We all know the difficulty the HE sector is in. But let’s work together to come up with solutions. The nuclear option damages our students & the reputation of our institutions. @ucflangs.bsky.social & @artsandhums.bsky.social are supporting colleagues www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Nottingham has one of the most vibrant and forward-looking departments of modern languages around. Music too. To cut them like this, leaving no chance for future rebuilding, is educational vandalism. tinyurl.com/yr65mjkx

Such a key point about cutting back on language provision - it’s not good for science and it’s not good for growth www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

... and Leicester... Languages, History... It's so easy to destroy, so hard to create. So much talent. So many lives. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I'm lucky to have worked with one of the many brilliant people in these departments. Henry Parkes in Music is one of the cleverest, most insightful and inspirational historians I know - and one of the finest teachers too. Don't waste such talent @uniofnottingham.bsky.social.

Strongly feel that adults learning a new language should be treated like babies doing the same thing. Look, I'm going through a developmental leap this week, so I'm just going to be more cranky, hungrier, cry a lot at night etc.

This is awful news to come out of Nottingham. MedRen-ers will be aware that Nottingham has hosted three MedRens in 2012, 1985, and the first ever MedRen in 1972. Do consider signing the petition in the next post. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Heartbroken to share the news that recruitment to Undergraduate Music courses at the University of Nottingham has been suspended. Please do contact us on [email protected] if you would like to support us.

Nottingham to suspend music and modern foreign language degrees, warning international fee levy will wipe out income from domestic fee rise. Some nursing, theology, education, microbiology and agriculture degrees hit too www.timeshighereducation.com/news/notting... via @julietterowsell.bsky.social

In a world where universities are demonstrating that they do not value or want the Arts & Humanities, I can't help but feel that we do ourselves a disservice when we bow down to pressure to use genAI. What we do cannot be done by a computer.

'Music and modern foreign languages degrees are among courses being suspended at the University of Nottingham, with the institution saying it “cannot rely on additional income” from the coming tuition fee rises.' 1/3

I am hearing that @uniofnottingham.bsky.social is suspending (i.e shutting down) *all modern language courses* in 2026-27. One of the largest departments in the UK. A shocking short sighted move that damages regional and national prospects @britishacademy.bsky.social @hetanshah.bsky.social

Devastating news from Nottingham.

We lose so much when we cede our creativity to probabilistic slop-machines.

I am told shipments of my book are on their way by air/sea from the US, as OUP try to meet demand, which has exceeded their expectations. A reprint is also now underway. The key message is, if you want this for Christmas, ORDER IT NOW. It's had glowing reviews. Also available on Kindle immediately.

Applications are open for Folger Library short-term fellowships! Deadline January 15, 2026. www.folger.edu/research/the...

Apart from all the bells and whistles on the site itself, some users may like to know that the London Lives bibliography has been Zoterified (so it's searchable etc): www.zotero.org/groups/45875...

Really pleased to announce the launch of the all-new, all-dancing, London Lives website - www.londonlives.org It has been thoroughly re-engineered to facilitate more types of search, and redesigned for phones and tablets. The team very much hopes peope like it. 1/

On this day in 1605 a Catholic soldier named Guy Fawkes was arrested in an undercroft below the House of Lords. Many people know about the infamous gunpowder plot, but here's a blog post about the broader Catholic community at the time. manyheadedmonster.com/2014/11/03/g... #EarlyModern 🗃️

We loved hearing Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine talk about using the Warburg Library while researching for her new album on @latenightseth.bsky.social 💫 Congratulations to Florence on the release of Everybody Scream! Watch “Evelyn’s daughter” (from 2:40): youtu.be/M_mc_gErXX0?...

Love that my book has helped Ania Upstill in research for their queer pirate play, Antonio!, which sounds amazing. Definitely need to see it. Twelfth Night’s Antonio was foundational to my love of Shx, so this feels right. Thanks also to @erikagaffney.bsky.social at AUP/Routledge.

Tom Hamilton reçoit le prix Natalie Zemon Davis pour son très très grand livre. Un chef d’œuvre d’anthropologie judiciaire qui éclaire la sortie des guerres de religion: palpitant et virtuose. On ne pouvait rêver mieux pour ce beau prix !

Don't forget to submit an abstract for our conference by 1 December. Details below.

oday marks my last day as the Little Company of Mary Research Associate at @ccshistorycatholic.bsky.social. . It has been a three years that I will not forget. As a precarious early career researcher, I never thought that I would have the opportunity to be 1/

Well-meaning Americans in my mentions: kindly do not recommend extremely illegal actions that could land people in the UK with a ten year prison sentence

Thank you @hsmurphy.bsky.social and @cemskcl.bsky.social for hosting me - what a great evening!

ERC starter grant applications from US researchers nearly triple in 2025 compared to 2024 as Trump restricts funding. Good for "Choose Europe" initiatives, but dire for global and national science, given the limited volume of non-US funding available.

Wow... Chinese influence on British universities has gone too far! 👎👎

Terrifying

Last chance to turn it off. On Monday, November 3rd, Microsoft will start using your LinkedIn data for AI training. And remember, you're opted in by default. To toggle it off 👉 Account - Settings & Privacy > Data privacy > Data for Generative AI Improvement.

Singing for the sick? 🎶 Our latest post by @marikakyrannafox.bsky.social (Antwerp) dives into a fascinating Graduale Romanorum - the largest 15th c music print?! Discover this beautifully made book & find out how the plague influenced its contents & appearance! 🐀 #REBPAF #MSCA #BookHistory #Printing

For those visiting Antwerp (esp. those of you attending for the Women&Household in Book Trade conference next week) do not forget to go and visit this library gem as well! #bookhistory

This is, of course, blasphemous nonsense.

So sad to hear of the death of Prof Michael Twyman, who nurtured many budding printing historians (including me) and whose support of and contribution to typographic history is celebrated in the most recent issue of the 'PHS Journal', demonstrating the breadth of his knowledge.

The Society is pleased to announce the publication of a new e-resource: Benjamin Wardhaugh, 'Ancient Greek Mathematics in print, 1475–1703'. This can be downloaded as a PDF file from bibsoc.org.uk/ancient-gree...

Ok I’ve just discovered @tropy.bsky.social for organising archive photos. Wow

OTD in 1623, the Fatal Vespers tragedy occurred: a building hosting a secret Catholic service in Blackfriars collapsed, killing around 100. The aftermath saw vicious anti-Catholic violence, but, as I explored, it also reveals much about tolerance & Catholicism in London. doi.org/10.1017/bch....

Very shortly, my current role ends: if anyone needs a temporary tutor in early modern history or any freelance research work done please do drop me a message. I have over a decade's experience in teaching and in archival research.

Happy to see James Seth's book receive a shout out here - Musicians on ships in Early Modern Europe by Ania Upstill @folger.edu blog www.folger.edu/blogs/collat...

Belgian AI scientists are advocating *against* the use of AI in academia. “If independent thinking is no longer encouraged at university, where would it?” apache.be/2025/10/24/b...

Just finished reading all the submissions for the Newberry Medieval Minicomic Prize and absolutely blown away by the talent on display! Incredible!

I just tried chat GPT out on transcribing a 1644 manuscript I was squinting to read. It's extremely convincing and absolutely wrong: gets the first line about a river right, then makes up a very plausible 17thc spiel about rivers, with period spelling and all, but NOT AT ALL what happens next.

Powerful letter from Clare Herbert in today's Church Times

I’m going to say it again, generative AI and the push for it to be used in every Avenue of learning and education is because generative AI literally is a weapon for knowledge destruction not a knowledge creation tool and silicon valleys goal is to monetize and gate off all of human knowledge

Dear god people, don't use slop machines to read the news for you! Just read whatever you time to read/listen to with your own brain! Don't trust the tech or its CEOs to so much as tell you whether it's night or day!

If we put half as much resources into metadata and cataloging as we do into dumb AI stuff, we’d way better off in terms of the info/data ecosystem

Tonight's episode on BBC Radio 3 takes us to Wiltshire. Tune in at 9.45pm for another adventure by the #songdetectorists

Tonight on BBC Radio 3, Matthew and the Song Detectorists discover why a gentlewoman from Wiltshire collected this salty song of the sea (sung by the wonderful Melrose Quartet). Tune in at 21:45 or listen afterwards on BBC Sounds. @nancyannfolk.bsky.social

Pretty raw stuff here from the Dean of Canterbury: viamedia.news/2025/10/22/w... #CofE

We are celebrating 8.000 downloads of the app “Hidden Hamburg”, 2.000 downloads of the open access book about the app trail, and some more 250.000 clicks on the #AppleMaps “Time Jump” of Hamburg 1686. A thread with updates, esp. for #earlymodern #skystorians. #digitalhistory and #publichistory 1/