Howell Harris
@trefeca.bsky.social
Retired (US, business & technology) historian. Twitter escapee. Hope this doesn't go the same way. Welsh & European. Durham resident. Gardener & cyclist.
Nice review of Lodge’s work here — thecritic.co.uk/seriously-fu.... I really enjoyed his _Nice Work_ and the very good TV adaptation too. I skipped departmental evening meetings to watch it.
Seriously funny | John Self | The Critic Magazine
David Lodge’s achievement was to appeal to almost everyone who was interested in contemporary British fiction
thecritic.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 11:04 PM
Nice review of Lodge’s work here — thecritic.co.uk/seriously-fu.... I really enjoyed his _Nice Work_ and the very good TV adaptation too. I skipped departmental evening meetings to watch it.
Need to send some spare copies to Gaza (& Ukraine).
November 10, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Need to send some spare copies to Gaza (& Ukraine).
The chatbots will invent new prisoners to release & lose whose crimes are not a public priority & whose ethnic background is not problematic.
November 10, 2025 at 7:47 PM
The chatbots will invent new prisoners to release & lose whose crimes are not a public priority & whose ethnic background is not problematic.
Going to sue in a Florida court, apparently. For once London is not the venue of choice for a libel suit.
November 10, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Going to sue in a Florida court, apparently. For once London is not the venue of choice for a libel suit.
Chatbots will be able confidently to invent prisoners who don’t exist.
November 10, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Chatbots will be able confidently to invent prisoners who don’t exist.
You’re moonlighting under an assumed name, Mr Hutton. This bit of loopy satire is well worth reposting under your own name: thecritic.co.uk/lessons-for-....
Lessons for restoration from the Wiltshire wilderness | Bijan Omrani | The Critic Magazine
Why is a Mayfair think-tank marching its members up a rain-sodden hill in the middle of deepest Wiltshire? Why are they tromping through the wind and mud with a tweed-clad Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg in…
thecritic.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 7:40 PM
You’re moonlighting under an assumed name, Mr Hutton. This bit of loopy satire is well worth reposting under your own name: thecritic.co.uk/lessons-for-....
Years go by when I never even visit a doctor, so my National Insurance contributions & other taxes from which the NHS is funded were totally wasted. Except on other family members, who were not so lucky. And then, when I needed the NHS to save my eyesight or deal with a life-threatening emergency…
November 10, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Years go by when I never even visit a doctor, so my National Insurance contributions & other taxes from which the NHS is funded were totally wasted. Except on other family members, who were not so lucky. And then, when I needed the NHS to save my eyesight or deal with a life-threatening emergency…
“Frozen in fear” is their comfort zone, the only place where they think they know what they’re doing (cowering, comes naturally).
November 10, 2025 at 6:14 PM
“Frozen in fear” is their comfort zone, the only place where they think they know what they’re doing (cowering, comes naturally).
Read David Lodge’s great campus novel _Changing Places_ — when Morris Zapp from California comes on his exchange trip & stays at the Swallows’ house in Rummidge (Birmingham) he‘s appalled at the lack of central heating & what he thinks of as basic household appliances (washing machine, dishwasher).
November 10, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Read David Lodge’s great campus novel _Changing Places_ — when Morris Zapp from California comes on his exchange trip & stays at the Swallows’ house in Rummidge (Birmingham) he‘s appalled at the lack of central heating & what he thinks of as basic household appliances (washing machine, dishwasher).
Nice rhetorical question there.
November 10, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Nice rhetorical question there.
You really are a master of the tongue-in-cheek manoeuvre.
November 10, 2025 at 3:07 PM
You really are a master of the tongue-in-cheek manoeuvre.
One of the arguments for voluntary enlistment that I read in the local press was that conscription would inevitably happen, eventually, so by volunteering you got the chance to join the service/unit you wanted to, and to serve with your mates.
November 10, 2025 at 2:58 PM
One of the arguments for voluntary enlistment that I read in the local press was that conscription would inevitably happen, eventually, so by volunteering you got the chance to join the service/unit you wanted to, and to serve with your mates.
Every visit to FB involves cancelling slop accounts that FB has recommended. Every visit to X, if I make the mistake of looking at the “For You” feed instead of “Following” or a private list of good accounts still there, = deluge of pro-Israeli / MAGA / Reform or Tory ****. Only BlueSky is safe(ish)
November 10, 2025 at 10:49 AM
Every visit to FB involves cancelling slop accounts that FB has recommended. Every visit to X, if I make the mistake of looking at the “For You” feed instead of “Following” or a private list of good accounts still there, = deluge of pro-Israeli / MAGA / Reform or Tory ****. Only BlueSky is safe(ish)
Yes. I read the local papers for late summer 1914 & pressure was quite intense already. The only explanation for the brothers’ behaviour that I heard is that their mother, 4’6”, had them at 2-year intervals in her 30s, said she’d gone to a lot of trouble bearing them & the gov’t wasn’t having them.
November 10, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Yes. I read the local papers for late summer 1914 & pressure was quite intense already. The only explanation for the brothers’ behaviour that I heard is that their mother, 4’6”, had them at 2-year intervals in her 30s, said she’d gone to a lot of trouble bearing them & the gov’t wasn’t having them.
Was a bit of a local scandal — “the six brothers”. Three older brothers, 2 married with kids but all young enough to serve, failed to volunteer/resisted conscription too. I have the news reports on one great-uncle’s tribunal hearing — front-page news. They never talked about it, so I don’t know why
November 10, 2025 at 9:31 AM
Was a bit of a local scandal — “the six brothers”. Three older brothers, 2 married with kids but all young enough to serve, failed to volunteer/resisted conscription too. I have the news reports on one great-uncle’s tribunal hearing — front-page news. They never talked about it, so I don’t know why
Three of my great-uncles — all single, late 20s-early 30s — took ship for the USA together in October 1914 because they, or their mother, could see the way the wind was blowing — strong social pressure to enlist. Didn’t come back until 1921. May have moved to Latin America to escape Can/US draft.
November 9, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Three of my great-uncles — all single, late 20s-early 30s — took ship for the USA together in October 1914 because they, or their mother, could see the way the wind was blowing — strong social pressure to enlist. Didn’t come back until 1921. May have moved to Latin America to escape Can/US draft.
What’s happened to the poor old thing now?
November 9, 2025 at 9:16 PM
What’s happened to the poor old thing now?
In Ship Street, built against the old city wall. I woke up with a stiff neck because my pillow (damp from being against the outside wall) had frozen hard overnight. Not funny! The place had not been modernised since they installed electricity & hot water for US airmen (officers) in 1940s. Primitive.
November 9, 2025 at 9:15 PM
In Ship Street, built against the old city wall. I woke up with a stiff neck because my pillow (damp from being against the outside wall) had frozen hard overnight. Not funny! The place had not been modernised since they installed electricity & hot water for US airmen (officers) in 1940s. Primitive.
You have to climb inside the fridge to get the proper experience nowadays.
November 9, 2025 at 9:11 PM
You have to climb inside the fridge to get the proper experience nowadays.
Not just the50s. I didn’t live in a centrally heated house (or indeed university lodging) until 1971, and didn’t have proper central heating in a home of my own until the mid-80s. The worst pre-c.h. experience was my first year at Oxford — room in a C17th house, lath & plaster walls, 1-bar elec fire
November 9, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Not just the50s. I didn’t live in a centrally heated house (or indeed university lodging) until 1971, and didn’t have proper central heating in a home of my own until the mid-80s. The worst pre-c.h. experience was my first year at Oxford — room in a C17th house, lath & plaster walls, 1-bar elec fire
P.S. Back in the old days that part of the mountains was about the only place you’d ever see a kite, & not reliably — had to walk to the RSPB or was it W. Wales Naturalists’ reserve on the Doethie & Pysgotwr for your best chance.
November 9, 2025 at 4:52 PM
P.S. Back in the old days that part of the mountains was about the only place you’d ever see a kite, & not reliably — had to walk to the RSPB or was it W. Wales Naturalists’ reserve on the Doethie & Pysgotwr for your best chance.
Thought so! Rode there on my 24th birthday in November 1975, when I was teaching at Lampeter, on my old road bike. It was bitterly cold and the road was icy in places. Would love to do it on my 74th in a week or so on my hybrid/gravel bike, but it’s a LONG way away.
November 9, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Thought so! Rode there on my 24th birthday in November 1975, when I was teaching at Lampeter, on my old road bike. It was bitterly cold and the road was icy in places. Would love to do it on my 74th in a week or so on my hybrid/gravel bike, but it’s a LONG way away.