Patrick McGuinness
@padrig.bsky.social
Writer, academic, endotic traveller. Books: Blood Feather 2023; Real Oxford 2021. Ghost Stations, CB Editions , Sept 2025. FRSL. Prof of French and Comp Lit, Oxford. Rep'd Peter Straus RCW.
A brilliant workshop on class in French literature at @stannescollege.bsky.social finished with an inspiring talk by Maurice East on Working Oxford. Made possible by the @britishacademy.bsky.social organised by @hollylangstaff.bsky.social and me. More projects and events planned...
November 27, 2025 at 11:00 AM
A brilliant workshop on class in French literature at @stannescollege.bsky.social finished with an inspiring talk by Maurice East on Working Oxford. Made possible by the @britishacademy.bsky.social organised by @hollylangstaff.bsky.social and me. More projects and events planned...
Late to listen in, as I've been travelling, but it was a pleasure to be on The Verb to speak about the poetry of trains and stations with Carmen, Don and Bella. Ian's Beeching joke was our terminus.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
BBC Radio 4 - The Verb, Train Poetry with Don Paterson, Bella Hardy, Carmen Marcus, Patrick McGuinness
Ian McMillan with Don Paterson, Carmen Marcus, Patrick McGuinness & Bella Hardy on trains
www.bbc.co.uk
November 20, 2025 at 8:05 AM
Late to listen in, as I've been travelling, but it was a pleasure to be on The Verb to speak about the poetry of trains and stations with Carmen, Don and Bella. Ian's Beeching joke was our terminus.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
Lôn las, Caernarfon
November 18, 2025 at 9:18 PM
Lôn las, Caernarfon
Reposted by Patrick McGuinness
Trouble is, the buck doesn’t stop any more.
November 16, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Trouble is, the buck doesn’t stop any more.
Shit and inhumane ideas that drive away your natural voters without attracting your less natural voters, part 150.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Refugees to face 20-year wait to settle permanently under asylum reforms
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is expected to announce major reforms to the asylum system on Monday.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 16, 2025 at 9:33 AM
Shit and inhumane ideas that drive away your natural voters without attracting your less natural voters, part 150.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
A few pictures from Charleroi, Belgium's industrial capital, home of coal, steel and glass (and literature). Sunset Triptych; maison des 8 heures (ref to the 8/8/8 work/leisure/sleep law); a bucolic hill that's a coal mound; a cathedral rebuilt.
November 14, 2025 at 8:33 PM
A few pictures from Charleroi, Belgium's industrial capital, home of coal, steel and glass (and literature). Sunset Triptych; maison des 8 heures (ref to the 8/8/8 work/leisure/sleep law); a bucolic hill that's a coal mound; a cathedral rebuilt.
Enjoyable but poignantly Kleistian moment in our culture here:
A humanoid robot powered by artificial intelligence, believed to be one of the first in Russia, face-planted during its highly anticipated debut in Moscow on Tuesday after briefly staggering onstage. nyti.ms/49Ly3GI
November 13, 2025 at 11:44 AM
Enjoyable but poignantly Kleistian moment in our culture here:
Such a great shortlist - was at the ceremony last year when the winner was the brilliant Nelly Sachs translated by Andrew Shanks @carcanet.bsky.social . Great to see another poet, Krisztina Tóth @bloodaxebooks.bsky.social, in the running this year.
We are delighted to announce the shortlist for the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation in 2025! "Each of these books arrives in English in expert and accessible translations that honour the art and voice of their original authors."
tinyurl.com/f9sccz4v
tinyurl.com/f9sccz4v
November 12, 2025 at 8:08 AM
Such a great shortlist - was at the ceremony last year when the winner was the brilliant Nelly Sachs translated by Andrew Shanks @carcanet.bsky.social . Great to see another poet, Krisztina Tóth @bloodaxebooks.bsky.social, in the running this year.
Just in case we didn't have enough examples of how appeasement never works...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Katie Razzall: A seismic moment that shows rift at top of BBC
There may be more to this than meets the eye, says the BBC's culture and media editor.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Just in case we didn't have enough examples of how appeasement never works...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Nottingham has one of the most vibrant and forward-looking departments of modern languages around. Music too. To cut them like this, leaving no chance for future rebuilding, is educational vandalism.
tinyurl.com/yr65mjkx
tinyurl.com/yr65mjkx
Music and modern languages courses suspended at University of Nottingham
In a statement the institution also says it is
tinyurl.com
November 6, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Nottingham has one of the most vibrant and forward-looking departments of modern languages around. Music too. To cut them like this, leaving no chance for future rebuilding, is educational vandalism.
tinyurl.com/yr65mjkx
tinyurl.com/yr65mjkx
The eternal return wrapped around the eternal departure wrapped around the eternal return, etc. Station fractals as I bring the book back, by way of its places, to the people who are in it. Embarquement terminé? I wouldn't be so sure.
November 6, 2025 at 1:10 PM
The eternal return wrapped around the eternal departure wrapped around the eternal return, etc. Station fractals as I bring the book back, by way of its places, to the people who are in it. Embarquement terminé? I wouldn't be so sure.
Chimneyscapes of Brussels
November 5, 2025 at 10:46 PM
Chimneyscapes of Brussels
Foxes of Brussels , 1 of an occasional series.
November 4, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Foxes of Brussels , 1 of an occasional series.
Couple of Oxford-related images, all from Headington. William Kimber's grave, a couple of pubs and a slow-at-first then all-at-once sunset.
November 3, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Couple of Oxford-related images, all from Headington. William Kimber's grave, a couple of pubs and a slow-at-first then all-at-once sunset.
Bangor station buffet. Something for everyone
October 31, 2025 at 5:51 AM
Bangor station buffet. Something for everyone
This is really good example of a headline that is completely at odds with the article's content. Good local journalism is really important but this isn't it.
www.thisisoxfordshire.co.uk/news/2558076...
www.thisisoxfordshire.co.uk/news/2558076...
Damning verdict by people on day one of Oxford's congestion charge
Confusion, surprise and anger - this is the damming verdict from people coming to Oxford on day one of the city’s new congestion charge.
www.thisisoxfordshire.co.uk
October 30, 2025 at 11:43 AM
This is really good example of a headline that is completely at odds with the article's content. Good local journalism is really important but this isn't it.
www.thisisoxfordshire.co.uk/news/2558076...
www.thisisoxfordshire.co.uk/news/2558076...
Great to see this and also to see his later flowering of poetry given its due.
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o...
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o...
Where to start with: Paul Bailey
The novelist and poet, who died a year ago, left a huge body of work distinguished by its melancholy wit and warmth. These are some of the highlights
www.theguardian.com
October 29, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Great to see this and also to see his later flowering of poetry given its due.
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o...
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o...
Reposted by Patrick McGuinness
‘It is on the border between the ordinary and the peculiar that Parr likes to work. He points out, more than once, that what is commonplace now will one day be remarkable.’
Rosemary Hill on Martin Parr’s people:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Rosemary Hill on Martin Parr’s people:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Rosemary Hill · Saturdays at the Sewage Works: Martin Parr’s People
It is on the border between the ordinary and the peculiar that Parr likes to work. He points out, more than once, that...
www.lrb.co.uk
October 29, 2025 at 4:41 PM
‘It is on the border between the ordinary and the peculiar that Parr likes to work. He points out, more than once, that what is commonplace now will one day be remarkable.’
Rosemary Hill on Martin Parr’s people:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Rosemary Hill on Martin Parr’s people:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Reposted by Patrick McGuinness
If Labour is continuing to lose votes, just got 11% in a by-election in a seat they've held for 100 years and in a few recent polls is equal to or just behind the Greens maybe we should stop suggesting they're the only thing that can defeat Reform.
October 24, 2025 at 6:51 AM
If Labour is continuing to lose votes, just got 11% in a by-election in a seat they've held for 100 years and in a few recent polls is equal to or just behind the Greens maybe we should stop suggesting they're the only thing that can defeat Reform.
Reposted by Patrick McGuinness
Democracy cannot survive if people like Jenrick, who is prepared to lie continually and without compunction, can prosper.
Football in the 80s was frequently violent and, especially in the first part of the decade, awash with racism. These were not halcyon days, especially for non-white Britons.
Football in the 80s was frequently violent and, especially in the first part of the decade, awash with racism. These were not halcyon days, especially for non-white Britons.
October 18, 2025 at 8:32 AM
Democracy cannot survive if people like Jenrick, who is prepared to lie continually and without compunction, can prosper.
Football in the 80s was frequently violent and, especially in the first part of the decade, awash with racism. These were not halcyon days, especially for non-white Britons.
Football in the 80s was frequently violent and, especially in the first part of the decade, awash with racism. These were not halcyon days, especially for non-white Britons.
Reposted by Patrick McGuinness
How long before ICE agents come for Pope Leo?
October 12, 2025 at 6:01 PM
How long before ICE agents come for Pope Leo?
Oxford sights, in l'an trentiesme de mon eage, or at any rate my 30th Michaelmas Term as a tutor here. Not sure where the years went, somewhere between the purposeful paddleboarder and the skull on the hull.
October 8, 2025 at 6:38 PM
Oxford sights, in l'an trentiesme de mon eage, or at any rate my 30th Michaelmas Term as a tutor here. Not sure where the years went, somewhere between the purposeful paddleboarder and the skull on the hull.