Simon Thomson
@scfthomson.bsky.social
Easily excited medievalist working @hhu.bsky.social. I love manuscripts, stories and storytelling, teaching, @lfcr.bsky.social, antiracism, LGBTQ+ support, Nigeria, living in Germany, the Real Housewives, my wife, and gin (not always in that order)
Reposted by Simon Thomson
Isn't this a telling aspiration? To want robots to look after your kids, so you can do stuff, rather than robots to do stuff, so you can spend time with your kids?
The darkness inside these shrivelled men must be like a gaping unfillable void.
The darkness inside these shrivelled men must be like a gaping unfillable void.
January 22, 2026 at 5:39 PM
Isn't this a telling aspiration? To want robots to look after your kids, so you can do stuff, rather than robots to do stuff, so you can spend time with your kids?
The darkness inside these shrivelled men must be like a gaping unfillable void.
The darkness inside these shrivelled men must be like a gaping unfillable void.
Reposted by Simon Thomson
East Window, 2008 by Iranian artist Shirazeh Houshiary, St Martin-in-the-Field, London #womensart
January 18, 2026 at 5:43 AM
East Window, 2008 by Iranian artist Shirazeh Houshiary, St Martin-in-the-Field, London #womensart
Reposted by Simon Thomson
Are we honestly doing the World Cup over there? For real?
January 17, 2026 at 6:30 PM
Are we honestly doing the World Cup over there? For real?
Reposted by Simon Thomson
Had an intriguing editorial discussion recently: how did people in the past talk about 'minutes' when they didn't have watches or standardised times? How does that affect your thinking?
Come down an Elizabethan/Jacobean rabbit hole with me.
1/
Come down an Elizabethan/Jacobean rabbit hole with me.
1/
January 17, 2026 at 10:34 AM
Had an intriguing editorial discussion recently: how did people in the past talk about 'minutes' when they didn't have watches or standardised times? How does that affect your thinking?
Come down an Elizabethan/Jacobean rabbit hole with me.
1/
Come down an Elizabethan/Jacobean rabbit hole with me.
1/
Reposted by Simon Thomson
Issue 42.2 of Parergon was released just before Christmas. A special issue focused on medieval English attitudes to the outside world, Alison Hudson's article 'Elephants in English Literature, Art, and Material Culture before the Reign of Henry III' is currently open access!
doi.org/10.1353/pgn....
doi.org/10.1353/pgn....
January 17, 2026 at 5:59 AM
Issue 42.2 of Parergon was released just before Christmas. A special issue focused on medieval English attitudes to the outside world, Alison Hudson's article 'Elephants in English Literature, Art, and Material Culture before the Reign of Henry III' is currently open access!
doi.org/10.1353/pgn....
doi.org/10.1353/pgn....
Reposted by Simon Thomson
You have to block them immediately. The full nuclear. They are only here to make folks angry, and that can’t happen if we lock them out.
✅ @icegov.bsky.social has been verified by @bsky.app.
January 16, 2026 at 11:59 PM
You have to block them immediately. The full nuclear. They are only here to make folks angry, and that can’t happen if we lock them out.
Reposted by Simon Thomson
New post!
Part two of my series on philology and translation. I look at the challenges of translating even a few lines of an Old English text.
Does "wyrd bið ful aræd!" mean "fate is fully determined!", "shit happens!", or something else entirely?
nikolasgunn.co.uk/2026/01/13/b...
Part two of my series on philology and translation. I look at the challenges of translating even a few lines of an Old English text.
Does "wyrd bið ful aræd!" mean "fate is fully determined!", "shit happens!", or something else entirely?
nikolasgunn.co.uk/2026/01/13/b...
January 14, 2026 at 7:04 AM
New post!
Part two of my series on philology and translation. I look at the challenges of translating even a few lines of an Old English text.
Does "wyrd bið ful aræd!" mean "fate is fully determined!", "shit happens!", or something else entirely?
nikolasgunn.co.uk/2026/01/13/b...
Part two of my series on philology and translation. I look at the challenges of translating even a few lines of an Old English text.
Does "wyrd bið ful aræd!" mean "fate is fully determined!", "shit happens!", or something else entirely?
nikolasgunn.co.uk/2026/01/13/b...
Reposted by Simon Thomson
jede*r kann etwas tun
January 3, 2026 at 4:54 PM
jede*r kann etwas tun
Reposted by Simon Thomson
Man if you thought Freedom Fries was embarrassing get ready because renaming stuff is this dude’s single favorite thing in the world
January 3, 2026 at 2:31 PM
Man if you thought Freedom Fries was embarrassing get ready because renaming stuff is this dude’s single favorite thing in the world
I am taking the flight free challenge! Could you join me? #FlightFree2026 @flightfreeuk.bsky.social www.flightfree.co.uk
Flight Free UK
Fight climate change: make the pledge to be flight free in 2026
www.flightfree.co.uk
January 1, 2026 at 6:24 PM
I am taking the flight free challenge! Could you join me? #FlightFree2026 @flightfreeuk.bsky.social www.flightfree.co.uk
Reposted by Simon Thomson
Ask this question and its follow-up. Like Begum before him, Alaa el-Fattah is being used as a crowbar to shift reasonable people - even some progressives - into a space of thinking that full citizenship, if granted recently or dual, is retroactively conditional or attracts a lower class of rights.
December 29, 2025 at 10:03 AM
Ask this question and its follow-up. Like Begum before him, Alaa el-Fattah is being used as a crowbar to shift reasonable people - even some progressives - into a space of thinking that full citizenship, if granted recently or dual, is retroactively conditional or attracts a lower class of rights.
Reposted by Simon Thomson
University of Leicester Vice-Chancellor knighted in King’s New Year Honours | News | University of Leicester
le.ac.uk
December 30, 2025 at 10:34 AM
Reposted by Simon Thomson
Was die Verschärfung beim Bürgergeld bringt:
- Applaus von rechts außen
- mehr Hunger
- mehr häusliche Gewalt
- mehr Kinderleid
Was sie nicht bringt:
- Einsparungen
Ach ja - Frohe Weihnachten ihr lieben Christen überall 😘
- Applaus von rechts außen
- mehr Hunger
- mehr häusliche Gewalt
- mehr Kinderleid
Was sie nicht bringt:
- Einsparungen
Ach ja - Frohe Weihnachten ihr lieben Christen überall 😘
December 18, 2025 at 10:14 AM
Was die Verschärfung beim Bürgergeld bringt:
- Applaus von rechts außen
- mehr Hunger
- mehr häusliche Gewalt
- mehr Kinderleid
Was sie nicht bringt:
- Einsparungen
Ach ja - Frohe Weihnachten ihr lieben Christen überall 😘
- Applaus von rechts außen
- mehr Hunger
- mehr häusliche Gewalt
- mehr Kinderleid
Was sie nicht bringt:
- Einsparungen
Ach ja - Frohe Weihnachten ihr lieben Christen überall 😘
Reposted by Simon Thomson
Auch wenn die Polizei das dementiert: Falls jemand Fotos oder Videos hat, wie die Polizei AfD-Teilnehmer in Polizeiautos zur Veranstaltung in #Gießen fährt, bitte lasst uns das Material zukommen. Auch Material von Konvois, die Teilnehmer bringen, ist interessant.
November 29, 2025 at 10:11 AM
Auch wenn die Polizei das dementiert: Falls jemand Fotos oder Videos hat, wie die Polizei AfD-Teilnehmer in Polizeiautos zur Veranstaltung in #Gießen fährt, bitte lasst uns das Material zukommen. Auch Material von Konvois, die Teilnehmer bringen, ist interessant.
Reposted by Simon Thomson
Deutschland hat 83,6 Millionen Einwohner und eine Million von ihnen ist wohnungslos, Tendenz weiter steigend. Und der Regierung ist es einfach egal - selbst das 264.000 Kinder und Jugendliche betroffen sind.
www.deutschlandfunk.de/zahl-der-woh...
www.deutschlandfunk.de/zahl-der-woh...
Deutschland - Zahl der Wohnungslosen steigt auf Höchststand mit mehr als einer Million Menschen - viele Kinder betroffen
In Deutschland gab es im vergangenen Jahr mehr als eine Million wohnungslose Menschen - das ist ein Anstieg von elf Prozent gegenüber dem Vorjahr. Als wohnungslos gilt, wer über keine eigene angemiete...
www.deutschlandfunk.de
November 18, 2025 at 7:01 AM
Deutschland hat 83,6 Millionen Einwohner und eine Million von ihnen ist wohnungslos, Tendenz weiter steigend. Und der Regierung ist es einfach egal - selbst das 264.000 Kinder und Jugendliche betroffen sind.
www.deutschlandfunk.de/zahl-der-woh...
www.deutschlandfunk.de/zahl-der-woh...
Reposted by Simon Thomson
November 15, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Reposted by Simon Thomson
The 1st book in our "Recommended Read" series is Edward W. Said's The Question of Palestine. Written in 1979 and often considered a part of a trilogy alongside Orientalism and Covering Islam, it was one of the first major books to introduce the historical context of Zionism (1/3)
November 11, 2025 at 1:51 AM
The 1st book in our "Recommended Read" series is Edward W. Said's The Question of Palestine. Written in 1979 and often considered a part of a trilogy alongside Orientalism and Covering Islam, it was one of the first major books to introduce the historical context of Zionism (1/3)
Reposted by Simon Thomson
My takeaway from every new Epstein revelation is that some powerful people victimized many powerless young women, many more knew, some actively enabled it--and we're still being told that MeToo and accountability for sexual violence have gone too far
November 12, 2025 at 5:05 PM
My takeaway from every new Epstein revelation is that some powerful people victimized many powerless young women, many more knew, some actively enabled it--and we're still being told that MeToo and accountability for sexual violence have gone too far
Reposted by Simon Thomson
It's the Fesshole/Vagina Museum crossover event you've all been waiting for. Tons of you tagged us into this across all of our socials, asking for a fact-check. The consensus of the reply guys is that it Didn't Happen. However, this is in fact very possible. Here's why...
October 28, 2025 at 10:48 AM
It's the Fesshole/Vagina Museum crossover event you've all been waiting for. Tons of you tagged us into this across all of our socials, asking for a fact-check. The consensus of the reply guys is that it Didn't Happen. However, this is in fact very possible. Here's why...
I've written a thing about the dog-headed Saint Christopher for Oxford's brilliant Resources for Old English Prose: roep.web.ox.ac.uk/article/old-... If you love dogs and the overthrow of some kinds of tyranny, check it out.
Old English "Life of St Christopher"
roep.web.ox.ac.uk
October 27, 2025 at 9:27 AM
I've written a thing about the dog-headed Saint Christopher for Oxford's brilliant Resources for Old English Prose: roep.web.ox.ac.uk/article/old-... If you love dogs and the overthrow of some kinds of tyranny, check it out.
Reposted by Simon Thomson
Happy 6,028th birthday to the Earth, which according to the work of Archbishop James Usher was created on 23 October 4004BC, some time around lunchtime.
October 23, 2025 at 9:58 AM
Happy 6,028th birthday to the Earth, which according to the work of Archbishop James Usher was created on 23 October 4004BC, some time around lunchtime.
Reposted by Simon Thomson
"Friedrich Merz rechtfertigt seine "Stadtbild"-Aussagen mit einem Verweis auf die Ängste der Töchter der Nation. Diese Instrumentalisierung von Frauen ist falsch. In Wahrheit geht es in der Debatte um Migration nämlich wieder einmal um das, was Männer fühlen."
#Stadtbild
#Stadtbild
Erst wenn Männer Angst haben, hören wir hin
Friedrich Merz rechtfertigt seine "Stadtbild"-Aussagen mit einem Verweis auf die Ängste der Töchter der Nation. Diese Instrumentalisierung von Frauen ist falsch. In Wahrheit geht es in der Debatte um ...
www.n-tv.de
October 23, 2025 at 5:54 AM
"Friedrich Merz rechtfertigt seine "Stadtbild"-Aussagen mit einem Verweis auf die Ängste der Töchter der Nation. Diese Instrumentalisierung von Frauen ist falsch. In Wahrheit geht es in der Debatte um Migration nämlich wieder einmal um das, was Männer fühlen."
#Stadtbild
#Stadtbild
Reposted by Simon Thomson
Birth citizens, on the other hand, can take more than they give, because their status makes them more valid as humans. That's where the implications of this rhetoric go. All migrants know that they have to be and do better than everyone else just to 'justify their presence'.
October 21, 2025 at 9:47 AM
Birth citizens, on the other hand, can take more than they give, because their status makes them more valid as humans. That's where the implications of this rhetoric go. All migrants know that they have to be and do better than everyone else just to 'justify their presence'.