Dr Matt Lodder
@mattlodder.com
Senior Lecturer in Art History, University of Essex. Trustee, Bishopsgate Institute. Law Student. Historian of tattooing. Podcaster @beneaththeskinpod.history.tattoo. 'Painted People' and 'Tattoos' out now. ADHD.
Pinned
My two lectures on Operation Spanner and its aftermath for the UK APP conference in September are now on our Patreon: patreon.com/beneaththeskin
Reposted by Dr Matt Lodder
Idiom Origin
“pull yourself up by your bootstraps”
This was originally *sarcasm* & meant to convey that the act was impossible.
A boot strap is a loop used to help put your boot on.
This 1921 cartoon from the “Nonpartisan Leader” showcases that you can’t pull upward on your boots to levitate.
“pull yourself up by your bootstraps”
This was originally *sarcasm* & meant to convey that the act was impossible.
A boot strap is a loop used to help put your boot on.
This 1921 cartoon from the “Nonpartisan Leader” showcases that you can’t pull upward on your boots to levitate.
January 20, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Idiom Origin
“pull yourself up by your bootstraps”
This was originally *sarcasm* & meant to convey that the act was impossible.
A boot strap is a loop used to help put your boot on.
This 1921 cartoon from the “Nonpartisan Leader” showcases that you can’t pull upward on your boots to levitate.
“pull yourself up by your bootstraps”
This was originally *sarcasm* & meant to convey that the act was impossible.
A boot strap is a loop used to help put your boot on.
This 1921 cartoon from the “Nonpartisan Leader” showcases that you can’t pull upward on your boots to levitate.
Reposted by Dr Matt Lodder
All the best superhero movies have been the ones that just take the presence of the lead as a given and have them show up doing the things the whole audience already knows they do. This obsession with arcs and origins is exhausting.
November 11, 2025 at 1:32 PM
All the best superhero movies have been the ones that just take the presence of the lead as a given and have them show up doing the things the whole audience already knows they do. This obsession with arcs and origins is exhausting.
Reposted by Dr Matt Lodder
It's actually worse than this - Prescott tried to argue that the BBC had inappropriately hidden the fact that a Trans woman in pro wrestling had been part of storylines where she "won" trophies against other women - a fictional sport he treated as if it was real.
It was instructive to see that the Prescott memo argued at one point for completely the opposite: that enabling trans voices even as counterbalance to GC dogma is not legitimate, based on a spurious analogy with maternity care.
November 11, 2025 at 11:08 AM
It's actually worse than this - Prescott tried to argue that the BBC had inappropriately hidden the fact that a Trans woman in pro wrestling had been part of storylines where she "won" trophies against other women - a fictional sport he treated as if it was real.
Reposted by Dr Matt Lodder
The BBC is in crisis in the same way that GB News would be if you put Owen Jones on the board armed with a veto and plenty of coffee.
November 11, 2025 at 7:48 AM
The BBC is in crisis in the same way that GB News would be if you put Owen Jones on the board armed with a veto and plenty of coffee.
Reposted by Dr Matt Lodder
is that good?
November 11, 2025 at 1:35 PM
is that good?
Reposted by Dr Matt Lodder
Trump makes things worse in a fractal way. The same patterns but from tiny things to the biggest worst things. Just keep telling the story each time it happens.
things take time to percolate but truly the weirdest shit keeps percolating and resonating. I interviewed a super normie at no kings last time and he had a sign joking about being antifa and the number one thing he was mad about off the top of his head was venezuelan boat strikes
November 11, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Trump makes things worse in a fractal way. The same patterns but from tiny things to the biggest worst things. Just keep telling the story each time it happens.
Reposted by Dr Matt Lodder
Melodrama heroes are built to have infinite adventures. But to do that *they cannot change or grow*. Change and growth can happen to those *around* them, but Batman can't say "you know what? Dressing up like a bat and beating people up is silly."
November 11, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Melodrama heroes are built to have infinite adventures. But to do that *they cannot change or grow*. Change and growth can happen to those *around* them, but Batman can't say "you know what? Dressing up like a bat and beating people up is silly."
Reposted by Dr Matt Lodder
Sherlock Holmes has no arc. It’s fine. When Conan Doyle gave him one, his audience insisted he couldn’t die. And back he came.
The Bond gang are facing the same problem.
The Bond gang are facing the same problem.
November 11, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Sherlock Holmes has no arc. It’s fine. When Conan Doyle gave him one, his audience insisted he couldn’t die. And back he came.
The Bond gang are facing the same problem.
The Bond gang are facing the same problem.
Reposted by Dr Matt Lodder
God bless Michael Shannon. '“I’m sure anybody who’s associated with promoting and selling this movie to the world is going to be horrified by everything I’ve said in this interview,” he agrees. “But I don’t really care.”'
‘Hermann Göring loved his kids. That’s what’s terrifying’: James Vanderbilt, Rami Malek and Michael Shannon on Nuremberg
Russell Crowe has a malevolent charm as the Nazi on trial in a compelling new film. His co-stars and director explain how they understood this monster – and the persistence of evil today
www.theguardian.com
November 11, 2025 at 9:33 AM
God bless Michael Shannon. '“I’m sure anybody who’s associated with promoting and selling this movie to the world is going to be horrified by everything I’ve said in this interview,” he agrees. “But I don’t really care.”'
Reposted by Dr Matt Lodder
The BBC have not "capitulated" in this war, that implies they're on a different side. What has happened is more "hoist upon their own petard."
November 10, 2025 at 9:37 AM
The BBC have not "capitulated" in this war, that implies they're on a different side. What has happened is more "hoist upon their own petard."
Reposted by Dr Matt Lodder
It turns out that if you scream and stomp everyone out of your organisation except those slavishly dedicated to pushing a right wing agenda, not only will it not stop the right wing coming for you, you also don't have anyone left who knows how to do anything except "give them what they want."
November 10, 2025 at 9:38 AM
It turns out that if you scream and stomp everyone out of your organisation except those slavishly dedicated to pushing a right wing agenda, not only will it not stop the right wing coming for you, you also don't have anyone left who knows how to do anything except "give them what they want."
Reposted by Dr Matt Lodder
i feel like this is a reasonable take that i would have held pre-2024 (the BBC did screw up therefore there should be accountability) but the fact that this trivial editing mistake should have such terrible consequences, while right wing media lies with impunity constantly, makes my head explode
Exactly, so the BBC didn't need to shoot themselves in the reputation by editing it that way. But they did, and here we are
He explicitly encouraged the Capitol riot
November 10, 2025 at 9:29 AM
i feel like this is a reasonable take that i would have held pre-2024 (the BBC did screw up therefore there should be accountability) but the fact that this trivial editing mistake should have such terrible consequences, while right wing media lies with impunity constantly, makes my head explode
Reposted by Dr Matt Lodder
The next director of the BBC will take note of it, but not in the way you think.
Hopefully the next director of the BBC will take note of the fact that you can never ever capitulate enough to satisfy these right-wing maniacs, eventually they will demand your head regardless of how many other people you threw under the bus for them. I won't hold my breath though.
November 10, 2025 at 10:21 AM
The next director of the BBC will take note of it, but not in the way you think.
Reposted by Dr Matt Lodder
What I want to know is: do these people have an internal theory about why they shit their pants whenever something like this actually comes along in this country, given they're saying they want it? Or does it just, like, not even register as a contradiction in their heads? I'd love someone to ask.
"Choose a lane and celebrate it! Say 'this is what I genuinely believe, it might go wrong, but I'm going to go for it.'"
@maitlis.bsky.social and @jonsopel1.bsky.social call for more courage in UK politics - the kind shown across the pond by Mamdani.
@maitlis.bsky.social and @jonsopel1.bsky.social call for more courage in UK politics - the kind shown across the pond by Mamdani.
November 10, 2025 at 9:41 AM
What I want to know is: do these people have an internal theory about why they shit their pants whenever something like this actually comes along in this country, given they're saying they want it? Or does it just, like, not even register as a contradiction in their heads? I'd love someone to ask.
Reposted by Dr Matt Lodder
what would a "similar, balancing programme about Kamala Harris" have even looked like? She didn't incite a riot, or attempt to overturn an election
Like saying there should have been a documentary about everyone else who lived on Fred West's road, for balance
Like saying there should have been a documentary about everyone else who lived on Fred West's road, for balance
November 10, 2025 at 11:06 AM
what would a "similar, balancing programme about Kamala Harris" have even looked like? She didn't incite a riot, or attempt to overturn an election
Like saying there should have been a documentary about everyone else who lived on Fred West's road, for balance
Like saying there should have been a documentary about everyone else who lived on Fred West's road, for balance
Reposted by Dr Matt Lodder
someone's gotta do something about all these quislings
November 10, 2025 at 1:42 PM
someone's gotta do something about all these quislings
Reposted by Dr Matt Lodder
Maybe Keir should demand the heads of major US news networks any time they imply Britain is on the brink of civil war or that we live under sharia law. Or does it not work both ways?
November 10, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Maybe Keir should demand the heads of major US news networks any time they imply Britain is on the brink of civil war or that we live under sharia law. Or does it not work both ways?
Reposted by Dr Matt Lodder
‘Gibb’s supporters say he is trying to save the BBC from itself; he was also heard last year to say that if he didn’t get his way, he would “blow the place up”.’
“a group of politically-appointed directors has forced the hand of Samir Shah,the chair, and the departure of the two most senior people in the organisation. Their resignations should be called out for what they are: political interference..”1/
The Observer view: political interference at the BBC | The Observer
observer.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 10:29 AM
‘Gibb’s supporters say he is trying to save the BBC from itself; he was also heard last year to say that if he didn’t get his way, he would “blow the place up”.’
Reposted by Dr Matt Lodder
It's kind of wild how almost all politics in the UK is a demand for perfect systems that work 100% of the time and angry denunciations of systems that have redundancy or error checking as wasteful bureaucracy.
November 10, 2025 at 5:01 PM
It's kind of wild how almost all politics in the UK is a demand for perfect systems that work 100% of the time and angry denunciations of systems that have redundancy or error checking as wasteful bureaucracy.
Reposted by Dr Matt Lodder
You could see this in the years just after Corbyn's defeat, where everyone was doubling down on him and all his supporters being grotesque Hitlerian menaces because, if that wasn't true, they just put Boris Johnson in charge of the pandemic response over a load of silly bullshit.
November 10, 2025 at 5:17 PM
You could see this in the years just after Corbyn's defeat, where everyone was doubling down on him and all his supporters being grotesque Hitlerian menaces because, if that wasn't true, they just put Boris Johnson in charge of the pandemic response over a load of silly bullshit.
Reposted by Dr Matt Lodder
"yeah ok this all sucks and is horrible and could have been avoided decades ago, but have you considered the people saying that were all lesbian yogurt weaving hippies??"
November 10, 2025 at 5:15 PM
"yeah ok this all sucks and is horrible and could have been avoided decades ago, but have you considered the people saying that were all lesbian yogurt weaving hippies??"
Reposted by Dr Matt Lodder
An interesting phenomenon: the less Moderate Sensible Centrism works, the worse things get, the more absurd and unreasonable everyone on the left gets, to justify why people didn't listen and just doubled down on their absolute piss ideology.
the hipsters, they’re ordering double frufru mocha soy frappuccino. doesn’t anybody order a black coffee anymore
November 10, 2025 at 5:14 PM
An interesting phenomenon: the less Moderate Sensible Centrism works, the worse things get, the more absurd and unreasonable everyone on the left gets, to justify why people didn't listen and just doubled down on their absolute piss ideology.
Reposted by Dr Matt Lodder
Do, pray tell, why they did nothing about it for this long then?
NEW: Rachel Reeves signals she intends to remove the two-child cap *in full*
"I don't think a child should be penalised because they're in a bigger family through no fault of their own," she tells BBC.
"I don't think a child should be penalised because they're in a bigger family through no fault of their own," she tells BBC.
November 10, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Do, pray tell, why they did nothing about it for this long then?
Reposted by Dr Matt Lodder
Yes, we all knew this. Government ministers, and the media, spent weeks point blank denying it, whanging on about their union jack tablecloths. Do we think they didn't know what they were doing?
NHS staff who visit patients at home say St George’s flags can mean ‘no-go zones’
NHS staff who visit patients at home say St George’s flags can mean ‘no-go zones’
Black and Asian staff left feeling ‘deliberately intimidated’, according to chief executive of one NHS trust
NHS staff who care for patients in their own homes fear some areas have become “no-go zones” for them because of the presence of St George’s flags, health leaders have said.
Black and Asian staff have been left feeling “deliberately intimidated” as a result of the flags that were put up in many parts of England during the summer, according to the chief executive of one NHS trust in England, who asked to remain anonymous. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 11, 2025 at 9:03 AM
Yes, we all knew this. Government ministers, and the media, spent weeks point blank denying it, whanging on about their union jack tablecloths. Do we think they didn't know what they were doing?
Reposted by Dr Matt Lodder
hi charlotte
Given you think her murderers were "radicalised" by Big Bad Phone, can you explain how "put Big Bad Phone in a sock for a few hours" is in any way a worthwhile solution to that? Is it a Magic Sock?
Given you think her murderers were "radicalised" by Big Bad Phone, can you explain how "put Big Bad Phone in a sock for a few hours" is in any way a worthwhile solution to that? Is it a Magic Sock?
November 10, 2025 at 7:19 PM
hi charlotte
Given you think her murderers were "radicalised" by Big Bad Phone, can you explain how "put Big Bad Phone in a sock for a few hours" is in any way a worthwhile solution to that? Is it a Magic Sock?
Given you think her murderers were "radicalised" by Big Bad Phone, can you explain how "put Big Bad Phone in a sock for a few hours" is in any way a worthwhile solution to that? Is it a Magic Sock?