Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 21hOnly this week my students and I discussed the weird cultural afterlives of Margaret Thatcher... 000
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 02/10/2026You do have to respect a man who can not only express a sincere love of literature, but somehow do so via an analogy to Wimbledon's "Crazy Gang". 020
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 29/09/2026This, I think, captures why I can't get that worked up about the 115 charges. I simply don't believe that other clubs weren't / aren't engaging in sharp practice. 210
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 29/09/2026I, for one, am genuinely curious about the fact that 7% of the Welsh want to... privatise the army? 001
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 21/09/2026In the spirit of this: the new UGs arriving on campus this week were eight years old when the Brexit referendum happened... ...though, for what it's worth, there seems to be a decent amount of interest in the GFC. I have supervised a few recent Dissertations on it. 010
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 19/08/2026Always nice to see part of the Birmingham Beer Mile get a bit of positive attention... 022
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 11/08/2026Bury Your Dead - like Maia's previous novels, Of Cattle And Men and On Earth As It Is Beneath - is superb and - like her previous novels - is begging for someone to turn it into a film... 010
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 11/08/2026Was unaware that this was an actual rule... but I have (unknowingly!) taken advantage of it this season after Wolves acquired another betting sponsor. 110
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 05/08/2026Whoever wrote that daft "what your holiday reading says about you" piece can pick the bones out of this. 210
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 27/07/2026The people yearn for an LLM trained on Laszlo Krasznahorkai novels. 010
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 19/07/2026To quote a friend: this is all very well for the World Cup Final, but could Justin Bieber do it on a cold Tuesday night in Stoke? 000
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 14/07/2026While I am not much of a photographer, I was quite pleased with this Galwegian heron. 150
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 12/07/2026To me, this is just watching any team you support. Why do I renew my Wolves season ticket every year? Because suffering is inevitable. 020
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 07/07/2026You will hear people say that there is no common European culture, but I think we're seeing here evidence of a continent-wide love of shithousery. 150
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 22/06/2026While my sums are not as precise as Owen's, by my (back of a fag packet) reckonings, over the past century the average ministry has only lasted about three and a half years... 100
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 16/06/2026France v. Senegal is, for me, a footballing madeleine, conjuring memories of watching the first game at the 2002 World Cup while revising for my GCSEs. The rest of you are watching Nicholas Jackson, I am experiencing a Proustian rush... 020
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 15/06/2026The @sweeperpod.bsky.social, I think, commented on the fact that a poll had shown that the match fewest people were interested in was DR Congo v. Uzbekistan. Personally, I can imagine no fixture more exciting... ... though I am sort of ambivalent about this World Cup as a whole. 110
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 03/06/2026Will confess that I did not have "Belle and Sebastian do a World Cup song" on my bingo card.youtu.beIt Only Takes One LionYouTube video by Belle & Sebastian - Topic 010
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 26/05/2026As this is doing the rounds again: a few months ago I dreamt the entirety of a (non-existent) @themountaingoats.bsky.social song. When I woke up all that remained was the title: 'Alice and the Coconut'. 010
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 21/05/2026When I still taught in a Politics department - fifteen years ago now! - I ran a session with students that thought about the merits of electoral reform, and was regularly told that PR was "a nice idea in theory but will never work in practice", as if, say, Denmark or Spain did not exist. 020
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 05/05/2026I have been a Wolves fan for thirty-odd years. Yesterday will count as one of the better days... #wwfc 031
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 02/05/2026You have to hand it to Ojeda: Electric Shamans at the Festival of the Sun really does sound like a deep cut from a John Peel playlist. 020
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 01/05/2026🎶 Well, it was back in Blind River in 1962 / When I last saw you alive... 🎶youtu.beLong May You Run (2016 Remaster)YouTube video by The Stills-Young Band - Topic 010
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 23/04/2026A point that students on #ThatcherBham are probably bored of me making is that, whatever their other faults, both the Thatcher and New Labour governments had a theory about how the world worked and what that meant for policymaking. I am not persuaded you could say the same of any government since. 020
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 18/04/2026I was right to be excited about this; very probably the best book I have read all year. 000
Reposted by Matthew Francis Centre for Modern British Studies @mbsbirmingham.bsky.social · 17/04/2026Registration for MBS2026 is now open! Registration link and the conference programme can be found here: www.birmingham.ac.uk/events/moder...birmingham.ac.ukModern British Studies Conference 2026 - University of BirminghamConference information 01924
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 08/04/2026I suspect this is true - for me, at any rate. I have been on some form of social media since Usenet* in the '90s, and if this place doesn't survive I am probably done. * Ask your dads, kids. 020
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 15/03/2026Two days of marking has not made for a fun weekend, but it has been an excuse to listen to a lot of records... 121
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 27/02/2026The fact that cricket offers a place for the likes of Rakheem Cornwall is, in my opinion, one of the best things about the sport. 120
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 03/02/2026Obviously not the main story in the team selection, but France's substitute tighthead is named Régis Montagne - "King Mountain" - and if that isn't a perfect name for 132kg prop then I don't know what is... 000
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 06/01/2026The good news for Rosenior is that, even if he does not make it until 2032, he has already outlasted the mere ten minutes that his dad spent as Torquay United manager on 1 June 2007. 030
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 01/01/2026While I suspect these threads are of interest only to me, I find them useful to help track what I have read, so for 2026... Book 1: Lina Munar Guevara's Imagine Breaking Everything. 2110
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 31/12/2025Am seeing out 2025 with a bottle of Pomona Island's If Only I Had A Hammer (from the 2021 release, I think). 030
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 31/12/2025Always nice to see Iñaki Williams telling it like it is.nytimes.comAthletic Club captain Inaki Williams says Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia is ‘s**t’The Spanish Football Federation has an agreement to hold the Super Cup there until 2029. 010
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 14/12/2025As @themerl.bsky.social might say: would you look at this absolute unit. 040
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 12/12/2025I am ending the week with a @verdantbrew.bsky.social Don't Fear The Cherryman. 040
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 14/11/2025I don't really post about #ThatcherBham on here, but I think it would be news to my students that the mid-1970s were a "safer, happier" time. 080
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 10/11/2025I am once again asking you all not to be so bloody weird. 050
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 17/10/2025Quite apart from the fact that this is, as E.P. Thompson might have put it, unhistorical bullshit, does anyone seriously believe that Jenrick has been in an away end in his life? 150
Reposted by Matthew Francis Centre for Modern British Studies @mbsbirmingham.bsky.social · 17/10/2025We are delighted to announce that MBS2026 will be held at the University of Birmingham, 3-5 June 2026! Papers may consider the opening day's theme of 'Polycrisis', but we also welcome all submissions related to modern British studies. For any questions please contact mbs2026@contacts.bham.ac.ukbirmingham.ac.ukModern British Studies Conference 2026 - University of BirminghamConference information 13934
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 16/10/2025Worth noting, in the context of some of the stuff in this interview, that Shelvey was once banned for racially abusing an opposition player... 030
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 09/10/2025The Nobel committee clearly love a stuffed whale (and rightly so). 000
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 23/09/2025There are no way there will be any #ThatcherBham students on Bluesky, but if there were... 030
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 18/09/2025The next step, of course, would be that you have to wait for the ad to finish playing before the door unlocks and you can get to your cheese... 020
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 11/09/2025While I enjoyed this from @nickmiller79.bsky.social, I am a little disappointed that Wolves being the first (and as far as I know only) Premier League side to go through a full game without committing a foul did not make the cut...nytimes.comPremier League one-time wonders: Extreme examples of things happening only onceFrom a striker who touched the ball only once to the young star stuck on one win, we look at the more niche Premier League statistics 010
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 10/09/2025Am always pleased to see @wolvesfc.bsky.social involved in projects like this. There is a lot not right at the club at the moment, but they are getting this stuff right.wolves.co.ukWolves supporting ‘Together Against Suicide’ campaignWolves have joined fellow Premier League clubs in supporting to the ‘Together Against Suicide’ campaign, helping fans affected by suicide or suicidal th... 010
Matthew Francis @mjfrancis.bsky.social · 08/09/2025When I looked for the full text of Nye Bevan's comment about sending the Foreign Secretary "naked into the conference chamber" last week, Google AI helpfully told me that there was no record of him attending any international summit in the nude. 010
