iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Thanks for that very detailed account of the first day. We arrived too late for the opening sessions, but looking forward to some uncensored Weimar today!

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Yes, I remember his claim that it was impossible to live in London on his (generous) ministerial salary.

Ooh. Impressively arcane knowledge.

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M Meerkat @kackbro.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I'm reading the latest issue of the Literary Review. Fascinated by the splendid names of the reviewers: Peyton Skipwith; Malise Ruthven; Bettina Bidhauer; Jonathan Boff; Zeb Baker-Smith; Fergus Butler-Gallie; Zoe Guttenplan.

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Reposted by Rob Spence

Naomi Klein Is Spot On.......

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"Dibble" is still the slang word for the police in Manchester.

Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I didn't hate it, but I always think of Adrian Henri's "Tonight at Noon" when I hear that kind of thing.

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Latest on the blog: on the buses in rural Italy. robspence.org.uk/2026/09/30/t...

robspence.org.uk

Transports of delight? – Dr Rob Spence

Ah, not where I thought: other side of Deansgate. I think that bit was used by Granada when making the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes as an appropriate setting for London opium dens…

Is that underneath the arches on Gt Bridgewater St.? Mike's pals, aside from not knowing about apostrophes, seem to have chosen a rather desolate spot.

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So what should I do? Not vote because I don't agree with every single thing in a manifesto? I take the view that voting is getting a bus, rather than a taxi: it will go roughly where you want to be, but not door to door. I think you're also assuming I vote Tory: never have, never will.

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Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

That's to assume that people vote for every article of a manifesto. I'm a pensioner. I've voted in every election since 1974. I've never voted to lower taxes, because I believe in progressive taxation. But my vote may have gone to a party that, at the time, wanted to lower taxes.

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Burgess was not particularly tall. I’d say about 5’10” in old money. Linguistically, fluent French, good Italian, decent Malay, some German. Latin, of course. Kenneth Toomey in Earthly Powers gets a German noun gender wrong. Burgess: deliberate error, Toomey’s a dilettante.

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 · 25/09/2026

My all time favourite film. Absolutely peerless.

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Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Yes - passive "dingy slashed" rather than "he filmed himself slashing dingy." I suppose they have to be careful, but it's disappointingly weedy.

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Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I was 15, and it was my first concert. It was all enthralling. Four years later, 10cc were very big, and I bumped into Kevin Godley in a Manchester bookshop. I didn't dare say anything, but I could see he knew I'd recognised him.

Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I remember very little of that concert. Kevin Godley did look ideally neanderthal, though. It was a very short set, maybe 25 mins. I think mostly instrumental.

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Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

All best wishes for your campaign.

Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Support your action, but please: *whose*

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Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

The first rock concert I ever attended: 1971, I think. The Moody Blues, supported by Hotlegs. The single had just become a hit.

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Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

"A drummer who defined generations." Walking dictionary, that Roger.

Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Absolutely not. It was a punctuation error.

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

Have you read Helen Rappaport on the Romanovs?

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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 · 19/09/2026

What a great band they were! I saw them at Glasto etc. Pity they had to break up after the unfortunate incident with the mechanical banana.

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Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

There’s a used-car dealer near me called Pheonnixx Cars. I imagine they emerged from another company.

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Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

As always, staggeringly beautiful images.

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Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

That’s the *Pelican* colour!

Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

What are Penguin doing with Middlemarch? Classics should have black livery, as any fule kno.

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Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I thought that would be the "solution." Arseholes.

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Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Comiserations on this miserable outcome. Has the management outlined how, precisely, the dept will manage having lost 75% of its staff? (Rhetorical q., but has to be some plan, surely?)

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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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Reposted by Rob Spence

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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Reposted by Rob Spence

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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Rob Spence @spencro.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

There's a playlist: Rich Uridge, the host, divided it into chunks featuring each guest.