Tom Shakespeare
@tomshakespeare.bsky.social
Talks, writes, teaches. "The Ha-ha" & "The Ends" might make you laugh. Patreon https://patreon.com/Tomtalksdisabillity?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=creatorshare_fan&utm_content=join_link
Pinned
Please order The Ends: "exit, pursued by a polar bear" - I've even written the headline for your review. Hope you are enjoying the book: it's a laugh, but also about the climate crisis.
I have been paralysed & a wheelchair user for 17 years. Since then, I have flown hundreds of times. I have never had worse service than this morning at Heathrow T4 Arrivals.
November 10, 2025 at 7:26 AM
I have been paralysed & a wheelchair user for 17 years. Since then, I have flown hundreds of times. I have never had worse service than this morning at Heathrow T4 Arrivals.
Not quite sure why Magazine's "Shot by both sides" is going round my head this morning (but thank God for a top class earworm).
November 9, 2025 at 7:39 AM
Not quite sure why Magazine's "Shot by both sides" is going round my head this morning (but thank God for a top class earworm).
Reposted by Tom Shakespeare
Ah, yes. The eternal struggle.
![[a woman with eyes wide open and a panicked look on her face - she's in bed with her phone next to her] - did i take my meds or just think about taking my meds](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:dbzmdmsaz6lkhb4tv3culzme/bafkreigm4qpdplozfci2y677yvf5hxf6wsbkxuw7yh3y2ydtffktr37oii@jpeg)
November 8, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Ah, yes. The eternal struggle.
Reposted by Tom Shakespeare
incredible new trump photo
November 8, 2025 at 4:38 PM
incredible new trump photo
Reposted by Tom Shakespeare
November 7, 2025 at 10:04 AM
Reposted by Tom Shakespeare
Trump: "Hear me, President Trump, when I say this: to get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us."
November 5, 2025 at 4:41 AM
Trump: "Hear me, President Trump, when I say this: to get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us."
Reposted by Tom Shakespeare
November 5, 2025 at 4:58 PM
I'm in Uganda, lecturing. My room has a vast mosquito net. Getting out of it to go for a late night wee isn't easy, particularly if you're in a wheelchair. Think Paddington without the marmalade.
November 5, 2025 at 5:33 PM
I'm in Uganda, lecturing. My room has a vast mosquito net. Getting out of it to go for a late night wee isn't easy, particularly if you're in a wheelchair. Think Paddington without the marmalade.
Reposted by Tom Shakespeare
Surround yourself with the kind of people who appreciate, defend, and respect the Oxford comma.
November 2, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Surround yourself with the kind of people who appreciate, defend, and respect the Oxford comma.
Reposted by Tom Shakespeare
on radio 4 tonight the 57th episode i've made with @paulsinha.bsky.social goes out (sinha test/sinha games/citizenship test x4/sinha carta/history revision x12/general knowledge x12/perfect pub quiz x26), matching the 57 episodes i've made with @johnfinnemore.bsky.social (jfsp x56 plus the pilot)
November 3, 2025 at 10:57 AM
on radio 4 tonight the 57th episode i've made with @paulsinha.bsky.social goes out (sinha test/sinha games/citizenship test x4/sinha carta/history revision x12/general knowledge x12/perfect pub quiz x26), matching the 57 episodes i've made with @johnfinnemore.bsky.social (jfsp x56 plus the pilot)
Reposted by Tom Shakespeare
“This is an extremely serious and troubling case that raises wider concerns about the academic freedom of staff and students at universities across the UK.” www.theguardian.com/education/20...
UK university halted human rights research after pressure from China
Exclusive: Leading professor at Sheffield Hallam was told to cease research on supply chains and forced labour in China after demands from authorities
www.theguardian.com
November 3, 2025 at 7:50 AM
“This is an extremely serious and troubling case that raises wider concerns about the academic freedom of staff and students at universities across the UK.” www.theguardian.com/education/20...
Friend messages to tell me how much she had enjoyed the Tove Janssen novel, Fair Play, which I had recommended, & which made her cry several times.
November 3, 2025 at 5:51 AM
Friend messages to tell me how much she had enjoyed the Tove Janssen novel, Fair Play, which I had recommended, & which made her cry several times.
Reposted by Tom Shakespeare
It's becoming chillingly clear: an administration that gleefully dismantled USAID and consigned countless people to slow death by starvation and preventable disease will not hesitate to inflict hunger on tens of millions of Americans by cutting off SNAP funds.
October 28, 2025 at 2:10 PM
It's becoming chillingly clear: an administration that gleefully dismantled USAID and consigned countless people to slow death by starvation and preventable disease will not hesitate to inflict hunger on tens of millions of Americans by cutting off SNAP funds.
Reposted by Tom Shakespeare
As far as I can tell, "Auntie" and "Uncle" in many South Asian cultures mean "older person who you aren't necessarily related to but is associated with your family"
October 28, 2025 at 2:53 PM
As far as I can tell, "Auntie" and "Uncle" in many South Asian cultures mean "older person who you aren't necessarily related to but is associated with your family"
I have two "step-daughters", neither of whom actually are, but they are my daughter's sisters, and I have known them, and sometimes looked after them, since the day they were born.
Wait, are people really upset that Mamdani spoke about his “aunt,” and it was actually his father’s cousin and not his father’s sibling?
Because that is an extremely normal thing a lot of cultures do. Including a lot of large Jewish families!
Because that is an extremely normal thing a lot of cultures do. Including a lot of large Jewish families!
In a bit of a tense moment, one of the La Mega co-hosts presses Mamdani on why he "lied" about his "aunt" having been scared to ride the subway after 9/11 while wearing a hijab.
Mamdani says it was "not a lie" because he refers to his father's cousin as his "aunt."
Mamdani says it was "not a lie" because he refers to his father's cousin as his "aunt."
October 28, 2025 at 4:24 PM
I have two "step-daughters", neither of whom actually are, but they are my daughter's sisters, and I have known them, and sometimes looked after them, since the day they were born.
Very much enjoying Matthew Sweet's novelisation of Bookish.
October 27, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Very much enjoying Matthew Sweet's novelisation of Bookish.
Reposted by Tom Shakespeare
Go girls!
🥹 Afghan women who escaped Taliban slavery have formed a football team in Australia. Today, in Morocco, they are making their debut in official FIFA friendly matches under the Afghan flag.
October 27, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Go girls!
Getting over-excited buying Christmas concerts: There's only one Esfahani but which choir? Which Messiah?
October 27, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Getting over-excited buying Christmas concerts: There's only one Esfahani but which choir? Which Messiah?
Reposted by Tom Shakespeare
Pope Leo is quietly mounting a long-term, moral confrontation with American authoritarianism — and history suggests he knows exactly what he’s doing.
Here’s how he can defeat Trump’s dictatorship of lies once and for all.
Here’s how he can defeat Trump’s dictatorship of lies once and for all.
Pope Leo vs. the Empire of Lies: The Long Game to Defeat Trumpism
He’s already rebuked immigration crackdowns and blasted the “logic of exclusion” fueling rising nationalism. Now, as the youngest pope in 35 years, Leo is poised to help defeat Trumpism for good.
www.thelettersfromleo.com
October 27, 2025 at 12:06 AM
Pope Leo is quietly mounting a long-term, moral confrontation with American authoritarianism — and history suggests he knows exactly what he’s doing.
Here’s how he can defeat Trump’s dictatorship of lies once and for all.
Here’s how he can defeat Trump’s dictatorship of lies once and for all.
Reposted by Tom Shakespeare
Michelle Mone got a private jet, a superyacht and a £10m luxury home in Florida on the NHS. Most of us can't even get a GP appointment.
October 27, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Michelle Mone got a private jet, a superyacht and a £10m luxury home in Florida on the NHS. Most of us can't even get a GP appointment.
Reposted by Tom Shakespeare
Here is Gregory Bovino, the man in charge of ICE agents in Chicago.
October 27, 2025 at 7:31 AM
Here is Gregory Bovino, the man in charge of ICE agents in Chicago.
Getting on for 3 weeks is an awfully long time for a cough to continue. On the other hand, that's a great number of hot toddies.
October 26, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Getting on for 3 weeks is an awfully long time for a cough to continue. On the other hand, that's a great number of hot toddies.
Reposted by Tom Shakespeare
The reform party nativity scene.
No unmarried mothers. No Middle Eastern people. No refugees. No people seeking emergency accommodation.
And not a wise fvcking man in sight…
No unmarried mothers. No Middle Eastern people. No refugees. No people seeking emergency accommodation.
And not a wise fvcking man in sight…
October 26, 2025 at 4:17 PM
The reform party nativity scene.
No unmarried mothers. No Middle Eastern people. No refugees. No people seeking emergency accommodation.
And not a wise fvcking man in sight…
No unmarried mothers. No Middle Eastern people. No refugees. No people seeking emergency accommodation.
And not a wise fvcking man in sight…
Reposted by Tom Shakespeare
Donald Trump’s America where simply having brown skin means you’re going to be terrorized by ICE thugs, with NO warrant, while running daily errands.
Reminder:
IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY!
Trump and his vile ilk have got to go.
Reminder:
IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY!
Trump and his vile ilk have got to go.
October 26, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Donald Trump’s America where simply having brown skin means you’re going to be terrorized by ICE thugs, with NO warrant, while running daily errands.
Reminder:
IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY!
Trump and his vile ilk have got to go.
Reminder:
IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY!
Trump and his vile ilk have got to go.
Reposted by Tom Shakespeare
This is an insightful explanation, and I probably applies to a lot of non-Jewish institutions, too.
If you want to understand why Jewish institutional leadership is so out of touch with actual American Jews, you need to understand the funding dynamic of basically every legacy Jewish institution. 1/
October 26, 2025 at 6:45 PM
This is an insightful explanation, and I probably applies to a lot of non-Jewish institutions, too.