Plashing Vole
@plashingvole.bsky.social
Mild-mannered lecturer by day…mild-mannered lecturer by night. Welsh lit, politicians’ fictions. Fencer, cyclist, UCU. Dysgwr Cymraeg; tá gaeilge agam. Barnau fy hun.
Read books; join unions; block cookies.
University of Mordor.
Read books; join unions; block cookies.
University of Mordor.
‘It was the afternoon of my eighty-first birthday, and I was in bed with my catamite, Tiny Tim who did NOT die, when Ali announced that the archbishop had come to see me’
Sue silently took her companion’s hand, and with eyes on each other they heard these passing remarks—the quaint and mysterious personality of Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, being a subject which formed a large ingredient in the hints and innuendoes.
With a sudden intensity, as if he saw it clear for a second, he drew a line there, in the centre. It was done; it was finished. Yes, Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, thought, laying down his brush in extreme fatigue, I have had my vision.
December 25, 2025 at 8:06 PM
‘It was the afternoon of my eighty-first birthday, and I was in bed with my catamite, Tiny Tim who did NOT die, when Ali announced that the archbishop had come to see me’
Reposted by Plashing Vole
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and please complete your mandatory e-learning by 31 December.
December 25, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and please complete your mandatory e-learning by 31 December.
Explain your username? In Evelyn Waugh’s novel Scoop the nature writer William Boot writes of the ‘questing vole’ in the ‘plashy fen’ but @questingvole.bsky.social got there first. Boot is accidentally promoted to war correspondent and bumbles about ineffectively. Like my ‘career’.
EXPLAIN YOUR USERNAME
my name is Josh and I’m a Woolfaholic.
my name is Josh and I’m a Woolfaholic.
EXPLAIN YOUR USERNAME
King Alistair knows (and this world's made me one)
King Alistair knows (and this world's made me one)
December 25, 2025 at 9:42 AM
Explain your username? In Evelyn Waugh’s novel Scoop the nature writer William Boot writes of the ‘questing vole’ in the ‘plashy fen’ but @questingvole.bsky.social got there first. Boot is accidentally promoted to war correspondent and bumbles about ineffectively. Like my ‘career’.
I’d be more convinced by Labour’s Free Speech Warriors if they hadn’t declared that non-violent Palestine pressure groups and their supporters were *terrorists*.
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
‘Undermines free speech’: Labour MP hits back at US government over visa ban on UK campaigners
Chi Onwurah speaks out after Marco Rubio accused five Europeans, including two Britons, of ‘seeking to suppress American viewpoints they oppose’
www.theguardian.com
December 24, 2025 at 5:39 PM
I’d be more convinced by Labour’s Free Speech Warriors if they hadn’t declared that non-violent Palestine pressure groups and their supporters were *terrorists*.
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
A quick plug for The Hope Projects: a charity that houses refugees made absolutely destitute by Britain’s brutal asylum polices. Every time you give them some money somebody eats and Farage cries.
hope-projects.org.uk/about-hope/
Donate here: cafdonate.cafonline.org/9696#!/Donat...
hope-projects.org.uk/about-hope/
Donate here: cafdonate.cafonline.org/9696#!/Donat...
About Hope - The Hope Projects
Why does Hope exist?
Imagine fleeing persecution and having to seek protection in another land. You’d hope for welcome, sympathy and for your rights to be respected. Sadly the British asylum system i...
hope-projects.org.uk
December 24, 2025 at 3:37 PM
A quick plug for The Hope Projects: a charity that houses refugees made absolutely destitute by Britain’s brutal asylum polices. Every time you give them some money somebody eats and Farage cries.
hope-projects.org.uk/about-hope/
Donate here: cafdonate.cafonline.org/9696#!/Donat...
hope-projects.org.uk/about-hope/
Donate here: cafdonate.cafonline.org/9696#!/Donat...
Labour deserves this, and more.
My full page comic for the @prospectmagazine.co.uk Christmas issue. With sincere apologies.
![This is a comic pate drawn in the soft pencil style of The Snowman by Raymond Briggs
Basically the story is this:
- Keir Starmer in dressing gown presses face up to window, excited that it is snowing
- He runs outside, builds a snowman
- It comes to life, taps on his window
- He invites it in, gives it clothes (yellow trouser, green jacket, flat cap) and we realise (face close up) it looks like Nigel Farage
- Snowman takes him outside, launches off the ground
- They fly over the landscape, we see a town below
- A man ziptying a St George’s Flag to a lamp post waves at them as they pass
- As in the original, they head for the sea - we see a light by the coast
- Instead of Brighton pier as in the original, it is an Asylum Detention Center
- They land, we see people queuing behind a fence
- Snowman Farage points excitedly at a large bin marked VALUABLES
- Snowman Farage pulls a child's E-scooter out of the bin, he and Starmer look excited
- They take off again and go back to Keir’s home
- Farage resumes his place in the garden, Starmer walks back inside to go back to bed
- The next day Snowman Farage has melted, leaving only his clothes and the scooter - now with a bow and label attached to show it is a Christmas gift.
[ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreigwgwnlmiahv4epylv26bbpzj4zvbkcgpjne7meoxidzplpflsype@jpeg)
December 23, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Labour deserves this, and more.
Jekyll, my PhD student’s excellent cat, roosting in a Christmas tree.
December 23, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Jekyll, my PhD student’s excellent cat, roosting in a Christmas tree.
It’s not just humans that want artificial friends it seems.
December 23, 2025 at 12:53 PM
It’s not just humans that want artificial friends it seems.
Popped into the dentist today and found the receptionist carry big tins of sweets and biscuits. All the things they banned me from eating. Never trusting Big Drilla again.
December 23, 2025 at 10:07 AM
Popped into the dentist today and found the receptionist carry big tins of sweets and biscuits. All the things they banned me from eating. Never trusting Big Drilla again.
Episode 59 of #JupiterMoon the 1990s university-in-space soap. A mysterious bunch of supposed academics have appeared from nowhere and attempted to take over Columbus College to monetise its research. They appear to be pirates, or as we call them now, a Senior Management Team.
December 22, 2025 at 11:52 PM
Episode 59 of #JupiterMoon the 1990s university-in-space soap. A mysterious bunch of supposed academics have appeared from nowhere and attempted to take over Columbus College to monetise its research. They appear to be pirates, or as we call them now, a Senior Management Team.
I can highly recommend seeing John Mouse live if he plays near you. Imagine Uncle Bryn at his best but with Depeche Mode as his backing band.
December 21, 2025 at 7:41 PM
I can highly recommend seeing John Mouse live if he plays near you. Imagine Uncle Bryn at his best but with Depeche Mode as his backing band.
Private Eye nails the Austen industry’s anniversary frenzy. We have a session on tourism, material culture etc in my #Austen module and greatly enjoyed this year’s cash-ins. My favourite was the cheeky Japanese Ceramics That Were In Britain At The Same Time As Jane Austen Was Alive exhibition.
December 21, 2025 at 10:32 AM
Private Eye nails the Austen industry’s anniversary frenzy. We have a session on tourism, material culture etc in my #Austen module and greatly enjoyed this year’s cash-ins. My favourite was the cheeky Japanese Ceramics That Were In Britain At The Same Time As Jane Austen Was Alive exhibition.
Reposted by Plashing Vole
What's going on with voting intention by age group in Wales IT'S A MYSTERY
December 20, 2025 at 12:41 PM
What's going on with voting intention by age group in Wales IT'S A MYSTERY
Decades of both parties looking after pensioners better because they vote, and Labour has decided to give the kids - their only reliable voting group - another kicking. Indebted, can’t afford decent housing or leisure and now this grim corporate suit wants to squeeze them even more.
December 20, 2025 at 9:02 AM
Decades of both parties looking after pensioners better because they vote, and Labour has decided to give the kids - their only reliable voting group - another kicking. Indebted, can’t afford decent housing or leisure and now this grim corporate suit wants to squeeze them even more.
Wow. This guy has actively chosen not to use the designations on-road parking space, but to block the new ‘protected’ bike lane instead. Fine work, @therealyplac.bsky.social
December 19, 2025 at 10:07 PM
Wow. This guy has actively chosen not to use the designations on-road parking space, but to block the new ‘protected’ bike lane instead. Fine work, @therealyplac.bsky.social
December 19, 2025 at 10:03 PM
Wow. This guy has actively chosen not to use the designations on-road parking space, but to block the new ‘protected’ bike lane instead. Fine work, @therealyplac.bsky.social
Very pleased by this. The building needs serious restoration but it’s architecturally distinguished and incubated lots of good art.
The Brutalist Wolverhampton School of Art building, home to England’s first National Black Art Convention, has been granted Grade II listed status, saving it from demolition.
buff.ly/e6W4PM4
buff.ly/e6W4PM4
December 19, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Very pleased by this. The building needs serious restoration but it’s architecturally distinguished and incubated lots of good art.
Reposted by Plashing Vole
Imagine running a higher education system/country so badly that you actually can't afford, or refuse to fund, research that is *literally defined as* "internationally excellent".
Stupid, stupid, stupid country.
Stupid, stupid, stupid country.
;Eliminating funding for 3* research in the next Research Excellence Framework (REF) would benefit Russell Group institutions by about £50 million a year, suggests modelling into how potential changes to funding formulas may play out.' 1/3
‘Beware trade-offs’ of removing REF funding for 3* outputs
Review of formula used to allocate £2 billion QR funding could downgrade or withdraw money for ‘internationally excellent’ research, some fear
www.timeshighereducation.com
December 18, 2025 at 8:25 AM
Imagine running a higher education system/country so badly that you actually can't afford, or refuse to fund, research that is *literally defined as* "internationally excellent".
Stupid, stupid, stupid country.
Stupid, stupid, stupid country.
This is the nicest thing anyone has ever said about me, professionally. Thanks, U of Westminster (I'm external examiner for their contemporary literature MA).
December 17, 2025 at 4:02 PM
This is the nicest thing anyone has ever said about me, professionally. Thanks, U of Westminster (I'm external examiner for their contemporary literature MA).
I had such a good morning yesterday, giving international students a basic introduction to Cymraeg and Gaeilge through the medium of Christmas. Mari Llwyd and the Wran Boys really interested them.
December 17, 2025 at 1:51 PM
I had such a good morning yesterday, giving international students a basic introduction to Cymraeg and Gaeilge through the medium of Christmas. Mari Llwyd and the Wran Boys really interested them.
Reposted by Plashing Vole
This is an absolute disgrace. Rewarding those driving institutions into the ground. Long overdue action needed by UK and territorial departments and Devolved Administrations @ukparliament.parliament.uk @premnsikka.bsky.social
Vice-chancellor bonuses growing despite sector funding crisis
Universities defend decision to award some vice-chancellors larger bonuses than last year, with one private institution giving boss over £100K
www.timeshighereducation.com
December 16, 2025 at 9:13 AM
This is an absolute disgrace. Rewarding those driving institutions into the ground. Long overdue action needed by UK and territorial departments and Devolved Administrations @ukparliament.parliament.uk @premnsikka.bsky.social
Driven to email Radio 3 for repeating the hallucination that the Pride and Prejudice 1995 series shows us Mr Darcy emerging dripping from the lake. It’s a collective hallucination! We only see him striding across the lawn in his mildly damp shirt.
a man with dark hair and a white shirt is standing in front of a pond .
ALT: a man with dark hair and a white shirt is standing in front of a pond .
media.tenor.com
December 16, 2025 at 9:08 AM
Driven to email Radio 3 for repeating the hallucination that the Pride and Prejudice 1995 series shows us Mr Darcy emerging dripping from the lake. It’s a collective hallucination! We only see him striding across the lawn in his mildly damp shirt.
Reposted by Plashing Vole
Nobody in The Moral Maze gets eaten by the Moral Minotaur, which is a fundamental flaw in the programme.
December 15, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Nobody in The Moral Maze gets eaten by the Moral Minotaur, which is a fundamental flaw in the programme.
And now for our festive Departmental Course Suspension meeting. What dos Santa have in his sack this year? Could it be…the sack?
a christmas card that says hi jaxon hope you are being a good boy
ALT: a christmas card that says hi jaxon hope you are being a good boy
media.tenor.com
December 15, 2025 at 11:29 AM
And now for our festive Departmental Course Suspension meeting. What dos Santa have in his sack this year? Could it be…the sack?
Not every book I read for my Politicians’ Fictions project is a staggering work of heartbreaking genius. I give you Woodrow Wyatt’s The Further Exploits of Mr Saucy Squirrel. He was a Labour MP for quite a while then became a Thatcherite lickspittle tabloid hack.
December 14, 2025 at 10:08 AM
Not every book I read for my Politicians’ Fictions project is a staggering work of heartbreaking genius. I give you Woodrow Wyatt’s The Further Exploits of Mr Saucy Squirrel. He was a Labour MP for quite a while then became a Thatcherite lickspittle tabloid hack.