The Plashing Vole

One of the disputed joys of being an academic is the constant self-criticism. Whatever the field, academics hold that claims are contingent:...

Good Friday!  Its been another exhausting, if intermittently exhilarating week here at Vole Towers. We have quite literally had laughs, te...

Too busy working to have opinions this week, which I'm sure is devastating news to you all. Come to think of it, between exhaustion and ...

I'm not sure I have any coherent thoughts this week. It's the end of our first week of proper lectures. I've met a largish numbe...

This week has been way to busy to consider blogging. I've met all the new students several times, so they've seen all my decent clot...

I wrote to the London Review of Books  with a correction but it wasn't printed, so you can have the doubtful benefit. I'm still unsu...

I have had an eventful week, to put it mildly. A week ago I was decorating a village hall, carrying chairs and checking camera angles for my...

Last night I texted someone to say 'even Portishead have licensed a track for advertising now'. My friends are used to such retro na...

Well, I'm back. I was in Co. Kerry, Ireland for the famous Killorglin  Mid-Kerry  Puck Fair .• It rained a lot and I read some books ( T...

Right, it's time to put my feet up. I'm off on my holidays, by which I mean going somewhere else to prepare next semester'...

I don't spend all my time agonising over the state of academia. I also punch printers. University of Darkplace Network Printer Inst...

The BBC salaries report has prompted me to do something I've had in mind for quite some time. I read a while ago that (now ex-)Google em...