Plashing Vole
@plashingvole.bsky.social
Mild-mannered lecturer by day…mild-mannered lecturer by night. Welsh lit, politicians’ fictions. Fencer, cyclist, UCU. Dysgwr Cymraeg; tá gaeilge agam. Barnau fy hun.
Read books; join unions; block cookies.
Read books; join unions; block cookies.
My first go at 4-colour printing is complete. Quietly pleased. On the left - the original digital file. On the right, the print I made.
December 9, 2025 at 7:21 PM
My first go at 4-colour printing is complete. Quietly pleased. On the left - the original digital file. On the right, the print I made.
One of my students submitted a painting for the creative assignment on the Austen module. Turnitin thinks it’s 32% plagiarised.
December 9, 2025 at 4:53 PM
One of my students submitted a painting for the creative assignment on the Austen module. Turnitin thinks it’s 32% plagiarised.
Candyman, when I was 15. Haven’t watched a horror film since.
Drop Dead Fred because it’s unbelievably awful.
Drop Dead Fred because it’s unbelievably awful.
Never mind movies you’ve watched multiple times, name a movie you’ve watched once and would never watch again.
December 9, 2025 at 11:32 AM
Candyman, when I was 15. Haven’t watched a horror film since.
Drop Dead Fred because it’s unbelievably awful.
Drop Dead Fred because it’s unbelievably awful.
Another episode of Jupiter Mooon, the 1990s university-campus-in-space soap. Foreseeing certain tech monsters, one of the students describes Mars as ‘vulgar and nouveau riche’.
December 8, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Another episode of Jupiter Mooon, the 1990s university-campus-in-space soap. Foreseeing certain tech monsters, one of the students describes Mars as ‘vulgar and nouveau riche’.
It’s the wrong browsers, Grommit!’
December 8, 2025 at 5:22 PM
It’s the wrong browsers, Grommit!’
Reposted by Plashing Vole
If only there were a cautionary tale about being too eager to accept the apparent time-saving capabilities of new technology.
Aardman Animations will ’embrace AI’ while also being ‘cautious’, says Nick Park
Aardman Animations will ’embrace AI’ while also being ‘cautious’, says Nick Park
Aardman Animations will ’embrace AI’ while also being ‘cautious’, says Nick Park
www.independent.co.uk
December 8, 2025 at 1:05 PM
If only there were a cautionary tale about being too eager to accept the apparent time-saving capabilities of new technology.
Reposted by Plashing Vole
Every year I get to edit my deliberately BAD essay sample for a new batch of students. Any other pet peeves or typical bad writing ticks I might have missed? #writing #shakespeare [and apologies to any cited scholars caught in the cross hairs here]
December 8, 2025 at 11:45 AM
Every year I get to edit my deliberately BAD essay sample for a new batch of students. Any other pet peeves or typical bad writing ticks I might have missed? #writing #shakespeare [and apologies to any cited scholars caught in the cross hairs here]
Someone's slipped up.
Please report all floating bananas to HM Coastguard's Receiver of Wreck, the most metal job title in the land.
www.itv.com/news/meridia...
www.itv.com/news/meridia...
www.itv.com
December 8, 2025 at 11:09 AM
Someone's slipped up.
Iceland Cricket, which has never lost an Ashes series (unless you count that volcano) should step up to offer mentoring and coaching to England until they’re ready to take their place amongst the serious cricket nations.
We have decided to switch Ashes allegiances. As a team who will always support the underdog, we recognise the dire position England are now in, having gone 17 winless games in Australia since 2011. It has become like San Marino vs. Brazil in football. England need our support.
December 8, 2025 at 8:57 AM
Iceland Cricket, which has never lost an Ashes series (unless you count that volcano) should step up to offer mentoring and coaching to England until they’re ready to take their place amongst the serious cricket nations.
Too late. University senior managers have read the White Paper and are already drawing up hit-lists of non-core research and subjects to close.
'There in the shadows [of the White Paper] lies the call for HE institutions to specialise, with the lurking threat that many will lose their research funding in some, but perhaps many, areas, in order to better fund those with more intensive research.'
Labour must not repeat history by sidelining research in post-92 universities
The abolition of the binary divide in HE made visible the wealth of research excellence in what became known as the post-92 part of the sector. Katie Normington worries that forcing specialisation ris...
wonkhe.com
December 8, 2025 at 7:54 AM
Too late. University senior managers have read the White Paper and are already drawing up hit-lists of non-core research and subjects to close.
Today was material culture, tourism, fandom and weird stuff on the Austen's Afterlives module. We tried the Lizzy Bennet AI; the Austen-themed Masterchef episode, soap, a range of Austrian erotica, the Austen Etsy shop and the gamut of anniversary cash-in nonsense.
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...
December 4, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Today was material culture, tourism, fandom and weird stuff on the Austen's Afterlives module. We tried the Lizzy Bennet AI; the Austen-themed Masterchef episode, soap, a range of Austrian erotica, the Austen Etsy shop and the gamut of anniversary cash-in nonsense.
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...
Reposted by Plashing Vole
My senior managers explaining why more courses and jobs need to go.
December 3, 2025 at 10:07 PM
My senior managers explaining why more courses and jobs need to go.
Russell Group universities at the funding table.
December 3, 2025 at 9:59 PM
Russell Group universities at the funding table.
I LOVED this trilogy. Imaginatively rich, political, cultured and so tightly plotted.
Coming March 10, 2026!
@aliettedebodard.com
re-releases the DOMINION OF THE FALLEN trilogy.
Alternate History! Fallen Angels! A fantastically imagined wrecked and ruined Paris!
@aliettedebodard.com
re-releases the DOMINION OF THE FALLEN trilogy.
Alternate History! Fallen Angels! A fantastically imagined wrecked and ruined Paris!
December 3, 2025 at 7:16 PM
I LOVED this trilogy. Imaginatively rich, political, cultured and so tightly plotted.
What a desperately sad few years and end for Robin Smith. Such a pleasure to watch even when the rest of England were awful
www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/d...
www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/d...
‘He was a batter ahead of his time’: Robin Smith, former England cricketer, dies aged 62
Robin Smith, the former Hampshire batter who scored more than 6,000 runs for England between 1988 and 1996, has died at the age of 62
www.theguardian.com
December 2, 2025 at 10:26 PM
What a desperately sad few years and end for Robin Smith. Such a pleasure to watch even when the rest of England were awful
www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/d...
www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/d...
A couple of missing acetates meant progress was slow but I managed to add the Cyan to my limited run. Just Black next week and my first print will be complete.
December 2, 2025 at 6:41 PM
A couple of missing acetates meant progress was slow but I managed to add the Cyan to my limited run. Just Black next week and my first print will be complete.
This week’s Writing for Children texts; Llyfr Glas Nebo / The Blue Book of Nebo gan/by Manon Steffan Ros. Always goes down well. Debate today was ‘we want a sequel’ v ‘no, it’s perfect’.
December 2, 2025 at 6:07 PM
This week’s Writing for Children texts; Llyfr Glas Nebo / The Blue Book of Nebo gan/by Manon Steffan Ros. Always goes down well. Debate today was ‘we want a sequel’ v ‘no, it’s perfect’.
University senior managers: Will negotiate with Reform. Won’t negotiate with their own staff.
This is the most alarming story I’ve read today. Giving up the fight before it’s started
December 2, 2025 at 11:18 AM
University senior managers: Will negotiate with Reform. Won’t negotiate with their own staff.
Two excellent National Trust bookshop purchases this weekend. I love forgotten novelist Beverley Nichols’ work and never see them with a dustjacket. £8. I’m co/editing a journal issue on Co-ops in literature and culture, so Upton Sinclair’s Coop is another great find - £6.
November 30, 2025 at 9:47 PM
Two excellent National Trust bookshop purchases this weekend. I love forgotten novelist Beverley Nichols’ work and never see them with a dustjacket. £8. I’m co/editing a journal issue on Co-ops in literature and culture, so Upton Sinclair’s Coop is another great find - £6.
Yesterday I visited a mansion built in Dutch style and filled with Dutch art, designed by William of Orange’s architect. It’s like that because a rich slaver and civil servant wanted the new regime to like and reward him. So no surprise that the Establishment grovels to the new masters even now.
This is the most alarming story I’ve read today. Giving up the fight before it’s started
November 30, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Yesterday I visited a mansion built in Dutch style and filled with Dutch art, designed by William of Orange’s architect. It’s like that because a rich slaver and civil servant wanted the new regime to like and reward him. So no surprise that the Establishment grovels to the new masters even now.
It’s OK. Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern are waiting for him.
November 29, 2025 at 5:22 PM
It’s OK. Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern are waiting for him.
Reposted by Plashing Vole
“Is that in Southern Ireland?”
February 28, 2025 at 9:10 AM
“Is that in Southern Ireland?”
Rather a lovely day out at Dyrham Park. More proof that the worst people built the finest houses.
November 29, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Rather a lovely day out at Dyrham Park. More proof that the worst people built the finest houses.
Days like this rather challenge my commitment to public transport in this benighted backwater. Train 90 minutes late. Bus an hour late and counting…they’re meant to be every 20 minutes. 4 and a half hours to travel almost 100km and I’m still not there. Sigh.
November 28, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Days like this rather challenge my commitment to public transport in this benighted backwater. Train 90 minutes late. Bus an hour late and counting…they’re meant to be every 20 minutes. 4 and a half hours to travel almost 100km and I’m still not there. Sigh.