Alan Davey
armslengthal.bsky.social
Alan Davey
@armslengthal.bsky.social
PhD researcher in Old Icelandic at Birkbeck College, University of London. Chair at Trinity Laban Conservatoire; Chair, Hall for Cornwall. Formerly Controller, BBC Radio 3, CEO Arts Council England, Director of Culture at DCMS. Great Art For Everyone.
Reposted by Alan Davey
Tutorial Fellow and Professor (or Associate Professor) of Literature in English
University of Oxford - Balliol College

Literature of the long 19th century

Permanent

www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQM832/t...
Tutorial Fellow and Professor (or Associate Professor) of Literature in English at University of Oxford
Discover Tutorial Fellow and Professor (or Associate Professor) of Literature in English jobs and more in higher education on jobs.ac.uk. Apply for further details on the top job board.
www.jobs.ac.uk
February 17, 2026 at 7:37 AM
Wordle 1.704 2/6

🟨🟨⬜⬜🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Blimey.
February 17, 2026 at 7:33 AM
Reposted by Alan Davey
Reposted by Alan Davey
Now reading Robert Musil's Man Without Qualities, guided in part by one of the very best of @drmatthewsweet.bsky.social's Free Thinking episodes. Barometer at the ready... www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
Free Thinking - Breaking Free: Robert Musil's The Man Without Qualities - BBC Sounds
William Boyd, Margaret Drabble and Matthew Sweet discuss Musil's The Man Without Qualities
www.bbc.co.uk
February 12, 2026 at 7:00 PM
Reposted by Alan Davey
This is brilliant.

Why are pubs closing? For the same reason everything else is falling apart - we have sold off the social fabric of the country.
My brother wanted a London pub crawl. The result? My new Substack post: "Britain Lost 14,000 Third Places. They were Called Pubs. Is Your Local Next?" How private equity reshaped the local, which pubs are most at risk and most importantly what to do about it.
open.substack.com/pub/laurenle...
Britain Lost 14,000 Third Places. They Were Called Pubs. Is Your Local Next?
How private equity reshaped the local and the postcode tool that shows the pubs most at risk.
open.substack.com
February 16, 2026 at 10:25 AM
Solen, Solen…..
February 16, 2026 at 10:30 AM
Been coming to a lovely bar in this street in Venice for years - including watching an England Italy match and pretending to be Swedish - lovely to be introduced to the Nathan Sutherland books by @pgjonesvenice.bsky.social which feature this very street and bar and Gramsci, a great cat indeed…
February 14, 2026 at 7:34 AM
Reposted by Alan Davey
As someone who lives somewhere where without a service like the BBC (warts an all) its neglect by UK government is so sad. Its invaluable resource trusted globally that everyone in the UK interacts with daily whether they realise or not, all at a fraction of the cost it would be anywhere else. (Fin)
February 11, 2026 at 2:00 PM
And he is an unwanted presence in Iceland - buying up land to gain and control access to fishing rights (in a beautiful part of Iceland where I spent a summer as a farmhand)….
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...
February 12, 2026 at 11:34 AM
Reposted by Alan Davey
"Fast alle Frauen berichten davon, dass ihnen ständig auf der Straße gesagt wurde, so was wie sie hätte man früher vergast. Sie erinnern aber auch daran, dass viele Normalos die Punks dafür bewunderten, sich nicht anzupassen."

taz.de/Widerstaendi...
Widerständige Punk-Frauen in der DDR: Nur wer sich bewegt, hört seine Ketten rasseln
Die Organe der DDR ahnten, dass Punk ihnen gefährlich werden konnte. Sie antworteten mit Terror. Jetzt erzählen Punk-Frauen ihre Geschichten.
taz.de
February 11, 2026 at 3:20 PM
Sitting in a nice pub by @sadlerswells.bsky.social prior to Pina Bausch ‘s Sweet Mambo. An Undertones LP playing on the sound system. Having a Proustian moment…
February 11, 2026 at 5:56 PM
Reposted by Alan Davey
Portrait of Guercino, his mother Elena Ghisellini, black cat, and their totally A+ Lagotto Romagnolo dog. Here we also see his troubled eye from which he got his nickname. Today is his birthday.
February 8, 2026 at 9:24 PM
Reposted by Alan Davey
Ian McKellen performs “The Strangers’ Case” speech from “Sir Thomas More” on Colbert.
February 5, 2026 at 1:07 PM
Reposted by Alan Davey
The university funding crisis finally starting to make it into newspaper editorials
www.ft.com/content/82f5...
February 5, 2026 at 7:25 AM
Reposted by Alan Davey
Looking for a fun night out? We are holding a Late on Thursday 12 Feb exploring the theme of ‘Age of Self’ with talks, performance, exhibits and a DJ set. Central London. Free!
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/events/the-a...
February 2, 2026 at 6:26 PM
Reposted by Alan Davey
The Guardian has recommended us as a good date night, and if you read their Blind Date column you’ll know they are really good at this
www.theguardian.com/money/2024/n...
February 2, 2026 at 6:30 PM
Reposted by Alan Davey
Honestly what is the point of having a programme that is *not* live if you are not going to use that function to aggressively factcheck the people on it?
It is quite striking that Konstantin Kisin simply denied (falsely) on BBC1 that he had said what he said, word for word, on his podcast.
Konstantin Kisin straight up lying on #bbcqt

Douglas Alexander: “When Fraser Nelson put it to you that Rishi Sunak is absolutely english… you said “he’s a brown Hindu, how is he english?”

Kisin: “No, that’s not what I said...”
January 30, 2026 at 3:38 PM
Reposted by Alan Davey
Catherine O’Hara wardrobe polaroids from Second City, 1983. RIP an absolute legend & icon💔
January 30, 2026 at 7:34 PM
Reposted by Alan Davey
‘The more that other countries look to escape US financial coercion, the more the US will scale it up… The global dollar system may now be a source of instability rather than stability.’ Our new paper by
@dsquareddigest.bsky.social & @himself.bsky.social
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/60...
January 23, 2026 at 12:49 PM
Reposted by Alan Davey
Happy #NewReleaseFriday! Only one release this week, but as it's the latest volume of an outstanding and valuable series I can hardly complain. Three premiere recordings among a host of long-neglected music just waiting to be rediscovered.

▶️ open.qobuz.com/playlist/513...
January 30, 2026 at 6:48 AM
Contains (video and text) more reasons to love Mark Carney….2nd video is marvellous…The Secret Sauce in ‘Heated Rivalry’? Canada. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/w...
The Secret Sauce in ‘Heated Rivalry’? Canada.
www.nytimes.com
January 30, 2026 at 8:52 AM
Reposted by Alan Davey
Other Americas are available… #Walden: Paul Farley’s evocative dramatisation of #Thoreau’s classic memoir of paying attention & attempting to live lightly on the Earth. Stars the wonderful Matthew Needham. A huge pleasure to make this one. 3pm Sun 1 Feb @bbcradio4 www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
BBC Radio 4 - Drama on 4, Walden
Henry David Thoreau's account of a year living in a cabin in the woods next to Walden Pond
www.bbc.co.uk
January 30, 2026 at 8:29 AM
Reposted by Alan Davey
Habe im Büro erstmal ein bisschen über die Lage der Welt geweint. Ist das wirklich notwendig? Hier wird Arbeitszeit verschenkt.
January 29, 2026 at 7:46 AM
Reposted by Alan Davey
From undercover field operatives to online anonymity,via lives led in the closet and large scale infidelity, @drmatthewsweet.bsky.social discusses the what can prompt people to lead double lives.
Only the BBC does this. Part of <48p a day per UK household licence fee. Because we enjoy conversation.
January 28, 2026 at 7:59 PM
Reposted by Alan Davey
In Minneapolis and many other communities across the country, we're seeing people come together to peacefully protest and support their neighbors. If you're looking to get involved, here are some ways to help:
How to help the resistance to ICE in Minnesota — and beyond
What Minnesota’s immigrant communities need from you now.
www.vox.com
January 28, 2026 at 8:30 PM