Again and again and again, a person losing their job at a Post-92 uni is every bit the equal of a person losing their job at a Russell Group uni. They might even be their collaborator. Or their editor. But hierarchy gets headlines.

I'm down on the south coast this week and there are warnings everywhere in this heat wave that you shouldn't try to cool off in the sea because the privately owned companies that run the water supply have flooded the waterways flowing into the sea with sewage. You can smell it some days, it reeks.

This week, Andy Burnham – an English graduate with a love of poetry – stepped closer to becoming Prime Minister. Andy’s remarkable journey embodies the central message of the #EnglishCreates campaign: this subject has the potential to enrich lives, open up opportunities, and shape the future.

Great letter in the LRB on the managerial university and its consequences.

new Mary Oliver poem just dropped

Totally agree with the first sentence here by @gsoh31.bsky.social. "The cost of everything and the value of nothing". FFS.

Reform UK councillors have introduced a motion to rescind King's Lynn and West Norfolk's climate emergency declaration and deprioritise decarbonisation efforts The council were going to vote on it on Thursday But the meeting has been postponed due to extreme heat

This is a new book published by Iona Books/Wild Goose Publishing. Well worth a close look.

10 years since the country's (or--really--England's) most staggering act of national self harm. This poem by Jane Commane has always struck me as brilliant. Still stands up ten years on. @ninearchespress.bsky.social From "Assembly Lines" (@bloodaxebooks.bsky.social, 2018).

Ida Frosk, aka Ida Skivenes, a food artist from Norway, who makes and eats her own art #WomensArt #Tuesday

Not the least of Brexit's disasters, which helped hollow out the state and made it unresponsive and unable to react to citizens' needs and views, has been the schism between the state and the young.

A lot of people don't realise this but in the UK we have to replace our Prime Minister every two or three years or else the rights revert back to Marvel

A great pleasure to be at the #SoAwards last night and to meet the winners of the #EricGregoryAwards 2026 which I was involved in judging/selecting. Worthy winners all 👏🍾✍️

Myself and colleagues from across Higher Ed have gathered under the auspices of @isrfoundation.bsky.social to think about new models for Higher Education... We'll be adding pieces as we go, and we've already published quite a few. We can't go on like this, and we shouldn't. isrf.org/projects/rec...

Happy Pride to this Caravaggio self-portrait that made one man so gay he had to go to the hospital

Andrew’s Hockney poem in @theguardian.com

I’ve always loved #DavidHockney’s “We Two Boys Together Clinging” (1961). Words by Walt Whitman. www.thedavidhockneyfoundation.org/artwork/3573

If you ❤️ the work of women artists, you'll ❤️ the womensart book series!! 3 five 🌟 rated books.... bookshop.org/beta-search?... Or at an online or local bookshop of your choice ❤️

Gift link has run out but we've intervened at god level and made it free to read as it's a year old. www.ft.com/content/3862...

This is the ideal male body. You may not like it, but this is what peak performance looks like

As someone who has experienced redundancy from a UK HE Humanities /English dept this is a brilliant piece by @gsoh31.bsky.social.

“The truth is that ministers have not the faintest clue what to do”. @gsoh31.bsky.social writes on the quiet collapse of Britain’s universities and why so few people seem to care. www.arguably.uk/p/the-quiet-...

This Monday evening (15th June), sign up for a wonderful MASTERCLASS WEBINAR from @wendypratt.bsky.social as she explores Who Writes Nature: perception and experience in nature writing 7-8pm BST Recorded in case ticket-holders cannot join live £17 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/masterclas...

Looking forward to this next week (as one of the Eric Gregory Award judges). Particularly looking forward to meeting the winning poets. Canapés aren’t bad either.

Nigel Farage Listens to the News

Very good, if extremely depressing, piece by Stefan Collini to explain what has been and is being done to this country’s universities. If interested to find out, I recommend reading it.

'The Tube Train' (1934) by Cyril Power (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Hazel MacNab, contemporary UK printmaker based in Cornwall #Womensart

If you’re a man who doesn’t usually wear shorts you can just stay in. You must stay inside. Stay at home. Protect the NHS. Save lives.

In some places we’d call this a reel, but not here, I don’t think. It’s my ‘Things that help me’ diagram, zipping past at a speed that doesn’t quite allow you to read it. [For an A4 printable version subscribe (free) to diagramclub.substack.com and I’ll send it.]

The State of the Subject 2025-26: online forum Join us to reflect on and respond to the English Association’s State of the Subject Report 2025-26 by Antony Rowland An online forum to hear your thoughts about English Studies in these difficult times. englishassociation.ac.uk/the-state-of...

The State of the Subject 2025-26: online forum Join us to reflect on and respond to the English Association’s State of the Subject Report 2025-26 by Antony Rowland An online forum to hear your thoughts about English Studies in these difficult times. englishassociation.ac.uk/the-state-of...

Have you signed up for the #EnglishCreates summer symposium? This free online event brings together colleagues across Literature, Language & Creative Writing to tackle the challenges facing English - and imagine what comes next. Join us: your view matters. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/englishcre...

Why would we want to learn from our pasts, or ponder the power of the written and spoken word, or explore the deep questions of humanity? According to the University of Hertfordshire, we wouldn't. They've just cut all of our undergrad Humanities programmes

Keeping a straight face while gently dissuading someone from choosing "Come On Baby Light My Fire" as exit music for a funeral. At the crematorium. That's another one to file under 'pastoral skills they don't teach you at theological college'!

What happens when we lose spaces where people sit together& practice thinking collectively?This free event marks the publication of Between the Lines - Julia Bell, Professor of New Writing at Birkbeck talks with Dr Doug Cowie & @BobEaglestone.bluesky.social englishassociation.ac.uk/reading-the-...

Polka dot Cats by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama #Womensart

Polling suggests significant political shifts across English councils in May. Join our webinar on April 21 for practical tips on engaging new administrations and helping incoming councillors understand the role and value of a modern library service: www.librariesconnected.org.uk/events/webin...

A valentine's card for bibliophiles. For @theguardian.com books. Download a printable version here: www.tomgauld.com/valentine

Here's a gift from us to all poetry lovers (or poetry curious). Type the code LOVEPOETRY at our checkout for savings on your #poetry book purchases now: ninearchespress.com/shop 25% off books when you spend £15 or more 🩷

#EnglishCreates: Futures We are thrilled to share today's blog by Caroline Lucas, Britain’s first Green MP: 'Literature is the way we exercise the muscle of the imagination... And unless we can imagine a greener, fairer world, we’ll struggle to achieve it.' universityenglish.ac.uk/englishcreat...

Great to speak to The Observer about the moving response we’ve had to our #Minnesota adaptation of the song #SanFrancisco - observer.co.uk/news/nationa... … Trying to get approval to release it. 🤞 #solidarity

The deadline for the first ever Ecocriticsm / Tennyson Conference is Saturday: all details below... @thevicsoc.bsky.social @tennysonsociety.bsky.social @victorianpoetry.bsky.social @poetrysociety.org.uk @profjt.bsky.social @eecocriticism.bsky.social @gothicstudies.bsky.social

“Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.” ― Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own #WomensArt Portrait by her sister Vanessa Bell

We hope the good people of #SanFrancisco will forgive us for adapting a song about their city in 1967 to address the shocking and tragic events in #Minnesota in recent weeks. This is dedicated to Renée Good and Alex Pretti, and in solidarity. Our version is called "Minnesota" ❤️ youtu.be/BRHxXHZmVAM

Huge happy 80th birthday this week to the legendary #DollyParton 🎉- we are marking it with a parody of her 2nd number 1 hit, written by the #BeeGees. Our 🎶 version's called "Donald's Sewage Stream" - since he brought his sick drivel to #Europe #Davos #NATO & our #armedforces: youtu.be/F4nefIN4_LY

"Those 18-year-olds – the first guinea pigs, the class who matriculated in 2012 – are now turning 31. And belatedly, the impact of the loans they were assured were a rock-solid investment in their futures is becoming apparent." Some thoughts on student loans www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Thank you again to @alcs.co.uk for championing authors’ works by collecting money from around the world when someone copies or uses our work. It’s payment day soon thanks to their achievements.

The T.S. Eliot shortlist readings are this Sunday 18th January! Poets will read from their shortlisted collections with MC Ian McMillan as perfect host. At the Royal Festival Hall from 7pm. This event is run by @tseliotprize and @southbankcentre. Book via www.southbankcentre.co.uk