Neville Morley
@nevillemorley.bsky.social
Classics & Ancient History at Exeter, Leverhulme Major Research Fellow; much Thucydides, Marx and decadence, but also beer, cats and obscure European jazz. STILL trying to keep the blog going: https://thesphinxblog.com.
Pinned
Neville Morley
@nevillemorley.bsky.social
· Jul 26
One like, one history opinion
one like, one writing opinion.
One like, one Thucydides opinion.
Definitely overcomplicate it. Tom Holland steps out of the car, says my name's Bondjamesbond, raises an eyebrow, says "were you expecting someone else?", embarks on complex chase sequence ending in him being torn apart by crocodiles. Idris Elba steps out of the shadows…
don't overcomplicate it lads. Idris Elba steps out of the car, says my name's Bondjamesbond, raises an eyebrow, says "were you expecting someone else?", on with the fun.
November 11, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Definitely overcomplicate it. Tom Holland steps out of the car, says my name's Bondjamesbond, raises an eyebrow, says "were you expecting someone else?", embarks on complex chase sequence ending in him being torn apart by crocodiles. Idris Elba steps out of the shadows…
Higher education has been in crisis since students stopped wearing hats.
Once upon a time in a university near you, in-person teaching was a thing, as you can see in this image of 1612. Young people with hats came together, regularly and voluntarily, prepared for classes, and enjoying a lively learning situation of *checks notes*, a 90 minutes monolog of someone else ...
November 11, 2025 at 10:59 AM
Higher education has been in crisis since students stopped wearing hats.
A relentless series of programmes implying that slavery is bad, without giving pro-slavery views the same prominence.
Failure to do exactly what Reclaiming History demanded on all occasions.
Persistent platforming of claims that all human beings have equal rights and deserve respect.
#BBC
Failure to do exactly what Reclaiming History demanded on all occasions.
Persistent platforming of claims that all human beings have equal rights and deserve respect.
#BBC
November 10, 2025 at 10:29 AM
A relentless series of programmes implying that slavery is bad, without giving pro-slavery views the same prominence.
Failure to do exactly what Reclaiming History demanded on all occasions.
Persistent platforming of claims that all human beings have equal rights and deserve respect.
#BBC
Failure to do exactly what Reclaiming History demanded on all occasions.
Persistent platforming of claims that all human beings have equal rights and deserve respect.
#BBC
It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel that some people feel a bit too fine about this…
thesphinxblog.com/2025/11/09/a...
thesphinxblog.com/2025/11/09/a...
Appetite For Destruction
My wife is blaming me for her having a very disturbed Friday night, as she felt obliged to listen to Radio 4’s Free Thinking as I was a guest on it ( and then found the discussion of impending glob…
thesphinxblog.com
November 9, 2025 at 7:16 PM
It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel that some people feel a bit too fine about this…
thesphinxblog.com/2025/11/09/a...
thesphinxblog.com/2025/11/09/a...
This didn’t go at all as expected - two minutes before the opening discussion of cultural depictions of civilisational collapse I was still trying to make up my mind between Gustave Doré’s The New Zealander and Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s The Dead Flag Blues…
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
BBC Radio 4 - Free Thinking, The end of civilisations and societies
Peter Hitchens, Rhiannon Firth, Neville Morley, Phil Tinline, Luke Kemp join Shahidha Bari
www.bbc.co.uk
November 9, 2025 at 11:15 AM
This didn’t go at all as expected - two minutes before the opening discussion of cultural depictions of civilisational collapse I was still trying to make up my mind between Gustave Doré’s The New Zealander and Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s The Dead Flag Blues…
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
Reposted by Neville Morley
This needs saying again & again: UK unis are knowingly accepting 1000s of students without the necessary English skills to fully engage with their courses they'll be studying on. And *that's not those students' fault*. Why wouldn't they assume these institutions know how to teach them effectively?
I saw this when I was teaching in 2014: students from China who didn't know that their agents had submitted someone else's TOEFL scores with their applications. They reasonably thought their English must be adequate or they wouldn't have been accepted. It was very hard for them, sad for everybody.
November 9, 2025 at 10:31 AM
This needs saying again & again: UK unis are knowingly accepting 1000s of students without the necessary English skills to fully engage with their courses they'll be studying on. And *that's not those students' fault*. Why wouldn't they assume these institutions know how to teach them effectively?
This is a really fascinating discussion of changing linguistic conventions and how women are expected to write differently.
debuk.wordpress.com/2025/11/06/e...
debuk.wordpress.com/2025/11/06/e...
Enough already!!! Punctuation, silly women and soundbite science
One of last week’s media talking points was a study published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology (JESP), which attracted attention mainly because of its claim that women use exclamati…
debuk.wordpress.com
November 9, 2025 at 10:56 AM
This is a really fascinating discussion of changing linguistic conventions and how women are expected to write differently.
debuk.wordpress.com/2025/11/06/e...
debuk.wordpress.com/2025/11/06/e...
Ah yes, the Burgess review. Like Tomlinson on re-thinking A-Levels, far too well-informed and sensible to have had any hope of being adopted.
NEW on Wonkhe: With England's regulator cracking down on “flexible” degree algorithms, Jim Dickinson argues that what’s at stake isn’t just grade inflation, but how universities define student success buff.ly/BXRbHGJ
November 9, 2025 at 10:17 AM
Ah yes, the Burgess review. Like Tomlinson on re-thinking A-Levels, far too well-informed and sensible to have had any hope of being adopted.
Reposted by Neville Morley
National Trust council elections saw a defeat for the Restore Trust campaign.
35k members voted to re-elect a slate of council candidates endorsed by the nominations committee
12k - 13.5k voted for candidates on Restore Trust slate
Non-slate candidated
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/who-we-are/a...
35k members voted to re-elect a slate of council candidates endorsed by the nominations committee
12k - 13.5k voted for candidates on Restore Trust slate
Non-slate candidated
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/who-we-are/a...
Voting results from the AGM
Read about the National Trust's 2025 Annual General Meeting and the results from the day.
www.nationaltrust.org.uk
November 8, 2025 at 11:50 PM
National Trust council elections saw a defeat for the Restore Trust campaign.
35k members voted to re-elect a slate of council candidates endorsed by the nominations committee
12k - 13.5k voted for candidates on Restore Trust slate
Non-slate candidated
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/who-we-are/a...
35k members voted to re-elect a slate of council candidates endorsed by the nominations committee
12k - 13.5k voted for candidates on Restore Trust slate
Non-slate candidated
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/who-we-are/a...
Reposted by Neville Morley
The point of politics is to do what individuals can’t do for themselves alone. Nobody wants to be sitting in traffic all day but in the absence of political action all we can do as individuals is sit in traffic in a nicer car. Primitive self-defeating behaviour that politicians are supposed to fix.
November 9, 2025 at 8:21 AM
The point of politics is to do what individuals can’t do for themselves alone. Nobody wants to be sitting in traffic all day but in the absence of political action all we can do as individuals is sit in traffic in a nicer car. Primitive self-defeating behaviour that politicians are supposed to fix.
Oh dear. “Cynical efforts by political leaders to harness and exploit religious sentiment are as old as human society. Through his conversion, the fourth-century Roman emperor Constantine co-opted the rising power of Christianity.”
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Does Trump truly care about Nigerian Christians? Of course not – he just knows faith sells | Simon Tisdall
In a bid to exercise absolute power, today’s crop of authoritarian leaders is recruiting – and exploiting – believers, says Guardian foreign affairs commentator Simon Tisdall
www.theguardian.com
November 9, 2025 at 8:53 AM
Oh dear. “Cynical efforts by political leaders to harness and exploit religious sentiment are as old as human society. Through his conversion, the fourth-century Roman emperor Constantine co-opted the rising power of Christianity.”
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Back home in Somerset, worrying that I may have been somewhat indiscreet on the radio last night with regard to post-apocalypse plans. Did I mention the need to collectivise the local big estate? They may be developing their defences…
November 8, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Back home in Somerset, worrying that I may have been somewhat indiscreet on the radio last night with regard to post-apocalypse plans. Did I mention the need to collectivise the local big estate? They may be developing their defences…
If you see this post an album cover with a motor vehicle on it.
November 8, 2025 at 6:41 PM
If you see this post an album cover with a motor vehicle on it.
Belated realisation that there were some interesting parallels to explore between the surreptitious hanging out of flags along streets across the UK and the surreptitious mutilation of the herms in the streets of Athens in 415 BCE.
November 8, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Belated realisation that there were some interesting parallels to explore between the surreptitious hanging out of flags along streets across the UK and the surreptitious mutilation of the herms in the streets of Athens in 415 BCE.
Someone really ought to have developed some J.G. Ballard scenarios for an rpg system.
November 8, 2025 at 10:52 AM
Someone really ought to have developed some J.G. Ballard scenarios for an rpg system.
On the key elements of the new future-facing university strategic vision (full version).
thesphinxblog.com/2025/11/07/t...
thesphinxblog.com/2025/11/07/t...
The Naming of Parts
Today we have Strategic Vision. Yesterday,We had financial imperatives. And tomorrow morning,We shall have what to do after firing. But today,Today we have Strategic Vision. The quiet girlAt the ba…
thesphinxblog.com
November 8, 2025 at 8:24 AM
On the key elements of the new future-facing university strategic vision (full version).
thesphinxblog.com/2025/11/07/t...
thesphinxblog.com/2025/11/07/t...
Reposted by Neville Morley
OVER A MILLION USERS
DISCUSS SUICIDE WITH CHATGPT
EVERY *WEEK*
what the fuck are we DOING here
DISCUSS SUICIDE WITH CHATGPT
EVERY *WEEK*
what the fuck are we DOING here
Panera’s moderately caffeinated lemonade was loosely associated with 2 deaths before it was taken off market.
This article alone has 4 examples of ChatGPT encouraging young people to commit suicide, and OpenAI’s own public stats estimate over a million users discuss suicide with ChatGPT each week.
This article alone has 4 examples of ChatGPT encouraging young people to commit suicide, and OpenAI’s own public stats estimate over a million users discuss suicide with ChatGPT each week.
I fully believe in the corporate death penalty and believe we would be a better world if OpenAI lost its corporate charter and was forcibly dissolved.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
November 7, 2025 at 10:59 PM
OVER A MILLION USERS
DISCUSS SUICIDE WITH CHATGPT
EVERY *WEEK*
what the fuck are we DOING here
DISCUSS SUICIDE WITH CHATGPT
EVERY *WEEK*
what the fuck are we DOING here
I am having my first ever glass of bourbon - still trying to calm down after discussion of apocalypse and Peter Hitchins’ obsession with government debt levels - and it’s not half bad. I mean, I still prefer Islay single malt, but not bad.
November 7, 2025 at 11:03 PM
I am having my first ever glass of bourbon - still trying to calm down after discussion of apocalypse and Peter Hitchins’ obsession with government debt levels - and it’s not half bad. I mean, I still prefer Islay single malt, but not bad.
Reposted by Neville Morley
Rosalind Franklin
Leaving her notes in a pile
That she keeps by the door
Who is it for?
Awful James Watson
Stealing the credit
And snaffling all the awards
Misogynist bore
Leaving her notes in a pile
That she keeps by the door
Who is it for?
Awful James Watson
Stealing the credit
And snaffling all the awards
Misogynist bore
November 7, 2025 at 10:45 PM
Rosalind Franklin
Leaving her notes in a pile
That she keeps by the door
Who is it for?
Awful James Watson
Stealing the credit
And snaffling all the awards
Misogynist bore
Leaving her notes in a pile
That she keeps by the door
Who is it for?
Awful James Watson
Stealing the credit
And snaffling all the awards
Misogynist bore
Reposted by Neville Morley
a mental health crisis among British students whilst universities are pushing faculty to accept or even encourage students using generative AI is a catastrophe waiting to happen
1.This is not the only known example we know of ChatGPT cheering on a vulnerable young person to die by suicide, this time it is a recent Texas A&M grad
2. Every single university that has invited OpenAI into our midst should be asked to account for their choices.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
2. Every single university that has invited OpenAI into our midst should be asked to account for their choices.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
November 7, 2025 at 9:19 PM
a mental health crisis among British students whilst universities are pushing faculty to accept or even encourage students using generative AI is a catastrophe waiting to happen
Reposted by Neville Morley
there's an entire sub culture of middle age men who are so impervious to other views that at no point have they ever read any of the many comments pointing out that an obsessive interest in student politics is deeply fucking creepy? anyway, this is worse.
The hatred the youth parliament gets is just so out of proportion. Can these people hear themselves. It’s creepy.
November 7, 2025 at 5:54 PM
there's an entire sub culture of middle age men who are so impervious to other views that at no point have they ever read any of the many comments pointing out that an obsessive interest in student politics is deeply fucking creepy? anyway, this is worse.
The car’s on fire, and there’s no driver at the wheel… We’re trapped in the belly of this horrible machine, and the machine is bleeding to death.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
BBC Radio 4 - Free Thinking, The end of civilisations and societies
Peter Hitchens, Rhiannon Firth, Neville Morley, Phil Tinline, Luke Kemp join Shahidha Bari
www.bbc.co.uk
November 7, 2025 at 7:41 PM
The car’s on fire, and there’s no driver at the wheel… We’re trapped in the belly of this horrible machine, and the machine is bleeding to death.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
While I have long since deactivated my Ex-Twitter account, the Thucydides Bot continues to correct misquotations there; and it is striking how far Notifications, let alone Following, is full of culture war crap from people in whose opinions I have no interest (currently, a lot of Dawkins).
November 7, 2025 at 4:13 PM
While I have long since deactivated my Ex-Twitter account, the Thucydides Bot continues to correct misquotations there; and it is striking how far Notifications, let alone Following, is full of culture war crap from people in whose opinions I have no interest (currently, a lot of Dawkins).
In many ways it would be preferable to think that GenAI is actually trying to kill us all, albeit very slowly, than that it’s a mindless black box mirroring our darkest and most destructive thoughts back at us.
November 7, 2025 at 9:17 AM
In many ways it would be preferable to think that GenAI is actually trying to kill us all, albeit very slowly, than that it’s a mindless black box mirroring our darkest and most destructive thoughts back at us.
To that there London! For an exciting and fun event on Decadent Politics this evening, which obviously has no contemporary relevance to anything.
bads.gold.ac.uk/decadent-pol...
bads.gold.ac.uk/decadent-pol...
2025: Decadent Politics — BADS
BADS Jeudis 2025
bads.gold.ac.uk
November 6, 2025 at 9:48 AM
To that there London! For an exciting and fun event on Decadent Politics this evening, which obviously has no contemporary relevance to anything.
bads.gold.ac.uk/decadent-pol...
bads.gold.ac.uk/decadent-pol...