Matthew Kilburn
@matthewkilburn.bsky.social
Freelance writer, editor and consulting historian - Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Doctor Who Magazine - and Alzheimer's carer. Ex-History of Parliament, also liable to write about North-East England and Oxford as well as television.
Reposted by Matthew Kilburn
Can Europe be saved? My latest
Can Europe be Saved?
A few thoughts on the state of Europe amid a twin-pronged assault from the United States and Russia
open.substack.com
December 7, 2025 at 6:10 PM
Can Europe be saved? My latest
Reposted by Matthew Kilburn
This isn't exactly subtle. Exactly what you'd expect from an authoritarian state.
December 7, 2025 at 6:11 PM
This isn't exactly subtle. Exactly what you'd expect from an authoritarian state.
Reposted by Matthew Kilburn
An ancient underground race seemingly destroyed by UNIT decades ago.
Now, in 2025, they rise again to clean up the planet.
Coming soon to BBC1 and Disney+
'The War Between Underground and Overground'.
#DoctorWho
Watch the prequel now, exclusive to Bluesky:
Now, in 2025, they rise again to clean up the planet.
Coming soon to BBC1 and Disney+
'The War Between Underground and Overground'.
#DoctorWho
Watch the prequel now, exclusive to Bluesky:
March 15, 2025 at 3:36 PM
An ancient underground race seemingly destroyed by UNIT decades ago.
Now, in 2025, they rise again to clean up the planet.
Coming soon to BBC1 and Disney+
'The War Between Underground and Overground'.
#DoctorWho
Watch the prequel now, exclusive to Bluesky:
Now, in 2025, they rise again to clean up the planet.
Coming soon to BBC1 and Disney+
'The War Between Underground and Overground'.
#DoctorWho
Watch the prequel now, exclusive to Bluesky:
Farewell to Martin Parr, photographer, who has died aged 73 - I don't think I ended up in his Oxford series but came close! www.magnumphotos.com/arts-culture...
Oxford • University • Martin Parr • Magnum Photos Magnum Photos
www.magnumphotos.com
December 7, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Farewell to Martin Parr, photographer, who has died aged 73 - I don't think I ended up in his Oxford series but came close! www.magnumphotos.com/arts-culture...
Reposted by Matthew Kilburn
Whatever else it can do, this tech adds work and erodes trust. The extra work is time-wasting and wearying, and I resent the erosion of trust most deeply. I cannot believe it is healthy for society to be ever less sure that anything you encounter is the real thought or expression of a fellow human
I spend so much time verifying everything now from art to cited sources to photos to historical references to citations to quotes to legal and medical information that it's really hard to fathom how much work AI has collectively added to the world, not reduced
Here's the reality this example illustrates:
It's not even just about people blindly trusting what ChatGPT tells them. LLMs are poisoning the entire information ecosystem. You can't even necessarily trust that the citations in a published paper are real (or a search engine's descriptions of them).
It's not even just about people blindly trusting what ChatGPT tells them. LLMs are poisoning the entire information ecosystem. You can't even necessarily trust that the citations in a published paper are real (or a search engine's descriptions of them).
December 7, 2025 at 7:00 AM
Whatever else it can do, this tech adds work and erodes trust. The extra work is time-wasting and wearying, and I resent the erosion of trust most deeply. I cannot believe it is healthy for society to be ever less sure that anything you encounter is the real thought or expression of a fellow human
Reposted by Matthew Kilburn
It’s the lack of imagination that grinds me down. The inability to see that people could change, or be more than they might at first seem, to understand potential, to look properly at all.
Not-rich people aren’t a burden for a country. They’re an opportunity, if you don’t just try and crush them.
Not-rich people aren’t a burden for a country. They’re an opportunity, if you don’t just try and crush them.
December 7, 2025 at 9:12 AM
It’s the lack of imagination that grinds me down. The inability to see that people could change, or be more than they might at first seem, to understand potential, to look properly at all.
Not-rich people aren’t a burden for a country. They’re an opportunity, if you don’t just try and crush them.
Not-rich people aren’t a burden for a country. They’re an opportunity, if you don’t just try and crush them.
Reposted by Matthew Kilburn
my great-grandparents arrived in the UK in the 1890s with nothing.
they sold pickles from the front room window, took in laundry, worked as tailors.
their children were nurses, teachers, salesmen.
their grandchildren were professors, designers, opticians, doctors, magistrates, entrepreneurs.
they sold pickles from the front room window, took in laundry, worked as tailors.
their children were nurses, teachers, salesmen.
their grandchildren were professors, designers, opticians, doctors, magistrates, entrepreneurs.
December 7, 2025 at 8:59 AM
my great-grandparents arrived in the UK in the 1890s with nothing.
they sold pickles from the front room window, took in laundry, worked as tailors.
their children were nurses, teachers, salesmen.
their grandchildren were professors, designers, opticians, doctors, magistrates, entrepreneurs.
they sold pickles from the front room window, took in laundry, worked as tailors.
their children were nurses, teachers, salesmen.
their grandchildren were professors, designers, opticians, doctors, magistrates, entrepreneurs.
Reposted by Matthew Kilburn
Part I of an enormous post on Doctor Who and the Planet of the Daleks by Terrance Dicks, this one about why it *doesn’t* dovetail with Doctor Who and the Space War by Terrance’s pal Mac Hulke: 0tralala.blogspot.com/2025/12/doct... #booksky #books #doctorwho
Doctor Who and the Planet of the Daleks, by Terrance Dicks — I
0tralala.blogspot.com
December 6, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Part I of an enormous post on Doctor Who and the Planet of the Daleks by Terrance Dicks, this one about why it *doesn’t* dovetail with Doctor Who and the Space War by Terrance’s pal Mac Hulke: 0tralala.blogspot.com/2025/12/doct... #booksky #books #doctorwho
Reposted by Matthew Kilburn
… and an army of sea creatures emerging from the deep, in our brand-new 90-minute cut of “The Sea Devils”! Expect missing ships! 🚢 Sandwiches! 🥪 Landmines! 💣 Reversing the polarity! ⚡ Updated sound by @markayresrws.bsky.social! 🔊 And a gorgeous score by Malcolm Clarke & Lorne Balfe! 🎵 Any questions?
December 6, 2025 at 7:43 PM
… and an army of sea creatures emerging from the deep, in our brand-new 90-minute cut of “The Sea Devils”! Expect missing ships! 🚢 Sandwiches! 🥪 Landmines! 💣 Reversing the polarity! ⚡ Updated sound by @markayresrws.bsky.social! 🔊 And a gorgeous score by Malcolm Clarke & Lorne Balfe! 🎵 Any questions?
Reposted by Matthew Kilburn
… Edwin Richfield, June Murphy, and Clive Morton…
December 6, 2025 at 7:39 PM
… Edwin Richfield, June Murphy, and Clive Morton…
Reposted by Matthew Kilburn
🔥 Are you Team Land?
🌊 Or Team Sea? (Boo!)
🧵 Tomorrow night on BBC Four, join Jon Pertwee,
@manningofficial.bsky.social, and Roger Delgado…
🌊 Or Team Sea? (Boo!)
🧵 Tomorrow night on BBC Four, join Jon Pertwee,
@manningofficial.bsky.social, and Roger Delgado…
December 6, 2025 at 7:38 PM
🔥 Are you Team Land?
🌊 Or Team Sea? (Boo!)
🧵 Tomorrow night on BBC Four, join Jon Pertwee,
@manningofficial.bsky.social, and Roger Delgado…
🌊 Or Team Sea? (Boo!)
🧵 Tomorrow night on BBC Four, join Jon Pertwee,
@manningofficial.bsky.social, and Roger Delgado…
Reposted by Matthew Kilburn
Reposted by Matthew Kilburn
There's more on our website, tenacrebooks.co.uk. Please order directly from us and help to support independent publishing. We have lots of great titles in the works for 2026, including the first authorised biography of Terrance Dicks and another Doctor Who book we'll be announcing before Christmas.
December 6, 2025 at 12:18 PM
There's more on our website, tenacrebooks.co.uk. Please order directly from us and help to support independent publishing. We have lots of great titles in the works for 2026, including the first authorised biography of Terrance Dicks and another Doctor Who book we'll be announcing before Christmas.
Reposted by Matthew Kilburn
Need a special gift for the classic TV fan in your life? From in-depth histories to initimate biographies, we've got it covered! Check out our range of books at tenacrebooks.co.uk, and here's a rundown of some our great titles…
December 6, 2025 at 11:45 AM
Need a special gift for the classic TV fan in your life? From in-depth histories to initimate biographies, we've got it covered! Check out our range of books at tenacrebooks.co.uk, and here's a rundown of some our great titles…
Reposted by Matthew Kilburn
"I was a stranger and you welcomed me." -Matthew 25:35
December 6, 2025 at 3:40 AM
"I was a stranger and you welcomed me." -Matthew 25:35
Reposted by Matthew Kilburn
Recommend them all. Such great reads and beautifully presented. Also recommend Ian Greaves’ book on Penda’s Fen. A real highlight of my year. Just started Box of Delights. Wonderful oral history of Play School, Newsround, Record Breakers so far. In depth and informative writing from Richard Marson.
Need a special gift for the classic TV fan in your life? From in-depth histories to initimate biographies, we've got it covered! Check out our range of books at tenacrebooks.co.uk, and here's a rundown of some our great titles…
December 6, 2025 at 11:58 AM
Recommend them all. Such great reads and beautifully presented. Also recommend Ian Greaves’ book on Penda’s Fen. A real highlight of my year. Just started Box of Delights. Wonderful oral history of Play School, Newsround, Record Breakers so far. In depth and informative writing from Richard Marson.
Reposted by Matthew Kilburn
"The Human Kind conveyed the vague but determined political motivation of those fighting – the desire to see ‘the old muddlers thrown out and people like ourselves doing the big things'."
Remembering writer Alexander Baron, who died 6 December 1999.
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/09/03/t...
Remembering writer Alexander Baron, who died 6 December 1999.
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/09/03/t...
The lost world of Alexander Baron
SIMON MATTHEWS on the novelist and TV screenwriter Alexander Baron.
thelionandunicorn.com
December 6, 2025 at 8:52 AM
"The Human Kind conveyed the vague but determined political motivation of those fighting – the desire to see ‘the old muddlers thrown out and people like ourselves doing the big things'."
Remembering writer Alexander Baron, who died 6 December 1999.
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/09/03/t...
Remembering writer Alexander Baron, who died 6 December 1999.
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/09/03/t...
Reposted by Matthew Kilburn
A Quaker meeting house in north Oxfordshire has been opened for “champing”, church camping. The Sibford Gower meeting house has central heating, a kitchen and a shower. Prices start at £55/night and it can sleep six. champing.co.uk/church/sibfo...
December 6, 2025 at 11:01 AM
A Quaker meeting house in north Oxfordshire has been opened for “champing”, church camping. The Sibford Gower meeting house has central heating, a kitchen and a shower. Prices start at £55/night and it can sleep six. champing.co.uk/church/sibfo...
Reposted by Matthew Kilburn
Reposted by Matthew Kilburn
The new National Security Strategy is a propaganda document, designed to be widely read. It is also a performative suicide. Hard to think of another great power ever abdicating its influence so quickly and so publicly. It will be worth following the reactions around the world, not just in Europe.
Trump's national security strategy is out and some of the Europe sections are shocking. "...the growing influence of patriotic European parties indeed
gives cause for great optimism."
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
gives cause for great optimism."
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
December 5, 2025 at 12:17 PM
The new National Security Strategy is a propaganda document, designed to be widely read. It is also a performative suicide. Hard to think of another great power ever abdicating its influence so quickly and so publicly. It will be worth following the reactions around the world, not just in Europe.
Reposted by Matthew Kilburn
hi i'm a billionaire my company, which will definitely not murder everyone, is named SauronMurdersEveryone Inc after the beloved jrr tolkien character sauron whom i have always admired for his disruptive use of world changing technology and for murdering everyone
December 4, 2025 at 8:50 PM
hi i'm a billionaire my company, which will definitely not murder everyone, is named SauronMurdersEveryone Inc after the beloved jrr tolkien character sauron whom i have always admired for his disruptive use of world changing technology and for murdering everyone
Reposted by Matthew Kilburn
Reposted by Matthew Kilburn
Heads up everyone
#Oxford people, #birdflu has been confirmed on Port Meadow.
Take care everyone.
www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/2567322...
Take care everyone.
www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/2567322...
Urgent warning issued after bird flu outbreak in popular city meadow
An urgent warning has been issued after positive cases of bird flu were confirmed in Port Meadow, Oxford.
www.oxfordmail.co.uk
December 4, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Heads up everyone
I am glad to see Chris Whitty call attention to infections in the elderly, given what happened to my dad in the summer: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
NHS must take elderly infections much more seriously, Chris Whitty warns
England's chief medical officer says doctors do not appreciate risk of heart attack and stroke, as flu cases rise.
www.bbc.co.uk
December 4, 2025 at 6:22 PM
I am glad to see Chris Whitty call attention to infections in the elderly, given what happened to my dad in the summer: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...