The abstract alone is worth the read. This is excellent stuff.

"We believe that this incident is a deliberate targeting of committed young people who want to make our country a more equitable place." Britain continues its rapid descent towards fascism.

I'm really happy to have been re-elected to the #UCU NEC, although my cat has mixed feelings about my continuing to travel to London! I'm also really happy that @markpendleton.bsky.social and @suzitoole.bsky.social were elected as VPs, and @drgillhistory.bsky.social @profalexp.bsky.social to the NEC

lifelong learning for joy 🥳🥳🥳

"Not capable of graduating?" A ton of students here and across the post-92 sector come to university through access courses, take foundation years, etc. They graduate just fine, thanks. Tickell should confine himself to plans for a rowing lake on campus or something, if the edge needs taking off.

Very chuffed about this. Been trying to get Gill to run for ages. She’s absolutely excellent and a total asset to our union.

The @ucucommons.org slate has done exceptionally well in the NEC elections. We need to encourage greater engagement with these elections, but this is a solid endorsement of our principles from our members.

Excited and honoured to have been elected to the #UCU NEC. Many thanks to everyone who voted for me (and indeed, everyone who voted at all). I'm looking forward to representing our members to the best of my ability.

More excellent news for #UCU members! I know Suzi from the Women Members' Standing Committee, which she chairs. She will be an amazing VP!

We have to better engage with our members, taking the activists seriously, given the energy they put into the union, but also by giving the silent majority the opportunity to speak.

Honoured to be elected to #UCU NEC. Thanks for all your votes! Disappointing turnout of 8.5%. I was elected by around 1% of total members. I won in the first round (of STV system), which is a pretty emphatic endorsement of my ‘manifesto’, but sorry to report that our Union is in a parlous state.

"British female track and field athletes are being asked to cover the cost of their own £185 sex tests if they want to compete internationally" A tax on women courtesy of the Gender Critical. You know feminism /s 🙄 archive.is/2026.03.05-1...

Stop callinge them "data centers" and starte callinge them "slop peripheries"

The perfect headline doesn’t exi…

This is terrific news for UCU and our members! Very excited to have Mark at the helm.

I have put together a handout- it discusses the differences in HS vs uni readings, the impact that has, and suggestions for students doing readings Feel free to use and circulate to any first years :) #highered #higheducation #history #medievalhistory #teaching #academia #transitionpedagogy

Questionable 1700s treatment for melancholy... rubbing yourself all over with nettles

Anyways.

The people who study the history of the fossil fuel industry's justifications for itself are like

Just shared this piece with a friend and he replied back with a screenshot cancelling his subscription. BOYCOTT BABY! www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Why are we here? Because managers want our pensions! Stop the steal! 😡 Together we are strong! @ucunorthumbria.bsky.social @ucu.org.uk 💪

It really is saying the quiet part out loud on social cleansing in universities. Suppose it's somewhat nice that someone's admitting to it

Panto villain take. Some students get into higher education via access courses and go on to be very successful. Blaming the most disenfranchised is not the way forward here. Unpaywalled: web.archive.org/web/20260305...

We are hiring postdoc researchers to join our #WrittenWorlds project at Birkbeck, with Sue Wiseman, @mdpowelldavies.bsky.social, @richardjansell.bsky.social and I. 0.5FTE, 13 months, focus on women's or provincial non-elite writing #EarlyModern 🗃️ cis7.bbk.ac.uk/vacancy/post...

"We’re investing so much money in people who…we are not really capable of graduating.” Having a difficult time at school, for whatever reason, should not have to be an insurmountable obstacle to HE. This shitty idea will entrench privilege. Gross. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/review-...

As someone who works in a university, I am genuinely blown away by the number of people who want to exist in academia without having to think or write.

Another brilliant @ucunorthumbria.bsky.social picket line - just one of them! - today @northumbriauni.bsky.social. Tomorrow we are all at Coach Lane Campus - see you there! ✊✊✊ Friday, we're on strike, but doing our own thang.

for anyone wondering why there’s so much unbridled joy on ScotPol Bluesky about the arrest of a Scottish Labour MP’s husband for spying for China, take your pick

Labour quoting Hannah Spencer's victory speech.

Spent over an hour today looking for info on a book, published in 1908 and that I used in 2017, to check if my reference was correct. It was.

I have seen a lot of cursed stuff in my time in academia but this is among the *most* cursed. Grammarly is generating miniature LLMs based on academic work so that users can have their writing ‘reviewed’ by experts like David Abulafia, who died less than two months ago.

I miss Florence.

Gave a speech he hadn't read, sends letters he doesn't read, hires people he believes despite a history of lying. Keir Starmer's entire defence since he got in to power is 'I'm shit at everything, it's not my fault'

The research and the writing is the fun bit.

We stand with fellow trade unions in condemning the illegal war on Iran. Reports of civilian casualties, including students and schoolchildren are deeply disturbing and require urgent and independent investigation. The killing and wounding of civilians is indefensible.

This is worth mentioning to your friends who traded their ChatGPT for Claude subscriptions - Claude helped kill all of those little girls at school in Iran. Anthropic isn’t ethical AI.

Stanley Plotkin, known as the “godfather of vaccines,” in an interview with @helenbranswell.bsky.social: “All I can say is that I’m beginning to regret having lived so long — because we’re going downhill.” www.statnews.com/2026/03/02/s...

Exactly this. I am pro-DIY but all medications have risks and can have unknown or unpredictable interactions. That's what medical supervision is supposed to limit the harm of (though the NHS needs to be better at this too). Trans people shouldn't be forced into demonstrably *less* safe routes.

When will the UK government wake up to the wholesale destruction of HE that's happening? This affects towns and cites across the UK, our businesses, the NHS, schools, young people, our global standing, everything! Higher Education, Universities, contribute over £265 BILLION to the economy.

A useful record of Farage’s failure and his inability to cope with it. A cheat and a very bad loser who would happily trash democracy to get the result he wants. And then remove our rights to stop us holding him to account. Such a corrupt, egomaniacal liar should have no hope of getting power.

Worth reading their letter in full, but would particularly like to draw attention to this paragraph, following the High Court decision. Routinely outing trans people at work is not compatible with their human rights.

Hannah Spencer walking into Westminster, sucking her teeth, tutting, and muttering "tell you what, you've had some cowboys in here."

Same energy

Our report of the Special Higher Education Committee meeting on 11 Feb is now live: ucucommons.org/special-hec-... #ucu

Today is the last day to (safely) post your #ucu ballot! NEC is *the* decision-making body so make sure the people there represent your views. Views like, maybe, spending a fortune on a strike ballot that had no chance of passing was a Bad Idea and shouldn't have happened? Things like that.

First, this is obviously horrendous and my heart goes out to trans siblings affected. Get to safety if you can. Second, in a nutshell, why the Government has no business having a list of people who have GRCs. When the fascists get in charge, they abuse people.

Whatever happens, we need a union that will play smarter (and when necessary harder) in defence of post-16 education and its workers. It's on all of us to muck in and do the work to advocate for our sector and the excellent people who work within it. So don’t just vote, get active!

stole this off reddit for the very niche group of you who will enjoy it as much as I did

As someone who has published books with 100+ images, here are my tips for finding free #earlymodern images (and tips for discounts when you have to pay for them!) 🗃️ sarahabendall.com/2020/03/11/e...