Michael Doherty

Are we falling out of love with nonfiction? In the early 2020s, readers flocked to books to explain political turbulence. But is the world now too grim to read about – and are podcasters taking the place of authors?

my view on this is that publishers should stop it with the 80k wordcount obsession, so many contemporary non-fic books are obviously 40-50k pieces of work stretched to the extent that they become very boring to read - just let people write cheaper, shorter books! www.theguardian.com/books/2025/d...

Spanish PM Sánchez responds to Trump:

"Spain is against this disaster... Govts are here to improve people's lives... It is absolutely unacceptable that those leaders who are unable to fulfill that mission use the smoke of war to hide their failure, and in the process, fill the pockets of a few."

The international boycott of ChatGPT has absolutely exploded.

2.5M people have already joined, and this is just the beginning.

Go to quitgpt.org.
Cancel your subscription, delete your account.
And tell at least one person why.

My op-ed: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

I have seen a lot of cursed stuff in my time in academia but this is among the *most* cursed.
Grammarly is generating miniature LLMs based on academic work so that users can have their writing ‘reviewed’ by experts like David Abulafia, who died less than two months ago.

Jeez - this is awful. Absolute crooks and grifters.

the 'Fest' run by Connecting Legal Education's wonderful bunch, @dohertylawteach.bsky.social, @veronanid.bsky.social and @parkendlydia.bsky.social

Read the full article, here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

(Presentation skills can be found here: www.ishankolhatkar.com/presentation...)

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It's March and conference season is just around the corner. More details this week of where I will be appearing over the next few months. In the meantime, here's my view on chairing conferences from this article on what was the most fun conference I've ever attended (and Chaired)...

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Trump in 2011: “Our president will start a war with Iran because he has absolutely no ability to negotiate. He’s weak and he’s ineffective.”

Mocking people for their class is discrimination – so why don’t we treat it as such? ‘Banter’ about where you’re from or how you speak is harder to define than racism or sexism, but it is damaging.

💬 "Regardless of economic or social mobility, class-based cultural markers such as accent continue to shape how people are perceived and treated."

Our research on the pervasive issue of accent bias in the workplace cited in The Conversation ⤵️

Eusébio buying soul LPs in Harlow's Startime record shop in 1968

a year is a long time in politics

Slavery and forced labor have become less common over the last 250 years. Line chart of the number of countries that had not yet abolished large-scale forced labor. In 1789, 165 of the 174 countries covered had not yet abolished large-scale forced labor. In 2024, it was 9 countries. Annotations on important cases, such as China, the Soviet Union, and the United States, say more about the history of slavery and forced labor.

✍️ New article: Tracking historical progress against slavery and forced labor: a long-run data view

For much of history, forced labor was widespread and brutal. Tens of millions of people were made to work under the threat of violence or punishment. The situation today is very different.

How far back in time can you understand English? An experiment in language change

"As his post goes on, his language gets older. 100 years older with each jump. The spelling changes. The grammar changes. Words you know are replaced by unfamiliar words" Fascinating. So how far back in time can YOU go?

Kidnapper: your getting in the trunk

Me: *you’re

Wow.

Hopefully there will be further protests when the rancid racist cunt is actually in the stadium.

🎶 …
When the Home Sec is told
That the ban was too bold
That’s …
R (Ammori) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2026] EWHC 292 (Admin)

'UK has been colonised by immigrants', says INEOS boss and Man Utd co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe In an interview with Sky News's Ed Conway, Sir Jim says Britain faces profound political, social and economic challenges, among them an unprecedented rise in immigration in recent years.

Can we bring back the era when saying this shit would get you ostracized for life. For all the cancelling supposedly about, rich auld fellas still feel pretty free and easy about dropping their invective...

share.google/HPDFEvyxD5v4...

US Olympic Curling Team member speaks out against ICE:

"I'm proud to represent Team USA. But we'd be remiss if we didn't mention what's going on in Minnesota and what a tough time it's been. What's happening is wrong. There's no shades of gray."

Name them
shame them

Say no to Palantir in the NHS NHS England is rolling out software to run our health records from Palantir - fight back

Get Palantir out of the NHS

https://notopalantir.goodlawproject.org/email-to-target/stop-palantir-in-the-nhs/?utm_source=bluesky&utm_campaign=PalantirNHS&utm_medium=social_media

‘If I think about what this means, I want to cry’: what happens when a city loses its university? When Essex University’s Southend campus opened, it was a message of hope for a ‘left behind’ UK seaside town. Its closure will be felt far beyond its 800 students, some of whom will not get their degr...

Incandescent. One of the best pieces I've read about what university means to people and their communities - and what will happen to a city and people after one closes. The *Labour* government and Jaqui Smith in particular should be ashamed of themselves and shamed into doing something. Deplorable.

Devastatingly sad.
Every Labour MP should be forced to read this. In fact, every MP, who rushed back to Parliament to vote to save one steel mill, whilst hastening the collapse of dozens of universities - and harming the students, staff, communities and economies universities sustain and support

billionaire: we billionaires earn our money through hard work and our extraordinary intellects. we are simply more perceptive and insightful than regular people

mr nonce: hmllo billi,onirr, wuld u liek 2 visit my sexcrime. Island. ?

billionaire: deborah, hold my calls

Huh. This entire administration is an Epstein Island afterparty.

YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)

I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.

Stay free

Mnemonic   Thirty days hath September, April, June and November. Unless a leap year is its fate, February hath twenty-eight. All the rest hath three days more, excepting January, which hath six thousand, one hundred and eighty-four. Brian Bilston

Annual reminder of how many days there are in each month.

The is the biggest national embarrassment in American history.

In the space of two minutes he confused Greenland and Iceland four times by my count.
bsky.app/profile/atru...