Again, and again

Wow. What an essay by Eli McLean for @overlandjournal.bsky.social : "I had started to feel over the last few months that the ever-watchful eye of the university panopticon was sooner or later going to cast its gaze on our publishing activities"

In Sydney Tuesday night? Join us to talk about the future of Australian politics and social democracy. 5.30pm for 6pm start at @utsengage.bsky.social. RSVP below. Centrally located and fully accessible venue. With thanks to @auspsa.bsky.social and @uts-sps.bsky.social for resourcing this event 👏

On this day in 1973, Chilean president Salvador Allende was overthrown in a brutal coup. Declassified files reveal how Britain conducted a secret propaganda campaign against Allende, designed to prevent him from ever coming to power👇 www.declassifieduk.org/exclusive-se...

Tfw when you see a job listing that would have been perfect if you still had your 2021 bodily capacity

Drilling into the precise intersection of my interests and tastes, like the steadfast gaze of a sheep bores into one's very soul

“it seems probable that the few historians who will still be able to have meaningful academic careers in, say, ten years’ time will all be able-bodied, childless British citizens from upper-class families.” This is so real. The situation really is this bleak.

One thing I've emphasised in my research is the historical links between the Australian far right and movements overseas, particularly in the UK and US, but also South Africa and Rhodesia. A 🧵 of some of my work on this topic. www.academia.edu/44514478/Whi... www.researchgate.net/publication/...

Very excited that my new article with @andrekosvarnava.bsky.social has been published open access in @historicaljnl.bsky.social 'Transnational Whiteness and the Elite Backlash to Reforming the Australian Immigration Control System in the 1950s and 1960s' www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Me sowing: Ah yes, this weighted blanket will provide my nerves with some assistance, with no other consequences Me reaping: I am trapped under something heavy

Meet the Revolutionaries and Ratbags who shaped the world as we know it! Was hugely fun to co-host this new history podcast with Francis Leach looking at some of history's great rebels and revolutionaries, and to discuss what this history means for us today

The shrinking of academia is contributing to this. Peer review was an accepted part of academic labour for those employed in the system, but that pool is dwindling. I haven’t been employed in academia properly for nearly 2 years but still doing peer reviews because there’s no one else to do it.

Some A+++ live posting of ME/CFS and Long COVID research today by @exceedhergrasp1.bsky.social including this really excellent survey:

There is a lot for disabled people to be enraged about. I partnered with artist Finnegan Shannon on #DisabledRage public art. All graphics are downloadable & feel free to share and wheatpaste all over your community disabilityvisibilityproject.com/disabled-rage/

What a time to be alive, for we are receiving the gift of revelation

Inquiry into the proposed Thriving Kids disability program is open now till early October www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentar...

Rather buried in here is the extraordinary-in-the-context statement: “The publication recently secured a $2m grant from Creative Australia to fund its next two years of operation”. The plot doth thicken... #Meanjin www.theguardian.com/books/2025/s...

This rules not least because it historicises Lorde's words, it does so in a way that's about the fuller context of her ideas. (also I feel justified now for my years-long practice of asking people quoting those lines what they think they actually mean)

It is absolutely true that universities are not properly funded. It is also true that universities cry poor when they are spending millions and millions in areas that do not reflect the priorities or wishes of students, staff, and the communities to which these institutions belong

Since our very first issue Meanjin and Overland have been comrades, mates, rivals, and drinking buddies. The UMP board’s decision is a shockingly myopic act of cultural vandalism which will grievously harm the Australian literary community.

Meanwhile...

Meanjin has (had 😭) two - TWO - part time staff members. I'd be willing to bet my dinner that the cost of supporting Meanjin is less than what a single top 15 executive at Uni Melb makes in a year

This is an absolute disaster for the literary community, writing writ large, for Australia, the world. I cannot emphasise how bad this is www.crikey.com.au/2025/09/04/m...

Approximately $1200 per applicant, Commonwealth admits no liability. Is this a good settlement for Robodebt? I don't think so.

After the recent attack on Camp Sovereignty in Naarm/ Melbourne, this is an important moment to show solidarity.

Myself and the amazing @lauracforster.bsky.social are doing a joint event to launch our books in York. Come to learn about Liverpool, the aftershocks of the Paris Commune and the new kinds of histories our present crisis demands! www.york.ac.uk/news-and-eve...

This, every time I open anything I wrote the day before, forever, until eternity

Definite correlation noted between level of news exposure and intensity of neuropathic fireworks today. 💥

This is the important part of the GFA and it's relation to ECHR. People are conveniently forgetting this. British Governments were trammeling Human Rights

The sad thing is that there is an urgent need (politically, socially) for exactly this kind of interdisciplinary work in an age where fascists and authoritarians thrive across the world; to challenge the rampant disinformation. But it requires respect on both, all, sides.

"Interdisciplinary" means collaborating across disciplinary boundaries--not swanning in without doing the reading or consulting existing experts.

Comfort-reading my boy Shelley because he absolutely gets it on every level

"The gov must work with welfare recipients to make bigger changes that will ensure we are safe, and have stability and control over our lives. This must include the reintroduction of the 6 year time limit on debt recovery" - new from @antipovertycentre.org open.substack.com/pub/apcentre...

Viral reactivation is brutal, and I am officially in the grumpy phase.

Standing in the shower this morning I was thinking about the many restructures and redundancies I’ve seen over the course of my career in the Humanities, so I turned it into a blog post www.mikejonesonline.com/contextjunky... #humanities #universities

I'm never going to finish the book I'd planned on this, but I'm still glad that @newsocialist.bsky.social gave me a chance in 2021 to share a thumbnail sketch of a manifesto, on choosing "convivial solidarity across time" in the face of chaos. Feat Raymond Williams (obviously).

*resets "days since quoting Raymond Williams in a meeting" counter to zero*

There's something to be said for lying in bed sick while this song rattles around in your brain for hours at a time. I don't know what that something is though.

Thank you to everyone sharing march pics 💜

Absolutely epic crowd at the Melbourne march for Palestine

Wanna learn more about the Panthers’ work around disability? It wasn’t just the 504 sit-in. I have 2 chapters about them in my book Black Disability Politics which is available for purchase or free open access here from @dukepress.bsky.social: library.oapen.org/handle/20.50...

When I drape myself in blankets while WFH, this is the energy I am seeking to draw upon (yes I am still thinking about Phoebe Dinsmore)

pretty damning report into the culture of the NDIS regulator, with new leadership making some changes www.ndiscommission.gov.au/about-us/cor...

Zotero is a nice and good thing.

I share this syllabus bc I'm one of a tiny handful of university faculty in the UK who teach trans history at a specialist level, & I'd like there to be more of us! I learned the field from scratch post-PhD, bc at my prev institution it was politically necessary - which means that you can too!

'Care and support is the glue that keeps our community together, and that is valuable and understandable for the whole community, even the weird economists.' Me from November last year on productivity, care work and only counting some things www.bluntshovels.au/the-value-of...

There was a while there where I was trying to find a speech therapist and while I never found the right person, it's probably for the best as my temptation would absolutely have been to shoehorn in tribute bits to Moses Supposes

A brief interlude from the spirit of 2013 Twitter, for my own amusement and to breakup the doom-vibes: banging outfits from Singin' in the Rain I would absolutely wear *Just passed my 10 year anniversary of dropping femme, but of course there are gowns for days in this film