Luke Turner
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luketurner.bsky.social
Luke Turner
@luketurner.bsky.social
Author: Men at War - Loving, Lusting, Fighting, Remembering 1939-1945 on British masculinity, sexuality & the cultural memory of WWII on W&N Books/Orion. First 📖 Out of the Woods, 2019. Co-founder: The Quietus. My stuff: https://linktr.ee/luketurner ⚒️🏳️‍🌈
Pinned
January is bleak with nothing happening EXCEPT you can come to the London Metropolitan Archives for my talk on sexuality in the capital during the Second World War, from the cover of the blackout to LGBT+ lives AND new research on the mackintosh fetish scene:

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/men-at-war...
Men At War – Lusting Loving Fighting Remembering 1939-1945
Join author Luke Turner to explore how the social upheaval of the Second World War had a profound impact on the sex lives of Londoners.
www.eventbrite.co.uk
One of my perhaps gross fringe beliefs is that there is comfort in never properly washing your big tea mug so that a brown miasma builds up inside, a reminder of every brew drunk (wouldn’t recommend if you take milk)
November 26, 2025 at 10:38 PM
Fascinating thread and responses to how academics are trying to assess students in the age of AI cheating. I am curious as to how many students are honest and just do their own work? Surely the majority don't use AI and want the challenge?
Been thinking about how to assess a decent-sized (40+) mostly lecture-based history course in the spring to avoid the slide into playing endless AI slop cop instead of teacher.

What I’ve settled on as of now is:

a) 3 in-class old-fashioned blue book tests - basically AI proof, you either know …
November 26, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Reposted by Luke Turner
Would have been the best naval shitposter in history
Admiral of the Fleet John Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher, GCM, OM, GCVO.

Oversaw the development of the first all modern battleship HMS Dreadnought.

Oversaw the development of the first battlecruiser HMS Invincible.

And the first known human to use "OMG" as shorthand for "Oh my God" in a letter.
November 26, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Here's a really lovely piece of music for your bright wintery afternoon – James Holden and Wacław Zimpel's joyously burbling set from this year's MUTEK festival, now streaming on @thequietus.com

thequietus.com/news/james-h...
Listen to James Holden & Wacław Zimpel at MUTEK 2025 | The Quietus
Regular readers of tQ might remember that our friends at MUTEK helpfully had someone handy with a tape recorder to capture Factory Floor’s comeback set at the 2024 edition of the festival. Well, we’re...
thequietus.com
November 26, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Reposted by Luke Turner
"Russia is a brutal expansionist power who will target anyone who stands in their way, which is why we should all ensure we never stand in their way and let them do what they want to us and our friends."
Nah man just saying that there's a relatively unfortunate and brutal simplicity to russian foreign policy and if you put yourself in the crosshairs they will pull the trigger.
November 26, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Reposted by Luke Turner
Yep - the government is consistently failing to make the case as to why it is investing more in defence and how the changing geopolitical system plus that whole war going on means it is increasingly needed
Utterly surreal that a key part of the pre Budget narrative from the government hasn’t been ‘Russian planes keep buzzing the Essex coast, US support for NATO is looking shaky, and thanks to the Tories our army fits in Old Trafford - that’s why we need to raise taxes’.
November 26, 2025 at 9:03 AM
I wonder how much this cuts through – there's a fairly significant element among football fans angry that they're not allowed to sing eg the antisemitic chant about Spurs (that I last heard in the crowd after Blur's Wembley gig); "it's just banter" etc

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Don’t believe Nigel Farage’s denials. He targeted me for being Jewish – and it hurt | Peter Ettedgui
Now that my former classmate has finally spoken about the allegations of his behaviour at school, I feel compelled to address his points directly, says Peter Ettedgui, a film director and producer
www.theguardian.com
November 26, 2025 at 9:01 AM
still really concerned for Larry David being caught up with all this - first Ted Danson, then fruitloop RFK. Nobody's thinking about Larry. #Pray4Larry.
November 26, 2025 at 12:04 AM
This is contemporary mic presentation that I can get behind! Drop the awkwardly-held little bobble, get eg a massive basketball hoop!
There's a guy who goes round non-league grounds and clips the mic onto a different object each time.

He had an oil-filled radiator for one video.
November 25, 2025 at 6:53 PM
…and exhibit b
I do wish people would look back to Wogan to see how it's done properly. ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/10...
November 25, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Proper mic holding exhibit a…
If you're going to hold a mic, do it properly
November 25, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Here's a thing I've noticed looking at social media video #content lately, why do people awkwardly hold a little round mic? Is it a stylistic choice? Surely these can be clipped on? Is it supposed to convey an air of DIY earnestness & authenticity? It looks shite. Meades wouldn't have done that.
November 25, 2025 at 5:18 PM
"From silent retreats to mindfulness apps and Spotify’s insipid Chill Out playlist, culturally we are always being sold that the way to rest, relax, unwind, and switch off is to quieten things down. However, sometimes the most effective way to clear something is to flood it." Superb MBV review:
November 25, 2025 at 10:05 AM
Nice to see him squeal and squirm for once.
Did you ever racially abuse fellow pupils?

It was years ago.

Did you ever racially abuse fellow pupils?

Not in a hurtful way.

Did you ever racially abuse fellow pupils?

Not with intent.

Did you ever racially abuse fellow pupils?

Not genuine abuse.

😮🫣😬😱 ~AA
November 24, 2025 at 10:19 PM
A probably rare reference to Mulligan & O'Hare in a fashion article: for The Guardian, I've written about the enduring appeal of workwear, with a focus on how the generous cuts and boxy shapes suit the sportswear-averse, expanding & ageing male body:

www.theguardian.com/fashion/2025...
‘It’s an acceptance of where my body is now’ – the modern-day appeal of workwear
Its popularity is as enduring as its fabrics – and it allows men to age stylishly without worrying about their waistlines. One collector delves into the reasons the ordinary clothes of workers past li...
www.theguardian.com
November 24, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Reposted by Luke Turner
100% worth the complete soaking that inevitably follows being caught out on the moor in light conditions like this.

God, I love the moor this time of the year...
November 23, 2025 at 5:34 PM
How it started / how it’s going

(The Deeney’s haggis cheese chutney bacon toastie is a work of genius but has consequences)
November 23, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Getting absolutely mangled in a pirate ship with @jahduran.bsky.social after Throbbing Gristle at Pontins Camber Sands during ATP 2004 led to us reinforcing that we’re top pals and then starting @thequietus.com, without which I would now be working in admin. An argument against clean living!
What’s the lore behind choosing your career path ?
November 23, 2025 at 8:57 AM
An absolutely harrowing investigation into the “free birth” and “wild pregnancy” movement, appalling, lethal, social media-fuelled woo woo grift. The poor families duped into this, unthinkable.

www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...
Influencers made millions pushing ‘wild’ births – now the Free Birth Society is linked to baby deaths around the world
A year-long investigation reveals how mothers lost children after being radicalised by uplifting podcast tales of births without midwives or doctors
www.theguardian.com
November 22, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Reposted by Luke Turner
Farage can now be easily boxed in to a corner where his only ‘defence’ becomes: “Yes I spouted Kremlin propaganda & Putin worship but, unlike Nathan Gill, I didn’t need bribes to do it.”
It is, once again, a question of whether interviewers have the temerity to shut down his whining obfuscations.
November 22, 2025 at 11:04 AM
This is so depressing, Ukraine now then with Russia’s military support from China, Iran, N Korea what tomorrow? And still I feel there’s little concern about the future threat here in the UK, with Reform and potentially the Greens dangerous about the issue.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
US tells Nato if Zelenskyy does not sign peace deal Ukraine will face worse in future
US army secretary briefs ambassadors at ‘nightmare meeting’ in Kyiv on Friday after talks with Ukrainian leader
www.theguardian.com
November 22, 2025 at 12:12 PM
A lovely tribute to Mani, “the bass player’s bass player”, by bass player Gordon Moakes, praising his “tiptoe-light touch – something delicate but propulsive, an anti-rock energy that had heart, and was dreaming of something”

thequietus.com/news/remembe...
Remembering Mani, by Gordon Moakes | The Quietus
There’s a real nostalgic binary when it comes to the present-day view of Mancunian music from the 80s and 90s: it’s easy to see it as an amorphous blob of naive youth culture, macho posturing, retrogr...
thequietus.com
November 21, 2025 at 5:23 PM
LOOK HERE YOU LAMPOST FLAG FUCKING DONUTS, REFORM ARE THE LAW HAW HAWS OF OUR AGE! TRAITORS TO OUR NATION!

ffs.

bylinetimes.com/2025/11/21/n...
Nathan Gill, Voloshyn and the Kremlin’s European Network
The sentencing of Reform UK's former leader in Wales to ten and a half years in prison should open the door to a broader investigation into the pro-Kremlin network that infiltrated European politics, ...
bylinetimes.com
November 21, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Reposted by Luke Turner
this week's newsletter is titled "aren't you tired of feeling insane all the time?" and I think it speaks for itself

it is also free to read

youngvulgarian.substack.com/p/arent-you-...
November 21, 2025 at 10:18 AM
Proper and perfect weather up in Epping Forest on the morning constitutionals this week, colour washed out save the green blast of the grass in the V-2 crater
November 21, 2025 at 11:02 AM