Alex MacFarlane
@aghowes.bsky.social
Peripatetic postdoctoral scholar, researching the medieval Armenian Alexander Romance and 19th-century Caucasus cosmopolitanism. Films, trains, British. They/them.
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
Good on NHS leader, Daniel Elkeles, calling for a revival of mask-wearing during the current “tidal wave of flu.”
That trying to save lives is going to be highly controversial - and No. 10 are already sitting on the fence - is deeply depressing. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
That trying to save lives is going to be highly controversial - and No. 10 are already sitting on the fence - is deeply depressing. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
People urged to wear masks when they are ill as UK faces ‘tidal wave’ of flu
NHS Providers boss says those who are ‘coughing and sneezing’ should wear face coverings on public transport
www.theguardian.com
December 9, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Good on NHS leader, Daniel Elkeles, calling for a revival of mask-wearing during the current “tidal wave of flu.”
That trying to save lives is going to be highly controversial - and No. 10 are already sitting on the fence - is deeply depressing. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
That trying to save lives is going to be highly controversial - and No. 10 are already sitting on the fence - is deeply depressing. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
If you're not already up on the latest "Black Death and the Volcano" story, this newsletter/blogpost is an excellent entry point. W/ bonus observations on how the scicomm industry works. And how it can work differently in the hands of skilled analysts like @killgrove.bsky.social. #MedievalSky
new newsletter from me & @lollardfish.bsky.social on a volcano, ice cores, and the Black Death (and the humility of what research can tell us) #medievalsky
always free to read -->
buttondown.com/ModernMediev...
always free to read -->
buttondown.com/ModernMediev...
A Volcano Caused the Black Death?
Plague on a Boat
buttondown.com
December 8, 2025 at 5:18 PM
If you're not already up on the latest "Black Death and the Volcano" story, this newsletter/blogpost is an excellent entry point. W/ bonus observations on how the scicomm industry works. And how it can work differently in the hands of skilled analysts like @killgrove.bsky.social. #MedievalSky
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
New story! A crazy proposal, I know, but bear with me, I have a serious point to make, as the commission in Turkish parliament to solve the Kurdish issue has entered the final month of its work. #PKK #SDF #Kurds #Turkey #Syria
open.substack.com/pub/fgeerdin...
open.substack.com/pub/fgeerdin...
Let the PKK integrate into the Turkish army
Kalasjnikov rifle hanging in a tree beside a tent in a PKK camp, Qandil Mountains, summer 2016.
open.substack.com
December 6, 2025 at 1:31 PM
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
Shout out to O Come All Ye Faithful for being the only popular Christmas carol that explicitly rejects the Arian heresy
December 21, 2023 at 6:10 AM
Shout out to O Come All Ye Faithful for being the only popular Christmas carol that explicitly rejects the Arian heresy
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
Reading Rooms at the British Library are closed *all week* because so many of its workers refuse to work for pitiful wages in a contemptuously authoritarian and obliviously managed environment.
We need leaders who get it and are big enough to sort it out!
It’s a mess and a disgrace.
Lift it up!!
We need leaders who get it and are big enough to sort it out!
It’s a mess and a disgrace.
Lift it up!!
December 8, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Reading Rooms at the British Library are closed *all week* because so many of its workers refuse to work for pitiful wages in a contemptuously authoritarian and obliviously managed environment.
We need leaders who get it and are big enough to sort it out!
It’s a mess and a disgrace.
Lift it up!!
We need leaders who get it and are big enough to sort it out!
It’s a mess and a disgrace.
Lift it up!!
"Will raising the hundreds of millions of pounds of private finance and philanthropy required for the extension have implications for less glamorous parts of the BL’s operations (for example, being a competent library)?"
www.thetimes.com/article/ff7a...
www.thetimes.com/article/ff7a...
Shhh! The British Library is in crisis
Still struggling with the impact of a devastating cyberattack, striking staff and a lack of leadership have left the institution in disarray
www.thetimes.com
December 8, 2025 at 11:13 AM
"Will raising the hundreds of millions of pounds of private finance and philanthropy required for the extension have implications for less glamorous parts of the BL’s operations (for example, being a competent library)?"
www.thetimes.com/article/ff7a...
www.thetimes.com/article/ff7a...
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
I work in emergency mental health (the people you see if you walk into an A&E department and say you're suicidal). Saw three or four trans people in the couple of days following the Scottish Ministers decision. It had a huge and extremely obvious impact on trans mental health
Rules on single-sex spaces pose risk to trans people’s mental health, UK charities say
Rules on single-sex spaces pose risk to trans people’s mental health, UK charities say
Fifteen organisations sign letter expressing deep concern over EHRC guidance being considered by ministers
New rules on access to single-sex spaces could pose a significant risk to the mental health of trans and non-binary people, according to 15 of the UK’s most respected mental charities.
Organisations including Samaritans, Mind, Centre for Mental Health and the Royal College of Psychiatrists have written to the equalities minister, Bridget Phillipson, to express their “deep concern” about guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) that is awaiting approval from the government. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
December 8, 2025 at 6:35 AM
I work in emergency mental health (the people you see if you walk into an A&E department and say you're suicidal). Saw three or four trans people in the couple of days following the Scottish Ministers decision. It had a huge and extremely obvious impact on trans mental health
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
Persistently annoyed by liberal refusal to see the longstanding system of immigration, the one that effectively places undocumented workers outside of the protections of labor law and subjects them to racial terror, as a strategy of labor discipline that affects all workers.
December 7, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Persistently annoyed by liberal refusal to see the longstanding system of immigration, the one that effectively places undocumented workers outside of the protections of labor law and subjects them to racial terror, as a strategy of labor discipline that affects all workers.
I've been ignoring a health concern for over a year and my reward is finding out that my GP surgery prefers me to request appointments/call-backs/spin the roulette wheel via an app. At no point must you be permitted to behold a GP, sure, table stakes now, but ideally not even to phone the reception.
December 7, 2025 at 2:32 PM
I've been ignoring a health concern for over a year and my reward is finding out that my GP surgery prefers me to request appointments/call-backs/spin the roulette wheel via an app. At no point must you be permitted to behold a GP, sure, table stakes now, but ideally not even to phone the reception.
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
You are ABSOLUTELY NOT going to regret listening to this bird:
A male rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta) in winter plumage.
Ptarmigan is from Gaelic 'tarmachan' meaning "croaker". The p- was added when people mistakenly assumed it was a Greek word.
A bird forever warning people: "A werewolf!" (just in case of werewolves).
Ptarmigan is from Gaelic 'tarmachan' meaning "croaker". The p- was added when people mistakenly assumed it was a Greek word.
A bird forever warning people: "A werewolf!" (just in case of werewolves).
December 6, 2025 at 5:10 PM
You are ABSOLUTELY NOT going to regret listening to this bird:
Impeccable vibes to look at the news every day and see a piece about how the country's getting worse, often through deliberate government action, next to a piece saying that if you're feeling mentally ill about it, no you're not.
December 6, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Impeccable vibes to look at the news every day and see a piece about how the country's getting worse, often through deliberate government action, next to a piece saying that if you're feeling mentally ill about it, no you're not.
Huge shout-out to DPD for putting the cardboard box of books out in the rain without ringing the doorbell, when we have a parcel box right next to the door. A+ work. The only book that got a bit damp is obviously the gift.
December 5, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Huge shout-out to DPD for putting the cardboard box of books out in the rain without ringing the doorbell, when we have a parcel box right next to the door. A+ work. The only book that got a bit damp is obviously the gift.
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
This composition had eluded me for nearly a decade, but yesterday I was finally able to capture it. A train rolled through just as the Duquesne Incline was crossing over the tracks in #Pittsburgh, creating a picture perfect winter scene. It was worth the hours and hours I've waited over the years.
December 3, 2025 at 2:06 PM
This composition had eluded me for nearly a decade, but yesterday I was finally able to capture it. A train rolled through just as the Duquesne Incline was crossing over the tracks in #Pittsburgh, creating a picture perfect winter scene. It was worth the hours and hours I've waited over the years.
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
Correction: I would be permitted if I submitted to misgendering and degradation, and no-one legally recognises me as a man.
fuck you I hate you
fuck you I hate you
December 3, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Correction: I would be permitted if I submitted to misgendering and degradation, and no-one legally recognises me as a man.
fuck you I hate you
fuck you I hate you
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
i am not usually shrill about media consumption as a moral metric. i read historical romances, a genre riddled with colonial fantasies and gender essentialism! but the thing is that none of those authors are billionaires converting my money directly into anti-trans violence
December 3, 2025 at 3:59 PM
i am not usually shrill about media consumption as a moral metric. i read historical romances, a genre riddled with colonial fantasies and gender essentialism! but the thing is that none of those authors are billionaires converting my money directly into anti-trans violence
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
Feminist institutions going “yeah no actually women are just walking wombs please dont hit us billionaire“
December 3, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Feminist institutions going “yeah no actually women are just walking wombs please dont hit us billionaire“
After all the job application websites that ask for your legal sex and then extra qus about gender identity (in the EDI data collection section, not meant to be visible to recruiters, for those unfamiliar with UK job apps), it is INTERESTING to see one that simply excludes the legal sex question.
December 3, 2025 at 2:35 PM
After all the job application websites that ask for your legal sex and then extra qus about gender identity (in the EDI data collection section, not meant to be visible to recruiters, for those unfamiliar with UK job apps), it is INTERESTING to see one that simply excludes the legal sex question.
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
I think that must have been in one of the Gnostic Gospels.
December 1, 2025 at 7:10 PM
I think that must have been in one of the Gnostic Gospels.
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
WW1 toxic compound sprayed on Georgian protesters, BBC evidence suggests
WW1 toxic compound sprayed on Georgian protesters, BBC evidence suggests
Anti-government demonstrators are likely to have been targeted with camite, our investigation finds.
www.bbc.com
December 1, 2025 at 12:37 AM
WW1 toxic compound sprayed on Georgian protesters, BBC evidence suggests
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
From a fantastic hillwalking resource I use in Scotland: battling AI generated replies which lead other users into danger
This is a heads-up about fake AI accounts which have proliferated across social media.
The screenshot is from a genuine thread asking for advice on a mountain route; there are plenty of useful, real human replies.
The attempted reply (we stopped it) looks very real - but it is from an AI bot.
The screenshot is from a genuine thread asking for advice on a mountain route; there are plenty of useful, real human replies.
The attempted reply (we stopped it) looks very real - but it is from an AI bot.
December 1, 2025 at 10:31 AM
From a fantastic hillwalking resource I use in Scotland: battling AI generated replies which lead other users into danger
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
#AshmoleanAdvent Day 1: Snow at Kinryūzan Temple
Our Ashmolean Advent Calendar is here! Check back each day until Christmas for a new seasonal treat from our collections.
The first festive treat from the collection is Utagawa Kuniyoshi’s View of Snow on Benten Hill at Kinryūzan Temple in Asakusa.
Our Ashmolean Advent Calendar is here! Check back each day until Christmas for a new seasonal treat from our collections.
The first festive treat from the collection is Utagawa Kuniyoshi’s View of Snow on Benten Hill at Kinryūzan Temple in Asakusa.
December 1, 2025 at 10:01 AM
#AshmoleanAdvent Day 1: Snow at Kinryūzan Temple
Our Ashmolean Advent Calendar is here! Check back each day until Christmas for a new seasonal treat from our collections.
The first festive treat from the collection is Utagawa Kuniyoshi’s View of Snow on Benten Hill at Kinryūzan Temple in Asakusa.
Our Ashmolean Advent Calendar is here! Check back each day until Christmas for a new seasonal treat from our collections.
The first festive treat from the collection is Utagawa Kuniyoshi’s View of Snow on Benten Hill at Kinryūzan Temple in Asakusa.
This is the first time I've looked at a wine label and thought, this has to be AI. So many sentences that say absolutely nothing. As silly as some wine descriptions are, they're still trying to convey information about the flavour profile or the "French regions" the wine's from.
November 30, 2025 at 4:27 PM
This is the first time I've looked at a wine label and thought, this has to be AI. So many sentences that say absolutely nothing. As silly as some wine descriptions are, they're still trying to convey information about the flavour profile or the "French regions" the wine's from.
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
November 29, 2025 at 12:55 AM
Reposted by Alex MacFarlane
Doodles for Hong Kong 🇭🇰
In response to the tragic Tai Po fire, I'm doing charity commissions. Anyone who puts over £25/250HKD into "Feeding Hong Kong" or Hong Kong SPCA can request a coloured doodle of any prehistoric animal 🙏
In response to the tragic Tai Po fire, I'm doing charity commissions. Anyone who puts over £25/250HKD into "Feeding Hong Kong" or Hong Kong SPCA can request a coloured doodle of any prehistoric animal 🙏
November 29, 2025 at 12:53 AM
Doodles for Hong Kong 🇭🇰
In response to the tragic Tai Po fire, I'm doing charity commissions. Anyone who puts over £25/250HKD into "Feeding Hong Kong" or Hong Kong SPCA can request a coloured doodle of any prehistoric animal 🙏
In response to the tragic Tai Po fire, I'm doing charity commissions. Anyone who puts over £25/250HKD into "Feeding Hong Kong" or Hong Kong SPCA can request a coloured doodle of any prehistoric animal 🙏
Introduced my partner to cinematic masterpiece The Rock (1996), a surprising gap in their cinema watching. What a film. Hans Zimmer really can write only the three songs.
November 28, 2025 at 10:42 PM
Introduced my partner to cinematic masterpiece The Rock (1996), a surprising gap in their cinema watching. What a film. Hans Zimmer really can write only the three songs.