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Peter Ryley @peterryley.bsky.social · 1d

So true ...

Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 1d

Constant, morale-sapping, self-doubting rejection throughout their careers is one thing that all but the luckiest/most talented academics, no matter how supposedly senior they are, share with each other! I rather liked this advice about staying positive regardless - I just wish I could follow it!

‘Stay true to yourself – and fly closer to the sun’: what I’ve learned from 50 years of rejection

As a writer, I have been rejected thousands of times, and it initially led to shock, denial and anger. Then I accepted it. Here’s what you can gain from doing so too

www.theguardian.com

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Peter Ryley @peterryley.bsky.social · 5d

In HE she would have been promoted

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Peter Ryley @peterryley.bsky.social · 7d

A lovely story and a fitting tribute

Joshua J. Friedman @joshuajfriedman.com · 7d

One of my favorite anecdotes from THE PREHISTORY OF THE FAR SIDE: "That doesn't sound like the Jane Goodall we know."

A few days after this cartoon was published, my syndicate received a very indignant letter from someone representing the Jane Goodall Institute.
Not only did my syndicate and I both get read the Riot Act, there was a vague implication that litigation over this cartoon might be around the corner.
I was horrified. Not so much from a fear of being sued (I just couldn't see how this cartoon could be construed as anything but silly, but because of my deep respect for Jane Goodall and her well-known contributions to pri-matology. The last thing in the world I would have intentionally done was offend Dr. Goodall in any way.
Before I had a chance to write my apology, another complication arose.
The National Geographic Society contacted my syndicate and expressed a

desire to reprint the cartoon in a special centennial issue of their magazine. My editor, aware of what had just occurred, declined, explaining why.
Apparently, whoever it was that sent the inquiry from National Geographic was shocked. They told my editor that "that doesn't sound like the Jane Goodall we know." They did some checking themselves, and an interesting fact was eventually discovered: Jane Goodall loved the cartoon. Furthermore, she was totally unaware that any of this "stuff" was going on. Some phone calls were made, and the cartoon was not only reprinted in the centennial issue of National Geographic, but was also used by her Institute on a T-shirt for fund-raising purposes.
I've since had an opportunity to visit Dr. Goodall at her research facility in Gombe. It's a wonderful place (sort of like right out of National Geographic).
"To refer to Dr. Goodall as a tramp is inexcusable even by a self-described 'loony' as Larson. The cartoon was incredibly offensive and in such poor taste that readers might well question the editorial judgment of running such an atrocity in a newspaper that reputes to be supplying news to persons with a better than average intelligence. The cartoon and its message were absolutely stupid." —Excerpt from the above-mentioned letter that started the ruckus

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Peter Ryley @peterryley.bsky.social · 8d

It was a great blog. I’ve already had millions of notifications from Substack!

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Peter Ryley @peterryley.bsky.social · 8d

This comment about Labour’s nostalgia could be about any of the politics that tries to recreate a fictitious past as a model for the future. Whereas history is always illuminating, nostalgia tells lies.

Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 9d

And having a past is good! But a self-parodic imagining of it is bad. Take the narratives of the past and fit them to the future

Reposted by Peter Ryley

Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 9d

On the morning of Keir Starmer's conference speech here's a new post on an odd psychopathology in British politics - our main parties don't like the people who vote for them - the dreaded Professional Managerial Class. And so they are acting out like a divorced dad seeking cooler voters. 1/n

British Politics' Midlife Crisis

Why British Parties Can't Make Peace with Their Actual Voters

benansell.substack.com

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Reposted by Peter Ryley

Adam Rothman enjoys a good sandwich @adamrothman.bsky.social · 17d

Was discussing the Odyssey with my 14-year-old daughter, who commented that men will start the Trojan War instead of going to therapy.

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Peter Ryley @peterryley.bsky.social · 22d

This is obscure but well worth chasing down. No. 5 John Street, by Richard Whiteing. Published in 1902, it's set in a tenement building in a London slum. It's a sympathetic document of life and includes a picture of an eccentric radical, Dan Chatterton, who's self-published journal is kept in the BL

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Peter Ryley @peterryley.bsky.social · 24d

See Facebook messenger

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Peter Ryley @peterryley.bsky.social · 24d

I've messaged with a pdf

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Peter Ryley @peterryley.bsky.social · 24d

It’s a companion to Harry Frankfurt’s On Bullshit. Another short book with more insight than many huge volumes.

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Peter Ryley @peterryley.bsky.social · 24d

This goes back to a previous post about how to distinguish between belief and grift. I'm never sure about it. The one thing that is clear is that political performance is profitable and feeds off outrage. It should never be mistaken for serious commentary. But very serious people also benefit.

Steven Fielding @polprofsteve2024.bsky.social · 24d

This is hopefully the last time I do anything in relation to Kirk but it’s very interesting! Essentially, Kirk died for his schtick. www.instagram.com/reel/DOlCJ1V...

Login • Instagram

Welcome back to Instagram. Sign in to check out what your friends, family & interests have been capturing & sharing around the world.

www.instagram.com

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Peter Ryley @peterryley.bsky.social · 24d

I love Cipolla's pamphlet. Very appropriate to now.

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Peter Ryley @peterryley.bsky.social · 24d

What Mill actually wrote was that the Tories were the "stupidest party", which makes even more sense in our discussion, where no party has a monopoly on stupidity. It's in a footnote to Chapter 7 of Considerations on Representative Government. See also here: victorianweb.org/philosophy/m...

John Stuart Mill on the Conservatives as the Stupid Party

victorianweb.org

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Peter Ryley @peterryley.bsky.social · 24d

Or the party of stupid strategists

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Peter Ryley @peterryley.bsky.social · 24d

Which is the importance of positivity - the UK is great, but for all the reasons that this lot hate while a bunch of coked up football hooligans do not promise a better future.

Peter Ryley @peterryley.bsky.social · 24d

Neither am I

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Peter Ryley @peterryley.bsky.social · 24d

informed by intense irritation this morning of Facebook serving me dollops of Tommy Robinson fascist kitsch and plausible deniability. And we still haven't got a handle on it!

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Peter Ryley @peterryley.bsky.social · 24d

This thread needs to be read and widely shared. Especially important are the points that aren't often made about the role of fear and dark money.

Paul Evans @pauliewaulie.bsky.social · 25d

The size of the UTK rally and Reform’s rise in the polls aren’t isolated events. They’re signs of a strategy that’s working. 🧵

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Reposted by Peter Ryley

Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 27d

I need you to understand what this country feels like right now for those of us who look different. I'm sitting here, trying to plan for Saturday, make sure I don't even need to go to the corner shop for milk, like it's Christmas Day or lockdown. Why? Because I live near where Yaxley-Lennon will 1/

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Reposted by Peter Ryley

Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · Sep 9

The finest visual demonstration of Brexit that you will ever see.

SG Hendricks @sghendricks.bsky.social · Sep 9

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Reposted by Peter Ryley

Patrick Galey @patrickgaley.bsky.social · Sep 8

Can we stop this?

Reform has 4 seats. Four. Them gaining power would require a swing in voting patterns unprecedented anywhere, ever

Saying it might get clicks, but it also normalises the Far Right. Anyone who knows history should know better.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Angela Rayner’s exit proves it. Unless Starmer is able to meet this moment, Reform is on the path to power | John Harris

The prime minister increasingly looks like a man next to a burning house, offering to buy a new bookcase and rug, says Guardian columnist John Harris

www.theguardian.com

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Peter Ryley @peterryley.bsky.social · Sep 7

That depends on how cynical (and wicked) you think they are. I don’t know whether they believe in it or simply exploit other people’s beliefs. Some do and some don’t is my guess.

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Peter Ryley @peterryley.bsky.social · Sep 7

Sometimes it's hard to know whether it's the crank or the grifter speaking. There's money in snake oil.

Dr Rachel Clarke @drrachelclarke.com · Sep 6

This is exactly the kind of despicable scaremongering that Aseem Malhotra has made his modus operandi. Insinuations, hearsay, anti-vaxx, non-evidence-based, lurid, self-enriching, anti-scientific claptrap. Of course Reform UK lapped it up. 1/4

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Peter Ryley @peterryley.bsky.social · Sep 6

"cheerful sounding music with sad or dark lyrics."

You've just described Greek laïko. An example:

youtu.be/V5u9Jeqpbd0?...

The chorus translates as:

I want one horse to be white
like the dreams I had as a child
and the other horse black
like my bitter and dark life

Ένα όμορφο αμάξι με δυο άλογα - Γρηγόρης Μπιθικώτσης

YouTube video by Konstantinos Spalioras

youtu.be

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