Decades of mechanistic talk about university degrees as if they were bundles of 'skills' and 'prep' are about to be proved completely wrong (obviously). Want to get a real boost? Do History or English.

Our story of the week is Agnes and the Cemetery Bus by Susan Rose April.

Big congrats to this year's winner: @valerieoriordan.bsky.social. Thanks to the judges, writer Preti Taneja and pop star Paul Smith, and all at @newwritingnorth.bsky.social

The Finchale Award for Short Fiction award goes to Manchester writer @valerieoriordan.bsky.social. "I'm beyond thrilled to have won! It's such an honour. This is going to make a really massive difference to my writing practice over the next twelve months, and I can't wait to get started!"

I was asked to come up with an "Idea for Keir". Easy. Stop arming Israel. www.newstatesman.com/ideas/2025/0...

“Forget the risible rise of the hot take / then, poets who play politics, mistake / strength of feeling for technique.” A couple of new poems in this week’s @thespectator1828.bsky.social, including this little number.

Lecturer in English (English Literature), 1FTE, Contract Type B, Specific Purpose Contract University of Galway 6 months The modules to be covered include North American Fiction, Twentieth-Century Fiction, Literature and Ideas, and Travel Literature. universityvacancies.com/university-g...

“is my calculator horny?“ our tech columnist asks. “i entered 5318008 into it and turned it upside down. what i saw surprised me”

Super excited about this!

Our story of the week is Visitor, by Drew Townsend.

Nice to see this pop up unexpectedly on my feed! 😍

saw a thread of people posting poetry today and I re-read this one, by Ben Wilkinson earlier — a perfect invocation of student life and nostalgia (and Sheffield, a city I’ve never lived but always loved)

Check me on my high horse: www.the-tls.co.uk/regular-feat...

Our story of the week is Smoke by Kirk Vanderbeek.

Squid Game is terrifying and all, but having worked in a liberal arts department at a UK university this past decade, it mainly feels unnervingly familiar. Except the massive cash jackpot always goes to the VC, naturally.

Nothing is hidden Wisława Szymborska, ‘Reality Demands’. Tr Stanisław Barańczak and Clare Cavanagh.

Maybe one of the reasons there are so many unhinged academics is that in order to keep your job, you’re constantly required to tout yourself as a Scholar of World-Historical Significance, even as your office’s ceiling tiles slowly dislodge themselves to fall on your head.

Did you know our 2010 winner's story was only 350 words? Just because we accept stories up to 4000 words, we love a good story whatever its size! You can enter until the end of January, more details here: bssp.blogs.bristol.ac.uk

I was lucky enough to be one of the BSSP judges that year, and we were all completely wowed by the 350-word winning story, by @valerieoriordan.bsky.social - so let that inspire you, writers of very short things!

Of all the problems with AI, I think we neglect this one: it is the enemy of diversity. Trained largely on white, mainstream creators, it creates a bland, soulless art form in which no individual voice, no diverse life experience can exist…

the sector is fatigued? the sector doesn't have the political clout of the steel industry? could it be because uni managements have engaged in a prolonged war of attrition with their own staff, aimed primarily at crushing organised labour in the sector?

seeing the leaders of French unis actually resisting cuts rather than treating staff and students like their enemy made me remember these interviews from the times higher last week (Shitij Kapur, Julie Sanders)

Amazon employees around the world are demonstrating between Black Friday and Cyber Monday to call for improved wages and working conditions, including unionization rights. Workers are striking in 20 countries including the US, UK, France, Germany, Japan, Brazil, and India.

Happy Blue Friday. If you are able, please buy your Bluemoose Books direct from our website. Mr Bezos has enough money to fly to the moon and back. www.Bluemoosebooks.com Thank you you. Kevin, Leo and Panda.

What's interesting about this trend for book marketing AI companies—who secure £Xmil in seed funding, get a write-up in the Bookseller, and will now wither away, leaving only a slime trail of AI generated goop across the surface of culture—is mainly what it says about capital’s engagement with books

I see somebody wasn’t a fan of The Den in the late 90s.

Anyone want 2 x tickets to see Sprints at New Century Hall (Mcr) on Fri (29th)? Selling at face value, £35.20 for the pair.

Our story of the week is the winner of our 2024 Flash Fiction Competition: Mother of Pearl by Dawn Miller. Congratulations, Dawn! @dawnwriter.bsky.social

Hi guys sooo Advance Reader Copies for THE STARDUST GRAIL are available to request on Netgalley and Edelweiss!

Northumbria University students must be so proud … How many other universities have accepted this kind of funding to avert their slow death at the hands of the Conservative government I wonder? www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-engl...

Ah, got it now ChatGPT. Reminds me of when I used to interview philosophy applicants from posh schools. Most were very well prepared and accurate but some spoke with verve and precision while delivering complete nonsense with all the confidence of a cabinet minister.

If you know a sixth former (in fulltime education 18 or younger) who enjoys philosophical writing, encourage them to submit to this essay competition. Themes: Could a machine think? Is it morally wrong to eat meat? Can I know that the world I experience is real? #philsky

Trying to collect together list of academics interested (in a *very* broad sense) in play/games/recreation/leisure. Please nominate self or other users to be added to the list bsky.app/profile/did:...

PoP! has been started by some of us in the University of Nottingham Philosophy department but we are keen to push out to other institutions and across disciplinary boundaries. Please click link and give email if you want to hear more. #PhilSky

One unexpected thing in my qualitative study w natural scientists (one-hour interviews) is how deeply, deeply sad the climate scientists are. They say things like "you have enough information from us, why won't anyone act?" -- the psychological distress these people are enduring is very great.

Our story of the week is Minor Tortures in the Villa Borghese Gardens by @mtrgovich.bsky.social, the winner of 2023 Forge Flash Fiction Competition forgelitmag.com/2023/11/13/m...

Back to school week for my kids lasted only two days until classes were canceled due to excessive heat. Raising the difficulty of finishing the next draft of my novel about… climate change.