Christopher Pittard

Judging from the prose, the Pentagon appears to be using AI to announce the death of soldiers. If it’s not AI, it’s a person who simply does not care.

The quotation has been lopped in half to say something it doesn't. This version means "The dead man's knell is located in Scotland." But the actual quotation is "The dead man's knell is there scarce asked for who."

"Shakespeare set Macbeth in Scotland because it offered a properly desolate setting.... "The dead man's knell is there", Shakespeare wrote."

Reading that big new book on Paul McCartney and Wings, and this paragraph is... something that was not checked by a literate editor.

So now that the Greens have five directly elected MPs, and Reform have five directly elected MPs, shouldn't we have heard from them equally on the news just now?

I really wasn't expecting to get any more mileage out of "what you talkin' about Willetts?"

I haven't even mentioned the fact *Bleak House* also features Columbo turning up 120 years early, and the creepy doll that just won't stay buried.

As I've said in various open day talks, *Bleak House* has a dinosaur on the first page, a character explodes, one of the two narrators might be a split personality of the other, and the heroine's face changes halfway through after she dreams she is a literal star. It's a David Lynch film.

Death on the Nile: a meditation on celebrity and a riposte to Christie’s critics A book that defies the usual mystery formula, Death on the Nile is more than just a clever tale about murder.

30. *Death on the Nile*. One of the best, where the ingenuity outweighs any doubts about improbability. I've already discussed it for The Conversation in relation to the now cursed film adaptation, so have this: theconversation.com/death-on-the...

I discuss something like this in *Literary Illusions*: the claim that Dickens used blackface when performing magic shows in the 1840s. I couldn't find any contemporary account or mention of this; it seems to originate with a fictionalised account written by Heathcote Williams around 1994.

There was so much naval honking coming through my office window this afternoon that I thought the warship on the news was finally heading out, but it turns out to have been surprising fog.

Assistant Professor in 18th Century Literature at Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin Discover Assistant Professor in 18th Century Literature jobs and more in higher education on jobs.ac.uk. Apply for further details on the top job board.

www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQS657/a...

It's now an annual ritual for me. Waiting for the ALCS statement to see what I've earned in secondary and residual royalties from photocopies, libraries, etc.

Lowest amount: £18. Largest amount: £1900.

If you've got stuff published in the UK and aren't a member of ALCS, you're a chump.

Trump belittles Starmer with 'no Churchill' jibe but can the special relationship recover? The remarks came amid a row over the refusal to permit the use of UK bases for the initial US-Israel strikes.

Hard to see how Chris Mason can top this: not only does this piece provide absolutely no analytical insight, but it declares its lack of seriousness from the very first word. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

[We see a close up of a young white male, tanned, white teeth, coiffed hair clearly an influencer on social media. It is an image such as you see when social media posts are shown on the news. In the corner of the screen is named a location: DUBAI. He is staring slightly off-camera for several silent panels of the comic strip. His eyes move slightly. He is having a thought.] From off-screen a newsreader’s commentary comes: NEWSREADER: Extraordinary images here of an expat in Dubai [The influencer’s eybrows raise slightly] …Having their first ever geopolitical thought. [CUT TO a BBC news scene. The BBC newsreader CLIVE MYRIE is talking to an interviewee next to the screen showing the social media influencer’s face. The interviewee’s name is David Jones]. CLIVE MYRIE: To explain the significance of this moment we’re joined by David Jones, our Expat Thoughts correspondent DAVID JONES: Clive, this is momentous It was caught on film at the end of an Instagram post titled: ‘Dubai Is Brilliant’. [Pointing at the screen, the influencer’s expression still the same] You can clearly see in the eyebrows here, the dawning realisation that there *might* be something in the world beyond his dickhead self. It marks a *huge* departure from all the Dubai Expat’s previous thoughts. CLIVE MYRIE: Which are…? DAVID JONES: You've Got To Get Yourself Out Here Mate, Everything Is So Clean, I Don't Have To Pay Taxes, I Am Incurious As To Why I Do Not Have To Pay Taxes, and Spa. CLIVE MYRIE: And might we see an expansion of these new Thoughts in coming days? DAVID JONES: I think we can expect to see: “I Deserve To Be Airlifted By A Country I Pay No Tax To” CLIVE MYRIE: Mmm. [Ends]

This is the real danger of Restore, though; they won't get anywhere in the polls but they do provide a useful extremist alibi for Reform, despite there being no discernible difference between the two parties.

Most Reform members believe non-white UK citizens born abroad should be forced or encouraged to leave, poll finds Nigel Farage’s recent efforts to woo centre-ground voters may cause tension in party’s right flank, says Hope Not Hate

Not sure you can write an article mentioning NUKIP's "recent efforts to woo centre-ground voters" and also mention their fielding of Matt Goodwin as a candidate, back in the distant past of six days ago. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

29. *Dumb Witness*. Not terrible, but boring. Once Poirot explains the vital clue the murderer becomes obvious. Not quite so much dog stuff as I remember, but it's still tiresome, and the seance clue feels wasted. Overall, a first draft of something better.

Had a great day today talking to students at Brockenhurst College about studying English Literature at university. I do wonder if Dickens will ever beat Doyle in the close reading exercise vote, though.

I'm also reminded of the time a university friend of mine found herself in a lift with Ian Richardson at Exeter St David's station. "Oh," she said "I know you're somebody terribly famous from the TV and I'm afraid I've completely forgotten your name." He just looked at her and intoned "RICHARDSON."

I love Jaffa Cakes but still haven't quite forgiven them for that advert which confuses the phases of the moon with eclipses.

In fact, the range of breweries in Cornwall is the best it's been in decades, so I'm not really sure CAMRA can say that the loss of Sharp's means that the industry is being 'decimated', unless they mean that in the precise sense of losing one in ten.

At that point, you just leave the pub after pretending that you're looking for someone who isn't there yet.

Doom Bar brewery closure sign of industry decimation, CAMRA says The Campaign for Real Ale criticises Molson Coors' plan to close Sharp's Brewery in Rock.

OK, but a) most of Sharp's output isn't brewed in Cornwall anyway, and b) Sharp's is the worst brewery in Cornwall. I'd hope the staff affected can find new posts at far better breweries like Goodh/Skinner's, Verdant, Padstow, Bluntrock... www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I have had to take the bizarre step of reading PDF sections on Googlebooks where possible (properly spaced pages, good typeface, page numbers, footnotes), and switch back to the EPUB version (none of the above) where necessary. This is absurd.

a cartoon character from spongebob squarepants is screaming with his mouth wide open . Alt: A cartoon character from spongebob squarepants is screaming with his mouth wide open.

This morning's work includes trying to read an eBook of a Palgrave Macmillan title which is only available in EPUB format.

I don't quite understand why Starmer didn't sack Streeting a couple of weeks ago. Is it because Starmer likes having someone in the cabinet who's even more unpopular than himself?

over and over they say it out loud: big ideas for the elite class, and only widget grunts for the working people.

ideas are for everybody. art is for everybody. education is for everybody.

[The sketchbook of a Victorian girl, Emily M. Madden, featuring the adventures of her cat, Mouton.]

wellcomecollection.org/works/rzwecsjy

a clown in a pink and yellow polka dot costume is standing on a stage ALT: a clown in a pink and yellow polka dot costume is standing on a stage

I have decided, purely for my own amusement, to start a thread of critical quotes about Falstaff, but illustrating them with an image of Mr Blobby.

'...a character deeper than life, a wit unmatched by anyone merely real whom we will ever know' (A. C. Bradley)

Wyl Menmuir's *The Many* was easily the best novel of February. Adair was strangely disappointing, while *The Secret of Annexe 3* is, if I remember rightly, the worst of the Inspector Morse novels.