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Sam McCormick

@smonly.bsky.social
853 followers 1.3K following 251 posts

Psychology lecturer. Interested in language/reading/cognitive psychology & teaching. Trying to separate work/life and failing

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Reposted by Sam McCormick
Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
'when AI generates summaries, students bypass the cognitive engagement required to actively interpret academic work. It is precisely this engagement – the effort to comprehend, synthesise and relate ideas – that catalyses learning.' 1/3
timeshighereducation.com
AI risks undermining the heart of higher education
If students don’t make the effort to comprehend, synthesise and relate ideas for themselves, they will miss out on meaningful academic growth, says Zahid Naz
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Dr Jay Watts @shrinkatlarge.bsky.social · 19/04/2025
🚨 We've had 300+ signatures in under 24 hours — incredible. 🙌Let’s try to get to 600 by tomorrow. Every signature helps build pressure for parliamentary scrutiny and media coverage. Please sign + RT if you can + send to channels this oldie doesn't understand. Thank you so, so much💥
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Thùy Vy T Nguyễn @thuyvytnguyen.bsky.social · 19/04/2025
Is there any survey platforms besides Qualtrics that have the following qualities? ✅ Easy to use; doesn't require much programming skills ✅ Accommodate multiple users ✅ Cheaper than Qualtrics 😅 Please RT for reach. I am asking for alternatives that are more friendly to low/middle income countries.
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Dr Jay Watts @shrinkatlarge.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
Excuse me for focusing on mental health claimants for a moment but 23% of PIP recipients with psychotic disorders as primary condition would lose eligibility if the evil 4+ rule goes through. This is incredibly dangerous. Another important FOI, this time from Benefits & Work.
A partial screenshot of a table from benefitsandwork.co.uk showing the number of claimants for different health conditions. The table includes:
	1.	Back pain – 194,000 claimants, 154,000 (next column not labelled)
	2.	Arthritis – 279,000 claimants, 214,000
	3.	Other Regional Musculoskeletal Diseases – 136,000 claimants, 97,000
	4.	Chronic pain syndromes – 173,000 claimants, 118,000
	5.	Cardiovascular diseases – 61,000 claimants, 38,000
	6.	Respiratory diseases – 83,000 claimants, 45,000
	7.	Anxiety and depression – 587,000 claimants, 282,000
	8.	Multiple sclerosis and neuropathic diseases – 80,000 claimants, 38,000

The webpage header shows the time as 21:12 and the domain as benefitsandwork.co.uk. A privacy and terms notice is partly visible at the bottom.
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Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
I wrote this 12 years ago about the absurdity of the government *deliberately* seeking to reduce UK exports and growth. After Brexit and Trump, it makes even less sense. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
The UK should be open for business to foreign students | Jonathan Portes
Jonathan Portes: If education exports are worth £15bn to the economy, why is the government trying to shut the doors on overseas students?
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Jacob Öberg @profjacob.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
🚨🚨 This is beyond-wit non-sensical horseshit from this Lab official proposing some conspiracy-like idea on the meaning of a #customsunion. Another reminder why Labour has a very long way to travel on their thinking on #brexit which is getting increasingly disattached from their electorate.👇
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Egham Choral @eghamchoral.bsky.social · 05/04/2025
One week to go until our Spring Concert! Tickets available on our website (linked in bio) 💐 🎶 ☀️
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George Eaton @georgeeaton.bsky.social · 05/04/2025
A point not made enough: the UK runs a trade goods deficit with the US so shouldn’t be paying any tariffs at all based on the White House formula (10% is not a “win”).
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Rob Nash @drrobnash.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
Psychology and education-minded people in the UK! We're hiring a Research Fellow to join my team at the NIoT. Looking for PhD grads with strong quant skills 📈, and an appetite for doing research with real impact for schools, teachers, and children 📚🧑🏽‍🏫. Deadline April 20. niot.org.uk/careers/rese...
niot.org.uk
Research Fellow, National Institute of Teaching
In this role you will work in the NIoT’s research team making a tangible and immediate impact on teaching practices.
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pcrritesgood.bsky.social @pcrritesgood.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
One of the biggest problems with this AI bullshit when it comes to education is how it makes people think the final output is the only thing that matters when in reality the actual work you input of reading, thinking, synthesizing ideas & writing the paper/taking the test is how you actually learn.
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guynewey @guynewey.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
Fancy getting a new efficient, heating system for free? We're looking for homeowners with electric heating and smart meters to join our research project (note we are looking for quite a select target group - so please pass on to anyone you think might fit the bill/benefit).
livinglab.energy
The Living Lab
The Living Lab is a network of volunteers from all around the UK, who help researchers understand how real people use energy in real-life settings.
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Nature Reviews Psychology @natrevpsychol.nature.com · 02/04/2025
It is time to abandon student evaluations of teaching Comment by Gordon Hodson (@gordonhodsonphd.bsky.social) Web: go.nature.com/4jfAzXo PDF: rdcu.be/ef9y5
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 01/04/2025
Trump's 3/27 executive order targets the Smithsonian for advancing "the view that race is not a biological reality but a social construct." Trump argues that the exhibit's statement, below, is unscientific. He's wrong. As a biology professor and population geneticist, I agree with every word of it.
“Race does not provide an accurate representation of human biological variation,” the statement reads. “Humans are not divided biologically into distinct continental types or racial genetic clusters. Instead, the Western concept of race must be understood as a classification system that emerged from, and in support of, European colonialism, oppression, and discrimination.”

“It thus does not have its roots in biological reality, but in policies of discrimination,” the statement says. “Because of that, over the last five centuries, race has become a social reality that structures societies and how we experience the world. In this regard, race is real, as is racism, and both have real biological consequences.”
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Ian Martin @ianmartin.bsky.social · 29/03/2025
LAST CALL FOR #REMEMBEREDMUMS Please could I have any late mothers in by 8 pm tonight (Saturday 29th), so I can finalise the list and get it printed out for first thing tomorrow, cheers. DMs open until 8 pm. x
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Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
Excellent critique of childhood development interventions: "The privileged of Global North & South can find solace in the idea they have little responsibility for inequality. If bad childcare & poor brain development are major contributing factors to poverty, then it's parents’ job to overcome it"
aeon.co
The problem with parenting interventions in the Global South | Aeon Essays
Early childhood development interventions in the Global South is a huge industry built on highly questionable assumptions
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
Let’s just remind ourselves of the alternative trade deals the UK is signing up to… 0.08% growth by 2038 from the CPTPP trade deal. Against a 4% long term loss from Brexit. We need to stop pretending this isn’t ruinous stupidity.
Private Eye. Screenshot 

BREXIT NUMBER CRUNCHING
0.08% Expected growth by
2038 from 'Brexit win' of Trans-Pacific
CPTPP trade deal
0.08% Expected growth by
2035 from Australia trade deal
0.07% Expected growth by 2035 from CEPA trade deal with Japan 0.03% Expected growth by
2035 from New Zealand trade deal
-4% Long-term loss of growth caused by the Brexit that enabled these 'wins'
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womensartbluesky.bsky.social @womensartbluesky.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
'Moomins' creator Tove Jansson illustrated both the Swedish and Finnish editions of J. R. R. Tolkien's classic book 'The Hobbit' in the 1960s #womensart
Illustration of groups of creatures dancing happily in a woodland, in monochrome
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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
The @jrct.bsky.social - a relatively radical York based grant making foundation - is looking for new trustees micro.green-park.co.uk/jrct-trustees/
micro.green-park.co.uk
Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust
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Egham Choral @eghamchoral.bsky.social · 22/03/2025
Support a local choral society! Tickets available for our Spring Concert - www.eghamchoral.org/tickets/ Raising money for rare disease charity actionforat.org Action for A-T
Concert poster: white lettering on blue.
12th April 7.30pm Windsor Auditorium Royal Holloway University of London
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Jacob Öberg @profjacob.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
🚨🚨Again, easy to forget in current turbulent times but #brexit is still a devastating shitshow with nearly pitless misery. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...
independent.co.uk
Brexit has created a ‘mind blowing’ 2billion extra pieces paperwork
Liberal Democrats call on Sir Keir Starmer to negotiate a bespoke UK-EU customs union to free businesses from excessive red tape
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Carolyn Moody MBE @carolynmoodymbe.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
www.gov.uk/government/c... The consultation on the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper is open until 30th June. Now is the time to have your say and stand up for those who need support the most! 👇 #DisabilityRights #BenefitsJustice #StandUpForJustice
gov.uk
Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper
This consultation seeks views on the approaches government should consider around reform of the health and disability benefits system and employment support.
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
We are once more again seeing the distortion created by who has access to media. Numerous columns from or about people earning "only" £150k on the horror of private school VAT but barely anything from the hundreds of thousands at risk from genuine deprivation via PIP changes.
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Gemma Rides @gemmarides.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
*Please repost* Are you a parent of a child aged between 13-24 years? Are you concerned about young people’s social media usage? We are looking for young people aged 13-24 years to take part in a new project to help understand how we can support their mental health whilst online. Read more ⬇️
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Jacob Öberg @profjacob.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
🚨🚨 Brave contender for speech of the year. Every word of it rings true to me. Claude Malhuret is a proper role model for European politicians in these chaotic and existential times for Europe. Take 8 minutes of your time and listen carefully. It is worth it. www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIK9...
youtube.com
Speech againt Trump, by french senator, Claude Malhuret. ( English subtitles )
YouTube video by Alain Cazes
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Roby Bhattacharyya @roby-b.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
Opportunity cost aside, what would such a study look like? If observational, what would it add to Denmark's study of *every child born in the entire country from 1999-2010*, which found slightly more autism in non-MMR recipients? If randomized, how long would kids be randomized to no vaccine(s)?
acpjournals.org
Measles, Mumps, Rubella Vaccination and Autism: A Nationwide Cohort Study: Annals of Internal Medicine: Vol 170, No 8
Background: The hypothesized link between the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism continues to cause concern and challenge vaccine uptake. Objective: To evaluate whether the MMR vaccine i...
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Altmetric @altmetric.com · 05/03/2025
THREAD The Wonderful World of Wikipedia (WWW) If you are of a certain age, Wikipedia has been a constant in your life. It was not always so. Here is a pre-history, a history and potential future of the world's great shared book that we all read and write. Also why is it called "Wikipedia"? 1/30
a 3D Printed Wikipedia logo in cupped hands
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Brooke Jarvis @brookejarvis.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
ProPublica looked into science grants that Ted Cruz's team flagged as "radical" and "neo-Marxist" and, uh. This would be good comedy if it didn't matter so much www.propublica.org/article/ted-...
"Developing a device that could treat severe bleeding. It seems to have caught the committee’s attention for using the words “victims” — as in gunshot victims — and “trauma.”
Creating biosensors to detect infectious diseases. The grant appears to have been tagged for the repeated use of “POC,” an acronym often used for “people of color” but in this context meaning “point of care” — that is, the place where people receive medical treatment — and “barrier,” referring to a part of the biosensor itself.
Designing eye-tracking technology for diagnosing and treating concussions. It appears to have gotten flagged for referencing “traumatic” brain injuries and the “status,” meaning the condition, of patients."
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Nina Markl 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈 @ninamarkl.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
i've written a blog post about why I think we should reject generative AI in the university: languagemechanics.neocities.org/no-gen-ai
languagemechanics.neocities.org
Language Mechanics: Language, Computers and Power
Yarden Katz. 2020. Artificial Whiteness: Politics and Ideology in Artificial Intelligence. Columbia University Press.
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Moudhy Al-Rashid (she/her) @moudhy.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
He did not bend his neck
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Dr Jenny Murphy @drjjmurphy.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
Measuring cardiac interoceptive accuracy is hard in adults, let alone in infants! Such fun turning my brain to this alongside the wonderful Rosie Donaghy, Matteo Lisi and Jeanne Shinskey. Our musings on possible ways forward now accepted in psychophysiology: www.researchgate.net/publication/...
researchgate.net
(PDF) Measuring cardiac interoceptive accuracy in infancy: lessons from the adult literature
PDF | Models of interoception, the processing of internal bodily signals, highlight infancy as a key period for interoceptive learning. Given the... | Find, read and cite all the research you need on ...
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Ross Carroll @rosscarroll.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
When I worked in UK academia I recall hearing of a Japanese man who was baffled at how Britain had decided to run its universities like firms. “Why? Your universities are excellent and your firms are terrible.”
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Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
Useful post by @vkempe.bsky.social about life in communist bloc "if autocracies take hold, those who grow up within them will not be able to recognise the system for what it is" "Scholars...are not able to fight for the...freedom to pursue what they do not know about" substack.com/home/post/p-...
substack.com
Scholarship Under Autocracy
We Have Been Here Before
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Nicolai von Ondarza @nvondarza.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
The final results are in, and we have answers to all the immediate questions: 1) As FDP and the BSW narrowly failed to enter the Bundestag, CDU/CSU and SPD can form a two party coalition. Friedrich Merz will be the next Chancellor, but negotiations will still be complex.
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Betsy Sneller @betsysneller.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
THE BUNNY PAPER HAS BEEN PUBLISHED!! www.cambridge.org/core/journal... #linguistics 🐦
cambridge.org
Finding out about children’s language | Language Variation and Change | Cambridge Core
Finding out about children’s language
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 15/02/2025
This excellent interactive tutorial on misleading data visualizations explores the idea of a "counter chart" — the graph you draw in response to refute a misleading claims flowingdata.com/projects/dis...
flowingdata.com
Defense Against Dishonest Charts
This is a guide to protect ourselves and to preserve what is good about turning data into visual things.
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Mark Anderson @mandercorn.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
"The magnitudes of the effects are modest but suggest that efforts to improve phonological awareness, naming speed, and morphological awareness beyond Grade 3 are warranted." #reading #research www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Effects of morphological awareness, naming speed, and phonological awareness on reading skills from Grade 3 to Grade 5
This study examined the effects of phonological awareness, naming speed, and morphological awareness on reading achievement in 126 English-speaking Ca…
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Egham Choral @eghamchoral.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
Rehearsals are in full swing for our upcoming Spring Concert! 🎵🔷🎹🎼🎷🔵🎶🎻
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Sam McCormick @smonly.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
“women”
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Tessa Dekker @tessamdekker.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
We’re hiring! We are looking for a postdoc in my lab, childvisionlab.co.uk to study how early vision loss & sight-rescuing treatments shape brain development. Join our Wellcome-funded project using advanced neuroimaging and behavioral methods! Deadline March 1st, start date flexible. t.ly/2Yoel
t.ly
Research Fellow at UCL
Apply now for the Research Fellow role on jobs.ac.uk - the leading job board for higher education jobs. View details.
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Rafael Behr @rafaelbehr.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
Oh, so now OpenAI is *against* training AI models on other people's work without paying for it ... www.ft.com/content/a0df...
ft.com
OpenAI says it has evidence China’s DeepSeek used its model to train competitor
White House AI tsar David Sacks raises possibility of alleged intellectual property theft
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Dorsa Amir @dorsaamir.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
Does the culture you grow up in shape the way you see the world? In a new Psych Review paper, @chazfirestone.bsky.social & I tackle this centuries-old question using the Müller-Lyer illusion as a case study. Come think through one of history's mysteries with us🧵(1/13):
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Carolyn Anderson @carolynanderson.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
excited to say that our Substance Beats Style paper was accepted to NAACL! We investigate *why* student-written programming prompts don't work well for LLMs, and find that while students think it's because of technical vocabulary gaps, it's actually information content that matters
arxiv.org
Substance Beats Style: Why Beginning Students Fail to Code with LLMs
Although LLMs are increasing the productivity of professional programmers, existing work shows that beginners struggle to prompt LLMs to solve text-to-code tasks. Why is this the case? This paper expl...
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Marie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 24/01/2025
right! I've done it! I've written about the woman who shagged a hundred guys in a day for OnlyFans, and why it made me think about class war: youngvulgarian.substack.com/p/dont-cross... (free to read!)
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Holger Hank @holgerhank.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
Der Arm zuckt jetzt bestimmt auch hierzulande bei dem ein oder anderen.
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Stephanie Rossit @stephanierossit.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
Do you have a PhD in Psychology, Neuroscience or Neuroimaging & are looking for a post-doc? Do you want to join a friendly lab? Do you want to live in Norwich (UK) - gorgeous city close to the beach? You can surf, meet seals, do wonderful walks, eat gelato & enjoy gorgeous sunsets!
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Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz @wannseekonferenz.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
"Wer glaubte, dass man Hitler integrieren, kontrollieren, domestizieren, entzaubern könne, wurde bald schon eines Besseren belehrt. Auch der Versuch mancher Demokraten [...] Hitler mit seinen eigenen Waffen zu schlagen, indem man seine Themen aufgriff & seine Strategien kopierte, liefen ins Leere."
faz.net
Das Dilemma der Demokratie
„Nicht ganz dumm. Weiß sehr viel von uns“, notierte Joseph Goebbels über den linksliberalen Reichstagsabgeordneten und Publizisten Theodor Heuss. Trotzdem sollte der spätere Bundespräsident im März 19...
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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
Please spread the word as we have opened the call for @britishacademy.bsky.social International Fellowships which enable researchers to work for two years at a UK institution. If you fancy being away from your country right now this could be an option! www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/inte...
thebritishacademy.ac.uk
International Fellowships 2025
The International Fellowships Programme enables researchers to work for three years at a UK institution with the aim of building a globally connected, mobile research and innovation workforce.
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 15/03/2024
Another Elsevier paper with obvious AI-written text. “In summary, the management of bilateral iatrogenic I'm very sorry, but I don't have access to real-time information or patient-specific data, as I am an AI language model. “
Radiology Case Reports
Volume 19, Issue 6, June 2024, Pages 2106-2111
Case Report
Successful management of an Iatrogenic portal vein and hepatic artery injury in a 4-month-old female patient: A case report and literature reviewIn summary, the management of bilateral iatrogenic I'm very sorry, but I don't have access to real-time information or patient-specific data, as I am an AI language model. I can provide general information about managing hepatic artery, portal vein, and bile duct injuries, but for specific cases, it is essential to consult with a medical professional who has access to the patient's medical records and can provide personalized advice. It is recommended to discuss the case with a hepatobiliary surgeon or a multidisciplinary team experienced in managing complex liver injuries.
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Anne Billson @annebillson.bsky.social · 16/01/2025
RIP David Lynch. I was lucky enough to talk to him and Isabella Rossellini in 1987, to tie in with the UK release of BLUE VELVET. They were both lovely, and fun to talk to. multiglom.com/2010/07/06/d...
multiglom.com
DAVID LYNCH: THE 1987 INTERVIEW
In March 1987, I interviewed David Lynch and Isabella Rossellini for the London listings magazine Time Out to coincide with the U.K. release of Blue Velvet. At this stage in his career, Lynch was a…
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Sam McCormick @smonly.bsky.social · 04/01/2025
Snow (settling but very light) TW20 #uksnow
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