Carsten Timmermann
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ctimmermann.bsky.social
Carsten Timmermann
@ctimmermann.bsky.social
Historian of Biology and Medicine. Science is culture, and long live the Humanities. Director of @manchstm.bsky.social. Lapsed biochemist. Migrant. Rheinländer in 🇩🇪. Northerner in 🇬🇧. Gen X. Cyclist. Owned by dog. Often online. Here privately. He/him.
Pinned
Erm …
Sally Wainwright fans and Happy Valley aficionados will appreciate that Britain's bus driver of the year is from Sowerby Bridge.

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
‘It is a dream come true!’ Meet Britain’s bus driver of the year – and six other unsung heroes
From the top lollipop person to the most dedicated convenience store managers, we celebrate the winners of the year’s most unusual accolades
www.theguardian.com
November 26, 2025 at 3:00 PM
The Manchester skyline (as it presented itself last night)
November 26, 2025 at 9:11 AM
Reposted by Carsten Timmermann
Coming out in February, this must read: "Intoxicated Ways of Knowing. The Untold Story of Intoxicants and the Biological Subject in Nineteenth-Century Germany."
Intoxicated Ways of Knowing
Argues that intoxication was fundamental to German physiological, psychological, and psychiatric research during the nineteenth century.   Intoxicating substances can be found lurking in every corner ...
press.uchicago.edu
November 25, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Reposted by Carsten Timmermann
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.

They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
November 25, 2025 at 9:26 AM
Reposted by Carsten Timmermann
Nominations are open for the BSHS Pickstone Prize 2026, recognising the best scholarly English-language book in the history of science.
📆 Deadline: 31 Jan 2026.
Anyone may nominate (self-nominations welcome).
Submit via our online form on the BSHS website www.bshs.org.uk/the-bshs-pic...
November 19, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Reposted by Carsten Timmermann
Devastating ongoing self-immolation.
Still reeling from the Stanford report on Brexit. Reduced GDP by up to 8% and investment by as much as 18%. The UK Treasury would have £40 billion more each year if Britain had remained in the EU. Devastating self-immolation.
The Economic Impact of Brexit
Other
siepr.stanford.edu
November 24, 2025 at 7:09 PM
I listened to the podcast now, for which this essay review clearly was part of the preparation: David Runciman talking to the paleontologist Henry Gee, who thinks we (as in homo sapiens) are on the way out; it's inevitable, and it's ok, and we might as well get used to the idea and prepare for it.
‘This is not a new story caused by new technology. It has been true for as long as birth rates have been measured, going back many centuries.’

David Runciman on the depopulation problem.

www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
David Runciman · Are we doomed? The End of the Species
Are we doomed to die out? We find ourselves at the only point in the history of the species when the rate of population...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 24, 2025 at 6:52 PM
RIP Udo Kier.
Toller Kölner Akzent.

youtu.be/dAdUOgX6zXE?...
UDO KIER im Gespräch mit Peter Fässlacher
YouTube video by globetrotter
youtu.be
November 24, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Man, I'm glad I have, like, friends, like, people, like, who I can, like, actually talk to, even, like, at parties.

I prefer "conventional fun", I think.
Everything about this might be the saddest thing I’ve ever seen
November 24, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Reposted by Carsten Timmermann
We pour billions into saving an economically tiny steel industry whilst actively destroying one of our largest export industries. (Yes, higher education to overseas students who already massively subsidise UK students, are counted as exports).
i: Reeves to unveil £600m raid on foreign student
university fees #TomorrowsPapersToday
November 24, 2025 at 7:37 AM
Reposted by Carsten Timmermann
Over at the Daily Telegraph, they're scratching their heads as to why the former mining and steel producinv city of Gliwice in Poland is now 45% more prosperous than Darlington... and why it has new shiny infrastructure... without mentioning EU funds for urban and regional development...
November 24, 2025 at 7:53 AM
Interesting
‘This is not a new story caused by new technology. It has been true for as long as birth rates have been measured, going back many centuries.’

David Runciman on the depopulation problem.

www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
David Runciman · Are we doomed? The End of the Species
Are we doomed to die out? We find ourselves at the only point in the history of the species when the rate of population...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 23, 2025 at 10:42 AM
Reposted by Carsten Timmermann
BBC News - Reform plans to strip EU citizens of benefit rights, says Farage - BBC News
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Meanwhile and without batting an eyelid, Nigel is entitled to his EU pension of £100k aged 63 and his transitional allowance of £153k after his long, dignified service as an MEP.
Reform plans to strip EU citizens of benefit rights, says Farage
Leader Nigel Farage says his party would renegotiate the Brexit deal struck by the Tory government.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 19, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Useful. The Europeans should reject the proposal.
November 22, 2025 at 1:07 PM
Reposted by Carsten Timmermann
Useful @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social analysis of Trump proposal on Russia, skewering it point-by-point in an easily digestible way:
www.arcdigital.media/p/trump-and-...
Trump and Witkoff Try to Get Russia a Win
The joint U.S.-Russia proposal to end the Russia-Ukraine war, taken point-by-point
www.arcdigital.media
November 22, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Reposted by Carsten Timmermann
'Michael Lynas, the UK country director for the Duolingo language app, who argues there is no good substitute for the hard graft of learning a language as a way of seeing another country’s culture from the inside.' 1/3
Universities blame ‘societal shift’ for axing foreign language degrees
Numbers taking languages at A-level and beyond has been falling for decades, although Duolingo says its app is most popular with young people
www.theguardian.com
November 22, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Reposted by Carsten Timmermann
This is on the X account of the UK Home Office. A Labour government.
Where is this country going?

I would like to remind the British government that among the taxpayers in the UK there are millions of non-British people.

#notonationalism #migrantsarenotcriminals
November 22, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Reposted by Carsten Timmermann
as Phillips O'Brien also points out, this plan has been in negotiation for a long time, probably since Trump took office.

open.substack.com/pub/phillips...
The Long Con Comes To An End
The Trump Administration Takes Off The Mask (Again)
open.substack.com
November 22, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Reposted by Carsten Timmermann
This is not a peace plan. It is a proposal that weakens Ukraine and divides America from Europe, preparing the way for a larger war in the future. In the meantime, it benefits unnamed Russian and American investors, at the expense of everyone else.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Trump Has a Recipe for War and Corruption, Not Peace
Who would benefit from the White House’s 28-point proposal for Ukraine?
www.theatlantic.com
November 22, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Reposted by Carsten Timmermann
The Sudetenland was ceded to Germany. It did not stop World War II.

Do not let history repeat itself.
November 22, 2025 at 9:08 AM
Reposted by Carsten Timmermann
Important: Read Dan's thread and then fill out the consultation on the link at the end

It's very important for as many of you as possible to take part
I am currently, because I know how to enjoy a Saturday morning, writing some guidance for people on filling this consultation in. As I do several things are highly apparent. Before I go through them though I don't want this to put people off of filling it in. It is important to do so nonetheless. 1/
Government has today published its consultation into "earned settlement", the forward alone contains a hot mess of misrepresentation of the current system by the Home Secretary. I would strongly urge anyone affected by the current system to respond.
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/691edd...
November 22, 2025 at 9:13 AM
Is it a surprise that Nigel Farage was not just a cruel bully but also a proud self-confessed Nazi as a teenager? Probably not, but it’s useful to hear it from his contemporaries at Dulwich College.

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
Nazi salutes and racism: the allegations about Nigel Farage’s school days
Podcast Episode · Today in Focus · 21/11/2025 · 27m
podcasts.apple.com
November 22, 2025 at 9:22 AM
Reposted by Carsten Timmermann
Happy three month bookaversary!
The German Democratic Republic by @historyned.bsky.social provides a succinct and comprehensive history of East Germany and its people, from its early Cold War foundations to the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Publishing today! bit.ly/4kaEnJf
November 21, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Reposted by Carsten Timmermann
Fox and Otter's Tour of Lincoln sounds like a great children's book title
www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/...
CCTV captures fox and otter’s tour of Lincoln city centre
A wildlife expert says the footage of the animals wandering past shops and bars is
www.bbc.co.uk
November 21, 2025 at 7:08 PM