Christopher Pittard
@christopherpittard.bsky.social
Course leader and Senior Lecturer in Victorian Literature. Specialist in detective fiction, Arthur Conan Doyle, Dickens, Wilkie Collins. New book: *Literary Illusions: Performance Magic and Victorian Literature* (Edinburgh UP, 2025).
Michael Slater not only knew more about Dickens than possibly anybody else on the planet, but he also makes an appearance in Tom Baker’s biography, where Baker credits Michael with introducing him to Dickens. Now that’s impact.
November 27, 2025 at 10:36 PM
Michael Slater not only knew more about Dickens than possibly anybody else on the planet, but he also makes an appearance in Tom Baker’s biography, where Baker credits Michael with introducing him to Dickens. Now that’s impact.
Oh no - this is really sad news.
Sad news to end the night - I've been told that Michael Slater passed away today. A titan of the field, his biography remains the authoritative account of Dickens. But more than that, he was a friend, and a generous and enthusiastic supporter of new Dickens scholarship: the founder of the feast.
November 27, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Oh no - this is really sad news.
When I was much younger, my local library had Bamber Gascoigne's *Quest for the Golden Hare*, his account of the whole Masquerade treasure hunt. I've always wanted to read it again, but the few copies out there are at least about £80 now.
One of the most beautiful bits of english eccentricity and glorious design is coming back to Sotheby’s and should be bought by a musuem (or me) for THE NATION. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...
Jewelled golden hare that sparked national treasure hunt set for auction
Artist and author Kit Williams hid a golden hare with clues to its precise location given in his 1979 book
www.independent.co.uk
November 27, 2025 at 2:51 PM
When I was much younger, my local library had Bamber Gascoigne's *Quest for the Golden Hare*, his account of the whole Masquerade treasure hunt. I've always wanted to read it again, but the few copies out there are at least about £80 now.
The Toryish outrage at Rachel Reeves not lifting the tax threshold is interesting considering that the last threshold raise was a measly £70 in April 2021, from a level set back in 2019. Do we have any records as to who was in charge back in those olden days?
November 27, 2025 at 11:40 AM
The Toryish outrage at Rachel Reeves not lifting the tax threshold is interesting considering that the last threshold raise was a measly £70 in April 2021, from a level set back in 2019. Do we have any records as to who was in charge back in those olden days?
Reposted by Christopher Pittard
I’m sorry but there is no leftist argument in favour of book piracy (even academic books: because in that case honestly a lot of academics will just send you the PDF if you ask, it might even be open access) while libraries exist. And using libraries is the way to keep them existing.
November 26, 2025 at 9:59 PM
I’m sorry but there is no leftist argument in favour of book piracy (even academic books: because in that case honestly a lot of academics will just send you the PDF if you ask, it might even be open access) while libraries exist. And using libraries is the way to keep them existing.
Reposted by Christopher Pittard
This is why OpenAI is selling so aggressively to education at all levels—they want to create entire generations of users incapable of reading, writing and thinking without ChatGPT to hold their hands
And teachers and professors should call this out for what it actually is
And teachers and professors should call this out for what it actually is
To bear out this rosy projection, HSBC assumes that OpenAI will become "as ubiquitous [...] as Microsoft 365" (345mm users worldwide) while bringing in 10x the number of users (3bn).
November 25, 2025 at 11:11 PM
This is why OpenAI is selling so aggressively to education at all levels—they want to create entire generations of users incapable of reading, writing and thinking without ChatGPT to hold their hands
And teachers and professors should call this out for what it actually is
And teachers and professors should call this out for what it actually is
I'm not seeing any reports on the proposed and ludicrous international student tax - is it too recondite for the press, has it been dropped altogether, or has Reeves not got to that bit yet?
November 26, 2025 at 1:07 PM
I'm not seeing any reports on the proposed and ludicrous international student tax - is it too recondite for the press, has it been dropped altogether, or has Reeves not got to that bit yet?
Once again, I’m on the panel for the Arthur Conan Doyle Society’s award for scholarly writing. Read a good academic piece published this year? Nominate it here by 30 November. acdsociety.com/Honors/Honor...
ACD Society ... Honors
acdsociety.com
November 25, 2025 at 10:17 PM
Once again, I’m on the panel for the Arthur Conan Doyle Society’s award for scholarly writing. Read a good academic piece published this year? Nominate it here by 30 November. acdsociety.com/Honors/Honor...
I think I’ve reached the age where the world no longer makes sense. This is what it must have been like for my grandmother on first sighting Boy George. www.bbc.com/news/article...
Starmer apologises for leading pupils in 6-7 dance
The prime minister performed a version of the viral dance with primary school children, before being told it was not allowed.
www.bbc.com
November 25, 2025 at 7:44 PM
I think I’ve reached the age where the world no longer makes sense. This is what it must have been like for my grandmother on first sighting Boy George. www.bbc.com/news/article...
There is a startling level of cultural illiteracy involved in complaining that a school's Christmas play has a plot about refugees from the Middle East. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Inverness school's Christmas show cancelled after 'racist' abuse
Highland Council says some of the online messages were directed at staff at the primary.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 25, 2025 at 2:11 PM
There is a startling level of cultural illiteracy involved in complaining that a school's Christmas play has a plot about refugees from the Middle East. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
This morning I had my favourite undergraduate seminar of the year, on Derrida's *The Death Penalty*, of which we read extracts from the first and second sessions. I approach this seminar in a different way from the others on my Crime Writing module...
November 25, 2025 at 12:43 PM
This morning I had my favourite undergraduate seminar of the year, on Derrida's *The Death Penalty*, of which we read extracts from the first and second sessions. I approach this seminar in a different way from the others on my Crime Writing module...
Nice to see Roger Limb on BBC Breakfast just now, but a bizarre mistake by the reporter - Limb didn’t compose the Doctor Who theme.
November 25, 2025 at 8:44 AM
Nice to see Roger Limb on BBC Breakfast just now, but a bizarre mistake by the reporter - Limb didn’t compose the Doctor Who theme.
Reposted by Christopher Pittard
okay so here’s the thing about being racist, right
you can’t do it nicely!!! There is no kind or complimentary way to be racist!!!
you can’t do it nicely!!! There is no kind or complimentary way to be racist!!!
“I would never ever do it in a hurtful or insulting way”
Nigel Farage responds to allegations of racist behaviour from when he was a teenager at school
@itvnewspolitics.bsky.social
Nigel Farage responds to allegations of racist behaviour from when he was a teenager at school
@itvnewspolitics.bsky.social
November 24, 2025 at 6:37 PM
okay so here’s the thing about being racist, right
you can’t do it nicely!!! There is no kind or complimentary way to be racist!!!
you can’t do it nicely!!! There is no kind or complimentary way to be racist!!!
Found this fragment of a lost civilisation in the stack of bookmarks by my desk.
November 24, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Found this fragment of a lost civilisation in the stack of bookmarks by my desk.
@rosiepaice.bsky.social Got the cover for your next book on *Paradise Lost*.
November 24, 2025 at 12:57 PM
@rosiepaice.bsky.social Got the cover for your next book on *Paradise Lost*.
This bit wasn't in the email I received, but I love the fact there's an even nuttier version out there.
If I'm remembering right, he's a spiritualist himself, and believes he was the plagiarised 19th-c author (Matthew Franklin Whittier) in a past life. The past life stuff seems to have dropped out of his most recent theories - now all about the supposed plagiarism.
November 24, 2025 at 12:52 PM
This bit wasn't in the email I received, but I love the fact there's an even nuttier version out there.
Has every other Victorian literature specialist received that email purporting to 'prove' that Dickens didn't write a *A Christmas Carol* and that it is actually a Spiritualist (in 1843??) text?
November 24, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Has every other Victorian literature specialist received that email purporting to 'prove' that Dickens didn't write a *A Christmas Carol* and that it is actually a Spiritualist (in 1843??) text?
Arrived at my office to find my computer has been on all weekend because Windows 11 apparently doesn't understand what "Update and shut down" means.
November 24, 2025 at 9:47 AM
Arrived at my office to find my computer has been on all weekend because Windows 11 apparently doesn't understand what "Update and shut down" means.
Suddenly considering an abrupt shift in research projects.
It’s a very happy #DoctorWhoDay from us - we’re delighted to announce we’ve successfully acquired the archive of Whoniverse legend Terrance Dicks 😲 Read more at the link:
www.york.ac.uk/borthwick/ne...
www.york.ac.uk/borthwick/ne...
November 23, 2025 at 8:18 PM
Suddenly considering an abrupt shift in research projects.
Had a look around @pfieldbookshop.bsky.social yesterday, and they’ve got some lovely Alasdair Gray first editions, if you like that kind of thing.
November 23, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Had a look around @pfieldbookshop.bsky.social yesterday, and they’ve got some lovely Alasdair Gray first editions, if you like that kind of thing.
I never said my school was good at sound mixing. #totp
I see that #totp tonight includes a 1991 episode featuring Altern-8, so you’ll get to see the most famous person who went to my school. It’s not an extensive list. I might actually be on it because I was on Radio 4.
November 21, 2025 at 10:02 PM
I never said my school was good at sound mixing. #totp
I see that #totp tonight includes a 1991 episode featuring Altern-8, so you’ll get to see the most famous person who went to my school. It’s not an extensive list. I might actually be on it because I was on Radio 4.
November 21, 2025 at 8:35 PM
I see that #totp tonight includes a 1991 episode featuring Altern-8, so you’ll get to see the most famous person who went to my school. It’s not an extensive list. I might actually be on it because I was on Radio 4.
Reposted by Christopher Pittard
I've said it before and I will say it again many times, people using "AI" to design and deliver 'teaching' to students, to mark their work, and in this case to (!) generate literal voice overs are risking their jobs, and frankly they *should* be at risk if they do this sort of thing:
‘We could have asked ChatGPT’: students fight back over course taught by AI
Staffordshire students say signs material was AI-generated included suspicious file names and rogue voiceover accent
www.theguardian.com
November 20, 2025 at 12:11 PM
I've said it before and I will say it again many times, people using "AI" to design and deliver 'teaching' to students, to mark their work, and in this case to (!) generate literal voice overs are risking their jobs, and frankly they *should* be at risk if they do this sort of thing:
Reposted by Christopher Pittard
To “my students and to anyone who might listen, I say: Don’t surrender to AI your ability to read, write and think when others once risked their lives and died for the freedom to do so.”
www.huffpost.com/entry/histor...
www.huffpost.com/entry/histor...
I Set A Trap To Catch My Students Cheating With AI. The Results Were Shocking.
"Students are not just undermining their ability to learn, but to someday lead."
www.huffpost.com
November 21, 2025 at 12:22 AM
To “my students and to anyone who might listen, I say: Don’t surrender to AI your ability to read, write and think when others once risked their lives and died for the freedom to do so.”
www.huffpost.com/entry/histor...
www.huffpost.com/entry/histor...
In good news, my Blackwell’s purchases arrived today. Disappointed they don’t include the free bookmarks any more, though.
November 20, 2025 at 7:09 PM
In good news, my Blackwell’s purchases arrived today. Disappointed they don’t include the free bookmarks any more, though.