and the teaching part of what they do is being completely lost.' No shit, Sherlock. 🕵️ www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-p...

One of my favourite Collini aperçus relates to how the often hifalutin claims for English Studies (saving souls as well as civilized culture tout court, etc.) in the 20th century were frequently dampened by 'that inveterate bearer of the reality principle, the average undergraduate'.

English: 'John Lacy (d. 1681)' . Lacy in three of his most celebrated roles: the lead from Sauny the Scot: or The Taming of The Shrew (his own adaptation from Shakespeare performed at the Theatre Roya... Download this stock image: English: 'John Lacy (d. 1681)' . Lacy in three of his most celebrated roles: the lead from Sauny the Scot: or The Taming of The Shrew (his own adaptation from Shakespeare pe...

I’d say the portrait of Lacy as Sauny (adapt: Taming of the Shrew), The Country Captain (revival), and Scruple in Wilson’s Cheats (adapt: Bartholomew Fair). could a C17 painting be more on theme? You will have to put up with his ugly mug (x3) on your cover though 😬… www.alamy.com/english-john...

😂 love this!

They must like the warmth of the lamp! We have a pigeon that snuck into one of the offices, and now has a clutch of eggs. We can't move it (obvs), so the academic who uses the office has had to relocate until the birth/fledging... 😆

😂

'nausaged' ❤️

Love this! Is that a working light they've built on?

I noticed this too - lots around atm 🦋

The world is too much today. I feel like we're being smeared in filth, like blood on a carpet: moodstained.

So please cheer me up: funny, insightful, joyful things only.

I was going to say something snarky about 'if only there were entire departments inside the uni dedicated to language use', but honestly, just fucking hell...

1/2 A superlative, benevolent & generous scholar, whom we lost this year, in his last email to me, said “Supporting rising talent, I have come to understand, whether through direct teaching or indirect support and mentoring, is ultimately more important than anything I’ve published. …

The latest issue (49.1) of @restorationjournal.bsky.social is now online and free to read! muse.jhu.edu/issue/55243

a woman is sitting at a desk holding a pair of shoes while a man stands behind her . ALT: a woman is sitting at a desk holding a pair of shoes while a man stands behind her .

I’m fully here for @petroc.bsky.social and Georgia Mann (both of whom I adore). Their energy not a million miles from these two…

The really important thing is that the #BBCProms start tonight.