Dominic Dean
@drdominicdean.bsky.social
Lecturer in Literature at the University of Essex.
Researcher and author (Killing Children in British Fiction - SUNY, 2024).
I work on contemporary British fiction and film, children, Ishiguro, migration, intergenerational conflict. All views my own.
Researcher and author (Killing Children in British Fiction - SUNY, 2024).
I work on contemporary British fiction and film, children, Ishiguro, migration, intergenerational conflict. All views my own.
Pinned
Dominic Dean
@drdominicdean.bsky.social
· Jan 21
My book, Killing Children in British Fiction: Thatcherism to Brexit, is now out from @sunypress.bsky.social.
'An authoritative, acute, and insightful book...makes a powerful case for child killing as an index of our times' - @bobeaglestone.bsky.social.
sunypress.edu/Books/K/Kill...
'An authoritative, acute, and insightful book...makes a powerful case for child killing as an index of our times' - @bobeaglestone.bsky.social.
sunypress.edu/Books/K/Kill...
Reposted by Dominic Dean
Juries are not perfect.
Many of the worst miscarriages of justice have followed jury trials.
But the merit of juries is not so much the power they have, but the power they prevent others from having.
They mean a judge cannot just nod-along with prosecution evidence and give a guilty verdict.
Many of the worst miscarriages of justice have followed jury trials.
But the merit of juries is not so much the power they have, but the power they prevent others from having.
They mean a judge cannot just nod-along with prosecution evidence and give a guilty verdict.
November 25, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Juries are not perfect.
Many of the worst miscarriages of justice have followed jury trials.
But the merit of juries is not so much the power they have, but the power they prevent others from having.
They mean a judge cannot just nod-along with prosecution evidence and give a guilty verdict.
Many of the worst miscarriages of justice have followed jury trials.
But the merit of juries is not so much the power they have, but the power they prevent others from having.
They mean a judge cannot just nod-along with prosecution evidence and give a guilty verdict.
Reposted by Dominic Dean
It's not just the scrapping of structures that were considered cornerstones of "Western Values" just a few years ago; it's not even that the people scrapping them are the same sort of people who bray about Western Values; it's the casualness, the unseriousness about *their own* Most Serious Beliefs
Jury trials in England and Wales to be scrapped except for most serious cases on.ft.com/3LY1Ceq
Jury trials in England and Wales to be scrapped except for most serious cases
Proposed changes unlikely to apply for trials of serious offences such as rape and murder
on.ft.com
November 25, 2025 at 5:27 PM
It's not just the scrapping of structures that were considered cornerstones of "Western Values" just a few years ago; it's not even that the people scrapping them are the same sort of people who bray about Western Values; it's the casualness, the unseriousness about *their own* Most Serious Beliefs
Pretty sure I’m not more morally deserving of my BMW than those who use the Motability scheme.
Don’t want to be too moralistic about this, but it is an active disgrace what people are doing to a profoundly liberational scheme that costs relatively piddling amounts on the basis of a couple of right wing shitposters misrepresenting it on Twitter.
November 25, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Pretty sure I’m not more morally deserving of my BMW than those who use the Motability scheme.
No one expects the Greens to win an overall majority and become a single party of government. They know they won’t; almost everyone who votes for them knows they won’t. So there is no point in pundits talking up the risks of such a scenario, and doing so is unlikely to lose the Greens any votes.
November 25, 2025 at 12:46 PM
No one expects the Greens to win an overall majority and become a single party of government. They know they won’t; almost everyone who votes for them knows they won’t. So there is no point in pundits talking up the risks of such a scenario, and doing so is unlikely to lose the Greens any votes.
My sense is that this phenomenon doesn't translate to the UK context, probably because we've always had fewer of the types of programme mentioned here and degree programmes overall are structured differently - though maybe others disagree?
Surveying CCC, English Journal, College English, etc., and the NCTE program, and the CVs at many uni programs, *literature* has long vanished as a keyword in writing studies, rhet/comp, ELA, etc. Anybody know of anybody in those fields explicitly interested in *literature* (beyond sff, fandom, YA)?
November 25, 2025 at 12:27 PM
My sense is that this phenomenon doesn't translate to the UK context, probably because we've always had fewer of the types of programme mentioned here and degree programmes overall are structured differently - though maybe others disagree?
Reposted by Dominic Dean
Important to remember this when you read news reports of DOGE closing 'without achieving anything'. It achieved plenty. Not only should this not be forgotten, those responsible should be held accountable.
DOGE shuts down having not found trillions of dollars of waste or saved any money.
They compromised the security of government systems, fired federal workers and oversaw the dismantling of USAID which has killed 600,000.
By 2030 approx 14 million people will have died.
That’s their legacy
They compromised the security of government systems, fired federal workers and oversaw the dismantling of USAID which has killed 600,000.
By 2030 approx 14 million people will have died.
That’s their legacy
November 24, 2025 at 9:32 PM
Important to remember this when you read news reports of DOGE closing 'without achieving anything'. It achieved plenty. Not only should this not be forgotten, those responsible should be held accountable.
A genuinely horrific thing to put people through for the sake of a few ephemeral headlines.
At least 160,000 people have been granted refugee status over the past five years. It now seems they are intended to be caught by the Government’s plans to make refugees wait up to 20 years for settlement - even for those just months away from ILR
www.thetimes.com/article/6f83...
www.thetimes.com/article/6f83...
November 24, 2025 at 7:56 PM
A genuinely horrific thing to put people through for the sake of a few ephemeral headlines.
Reposted by Dominic Dean
the first page of blood meridian goes so hard
November 23, 2025 at 8:42 PM
the first page of blood meridian goes so hard
Reposted by Dominic Dean
I’ve been quoted in @thespectator1828.bsky.social about the importance of taking a strategic approach nationally to language provision as universities are making individual decisions to slash provision which may collectively be very bad for the national interest
www.spectator.co.uk/article/in-p...
www.spectator.co.uk/article/in-p...
November 24, 2025 at 1:30 PM
I’ve been quoted in @thespectator1828.bsky.social about the importance of taking a strategic approach nationally to language provision as universities are making individual decisions to slash provision which may collectively be very bad for the national interest
www.spectator.co.uk/article/in-p...
www.spectator.co.uk/article/in-p...
Reposted by Dominic Dean
📢 We are delighted to officially announce that the wonderful @drdominicdean.bsky.social has joined the International Advisory Board at @englishstudies.bsky.social! Looking forward to collaborating on various exciting activities that are on the horizon!
Pleased to share that I have been appointed to the International Advisory Board for @englishstudies.bsky.social. After doing various bits of work with this excellent journal in recent years, I'm delighted to start this more formal relationship. Thanks @drchrislouttit.bsky.social for the invitation.
November 24, 2025 at 10:24 AM
📢 We are delighted to officially announce that the wonderful @drdominicdean.bsky.social has joined the International Advisory Board at @englishstudies.bsky.social! Looking forward to collaborating on various exciting activities that are on the horizon!
This weekend I ate at steak restaurant The Salt Shed in Brighton, a city that also features restaurants The Salt Room and The Coal Shed. Might have to trademark Salt Shack before anyone else gets to it.
November 23, 2025 at 11:48 PM
This weekend I ate at steak restaurant The Salt Shed in Brighton, a city that also features restaurants The Salt Room and The Coal Shed. Might have to trademark Salt Shack before anyone else gets to it.
Reposted by Dominic Dean
Congrats to @drdominicdean.bsky.social on KILLING CHILDREN IN BRITISH FICTION being named a Co-Winner for the 2025 Monograph Prize presented by the British Association of Contemporary Literary Studies
#WinnerWednesday #ReadUP tinyurl.com/ytzduwbj
#BritishStudies #FilmStudies #LiteraryCriticism
#WinnerWednesday #ReadUP tinyurl.com/ytzduwbj
#BritishStudies #FilmStudies #LiteraryCriticism
November 19, 2025 at 9:24 PM
Congrats to @drdominicdean.bsky.social on KILLING CHILDREN IN BRITISH FICTION being named a Co-Winner for the 2025 Monograph Prize presented by the British Association of Contemporary Literary Studies
#WinnerWednesday #ReadUP tinyurl.com/ytzduwbj
#BritishStudies #FilmStudies #LiteraryCriticism
#WinnerWednesday #ReadUP tinyurl.com/ytzduwbj
#BritishStudies #FilmStudies #LiteraryCriticism
Saw the stage version of The Woman in Black in the touring production currently in Brighton. I never caught it in all the years it was on the West End, and glad I’ve finally seen it - a superb piece of theatre for creating an intense atmosphere with extreme economy (far better than the 2012 movie).
November 22, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Saw the stage version of The Woman in Black in the touring production currently in Brighton. I never caught it in all the years it was on the West End, and glad I’ve finally seen it - a superb piece of theatre for creating an intense atmosphere with extreme economy (far better than the 2012 movie).
This.
"Reform would be worse" is both entirely correct and entirely irrelevant until polling day 2029. What matters right now is that Labour's approach is morally repugnant on its own terms, *and is empowering Reform*. As things stand today, its not Labour or Reform. Its Labour *then* Reform.
While it feels like I'm repeatedly slamming my head against a brick wall repeating this massively simple concept. Saying "Reform would be worse" doesn't make what Labour is doing better. Labour is now the most anti-immigration, anti-any marginalised group, government we have seen in decades. 1/
November 22, 2025 at 10:36 AM
This.
Also Trump genuinely has a homoerotic side - he enjoys the company of a charming, handsome man with a big smile (much more than he enjoys the company of women). Very visible with Trudeau and Macron.
To be clear: this is very amusing and going to make some fodder for some good social media posts for Zohran. But this is also standard Trump behavior -- he often gets chummy with people across the political spectrum, especially if he feels they wield some kind of power.
bsky.app/profile/atru...
bsky.app/profile/atru...
Q: would you feel comfortable living in NYC under a Mamdani administration ?
TRUMP: I would. I really would.
TRUMP: I would. I really would.
November 21, 2025 at 9:41 PM
Also Trump genuinely has a homoerotic side - he enjoys the company of a charming, handsome man with a big smile (much more than he enjoys the company of women). Very visible with Trudeau and Macron.
Pretty good bit of PR to have them side by side with Trump saying his ideas are basically the same but then sounding far less coherent in articulating them. Maybe I’m being naive but I wonder, in a hopeful way, how this would look to someone whose vote was swayed to Trump by affordability anxiety.
Trump on Mamdani: "We had some interesting conversation and some of his ideas are really the same ideas that I have. But a big thing on cost. The new word is 'affordability.' Another word is just 'groceries.' It's sort of an old fashioned word but it's very accurate."
November 21, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Pretty good bit of PR to have them side by side with Trump saying his ideas are basically the same but then sounding far less coherent in articulating them. Maybe I’m being naive but I wonder, in a hopeful way, how this would look to someone whose vote was swayed to Trump by affordability anxiety.
Pleased to share that I have been appointed to the International Advisory Board for @englishstudies.bsky.social. After doing various bits of work with this excellent journal in recent years, I'm delighted to start this more formal relationship. Thanks @drchrislouttit.bsky.social for the invitation.
November 21, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Pleased to share that I have been appointed to the International Advisory Board for @englishstudies.bsky.social. After doing various bits of work with this excellent journal in recent years, I'm delighted to start this more formal relationship. Thanks @drchrislouttit.bsky.social for the invitation.
Reposted by Dominic Dean
will admit i don't fully understand this but POETRY OUTFOXES AI is the best case for preserving English degrees i have ever heard. 'all the teenage girls who were really into Sylvia Plath at one point vs tech bros' is the battle for civilisation we deserve
Looks like LLMs are *very* vulnerable to attack via poetic allusion: "curated poetic prompts yielded high attack-success rates (ASR), with some providers exceeding 90% ..."
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
November 21, 2025 at 1:05 PM
will admit i don't fully understand this but POETRY OUTFOXES AI is the best case for preserving English degrees i have ever heard. 'all the teenage girls who were really into Sylvia Plath at one point vs tech bros' is the battle for civilisation we deserve
Reposted by Dominic Dean
And if you know anyone who is worried and not sure whether this applies to them or what their options are, feel free to message me. I will be happy to chat with them about their options, completely gratis
November 20, 2025 at 3:18 PM
And if you know anyone who is worried and not sure whether this applies to them or what their options are, feel free to message me. I will be happy to chat with them about their options, completely gratis
Heard George Finch, the 19 year-old Reform leader of Warwickshire County Council, and (unsurprisingly) he looks and sounds exactly like most of the boys in my old Sixth Form; really takes me back!
November 21, 2025 at 11:36 AM
Heard George Finch, the 19 year-old Reform leader of Warwickshire County Council, and (unsurprisingly) he looks and sounds exactly like most of the boys in my old Sixth Form; really takes me back!
Reposted by Dominic Dean
They feck you up your rhyming prompts
They mean to and they do
They fill you full of all their
Caesurae
Then add enjambement
Just for you
But they were fecked up in their turn
By weird tech bros in polo necks
Who half the time are raving mad
And half Nazi Hitlermechs
They mean to and they do
They fill you full of all their
Caesurae
Then add enjambement
Just for you
But they were fecked up in their turn
By weird tech bros in polo necks
Who half the time are raving mad
And half Nazi Hitlermechs
Looks like LLMs are *very* vulnerable to attack via poetic allusion: "curated poetic prompts yielded high attack-success rates (ASR), with some providers exceeding 90% ..."
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
November 21, 2025 at 9:41 AM
They feck you up your rhyming prompts
They mean to and they do
They fill you full of all their
Caesurae
Then add enjambement
Just for you
But they were fecked up in their turn
By weird tech bros in polo necks
Who half the time are raving mad
And half Nazi Hitlermechs
They mean to and they do
They fill you full of all their
Caesurae
Then add enjambement
Just for you
But they were fecked up in their turn
By weird tech bros in polo necks
Who half the time are raving mad
And half Nazi Hitlermechs
A local road is being resurfaced and Klara definitely wouldn’t approve of these machines…
November 21, 2025 at 10:29 AM
A local road is being resurfaced and Klara definitely wouldn’t approve of these machines…
A ban on pavement parking would be great; there’s a lot of bad parking around - but given entire residential streets are dependent on it, not clear a full ban is viable without serious alternative provision. Reduction in car ownership won’t happen at sufficient scale.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Pavement parkers blamed for 'no safe space to walk' as ban urged - BBC News
The charity Guide Dogs UK says pavement parking is "getting worse" and making the streets "hostile".
www.bbc.co.uk
November 21, 2025 at 9:49 AM
A ban on pavement parking would be great; there’s a lot of bad parking around - but given entire residential streets are dependent on it, not clear a full ban is viable without serious alternative provision. Reduction in car ownership won’t happen at sufficient scale.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Although it would be an uphill struggle given the size of their majority, if he is selected to fight Kemptown for the Greens then he could certainly put Labour under serious pressure there.
Former Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle is defecting to the Green Party
www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...
www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...
Exclusive: Ex Labour MP to defect to the Green Party
Lloyd Russell-Moyle will announce his defection tomorrow
www.newstatesman.com
November 21, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Although it would be an uphill struggle given the size of their majority, if he is selected to fight Kemptown for the Greens then he could certainly put Labour under serious pressure there.
Some of those justifying the doctor’s comment are pointing to (among other things) the fact that doctors need to invest in many years of study just to get started in their career and: Let me introduce you to academics.
It’s hard to read this stuff from doctors without cringing at how wildly out of touch it sounds (and how little self-awareness). £100k+ income is, to most of the public, beyond our dreams. Entitlement and class privilege is not the best way to win people over to your cause!
November 20, 2025 at 11:14 PM
Some of those justifying the doctor’s comment are pointing to (among other things) the fact that doctors need to invest in many years of study just to get started in their career and: Let me introduce you to academics.