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.
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.
They’ll fill up at a Shell station.
It will be easy to catch them because of the snail trail.
Their getaway vehicle?
Escargo
Escargo
November 28, 2025 at 1:23 PM
They’ll fill up at a Shell station.
In positive news, I've just paid the deposit to get solar panels and a battery. With redundancy a distinct possibility in the next couple of years I decided to do my bit for the environment while I have the cash. Projected electricity bills are c.£7 per month as I use so little power.
November 28, 2025 at 11:51 AM
In positive news, I've just paid the deposit to get solar panels and a battery. With redundancy a distinct possibility in the next couple of years I decided to do my bit for the environment while I have the cash. Projected electricity bills are c.£7 per month as I use so little power.
My decision to leave the Labour Party is vindicated on a daily basis.
“We are going to ban unfairly dismissing people from work”
“But we want to be able to dismiss people unfairly”
“I guess you’re right, let’s compromise on that”
WHAT??
“But we want to be able to dismiss people unfairly”
“I guess you’re right, let’s compromise on that”
WHAT??
November 28, 2025 at 7:59 AM
My decision to leave the Labour Party is vindicated on a daily basis.
The Serpents (Welsh supergroup) where I was the only paying customer so they bought me a pint and still played the gig
Kate Bush
@lowtheband.bsky.social in a pub’s upstairs room
Philip Glass in a cathedral
Premiere of Festen the opera
Broadcast surrounded by freshers with their hands over their ears
Kate Bush
@lowtheband.bsky.social in a pub’s upstairs room
Philip Glass in a cathedral
Premiere of Festen the opera
Broadcast surrounded by freshers with their hands over their ears
Introduce yourself with five concerts you've seen:
The Magnetic Fields
The Earlies
The Soft Boys
Transglobal Underground
The Triffids
The Magnetic Fields
The Earlies
The Soft Boys
Transglobal Underground
The Triffids
Introduce yourself with five concerts you've seen:
Kraftwerk
Lenny Kravitz
The Wonderstuff
The Prodigy
Inspiral Carpets
Kraftwerk
Lenny Kravitz
The Wonderstuff
The Prodigy
Inspiral Carpets
November 27, 2025 at 11:33 PM
The Serpents (Welsh supergroup) where I was the only paying customer so they bought me a pint and still played the gig
Kate Bush
@lowtheband.bsky.social in a pub’s upstairs room
Philip Glass in a cathedral
Premiere of Festen the opera
Broadcast surrounded by freshers with their hands over their ears
Kate Bush
@lowtheband.bsky.social in a pub’s upstairs room
Philip Glass in a cathedral
Premiere of Festen the opera
Broadcast surrounded by freshers with their hands over their ears
Reposted by Plashing Vole
I heard a story about a female academic giving a paper at the IHR who, after receiving a long and aggressive question from a senior male professor, simply leaned back with her hands behind her head and replied “Oh, do fuck off.”
One of my colleagues went to a seminar at Berkeley and when someone asked a question Derrida brushed it off saying ‘what you ask may be important but it is not interesting’.
This path leads to chaos.
November 27, 2025 at 6:16 PM
I heard a story about a female academic giving a paper at the IHR who, after receiving a long and aggressive question from a senior male professor, simply leaned back with her hands behind her head and replied “Oh, do fuck off.”
One of my colleagues went to a seminar at Berkeley and when someone asked a question Derrida brushed it off saying ‘what you ask may be important but it is not interesting’.
November 27, 2025 at 4:08 PM
One of my colleagues went to a seminar at Berkeley and when someone asked a question Derrida brushed it off saying ‘what you ask may be important but it is not interesting’.
Monday morning used to be about a few moments' fantasy, receiving the Jobs.ac.uk round-up and dreaming of other roles in other places.
The dream died.
The dream died.
November 27, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Monday morning used to be about a few moments' fantasy, receiving the Jobs.ac.uk round-up and dreaming of other roles in other places.
The dream died.
The dream died.
Reposted by Plashing Vole
I'm super pleased to announce that my book, Psychic Connection and the Twentieth-Century British Novel is out in paperback with Edinburgh University Press next month!
The paperback is already very reasonably priced (if I do say so myself), but the code PAPER30 will get you 30% off.
The paperback is already very reasonably priced (if I do say so myself), but the code PAPER30 will get you 30% off.
Psychic Connection and the Twentieth-Century British Novel
Psychic Connection and the Twentieth-Century British Novel
edinburghuniversitypress.com
November 27, 2025 at 1:15 PM
I'm super pleased to announce that my book, Psychic Connection and the Twentieth-Century British Novel is out in paperback with Edinburgh University Press next month!
The paperback is already very reasonably priced (if I do say so myself), but the code PAPER30 will get you 30% off.
The paperback is already very reasonably priced (if I do say so myself), but the code PAPER30 will get you 30% off.
Reposted by Plashing Vole
Representing @quaker.org.uk at the National Emergency Briefing on the climate and nature crisis in a packed Methodist Central Hall. Impressive list of speakers but suspect we're in for quite a challenging morning. I'll keep you posted.
November 27, 2025 at 9:02 AM
Representing @quaker.org.uk at the National Emergency Briefing on the climate and nature crisis in a packed Methodist Central Hall. Impressive list of speakers but suspect we're in for quite a challenging morning. I'll keep you posted.
The 1930s house in question:
November 27, 2025 at 9:14 AM
The 1930s house in question: