iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

David Wharton @wharton1965.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

It's really good. And its new cover will make you look cool and quirky when reading on public transport.

David Wharton @wharton1965.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Two days before the Paris car crash, I was teaching a Media Studies class and demonstrated the principles of headline writing with an improvised 'DI DEAD - DID DODI DO IT?', accidentally convincing half the group I was psychic.

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David Wharton @wharton1965.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

In honour of the late Ms Parton I finally gave this a go. Obviously not good, but I didn't not like it. Kind of 'Carry On The Apartment'.

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Prof Katherine Schofield 🇬🇧🇦🇺🇪🇺 @katherineschof8.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

The "race realist" who deliberately instigated and fuelled the pile on that led Jason Arday to take his own life is trying to centre himself in the ongoing coverage. Let's not do that, by not reposting anything to do with him, and not mentioning his name — not even in outrage. Damnatio memoriae.

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David Wharton @wharton1965.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

I'm simplifying Gramsci here, but surely focusing one's rage on noisy cultural commentators/'contrarians' alive or dead is what lets hegemony keep on hegemonising?

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David Wharton @wharton1965.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Every day now, some major figure from my childhood dies. Kind of grim, but I suppose the time to start worrying is when the supply runs out.

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Warren Wells, AICP @warrenjwells.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing half the population that the "manly" way to get around is on a giant rolling couch controlled by gently depressing your toe.

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David Wharton @wharton1965.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Like there's more than one possible answer

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David Wharton @wharton1965.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

If you see this, post a pic from your device with no explanation

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Janine Gibson @janinegibson.ft.com · 12/06/2026

Hockney. I was concentrating very hard on spelling Lucian correctly. Anyway check out these two in 2002 and imagine the extremely well-lit sitcom they were almost in

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David Wharton @wharton1965.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Enjoyed this contemporary take on Kirsty MacColl.

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Caroline Dodds Pennock @carolinepennock.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Objectively, one of the funniest things Labour could do at this moment would be to parachute Andy Burnham into a safe Labour seat which they then lose at the by-election.

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Dr Jo Edge 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @hagenilda.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

‘We’re slashing your courses and sacking lecturers and support staff’

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Hey Kids Rock'n'Roll @heykidsshop.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

Delia Derbyshire, born on this day 87 years ago.

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David Wharton @wharton1965.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

Enjoying this AI generated 'dog-calming video', in which a parade of uncanny valley pooches nosh down on a brick, a bag of cement, and for dessert a lovely basin of hot tar.

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David Wharton @wharton1965.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

Aw, cheers Rob. So nice to be remembered. Might give it a re-read myself.

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David Wharton @wharton1965.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

I just bought a jar of these. They're going on eBay for a thousand quid if anyone is interested.

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David Wharton @wharton1965.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

Pitching a stage musical version of There Will Be Blood

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David Wharton @wharton1965.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

Happy ALCS day to all my fellow writers.

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David Wharton @wharton1965.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

First new idea for a novel in ages. I look forward to reading the resulting journal entry four years from now and thinking 'Oh yeah. That.'

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Dan Whitehead @danwhitehead.net · 21/03/2026

The ITV Retro YouTube channel just uploaded one of the greatest movies ever made. It's sumptuous and sensual in a way that still amazes for a film that's almost 80 years old. Don't watch it on your phone though - this deserves the big telly.

youtu.be

Black Narcissus (1947) Full Film | ITV Retro

YouTube video by ITV Retro

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David Wharton @wharton1965.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

Congratulations Barbara. My copy is on the way. Looking forward to it.

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David Wharton @wharton1965.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

The Gen X urge to ask yourself, 'Where is my beautiful wife?'

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David Wharton @wharton1965.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Birmingham to be born?

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Boatman Cryptics @boatmancryptics.co.uk · 14/11/2025

It's the Seasonal Reposting Competition! Repost this over the weekend, and on Sunday one lucky person will win a signed copy of one of my books. For you or the #crossword addict in your life: 50 fiendish @theguardian.com #puzzles and all the stories behind them: boatmancryptics.co.uk/crossword-bo...

Boatman - the first 50 reportedly makes a great present or holiday read, exemplified by this image of the book opened to show the story behind the Shipping Forecast puzzle, on display on Brighton beach.

Reviewing Boatman - the first 50, Alan Connor (The Guardian's crossword editor and the brains behind many of BBC2’s quiz programs) says: "This is one to savour. Boatman's puzzles are witty and ingenious. It is an extraordinary pleasure to read how his unique mind works. The first 50 is a book I never knew I needed in my life. Gift it to yourself and to the word-lovers in yours".

Hugh Stephenson (Alan’s predecessor at The Guardian) says: "This is a unique book of crosswords" and Henry Morris: "a Boatman crossword is like a theme park. Each daunting line is a rollercoaster ... He scares you witless. But you can't wait to do it all over again".

Boatman - the second 50 contains another 50 puzzles from The Guardian, with five bonus puzzles previously only available online and including puzzles, solutions and the ideas and stories behind them, exemplified by this image of the book opened to show one of the stories, which is accompanied by a picture of a large cow.

Reviewing Boatman - the second 50, Gyles Brandreth says: "If you want a fiendish crossword, you want the best - which means you want Boatman, because he is the best" and Brian Bilston: "Cracking crosswords - each puzzle a delightful daily workout for the brain and a welcome tonic for the soul".

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Tom Robinson @tomrobinson.com · 12/11/2025

"Surely the clearest indication of the BBC's fundamental truthfulness and integrity is the number of known liars who wish to destroy it." Isabella Stone Sheffield

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David Allison @davidovitch.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

It's @leedsfilmfest.bsky.social time! Yay! As ever, I'll be posting #LIFF2025 reviews throughout, though it's shame the LIFF Bluesky account and the community is as active as the old Twitter. Let's see if we can get it going anyway...

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Guillermo del Toro @realgdt.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

The world lost a genial man, a genius communicator and a supreme artist. I lost a friend - beloved Drew.

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David Wharton @wharton1965.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

Team on Only Connect called the Whitley Baes getting a connecting wall group of Spanish Cities right, and very few people in the world knowing why that is pleasing.

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David Wharton @wharton1965.bsky.social · 12/10/2025

Reminds me of the gag in both Shawshank and Porridge when the only con who can write decent prose starts a business supplying love letters for the others to send to their wives and girlfriends. We've accidentally ended up in a text-driven world hardly anyone is competent to operate.

theguardian.com

‘I realised I’d been ChatGPT-ed into bed’: how ‘Chatfishing’ made finding love on dating apps even weirder

Where once people were duped by soft-focus photos and borrowed chat-up lines, now they have to watch out for computer-generated charm. But it’s one thing to use a witty phrase – another thing entirely...

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Greg Jenner (Historian) @gregjenner.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

Just to say that teachers do an incredibly difficult job, with all the right intentions, and can be the defining influence on a young person's life. They are the exact opposite of poisoners because good teaching provides the antidote to so many dangers

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David Wharton @wharton1965.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

What AI doesn't understand is how refreshing a completely off-the-leash assignment is for a bored marker, and how joyously we will sometimes reward it just for breaking the tedium. It's a high-risk strategy, but there are days when it pays the jackpot.

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David Wharton @wharton1965.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

Teacher training bursaries announced for next year. Zero for English, but 20k per student for Latin and Greek. Really taking on the national shortages there, DfE.

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Benjamin Dreyer @bcdreyer.social · 03/10/2025

As sure as the sun rises in the east and God made little green apples, anyone who describes themself as unapologetically something or other should start apologizing immediately and never stop.

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Richard Smyth @rsmythfreelance.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

I'm not idealistic about immigration but I would like something to be said for the idea that human existence is a good thing, that people existing is better than them not existing, that living human substance is to be prized, and that people don't have to start businesses or prop up the NHS or

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David Wharton @wharton1965.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

I wouldn't say that being a golfer is necessarily proof of terrible character. However, if it's the first thing I learn about a person, they're going to have to do a fair bit of work to get me onside.

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Stu Hennigan @stuhennigan.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

💯💯💯💯💯💯 Without trained staff to curate and maintain it, and engage the kids with what's there, most importantly of all, it's just a load of shelves with books on them. Also no surprise the % of primaries with no provision atm is worse in deprived areas, esp in the north 👀👀👀👀

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David Wharton @wharton1965.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

I do love books in the post. Among today's deliveries, this one from @harryowl.bsky.social @claretpress.bsky.social. I read an early draft a while back. Looking forward to seeing how it all turned out. Can already report that the opening's a zinger!

Cover of 'White Road' by Harry Whitehead.

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David Wharton @wharton1965.bsky.social · 27/09/2025

RIP Tony Harrison, last of those great H poets of my youth. Harrison, Heaney, Hughes and Hill.

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Graeme Thomson @graemethomson.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

Godspeed to Danny Thompson. He added so much grace, beauty and guile to so many outstanding pieces of music (you could live a pretty nourishing musical life listening solely to the records he contributed to.) And an unfailingly entertaining and soulful conversationalist. One of the greats 💛

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David Wharton @wharton1965.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

Is there any other kind of movie? Anyway.

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David Wharton @wharton1965.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

Well, remission from cancer is all very well, but I had to have my childhood vaccines again after my chemo, and now I've got the Autism.

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Pam Jarvis @drpam.bsky.social · 13/09/2025

Critical thinking, emotional intelligence, ideas generation and adaptability. How is TLAC, zero tolerance, teaching to assessment and SLANT developing these skills, please remind me, those who are immersing our children in such a culture? #EduSky #Teachers

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Robin Ince @robinince.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

version 2 - All those deaths of innocent people that receive silence, yet so many feel that one death of someone who spoke against empathy, and for the necessary death of innocent people to ensure the right to be armed, means they must be public in their condolences and compassion for this one life

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