Marc Hudson

@marchudson

Failing/ed academic (socio-technical transitions), climate historian, writer, video maker. Most days I think we're toast. #envhist See also allouryesterdays.info @allouryesterdays.bsky.social

2,082 Following4,453 Followers3,497 Posts

YouTube YouTube Bluesky

Is this your profile?Claim it and marchudson.dirty.social is yours.Claim profile

Marc Hudson@marchudson· 24d

No, nobody has ever even hinted that I might be a bit odd. Why do you ask?

Screengrab of spreadsheet showing that I am reading/narrating and blogging Ovid's metamorphoses.

Marc Hudson@marchudson· 25d

The Pitt, Black Liberation, and what we are not told. marchudson.net/2026/07/17/t...

Photo of Freedom House Emergency Ambulance staff around an ambulance.

Marc Hudson@marchudson· 26d

you have to be kidding. magazine.atavist.com/2019/the-fir...

Born in Vienna in 1924, Safar was drafted into Adolf Hitler’s army despite his Jewish ancestry. In 1943, he was nearly sent to fight on the Eastern Front; he escaped deployment by smearing himself with an ointment that inflamed his eczema. He began studying medicine and emigrated to the United States in 1949. He settled in Baltimore, where he practiced medicine and studied resuscitation. Safar discovered that adding direct ventilation—now called mouth-to-mouth—to the already established practice of chest compressions exponentially increased the chance of survival for a patient in cardiac arrest. Though Safar is now hailed as the father of CPR, the medical establishment initially disagreed with his notion that the method could, maybe even should, be taught to private citizens. To prove them wrong, Safar paralyzed volunteers with curare, the compound used by Amazonian tribes to make poison-tipped arrows, and trained Boy Scouts kept them breathing using only mouth-to-mouth. Gradually, across America, ordinary people began using CPR.

Marc Hudson@marchudson· 26d

Thank goodness this is the *only time ever* that People Of Colour built up something, only for jealous brittle white supremacists to steal it from them and write the POC out of history. It would be awful if that happened, like, all the time. And yes, via The Pitt Season 1.

Freedom House Ambulance Service's request to expand their contract with the city to cover additional parts of the city was denied by the mayor, despite their strong record.[6][5] This denied them the chance to serve more affluent neighborhoods in which they would likely have been more able to collect the fees they charged for ambulance service.[5] During Flaherty's time as Mayor, the city began providing payment for the ambulance contract late,[5] and cut its portion of the ambulance service's operating budget by 50%.[2][5]

Flaherty also signed an ordinance barring the use of ambulance sirens in the downtown area, with noise complaints given as the reason.[5][2][3] This slowed the paramedics when transporting patients to hospitals as well as their response time, allowing the police to reach more calls before them.[5]

In 1974, the Mayor announced plans for a citywide ambulance system to be staffed by police officers trained as paramedics.[5] Faced with resistance from city council member Eugene DePasquale, the mayor agreed to fund the Freedom House Ambulance Service contract for one more year.[5] At the end of the year, the Mayor then announced the creation of a citywide ambulance service to be staffed by non-police paramedics and the end of the contract with Freedom House.[2][5]

Closure
The Freedom House Ambulance Service closed on October 15, 1975.[5]

All of the paramedics initially hired to staff the new city ambulance service which succeeded it were white.[5][2] Then the previous medical director of the Freedom House Ambulance Service, Dr. Nancy Caroline, accepted a position

Marc Hudson@marchudson· 26d

That and the launch codes, obvs.

Two panel cartoon
Burnham opening door of number 10, being told by army officer "Welcome Mr Burnham - I must give you the briefing all Prime Ministers receive upon entering Downing Street.
Second panel is army officer stroking a cat that is eating "His litter tray is in the Cabinet Office and he needs feeding at least twice a day. He likes..."

Marc Hudson@marchudson· 26d

From A.D. Hope's Dunciad Minimus, published in Southerly, 1964.

Marc Hudson@marchudson· 28d

Ah, "The Soul of Man in the Age of Leisure"

1935 review (squib) about Storm Jameson pamphlet "The Soul of Man in the Age of Leisure"

Marc Hudson@marchudson· 28d

1957 advert.

Marc Hudson@marchudson· 28d

Viz is not most people's idea of a "political" publication. Too many knob gags/general scataological stuff. Whatever. Here's Baxter Basics from Feb 21. The game is rigged, y'all, & if someone "investigates" how the game is rigged, that investigation will be rigged. Y'all. You feel me? Truedat.

Viz magazine cartoon Baxter Basics investigation of nepotism, Feb 2021

Marc Hudson@marchudson· Jul 10

A little historical context about the BBC and the platforming of fash. This is a screengrab of a folder at the National Archives.

Reference: MEPO 2/10978
Description:
British Union of Fascists: Meeting at Olympia on 7 June 1934 and protest demonstration by Communist Party of Great Britain reports, correspondence and press cuttings.

Includes reports from Special Branch outlining the injuries sustained by those present at Olympia, followed by descriptions by three medical doctors in attendance. There are also cuttings from the Daily Worker protesting about the broadcasting of Oswald Mosley´s speech by the BBC and a pamphlet of eyewitness accounts prepared in the aftermath of the meeting. Among those providing accounts were the authors Naomi Mitchison, Aldous Huxley and Vera Brittain.

Marc Hudson@marchudson· Jul 9

Do NOT think in terms of systems. ONLY think in morality tales. WE will supply the moralities, via our churches and schools. OBEY OBEY OR YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED. Etc. henryfudgeofficial.substack.com/p/degeneracy...

Every late rentier society in history has responded to the behaviours of Conspicuous Despair in the same way: by locating their cause in the character of the despairing, rather than the structure that despairs them. This is not a coincidence. It is, structurally, the only available move for the propertied class, because the alternative explanations implicate the propertied class itself.

Late Republican Rome blamed the moral softness of the urban plebs while the latifundia consolidated the agricultural smallholdings that had been the basis of the Roman citizen-soldier. Tiberius Gracchus, who tried to point this out, was beaten to death with the legs of broken benches by his fellow senators. His brother Gaius, who tried again a decade later, was hunted down and killed on the Aventine. The senatorial class understood, with the clarity that self-interest provides, that the diagnosis was the problem, not the disease. To name the cause was to threaten the structure.

Late Qing China blamed the opium-smoking peasantry for the dynasty’s military weakness, while the gentry-bureaucratic class extracted ever-larger rents from the agricultural surplus, the imperial examination system calcified into a closed shop, and the Qing court spent the indemnity from the First Sino-Japanese War on the Empress Dowager’s Summer Palace.

Marc Hudson@marchudson· Jul 9

Stay classy, Rupert.

Screengrab of BBC story about Rupert Lowe, Restore leader.
David Wallace Lockhart
Scotland political correspondent
Published
9 July 2026, 11:03 BST
Updated 2 hours ago
The leader of Restore Britain has been urged to apologise after describing the Dunblane school shooting as "one murder".

Rupert Lowe was criticising the UK's ban on handguns during an appearance on the Joe Rogan podcast. He said the ban came after "there was a murder in Dunblane".

Host Rogan clarified with Lowe that the ban was due to "one murder" and the Restore UK leader repeated that was the case.

Sixteen children and their teacher were killed in the 1996 mass shooting at Dunblane Primary School, one of the worst gun atrocities to happen in the UK.

Marc Hudson@marchudson· Jul 9

Tiresias in iambic tetrameter with marginally less disastrous scansion.

So Jove and Juno fooling ‘round
And Jove complained “I sweat the pound;
I bet you dames enjoy the fuck
More than men.” “Boy, don’t press your luck”
said the horny J; “ask Tiresias.”

(He’d had and been a piece of ass;
he’d found two snakes a-writhing on t’job
And ‘tween the two a stick did lob.
And for that crime he’d been a bint
For seven years he’d served a stint.
And then he’d seen the snakes once more
And begged reversal [a dick to score])

Tiresias knew of what ‘he’ spoke
He told the truth – and Juno choked
She tore his eyes out one by one
A tragic end to a non-binary ‘son.’

Now Jove could not this deed undo
A consolation prize did he brew
And “foresight” did Jove give to him
That’s no good, in fact it’s grim!

Marc Hudson@marchudson· Jul 9

A modern retelling of the Tiresias myth from Ovid's Metamorphoses. marchudson.net/2026/07/09/o...

So Jove and Juno were fooling ‘round
When he complained “I do all the pound.
I bet you dames enjoy the fuck
More than men” “Boy don’t press your luck”
replied the horny wife. Let’s ask Tiresias
(He’d had and been a piece of ass;
He’d found two snakes who were on the job
And between the two a stick did lob
And for the crime he’d become a bint
For seven years he served a stint.
And then he’d seen the snakes again
And begged reversal [a dick to gain]
So Tiresias knew of what he spoke)
He told the truth - and Juno choked
She tore his eyes out one by one
A tragic end to a non-binary one
Now Jove, by law, could not this deed undo
A consolation prize he did brew
The gift of foresight was given him
That’s no good, in fact it’s grim!

Marc Hudson@marchudson· Jul 5

1909 Cartoon "Suffragettes at Home" by Arthur Wallis Mills. He: I say, that lady over there looks rather out of it. She: Yes, you see, most of us here have been in prison two or three times, and she, poor dear, has only been bound over!"

1909 Cartoon "Suffragettes at Home"
A room of respectable men and women having tea. At the far right is a glum young woman, arms crossed. Caption is "He: I say, that lady over there looks rather out of it. "She: Yes, you see, most of us here have been in prison two or three times, and she, poor dear, has only been bound over!"

Marc Hudson@marchudson· Jul 2

But EVs are soooo much better. Oh yes.

Environmental Impacts of a Car cartoon by Andy Singer

Marc Hudson@marchudson· Jul 1

Homo insapiens...

Marc Hudson@marchudson· Jun 30

Ginny Woolf, writing about Joe Conrad after he snuffed it, in 1924.

Perhaps it was Marlow who was at fault. His habit of mind was a trifle sedentary. He had sat upon deck too long; splendid in soliloquy, he was less apt in the give and take of conversation; and those “moments of vision” flashing and fading, do not serve as well as steady lamplight to illume the ripple of life and its long, gradual years.
Woolf, p.216

Marc Hudson@marchudson· Jun 27

The Fafocene! See longer piece here - allouryesterdays.info/2025/05/24/a...

Marc Hudson@marchudson· Jun 25

Double for nothing

Marc Hudson@marchudson· Jun 25

Turns out bringing your best performer back from a period of absence to lead the team is not the great solution everyone thought it would be. But enough about Saint Andy Burnham, what about the cricket...?!

Third Test Match, Trent Bridge
New Zealand 0-140 (35.2 overs)

Marc Hudson@marchudson· Jun 25

From the Williams piece. 🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿

Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found at https://help.ft.com/faq/gifting-and-sharing-an-article/what-is-a-gift-article/.
https://www.ft.com/content/9949d99f-a348-4c66-805f-438653384fa6?syn-25a6b1a6=1&emailId=ba5d1370-15b8-4149-8163-f629979d5de1&segmentId=72adc702-369e-fc3e-1b5d-cacb5d193d80

“The job he’s in, he’s very successful at it, because it plays to his strengths and his weaknesses are unscrutinised. And he’s safe,” said an official last week, while Burnham was still mayor. Does he realise that, I asked? “I don’t think he does,” they said. “What Andy’s got to work out now is can he do that as PM? And if he’s going to be like that as PM, who’s going to do the difficult stuff? He likes to be popular. Then the reality hits.”

A second person raised the same concern. “The worry is how he’s going to fare down there. He’s pretty thin-skinned. He likes to be loved. I’m not sure he’s very resilient.”

Marc Hudson@marchudson· Jun 25

Hannah Knox, writing about the 2019 "Mayor's Green Summit", and Burnham's ability to de-fang criticism by handing them the microphone and saying he agrees. Won't work at the national level. manchesterclimatemonthly.net/2019/04/03/t...

More worryingly, though, was that THE GAP also seemed to weirdly legitimise failure as a form of success. When Extinction Rebellion stormed the conference at the end of the day, shouting out to the now depleted audience, ‘do more, faster, now’, and ‘we demand more’ their critique had already been dampened by THE GAP that already anticipated this call to action. Unfazed, Burnham muted their urgent cries by giving them the microphone and inviting them to put their views across, telling us he couldn’t agree with them more. I don’t doubt his sincerity, but perhaps it is important to do more now than just acknowledge, with policy makers, a gap between strategies and projections. The suffragettes and the civil rights movement didn’t call for a % increase in rights by a certain date. They called for absolute changes now. As Lemn Sissay puts it ‘a lost number in the equation, a simple understandable miscalculation – and what if on the basis of that the world as we knew it changed its matter of fact – let me get it right – what if we got it wrong?’ If we are going to rise to the challenge Andy Burnham posed to hold GM to account and to ask them to do more, perhaps what we need is a different calculation to that of the policy makers, one that demands not that we gradually try to close THE GAP – but that we challenge city regions like GM to confront absolutes. We have had Manchester Nuclear Free City – what if we were to aim not for a ‘net-zero carbon Manchester by 2038’, but dared to demand an absolute change, something like ‘Fossil Free GM’. Perhaps now the time has come to replace indicators with infrastructures, pledges with planning legislation, and ever receding futures with a now measured only against itself.

Marc Hudson@marchudson· Jun 24

“Within the weed-grown swamps left by the flood The animal kingdoms of the earth appeared. The seeds of earth swelled in the heat of noon As in a mother’s womb - as when the seven-lipped Nile shrinks to its source, so the sun’s heat wakens The moss-green river side…" (Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book 1)

Photo of algae growing in reflecting pool

Marc Hudson@marchudson· Jun 23

"Far from being committed to “Labour winning” under any banner, many in Labour have proven their fealty to an extremely unpopular, losing politics that mostly concerns shaping Labour into an organization suitable for corporate interests." jacobin.com/2026/06/uk-b...

But these internal questions are not going to evaporate. Far from being committed to “Labour winning” under any banner, many in Labour have proven their fealty to an extremely unpopular, losing politics that mostly concerns shaping Labour into an organization suitable for corporate interests. Of the 2024 Labour parliamentary intake, at least seventy MPs have worked as professional lobbyists, with many working for water companies, gambling giants, and property developers. That is more than double the number of MPs who were former union officials, and a significant percentage of figures who would be worse off living in a better country.

Marc Hudson@marchudson· Jun 23

Plenty of warnings. This is the fafocene. allouryesterdays.info/2026/06/09/t...

Marc Hudson@marchudson· Jun 20

Couldn't help myself/didn't try.

On another level, I have no doubt at all that the mostly-pointless academics who wang on about ‘multi-species entanglements’ and ‘more-than-human’ are already submitting abstracts to upcoming conferences with titles like “Reflecting more-than-human agency: Trump, Contested Monumentalism and the Anthropocene.”

Shoot me now.

Marc Hudson@marchudson· Jun 19

My two cents on Burnham. marchudson.net/2026/06/19/f...

I lived in Manchester for a good part of Andy the Mayor’s first term. He’s very good at making big shiny promises (e.g. around climate change and emissions reductions) and then blaming central government and creating other promises to soothe credulous dupes who want to be duped, who want ‘vibes.’ He’s very good at absorbing criticism and turning on the earnest ‘nice’ Andy (see how in early 2019 he handled the ‘school strikers’ who came on stage at the Green Summit). See here, from Hannah Knox

More worryingly, though, was that THE GAP also seemed to weirdly legitimise failure as a form of success. When Extinction Rebellion stormed the conference at the end of the day, shouting out to the now depleted audience, ‘do more, faster, now’, and ‘we demand more’ their critique had already been dampened by THE GAP that already anticipated this call to action. Unfazed, Burnham muted their urgent cries by giving them the microphone and inviting them to put their views across, telling us he couldn’t agree with them more. I don’t doubt his sincerity, but perhaps it is important to do more now than just acknowledge, with policy makers, a gap between strategies and projections. (emphasis added)

I suspect he may find the weight of expectation and scrutiny that comes with the top job a little more trying.

Marc Hudson@marchudson· Jun 17

"When today's youths are all 60 big chunks of the planet will be uninhabitable. Let's fix that!" Not sure the poor bastards will have to wait 45 years for that, tbh. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Screengrab of last panel of First Dog on the Moon cartoon about social media bans. Caption says When today's youths are all 60 big chunks of the planet will be uninhabitable. Let's fix that!

Marc Hudson@marchudson· Jun 16