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Philip Purser-Hallard @purserhallard.com · 01/10/2026

Plenty in England named after Cromwell, though.

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Brian Bilston @brianbilston.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

On National Poetry Day, here’s a short poem about the power of poetry to change the world.

The Power of Poetry

with things falling apart
and anarchy let loose,

it was only poetry, he found,
which had any use,

so he reached for his copy
of The Complete Works of Yeats

and bludgeoned the President
of the United States

Brian Bilston

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Philip Purser-Hallard @purserhallard.com · 30/09/2026

I give it five years before our naziest politicians are demanding an end to NHS glasses prescriptions for "speccy twats". "I tried holding chunks of glass up to my face and it didn't mean I could read suddenly," said Robbo Thug MP, Shadow Minister for Education.

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Philip Purser-Hallard @purserhallard.com · 30/09/2026

That man definitely communicates by holding up signs.

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Philip Purser-Hallard @purserhallard.com · 29/09/2026

The original poster has blocked me, which is a valid response. (The post suggests that violence against women "benefits" men because we can tell ourselves we're not as bad as all that.) I stand by what I've said here, though.

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Thomas Ha @thomasha.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

i should clarify, when i write people doing bad things, it's because i am bad. they are me. more importantly, when you read about those bad things, they also become you. that's how story works. in fact, you are going to think about murder before this skeet ends. how's that feel, sicko.

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AlexWattsEsq @alexwattsesq.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

He's going to want to watch out for Spiderman

Headline from Guardian live coverage of Andy Burnham's speech: "Burnham turns to electricity"

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Philip Purser-Hallard @purserhallard.com · 29/09/2026

Yeah. Promoting science to magic wasn't a convincing solution. My guess was that the murderer just wanted to kill *someone*, and which victim got poisoned was irrelevant to their aims.

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Philip Purser-Hallard @purserhallard.com · 29/09/2026

Compared to all that, an excuse to feel superior to other men (If I did, which I don't) is small potatoes. Male violence against women and girls is a horrific scourge against humanity and an absolute fucking disgrace. Eliminating it would be the only real win for everyone.

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Philip Purser-Hallard @purserhallard.com · 29/09/2026

And I certainly don't benefit from constantly reading distressing media stories about other human beings being attacked and brutalised and abused. I don't believe humanity as a whole benefits from any of these things, and I don't honestly believe men as a gender do either.

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Philip Purser-Hallard @purserhallard.com · 29/09/2026

I don't benefit from a world where there's an additional barrier to women trusting me that has nothing to do with my own character. I don't benefit from suspicion surrounding any interaction I might have with children or younger women.

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Philip Purser-Hallard @purserhallard.com · 29/09/2026

I don't benefit from living in a world where some of my dearest friends are living with emotional and physical scars that impair their ability to live full, free and happy lives. I don't benefit when my female colleagues' abilities to do their jobs are impacted by stress or trauma or injury.

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Philip Purser-Hallard @purserhallard.com · 29/09/2026

I've been thinking about this, and I guess it's true if you see life as a zero-sum game which either men or women must win. And I can see how it might feel like that at times. I'm not taking issue with the poster here. But this "benefit" feels negligible compared with the downsides for everyone.

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Philip Purser-Hallard @purserhallard.com · 29/09/2026

I did GCSE Russian at school and our teacher showed us a Russian map of the UK. Friend and I got mildly hysterical when we managed to transliterate one placename as "Niukasl-apon-Teyn".

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Philip Purser-Hallard @purserhallard.com · 29/09/2026

I was hoping for a Chekhov's Polar Bear at some point, though. Now I'm just hoping season 4 is set on the International Space Station.

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Philip Purser-Hallard @purserhallard.com · 29/09/2026

I enjoyed Vigil season 3. Not seeing what people said about it being hard to follow -- it's a spy thriller, it's obviously pretty twisty but it felt like it all hung together without being especially baffling. Rose Leslie is lovely and the central relationship remains strong and relatable.

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Philip Purser-Hallard @purserhallard.com · 28/09/2026

"Bro" but it's short for "brontosaurus".

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Philip Purser-Hallard @purserhallard.com · 28/09/2026

Equal emphasis on the first and last syllables. There's a weird US tendency to emphasise the first and let the rest die away in a way you wouldn't do if it was the name of just some bloke.

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Philip Purser-Hallard @purserhallard.com · 28/09/2026

Sorry, should have been "some Americans". I was watching that particularly annoying ST: TNG episode.

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Philip Purser-Hallard @purserhallard.com · 28/09/2026

Why the bollocks do Americans pronounce "Robin Hood" as if it means "the condition of being a robin"?

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Philip Purser-Hallard @purserhallard.com · 28/09/2026

In five decades I haven't seen any correlation either way between "songs that are popular" and "songs I like". It doesn't really count as information.

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Philip Purser-Hallard @purserhallard.com · 28/09/2026

Until I followed @hourlycosmos.bsky.social I had no idea how much Ascraeus Mons looked like a nipple.

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Baroness Raine Von Screamski 🎃 @rainesz.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Coming soon from @obversebooks.co.uk: You thought Forgotten Lives Volume 3 was the final volume? Think again! Back by popular demand, a new collection of stories about the so-called "Morbius" Doctors. Cover designed by Cody Schell; artwork by... me! #DoctorWho #ForgottenLivesDoctors

The cover of Volume 4 of the Forgotten Lives series, with a collage of the eight Doctors, cover designed by Cody Schell, artwork by Raine Szramski (that would be me.)

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James Harbeck @sesquiotic.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

One reason everyone should study things like philosophy and critical theory is so we don’t get these random burps of “If you don’t like this thing I like it must be because you hate every member of this group I associate myself with”

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Philip Purser-Hallard @purserhallard.com · 27/09/2026

This is also an issue when scientists get religion (or, for that matter, atheism).

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Philip Purser-Hallard @purserhallard.com · 27/09/2026

Forgotten Lives 4 includes stories by Simon Bucher-Jones, Kara Dennison, Paul Driscoll, Jay Eales, Ian McIntire, Philip Purser-Hallard, Cody Schell, Dale Smith and Daniel Tessier. As before, it's edited by me, and all proceeds will go to Alzheimer’s Research UK.

The back cover of the book, with the eight images of the Doctor reproduced on a smaller scale along the bottom, and a larger image of the Harper Doctor in adjudicators' robes. The blurb, contained in a yellow TARDIS silhouette, reads:

‘Nothing is ever forgotten, not completely.

And if something can be remembered, it can come back.’

Once upon a time, he courted the Dread Lady of Iron Tooth. He followed ghostly footsteps through St Orus’ cloister and entered a world beneath the Earth. He lifted a Hollywood curse, escaped his own trial and climbed the Point of Creation itself. He sealed the fate of Ortmeir and learned the truth about the Speckled Serpent.

The Doctor remembers none of this now – but all of it happened. These stories bring back those moments from the Doctor’s forgotten lives.

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Philip Purser-Hallard @purserhallard.com · 27/09/2026

The Forgotten Lives saga charts the adventures of the so-called 'Morbius Doctors', glimpsed during the fourth Doctor's mind duel with the eponymous Brain of Morbius. Past authors have included Lance Parkin, Aditya Bidikar and Andrew Hickey.

Montage of the Doctor's eight previously unseen past faces from The Brain of Morbius, represented by photos of various members of the BBC production team -- respectively Christopher Barry, Robert Banks Stewart, Christopher Baker, Philip Hinchcliffe, Douglas Camfield, Graeme Harper, Robert Holmes and George Gallaccio.

The front cover of Forgotten Lives -- cover design by Cody Schell, cover art by Paul Hanley. Visible are the Camfield, Harper, Holmes and Gallaccio Doctors (Baker, Banks Stewart, Barry and Hinchcliffe are on the back cover).

The front cover of Forgotten Lives 2 -- cover design by Cody Schell, cover art of all eight Morbius Doctors by John J Pearson.

The front cover of Forgotten Lives 3 -- cover design by Cody Schell, cover art of all eight Morbius Doctors by Jon Huff.

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Philip Purser-Hallard @purserhallard.com · 27/09/2026

I'm not sure yet when we'll have a publication date, but I'm pleased to announce that our earlier conviction that Forgotten Lives 3 would be the final Forgotten Lives volume was... premature. (Cover design by Cody Schell, cover artwork by Raine Szramski)

The front cover of Forgotten Lives 4, with a collage of artwork of the Christopher Baker, Philip Hinchcliffe, Robert Banks Stewart, Christopher Barry, Robert Holmes, Graeme Harper, George Gallaccio and Douglas Camfield Doctors.

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Rose Schmits @roseschmits.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

“I unequivocally condemn these people, i do however, agree with them”

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Philip Purser-Hallard @purserhallard.com · 27/09/2026

I've never read it, but knowing that Thiel has explains a great deal.

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Philip Purser-Hallard @purserhallard.com · 27/09/2026

Fandom is when you write an incredibly sincere, complex and detailed study of the changing appearances of alien species in Star Trek, but arbitrarily decide to leave out a series you happen not to like because fuck them. www.ex-astris-scientia.org/inconsistenc...

This article otherwise disregards Discovery, as the series used to reboot species for the sake of rebooting them.

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Pavel @spavel.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

cuth pube

A sign that attempts to spell out "the Cube pub" by shifting the B in Cube down with the PU right before it and TH before the E.

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JW Mason @jwmason.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

This is the master key to deciphering contemporary debates about free speech. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/se...

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Philip Purser-Hallard @purserhallard.com · 26/09/2026

I've often heard cats snore, but Raven has an astonishing range of what I can only describe as contented grunts for when she's relaxed but not asleep. I've never heard anything like them from any other cat.

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RachelChurcherWriting @rachelchurcher.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

NorCon is TODAY!! 🚀👑⚔️🐱📚 Dont miss local authors Rachel Churcher, Julia Blake, MT McGuire, Tiffani Angus, and Josh Winning, plus books from Philip Purser-Hallard and Bona Books. We're in our usual spot in Artist Alley, near the entrance and opposite the celebrity signing tables. 👋 nor-con.co.uk

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Tom Scocca @tomscocca.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Do not carry a cold beverage in their presence. Politely decline any drinks or sweetmeats they may offer. Keep a plain iron nail in your left trouser pocket and a sachet or paper twist of coarse salt in your right shoe. Enter and leave your chair moving clockwise. Follow up with a thank-you note.

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Philip Purser-Hallard @purserhallard.com · 25/09/2026

Some good stuff here, but Twin Peaks: The Return and The OA should be way higher. And The Expanse is several hundred per cent better than Battlestar Galactica. (Also, Crownton Abbey can get to fuck. What is it Americans love so much about British snobbery?)

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Philip Purser-Hallard @purserhallard.com · 25/09/2026

I do hope person #10 was still alive for The Giggle.

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Kate Griffin @griffinkate.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Cringeing anew about my write-up of a mental health support group where I said it was "a relaxed space for a cup of tea and a nutter"

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John Gallagher @earlymodernjohn.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

I will always remember fondly the student who finished an essay with the line "In conclusion, the early modern period marked a massive shit in European history."

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Philip Purser-Hallard @purserhallard.com · 24/09/2026

Last episode of season 4 of Strange New Worlds is... okay. It's self-indulgent and has no ambition to be *about* anything other than Star Trek, but it's watchable and not blitheringly stupid. In other words, one of the best episodes of the season.

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~daniel_barker~ @daniel-barker.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Saw people making jokes about the headline, the article is fascinating. Her name was Kay Grayson, or Karen Gray. A really interesting life. www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adve...

outsideonline.com

What Killed the Bear Lady?

For 28 years, Kay Grayson lived side-by-side with wild black bears in North Carolina's swampy coastal forests, hand-feeding them, defending them against poachers, and letting them in her home. When sh...

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