Dr Matt Barnard
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matthewbarnard.phd
Dr Matt Barnard
@matthewbarnard.phd
950 followers 1.9K following 200 posts
Cat-owning philosophy academic | existentialism | phenomenology | new project: philosophy of AI
- https://matthewbarnard.phd/

UCU NEC/HEC UK Elected Representative
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matthewbarnard.phd
#caturday is sometimes a bit much
A tuxedo cat dozing on the back of an armchair completely flopped out with half open eyes
November 1, 2025 at 11:58 AM
matthewbarnard.phd
Well, at least i have a good excuse not to read GEB today
A tuxedo cat sat comfortably on a copy if gödel escher bach, a large softback book
October 4, 2025 at 11:53 AM
matthewbarnard.phd
As always with Peter Kyle, the context makes it worse. He’s actually talking about how British students aren’t entrepreneurial enough. What does that even mean? Everything he says really does come from ChatGPT doesn’t it.
Screenshot of the article shared below: “In Britain,” he said “if you went to a group of undergraduates, how big would that group have to be before you found someone that said their choice of going to university, and that choice of going to that specific university, was because they wanted to become a founder? ““The entrepreneurialism simply isn’t there – the drive, the vigour.”
September 19, 2025 at 9:54 AM
matthewbarnard.phd
Today is probably your last safe posting day for the #UCU casual vacancy elections. If you haven't posted your ballot yet, please do so today!
me posing as I post my UCU ballot into a post box
September 15, 2025 at 12:03 PM
matthewbarnard.phd
This is definitely true. Starmer has said things that suggests he knows this. He often links growth with 'feeling growth in the pocket'. (although knowing and doing something about it are different things)
Quote 1: labour.org.uk/updates/pres...
Quote 2: www.gov.uk/government/s...
Starmer quote: So – here in this document – the mission: secure the highest sustained growth in the G7. A measurable goal. An invitation for the British people to judge us on whether they feel better off after five years of a Labour Government. Starmer quote: One – higher living standards in every region of the country… As we target the fastest growth in the G7. So working people have more money in their pocket. The burden of the cost-of-living crisis… No longer intruding on the joy of family life.
September 15, 2025 at 10:13 AM
matthewbarnard.phd
I recommend #cats

They make the void less void.
A black kitten snoozing politely on my leg
September 6, 2025 at 12:56 PM
matthewbarnard.phd
Erm
An adult tuxedo cat loafing on the top exhaust vent of a gaming pc
September 4, 2025 at 10:07 PM
matthewbarnard.phd
I’ve just had the experience of voting for myself as UK-elected NEC representative for #UCU

Thank you to everyone who has supported me by posting their ballot already.

Whoever you vote for, please do make sure you post your ballot asap, especially with difficulties in the post.

1/2
Me posing by a post box mailing my ballot for myself in the UCU NEC casual vacancy election My ballot for the ucu casual vacancy for NEC (Higher Education) voting for myself, matt barnard
September 3, 2025 at 4:12 PM
matthewbarnard.phd
Our kitten is getting better at hiding…#cats
A ridiculous black kitten hiding inside an empty box of cheerios on the floor
August 25, 2025 at 11:36 AM
matthewbarnard.phd
I think my cat has realised I’m going away to Dublin next week for the @thebsp.org.uk and @ucdphilosophy.bsky.social conference. She’s not happy. Maybe this use of her to demonstrate the size of my atlas tipped her off.
A tuxedo cat loafing sulkily on a pile of ttrpg books while my hand holds a road atlas of britain and ireland next to her for scale
August 23, 2025 at 1:17 PM
matthewbarnard.phd
You’re never really working alone when you have cats
A black 15 week old kitten dozing under my monitor
August 20, 2025 at 12:49 PM
matthewbarnard.phd
My #cat has never really got the hang of Tuesdays
A very sleepy tuxedo cat dozing on the too of the back of a sofa but whose butt has slipped down the back of it and is basically a puddle on top of the radiator
August 19, 2025 at 8:41 AM
matthewbarnard.phd
Oh to be a #cat
a black 13 week old kitten sleeping on a cat tree with her head and legs spilling off the ledge
August 15, 2025 at 12:11 PM
matthewbarnard.phd
Post a ship that’s neither Star Wars nor Star Trek
3d model of the “orion” star fighter from the 2000 game “Tachyon: The Fringe”
November 22, 2024 at 8:29 AM
matthewbarnard.phd
@audioontology.bsky.social or as I said in fancier terms when Inwas writing this…
A paragraph from page 186 of Heidegger’s Conception of freedom. The key quote is “There is no rock to use as a foundation of ethics here, only the truth that all foundations are made of sand. […] I have found nothing in Heidegger’s philosophy that should have either directed him towards or saved him from this wrong choice.“
November 19, 2024 at 12:59 PM
matthewbarnard.phd
?
perhaps a crop of Patrick O'Connor, prebeard, shading his eyes watching the greatest football team on earth. or, perhaps someone else if I have guessed wrong.
November 18, 2024 at 8:46 PM
matthewbarnard.phd
Age yourself with your first computer

Amstrad CPC 6128, which would have been certainly been running Postman Pat whenever I was using it.
An amstrad cpc 6128 with its included colour monitor A screen grab of the 1988 Postman Pat game. There is a main game area in a square about 60% the size of the available space, with illustrations and info drawn around the outside of it. The game area shows a top down view of postman pat’s van in the middle of the road outside his house. The top is labelled “Pat’s house” and underneath the game the info shown is “deliveries 0” and “score 450”. On the right hand side is an illustration of Pat and below him of Jess, his black and white cat.
November 18, 2024 at 11:18 AM