Magnus Ramage
@magnusramage.bsky.social
Academic (Open University), Quaker, systems thinker, EDI practitioner, cyclist, choral singer, parent, spouse. Introvert, but quite good at committees and networking. Christian-ish, socially progressive, economically soft-left. 🌈
Northampton market square looking sunny and bubbly for #NorthantsDay
October 25, 2025 at 12:37 PM
Northampton market square looking sunny and bubbly for #NorthantsDay
Sometimes the poor condition of a book shows it's much read and much loved. Here is my copy of The Fellowship of the Ring, which I bought 45 years ago and have read many times since.
October 14, 2025 at 8:48 AM
Sometimes the poor condition of a book shows it's much read and much loved. Here is my copy of The Fellowship of the Ring, which I bought 45 years ago and have read many times since.
Brilliant words by Judith Butler which express the fundamental problem with the "gender-critical" ideology - that it misunderstands and distorts what it means to be critical.
[Extract from "Who's afraid of Gender", London: Penguin, 2025, p. 141]
[Extract from "Who's afraid of Gender", London: Penguin, 2025, p. 141]
![If gender-critical feminists wish to be critical, then they should give some thought first to the history of the term "critique" and its place in struggles for social transformation. A critique of something is not simply a way of opposing something and being done with it or calling for its abolition. A critique of masculine domination, for instance, shows that life does not have to be organized by this social form. With critique comes a new way of understanding the world, one that can be essential to struggles for social change and the opening up of new possible ways of living. The critique of the gender binary, for instance, did not claim that "women" and "men" are over and done with. On the contrary, it asked why gender is organized that way and not in some other way. It was also a way of imagining living otherwise. The critique of the gender binary turned out to give rise to a proliferation of genders beyond the established binary versions—and beyond the gender hierarchy that feminism rightly opposes. Indeed, there is no reason to ally with positions that oppose "gender" in order to restore patriarchal order ...
[extract ends in the middle of a sentence, due to the end of the page]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:5cfotfg73lwnpeitsiyue6mf/bafkreigd7naojhxldub2cnk7i7hysmu3v5e3ltglhj3uxavkyx4qmr5l6q@jpeg)
September 15, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Brilliant words by Judith Butler which express the fundamental problem with the "gender-critical" ideology - that it misunderstands and distorts what it means to be critical.
[Extract from "Who's afraid of Gender", London: Penguin, 2025, p. 141]
[Extract from "Who's afraid of Gender", London: Penguin, 2025, p. 141]
Just finished Mansfield Park as part of the #YearofJane. Slow at times (and was hoping for more exploration of the family's slave-holdings) but very deep and satisfying, and really came together in the end. I think I need to add Fanny Price to Elinor Dashwood as my equal-favourite Austen heroine!
July 29, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Just finished Mansfield Park as part of the #YearofJane. Slow at times (and was hoping for more exploration of the family's slave-holdings) but very deep and satisfying, and really came together in the end. I think I need to add Fanny Price to Elinor Dashwood as my equal-favourite Austen heroine!
Peter Capaldi's family even had an ice cream van! (Source: www.facebook.com/GlasgowWorld...)
June 17, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Peter Capaldi's family even had an ice cream van! (Source: www.facebook.com/GlasgowWorld...)
My interest level in football is very low so I didn't recognise this man as I scrolled through the Guardian online, but I did immediately think "well at least he has a blue lightsabre, must be ok".
Image source: www.theguardian.com/football/202...
Image source: www.theguardian.com/football/202...
June 13, 2025 at 9:32 AM
My interest level in football is very low so I didn't recognise this man as I scrolled through the Guardian online, but I did immediately think "well at least he has a blue lightsabre, must be ok".
Image source: www.theguardian.com/football/202...
Image source: www.theguardian.com/football/202...
If you see this post, quote with a bridge from your gallery. (This is the prosaically-named Staney Brig - because it's a stone bridge - in Milngavie on the edge of Glasgow, where I grew up.)
March 14, 2025 at 10:05 AM
If you see this post, quote with a bridge from your gallery. (This is the prosaically-named Staney Brig - because it's a stone bridge - in Milngavie on the edge of Glasgow, where I grew up.)
Enjoying reading Dragonfall by Laura Lam (@lrlam.bsky.social) on a short holiday in Winchester and by total coincidence was served a very appropriate coffee pattern in a local cafe!
February 20, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Enjoying reading Dragonfall by Laura Lam (@lrlam.bsky.social) on a short holiday in Winchester and by total coincidence was served a very appropriate coffee pattern in a local cafe!
What a lovely list - so heartwarming! My favourite queer-coded picture book to read when my children were little was Queen Munch and Queen Nibble - a lovely book.
January 24, 2025 at 9:53 AM
What a lovely list - so heartwarming! My favourite queer-coded picture book to read when my children were little was Queen Munch and Queen Nibble - a lovely book.
Happy new year! My reading recap for 2024 from Storygraph. Really charmed that my longest and shortest books of the year were by the same author, Susanna Clarke.
January 1, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Happy new year! My reading recap for 2024 from Storygraph. Really charmed that my longest and shortest books of the year were by the same author, Susanna Clarke.
I've been rereading The Dark Is Rising series, loved since childhood. The ending feels v relevant:
"... the world is yours and it is up to you. Now especially since man has the strength to destroy this world, it is the responsibility of man to keep it alive, in all its beauty and marvellous joy."
"... the world is yours and it is up to you. Now especially since man has the strength to destroy this world, it is the responsibility of man to keep it alive, in all its beauty and marvellous joy."
December 19, 2024 at 10:57 PM
I've been rereading The Dark Is Rising series, loved since childhood. The ending feels v relevant:
"... the world is yours and it is up to you. Now especially since man has the strength to destroy this world, it is the responsibility of man to keep it alive, in all its beauty and marvellous joy."
"... the world is yours and it is up to you. Now especially since man has the strength to destroy this world, it is the responsibility of man to keep it alive, in all its beauty and marvellous joy."
This kind of attitude reminds me of Paul Watlzawick's lovely little book "The situation is hopeless but not serious: the pursuit of unhappiness", who points out that whatever the situation & your level of happiness, it's always possible to compare yourself to those worse off & bring your mood down.
![As already mentioned in the Introduction to this book, it is difficult, if at all possible, to define happiness and contentment in positive terms. But this need not deter any paragon of virtue from ascribing a negative meaning to these concepts. As the reader probably knows, the unofficial motto of puritanism is, "You may do anything you want, as long as you don't enjoy it." And there are indeed people who consider it indecent to enjoy anything as long as our world is in its sorry state. Admittedly, it becomes difficult to enjoy even a drink of water while half a million innocent civilians are nearly dying of thirst in West Beirut. But even if general, worldwide happiness were to break out one of these days, a Calvinistic pessimist need not give up hope: He can always utilize Laing's recipe by reproaching his innocently happy partner with, "How dare you have fun when Christ died on the Cross for you! Was He having fun?" [9, p.2]. The rest is embarrassed silence.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:5cfotfg73lwnpeitsiyue6mf/bafkreigvcs2pm6dfqg3wm3olmvc23f73tsyxr3kgxy7eus7xwmdzkhrzum@jpeg)
December 16, 2024 at 6:07 PM
This kind of attitude reminds me of Paul Watlzawick's lovely little book "The situation is hopeless but not serious: the pursuit of unhappiness", who points out that whatever the situation & your level of happiness, it's always possible to compare yourself to those worse off & bring your mood down.
One of these artists is not like the others. 😂
December 4, 2024 at 8:30 PM
One of these artists is not like the others. 😂
If it's any comfort, you're not alone!
December 4, 2024 at 3:16 PM
If it's any comfort, you're not alone!
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November 6, 2024 at 12:34 PM
STOP
THIS IS A CUTE ANIMAL PIC CHECKPOINT. PLEASE SHARE A MINIMUM OF ONE (1) CUTE ANIMAL PIC BEFORE PROCEEDING.
THIS IS A PRECAUTIONARY MEASURE TO PRESERVE THE MENTAL HEALTH OF THIS SITE. WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION.
THIS IS A CUTE ANIMAL PIC CHECKPOINT. PLEASE SHARE A MINIMUM OF ONE (1) CUTE ANIMAL PIC BEFORE PROCEEDING.
THIS IS A PRECAUTIONARY MEASURE TO PRESERVE THE MENTAL HEALTH OF THIS SITE. WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION.
Campus of the Open University looking lovely today in the autumn colours and sunshine. It's a privilege to work there, and I feel sad that neither I nor lots of colleagues go there often enough.
October 24, 2024 at 9:15 PM
Campus of the Open University looking lovely today in the autumn colours and sunshine. It's a privilege to work there, and I feel sad that neither I nor lots of colleagues go there often enough.
You‘ve been kidnapped. The characters from the last tv show you watched are trying to rescue you. Who is coming to save you? [I'm really quite scared about this!]
September 9, 2024 at 1:59 PM
You‘ve been kidnapped. The characters from the last tv show you watched are trying to rescue you. Who is coming to save you? [I'm really quite scared about this!]
Finished my annual read of The Dark is Rising, a book I first read 40 years ago as a child and have loved ever since. Was very pleased to see this illustration at the excellent British Library 'Realms of Fantasy' exhibition.
January 4, 2024 at 4:46 PM
Finished my annual read of The Dark is Rising, a book I first read 40 years ago as a child and have loved ever since. Was very pleased to see this illustration at the excellent British Library 'Realms of Fantasy' exhibition.