Alasdair Pettinger
Words | history | sounds. Author, editor, archivist. Autistic. Latchy student of Gàidhlig, Cymraeg, Kreyòl & stringed instruments. Book: Frederick Douglass and Scotland, 1846. Researching revolutionary slogans. North Pembrokeshire. www.bulldozia.com
- Reposted by Alasdair PettingerThis is presumably taking the piss out of Robin William's 2009 suggestion that politicians should wear jackets with the logos of their 'sponsors' on them, like racing car-drivers, so the public would be able to tell who they really work for. www.snopes.com/fact-check/r...
- Richard Skelton (@corbelstonepress.bsky.social) is the featured artist this month at www.patreon.com/HeadphoneCom... - in-depth interviews, tracks to stream, albums to download. Subscribe for as little as £1 a month. Well worth it.
- On pork as a shibboleth and how conversos and moriscos in Spain sought to avoid persecution as heretics by hanging sausages in their homes or cooking ham they had no intention of eating. And how “¿come jamón?” has been revitalised as a test of national belonging. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
- Reposted by Alasdair Pettinger📣 Today @felicitycallard.bsky.social and I have published the first peer-reviewed response to the 'Sullivan Review' of research and data on sex and gender. doi.org/10.1111/tran... The Review could threaten trans rights and inclusion, erode academic freedom, and undermine research quality.
- A fine appreciation of 'the song’s serpentine groove, a hypnotic inside-out drum pattern that’s difficult to resist and seemingly impossible for anyone but the late icon Sly Dunbar'—its origins and afterlife: pitchfork.com/reviews/trac...
- 'It was November. The girl looked up at the cloudy sky and sighed like a housewife disappointed in the whiteness of her wash.' You could spend a whole morning with a story by Leonora Brito nation.cymru/culture/revi...
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- Reposted by Alasdair PettingerAmid growing calls for the abolition of ICE, Rep. Delia Ramirez is calling for the entire DHS to be dismantled. Highlighting how much experience the officers who killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti had, Ramirez said, “DHS was built to violate our rights and has been empowered to act with impunity.”
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- Robert Burns' song 'Scots wha hae', as it was first printed (anonymously, sort of), in The Morning Chronicle, 8 May 1794.
- This was not the first version. Burns originally wrote it with the old tune 'Hey Tuttie Tatie' in mind, but was persuaded to add extra syllables to the last line of each verse to make it fit the Jacobite tune 'Lewie Gordon'. The first version is the one usually sung today.
- Although clearly inspired by events in the distant Scottish past, Burns famously confided that it alluded to 'other struggles not quite so ancient'. Jacobin slogans may be detected between the lines here, slogans which, if uttered in public in Britain at the time, would land you in prison, or worse.
- Delighted to find this extract from a letter dated 21 January, 1775, published in the (London) Public Advertiser, 29 April 1775. 1/5
- 'Liberty or Death' has long been assumed to have been coined by Patrick Henry in a speech in Richmond, VA in March 1775. But only because of a biography published 40 years later, drawing on the memories of those who were there. 'Give me liberty or give me death!' he was alleged to have said. 2/5
- By then the slogan had swept across North America and Europe like a contagion, a fact that clearly shaped those recollections - even though no-one hitherto had associated it with the Virginian orator. After 1817, Henry was eagery identified as Patient Zero. 3/5
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View full threadAnd now, here is conclusive evidence that even the form 'Liberty or Death' itself predated that speech of March 1775. 5/5
- 'The same people who are most skeptical regarding the intelligence and awareness of animals are often also those most credulous regarding the ability of computers to achieve consciousness or general intelligence': davidbentleyhart.substack.com/p/thoughts-i...
- On the bus from Eglwswrw to Aberystwyth. Change of driver at Cardigan but otherwise no cause for alarm.
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- 'This is why the chant “Death to the tyrant, whether king or [supreme] leader” resonates so powerfully. Iranians are rejecting the Islamic Republic, but also foreign-backed alternatives promoted by exile figures such as Reza Pahlavi' www.972mag.com/iran-protest...
- Please mind the gap between the brain and the mandible.
- 'In the UK, polishing is a national past-time. Shiny surfaces. Gloss. Gloss.' A killjoy new year message from @saranahmed.bsky.social feministkilljoys.substack.com/p/an-empire-...
- It has long been known that in 1937 Winston Churchill gave a speech where he argued that profits from slavery helped finance the industrial revolution in Britain. Here Peter Hulme looks at newspaper reports of the occasion & casts light on the wider context of his remarks: brill.com/view/journal...
- Reposted by Alasdair Pettingerwill also add - yes, this is my personal crusade - that turning podcasts into videos implicitly asks women to once again make more effort than men, as the bar for "camera-ready" for one gender is obviously higher than for the other
- '“The Malay–took the Pearl–” is ... about being mistreated & stigmatized ... about having your humanity and your love ignored & denigrated. ... [Dickinson] responded ... by blaming Black people for her troubles. That’s how white supremacy works': www.everythingishorrible.net/p/emily-dick...
- Excellent news. Someone I voted for actually got elected. By a convincing (60:40) margin.
- 🗳️ Andrea Egan has been elected as the next general secretary of UNISON. UNISON general secretary elect Andrea Egan said: “I’m honoured to take up the post of general secretary at UNISON, and I’m grateful for the trust placed in me." Read ⬇️ unsn.uk/4qizGAT
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- Big fan of Sean Borodale. The bio Poetry Ireland provides here ignores his first book, 'Notes for an Atlas', which I enthuse about here: www.bulldozia.com/2011/11/27/s...
- Poetry Ireland is delighted to announce the appointment of Sean Borodale as its new Poet in Residence. Read more about Sean and the role at: www.poetryireland.ie/news/poetry-... The Poet in Residence is supported by @brinkerhoffpoetry.bsky.social
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- What a loathsome headline.
- Preseli skies, an hour before sunset.
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- Choose your shibboleth carefully. A lesson from the Gordon Riots. In 1780 the Protestant Association recommended its supporters wear blue cockades as they marched on Parliament to protest the Catholic Relief Act. 1/3 www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/wp-content/u...
- When the crowd turned violent, attacking the property of Catholics and other minorities, those they targeted took the precaution of wearing blue cockades too, as did petty criminals who took advantage of the disorder. 2/3
- Before long the Association issued a plea that ‘all peaceable and well-disposed persons … abstain from wearing BLUE COCKADES, as these ensigns are now assumed by a set of miscreants.’ 3/3 archive.org/details/bim_...
- This book (and all others by @edinburghup.bsky.social) are half price this weekend from their website: edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-frederi...
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- Flaubert proved the same - and with more humour - in 'Bouvard and Pecuchet', though 'Googling and reading about it' was shown to be not much better.
- Relying on ChatGPT to teach you about a topic leaves you with shallower knowledge than Googling and reading about it, according to new research that compared what more than 10,000 people knew after using one method or the other. Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
- Two middle-aged blokes talking about music of yesteryear (a bit too laid back and smooth for me), but the chat about the ambient underground scene in South London in the early 1990s is very interesting. Strictly Kev talks us through the Telepathic Fish compilation: www.mixcloud.com/do_you_radio...
- Trains cancelled.
- Reposted by Alasdair PettingerHAITI ARE INTO THEIR FIRST WORLD CUP IN HALF A CENTURY ❤️
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- Just came across this podcast from @jemgilbert.bsky.social and Tim Lawrence. No indication of when it was made, but their discussion of the political nuances of the summer of love & the momentous influence of David Mancuso was excellent: www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk/series1/welc...
- What a great Pick of the Week from @scouttzofiya.bsky.social with cod-slam poetry, the word 'cistension', the sound of agoraphobia, Walt Whitman, Johnny Cash, an introduction to musique concrète and a closing snippet of strangeness from LINTD: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
- Handbill advertising a debate hosted by Robert Wedderburn in London in August 1819, a week before Peterloo. 1/2
- 'Robert Wedderburn proposed a model of freedom that profoundly reverses the white abolitionist belief that European models of liberty will eventually spread to the Caribbean' (Katey Castellano): www.cambridge.org/gb/universit... 2/2
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- Reposted by Alasdair PettingerWithout even consulting members, UNISON backs Bridget Phillipson as Deputy Labour Leader. Its time to put UNISON members first.
- 'The BBC will only survive if the people who fund it are actively and directly involved in running it. An institution that began life as a private company and became a chartered corporation must now become a public service cooperative': substack.com/inbox/post/....
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- Autumn colours, Cambuslang.
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- Reposted by Alasdair PettingerIn the midst of horrific mass killings and violence, British-made military equipment has been found in Sudan. It's clear our arms export licensing system is not fit for purpose; we need a full review, alongside an embargo on all arms exports to the UAE now.
- '“The mood board was definitely New York iconography: taxicab yellow, MetroCard primary colors, bodega awnings, stuff people are familiar with in the New York street.”' www.curbed.com/article/zohr...
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