Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Christopher Pittard @christopherpittard.bsky.social · 15h

I should clarify that I meant "I said good day sir" in the voice not of Willy Wonka, but of Dixon Bainbridge.

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Christopher Pittard @christopherpittard.bsky.social · 16h

“I said ‘good day sir.’”

Tammi, yeah, that one. 2.1 @tammi.bsky.social · 16h

I found a 19th century Cat Villain!

A huge chonk of a fluffy cat sitting on a table near an open fire. The cat is cream and grey and appears to be shaped like a barrel in a fur coat. They are scowling fiercely with their moustache and bewhiskered ears apparently flowing back into the cold wind. There's a definite vibe that this villainous cat twirls their moustache as they evict orphans into the aforementioned blizzard and think Scrooge was an easy-going lightweight. They are magnificent.

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Christopher Pittard @christopherpittard.bsky.social · 23h

In other Southsea signage news, the long defunct fish and chip shop on Castle Road is no longer Uncle Buck’s. I don’t think it’s been open since I moved to Portsmouth, but it’s the principle.

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Christopher Pittard @christopherpittard.bsky.social · 23h

WHSmith in Southsea has finally fallen. Are there any high street WHS left?

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Christopher Pittard @christopherpittard.bsky.social · 1d

Reminded of the experience of reading *Don Quixote* - I loved it, but was genuinely expecting the windmill stuff to account for more than four pages.

Natasha Simonova @philistella.bsky.social · 1d

Love this thread about reading Melmoth because it DOES contain all of those things and... absolutely none of them will be in the other 500+ pages of the book.

Talia Lavin @swordsjew.bsky.social · 2d

melmoth the wanderer absolutely slaps. we've got a sinister manor, a cursed painting, an evil dying miser, a gentle young idiot hero and a sinister irish witch in chapter 1

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David Benedict @eggsbened.bsky.social · 1d

EXACTLY!
‘Where once there was a yearning to be “exposed to something extraordinary”, today politicians and arts administrators are besotted by the notion of “relevance”, of the arts as something with which people must immediately identify or recognise.’ observer.co.uk/news/columni...

It’s not opera that’s elitist but the idea that art is to...

The myth that culture has not been for the masses is debunked in a new book

observer.co.uk

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Christopher Pittard @christopherpittard.bsky.social · 2d

I often think nowadays about whose champagne we drank, and also the fact that whoever it was could just as easily have bought us a car.

In any case, there was no noise. None. Maybe the tech bro didn’t actually have any friends, or they all came around and just stared at the walls.

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Christopher Pittard @christopherpittard.bsky.social · 2d

My wife and I had our honeymoon in a basement flat in San Francisco. One day, the woman who owned the house said that the man next door was one of the founders of PayPal and was having a party that night. He had sent us a bottle of champagne to apologise for any noise…

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Christopher Pittard @christopherpittard.bsky.social · 2d

Caught five seconds of an episode of *Rick Stein’s Cornwall* and was reminded of a conversation I overheard in a bookshop in Truro. “I was asked to be on *Fern Britton’s Cornwall* and I said no; then I was contacted by *Rick Stein’s Cornwall* and I said fuck no.”

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QM_UCU @qmucu.bsky.social · 2d

*FIFTEEN THOUSAND JOBS LOST*.
If this were in a sector in which the PM could go and do a photoshoot looking like One Of The People, we’d have had a government intervention by now.

LopaLeach @lopa.bsky.social · 2d

Cuts equivalent to 15,000 jobs planned at UK universities – UCU www.timeshighereducation.com/news/cuts-eq...

Cuts equivalent to 15,000 jobs planned at UK universities – UCU

Proposed job losses almost triple since March as unions prepare to vote on nationwide industrial action

www.timeshighereducation.com

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Christopher Pittard @christopherpittard.bsky.social · 2d

Have found out that for Hallowe’en 2025 Neonraptor Brewing have released a set of beers based on 1970s/80s public information films… no Frisbee IPA, though. neonraptorbrewingco.com/products/hal...

Hidden Dangers Halloween 2025 Pack

We love spooky beers and we have three new Halloween beers for 2025! Inspried by the scary UK Public Information films of the 70s and 80s that use to show on tv between your favourite shows. Hop on th...

neonraptorbrewingco.com

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Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 4d

A striking thing about articles I’ve read claiming to “study the effects” of generative AI on student writing skills and consumption of information is that (1) they nearly always find the effects are negative and (2) most “conclusions” are still written assuming that we must use AI, for some reason.

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Christopher Pittard @christopherpittard.bsky.social · 3d

Also, my thoughts are with the managers of Fitzcarraldo Editions in this difficult time.

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Christopher Pittard @christopherpittard.bsky.social · 3d

It’s that time of year when the Nobel Prize committee releases a single sentence prize justification that sounds exactly like they haven’t actually done the reading. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai wins Nobel Prize for Literature

He was recognised “for his compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art”.

www.bbc.com

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Christopher Pittard @christopherpittard.bsky.social · 4d

‘Middlemarch of the Cybermen.’

Christopher Pittard @christopherpittard.bsky.social · 5d

Lionel Gadsden was an actor born in London in 1879, meaning that he lived in the same city as George Eliot and Wilkie Collins. His final acting job was on *Doctor Who.*

rax ‘levon honkers’ king @raxkingisdead.bsky.social · 5d

you ever think about those real weird overlaps. like tennessee williams might have listened to the ramones

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Research Society for Victorian Periodicals @rs4vp.org · 4d

Are you doing #19thC attribution research? Do you have DH skills and nowhere to use them? YOU could be the next editor of the Curran Index! We're still accepting applications thru next week on 15 Oct. Lead this ongoing + fully supported DH project into its next iteration! rs4vp.org/curran-edito...

Lead the Curran Index as Our New Editor – RSVP

RSVP seeks a new Editor or Editors to lead the Curran Index! Applications should be sent to VP Alison Chapman by October 15.

rs4vp.org

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Christopher Pittard @christopherpittard.bsky.social · 4d

Exactly. In my introductory Crime Writing seminar last week I showed exactly how ChatGPT had badly misrepresented my work on detective fiction, and told students that by not relying on AI they would be the people getting the jobs to fix its costly mistakes.

David Higgins @davidhiggins.bsky.social · 4d

A Gen AI argument I hate:

‘We disadvantage our students if we don’t teach them to use it “responsibly”’

For fuck’s sake, no.

1: it can’t be used responsibly
2: it’s antithetical to what makes humanities work worthwhile: critical thinking, deep research, self expression, self reflection, etc.

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Christopher Pittard @christopherpittard.bsky.social · 4d

I would also not be surprised if Storm Thorgerson had seen 'The Flypaper' and some of those long shots across the fields towards Ely stuck in the back of his mind when designing the cover for Pink Floyd's *The Division Bell.*

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Christopher Pittard @christopherpittard.bsky.social · 4d

Happened to catch a repeat of 'The Flypaper' from *Tales of the Unexpected* this evening. It's brilliant how it lures you into thinking you've got the twist worked out, but you haven't. The cinematography is also excellent - Ely Cathedral looks positively malign in it.

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Prof Damien Page @profdamienpage.bsky.social · 5d

I miss the days when higher education was seen as a social good, a national treasure. When the social, cultural and intellectual contribution of higher education was valued as highly as economic contribution. When students from poorer backgrounds had proper financial support. When the humanities 1/

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Christopher Pittard @christopherpittard.bsky.social · 5d

Lionel Gadsden was an actor born in London in 1879, meaning that he lived in the same city as George Eliot and Wilkie Collins. His final acting job was on *Doctor Who.*

rax ‘levon honkers’ king @raxkingisdead.bsky.social · 5d

you ever think about those real weird overlaps. like tennessee williams might have listened to the ramones

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Reposted by Christopher Pittard

Ben Davies @bendavies.bsky.social · 5d

No reason for reposting today...

University English @univeng.bsky.social · Jun 3

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Christopher Pittard @christopherpittard.bsky.social · 5d

On a related note, one of the things I liked about the new Alan Partridge episode was how it reminded the nation of Rishi Sunak's "do you work in business?" visit to a homeless shelter.

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Christopher Pittard @christopherpittard.bsky.social · 5d

I'm old enough to remember the time when you couldn't go through Heathrow without seeing several massive posters about the cultural industries as a UK asset.

Naomi Alderman @naomialderman.bsky.social · 5d

Not to mention performing arts! The UK has some of the best talent in the world in film and TV. Not just actors but producers, lighting, ADs, makeup, costume, casting. High-end production companies come from around the world to make stuff here. Performing arts is a *massive industry for Britain*.

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danishpasty66.bsky.social @danishpasty66.bsky.social · 5d

Yeah. Who needs English?

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