Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Richard Irvine

@robotforaday.bsky.social

1.1K followers 340 following 350 posts

Anthropologist and on-call firefighter. Rousay, Orkney / St Andrews, Fife. Author of _An Anthropology of Deep Time_ (Cambridge UP, 2020) and _The Vow of Stability_ (Scottish UP, 2025). Counter-revolutionary.

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Richard Irvine @robotforaday.bsky.social · May 20

"this continuity is not simply the comfort of familiarity; it is an unsettling of the ordinary and the everyday... Stability is a work of perseverance open to the unknown."

My new book, The Vow of Stability, now published open access with @scotunipress.bsky.social
books.sup.ac.uk/sup/catalog/...

1 3 18

Richard Irvine @robotforaday.bsky.social · 4d

@emmacrewe.bsky.social Hiya, do you know who's convening the seminars this year?

Richard Irvine @robotforaday.bsky.social · 5d

Tankie fuckwit

Richard Irvine @robotforaday.bsky.social · 5d

"Do you support genocide" asks the fucking Stalinist.

1 1

Richard Irvine @robotforaday.bsky.social · 6d

Are you and @profdanhicks.bsky.social familiar with one another? Seems like you should be

1 1

Richard Irvine @robotforaday.bsky.social · 8d

Indeed; I looked it up; "If, in the opinion of Council, the conduct of any Fellow... is injurious to the character or interests of the Society.." etc. The President's statement moves the goalposts; but in a farcical way because it pretends Musk's appointment was something other than PR.

Richard Irvine @robotforaday.bsky.social · 8d

So it makes no sense to talk about "values that allow science to flourish" when those weren't the grounds on which he was made FRS. He was appointed BECAUSE of his public profile. So how he uses that public profile is absolutely salient to whether he should be fellow. The Royal Society are cowards.

Richard Irvine @robotforaday.bsky.social · 8d

...He's a celebrity recipient because people in institutions like the Royal Society aren't immune to wanting to cling onto relevance/ influence/ stay where the money is/ boast that they met celebs...

1 1

Richard Irvine @robotforaday.bsky.social · 8d

This sort of argument might make logical sense if talking about someone who got the FRS based on their scientific work but then turned out to be a twat (e.g. Crick being a creepy eugenicist). But it flounders here because you can't pretend Musk was given a FRS because of scientific merit...

1 1

Richard Irvine @robotforaday.bsky.social · 9d

Think they're based in Brussels these days? Not as exotic sadly.

1 1

Richard Irvine @robotforaday.bsky.social · 10d

I like Altan Gobi but the last time I was there I discovered that Sengur were making a wheatbeer and that has become my favourite Mongolian beer

Richard Irvine @robotforaday.bsky.social · 10d

"it was all just too polite."

I absolutely agree with this review of the 2025 Liverpool Biennial, which left me quite underwhelmed and honestly a bit disheartened.

the white pube @thewhitepube.bsky.social · 25d

this year's Liverpool Biennial might be too polite
thewhitepube.co.uk/texts/2025/l...

Fred Wilson's flag paintings in royal institution of British architecture liverpool

Richard Irvine @robotforaday.bsky.social · 13d

We shouldn't be so harsh on them, it keeps the prices low for the customer. I mean, you can't charge the bargain price of €102 for a book if you're going to pay for cover art.

1 7

Richard Irvine @robotforaday.bsky.social · 19d

Yep, I had already disconnected from it because it was 99% bots and bullshit. Let's not forget how frequently it was breaking down in the year after the takeover. Ethics and politics is one thing; but X is just a terrible platform from a design point of view. Why would I waste my time there?

1 1

Richard Irvine @robotforaday.bsky.social · 19d

Joke of a University

Reposted by Richard Irvine

Philip Amies @amiesphilip.bsky.social · 19d

1813 a Great Auk killed at Papa Westray, Orkney, the penultimate Great Auk record for Britain. Which Miss Traill was kind enough to send Mr. Bullock the specimen for his London Museum?

www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/wor...

1 5 29

Richard Irvine @robotforaday.bsky.social · 22d

It's so awful on every level I can't help but feel that it's a Swiftian satire that pushes the position to its extreme conclusion precisely to show how morally repugnant it is. Right? Right...? Surely?

1 1

Richard Irvine @robotforaday.bsky.social · 24d

Danny Kruger's book Covenant was a deeply thoughtful outline of the post-liberal position (not to say I agreed with it all). Disappointing that he's thrown it in the bin & defected to Farage's grifters, who have no interest in a "renewed social contract", only divide and rule for personal enrichment

Richard Irvine @robotforaday.bsky.social · 25d

I used to spend my summers working in construction in Ireland and... yes. That's my recollection of it. It just rains.

Richard Irvine @robotforaday.bsky.social · 28d

I think one of the key differences is that this place is not algorithmically led. I have no doubt that people have said morally dubious things in the wake of Kirk being shot, but they're not on my timeline; whereas X's algo elevated and pushed extreme views onto my timeline hour by hour.

1 1

Richard Irvine @robotforaday.bsky.social · 29d

A key theme of today's ritual is to recall the generations who fought for Gibraltar's existence, and to communicate that sense of belonging for future generations. Here are two flags flown at the National Day rally that give a sense of the lively development of Gibraltarian national identity today.

Richard Irvine @robotforaday.bsky.social · 29d

Happy Gibraltar National Day!
Today commemorates the sovereignty referendum of 1967, when the people of Gibraltar voted to reject Franco and retain their British sovereignty. Wonderful to be back on fieldwork here.

1 3

Richard Irvine @robotforaday.bsky.social · Sep 7

It's amazing how precisely Tuchel conforms to the typical character of an FA coach/ England manager: an infantilising boss reliant on yes men, allergic to flair players, setting teams up to underwhelm with a negative style of play.

1 1

Richard Irvine @robotforaday.bsky.social · Sep 2

And yet:
"'Look how absurd I was when I was young' forestalls cruel criticism, but it falsifies history... Those emotions were real when we felt them. Why should we be more ashamed of them than of the indifference of old age"-Graham Greene, A Sort of Life (which I read during that stay in Gibraltar)

Richard Irvine @robotforaday.bsky.social · Sep 2

Reading over the fieldnotes for my undergraduate dissertation research in Gibraltar - 22 years ago (!) - before heading out there again for National Day and a short bit of fieldwork.

Still the best fieldnotes I've written but it's hard not to cringe at the po-faced scrawlings of youth.

1 1

Richard Irvine @robotforaday.bsky.social · Aug 31

Hard to explain the impact of this deeply personal work by @wildtwin.bsky.social. There's a sadness to it, no doubt, but in the afterglow I felt uplifted and the Liverpool streets seemed full of mystery and promise again. Well worth seeing for anyone who's in town.

Colossive Press @colossive.com · Aug 31

Just back from a lovely 24-hour trip to Liverpool to see our award-winning friend/Colossive Cartographer @wildtwin.bsky.social's beautiful and multi-layered Haunted Paper show at Dorothy on Jamaica Street.

It's on until September 19th - so do catch it if you can!

1 2 8