What a great interview! A window into this really important research on textiles and slavery, and the ways the researcher’s body in motion can figure things out that might otherwise elude us. It’s also such a good example of how research and teaching can build each other up.

This is as bad as anything proposed by Reform. Leaving refugees in permanent limbo and unable to build a new life in the UK would be a complete abdication of our humanitarian responsibilities www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

My jaw dropped. This treats people's lives with shameful lack of respect, to spend even more years in limbo. It also treats people's lives as pawns to be traded for an elusive political gain from the far right. "The era of permanent protection for refugees is over." www.bbc.com/news/article...

I think I need to print copies of this and wave them threateningly at SUVs as I walk around town...

There should be a tax on ridiculously bloated road boats registered in urban areas, because (a) they cause obvious problems in such areas (b) they are bad for the environment (c) they are dangerous for children (d) they are awful, and driving them should be expensive and socially stigmatised.

You know what - it would be really life affirming if just for once - THIS 👇 was the story

The government plans to link university fees to institutional "quality". This is a nonsense because there are no metrics that actually measure teaching quality. There is no Ofsted, rather a handful of largely irrelevant statistics to actual quality. The NSS measure satisfaction, not quality.

I'm really proud of this: the latest issue of #VictorianStudies has an article of mine in it! It's on #ageing and #generations, & the insightful ways that Victorian novelist Margaret Oliphant approaches these issues, with takeaways for us now. doi.org/10.2979/vic.... 1/

"The fact that the asphyxiation of British higher education does not instantly count as a national scandal underlines the extent to which the austerity mindset continues to constrain our political imagination" - @robbhawkes.bsky.social & Scott Ferguson's piece is excellent. Also: 1/2

My to-read pile in the British Library today... (Of course I only got through 3 of 7 - I'd better come back next week.) But what luxury to sit with such richness of thought!

Look upon this marvel and delight!

I'm so glad to be able to listen in to today's roundtable on #Humanities and #DataScience at the @bodleian.ox.ac.uk Centre for Digital Scholarship. digitalscholarship.web.ox.ac.uk/event/networ... @melissaterras.bsky.social thank you for your wisdom & oomph beamed across the airwaves!

Any insider information on this, or simply good guesses, welcome!

@aeon.co magazine, I wish I knew why the pitch form has been closed for >6 weeks. Any plans to reopen? I assumed it was summer holidays, but autumn is here & it's still shut. I hope it doesn't mean closure - maybe a backlog. I'd like to pitch an essay and don't know how long to wait... aeon.co/pitch

The last REF found that 98% of UK research was either "internationally recognised", "internationally excellent", or "world-leading". If you think low-quality research is the noteworthy challenge in UK higher ed right now, you are wilfully looking in the wrong direction

This is a jaw-dropping statement from anyone in a uni leadership role — but also — what exactly is ‘low-quality’ and ‘hobbyist’ research? Nearly every academic I know is burning the candle at both ends and STILL producing important work in their fields. This feels like an anti-humanities dog whistle

Aaaargh! (and read the comments)

Sarah's visit to @rhul-cvs.bsky.social to present on the research, NEXT TO the painting itself, is still one of my highlights of the past academic year!

My favourite conferences nowadays are the ones where I know less. I've learnt so much (including about other norms, & other reading lists) at @cultsochistory.bsky.social last year, & @britishgerontology.bsky.social this summer.

@annagk.bsky.social and I are welcoming short pedagogy articles/approaches that use Dickens's Working Notes, or that center compositional process or serial form in some way. If you teach Dickens, check out the dickensnotes.com platform!

Thanks @rs4vp.org for sharing this. Any questions, email me & Clare Walker Gore, co-editors of the special issue. I look forward to lots more Oliphant!

Thank you Zoe !

Please help me share the CFP for this Literature Compass Special Issue dedicated to the work of Simon J James and covering key Victorian and Edwardian writers like H. G. Wells, George Gissing, Dickens, Wilde, George Du Maurier, and Conan-Doyle on behalf of Hadas Elber-Aviram.

This whole thread is full of compressed wisdom (and some justified anger) - and this particular nugget is the one I'll be following up first...

A reminder that I have some availability for any of your historical research, archive document photography, transcription, copy-editing and/or book-indexing needs. Feel free to get in touch here or contact me via my website: helenglew.com

Oh wow, this is basically the epitome of what my first and second books are about!! 1 = the zeal to create *permanent* historical narratives in the face of constantly shifting hindsight, 2 = a belief that it's possible for a big enough history to encompass *everything*...

Lauren Goodlad is now giving a barn-storming final #BAVS2025 keynote on #AI - pictured below are some of her important reminders. A key takeaway is that language in use is a *process*, not a *product* (see Herbert C Clark), which takes us back to Saussure's distinction b/w "langue" & "parole".

Now @louisecreechan.bsky.social gives #BAVS2025 a truly fantastic paper arguing for critical neurodiversity studies to arrive in Victorian Studies. L reads "The Lifted Veil" as neurodivergent: her voice recording of ideas echoes Latimer's self-conscious omniscient address to a future reader...

[email protected] gives us a brilliant paper at #BAVS2025 about adapting sentiment analysis for Victorian texts. Current method is 1) confined to +/- 2) lexicons are made of 21stC tweets. Here's a +/- map of HP7 - my students try this with David Copperfield, also episodic & peripatetic

Margaret Oliphant scholars ahoy! We're looking to celebrate her 200th birthday with a special issue of _Women's Writing_, with me and Clare Walker Gore editing. Get in touch if you have any questions, or simply with a proposal - by 1st December. And thank you Andrea for spreading the word!

Why would you want the next generation of scholars to shape the research questions of the future? This AHRC doesn't

I've decided to leave the Labour Party, after over 31 years of membership. This wasn't an easy decision, but it certainly feels like the right thing for me to do. I've written down a few thoughts on why I've come to this conclusion, which may be of interest to others who are in a similar position.

This is great, and fascinating to ponder...

Daniel Deronda is turning 150 in 2026. Help us observe this milestone by submitting a short, op-ed style essay to an upcoming forum, guest edited by Ilana Blumberg, on George Eliot's world-changing novel. See our blog for details: victorianreview.org?cat=217

I've had a wonderful day at #BSG2025 - gerontology showing itself to be such a refreshingly interdisciplinary field. And I spotted #StudyingGenerations on the @policypress.bsky.social bookstand!

Come join my lovely department (on this temporary post) and my rightly renowned creative writing colleagues!

I'm in Genoa for #INCS conference, and it turns out to be wonderfully intriguing and multi-layered. Church in a cliff anyone, with attached car park?

What does this week's spending review mean for higher education - can anyone direct me to a write-up by someone who knows? #UKHE

After 10+ years, I've concluded it's time to replace my headshot from c. 4 institutions ago! I don't want to slip into that category of person who you look up online, and then when you meet them, think "goodness, they've aged..." 🙃

Job Alert! We're hiring a 3-year F/T Public Engagment Fellow based @lcflondon.bsky.social to lead our exciting programme of activities. We're looking for collegial & creative people with expertise in History, Galleries, Archives, Libraries, or Museums. Spread the word! www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNI861/p...

Our CfP for #HFRN Conference 2026 @fau.de in Erlangen is out now. Alina Aulbur, @ikalous.bsky.social and I are looking forward to your abstracts on feelings and emotions in historical fictions

I've been a member of the Labour Party since I came of age. I've just cancelled my membership. I know the Government is in a challenging bind. But it feels increasingly that (at least in actions) it doesn't share my values: as demonstrated in its response to Gaza, and its approach to trans rights.

I'm old enough to remember when Labour made a pledge to widen access to the arts. But that was before the election. Now it's AI and racism ...

It’s beyond outrageous that UK is continuing to supply arms to Israel, when there is - beyond all doubt - a “clear risk” they could be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian law. What else are ministers waiting for? Unforgivable complicity

Read the whole thread. This is a key takeaway for me:

How wonderful to be in a room where everyone was invested in generations and periodisation! Thank you @drsarahparker.bsky.social & @jadefrench.bsky.social for inviting me. (I see that photo evidence shows I still talk with my hands...)

Wonderful news @martinoneill.bsky.social – a new translation of War and Peace, in a language loosely related to English.

A rather beautiful threshold mosaic at the entrance to a commercial property on the ground floor of an 1850s tenemnt on Argyle Street in the Finnieston area of Glasgow. #glasgow #mosaic #tiles #tiling #ceramics #design #finnieston #architecture #architecturephotography #tenement #glasgowtenements

Powerpoint and IWBs - time to reclaim analogue teaching. My latest blog. thinkingflexibly.com/2025/04/19/p...

I have no idea, but hoping someone else will!