Tom Shakespeare

@tomshakespeare.bsky.social

11K followers 12K following 2.2K posts

Talks, writes, teaches. "The Ha-ha" & "The Ends" might make you laugh. Patreon https://patreon.com/Tomtalksdisabillity?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=creatorshare_fan&utm_content=join_link

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Sir Thomas William Shakespeare, 3rd Baronet, is an English sociologist and bioethicist. He has achondroplasia and uses a wheelchair.

Source: Wikipedia

Education 36%

Public Health 20%

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Tom Shakespeare @tomshakespeare.bsky.social · Jun 10

Please order The Ends: "exit, pursued by a polar bear" - I've even written the headline for your review. Hope you are enjoying the book: it's a laugh, but also about the climate crisis.

Cover of 'The Ends' featuring the hero, Fred, being pursued by a voracious polar bear.

Reposted by Steve Peers, Tom Shakespeare, Richard Fletcher , and 3 more Steve Peers, Tom Shakespeare, Richard Fletcher, Elizabeth Stokoe, Kelly Smith, Katrina Navickas

Rhodri Marsden @rhodri.biz · 2d

Unbelievably, #DuvetKnowItsChristmas generates such good will on social media that over the years we've raised somewhere approaching a quarter of a million quid for homeless charities. If you can spare a bob or two, sling some to Centrepoint, and here's the link: www.gofundme.com/f/duvet-know...

Donate to Duvet Know It's Christmas, 2025, organized by Rhodri Marsden

Unbelievably, it's the 15th year of this thing. What is it? Improbably, the nig… Rhodri Marsden needs your support for Duvet Know It's Christmas, 2025

www.gofundme.com

Reposted by Anna O. Law, Steve Peers, Tom Shakespeare , and 5 more Anna O. Law, Steve Peers, Tom Shakespeare, Richard Fletcher, Kelly Smith, Michael H. Whitworth, Katrina Navickas, Judith Jesch

Rhodri Marsden @rhodri.biz · 2d

This is the 15th year of #DuvetKnowItsChristmas, which is preposterous. Rules: if you find yourself dealing with unusual / claustrophobic / gaudy sleeping arrangements this Christmas Eve, share a picture with the world. Use the hashtag (with capitalisation) and cc me if you can be bothered.

Reposted by Tom Shakespeare

Hildur Knútsdóttir @hildur.bsky.social · 2d

Tonight Kertasníkir (Candle Stealer), the last of Iceland's 13 Yule Lads, comes down from the mountains. He steals candles (that used to be made from animal fat) and eats them.

Children leave their shoes out in the window, he gives the good ones a small gift, the bad ones get a potato.

Kertasníkir has a white beard and is wearing a red hat and is holding a bunch of candles. Illustration by Brian Pilkington.

Tom Shakespeare @tomshakespeare.bsky.social · 3d

I have had seven tradies in my flat this morning. All blokes. (No wonder toilet seat is up).

Reposted by Tom Shakespeare

Eric Alper @thatericalper.com · 4d

Remembering the legendary Joe Strummer on today's anniversary of his passing 23 years ago. A trailblazer, an icon, and the voice of rebellion. Though he may be gone, his music continues to resonate, inspiring generations to stand up, speak out, and embrace the spirit of punk.

Tom Shakespeare @tomshakespeare.bsky.social · 4d

Last time I sang this was 1982, I think. Lost in the mists of time, anyway.

Reposted by Tom Shakespeare

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 4d

Society is failing these children.

Boys at her school shared AI-generated, nude images of her. She was the one expelled

A 13-year-old girl at a Louisiana middle school got into a fight with classmates who were sharing AI-generated nude images of her

abcnews.go.com

Tom Shakespeare @tomshakespeare.bsky.social · 4d

Messiah-klaxon! R3 730 for the best I have ever heard.

Reposted by Tom Shakespeare

s. e. smith @sesmith.lol · 5d

Speaking as someone who stopped breathing last night because the power went out, we are NOT equipped for the disablity impacts of our failing power infrastructure. Great read from @juliametraux.bsky.social

What a crumbling power grid means for disabled Americans

Angela Frederick’s new book calls to put disability at the center of disaster planning.

grist.org

Reposted by Tom Shakespeare

Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 5d

Trump is no longer making any pretense of sanctioning firms supplying the Russian military. He is shifting the US position steadily to a pro-Russian position, including support for Russian military operations in Ukraine.

Reposted by Tom Shakespeare, Margot C. Finn, Michael H. Whitworth

Jo Wolff @jowolff.bsky.social · 5d

We made a mistake by calling the output of AI ‘slop’. In academia it is now looking much more like toxic pollution, on the verge of laying waste to previously fertile plains. Suing for royalties is only a small part of the battle.

Tom Shakespeare @tomshakespeare.bsky.social · 6d

Making people laugh, in a good way.

Tom Shakespeare @tomshakespeare.bsky.social · 6d

It was a joke. I do those. And I am in Kennington, so a bit out of touch with Norfolk. Crumpets as plentiful as ever, and plenty of cheese. Happy Christmas!!

Reposted by Nandita Sharma, Tom Shakespeare, Dirk Pilat , and 2 more Nandita Sharma, Tom Shakespeare, Dirk Pilat, Michael Kevane, Anthony Burke

Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 6d

Did you know that the US hasn’t had an ambassador in Moscow in 6 months?

Or that our chief envoy to Russia won’t take briefings from the CIA?

But wait, there’s more. Much more in this 6-byline WSJ piece on the Witkoff-Putin axis.

Free link www.wsj.com/world/putin-...

Today, those structures are virtually absent. America has had no ambassador in Moscow since June. There is no assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs. Witkoff has declined multiple offers from the CIA for a briefing on Russia. The State Department assigned a small group of staffers to support Witkoff, but members of that team, and others across the administration, have struggled to get summaries of Witkoff's foreign meetings. Longtime allies in

Reposted by Tom Shakespeare

Mark O’Neill 🐻 @radiobeartime.com · 6d

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Polar bears miss out on Christmas Dinner

Paragliders almost end up in Peak Wildlife's polar bear enclosure

The park director says the outcome could have been tragic had the gliders not made a late turn.

www.bbc.com

Tom Shakespeare @tomshakespeare.bsky.social · 7d

To be fair, he must have very short legs...

Tom Shakespeare @tomshakespeare.bsky.social · 7d

It may well be an advanced case of Stockholm syndrome.

Tom Shakespeare @tomshakespeare.bsky.social · 7d

I am really enjoying my new accessible kitchen. For decades, I have been washing up "side saddle", wheelchair alongside basin. Now I can park under the sink, it has made me fall in love with washing up all over again.

Tom Shakespeare @tomshakespeare.bsky.social · 7d

Really enjoyed Festival of 9 Lessons & Carols last night, Robin Ince's annual fundraiser of science & comedy. It's on again tonight with another great line-up of comedians & scientists. Stewart Lee's take was hilarious, plus I learned far more about alpacas & vulcanism than I thought I needed.

Reposted by Tom Shakespeare

NancyKay Shapiro 📖🎸🐶🎶🗽 @nancykay-alt-acct.bsky.social · 8d

What a friend we have in cheeses!

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/17/w...

A Study Linked Cheese to Lower Dementia Risk. Is That Too Good to Be True?

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Tom Shakespeare

Bob Johnston @bobjohnstonbooks.bsky.social · 8d

Love this song! youtu.be/h57n9TcsTVo?...

Kirsty MacColl - Angel

YouTube video by YvonneSanderson

youtu.be

Reposted by Jonathan Portes, Tom Shakespeare, Pauline Stafford , and 1 more Jonathan Portes, Tom Shakespeare, Pauline Stafford, Pam Jarvis

Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 8d

It's bad - really bad: "At the end of 2024, 4.5m children – 31% of all UK children – were in relative poverty, living in households earning less than 60% of the UK’s median income. And 18% of all children were growing up in food-insecure households, without consistent access to nutritious food."

Child poverty: how bad is it in the UK?

Four and a half million children are growing up without basic necessities in the UK.

theconversation.com

Tom Shakespeare @tomshakespeare.bsky.social · 8d

And as for Snickers bars...

Tom Shakespeare @tomshakespeare.bsky.social · 9d

Happy birthday to The Glasshouse, formerly The Sage Gateshead. Does not seem like 21 years! Fabulous music every day, many thanks to all of you.

Tom Shakespeare @tomshakespeare.bsky.social · 9d

There had better be CAMELS. And 9 LEMURS, you said?

Reposted by Tom Shakespeare, Roopika Risam, Diane Watt

Moudhy Al-Rashid (she/her) @moudhy.bsky.social · 9d

Clay letters from ancient Mesopotamia are alive with idiom, sayings, and everyday language that I love.

Here are just a few random ones so you can enjoy them too.

Reposted by Tom Shakespeare

Let The Bells Ring Out For Chris @ottocr.at · 9d

Let us never forget the debt which humanity owes Scotland

BBC NEWS SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENT
19 October 2014
Sex 'emerged in ancient Scottish lake'

Reposted by Tom Shakespeare

The Cosmic Shambles Network @cosmicshambles.com · 9d

Nine Lessons starts tomorrow in London! On stage will be @robinince.bsky.social, Stewart Lee, Dr Julia Shaw, @soozaphone.bsky.social, @jengupta.bsky.social, @flygirlnhm.bsky.social, @anjanakhatwa.bsky.social, @tomshakespeare.bsky.social & more! Last balcony tix www.kingsplace.co.uk/whats-on/nin...

Reposted by Martin McKee, Tim Bale, Tom Shakespeare

Alice Roberts @profaliceroberts.bsky.social · 9d

Thank goodness for that. Something that shouldn’t have happened, happened. And now it’s set to unhappen. Great for students, great for research in general and great for Britain.
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...

UK to rejoin EU’s Erasmus student exchange programme

Exclusive: British students will be able to participate in EU-wide scheme from January 2027, sources say

www.theguardian.com

Tom Shakespeare @tomshakespeare.bsky.social · 9d

How can this sheet of opaque glass get hot? Ouch!

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