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ceebarnacles.bsky.social
Christian
@ceebarnacles.bsky.social
840 followers 650 following 880 posts
By the sea or by the books.
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ceebarnacles.bsky.social
Christian @ceebarnacles.bsky.social · 27d
As part of the Fredson Bowers award from @bibsoc.bsky.social (🙏) I’ll be giving a short talk on ‘The reassembly, analysis and appraisal of John Bellingham Inglis (1780-1870): #rarebooks collector; savant; scholar; slave owner’

November 18th, 5-7pm.

In person / online bibsoc.org.uk/event/panel-...
A selection of early printed books once owned by John Bellingham Inglis (1780-1870) alongside an example of the ‘embellishments’ - carefully cut out engravings which he pasted on the endpapers of many of his books and also an early photographic portrait that could be a rare surviving likeness of the collector
ceebarnacles.bsky.social
Solidarity to library workers at State Library Victoria in Melbourne - similar struggles as in London.
Worth noting that there is one union only for the library workers in Melbourne; in London there are two and it is a massive weakness to divide and rule by Exec.

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
State Library of Victoria faces job cuts as staff accuse management of pursuing ‘digital vanity projects’
Under the plan, 39 jobs would be lost and the public-facing workforce of reference librarians would be cut from 25 staff to 10
www.theguardian.com
November 28, 2025 at 9:37 AM
Reposted by Christian
benpohl.bsky.social
Only a genuine idiot or a nasty piece of work could think that making one’s country less welcoming and hospitable so fewer people want to come and live there constitutes an achievement worth bragging about.
November 28, 2025 at 6:43 AM
Reposted by Christian
marchudson.bsky.social
YES, there are bad-faith actors with deep pockets etc. Tobacco, weapons, fossil fuels. Who know how to side line those who would challenge their room to manoeuvre.

But the idea that those in charge are anything special? I just don't see any evidence for it.

Just, mediocre.

2/2
November 27, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Reposted by Christian
marchudson.bsky.social
Spent several happy days at various archives and libraries (TNA, KCL, British Library).

My take home (sit down, this is a shocker)

We're ruled by average ppl who'll kick a can down the road if they can. They're not particularly smart, evil, far-sighted.

They were warned, often. And shrugged.

1/2
November 27, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Reposted by Christian
alanlester.bsky.social
1/5 It was entirely predictable that The Telegraph would jump on @DavidOlusoga’s Empire series to fight its right wing culture war for control of our public history. Let’s see what they’ve done:
November 27, 2025 at 8:28 AM
ceebarnacles.bsky.social
C’mon Arsenal!!!! ❤️🤍❤️🤍❤️🤍❤️🤍
November 26, 2025 at 9:37 PM
Reposted by Christian
davidandress.bsky.social
Imagine being so racist, as a teenager in 1981, that someone feels compelled to write a three-page letter about it to your headteacher. In 1981.
snig.bsky.social Snigdha @snig.bsky.social · Oct 1
Nigel Farage has been a lifelong racist. He's been a racist since his school days. David Lammy was forced to apologise for saying Farage flirted with the Hitler Youth - but what do you call it when someone sings Hitler Youth songs? Read Chloe Deakin's letter on Farage's fascism and racism at school.
From Chloe Denkin 01-734 1717 and 1778 E3 ALBANY PICCADILLY WIV ORH 4th June 1981 Dear Master, I am happy to say that I am not acquainted with N. P. Farage, of ASRY happy, because judging from hereporis i haveter ceived he is not someone with whom I would wish to be acquainted; and becaure I am, therefore, able to write on the ground of no personal prejedice, but on that conceraing p. inciple. You will recati that at the recent, and longthy, moeting about the selection of prefects, the nomads by a hegy that Sara was "a fascist, but that was no reason why ho would not make a good prefect" invoked considerable reaction from members of the Common Room. Another collesgue, who teaches the boy, des-cribed his publicly professed racist and neo-fascist views; and he citod a particular inciler in which Farage was so offensive to a boy in his set, that he had to be removed from the lesson. This mastor stated his view that that behaviour was precisely why the boy should not he made a prefect. Yet another colleague deseribed how, at a CCE camp organized by the College, Farage and others had marched through a quiet Sussex village very late at night shout-in Hitler-you songs; and when it was suggested by a master thie boys who expressed such views "don't really mean them", the College Chaplain himself commented that, on the contrary, in his experience views of that kind expressed by boys of that age are onted, and are mennt, At the end of that meeting I had not a scintilla of doubt that after the facts disclosed to you, Farage's nomination would no longer be considered. Nor, I imagine, had my colleagues; other-wise, we would have expressed ourselves even more strongly. But yesterday I was told by a senior boy, in terms of st that Farage was indeed to be selected; and today, of course, his appointment was announced in Assembly an announcement, I gather, which was met with disbelief and derision. To say that is too late to reverse this decision, or that Farage', acdir 3 will be restricted to particular areas of College te, or that he will be supervised within them, is futile. His appointment will have four immediate consequences. First, it will vastly increase his own confidence, and sense of self-justification. Secondly, he will have the privilege of listing his appointment as a profect at Dulwich College in his uni-versity and other applications. Thirdly, his peers, according to their own views, will either adopt him as an exemplar, or, as is much more likely, regard his appointment with disillusionment and cynicism when Ley observe that his notorious views and behaviour, well known to poth Master and members of the staff, are, as it would aptent, condoned by them. Fourthly, those members of the Common Room, such as myself, who believed that a firm daca fon had been reached through a democratic process, will be shock, saddened, angered, and disheartened. You will appreciate that I regard this as a very serious matter. i have often heard you tell our senior boys that they are the nation's future leaders. It is our collective responsibility to ensure that these lenders are enlightened and compassionate. As you know, the national and educational press has recently given much prominence to the growing concern at the exploitation of school pupils by extremists of all kinds. A school of the stature and high roputation of Dulwich College which openly con-domned the recent troubles in Brixton, and offered its facilities freely to the foreca of law and order, ought not to be seen laside or outside its confines to be giving its endorsement, expressly or by implication, to budding extremists of the opposite kind. A school which is proud of its selectiveness, conservatism, and discipline, cught not to allow these characteristics to degen erate into intolerance, political extremism, or bullying of the nastiest kind, in its pupils. The matter of the appointment of Farage as a prefect may be thought by some to be minuscule against these deep considerations. It is not so. I am by disposition, tolerant; and in politics, moderate. But as a member of the Common Room, I find it distasteful that a boy such as Farage should have bestowed upon him the prestige of office and authority: wore I a parent or a pupil, I would find it profoundly so. In view, as I am aware, of the wide concern within the College about this matter, I am sending a copy of this letter to the chairman of the Common Room. Yours very sincerely, David Emms, Esq., MA, The Master of Dulwich College.
November 26, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Reposted by Christian
lrb.co.uk
‘Of all the violent phases in the history of Liverpool, the slave trade was the most vicious, yet it was barely acknowledged until recently.’

John Kerrigan on Liverpool, the Atlantic slave trade and m. nourbeSe philip’s long poem 𝘡𝘰𝘯𝘨!

www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
John Kerrigan · No Illusions: Syntax of Slavery
Slavery was accepted across most of the early modern world. No one wanted to be a slave, except when the alternative was...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 25, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Reposted by Christian
carolecadwalla.bsky.social
I’m a past winner of the Orwell Prize & won partly because I exposed Vote Leave’s unlawful activities.

Michael Gove was its co-convener & refused to answer a single q. He’s now a judge of the prize & our world is truly one that Orwell would recognise

bylinetimes.com/2025/11/25/m...
Michael Gove Made Orwell Prize Judge Despite Record of Attacking Journalists and Dodging Scrutiny
Critics say "Orwell would have enjoyed the irony" of the former Conservative minister's appointment
bylinetimes.com
November 25, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Reposted by Christian
bho.bsky.social
Voices in Slavery’s Archive: Law, Place & Testimony in British Guiana

making the largest collection of first-person testimony of enslaved people from the Caribbean in existence – the Reports of the Protectors of Slaves – accessible.

www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/news/p...

#History
Project to bring voices of enslaved people to life - The National Archives
The National Archives is working with international academics to make the largest collection of first-person testimony of enslaved people from the Caribbean in existence – the Reports of the Protector...
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
November 25, 2025 at 12:45 PM
ceebarnacles.bsky.social
Word counts. I shit ‘em. If you got to write your own obituary there’d be a bloody word count wouldn’t there?!
November 25, 2025 at 12:38 PM
ceebarnacles.bsky.social
I have discovered ‘Didgeridoo Drone’ 🎧🪃👌
November 25, 2025 at 8:14 AM
ceebarnacles.bsky.social
Capitalism. It saw you coming.
November 25, 2025 at 6:04 AM
Reposted by Christian
devawo.bsky.social
📌
boozybadger.lawyersandliquor.com Col. Boozy Badger @boozybadger.lawyersandliquor.com · 5d
Someone bought a bunch of the turkeys and hams at our local grocery in town and told the manager to make them available for free to folks that need them. There’s a whole freezer case with a sign on it that just says “If you need one take one, if you don’t then leave it for someone else.”
November 24, 2025 at 1:15 PM
ceebarnacles.bsky.social
Can anyone think of a less 🤮 phrase for ‘passion project’?
‘Passion’ is one of my bugbear words - up there with ‘literally’ (both overused colloquially). I usually use ‘intensity of feeling’ as a synonym for ‘passion’.
November 24, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Reposted by Christian
nevillemorley.bsky.social
“If only they had fewer rights, then people wouldn’t hate them so much and we would hit some golden ratio where everyone will be happier. Because immigration perception and immigration reality are famously aligned things.”
November 24, 2025 at 7:16 AM
Reposted by Christian
alanlester.bsky.social
November 24, 2025 at 7:27 AM
Reposted by Christian
theguardian.com
Tom Gauld on librarians v booksellers – cartoon
Tom Gauld on librarians v booksellers – cartoon
There’s no competition …
www.theguardian.com
November 23, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Reposted by Christian
arseblog.com
😝
November 23, 2025 at 6:10 PM
ceebarnacles.bsky.social
The British Library needs leadership that understands what’s involved, what’s gone wrong, what needs fixing, what needs jettisoning and what is reasonably expected of a library with encyclopaedic resources that represent all aspects of human thought, history, experience and hope.
Give us a Panizzi!
November 23, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Reposted by Christian
richove.bsky.social
Good to see the problems facing our colleagues @britishlibrary.bsky.social being raised here by @hetanshah.bsky.social (of @britishacademy.bsky.social). If this had happened in France it would be considered a national problem to be urgently addressed! www.cityam.com/the-british-...
The British library is in crisis: why does nobody care?
The widespread indifference to the British Library's crippling cyberattack demonstrates a perilous failure to value the knowledge infrastructure vital for national prosperity
www.cityam.com
November 18, 2025 at 7:58 AM
ceebarnacles.bsky.social
Death Star media. 🤑🤮

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Daily Mail owner agrees to buy Daily Telegraph for £500m
The publisher of the Daily Mail says it is in talks to buy the Daily and Sunday Telegraph for £500m.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 22, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Reposted by Christian
vfo.bsky.social
Come for the article about the British Library hack, stay for the impromptu reading group that pops up in the replies (my librarian heart grew three sizes just now)
hetanshah.bsky.social Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 11d
I’ve written a piece on the curious lack of media and political interest in the issues faced by our national @britishlibrary.bsky.social. This is strange given we live in a world where ideas, knowledge and research are a long-term source of innovation and insight
www.cityam.com/the-british-...
The British library is in crisis: why does nobody care?
The widespread indifference to the British Library's crippling cyberattack demonstrates a perilous failure to value the knowledge infrastructure vital for national prosperity
www.cityam.com
November 22, 2025 at 6:40 AM
Reposted by Christian
simonpirani.bsky.social
As a @britishlibrary.bsky.social reader, I urge the management to stop fooling around, treat staff with respect and settle a decent pay award, righting three years + of wrongs. @ceebarnacles.bsky.social @pcsunion.bsky.social
November 21, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Reposted by Christian
eicathomefinn.bsky.social
'at a meeting on 19 November, PCS said its “members voted unanimously to reject the revised offer”. The union has written to the British Library requesting an improved offer by 24 November, warning it “will consider escalating the dispute if our demands are not met”.'
November 21, 2025 at 3:30 PM