iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Latest on First Folios: The Norse Myths. rob611.substack.com/p/the-norse-...

rob611.substack.com

The Norse Myths

Gods of the Vikings

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Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Just posted on First Folios: a look at the Icelandic Sagas. rob611.substack.com/p/the-icelan...

Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Just up on First Folios: The Vikings, by Gwyn Jones. rob611.substack.com/p/the-vikings

rob611.substack.com

The Vikings

Not a horned helmet in sight

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Quiet Majority @majorityquiet.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

We loved this so much we just had to put English subtitles on it, apologies to the French speakers for our translation. But this is what it would look like here in the UK if Farage or Lowe or another of their ilk got their own way.

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Tanita Tikaram @tanitatikaram.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

What I love about Western democracy is you can bung a political party £ 36 million earned from criminal activity & most media will continue to point at asylum seekers & migrant care workers with families as the barbarians at the gate we need to defend ourselves from 🙄.

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NewsThump @newsthump.com · 10/09/2026

Whenever we see someone post that they're stopping their donation to the RNLI, like some right-wing virtue-signalling flex, we can't help but think of this. You can donate to the RNLI here: buff.ly/bsku22S

Only 1.2% of RNLI calls are for asylum seekers in the Channel — red poster arguing that cancelling RNLI donations equates to saying "I hate migrants... I'm willing to jeopardise the lives of the other 98.8% of rescues," followed by the sarcastic "Lovely people, right?"

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Helen @futurestand.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

A video statement from the RNLI chief exec about recent events and about the RNLI’s unchanging and single mission, to save lives at sea. rnli.org/news-and-med...

rnli.org

Statement from RNLI Chief Executive Peter Sparkes

Statement from RNLI Chief Executive Peter Sparkes regarding Channel activity.

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Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Latest dispatch from 50 years ago: robspence.org.uk/2026/09/08/e...

robspence.org.uk

Encounters with Chaucer – Dr Rob Spence

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Phil M 🦻🏼💚 🍉 🏳️‍⚧️ 🇵🇸 @phillm.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Of the 1,601,645 that live in Lancashire, the 754 refugees being housed equates to 0.047% of the total. Four out of five of them, 80%, are Afghans who assisted British military operations in their home country. Also, Lancashire council don't pay for it, the Home Office does. Performative politics

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Katie Martin @katie0martin.ft.com · 08/09/2026

@ stephenkb.bsky.social hitting the nail on the head of course. "the Labour Party has now produced two governments whose response to acts of thuggery and intimidation is to reiterate that perhaps the thugs have a point" - as.ft.com/r/97d33f08-a...

as.ft.com

Labour’s muddled migration policy won’t stop thuggery

A government that can’t distinguish between ‘legitimate concerns’ and open racism is only making things worse

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Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

I am listening to an audiobook read quite well by someone I presume is a professional actor. One of the novel's characters refers to his sister, Niamh. The reader pronounces this "Nee-am." Q: how can he, or his producer, not know how this name is pronounced? He also can't pronounce "harbinger."😡

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Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Latest on First Folios: Nora Chadwick's The Celts rob611.substack.com/p/the-celts

rob611.substack.com

The Celts

A milestone in Celtic studies

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Tanita Tikaram @tanitatikaram.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Home office has this wtf reaction to Dover ‘ The right to peaceful protest is fundamental to our democracy, but we condemn the behaviour in Dover & the travel disruption it has caused. ‘ At next peace ☮️ march pls wear black paramilitary gear, balaclavas & block all roads. No arrests will be made .

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Dr Anke Marsh @ankemarsh.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Just so we are clear: The 83yo priest on the left is a terrorist. The balaclava-clad men on the right are protestors with legitimate concerns

A photo from the BBC of an older woman, with grey hair, being led away by police.

A photograph of a line of men in black clothes and balaclavas blocking the port at Dover.

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Alex Hall Hall @alexhh.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Two tier policing. Arrest retired folk peacefully protesting genocide in Gaza. Allow right wing thugs to block streets and ports. I know which group presents the real threat to democracy and the so-called “British way of life”, which these vigilante bullies preposterously claim to be defending.

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Steve Peers @stevepeers.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Kent police said 'no arrests were made' of the people who blocked a port and roads. There's your two-tier policing, folks www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cm...

bbc.co.uk

Port of Dover delays: Disruption as masked 'stop the boats' protesters block roads

Hundreds of demonstrators, wearing black with their faces covered, caused delays to traffic reaching the port.

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Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

I'm sure Percy Shaw would have been proud. Girl group Katseye are missing two members, but their tour still dazzles www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Girl group Katseye are missing two members, but their tour still dazzles

Reduced but resilient, girl group Katseye received a hero's welcome in London.

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Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

I will not be sitting on this bench.

A bench, with a sign saying "I'm a
happy to chat bench" and inviting people to sit there if they want to talk.

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Channel 4 News @channel4news.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Undercover footage verified by Channel 4 News reveals a secret plot by senior Reform UK figures to break the law on party donations. A leading legal expert is now calling for a criminal investigation. 🔗 Read the exclusive story on Substack:

channel4news.substack.com

Exclusive: Nigel Farage filmed undercover celebrating secret new foreign donations

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Andrew Frayn @afrayn.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

I'm organising a Remembrance Lecture on Mon 9 November at Edinburgh Napier's Craiglockhart Campus- as a War Hospital, this was where Wilfred Owen & Siegfried Sassoon met. This year David Goldie will talk about Scottish Poetry of the First World War. Register: forms.cloud.microsoft/e/MTEHXf41Mf

The ubiquitous photo of the staff, nurses and patients of the Craiglockhart War Hospital on the lawn outside the historic front of the building, from 1917. The men are in their khaki uniforms, with hats, and the women are in their nurses's uniforms and headdresses, flowing white.

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Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

I know this is a very minor event in the grand scheme of things, but how heartbreaking for these people, who've worked to improve their community. Levenshulme has a Green party councillor, too. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... Crossposted with @openvibe.social

bbc.co.uk

Anger as workmen rip out 'lovely' Levenshulme alley garden - BBC News

Neighbours say part of a community garden they developed over five years was cleared without warning.

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Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Just posted on First Folios: David Jones's modernist masterpiece, In Parenthesis. rob611.substack.com/p/in-parenth...

rob611.substack.com

In Parenthesis

David Jones’s lost modernist masterpiece

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Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

…while getting rid of their humanities departments.🙄

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Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Just been accosted on the street by a man who gave me this. Huge if true.

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Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Just published on First Folios: The Middle Parts of Fortune, Frederic Manning's First World War Classic. rob611.substack.com/p/the-middle...

rob611.substack.com

The Middle Parts of Fortune

Frederic Manning’s Great War classic

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Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

New on First Folios: Robert Graves, The Greek Myths. rob611.substack.com/p/the-greek-...

rob611.substack.com

The Greek Myths

Robert Graves on a mission

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Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Just published on First Folios: The Odyssey rob611.substack.com/p/the-odyssey

rob611.substack.com

The Odyssey

Taking the long way home

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Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Covent Garden incident is obviously horrific, and the BBC is right to give it extensive coverage. But can someone tell me what purpose is served by these snippets? Random people with no knowledge of the incident, who didn't witness it, and have no idea what happened?

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Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Just published on First Folios: James Joyce's Ulysses. open.substack.com/pub/rob611/p...

open.substack.com

Ulysses

One day in Dublin

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Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Latest on the blog: thoughts on Elizabeth Bowen's The Heat if the Day. robspence.org.uk/2026/08/01/f...

robspence.org.uk

Fifty Classics 4: The Heat of the Day – Dr Rob Spence

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Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

One aspect of the GM mayoral election I’m not seeing covered: 4000+ 1st pref ballots rejected because 2 x’s in the 1st column; 12000+ 2nd pref rejected because no mark in 2nd column. A lot of people who couldn’t manage to put an x in one column and an x in another for a different candidate.

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Alexander Chee @alexanderchee.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

‘Anthropic described the project as “our effort to disruptively scan all the world’s books” in an internal memo, which noted “we do not want it to be known that we are pursuing this project”.’

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Farrukh @implausibleblog.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

£18.5 billion - the cost of free social care for everyone paid through taxation £30-50 billion - annual lost tax revenue from reduced trade with the EU because of Brexit Rejoin the EU to fund social care 🇪🇺🇬🇧 😃

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Kate Watson @loreandordure.com · 29/07/2026

"Why do kids need to write essays now that LLMs can write essays?" Because if the LLM writes the essay, NO FUCKER HAS LEARNED A FUCKING THING FROM THE PROCESS.

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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 28/07/2026

God this makes my skin crawl. I genuinely can't understand how adult men can behave like this & retain any self-respect.

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Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Just published on First Folios: The Exeter Riddle Book open.substack.com/pub/rob611/p...

open.substack.com

The Exeter Riddle Book

Anglo-Saxon parlour games

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Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

The new Prime Minister is writing a "10-year plan" for the UK. The arts & culture MUST be part of it. I've signed @campaignforthearts.org's petition urging @andyburnham.bsky.social to revitalise the arts – to revitalise the whole nation 🌱 Join me: www.campaignforthearts.org/petitions/10-year-plan/

campaignforthearts.org

Prime Minister – put the arts in your 10-year plan for the UK | Campaign for the Arts

Sign our petition urging the UK Government to build a country where the arts are available from childhood, accessible to all and thriving everywhere.

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Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Just witnessed the best concert I’ve ever seen. David Byrne at Edinburgh Playhouse. Absolutely extraordinary. A proper Gesamtkunstwerk.

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Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Latest dispatch from fifty years ago: robspence.org.uk/2026/07/15/s...

robspence.org.uk

Starting the final lap – Dr Rob Spence

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Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Latest in my "Fifty Classics" thread: Anita Brookner's A Friend From England. robspence.org.uk/2026/07/14/f...

robspence.org.uk

Fifty Classics 3: A Friend From England – Dr Rob Spence

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Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Just published on First Folios: British Myths and Legends. open.substack.com/pub/rob611/p...

open.substack.com

British Myths and Legends

The matter of Britain

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I Am Incorrigible @imincorrigible.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

#R4Today spent this morning warmly eulogising Ann Widdecombe. Almost none of what they said was wrong. Almost none of it was complete. Here's what they left out. 🧵

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Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

My latest dispatch from half a century ago. Reading Milton in 1974. robspence.org.uk/2026/07/09/p...

robspence.org.uk

Paradise Lost in Leeds – Dr Rob Spence

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Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

New post on the blog about our little book group: robspence.org.uk/2026/07/07/t...

robspence.org.uk

The Intercontinental Book Group – Dr Rob Spence

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Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Just published on First Folios: a look at Gustav Meyrink's strange tale of old Prague, The Golem open.substack.com/pub/rob611/p...

open.substack.com

The Golem

Postmodernism before modernism

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Andrew McRae @mcraeandrew.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

From today’s Times letters page. #DefendExeterUni

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

‘We urge the Government to prioritise this issue. Should this situation continue unchecked, the damage to the health of higher education, research and innovation will be profound and have long-lasting consequences.’ www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/news/stateme...

thebritishacademy.ac.uk

British Academy President: UK higher education crisis risks irreversible damage

As course closures, shrinking provision and widening regional inequalities threaten the future of UK higher education and research, President of the British Academy, Susan J Smith calls for an immedia...

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