Phil Miles

Durham University students of a certain vintage need only apply…..

Fabulous! New black passport giving me free movement to the Isle of Wight, the Scillies (I think), and Lundy. Thank you Brexit Patriots! I’m off on my travels! 🙏☺️

I said ‘have a good time … all the time’ to myself in the garden on Sunday as a way of cheering myself up after a rubbish day. It’s probably my favourite line in the movie. RIP the great Viv Savage/David Kaff #SpinalTap www.theguardian.com/film/2025/ju...

It’s taken a while to get around to this, but it’s absolutely outstanding. The Cure, man. They keep doing it! #TheCure

Obviously felt he hadn’t shorted the world markets for a while….. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Read about Diogo Jota about 25 minutes ago. It’s taken me that amount of time to convince myself I’m not dreaming and to absorb the shock. Oh man, a complete tragedy: for his family, his club, his teammates, Portugal, and football in general. #Jota #RIP #LFC

Honestly, the only the second acknowledgment of Brian Jones in Cheltenham that I’ve seen in 11 years. Pretty shameful, really 🤷🏻‍♂️

I’m starting to look at Bernie Sanders and believe that, for all of our sakes, there is no alternative.

Something of a life changing publication for me, this one #Cambridge

I’ve been expecting you. Wish I had a few rural hours of my own to meander through it, but dull old Cheltenham will have to do 😔 #Literature #Modernism #VirginiaWoolf

www.theguardian.com/football/202... I always felt good when Uriah Rennie refereed our games; he was a fair and fabulous ref and a trailblazer. So sad to read about his passing. #LFC

Lande Hekt is really something else. Yeah.

Things that resurface in boxes 40-odd years later.

Just bought a new MacBook Air with the M4 chip. I can now get from the Chiswick Flyover to Pont Abraham services at 229 mb/s.

#Newsnight platforming Reform extremists again. It’s almost as if the BBC want to see the end of the welfare state and a downward drift into Trumpian fascism in the UK 🤔

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025... Dear God, how can this sort of behaviour be considered acceptable and normal by anybody, anywhere, ever….? An utterly depressing read.

Chances of my team screwing up the league title from a position of strength? I’d say, with loads of piss poor teams coming up, it’s pretty much odds on. #LFC

Oh man. Pretty sure even Tregroes waffles are shrinking. #shrinkflation

Kind of agreed, but Brexit hasn’t helped and I don’t recall this narcissistic burk doing much to stop that Leave vote in 2016. Ho hum 🙄

Dear America, can you please sort this shit out? It’s tedious, dangerous, and embarrassing the world. Cheers.

Apple Weather App thing totally on the ball yet again. A triumph!

What *does* one say to colleagues who have appeared regularly on Russia Today? I mean, it’s all about the intellectual and intuitive ability to make informed choices, surely?

Bit early, but the Kremlin HR are clearly keen for an early performance appraisal

I had a dream I’d see The Jam play together again. Now it’s gone. RIP Rick Buckler #RickBuckler

Why not pay the players a bit less than their current grotesquely overinflated salaries and keep a few of the minions in a job? I guess this is modern economy writ large huh? #MUFC

Here’s a link to my 4*REF, critically acclaimed monograph book thing on midlife creatives that you have never heard of. www.amazon.co.uk/Midlife-Crea...

Here’s a link to my 4*REF, critically acclaimed monograph book thing on midlife creatives that you have never heard of. www.amazon.co.uk/Midlife-Crea...

Marianne Faithfull, man. It’s all starting to feel like losing family. #RIP #MarianneFaithfull

That nice feeling when you drop into a rural second hand bookshop and grab two novels for £8 that you were looking at paying north of £25 for via the standard Bezos Marketplace ‘in-bits-and-covered-in-writing-but-called-very-good-condition’ swindle…..

The abject failure of political education and a triumph for social media sociopaths and mega rich worldwide. Words fail me 😔

Remember when these once-every-thirty-days c.100 MPH winds were once-every-century? #StormÉowyn

Remember when the USA used to be the good guys? Now it seems their “leaders” fancy stamping you under a jackboot. WTAF is going on man? #Musk

Tony Slattery was always my favourite of that Cambridge vintage. It’s very sad to read of his passing.

Penalty shootout at the Emirates to decide who plays Liverpool at home in the next round #LFC #AFCMNU

I’m now pretty sure that Cambridge United just need to get relegated. Years of pretending we’re a League One side when in reality it’s simply a level too high….

Jimmy Carter. The last emblem of my childhood. All time passes eventually, if you see what I mean.

I mean, WTAF?! Geoffrey Hinton says there is 10-20% chance AI will lead to human extinction in three decades, as change moves fast

Getting hammered by near-hurricane winds every ten days has become part of a completely normalized weather narrative these days, hasn’t it? #StormDarragh

During Covid lockdown, if you had family round on Christmas Day the police could force their way into your home and make them return to their own homes. Does anybody know if this service is still available and, if so, do you have to book it?

With a name like this they had better be prepared for anonymous (and personalised) audience complaints, chronic job insecurity, and the only gigs they can land being in China or Uzbekistan. #Academia

Friday reading coffee is, this week, sans reading. Instead, I’m supping instant (from the 41 year-old mug my mum bought me in ‘83) while fleetingly home in Wales….

Took a moment out of a research field trip to touch base with home. Miss you so much Cambridge….I’ll be back soon. #Haslingfield #Cambridge

When reading fiction provides lots to think (and write) about….. #literature #research #English #escapethesheerdrudgeryoflife

When people and things pish me off, this bad boy never lets me down. #Fender

Sorry to read that Sandra Gilbert has died. Her work, especially with Susan Gubar, represents a gold standard in criticism.

Ubiquitous‘Apple Weather App is on Drugs Again’ photograph. The app says it’s windy and raining in Cheltenham right now. 🙄

Mrs. Caliban and I have stopped for a research field trip coffee….

Friday reading coffee at the Kings Coffee shop and Sauna in Charlton Kings, Cheltenham. One day I’ll be back at Caffè Nero on Kings Parade, Cambridge but, for now, I can sweat it out…..

Nish Kumar in Cheltenham tonight reminded me of prime ‘motormouth’-era Ben Elton, but with loads more swearing. Loved it!

Fiona Bruce? Nigel Farage? Ticey Boy? Fascist Barbie? That American woman from the Tufton Street thing? Le Tiss? I just can’t work out where to place my bet on Davie and Gibb’s choice for Lineker’s replacement as MotD host……