Anthony McCann (N Ireland)

Callie the Calico is squeezing herself out of a middle desk drawer, paw extended for stealthy ambush. Over the next 5 minutes Callie managed to crawl into each of the drawers. Thankfully the car insurance certificate she tore to threads was out of date.

So, I was sitting in my office reading a deeply serious book when I heard a strange scratching noise in the drawers of my work desk. Bemused and befuddled and not a little scared I carefully opened a drawer …

Twenty years on: The lifting of the ban on broadcasting Sinn Féin The voices of Sinn Féin members returned to the airwaves of the Republic of Ireland 20 years ago this week. BBC Northern Ireland reporter Kevin Sharkey, who was working in independent radio at the tim...

The thread runs right through. Section 31 was the legislation that banned the voices of Sinn Féin politicians on TV and radio in the Republic of Ireland. (They dubbed them instead): www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-nort...

You know, once in a while, as a treat!

Break a leg. Or someone else’s. Whichever feels right in the moment.

It’s always both with this stuff.

It’s an interesting question that touches on the cultural life of intellectual property, which used to be my specialist subject. Happy to chat about it, if it helps.

Dry question I know, but has anyone on here who has published an academic book had any issues with permissions/fair use for the quotes you use in the course of your scholarship? Especially interested to hear about it if you spend a lot of time in your book working through a specific text

Tbh I’m annoyed that so much of the sexism targeted towards my candidacy is about painting me as an influencer rather than a journalist.

It COMPLETELY erases my bartending career.

It’s a beautiful Sunny and warm Sunday, so this pic I took Saturday fits my perspective and attitude. Eastern Bluebird male (Sialia sialis). Wilson, NC #bird #birdphotography #mybirdshots

Because I have Deficient Autobiographical Memory I am able to watch it now as if for the first time. Sadly, not with my beloved, as she remembers every scene, camera angle, and line of dialogue and can’t bear the repetition.

I hope they start soon. I just got sent 6 spam messages by LIS in the space of an hour from a mailing list for an event I didn’t sign up for …

I talked about Lady Bird, working with Laurie Metcalfe, desperately trying to get uncool people to think you’re cool, and one of the most rebellious (and very on-brand) things I ever did. Give it a listen!

For the first time, a British Sign Language rendition of You'll Never Walk Alone was performed at Anfield before Liverpool vs. West Ham ❤️

I was watching Inner Space earlier, so I got his full range this week!

Picardo can do so much with the tiniest of facial expressions. One of his best ever episodes. I’m not a bawler, but this week I’ve been caught unawares by Starfleet and the new Scrubs. Maybe I’m just getting older and soppier.

I played the part of Stage Manager in our school’s production of Our Town 37 years ago, so the resonances ran deep over here.

I suspect Jim Carrey is going through difficult medical stuff, not cloning or replicant substitution or New-Order reptilian cover-ups. I wish him all the best.

Face Politics The face is central to contemporary politics. In Deleuze and Guattari’s work on faciality we find an assertion that the face is a particular politics, and dismantling the face is also a politics. Thi...

Jenny Edkins, Face Politics (Routledge, 2015) is very good - www.routledge.com/Face-Politic...

I continue to be fascinated by the phenomenon whereby an expert engages with any of the LLMs on their field of expertise and is instantly horrified by the wrong answers, and then goes on to use it for things they are not experts in as though it won’t be just as bad for those.

This is amazing.

www.getyourfuckingmoneyback.com

Thanks!

Delighted to see this. I bought the Taschen Book of Symbols, expecting to find an entry on ‘face’, but nope, nothing. I was astounded.

The Face What’s in a face? The face is the only part of the body where all the senses come together and, over the course of human history, has come to represent who we are as individuals. We unlock our phones...

@fayboundalberti.bsky.social Fay Bound-Alberti, The Face: A Cultural History - Allen Lane, February 2026
www.penguin.co.uk/books/459227...

'Birdbrain' benefits: How being an expert birdwatcher may boost cognition New research shows that seasoned birders — including older adults — had denser tissue in parts of the brain tied to attention and perception.

For all you #birders out there (including me) -
'Birdbrain' benefits: new research shows that seasoned birders had denser tissue in parts of the brain tied to working memory, spatial awareness & object recognition. #BirdBrain

Link for more information: www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...

Sidenote: I’ve only really come to a real understanding of my theoretical work on the politics and dynamics of ‘enclosure’ by working 1-1 in recovery work (ADHD and Burnout). Until I left the academy and connected the work with real lives in proximity it was all half-baked, to say the least.

Yes, I was just being cheeky.

Picture of the cover of Barbara Hambly’s Star Wars novel, Children of the Jedi.

Meanwhile, 👀, is this the only feminist text in the Star Wars canon? I discovered it while discussing the novelisations of Beauty and the Beast (TV) with my beloved.

👀

Is it the cost you’re side-eye,ing? 😉 That would be the core theme of my entire life as a social theorist. It tugs at my heartstrings a bit to see all of this sort of stuff from the perspective of an ex-academic. If you’re not inside the circus ring you don’t get to perform.

Opting out and writing offline (my position) feels ineffectual when the rest of the world seems to be happily following the piper into the mountain.