Chris Millard
@chrismillard83.bsky.social
Historian of modern Britain: self-harm, suicide, child abuse, concepts of personal experience, vicarious trauma. (he/him)
Books on "self-harm" (2015) and "personal experience" (2026) - co-edited book on "sources in the history of psychiatry" (2022)
Books on "self-harm" (2015) and "personal experience" (2026) - co-edited book on "sources in the history of psychiatry" (2022)
some light relief from the unending doom of the academia discourse - this is what peak male self-citation performance looks like
![Various accounts of my diagnosis and treatment for schizophrenia have been published elsewhere [superscript numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14.] These publications give details regarding my experiences...](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:xuecvebvzstg6oxzicurnfh4/bafkreib4y74lqiyi3fxwidkgrrciegv4k3zlh5j5ewfae4c4bljykv4vx4)
September 21, 2026 at 10:20 AM
some light relief from the unending doom of the academia discourse - this is what peak male self-citation performance looks like
this bit from Jonathan Liew's piece on the very sad recent events around Raheem Sterling, and of *children* playing profession football, hits me right in the fucking gut
![And by any measure, Sterling is one of the lucky ones. The teenager who made it, who scaled the peaks, won 82 international caps, four league titles, worked under one of the greatest managers of all time, who tasted the manna even if it eventually choked him. How many other thousands of lives you will never see have been fruitlessly and callously bent and twisted towards this world: skills you will never witness, names you will never hear? [Highlighted in yellow:] How much humanity are we prepared to fling into this machine in order for it to provide us with entertainment?](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:xuecvebvzstg6oxzicurnfh4/bafkreideprjs643gsa34xjomo5dobbx5pmqq7ckzs53svum275jrbf3mza)
September 18, 2026 at 10:26 AM
this bit from Jonathan Liew's piece on the very sad recent events around Raheem Sterling, and of *children* playing profession football, hits me right in the fucking gut
oh look another telegraph article absolutely driving a truck through any interesting analysis of how questions of fluid identity, online presence, and illness might interact, and just being the most reactionary shits, what a surprise
September 6, 2026 at 4:32 PM
oh look another telegraph article absolutely driving a truck through any interesting analysis of how questions of fluid identity, online presence, and illness might interact, and just being the most reactionary shits, what a surprise
not only is this a horrible implicit continuation of the kicking of Jason Arday (already hounded to death), but it is a catastrophically stupid binary choice, without even mentioning the impossibility of “fact-checking” to such a degree.
August 27, 2026 at 11:19 AM
not only is this a horrible implicit continuation of the kicking of Jason Arday (already hounded to death), but it is a catastrophically stupid binary choice, without even mentioning the impossibility of “fact-checking” to such a degree.
“I’m escaping to the one place that hasn’t been corrupted by capitalism… SPAACE!”
RIP Tim Curry.
RIP Tim Curry.
August 26, 2026 at 3:41 PM
“I’m escaping to the one place that hasn’t been corrupted by capitalism… SPAACE!”
RIP Tim Curry.
RIP Tim Curry.
i don’t think it is very useful to define fascism in terms of “expression of emotions” and especially not the expression of some basic human desires, as that risks recapitulating some of the argumentative logic of fascism itself and its proximity (in its own estimation) to “human nature”
August 24, 2026 at 2:22 PM
i don’t think it is very useful to define fascism in terms of “expression of emotions” and especially not the expression of some basic human desires, as that risks recapitulating some of the argumentative logic of fascism itself and its proximity (in its own estimation) to “human nature”
this is a sobering read, and clearly the result of hard-won insight, experience and critical labour. the points about diminishing goodwill from students and the anger some of them feel are v well taken, but I just don’t think this conclusion is true
August 24, 2026 at 8:42 AM
this is a sobering read, and clearly the result of hard-won insight, experience and critical labour. the points about diminishing goodwill from students and the anger some of them feel are v well taken, but I just don’t think this conclusion is true
“intellectual pluralism” bloody hell
surely if “conservative” ideas were the best out there at explaining the phenomena in the world and how it works, they would simply come out on top in a process of intellectual natural selection / marketplace of ideas etc
surely if “conservative” ideas were the best out there at explaining the phenomena in the world and how it works, they would simply come out on top in a process of intellectual natural selection / marketplace of ideas etc
August 22, 2026 at 4:06 PM
“intellectual pluralism” bloody hell
surely if “conservative” ideas were the best out there at explaining the phenomena in the world and how it works, they would simply come out on top in a process of intellectual natural selection / marketplace of ideas etc
surely if “conservative” ideas were the best out there at explaining the phenomena in the world and how it works, they would simply come out on top in a process of intellectual natural selection / marketplace of ideas etc
Stephen Jay Gould's _The Mismeasure of Man_ is still available to be borrowed from Ghent library if you need it!
August 21, 2026 at 10:51 AM
Stephen Jay Gould's _The Mismeasure of Man_ is still available to be borrowed from Ghent library if you need it!
ok so if this is true then what is the value of using AI? If it takes you *months* to revise and re-prompt a LLM, what is the point? Where is the gain?
a man has been caught out using AI and basically is making up a backstory of care and critical thinking to cover his back
a man has been caught out using AI and basically is making up a backstory of care and critical thinking to cover his back
August 18, 2026 at 4:57 PM
ok so if this is true then what is the value of using AI? If it takes you *months* to revise and re-prompt a LLM, what is the point? Where is the gain?
a man has been caught out using AI and basically is making up a backstory of care and critical thinking to cover his back
a man has been caught out using AI and basically is making up a backstory of care and critical thinking to cover his back
not that Cofnas’ work really repays close critique (founded as it is on the ideas it attempts to “test”), but it’s startling how this piece opens the abstract with this pie in the sky idea that generic bases for intelligence will soon *likely* be found!
August 17, 2026 at 8:55 PM
not that Cofnas’ work really repays close critique (founded as it is on the ideas it attempts to “test”), but it’s startling how this piece opens the abstract with this pie in the sky idea that generic bases for intelligence will soon *likely* be found!
I just don’t think this is any kind of adequate answer
August 6, 2026 at 9:14 PM
I just don’t think this is any kind of adequate answer
This from Jason Okundaye’s article on the Arday business has been rattling round in my head all day - and his point about how difficult it is to have a progressive critique of EDI and tokenism when it is under such sustained attack from the opposite direction
August 6, 2026 at 6:28 PM
This from Jason Okundaye’s article on the Arday business has been rattling round in my head all day - and his point about how difficult it is to have a progressive critique of EDI and tokenism when it is under such sustained attack from the opposite direction
STOP PUSHING THIS SHIT ONTO PEOPLE WHY DOES THIS JUST POP UP AND INTRUDE ON AN ARTICLE I AM TRYING TO READ
August 3, 2026 at 12:16 PM
STOP PUSHING THIS SHIT ONTO PEOPLE WHY DOES THIS JUST POP UP AND INTRUDE ON AN ARTICLE I AM TRYING TO READ
there are plenty of questions we might ask about the diagnostic parameters of ADHD, and the changing interpretation of them, and of the thresholds for medicating children, and the way withdrawal of other services pushes people into labels, but this question is both damaging and stupid
August 3, 2026 at 8:12 AM
there are plenty of questions we might ask about the diagnostic parameters of ADHD, and the changing interpretation of them, and of the thresholds for medicating children, and the way withdrawal of other services pushes people into labels, but this question is both damaging and stupid
this beats even the venerable description of a pass smashed across the six yard box, towards the far post as a “cross cum shot”
July 6, 2026 at 9:35 PM
this beats even the venerable description of a pass smashed across the six yard box, towards the far post as a “cross cum shot”
it’s too hot for this i level of irritation
June 26, 2026 at 8:12 PM
it’s too hot for this i level of irritation
not possible to find "thoughtful gifts" by using Chat GPT because the whole point of a thoughtful gift is that you have invested substantial thought into it, not outsourced that "thought" to a machine creating strings of words based on what other people have thought that thoughtful might look like
June 24, 2026 at 11:27 AM
not possible to find "thoughtful gifts" by using Chat GPT because the whole point of a thoughtful gift is that you have invested substantial thought into it, not outsourced that "thought" to a machine creating strings of words based on what other people have thought that thoughtful might look like
ah yes the argument that one cannot be a 'postmodern relativist' and reasonably hold any defensible position about anything because "nothing is real it's all social constructed, reality doesn't exist"
jolly good chaps well done i am glad you are so excellent at knowing stuff
jolly good chaps well done i am glad you are so excellent at knowing stuff
June 6, 2026 at 8:17 PM
ah yes the argument that one cannot be a 'postmodern relativist' and reasonably hold any defensible position about anything because "nothing is real it's all social constructed, reality doesn't exist"
jolly good chaps well done i am glad you are so excellent at knowing stuff
jolly good chaps well done i am glad you are so excellent at knowing stuff
man has gone full self parody
June 5, 2026 at 8:17 PM
man has gone full self parody
oh good the daily telegraph have found out how to annoy exactly me (to paraphrase Stuart Lee)
June 5, 2026 at 7:50 PM
oh good the daily telegraph have found out how to annoy exactly me (to paraphrase Stuart Lee)
economics prof on the other site absolutely telling on himself oh my god
people just copy citations they've not read to look credible? citations are absolutely central the to the whole purpose of scholarship, which is informed and critical conversation with others
people just copy citations they've not read to look credible? citations are absolutely central the to the whole purpose of scholarship, which is informed and critical conversation with others
May 20, 2026 at 4:43 PM
economics prof on the other site absolutely telling on himself oh my god
people just copy citations they've not read to look credible? citations are absolutely central the to the whole purpose of scholarship, which is informed and critical conversation with others
people just copy citations they've not read to look credible? citations are absolutely central the to the whole purpose of scholarship, which is informed and critical conversation with others
on page one, no quotes are fabricated
May 19, 2026 at 5:34 PM
on page one, no quotes are fabricated