Sign in

Imogen Cook

@birosmudged.bsky.social
57 followers 86 following 46 posts

PhD researcher, writer, auntie. Clumsy but resilient. Currently looking at the links between health and travel in Anne Lister’s diaries and letters. they/she. Also running @chase-cw-net.bsky.social

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Imogen Cook
CN Lester 🏳️‍⚧️ @cnlester.bsky.social · 12h
'those with the most severe and debilitating disabilities would not lose any money.' - I don't know a single severely disabled person - all of whom have reams of medical evidence of impairment and illness - who hasn't had their conditions deliberately downplayed by benefit assessors
02912
Reposted by Imogen Cook
Frances: Meh and Loving It @francesmeh.reviews · 30/09/2026
one thing i understand more and more as i get older is that i do not have to post every half-baked inane thought that blows through my weary, addled brain. i do it by choice. i can stop anytime i want.
1556793
Reposted by Imogen Cook
Kat Abughazaleh @katmabu.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I literally don’t know a single woman who hasn’t been raped, stalked, groped, harassed, or sexually violated in some way at some point in their life. If you choose to doubt and dox survivors, just know every woman in your life is disgusted by you.
768286125970
Imogen Cook @birosmudged.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Enough
A screenshot of my temporarily muted words: massachussets, lesbian mask bar, mask mandate, lesbian bar
111
Reposted by Imogen Cook
Erin Reed @erininthemorning.com · 27/09/2026
The worst part about twitter is there are a number of people who think they have to be active there who are left-leaning but have had their brains absolutely cooked by the site. You can't inundate yourself in exposure to that stuff without it having an impact on you.
691816258
Reposted by Imogen Cook
perversemag @perversemag.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
PERVERSE is back with issue 10 on Monday - an email of five strange and unusual poems every week, and each poem posted here too. Sign up free at perverse.substack.com
065
Imogen Cook @birosmudged.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Not reading up on the lesbian mask mandate bar drama because I only have one life on God's green earth
000
Reposted by Imogen Cook
Morgan M Page @morganmpage.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Queer drama is really fun to text about and politically sinister when it breaches containment and conservatives find out about it. Those are *our* unreasonable assholes, back off!!
346382
Imogen Cook @birosmudged.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I finished my jury service (eight days on one trial, not unreasonable at all, felt lucky) here’s everything I read whilst waiting around
Books pictured left to right, two rows: Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins, The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides, Small g by Patricia Highsmith, Between Men by Eve Sedgwick, Nonbinary Jane Austen by Chris Washington
110
Reposted by Imogen Cook
Packed with Potential @packedwith.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
On this day in 1840, Anne Lister died at Koutais, in Georgia, aged 49. For today's anniversary we've made her a Victorian mourning card with the maxim she loved best, borrowed from Edward Young's Night-Thoughts: "For human weal, Heaven husbands all events."
054
Reposted by Imogen Cook
Packed with Potential @packedwith.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Miss Threlfall swindled Anne Lister's friend Miss Pickford out of thousands to fund her West Indies plantations, and violated the 1807 abolition act to do it. Join Anna Clark on what this case reveals about slavery in Lister's world. www.eventbrite.com/e/anne-liste...
eventbrite.com
Anne Lister Research Summit 2026
An online conference for Anne Lister enthusiasts.
053
Reposted by Imogen Cook
Matthew Roberts @matqbritholiday.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
www.fabula.org/actualites/1... NEXT WEEK! So excited to present about Gulliver and the Victorian Pantomine!
fabula.org
Gulliver’s Travels at 300. The Global Afterlives of a Bestseller in Print, Transmedial Adaptations, and Material Cultures (Seventh ILLUSTR4TIO International Symposium, London)
Plenary Lecture: Professor Daniel Cook (University of Dundee) Artist’s Talk: Martin Rowson (in conversation with Brigitte Friant-Kessler) Venue: St. Bride Library (London, U.K.) Dates: 23–25 September...
094
Imogen Cook @birosmudged.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Sorry to link to a s*bstack post but man Devon Price (almost) never misses, I was going to begrudgingly write something on this at some point and now I don’t have to any time soon because this is more or less exactly what I’ve been thinking and feeling RE the discourses of recent months
drdevonprice.substack.com
Of course some people make up disabilities. But how many? And does it matter?
Responding to critics of neurodiversity.
000
Imogen Cook @birosmudged.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Really wish headlines would stop framing this as “disabled people are against assisted dying” when the vast majority of disabled people I know with concerns were only against the timing & implementation of this assisted dying bill, not assisted dying in & of itself. That wording does actually matter
Headline on a BBC News Reel that reads ‘Why are so many disabled people against assisted dying?’
150
Imogen Cook @birosmudged.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
It’s been two years today since I secured CHASE AHRC funding to begin my PhD and about two years since I made this meme about how the two years/cycles I‘d spent applying and reapplying all over the place had felt lol. Having lots of thoughts and feeling reflective about what those years were like
The cyclical ‘it’s so over, we’re so back, it’s so over, we’re so back’ loop meme, pictured surrounded by screenshots from various emails rejecting or shortlisting me for various PhD studentships and places
110
Imogen Cook @birosmudged.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Update: a vote for 'Recipes' has hit the survey. Overjoyed
000
Reposted by Imogen Cook
Ilikecaketoo (UK) @ilikecaketoo.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Disgraceful that the RNLI have to say this today, but here we are 😞. If you would like to donate👇🏻. rnli.org/support-us/g... #RNLI #RNLISavesLives
621934871
Imogen Cook @birosmudged.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Disappointed that nobody has yet responded to this survey to tell me they write 'Recipes' so if anyone does and wants to let me know go for it
000
Reposted by Imogen Cook
Dorian Lynskey @dorianlynskey.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
If "legitimate concerns" were considered to excuse illegitimate methods, then nobody from Just Stop Oil or Palestine Action would have been arrested. So we know it doesn't. In fact that phrase is only ever used in one context. Only in that context is uniformed mob intimidation "peaceful protest"
211107401
Reposted by Imogen Cook
Michael Hobbes @michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
However much you hate British media, it is not enough www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/09...
How having a disability became cool
Young women, nicknamed ‘sickfluencers’, are turning chronic illness into a lifestyle trend and entrenching a culture of economic inactivity

Young women are also more likely to get caught up in “social contagion” – the spontaneous spread of behaviours or emotions previously observed by sociologists in “outbreaks” of bulimia, self-harm and transgender ideology. What may have otherwise been transitory feelings are seized upon and obsessed over until they form a central pillar of a person’s identity. A chronic-illness influencer won’t want to get “better” any more than a female-bodied transgender person would want to re-identify with their sex.
13758091210
Imogen Cook @birosmudged.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
New Sense and Sensibility adaptation looks very nicely cast imo but I‘m struggling to look past the hair situation because I’m one of those people sorry. I’ll still go see it though obviously
100
Reposted by Imogen Cook
Charlotte Lydia Riley @lottelydia.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
"would mean, for example, that Jewell would not be able to breastfeed in the future" this person is TWENTY NINE YEARS OLD and the BBC is scaremongering about their choice not to breastfeed a baby that they do not have and have given no indication of ever wanting to have
19752174
Reposted by Imogen Cook
Louie Stowell @louiestowell.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
I love that this is how I found out Starmer stepped down as an MP
362577485
Imogen Cook @birosmudged.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
It’s her sweet sixteen today, everyone say happy birthday Mimi
The prettiest tortoiseshell cat in the world looking up at you with beautiful green eyes The prettiest tortoiseshell cat in the world bowing her head in a sweet and demure manner
130
Imogen Cook @birosmudged.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
I always feel a bit attacked when I think of this Mansfield Park quote because yeah, I do indeed call it The Island, as if there were no other island in the world (in my defence I lived there for years and my mum & cat still live there, so I assume people always gather which one I’m referring to)
Quote from Austen’s Mansfield Park: She thinks of nothing but the Isle of Wight, and she calls it the Island, as if there were no other island in the world.
120
Reposted by Imogen Cook
Working Class History @workingclasshistory.com · 28/08/2026
#OtD 28 Aug 1830 in Kent, UK a threshing machine was destroyed by angry labourers, starting the Swing rebellion. Workers sent demands to bosses signed by "Captain Swing", and if the bosses did not cave in, mobs would smash the machines stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/9980...
17036
Reposted by Imogen Cook
Ricardo Autobahn @ricardoautobahn.co.uk · 26/08/2026
The best tribute to Dolly Parton is that she regularly and repeatedly refused to have anything to do with Piers Morgan
Piers Morgan

@piersmorgan

Follow

:

RIP Dolly Parton.

Never met her, never interviewed her (despite decades of unrequited requests) but thought she was utterly fabulous in every way.
181204623054
Reposted by Imogen Cook
Alex Zalben @azalben.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Dolly Parton, among a thousand other amazing things she did in her life, gifted over 330 million books to kids through her Imagination Library program. Her passing is a tremendous loss to the world, but you can support the program today to keep it going imaginationlibrary.com
imaginationlibrary.com
Dolly Parton's Imagination Library | USA, UK, IE, CA, AU
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a book gifting program that mails free books to children from birth until they begin school in participating areas.
45121535979
Imogen Cook @birosmudged.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Not Dolly Parton :(
100
Reposted by Imogen Cook
DeclanKavanagh.bsky.social @drdeclankavanagh.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Happy to share this statement from the British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, which responds to recent comments about my position as Senior Lecturer in Eighteenth Century Studies and work I supervise. Solidarity with all marginalised academics under attack by the peddlers of a culture war.
Statement from BSECS
Published on: 18th Aug 2026
BACK
The British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies supports the work of scholars of the period from all backgrounds and career stages, working in all disciplines. The Society has recently reaffirmed its commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion in all its activities, and its opposition to bullying and harassment.
As such, members of the Society have been deeply concerned about the public hounding of academics by sections of the media and on social media platforms.
In the current 'culture wars', universities and their staff
- and Black scholars in particular - have been targeted to score political points about EDI, 'woke' culture and progressive causes. This tragically came to a head last week with the death of Prof Jason Arday, who had been subjected to weeks of hostile commentary and personal attacks.A recent article in The Spectator typified this trend. In this article, one of our own colleagues and his doctoral students were attacked for their work on queer readings of fiction. We stand in solidarity with our colleague, and strongly object to any such attempt to bully scholars and students in our field.
Furthermore, we insist that the study of sexuality is a legitimate and urgent academic endeavour, not least because many of today's attitudes towards sex and gender have their roots in the eighteenth century.
Indeed, current scholarship on the eighteenth century is very much alive to the challenges faced by society today, in fields such as race, gender, class and the environment, among many others. The British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies will continue to support those who carry out this important work, and we wish to assure our members that the Society will stand up to any attempt to harass them.
The Executive Committee of BSECS
820761
Reposted by Imogen Cook
Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Professor Jason Arday's former students want to "gather everything good about Jason Arday, in the words of the people who were there" to make their contribution to the public record about him (rather than to debate events + controversies of recent months) leilacancode.github.io/everythinggo...
leilacancode.github.io
Everything Good About Jason Arday
First-hand accounts from people who knew him. Collected by his students.
413039
Reposted by Imogen Cook
CN Lester 🏳️‍⚧️ @cnlester.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
I genuinely don't know how Britain can move forward as a society with our toxic press culture dragging us down at every step, poisoning everything.
7552163
Imogen Cook @birosmudged.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Very belated post because I’m bad at posting but it was wonderful to attend the anthology and exhibition launch for Sucking Face from t’art press last week, and an even greater honour to get to read an excerpt from my short story (to a much bigger and more enthusiastic crowd than I’d expected lol)
Me wearing a green shirt standing in front of a window, reading from the red hardback ‘Sucking Face’ anthologyHalf of the first page of ‘Sex With Dinah’ by Imogen Cook printed in Sucking Face, pictured open on a train table
110
Reposted by Imogen Cook
Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Andy Burnham says the bigger questions of oil and gas will come "at the right moment in time." On the eve of another heatwave when thousands of people have died already, when is a better time to rule out drilling for new oil and gas?
761414392
Imogen Cook @birosmudged.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Genuinely so so so sick of booking the quiet coach on a train service only for almost everyone on the coach to ignore it. Sat on a table with three friends who noticed they were in the quiet coach, went “oh no! We’re in the quiet coach!” and then proceeded to continue to talk (loudly and poshly)
020
Imogen Cook @birosmudged.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Genuinely fascinates me that so many trans exclusionary ‘feminists’ just loop round to doing what is an extremely archaic well documented form of misogyny, like if you swapped Gen Z for something else I’d fully believe you if you told me that subheading was written by some medical writer in 1812
062
Reposted by Imogen Cook
Better Things Are Possible @internethippo.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
Yes, the Problems are bad, but this is no time for radical things like Solutions
50105822738
Reposted by Imogen Cook
Frozen Sea @frozenseapoetry.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
A big thank you to our lovely Issue Twelve contributors! We're the luckiest 🩵 🪓 ㅤ Next up, Issue Thirteen. Line-up dropping tomorrow! 🌲👀
042
Reposted by Imogen Cook
Jay Hulme @jayhulmepoet.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Racists describing refugees to Britain as "Boat people" like our nation's most famous hobby wasn't using the boats of the British Navy to take over other countries. Like... British people are, very famously, boat people. We were boat people all over the world. It was our whole thing.
1343475
Reposted by Imogen Cook
Anupama Ranawana @msamrc.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Incredible statement from the Church in Wales on the ignominious Code of Practice: "The Church in Wales will not use equality law exemptions to exclude trans people from our worship, our sacraments, our pastoral care, or our common life." www.churchinwales.org.uk/en/news-and-...
churchinwales.org.uk
Statement of the Bench of Bishops of the Church in Wales on the publication of the EHRC Draft Code of Practice - Church in Wales
191742514
Reposted by Imogen Cook
👻madeline bOoOoOoOodent👻 @oldenoughtosay.com · 16/07/2026
the cognitive dissonance required to threaten to sue *Amnesty International* out of existence and still think of yourself as a good person is incredible
102021387
Reposted by Imogen Cook
CHASE Creative Writers Network @chase-cw-net.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
More updates to come around the new academic year, but if you would like to be added to our mailing list in the meantime, just drop us a line chase.creative.network@gmail.com :)
101
Reposted by Imogen Cook
Disability Rights UK @disrightsuk.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
🚨DR UK's Statement on the EHRC's New Code of Practice "We are appalled at implications that an adequate workaround is trans people using Disabled toilets instead. We will not be used as a loophole in the wider erosion of trans rights." Full statement👇 www.disabilityrightsuk.org/news/disabil...
Disability Rights UK’s Statement on the EHRC’s New Code of Practice
As the makers of the original RADAR key and custodian of the National Key Scheme, Disability Rights UK issues our unequivocal solidarity with trans people, who should not be forced to choose between risking harassment in public facilities – or not using them at all. 
Image of Disability Rights UK logo in a purple box.
We are appalled at implications from the Code that an adequate workaround is trans people using Disabled toilets instead. It is a vain attempt to get two marginalised groups to blame one another for our lack of facilities, when the blame lies firmly at the feet of policymakers. We will not fall for it. We will not be used as a ‘loophole’ in the wider erosion of trans rights.  
Image of Disability Rights UK logo in a purple box.
Our RADAR key scheme began in 1981, rooted in the understanding that accessible facilities can be the difference between living the lives we deserve – socialising, travelling and working – and complete social exclusion.  

Our community knows how it feels to be scapegoated simply for trying to access the necessities we need to live. Trans rights do not come at the expense of Disabled, nor anyone else’s.
Image of Disability Rights UK logo in a purple box.
As is clear from this Code of Practice, it sets a dangerous precedent for the erosion of other protected characteristics. If the Equality Act can be up for debate in this arena, who is to say this will not be the case when it comes to disability in the near future? 

As a result, the Disabled-led movement must make a clear stand against this ruling, not to mention because 52% of trans people are Disabled themselves.  
Image of Disability Rights UK logo in a purple box.
01196603
Reposted by Imogen Cook
Bad Gays @badgayspod.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
wise words from a friend of the show novaramedia.com/2026/05/29/t...
novaramedia.com
Trans Segregation Is Becoming Law. What Can We Do About It? | Juliet Jacques
‘Single-sex spaces’ must now exclude trans men and women, according to new guidance from the EHRC. We aren’t taking seriously just how dangerous this will be, write Juliet Jacques.
062
Reposted by Imogen Cook
Chris Lloyd @cilloyd.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
Hey Bluesky folks. If you’re in education or just follow for my thirst traps, would you please sign this if you can, and share far and wide? c.org/dCKk9vjqxY It’s much appreciated. My university is cancelling all UG humanities degrees. We need support and love right now x
c.org
Sign the Petition
Save the Humanities at the University of Hertfordshire
68377
Reposted by Imogen Cook
Christian Ilbury @christianilbury.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
At the end of all these cuts, will Linguistics actually be taught outside of a few 'elite' Universities? (and even at those institutions, the field will be much smaller than it once was) If you aren't seeing this as a Widening Participation issue, then you really don't get what's going on.
03818
Reposted by Imogen Cook
Patrick Monahan @pattymo.com · 06/05/2026
DAWKINS: You idiots believe in God? ALSO DAWKINS: The Computer is alive. And it’s also my girlfriend
13678811683
Imogen Cook @birosmudged.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
happy to see one of my poems in the new issue of Frozen Sea, thanks for having me @frozenseapoetry.bsky.social :)
frozensea.org
Imogen Cook — Frozen Sea
010
Reposted by Imogen Cook
Frozen Sea @frozenseapoetry.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
Issue Twelve out now! Check out our link in bio to read some next level work from our contributors 👾🩵🪓 @chrisblackman.bsky.social @birosmudged.bsky.social @gr8earlofhell.bsky.social @ella-b-winters.bsky.social @thejayestofzees.bsky.social
054
Reposted by Imogen Cook
Juni Kvarving @juni-kvarving.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
After finishing my PhD in English, I finally have time to take on editing work again. So I'm very excited to announce that I've just launched my own freelance business! junikvarving.com   I primarily offer: 📚 Developmental Editing ✍ Line Editing 💼 Academic Editing 🎓 Tutoring for Academic Writing
junikvarving.com
Home - Juni Kvarving
Dr Juni Kvarving Editor-Researcher-Tutor Selected Testimonials "Good editing takes skill, insight, and hard work; great editing requires something extra. Juni
121