Michael H Whitworth
LightNews LightNews
banner
profmhwhitworth.bsky.social
Michael H Whitworth
@profmhwhitworth.bsky.social
3.2K followers 1.2K following 640 posts

Oxford, U.K. Prof of Modern Literature and Culture. Literature & Science, Modernism, Book History, Virginia Woolf, 1920s & 30s poetry. Also found on IG under the same name. All posts in a personal capacity.

Videos
Art 29%
Philosophy 21%
Posts Replies Media Videos
Pinned
profmhwhitworth.bsky.social
Michael H Whitworth @profmhwhitworth.bsky.social · 12d
2025 marks the centenary of A.N. Whitehead’s Lowell Lectures, Science and the Modern World; 2026 the centenary of the first British edition.

Nick Gaskill and I are organising a panel on Whitehead, focused on SMW, for the MSA/BAMS conference in 2026, and are looking for an additional contributor.
Jacket of the Free Association Books edition

Reposted by Michael H. Whitworth

emmaswiftsings.bsky.social
Emma Swift @emmaswiftsings.bsky.social · 1h
In the 20 odd years since I last saw this play, I have bathed in doom enough to find Godot hilarious and devastating in equal measure. This production was extraordinary, and will stay with me for life.

If you get the chance to see it, take it.

Thank you to @alexwinter.com & co.💙

Reposted by Michael H. Whitworth

oxfordclarion.bsky.social
Oxford Clarion @oxfordclarion.bsky.social · 2h
A former pub on Hollybush Row, between the railway station and Oxpens, is to be demolished and replaced with (wait for it) lab space. 8 Hollybush Row was the Albion, the Honey Pot, and the Adventurer before becoming offices for AI startup Latent Logic and then the “Swailes Hub” hot-desking space.
If this city had any more lab space it would be Battersea Dogs' Home

Reposted by David Lazer, Brendan Nyhan, Juan Cole , and 3 more

markjacob.bsky.social
Mark Jacob @markjacob.bsky.social · 18h
When a news outlet puts a reckless, undocumented claim by the Trump regime in the main headline and puts medical experts’ pushback in the smaller type, it’s making a choice. And not a good one.
NBC: “FDA claims COVID shots killed 10 children and vows new vaccine rules”

Reposted by Juan Cole, Michael H. Whitworth

alexhouen.bsky.social
Alex Houen @alexhouen.bsky.social · 22h
‘The new UN report, covering a two-year period since the beginning of the Gaza war on 7 October 2023, draws attention to the “high proportion of children who are currently detained without charge or on remand”’

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
Israel has ‘de facto state policy’ of organised torture, says UN report
Committee highlights allegations including dog attacks and sexual violence, raising concern about impunity for war crimes
www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Michael H. Whitworth, Peter Gratton

catacalypto.bsky.social
Cat Manning @catacalypto.bsky.social · 23h
A story Stoppard told several times, in several places:
"Years and years ago, there was a production of The Tempest, out of doors, at an Oxford college on a lawn, which was the stage, and the lawn went back towards the lake in the grounds of the college, and the play began in natural light. But as it developed, and as it became time for Ariel to say his farewell to the world of The Tempest, the evening had started to close in and there was some artificial lighting coming on. And as Ariel uttered his last speech, he turned and he ran across the grass, and he got to the edge of the lake and he just kept running across the top of the water — the producer having thoughtfully provided a kind of walkway an inch beneath the water. And you could see and you could hear the plish, plash as he ran away from you across the top of the lake, until the gloom enveloped him and he disappeared from your view. And as he did so, from the further shore, a firework rocket was ignited, and it went whoosh into the air, and high up there it burst into lots of sparks, and all the sparks went out, and he had gone. "When you look up the stage directions, it says, 'Exit Ariel.”

Reposted by Michael H. Whitworth

kateheartfield.com
Kate Heartfield @kateheartfield.com · 1d
I have been reading all the "students these days" threads from various sides and I have an essay's worth of thoughts -- there's a lot of complexity and heterogeneity that is hard to communicate on social media. There are a couple of things I will say here though. 1/

Reposted by Michael H. Whitworth

cathfletcher.bsky.social
Catherine Fletcher @cathfletcher.bsky.social · 1d
Saw an amazing little exhibition at the new Petri archaeology museum in Berlin - "degenerate" art confiscated by the Nazis and excavated in 2010 during construction of a metro station.
Terracotta sculpture of a stylised woman's head. She has large eyes and a narrow nose and chin. In the background a panel reads "The Berlin Sculpture Find."

Reposted by Michael H. Whitworth

rwmuseum.bsky.social
Royal Welsh Museum @rwmuseum.bsky.social · 1d
Poem by 22266 Private Thomas Parton, 5th Bn, South Wales Borderers. ‘The Taking of Mametz Wood’ was written on July 10th 1916. Pte Parton was killed in action on August 3rd, 1917, aged 23. He is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium. royalwelshmuseum.wales/portfolio-it...

Reposted by Michael H. Whitworth

ncecire.bsky.social
Natalia Cecire @ncecire.bsky.social · 1d
Everyone is posting about the EUP sale but another hot tip is that it also applies to paperback pre-orders, for example Sara Crangle's two-volume study of Mina Loy edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-nethere...

edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-elevate...
Nethered Regions – An Anatomy of Mina Loy
Nethered Regions – An Anatomy of Mina Loy
edinburghuniversitypress.com

Reposted by Michael H. Whitworth

rachelmurray.bsky.social
Rachel Murray @rachelmurray.bsky.social · 1d
The Modernist Exoskeleton has been reduced to £11 this weekend: edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-the-mod...
The Modernist Exoskeleton
The Modernist Exoskeleton
edinburghuniversitypress.com

profmhwhitworth.bsky.social
Michael H Whitworth @profmhwhitworth.bsky.social · 1d
Methanol, a cheap relative of ethanol, is entering the supply chain, causing thousands of deaths around the world
Brain damage, blindness and death: the global trail of trauma left by methanol-laced alcohol
Methanol, a cheap relative of ethanol, is entering the supply chain, causing thousands of deaths around the world
www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Sanford F. Schram, Michael H. Whitworth, Brian Keegan

ellipsus.com
Ellipsus @ellipsus.com · 2d
The OpenAI ruling writers should know about 👀 (if your work was scraped for LLM training, this affects you). www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/bus...
OpenAI Loses Key Discovery Battle as It Cedes Ground to Authors in AI Lawsuits
The issue has been a major battleground in discovery. OpenAI could be on the hook for hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars if it was aware it was infringing on copyrighted material.
www.hollywoodreporter.com

Reposted by Cas Mudde, Dustin Mulvaney, Alan Richardson , and 7 more

carnage4life.bsky.social
Dare Obasanjo @carnage4life.bsky.social · 2d
A study by Dayforce shows 87% of executives use AI for work, compared to 57% of managers and just 27% of employees.

I think this explains the massive disconnect we see in how CEOs talk about AI versus everyone else. It also raises the question of how useful it truly is for frontline work?
Execs are embracing AI more than their employees are, new research suggests
Research from HR software company Dayforce suggests that executives are leaning into AI far more than their employees.
www.businessinsider.com

Reposted by Rebecca Williams, Jonathan Hopkin, Michael H. Whitworth , and 2 more

eicathomefinn.bsky.social
Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 2d
'David Maguire and Alex Bols, vice-chancellor and chief of staff respectively at the University of East Anglia, updated their prediction made last autumn that 10,000 jobs could be lost in 2024-25, claiming this same amount could in fact be lost every year going forward.' 1/3
UK universities ‘could cut 10,000 jobs every year’
Academics claim changes made to higher education system a decade ago have divided sector into ‘winners and losers’, with government-imposed limits on income exacerbating financial challenges
www.timeshighereducation.com

Reposted by Anna O. Law, Nandita Sharma, Richard S.J. Tol , and 40 more

publius24.bsky.social
John Q. Public @publius24.bsky.social · 2d
Stephen Miller is now arguing that assimilation is fundamentally impossible and that certain cultures are not compatible with Western civilization

Reposted by Jonathan Portes, Ben H. Ansell, Will Jennings , and 7 more

sundersays.bsky.social
Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 2d
Today's 70% fall in net migration to 205,000 was not one of the six stories in BBC ten o'clock news.

Ta massive assymetry in whether rises in immigration and falls in immigration are considered newsworthy by broadcasters

Down by 140k isn't thought to be.

Up by 140k undoubtedly would be.

Reposted by Jonathan Portes, Ben H. Ansell, Steve Peers , and 5 more

liamthorp.bsky.social
Liam Thorp @liamthorp.bsky.social · 2d
The UK, where the day after a decision to take half a million children out of poverty, the media & political world has been full of sneering at those same children & their families, labelling them as ‘Benefits Street’, while the same people are moaning about a tax on £2m mansions. Shameful stuff.

Reposted by Michael H. Whitworth

ruthholliday.bsky.social
Ruth Holliday @ruthholliday.bsky.social · 2d
Tony Smith on Ch4News saying international students should be limited because they’re “economically inactive”.

International students pay around £27k p.a. in fees to their universities, at least half again to landlords and they spend their parents’ hard-earned money in local shops.

Reposted by Jonathan Portes, Tim Bale, Paul Davies , and 2 more

zoegrunewald.bsky.social
Zoë Grünewald @zoegrunewald.bsky.social · 2d
The "don't have an extra kid if you can't afford it" brigade get awfully upset when you suggest they don't stay in their £2m house if they can't afford it, don't they?

Reposted by Jonathan Portes, Ben H. Ansell, Lesley A. Hall , and 4 more

ippr.org
Institute for Public Policy Research @ippr.org · 3d
70% of the additional spending from removing the two-child limit will go to families who are in work. This is targeting support for low-income working households who are being priced out of a decent standard of living despite doing everything asked of them.

Reposted by Jonathan Portes, Michael H. Whitworth

benansell.bsky.social
Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 3d
So we are already back to the levels of migration of the early 2010s and declining faster... let's hope all those new restrictions, based on previous higher numbers, don't make Britain massively unattractive to those migrants the government DOES wish to attract.
sundersays.bsky.social Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 3d
Net migration fell sharply agaim to 204,000 in the year to June 2025, having been 344k in 2024 and 848k in 2023. But falling immigration has been the biggest secret - and it is time for the media and political debate to catch up with this change
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cn...
UK net migration fell to 204,000 in year to June - live updates
Net migration, the difference between those entering and leaving the country, was 345,000 in 2024 according to revised figures.
www.bbc.co.uk

Reposted by Ben H. Ansell, Steve Peers, Tim Bale , and 2 more

sundersays.bsky.social
Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 3d
Net migration fell sharply agaim to 204,000 in the year to June 2025, having been 344k in 2024 and 848k in 2023. But falling immigration has been the biggest secret - and it is time for the media and political debate to catch up with this change
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cn...
UK net migration fell to 204,000 in year to June - live updates
Net migration, the difference between those entering and leaving the country, was 345,000 in 2024 according to revised figures.
www.bbc.co.uk

Reposted by Michael H. Whitworth

annakornbluh.bsky.social
Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · 3d
PROMOTE YOUR BOOKS! EVERYONE WANTS TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR PUBLISHED BOOKS!

gonna be reposting your books because hoo you made a book!

www.versobooks.com/products/303...
Immediacy!

Reposted by Michael H. Whitworth

willpooley.bsky.social
will pooley @willpooley.bsky.social · 3d
all those years work pitching the value of the humanities and STILL when financial crunch comes and management consultants role in, they could not care less.

history doesn’t have enough commercial applications! humanities aren’t engaged enough with AI! why isn’t my house a helicopter!

Reposted by Steve Peers, Michael H. Whitworth, Christina Pagel

gilesyb.bsky.social
Giles Wilkes @gilesyb.bsky.social · 3d
I'm hearing criticisms of the end to the two child limit, because it was done just to mollify Labour backbenchers, at a cost of £billions.

I remember another govt delivering a referendum on EU membership, just to mollify restive backbenchers. That's costing way, way more... A little perspective?

Reposted by Jennifer Bussell, Fabián Muniesa, Robert C. Richards , and 4 more

tyleraking.com
Tyler King @tyleraking.com · 4d
Slop Evader is a tool from artist and researcher Tega Brain that lets you search the web for results exclusively before November 30, 2022—the day that ChatGPT was released to the public.
'Slop Evader' Lets You Surf the Web Like It’s 2022
Artist Tega Brain is fighting the internet’s enshittification by turning back the clock to before ChatGPT existed.
www.404media.co

Reposted by Christopher Smith, Michael H. Whitworth, Nicole Guenther Discenza

johannawinant.bsky.social
Johanna Winant @johannawinant.bsky.social · 4d
I wrote an essay for @bostonreview.bsky.social about what I learned about close reading when I taught at West Virginia University

www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
The Claims of Close Reading - Boston Review
Literary studies have been starved by austerity, but their core methodology remains radical.
www.bostonreview.net

Reposted by Michael H. Whitworth

ross-greer.bsky.social
Ross Greer (he/him) @ross-greer.bsky.social · 4d
🔥🔥🔥 While everyone is distracted by other budget news, Labour have just announced that they will allow more drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea 🔥🔥🔥

Genuinely catastrophic for our climate and further proof that Labour care more about corporate profits than people or planet.
BBC headline: More North Sea drilling to be allowed in new Labour plan

Reposted by Michael H. Whitworth, Catriona Seth

jimdickinson.bsky.social
Jim Dickinson @jimdickinson.bsky.social · 4d
"Protest over future of University of Nottingham language courses"
Protest over future of University of Nottingham language courses
The University of Nottingham has suspended entry for new students on modern language courses.
www.bbc.co.uk

Reposted by Dave O’Brien, Colin Murray, Martin Paul Eve , and 6 more

eicathomefinn.bsky.social
Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 4d
Chief exec of OfS 'said the OfS believes there are 24 institutions at risk of exiting the market in the next 12 months, seven of which are large providers with more than 3,000 students. There are another 25 or so institutions of various sizes at risk over a two- to three-year period, she added.'
Seven ‘large providers’ at risk of going under in the next year
Skills minister says no higher education institutions are at imminent risk of collapse this year but OfS confirms more than 20 providers are being closely monitored
www.timeshighereducation.com