... 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...

If someone had told me a year ago, that this could happen in the UK I wouldn't have believed it. Now it's all happening very fast. Even if you consider Cummings as the 'career psychopath' he always was, this is a dangerous new level.

AI letters are flooding the medical literature. (gift link) Thanks, Altman.

This.

there’s a revolution happening in journalism

Horrific, stupid news from @uniofnottingham.bsky.social — they are closing their music department. Apparently they all found out suddently in a meeting yesterday. It is one of the best music departments in the country — solidarity with my colleagues and their students www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

🔴 Muriel Spark to be honoured in first ever memorial dedicated to a woman in Edinburgh's Princes Street Gardens www.scotsman.com/arts-and-cul...

Prevent stats published today www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crim...

⚠️ Please report sightings of dead birds for possible testing for bird flu via the forms below ⬇️ 📌 In England, Wales & Scotland: www.gov.uk/guidance/rep... 📌 In Northern Ireland: www.daera-ni.gov.uk/.../daera-de.... 📌 In Republic of Ireland: aviancheck.apps.services.agriculture.gov.ie/report

It's always sad to see a church sold, but maybe this piece will encourage a few new readers of A Scots Quair @asls.org.uk www.bbc.com/news/article...

US-based literary arts nonprofits: the Literary Arts Fund will open a call for proposals in a few days! More here: #writing #books #authors literaryartsfund.org/grants/#over...

New open access (free to download) monograph published in New Historical Perspectives series. #Skystorians

'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

Human Geography at Leicester is facing closure. Staff contracts are to end in June 2026; students are to be relocated to other universities, or taught out by a maximum of two (!) teaching-only staff. Other departments and subjects are facing closure, too. Please join the demo!

Imagine a drop of ancient resin. Inside is an insect, trapped for 53 million years, so well preserved it looks like it might twitch back into life. These amber fossils offer us a breath-taking glimpse into long vanished ecosystems. But there’s a catch

“The Gaza of maps and memories is gone, replaced by a monochrome landscape of rubble stretching flat and still…. there's almost nothing left to orient you here, or identify the neighbourhoods that once held tens of thousands of people”. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

All eyes on humanities colleagues and students at Nottingham University this week - yet more course cuts about to be announced. Sympathy to all.

'“An overarching message...was that strengthening research security must be a gradual, collaborative process identifying weak points, refining policies and procedures along the way, and steadily building awareness and resilience over time,” said Vincent Klein Ikkink.' Earthshattering conclusion.

'The University of Reading wants to build Loddon Garden Village on land close to Shinfield and Lower Earley and it is included in Wokingham Borough Council's current housing plans. The application includes about 2,800 homes, along with two primary schools and one secondary school'. 1/2

'Brewing was another industry closely connected to the book trade....brewing was a natural complement: the ingredients of beer, such as bran, were also used in manuscript production as a chemical aid in the preparation of parchment skins and as a medium in the mixing of colour pigments'.

Note the ‘British soil’ bit. My uni has plans to open a campus in China. The VC scoffed at me when I expressed concern that staff and students wouldn’t be able to speak freely, and that - as he said - the curriculum would be censored. It’s the price of doing business.

Vital piece of investigative reporting from Sky. They've uncovered the X algorithm which feeds users extremist right wing material from the moment they join the site. It is a far-right radicalisation engine, by design. news.sky.com/story/the-x-...

This is indeed "old-fashioned" in the sense that she's saying exactly the same thing as "modern" Conservatives like Robert Jenrick and Katie Lam, only in plain English. bylinetimes.com/2025/11/05/c...

If you missed it, here’s the interim Principal talking about substantial future job cuts at University of Dundee. He refers to the number of job losses recommended in the recovery plan. This is 390FTE with 340FTE via redundancies. We believe redundancies are not necessary. #SaveHE #SaveDundeeUni

Compulsory team teaching on every module is perhaps the biggest ever threat to the quality of teaching in UK universities. It causes chaos on the ground for timetabling, ruins course coherence and turns lecturers into permanent supply teachers. It is pedagogically incoherent… 1/

Climate adaptation from 4,000 years ago www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

'Researchers have found that the primitive humans who lived 2.75 million years ago at an archaeological site called Namorotukunan used stone tools continuously for 300,000 years.' 1/2

'One UK-based China scholar has since described being a victim of death threats and a smear campaign, while another was sanctioned for her work on human rights abuses against Uyghur Muslims and can no longer travel to China to conduct her research.'

'The Royal Society...is among those urging the government to go much further with a new baccalaureate-style qualification that allows children to study a broader range of subjects, combining humanities and sciences or vocational and academic subjects as they progress through school.' 1/2

Ideal staycation for industrial and railway history buffs.

Applications for the ERC Consolidator Grant will close on 13 January. To learn more about this exciting opportunity, join our webinar on 24 November. Find out more and register your interest: https://bit.ly/46RDnVV

"On one side are dishonest authors and institutions seeking to inflate their reputations. On the other are industrial-scale productions of fake science publications and publishers charging spiralling publication fees to maximise their profits."

House of Lords select committee takes up my Number 1 argument for reform of the UK's approach to science and technology. We need to retain our fastest-growing firms here in the UK. Now it's up to Peter Kyle to explain how he intends to achieve that.

The #1 lesson from yesterday’s blowout: Humanities majors killed on the job market 1) Mamdani- Africana Studies 2) Spanberger -French 3) Sherill - Global History

🚨 The Government has published the Curriculum and Assessment Review. The independent review, chaired by @beckyfrancis.bsky.social, offers a balanced critique of our current curriculum and assessment system, and outlines a series of recommendations for reform. Our reaction 🧵⤵️

'More recent graduates from Europe and Australia can apply to work in the UK after the government doubled the number of global universities whose alumni can be eligible for a High Potential Individual visa.' Graduates of 80 universities now eligible; only 42 were in 2024. 1/2

'It turns out that if you design a landscape that looks like alphabet soup, you shouldn’t be surprised when applicants misread the signposts.' 1/3

I’ve been catching up working through all the titles of files released at the National Archives, August-October 2025 Here are the overviews followed by a vote for what might be interesting to look at and report…

Some pragmatic home truths we need to think with if these aspirations are to be met. Setting PCE criteria very late in the day (December 25/January26) means that HEIs will be retrofitting data to them in their submissions. They will drive positive change only if HEIs believe they will endure. 1/2

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/

The Growth Story of the 21st Century: The Economics and Opportunity of Climate Action will be free to read and download from 5th Nov. ➡️ doi.org/10.31389/lse... #Sustainability #Climate #Growth #COP30 #NicholasStern #SternReview #OpenAccess @gsos-lse.bsky.social @lse-sticerd-case.bsky.social

Want to boost productivity sustainably? Consider getting connected.

We are co-hosting on 3 Dec. a conference on 'From Boundary Commission to Border Poll? A Century of the Irish Border'. This is a free event, but registration is required (by 26 Nov.). Info at: www.ticketsource.co.uk/institute-of...

‘By the early 2020s, Liverpool had 31 million visitors a year, and 35,000 people worked in tourism in the city, as many as worked on the docks in their heyday. The city’s past has been turned into a resource to be mined.’ Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Our PhD studentship applications are open for 2026 entry and I'm keen to hear from outstanding candidates in history of early modern conflict and/or creative histories.

Indigenous peoples make up just 5% of the world’s population - but protect over 80% of its biodiversity. British Academy-supported research from the NUWAO project explores how Indigenous-led, nature-based solutions can shape fairer climate action across Oceania. Read more: https://bit.ly/4nyr9Yv

What happens when competing and complementary ‘ways of knowing’ meet in religion, spirituality, and health? A new open access volume from the Proceedings of the British Academy explores marginalised epistemes - from Korean shamanism to Siddha medicine. Discover more: https://bit.ly/47qt9xi

On 11 November, Steven Spencer of Birkbeck, University of London, will be speaking at the next IHR Parliaments, Politics & People Seminar, where he will be presenting on 'The campaign to pass the Criminal Law Amendment Bill' Find out more about his paper and how to attend below: buff.ly/OTB2wDo

"The Australian Wars" (2025) The history of over 150 years of battles, massacres and guerilla warfare as Indigenous nations resisted colonial invasion and occupation of their lands. Editors: Rachel Perkins, Stephen Gapps, Mina Murray & Henry Reynolds. HB 4Nov2025. 416p. #Australia #history #BookSky