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Tim Watson @timwatson.bsky.social · 14h

It wasn't just youthful foolishness that led me to hitchhike after the storm—there was no internet then to tell me to stay home, avoid the M25, watch this video of storm damage in Kent.

But it should have given me more pause walking past scenes like this on the way out of Brighton the next day.

A black and white photograph of a fallen tree after the Great Storm in southern England in 1987 that appeared in a NYT story about the storm on October 15, 2025. The caption reads, "A tree in Brighton, on the southern coast, destroyed the metal gate it landed on that night.Credit...John Voos, via Alamy"

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Tim Watson @timwatson.bsky.social · 15h

but the experience of the woman going into labour in Kent that night, as described in the NYT piece, that's harrowing — but with a happy ending

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Tim Watson @timwatson.bsky.social · 15h

so the strongest winds I've experienced have been on the south coast of England, despite 20 years living in South Florida

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Tim Watson @timwatson.bsky.social · 15h

Probably I've told this story before on here. I had just moved to Brighton (Hove, actually) in 1987 and basically slept through the Great Storm. Then—the foolishness of youth—I set out the next morning and hitchhiked 100 miles to my parents' place in Hertfordshire, despite trees down everywhere.

Britain’s Famous Forecasting Failure

www.nytimes.com

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Tim Watson @timwatson.bsky.social · 1d

sorry I can't be there next month for this wonderful panel, featuring my brilliant new colleague @meghnasapui.bsky.social!

NAVSA 2025 @navsa2025.bsky.social · 1d

So excited for "A Study in Empire: How We Read Now" with brilliant colleagues Olivia Lingyi Xu, Jacob Romanow, Nasser Mufti, & Meghna Sapui at #NAVSA2025

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Tim Watson @timwatson.bsky.social · 2d

I'm embarrassed whenever I write it on the board in the classroom or in a shared class doc

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Tim Watson @timwatson.bsky.social · 2d

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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Tim Watson @timwatson.bsky.social · 2d

"free indirect discourse" is an absolutely terrible phrase to describe one of the most important features of prose fiction and we should have found a new term decades ago

Rachel Feder @rachelfeder.bsky.social · 3d

Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat

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Reposted by Tim Watson

Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · 2d

NO

Bloomberg News @bloomberg.com · 2d

The Trump administration is inviting all US colleges to participate in a compact that would grant preferential federal funding in return for commitments to specific policy changes like DEI bans, according to a source

Trump Offers All Colleges Preferential Funding Plan Rejected by MIT

The Trump administration is inviting all US colleges to participate in a compact — initially rejected by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — that would grant preferential federal funding in return for commitments to specific policy changes like DEI bans, according to a person familiar with the matter.

bloom.bg

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Tim Watson @timwatson.bsky.social · 3d

first Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher this morning

Tim Watson @timwatson.bsky.social · 3d

Black-Throated Blue Warbler today. Can a Painted Bunting be far behind?

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Tim Watson @timwatson.bsky.social · 4d

was not expecting to find a London black taxi cab in Coral Gables this afternoon

An old London black taxi parked outside a cream colored apartment building in Coral Gables, Florida.

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Tim Watson @timwatson.bsky.social · 4d

Firebush and pink shrimp plant for the hummingbird. Redstarts and B&W warblers eat mostly bugs, I think (redstarts hover briefly, which looks amazing). Ovenbirds peck on the ground (seeds, maybe bugs too?).

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Tim Watson @timwatson.bsky.social · 4d

over the last week, I saw in our Miami backyard our first Ovenbird, first American Redstart, and first Black-and-White Warbler of the season (redstart and B&W warbler being two of the few warblers I can actually identify because they're not just variations of yellow and green)

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Tim Watson @timwatson.bsky.social · 5d

A quick search suggests you're right. It's a really old usage that only later came to be seen as informal. grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/12...

The Grammarphobia Blog: Is “off of” so awful?

grammarphobia.com

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Tim Watson @timwatson.bsky.social · 5d

surely the greatest poem ever about a bus journey

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Tim Watson @timwatson.bsky.social · 5d

I thought "off of" was only recently making its way from spoken English into more formal written texts, but there it is in Elizabeth Bishop's "The Moose"—

the windshield flashing pink /
pink glancing off of metal

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Tim Watson @timwatson.bsky.social · 6d

It stuck with me because he actually wanted us to figure out *why*—not to stop at "they're all lying bastards." Critical thinking *and* media literacy.

He didn't use those terms, though; he was a dyed-in-the-wool Leavisite. And I wouldn't be an English professor without him. Thank you, Mr. Kirkham.

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Tim Watson @timwatson.bsky.social · 6d

A great question to ask and a hard one to answer.

In simpler times (the 1980s), I recall my secondary school English teacher saying that when we saw a politician speaking we should ask, "why is this bastard lying to me?" (This was on our one screen, with a grand total of three channels.)

David Roberts @volts.wtf · 6d

All I want in life is to persuade everyone, when encountering politics & culture, to ask, "why are we talking about this?" I mean that very literally: anything you encounter on your screens reflects a choice. Someone covered that, talked about that, rather than the many other things out there. Why?

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Reposted by Tim Watson

Cate Denial @cjdenial.bsky.social · 6d

Thatcher's PMship may have been a lifetime ago, but those of us who are "Thatcher's children" are still here. And I can only speak for myself, but I'm never going to stop being pissed.

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 7d

Thatcher was born 100 years ago and her reign feels a lifetime away. Why is her effect on the country still so huge? | Martin Kettle

Today’s politicians need to learn that she is not the answer to contemporary problems, says Guardian columnist Martin Kettle

www.theguardian.com

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Tim Watson @timwatson.bsky.social · 6d

if you want a straw to clutch, i can report i have not seen any stories from my university comms team highlighting the fact that lindsay halligan is a graduate of our law school

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Tim Watson @timwatson.bsky.social · 6d

Jack Probst @jackprobst.com · 6d

If you want two FREE tix to see Stereolab at Metro tonight, DM me. Just don’t want them to go to waste at this point.

Jack Probst @jackprobst.com · 7d

Hi, all my Chicago friends! I have two tix for Stereolab tonight at Metro that I can no longer use. Selling the pair for $40, DM me if interested.

Tim Watson @timwatson.bsky.social · 6d

tough call tonight for Chicago Cubs and Stereolab fans—game 4 of the division series at Wrigley Field and Stereolab's gig at the Metro 2 blocks away both begin at 8 pm

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Reposted by Tim Watson

Prof Anna Watts @profannawatts.bsky.social · 6d

Lol the Nobels can't even acknowledge women's contribution to discovery. But sure let's acknowledge The Machines.

Headline from an article in Nature this week that states "Prizes must recognize machine contributions to discovery. The future of science will be written by humans and machines together. Awards should reflect that reality."

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Tim Watson @timwatson.bsky.social · 7d

so true, only a handful of genuine quadruple-surnamed lords still hanging on

Roualeyn Hovell-Thurlow-Cumming-Bruce, 9th Baron Thurlow - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

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