Michael H. Whitworth

Michael H Whitworth

@profmhwhitworth.bsky.social

3.2K followers 1.2K following 630 posts

Oxford, U.K. Prof of Modern Literature and Culture. Literature & Science, Modernism, Book History, Virginia Woolf, 1920s & 30s poetry. Also found on IG under the same name. All posts in a personal capacity.

Videos

Art 29%

Philosophy 21%

Posts Replies Media Videos

Reposted by Michael H. Whitworth

Lamhfada @lamhfada.bsky.social · 12h

Joyce Carol Oates may be the best poster of our time.

Screenshot of a tweet from Joyce Carol Oates made recently about Elon Musk.

Joyce Carol Oates

@Joyce....17h

...

So curious that such a wealthy man never posts anything that indicates that he enjoys or is even aware of what virtually everyone appreciates- scenes from nature, pet dog or cat, praise for a movie, music, a book (but doubt that he reads); pride in a friend's or relative's accomplishment; condolences for someone who has died; pleasure in sports, acclaim for a favorite team; references to history. In fact he seems totally uneducated, uncultured. The poorest persons on Twitter may have access to more beauty & meaning in life than the "most wealthy person in the world."

Reposted by Steve Peers, Rosemary A. Joyce, Fabián Muniesa , and 1 more Steve Peers, Rosemary A. Joyce, Fabián Muniesa, Michael H. Whitworth

lauren @lauren.rotatingsandwiches.com · 13h

history will ultimately decide this but i think joyce carol oates might have just landed the most devastating burn in human history. like the death star trench run of posting

Emoji Caresser @lizrummy.bsky.social · 13h

oh my god

Reposted by Fabián Muniesa, Michael H. Whitworth

Emoji Caresser @lizrummy.bsky.social · 13h

oh my god

Michael H Whitworth @profmhwhitworth.bsky.social · 22h

Should “BBC” read “BBB”?

Reposted by Steve Peers, Michael H. Whitworth

ChrisO_wiki @chriso-wiki.bsky.social · 22h

1/ Eleven Dutch parties across the political spectrum from socialist to conservative have issued a joint appeal to a provincial government to build a memorial to Black American soldiers who died in World War II, to replace one removed from the Netherlands American Cemetery. ⬇️

Reposted by Michael H. Whitworth

George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 1d

Note that still in post at the BBC is Robbie Gibb, who helped set up GB News, and John McAndrew, formerly director of news and programmes at GB News.

Reposted by Tim Bale, Jonathan Hopkin, Michael H. Whitworth , and 1 more Tim Bale, Jonathan Hopkin, Michael H. Whitworth, Graham Dutfield

James Ball @jamesrball.com · 1d

It’s not at all clear to me how the BBC can do any kind of serious journalism if its top two bosses can be forced to quit over such an obviously confected scandal. There is no substantive error here. How can the BBC report on Trump, or Farage, or anyone else, in these circumstances?

Reposted by Steve Peers, Leigh Sparks, Mary Corcoran , and 6 more Steve Peers, Leigh Sparks, Mary Corcoran, John Foot, Michelle Everson, Michael Morris, Michael H. Whitworth, Mark Priestley, Stuart White

Chaminda Jayanetti @cjayanetti.bsky.social · 1d

the right winger who was appointed to lead the BBC in the hope of appeasing right wingers has been driven out by right wingers for not appeasing right wingers enough and the BBC has the chance to do the funniest thing ever

Reposted by Michael H. Whitworth

Dr Lindsey Fitzharris @drlindseyfitz.bsky.social · 1d

Facial prosthesis, c.1917. THREAD for #RemembranceSunday🧵

From the moment the first machine gun rang out over the Western Front, one thing was clear: mankind’s military technology had wildly surpassed its medical capabilities. Bodies were battered, gouged, hacked, and gassed. /1

Two black and white photos of a soldier who has received a facial injury during World War I. In the first photo, his injuries are on display. In the second photo, he is wearing a facial prosthetic (mask) that covers his injuries.

Reposted by Jonathan Portes, Anna O. Law, Kim L. Scheppele , and 40 more Jonathan Portes, Anna O. Law, Kim L. Scheppele, Simon Hix, Norbert Schwarz, Jon Pierre, Steve Peers, David Feldman, Rosemary A. Joyce, Philip N. Cohen, Martin Paul Eve, Andrew Curry, Lesley A. Hall, Robert J. Spitzer, Juan Cole, Trevon D. Logan, Gerald Friedman, Alison Johnson, Victor Galaz, Will Lowe, Claudia Diehl, C. Kirabo Jackson, Michael H. Whitworth, Michael D. McDonald, Anne Norton, Brian Keegan, Jason Lyall, Mark Robinson, Tom Stoppard, Karen L. Cox, Julie Novkov, Brooke Harrington, Rebecca Zorach, David S. Tanenhaus, Nancy M. Wingfield, Magda Teter, Seth Frey, Aidan O’Sullivan, Virginia Sapiro, Dunlap, David Darmofal, Peter Jacobs, Kristina McElheran

ChrisO_wiki @chriso-wiki.bsky.social · 1d

1/ The US Government has quietly removed a memorial to Black soldiers who died in World War II from the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, South Limburg. The move follows a complaint from the right-wing Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission. ⬇️

Reposted by Will Jennings, Andrew Scott, Lesley A. Hall , and 1 more Will Jennings, Andrew Scott, Lesley A. Hall, Michael H. Whitworth

Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 2d

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...

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

Reposted by Michael H. Whitworth, Jack Stilgoe

Nathaniel Comfort @nccomfort.bsky.social · 2d

Okay, here are some first reflections on Watson.
Watson's life is a tragedy, really of Shakespearean proportions. He did not, as most bios will tell you, do one great thing when he was young and then collect laurels for it for the next 60 years. His career arc was unlike any in science.

Reposted by Michael H. Whitworth

Martin Paul Eve @eve.gd · 2d

Urgh. Keep your beak out, OfS.

wonkhe.com/blogs/the-of...

The Office for Students steps on to shaky ground in an attempt to regulate academic standards

The Office for Students' intervention on degree algorithms poses some interesting questions about the role of regulation in maintaining academic standards. David Kernohan asks them.

wonkhe.com

Reposted by Lesley A. Hall, Rebecca Williams, Michael H. Whitworth , and 2 more Lesley A. Hall, Rebecca Williams, Michael H. Whitworth, Dolly Jørgensen, David Underdown

Charlotte Abney @abney.bsky.social · 2d

For those with a scholarly interest in Franklin, Watson, and other pioneering researchers in molecular biology, @sciencehistory.org has just opened our new landmark collection of their papers, and applications for research fellowships are currently open:

www.sciencehistory.org/hmbc

History of Molecular Biology Collection

This unparalleled collection includes Rosalind Franklin's historic 'Photo 51,' which revealed the double-helix structure of DNA.

www.sciencehistory.org

Reposted by Michael H. Whitworth

New-Cleckit Dominie @ncdominie.bsky.social · 2d

With an eye to Photo 51 etc., has anyone written about stolen-discovery narratives as a counterpart to Eureka-moment narratives? It feels like the same underlying model of a discovery as a discrete event, neatly packaged with the credit.

Michael H Whitworth @profmhwhitworth.bsky.social · 2d

I’m looking forward to seeing the BBC report of this

www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...

BBC ‘100% fake news’, says Donald Trump’s press secretary

Comments by Karoline Leavitt come after allegations that Panorama documentary misled viewers with its editing of a Trump speech

www.theguardian.com

The Daily Show @thedailyshow.com · 3d

New York millionaires: threatening to flee the city since 2009

Reposted by Michael H. Whitworth

lorem ipsum 🇧🇷🇺🇸 @whiskeynachos.bsky.social · 3d

Today's a good day to remember Rosalind Franklin, British chemist and X-ray crystallographer whose untimely death meant three men shared a Nobel prize for discovering the structure of DNA for which she'd done most of the work.

Reposted by Mark E. Schaffer, Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham, Michael H. Whitworth , and 1 more Mark E. Schaffer, Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham, Michael H. Whitworth, Dean Eckles

Zach Weinersmith @zachweinersmith.bsky.social · 3d

Haha, this from the New Yorker is getting passed around the math dork community. I did a comic about this kind of thought a few years ago: www.smbc-comics.com/comic/commut...

Reposted by Margot C. Finn, Michael H. Whitworth

Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 3d

the tory proposal to deport 4-7% of the uk population is a fascist one - & we have to call it that

my latest with @thebulwark.com

www.thebulwark.com/p/tories-con...

The Tories’ Dangerous Drift

In the U.K., a shocking proposal from a Conservative MP elicited pushback from her party only belatedly. It signals darker things to come.

www.thebulwark.com

Reposted by Joanna Bourke, Lesley A. Hall, Margot C. Finn , and 4 more Joanna Bourke, Lesley A. Hall, Margot C. Finn, Michael H. Whitworth, Gary Sheffield, Catriona Seth, Alex Drace‐Francis

Illuminations @illuminations.bsky.social · 3d

WAC wrong-headedness
(that's the BBC Written Archives Centre)

I've brought together the key links for the campaign against the changes which now make independent and exploratory research at WAC impossible - and why this matters.

www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/wac-wrong-he...

WAC wrong-headedness - Illuminations

John Wyver writes: Some of you will know that I have been very involved over the past months with attempts to reverse the wrong-headed changes to access at the BBC Written Archives Centre (above, with...

www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk

Reposted by Michael H. Whitworth

Rose Ruane @regretteruane.bsky.social · 3d

Beautiful Jill McDonald front and back covers for this 1960s primary school English textbook, filled with lovely, thoughtful invitations to imagine, play with poems and write short creative pieces

The cover of a slim primary school English education textbook with the title one world and another, English for juniors and author name Margaret Greaves in black serf font on the right above the word spring in white, against a bright blue background representing sky.
To the left, a lovely cartoonish illustration of a barn owl, a brown dog wearing a gold astronaut outfit , a little grey mouse and black haired witch in purple pointed hat and cloak in a leafy tree

The back cover of a primary school English textbook with a bright and cartoonish illustration of crow wearing a yellow and red three pointed jester’s hat with bells on it, a smiling grey cat and a brown rooster with red coxcomb sitting in a leafy green tree against a bright blue sky, to the left a rainbow arcs from bottom left to centre

Reposted by Michael H. Whitworth

Dr Lindsey Fitzharris @drlindseyfitz.bsky.social · 3d

#OTD 1867, Marie Curie was born.

During WWI, Curie created a vehicle that contained a hospital bed, a generator, an X-ray machine and photographic darkroom equipment. These “petite Curies" (below) could be driven right up to the Front. Curie also helped train 150 women as radiology technicians.

A black and white photo of a vehicle with no doors and an open top to hold equipment. On the side it says RADIOLOGIE, accompanied with a Red Cross.

Reposted by Devon Greyson, Alan Richardson, John Hogan , and 3 more Devon Greyson, Alan Richardson, John Hogan, Michael H. Whitworth, Brooke Harrington, Rebecca Zorach

Aparna Nair @disabilitystor1.bsky.social · 3d

Call me controversial, but technology that leads vulnerable people into crisis and even holds their hand as they die by suicide should not be endorsed by schools and universities, we should not be giving discounted subscriptions to this monstrous tech to young people AT ALL

Fiona Katauskas @fionakatauskas.bsky.social · 4d

The boyfriend of a friend of my son's has spent several weeks in a psych ward due to Chat GPT induced psychosis. He isn't suicidal but AI encouraged him down a toxic and paranoid wormhole until he became completely delusional. Evil stuff.

Aparna Nair @disabilitystor1.bsky.social · 4d

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...

Reposted by Michael H. Whitworth

Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 3d

Heading to Oxford now to give this talk this evening. Do come if you're nearby and free.
www.oxfordplayhouse.com/events/the-a...

The Annual Charles Simonyi Lecture: Philip Ball | Oxford Playhouse

Join Marcus du Sautoy and Philip Ball for the 2025 Charles Simonyi Lecture, Beyond Weird: One Hundred Years of Quantum Mechanics A century ago, Werner Heis

www.oxfordplayhouse.com

Reposted by Michael H. Whitworth, David McInnis

Nina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · 3d

Today, a friend involved in the Esna restoration project has shared with me his latest stunning photos of the restored ceiling and columns of the Temple of Khnum in Esna, Upper #Egypt. During a multi-year restoration project, the dirt and soot that had obscured the ...🧵1/3

📷 D. v. Recklinghausen
🏺