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Michael Shallcross

@michaelshallcross.bsky.social
3K followers 2.5K following 3.6K posts

Wrote a book about G.K. Chesterton and literary modernism. Now working in uni admin, but still doing research - see pinned thread for info on my current project, 'Inscribing Pandemonium'. Also posting about music, culture, politics, random nonsense.

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Michael Shallcross @michaelshallcross.bsky.social · 19m
Wfh today, so listening to some vinyl picked up in Edinburgh, which is helping to maintain morale while carrying out the most thankless task in the uni admin repertoire: drafting the dept marking allocation. #NowPlaying 𝑅𝑒𝑑 𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑛 by Throwing Muses, a £20 bargain from Vinyl Villains on Leith Walk.
Vinyl copy of 𝑅𝑒𝑑 𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑛 by Throwing MusesThe shop front of Vinyl Villains in Edinburgh
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Michael Shallcross @michaelshallcross.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Von Callahan & His Fancy Boys
Bil Callahan on stage at Leeds Irish Centre Jim White's drum kit. The bass drum head says 'von Callahan & His Fancy Boys' in marker pen, courtesy of Mr Callahan.
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Michael Shallcross @michaelshallcross.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
🎵 doing the
A sign for the 'Muriel Spark Walk' in Edinburgh
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Michael Shallcross @michaelshallcross.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
The phrase "gives me the ick" gives me the ick, which I guess is the idea, but also means that anyone using the phrase to distance themselves from ick contamination has simultaneously projected the ick from within in the very act of verbalisation, as I have now done in turn, as Kristeva foretold
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Michael Shallcross @michaelshallcross.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I asked the 20-something barman "what's the lemon drink in the fridge?" "Mmmm, it's basically bougie Fanta"
A can of bougie Fanta
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Michael Shallcross @michaelshallcross.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Absolutely freaks my nut that some people elect to sit in the west-facing seats on this journey, when there are east-facing seats available. Sociopaths.
Coastal view from the window of an east-facing seat on the train to Edinburgh, shortly after passing through Berwick
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Michael Shallcross @michaelshallcross.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Heading up the east coast mainline for a night away to Edinburgh. Will be reliving my youth by going to see Lung Leg and the Yummy Fur tonight, and reliving Muriel Spark's youth by spending the rest of the time soaking up her city, for a piece I'm writing about the devil, betrayal, and fascism.
Two 10" vinyl records and two paperback books: 'Hello Sir' by Lung Leg, 'Male Shadow at Three o'Clock' by the Yummy Fur, and 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie' and Curriculum Vitae' by Muriel Spark
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International Anthony Burgess Foundation @anthonyburgess.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
The third episode of INSIDE ANTHONY BURGESS, our new podcast about the writing of the author of A Clockwork Orange, deals with the second part of his ‘confessions’, You’ve Had Your Time. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts or here: www.anthonyburgess.org/podcasts/ins...
anthonyburgess.org
Inside Anthony Burgess: You've Had Your Time - The International Anthony Burgess Foundation
Inside Anthony Burgess is a podcast that explores the writing of the author of A Clockwork Orange. Taking in both his fiction and non-fiction, we feature one of his books in each episode, discussing B...
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Sam Leith @questingvole.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
On my growing gloom about books
spectator.com
The real reason kids are giving up reading
Even popular books are getting shorter and easier to read: their sentences are shorter, their paragraphs are shorter
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Michael Shallcross @michaelshallcross.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
#NowPlaying today's postal delivery. Rather eerie quality to the artwork when perched on a piano.
Vinyl copy of the new album by The Yummy Fur, 'Everybody Talks About the Weather'
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Oh! Brother @ohbrothershow.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Recorded live at Futures and Pasts, this special episode sees Paul and Steve joined by the Poet Laureate himself, Simon Armitage, who looks back on discovering The Fall as a teenager, his early gigs, and what it is about Mark E. Smith's lyrics that captivates so many writers. (+)
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Dr Dave Hitchcock @davehitchcock.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
UKRI is using AI to "screen" grant applications? That is beyond awful and we are so very screwed.
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Jude Rogers @juderogers.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
...so read my long love-letter to this show, in which I explore all its complications and unanswered questions, here. juderogers.substack.com/p/the-unansw...
juderogers.substack.com
The unanswered questions of 70 Up
The death of Nick, goodbye to Neil, and the power of watching fourteen real lives in time-lapse – the return of my Mid-Week Culture Culture Blast
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Jo Cottrell @cotch11.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Very much looking forward to welcoming Michael Lewis, curator of the Bayeux Tapestry exhibition to my Art Chat salon in Hackney next Wednesday 30 September. Lots to discuss and plenty of time for questions. If you're in the area do join us! Tickets £10. DM me for more details.
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upset-the-rhythm.bsky.social @upset-the-rhythm.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Ahead of their stunning new album coming out this Friday, The Yummy Fur are live in session tonight for the inimitable Riley & Coe! Dream come true territory, tune into Salford from 9pm: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m... @bbc6music.bsky.social @marcrileydj.bsky.social @southernrecorddist.bsky.social
bbc.co.uk
BBC Radio 6 Music - Riley & Coe, The Yummy Fur play live in session
Marc Riley plays his music loves from every era and genre.
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Michael Shallcross @michaelshallcross.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
This pair of socks kills fascists
Pair of RNLI branded socks, on the end of a pair of trousered legs, perched on an untidy desk
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Michael Shallcross @michaelshallcross.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Surprisingly candid strapline choice from the TLS
"The TLS - Brain injuries and personality disorders. Welcome to the Times Literary Supplement."
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Michael Shallcross @michaelshallcross.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
A perfect concrete example of the way managerial choices about how to approach cost-saving are devaluing university courses, in the fullest sense of the word. Ultimately, divesting programmes of the meaningful values instilled by passionate scholars will be commercially fatal for these institutions.
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Michael Shallcross @michaelshallcross.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Crazy that Lennon would sprinkle horrible shit like this into his books of nonsense verse, and the reviews were like "more delightful whimsy - with a sting in the tale!"
"Well here's a blessing in disguise; 
Not only money too; 
He's left his pension book as well 
The slimy little jew!"Paperback edition of John Lennon's collected nonsense verse and prose
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Michael Shallcross @michaelshallcross.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Cosy sofa scenario offsetting entirely non-cosy novel
A black cat cosying up on a sofa, next to a hardback copy of 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐻𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐸𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑅𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟 by Muriel Spark
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Chris Hewson @chrishewson.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Shocked that this historically very weird and disingenuous man should take on this very sinister role.
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Jane @localnotail.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Solidarity with this Piddington resident ♥️✊ #Newsnight
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Michael Shallcross @michaelshallcross.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Got a morning of very tedious data entry ahead, organising the supervision allocation for 976 students, so busting out the Goat playlist to improve morale.
tidal.com
The Goat GOAT
Playlist - The Goat GOAT - 25 items
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Michael Shallcross @michaelshallcross.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Every day spent scrolling social media in 2026
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Michael Shallcross @michaelshallcross.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Finally finished refining my Macca post-Beatles playlist, after listening to pretty much everything he's recorded since '69. Couldn't bring myself to reduce it to 50 tracks as originally planned, so settled on 64 as an appropriate cut-off. A pretty whizz-bang compendium of his many moods, I think.
tidal.com
Backwards Traveller: 64 Post-Beatles Macca Bangers
Playlist - Backwards Traveller: 64 Post-Beatles Macca Bangers - 64 items
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Michael Shallcross @michaelshallcross.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
I wrote about Barrie's film in this (open access) journal article. Chesterton's later account of his involvement is more self-reproachful than might be expected of an apparently harmless escapade, because he connects it directly to the outbreak of war.
thewellsian.awh.durham.ac.uk
‘This odd game called war’: The Ethics of Game Playing in the War Writing of H. G. Wells, G. K. Chesterton, and Wyndham Lewis | The Wellsian: The Journal of the H. G. Wells Society
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Michael Shallcross @michaelshallcross.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
He should give Corbyn a peerage, bring the whole bit full circle
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Michael Shallcross @michaelshallcross.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Remember starter packs? Well I just added @anthonypowellsoc.bsky.social to this one.
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Michael Shallcross @michaelshallcross.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
#NowPlaying 'Another Place', 10" E.P. by Moths of the Moon - excellent Pram side project, heavily mining their hauntological side. Apparently there are still tickets left for the penultimate Pram tour date in Nottingham tonight. If you're remotely nearby you'd be a fool to yourself not to go along.
10" vinyl copy of 'Another Place' by Moths of the Moon
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Eyes @tmariis.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Book covers illustrated with art from the Chronicle of the Nuremberg Carnival (1449 to 1539)
Terry Pratchett, Going Postal
The illustration is a man wearing a costume made of sealed letters.
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Michael Shallcross @michaelshallcross.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Piece of cake, this football league business
Scoreboard at a football match, reading York City 4, Swindon Town 0
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History and Heritage Yorkshire @handhyorkshire.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
🧵The rugged coastline of North Yorkshire holds many secrets, but none are as enduringly bleak as the legend of the Staithes mermaids. Rooted in the folklore of this historic fishing village, the story serves as a chilling cautionary tale about human cruelty and supernatural retribution
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Michael Shallcross @michaelshallcross.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Mark E Smith singing the quoted post into a megaphone
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JR Moores @spinal-bap.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
I interviewed the magnificent Kristin Hersh for Bandcamp Daily. She was a delight, as you’d expect. @bandcamp.com @kristinhersh.bsky.social #throwingmuses daily.bandcamp.com/features/kri...
daily.bandcamp.com
Kristin Hersh Comes Home
The Throwing Muses co-founder reflects on her deeply personal new album and the people who inspired it.
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Michael Shallcross @michaelshallcross.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Fascinating 15min audio interview with Muriel Spark from 1993, done to promote her memoir, 𝐶𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑢𝑚 𝑉𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑒, discovered by scouring the endnotes of @drjamesbailey.bsky.social's excellent 𝐿𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝐶𝑎𝑡 𝐿𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑎 𝐵𝑖𝑟𝑑: 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑁𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝐿𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑀𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑙 𝑆𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑘.
freshairarchive.org
Spark, Muriel, 1918-2006
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Michael Shallcross @michaelshallcross.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
🎵 Every car I see is always picking on me, They take a left turn when I cross, guaranteed They park on the pavement 🎵 #FallFriday youtu.be/9oc_zbKzUls?...
Citizens in my street are also partial to this
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Michael Shallcross @michaelshallcross.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Exciting times in Todmorden
A drum kit with 'Pram' written on the bass drum, on an empty stage
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Michael Shallcross @michaelshallcross.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Howard Kirk, AI pioneer, on the defeat of privacy. From 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐻𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑀𝑎𝑛 by Malcolm Bradbury, 1975.
From 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐻𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑀𝑎𝑛 (1975) by Malcolm Bradbury:
'You are really interested aren't you, Myra?' 'Of course I am,' says Myra. 'It's called The Defeat of Privacy,' says Howard. 'It's about the fact that here are no more private selves, no morc private corners in society, no more private properties, no more private acts.' 'No more private parts,' says Barbara. Mankind is making everything open and accessible.' 'Even me?' asks Mvra. 'Oh we know all about you,' says Howard, You see, sociological and psychological understanding is now giving us a total view of man, and democratic society is giving us total access to everything. There's nothing that's not confrontable. There are no concealments any longer, no mysterious dark places of the soul. We're all right there in front of the entire audience of the universe in a state of exposure. We're all nude and available.'
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Time for Andy Burnham to appoint a Culture Secretary.
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Turing Police Andúnië Branch 🇺🇦🇱🇹🇵🇸🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @dov.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
The Labour Party is made up in its entirety of people who simply don't know how to pick a fight against a target that will fight back, which is why it is just grotesquely underprepared for the current moment.
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The Quietus @thequietus.com · 07/09/2026
"I was getting to the point where I was thinking, I don’t want to be a cabaret revival band. All we were doing is playing songs we wrote 20 years ago...” “Sometimes you just need a bit of time to think” – The Yummy Fur Interviewed buff.ly/lySCFD6
Black and white picture of The Yummy Fur, photograph by Luke Fowler.
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
2) and 3) are intimately linked, in that the BBC (the organisation that really matters in the modern environment) treats 'claims by rival parties' as the operating frame for how it covers everything. The failure from Labour and the Conservatives to say 'this stuff is bad' is really, really bad.
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Ray Newman @raynewman.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
I'm going to experiment by also posting a version of this as a thread... It’s amazing to think that we can pinpoint the most magical two seconds in pop music, which occur exactly one minute into ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ by The Beatles, as Take 7 melts into Take 26.
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Michael Shallcross @michaelshallcross.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
#NowPlaying picked up the other day from Relics in Leeds, 'Chocolat-Art', a Television Personalities live album, recorded in Germany in September 1984. Always striking to me how Dan Treacy would change the lyrics, structures, and even the vocal melodies of songs from one gig to the next.
Vinyl copy of 'Chocolat-Art' by Television Personalities
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Michael Shallcross @michaelshallcross.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Chomping greengage straight off the tree
Two ripe greengage on a tree branch, about to be chomped
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Michael Shallcross @michaelshallcross.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Spotted in FortyFive Vinyl Cafe, York - if anyone's feeling flush on #FallFriday this'll set you back a mere £75. Calorific!
Vinyl copy of 'Middle Class Revolt' by the Fall, in a rack in a record shop, with a £75 sticker on it
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But Andrew Hickey Died Ten Years Ago This Very Night @andrewhickey.500songs.com · 03/09/2026
The latest episode of A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs is now up! Hanna-Barbera! Danny Hutton! The Monkees! David Gates of Bread! It can only be the family-friendly adventures of that wacky Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band!
500songs.com
Song 186: “Frownland” by Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band
This episode is on “Frownland” by Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band, and is the third part of a trilogy following the episodes on the GTOs and Frank Zappa. Click the full post to rea…
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[Christopher M. Federico] @chrispps.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
“[W]e are left with the fact that a man who built a lifetime reputation as a sensitive paragon of moral conscience denouncing the evils of predatory capitalism had in fact cultivated a yearslong personal friendship … with someone who could not have been a more blatant and literal embodiment of it.”
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Michael Shallcross @michaelshallcross.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
The finished article 🤩
A stained glass panel hanging in a window, with etched lyrics from 'Hit the North' by the Fall, and magic lantern slides of York Minster and barges on a ship canal.
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Michael Shallcross @michaelshallcross.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Proof positive that uni admins and academics can live together in perfect harmony: an enormous box of cheese presented to me by the staff of York Law School, at the end of a year's secondment spent improving the department's management of academic workloads... 🧀🧀🧀
Nine blocks of cheese, with various crackers and chutneys, in a large cardboard box on a desk in an office
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