Matthew Symonds @polybiblion.com · 04/10/2026London bus priority seats are for disabled people, pregnant people, people who are less able to stand, middle-aged blokes who had a big night last night and could do with the sit down, and shopping trollies. 010
Reposted by Matthew SymondsMarc Morris @marcmorris.bsky.social · 02/10/2026I'm contractually obliged to point out that it begins with a discussion of the Bayeux Tapestry. 55011
Reposted by Matthew SymondsMary Flannery @15thcgossipgirl.bsky.social · 02/10/2026This week’s Page by Page is in honour of one of the most wonderful colleagues I ever had the pleasure of working with: Julia Boffey (1953-2026). maryflannery.substack.com/p/for-julia-...maryflannery.substack.comFor Julia, with gratitudeRemembering the kindness of a dear colleague 0116
Reposted by Matthew SymondsEdwin Heathcote @edwinheathcote.bsky.social · 02/10/2026Cool face-house. Ghent. 3345
Reposted by Matthew SymondsJosh Hadro @hadro.bsky.social · 30/09/2026How do you show a whole digitized book in one thumbnail? Modern books have illustrated covers, but in research collections the cover is often a plain library binding. So I made Flipbook: hover over a book from any #IIIF source and flip through its pages. hadro.github.io/flipbook/ #GLAMsky 📚📜 49630
Reposted by Matthew SymondsJonn Elledge @jonnelledge.bsky.social · 28/09/2026no shade the Reynolds specifically but you guys are leaving HE to rot, come the fuck on 2403
Reposted by Matthew SymondsJonn Elledge @jonnelledge.bsky.social · 28/09/2026for those keeping track, the inevitable moment I had to stop myself heckling was: Emma Reynolds, in a panel about economic growth, talking about how brilliant it was that we had such great universities in this country 1315
Matthew Symonds @polybiblion.com · 17/09/2026 i mean, there’s loads to talk about on the subject of rationalism / effective atruism / AI alignment / the San Fran cult scene, but when these guys throw around titles like “greatest philosopher”, I get really interested in how much philosophy these guys read and how they read it 251
Reposted by Matthew SymondsColin Smith @colinsmith.bsky.social · 16/09/2026The first big exhibition of comics in the UK began at London’s ICA in Dec 1970. It was discussed not just in comics fanzines & the undergrounds, but in the “quality” press like The Guardian & The Times. I’ve seen few pics of it, so I was chuffed to find these Henry Grant photos at the London Museum. 24310
Reposted by Matthew SymondsJohn Mark Frankland @jmfrankland.bsky.social · 16/09/2026We've held a village referendum 0806
Reposted by Matthew SymondsSTEMMA: Systems of Transmitting Early Modern Manuscript Verse @stemma.bsky.social · 16/09/2026Poetry and maths side by side - just how we like it here at STEMMA Bodleian MS Rawl. Poet. 142, Fols 11v - 12r 0113
Reposted by Matthew SymondsHeather Froehlich @heatherfro.bsky.social · 14/09/2026Do The New AI Features in These Familiar Databases Actually Help Researchers? katinamagazine.org/content/arti...katinamagazine.orgDo The New AI Features in These Familiar Databases Actually Help Researchers?EBSCO, ProQuest, and JSTOR have recently added to the generative AI features available on their platforms. Here’s what libraries need to know. 033
Reposted by Matthew SymondsKatie Birkwood @girlinthe.bsky.social · 13/09/2026Is anyone able to help out someone in hospital in Bury St Edmunds with no local support? 1217
Reposted by Matthew SymondsAnnalisa Nicholson @apuddleofmuddle.bsky.social · 11/09/2026It's just weird isn't it when the British Museum is running a sold-out exhibition, when The Odyssey reports $1billion at the box office, when the V&A has just opened the most innovative and accessible museum model in Europe....and this is what our minister for research comes out with. 361220456
Matthew Symonds @polybiblion.com · 10/09/2026god I love Hywel Bennett's performance in Tinker Tailor so, so much 000
Reposted by Matthew SymondsHetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 10/09/2026When asked in the Q&A about arts and humanities he says he personally values them (seems very genuine) but that he is the Science Minister, and it’s for the DCMS Minister to make the case for those. He’s perhaps not yet clocked he is responsible for all R&D. Would Wissenschaft Minister work better? 89140
Reposted by Matthew SymondsEddie Robson @eddierobson.bsky.social · 10/09/2026TITLE AND COVER REVEAL: My next novel, Painting With A Dead God's Blood, will be published on 22 June 2027. us.macmillan.com/books/978125... 2527179
Matthew Symonds @polybiblion.com · 08/09/2026Always delightful when events and our thin-skinned free-thinkers give me an excuse to post a Osbert Lancaster cartoon. 100
Reposted by Matthew SymondsPeter Mitchell @pdkmitchell.bsky.social · 05/09/2026One of Newcastle's new Reform c/llors has been spouting great replacement theory in the chamber, and the Chronicle simply retails Reform's spokesperson saying it's a free speech issue. No mention of his being in a neo-fascist party, or tweeting stuff like this www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-e... 172
Reposted by Matthew SymondsHEATED RIBALDRY @kneelbeforeclom.bsky.social · 13/08/2026Mfw you've digressed slagging off coracles (not even boats imo) 032
Matthew Symonds @polybiblion.com · 12/08/2026random find: my great aunt Joy striking a pose in the Illustrated London News of 4 March 1925 (she's the one perched on a shooting stick) 010
Matthew Symonds @polybiblion.com · 10/08/2026The American gun nut who gave UPS my email for their delivery notifications has taken a bit of a turn 100
Reposted by Matthew SymondsCharlie Lynch @charlielynch.bsky.social · 07/08/2026“I’m afraid there is a chance this child may become an academic.” 533771
Reposted by Matthew SymondsLaura Morreale @lauramorreale.bsky.social · 06/08/2026I have been writing/talking about this for about a decade now. Here is a simple way to back up/document at least some of your digital work. One thing to remember, however: a database IS NOT a book, so we need to build preservation structures that acknowledge that difference. digitalhumanitiesddp.comdigitalhumanitiesddp.comThe Digital Documentation Process - The Digital Documentation ProcessTUTORIAL This website will serve as a guide to the Digital Documentation Process (DDP), a set of best practices for cataloguing and preserving digital projects. The DDP makes digital humanities (DH) s... 02912
Reposted by Matthew SymondsDr Lucy J.S. Clarke 🇵🇸🏳️⚧️🌈 no human is illegal @lucyjsclarke.bsky.social · 31/07/2026hello hivemind. I’ve a wild plan to stage an apprentice riot from the 1590s, as part of a public practice-as-research event. unfortunately the original location, Tower Hill, is a no go. can anyone suggest venues with outdoor spaces (preferably London) that might be open to this sort of thing? 787
Reposted by Matthew SymondsBecca Harrison @beccaeharrison.bsky.social · 30/07/2026Bridget Phillipson, reflecting on her years spent standing idly by while UK higher education crumbled into the abyss and tens of thousands of university workers implored her to do something, literally anything, to save their jobs: BUT WHAT ABOUT ME THO www.theguardian.com/politics/202...theguardian.com‘It hurts to lose a job you love’: Starmer loyalist Bridget Phillipson fights on despite cabinet demotionExclusive: The former education secretary on her new role as Labour chair and continuing as the minister for women and equalities 318473
Reposted by Matthew SymondsProf Rob Dover @robdover.bsky.social · 30/07/2026The sec of state who has seen at least 15000 academics lose their jobs just said this. Out loud. Mercy me. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...theguardian.com‘It hurts to lose a job you love’: Starmer loyalist Bridget Phillipson fights on despite cabinet demotionExclusive: The former education secretary on her new role as Labour chair and continuing as the minister for women and equalities 20572230
Reposted by Matthew SymondsZohar Jacobs @zoharjacobs.bsky.social · 29/07/2026A relief that someone else has pointed this out. Also true that libraries throw away or recycle many, many books, including rare ones. This is not intended as a defence of AI companies, but just a recognition that books are routinely treated as much less sacrosanct than book-lovers might assume. 122
Reposted by Matthew SymondsLiesbeth Corens @onslies.bsky.social · 30/07/2026You don’t say, Bridget. Too bad this is a realisation you could only come to when you experienced it yourself. There are entire disciplines dedicated to understanding those human experiences so we don’t, each, have to live through them before recognising them. But they got decimated on your watch.theguardian.com‘It hurts to lose a job you love’: Starmer loyalist Bridget Phillipson fights on despite cabinet demotionExclusive: The former education secretary on her new role as Labour chair and continuing as the minister for women and equalities 1142
Reposted by Matthew SymondsLizzy Williamson @lizzywilliamson.bsky.social · 27/07/2026open.substack.com/pub/lizzywil...open.substack.comOn RedundancyFour weeks ago, the university that I have been working at for 9 years announced massive, unjustified, reckless job cuts, predominantly targeting the humanities, arts and social sciences. 085
Reposted by Matthew SymondsRenomed @renomed.bsky.social · 27/07/2026Going Places: 12 (1975) — Actor Kenneth Williams gives a personal view of Bloomsbury. (1975)bbc.co.ukGoing Places: 12 021
Reposted by Matthew SymondsRenomed @renomed.bsky.social · 26/07/2026Celebrity Recital: Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears (1964) — A concert given to an audience of friends by Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears. (1964)bbc.co.ukCelebrity Recital: Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears 011
Reposted by Matthew SymondsJeremy Noel-Tod @jntod.bsky.social · 26/07/2026I wrote about how the young Andy Burnham's admiration for Philip Larkin was all part of his grand plan to rule the UKsomeflowerssoon.substack.com"Little Englandism of the Left"How Andy Burnham's bid for power started with Philip Larkin 55719
Matthew Symonds @polybiblion.com · 25/07/2026I think those who want to insist on fidelity to Homer shouldn’t complain about Nolan’s infidelity to Homer in a way that reveals they haven’t read Homer 110
Reposted by Matthew SymondsRenomed @renomed.bsky.social · 24/07/2026Decision 79 - The Morning After (1979) — Archive coverage of the 1979 General Election which swept Margaret Thatcher to power.bbc.co.ukDecision 79 - The Morning After 002
Reposted by Matthew SymondsDr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 23/07/2026bit weird isn't it when do the generic search engine thing for Robert Hooke, at top you get an AI slop image of him with a clearly 19thc or later compound microscope, entirely unlike that which he pioneered. Oh yeah also a desk lamp as well as a candle. Great stuff. Internet's doing very well 319851
Matthew Symonds @polybiblion.com · 23/07/2026can’t remember why at all, but I hated Nighty Night with every fibre and it seems I still do 110
Matthew Symonds @polybiblion.com · 18/07/2026listening to the prog prom with an increasing aesthetic fury 120
Reposted by Matthew SymondsEarly Modern Digital Itineraries (EMDigIt) @emdigit.bsky.social · 14/07/2026After a hiatus, EMDigIt is back with BIG news! 📯 The Core Italian Itinerary dataset is now publicly available as feature layers published on ArcGIS Online. More than 3,700 georeferenced way-points and 6,000 route segments taken from 8 Italian-language itineraries published from 1562-1720. 24119
Reposted by Matthew SymondsClodagh Murphy @clodaghmurphy.bsky.social · 10/07/2026Thrilled to have my research on Elizabeth's letters, conducted on @misswalsingham.bsky.social 's FEATHERS project, in The Times: www.thetimes.com/article/093f...thetimes.comElizabeth I’s spymaster played up her ‘vicious’ temperResearch suggests Sir Francis Walsingham made the Tudor queen’s letters more emotional as part of a campaign to influence her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots 0118
Reposted by Matthew SymondsRob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 08/07/2026I think familiarity with survey research from half a century or more ago makes me a bit more sceptical of the stronger doomer claims of this kind. Functional literacy and numeracy, basic knowledge about core aspects of history, politics etc were not so widespread in the past either! 87010
Reposted by Matthew SymondsChaminda Jayanetti @cjayanetti.bsky.social · 08/07/2026Everyone says social media needs to be regulated There's just one problem - it *already is* I've had a look at why regulation is failing, what we might do about it, and what the risks are - because nothing is ever as simple as it seems New post: chamindajayanetti.substack.com/p/how-do-you...chamindajayanetti.substack.comHow do you solve a problem like social media? Part IIt's all well and good saying we should regulate social media. But social media is already regulated. So why is it failing? And what could we do in response? 1626897
Reposted by Matthew SymondsSpinky’s Mama @spinkysmama.bsky.social · 07/07/2026“I will make a statement on my future in public life at 2pm.” 27119
Reposted by Matthew SymondsNadine Akkerman @misswalsingham.bsky.social · 06/07/2026I’m SO proud of Dr @clodaghmurphy.bsky.social who was awarded her doctorate cum laude for her exceptional dissertation on Queen Elizabeth I. The @unileiden.bsky.social newsletter now shares some of her remarkable discoveries from our ERC Consolidator project #FEATHERS Congratulations! bit.ly/4fkiMPobit.lyElizabeth I did not just have the heart and stomach of a man – in her letters, she commanded his bile, tooQueen Elizabeth I left behind more than three thousand letters upon her death. Whilst historians have so far focused primarily on the hundred or so written in her own hand, PhD candidate Clodagh Murph... 5314
