Richard
@ashcroftethics.bsky.social
Bookhoarder. Soi-disant intellectual of the outer suburbs.
Pinned
Richard
@ashcroftethics.bsky.social
· Apr 15
PSA: this is a personal account. None of my posts are official, few are academic, and you will learn little if anything of value here. I have LinkedIn for that. Here I - rather infrequently - witter on about music, books and people who annoy me on my commute. TYVM. Carry on.
Reposted by Richard
This tweet alone make JCO as a top contender for the Nobel prize in literature 🔥
November 10, 2025 at 7:53 PM
This tweet alone make JCO as a top contender for the Nobel prize in literature 🔥
Reposted by Richard
There‘s only one person who can be Director General of the BBC
a man in a suit and tie with ahhaaa written on the screen
ALT: a man in a suit and tie with ahhaaa written on the screen
media.tenor.com
November 9, 2025 at 7:30 PM
There‘s only one person who can be Director General of the BBC
Reposted by Richard
Florence and the Machine Covir Bandes:
Siena and the Devyce
Milan and the Contraptioun
Orvieto and the Mechanism
Venyce and the Gadget
Gubbio and the Whirligig
Spoleto and the Apparatus
Siena and the Devyce
Milan and the Contraptioun
Orvieto and the Mechanism
Venyce and the Gadget
Gubbio and the Whirligig
Spoleto and the Apparatus
November 8, 2025 at 2:55 AM
Florence and the Machine Covir Bandes:
Siena and the Devyce
Milan and the Contraptioun
Orvieto and the Mechanism
Venyce and the Gadget
Gubbio and the Whirligig
Spoleto and the Apparatus
Siena and the Devyce
Milan and the Contraptioun
Orvieto and the Mechanism
Venyce and the Gadget
Gubbio and the Whirligig
Spoleto and the Apparatus
If you see this, post an album cover with a motor vehicle on it.
November 8, 2025 at 7:24 PM
If you see this, post an album cover with a motor vehicle on it.
Reposted by Richard
I made a “how do you do, fellow kids?” joke to someone in their mid 20s who, it turns out, was too young to have heard of that meme.
So “how do you do, fellow kids?” is now an example of “how do you do, fellow kids?”
So “how do you do, fellow kids?” is now an example of “how do you do, fellow kids?”
November 7, 2025 at 5:28 PM
I made a “how do you do, fellow kids?” joke to someone in their mid 20s who, it turns out, was too young to have heard of that meme.
So “how do you do, fellow kids?” is now an example of “how do you do, fellow kids?”
So “how do you do, fellow kids?” is now an example of “how do you do, fellow kids?”
The spirit of the age: someone ought to do something, but that someone isn’t me, it must be someone else’s responsibility, my responsibility is only to point out that they’re doing it wrong.
November 8, 2025 at 8:38 AM
The spirit of the age: someone ought to do something, but that someone isn’t me, it must be someone else’s responsibility, my responsibility is only to point out that they’re doing it wrong.
Reposted by Richard
"Now on ITV: 'Peer Review' - hosted by Mary Beard. 15 senior academics locked in Piddleston College, Bantshire University seek to find which of them is actually Reviewer Number 2"
Now do the show but only with senior academics.
The Traitors is a very different game when the players are either friends already or in an industry where, if you’re making a project together, you are used to quickly bonding and making fast friends for the duration.
November 7, 2025 at 10:12 AM
"Now on ITV: 'Peer Review' - hosted by Mary Beard. 15 senior academics locked in Piddleston College, Bantshire University seek to find which of them is actually Reviewer Number 2"
Thinking about the rock voice: Robert Plant, Ian Gillan, David Coverdale… it’s a fine thing, the rock voice. Bring it back.
November 7, 2025 at 8:42 AM
Thinking about the rock voice: Robert Plant, Ian Gillan, David Coverdale… it’s a fine thing, the rock voice. Bring it back.
I’ve podcast: open.spotify.com/episode/1Vuh...
Are We Training The Lawyers of the Future or Programming Compliance Bots?
open.spotify.com
November 6, 2025 at 7:08 PM
I’ve podcast: open.spotify.com/episode/1Vuh...
Reposted by Richard
Some cheerful Kurdish rugs
November 4, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Some cheerful Kurdish rugs
Reposted by Richard
Sheffield Hallam University complied with Beijing demand to halt research about human rights abuses in China, leading to a major project on supply chains and forced labour being dropped. It was reinstated after threat of legal action but chilling effect remains www.theguardian.com/education/20...
UK university halted human rights research after pressure from China
Exclusive: Leading professor at Sheffield Hallam was told to cease research on supply chains and forced labour in China after demands from authorities
www.theguardian.com
November 3, 2025 at 7:23 AM
Sheffield Hallam University complied with Beijing demand to halt research about human rights abuses in China, leading to a major project on supply chains and forced labour being dropped. It was reinstated after threat of legal action but chilling effect remains www.theguardian.com/education/20...
Tiepolo, Virtue and Nobility Putting Ignorance to Flight (at Dulwich Picture Gallery).
Take that, modern world.
Take that, modern world.
November 1, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Tiepolo, Virtue and Nobility Putting Ignorance to Flight (at Dulwich Picture Gallery).
Take that, modern world.
Take that, modern world.
Reposted by Richard
This week on Wonkhe: Higher education institutions are linked together in all kinds of ways. Jamie Warner sets out to calculate how the effects of one insolvency could ripple across the sector
The network effects of a university collapse
Higher education institutions are linked together in all kinds of ways. Jamie Warner sets out to calculate how the effects of one insolvency could ripple across the sector Higher education institutions...
buff.ly
November 1, 2025 at 3:00 PM
This week on Wonkhe: Higher education institutions are linked together in all kinds of ways. Jamie Warner sets out to calculate how the effects of one insolvency could ripple across the sector
Reposted by Richard
I installed the Wikipedia app on my phone, so for a whole range of everyday queries I can entirely bypass the slop & shilling cocktail that search has turned into. Strongly recommend giving it a try if you aren't way ahead of me.
October 31, 2025 at 4:48 PM
I installed the Wikipedia app on my phone, so for a whole range of everyday queries I can entirely bypass the slop & shilling cocktail that search has turned into. Strongly recommend giving it a try if you aren't way ahead of me.
Reposted by Richard
Huge thanks to @drjaimeashworth.bsky.social for this perfect reference! Of course, John Berger already thought about this. bsky.app/profile/drja...
John Berger’s essay “The Suit and the Photograph” is useful here. The awful suit is a signifier of not belonging to the suit-wearing class. sites.uni.edu/fabos/semina...
sites.uni.edu
October 31, 2025 at 8:46 AM
Huge thanks to @drjaimeashworth.bsky.social for this perfect reference! Of course, John Berger already thought about this. bsky.app/profile/drja...
Reposted by Richard
Genuinely such an interesting long thread on why these suits look crap and yet how a particular type of crap suit has become a cultural signifier for right-wing men.
I can answer this. I interviewed Peterson's tailor a few years ago, although the interview was never published because I fell behind on work. Here is the story of this suit. 🧵
What is happening with this outfit?
October 31, 2025 at 7:48 AM
Genuinely such an interesting long thread on why these suits look crap and yet how a particular type of crap suit has become a cultural signifier for right-wing men.
Reposted by Richard
Crikey - Bagehot is going to upset and outrage a lot of people with this. Takes (the proverbial) balls of steel to go up against conventional wisdom like this.
October 31, 2025 at 8:26 AM
Crikey - Bagehot is going to upset and outrage a lot of people with this. Takes (the proverbial) balls of steel to go up against conventional wisdom like this.
Reposted by Richard
For 61 years the #BBCWorldService has been broadcasting the latest in science via its weekly Science in Action programme. That dies in the next half hour, with this final edition, reflecting on the fall in trust in expertise driven by malign interests over recent years.
October 30, 2025 at 8:20 PM
For 61 years the #BBCWorldService has been broadcasting the latest in science via its weekly Science in Action programme. That dies in the next half hour, with this final edition, reflecting on the fall in trust in expertise driven by malign interests over recent years.
Reposted by Richard
Magisterial
October 30, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Magisterial
Reposted by Richard
There was an old ruler called Ozzy
Who built a big statue just 'cos he
Thought he would never
Not be known for ever
And now it's two legs in a cozzy
Who built a big statue just 'cos he
Thought he would never
Not be known for ever
And now it's two legs in a cozzy
Oh I wish I’d looked after me works
And not left me legs buried in dirt
Look on them there
And ye mighty, despair
Oh I wish I’d looked after me works
And not left me legs buried in dirt
Look on them there
And ye mighty, despair
Oh I wish I’d looked after me works
October 30, 2025 at 6:35 PM
There was an old ruler called Ozzy
Who built a big statue just 'cos he
Thought he would never
Not be known for ever
And now it's two legs in a cozzy
Who built a big statue just 'cos he
Thought he would never
Not be known for ever
And now it's two legs in a cozzy
You will never persuade me that I could like the Brontës. I have tried. I have tried again.
October 29, 2025 at 9:46 PM
You will never persuade me that I could like the Brontës. I have tried. I have tried again.
He wants to go to a church where they speak Latin.
Vance says it is "totally reasonable and acceptable" for people to not want to live next door to people who speak a different language than they do
October 29, 2025 at 9:27 PM
He wants to go to a church where they speak Latin.
Reposted by Richard
I really, really hope that the Tolkien estate wake up tomorrow and choose litigious violence, in the manner of Ents who have decided to be extremely hasty.
October 29, 2025 at 9:22 PM
I really, really hope that the Tolkien estate wake up tomorrow and choose litigious violence, in the manner of Ents who have decided to be extremely hasty.
Post a perfect album from 1989.
October 29, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Post a perfect album from 1989.