This is Higher Education now. It's a very dark time, and enormously toxic, so look out for both others and yourself. All solidarity to colleagues.

Mourning the demise of Gibert bookshops (which also means the demise of the little yellow stickers of book bargain delights...😢)

'If graduates are asked to supervise AI before having learnt the standards of the field, the result may be fluency without competence.' 'This is why the way universities deal with the disruptive force of AI is so essential.'

60% of those who speak French daily now live in Africa, and 80% of children studying in French are in Africa. There are as many French speakers in Kinshasa as in Paris. “French flourishes every day in Africa,” said Souleymane Bachir Diagne, professor of philosophy & French at Columbia U. Gift link

The university in the Black Country directly employs 4500 people, virtually all in the area. Thousands more jobs are supported by it, such as the nurses who trained there, and spin-offs. Jobs are being cut, pay is being reduced, campuses are closing. Everyone benefits from its graduates. Help it.

Slightly less glitzy than many of the #ChandelierSunday but I could resist taking a photo of this in a restaurant near the Bibliothèque nationale Richelieu

Yet another university slashing jobs…

We need someone to write a piece explaining university income and staff numbers across the UK in terms of ‘this much more income than a city’s football team(s)’ - it might help people (including government) to understand their significance to the economy in a way that resonates

Today is #NationalPenguinDay so we're remembering that time we made a Penguin out of Penguin Books. It's a Penguin Penguin. 🐧

From journal editing experience this tracks. In 2022 our journal got ~300 submissions. In 2025? 1300. So far this year? 500 and we're not even out of April yet. The AI trickle is now a stream, yet T&F are *still* seeking new big tech partners to flog papers for AI training rather than *helping us*

My timeline is full of carriages this evening and I’m loving it! Thank you @annamthane.bsky.social for reposting some glorious photos!

There aren’t many courses that give you the opportunity to engage with the amazing archives & libraries of @royalhistsoc.org @natarchivestrust.bsky.social @bishopsgateinst.bsky.social & @wellcomecollection.bsky.social Led by the fantastic @simonjptrafford.bsky.social @ihr.bsky.social

"They are the source code for the emotional intelligence, ethical reasoning, cultural fluency, and critical thinking that machines will never have." And yet we have to justify humanities degrees…

Restorative Justice - Seeing the practical impact on certain communities and being a teeny tiny part of this truly makes me proud. The whole team works INCREDIBLY hard. Words can heal and actions can build. www.theguardian.com/news/2026/ap...

Call me Cassandra, but if you make thousands of HEI staff either compulsorily or 'voluntarily' redundant and create conditions in which senior staff take early retirement in an attempt to save more junior colleagues' careers without significant new hiring, a critical loss is exactly what happens.

Mme de Staël, influential French-Swiss woman of letters, author of Corinne, born #OTD 1766; champion of Romanticism, pre-cursor of feminism, known for her observations on Revolutionary France & the rise of Napoleon. Portrait after François Gérard, Château de Versailles

I’d forgotten how gloomy it feels to head down towards the salle de recherche at the BnF. It’s been a very long time since I was last here…

We're not saying that the MRC staff drink a lot of tea but.... 'A problem solved' Why is #NationalTeaDay a month before National Biscuit Day? Everyone knows you can't have one without the other!

Fascists and Nazis hate history, and historians; but understand the power of history. Thats why, across the world, they work so hard to control HOW we tell stories about the past, to drive out diverse critical voices and perspectives, to ensure a narrative that makes them look good.

😢

It’s such a grim landscape for humanities in HE but increasingly the learned societies and charities are mobilising to support research outside of HE - presuming that your friend was interested in HE for research, that is. Obviously if they’d like to be swamped in meaningless admin, and precarity…

Ouch - that’s so brutal.. what a mess HE is in at the moment… and so much expertise being jettisoned…

Last week, a gentleman returned this rather dilapidated copy of this famous book to us after 50 years. He had found it in his attic! Presumably this means there is a pristine copy somewhere in our libraries....

On that note, really loved @gregjenner.bsky.social's You're Dead To Me episode on Alexandre Dumas with @historianmemory.bsky.social & Celya AB www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

This one might be hard to beat!

When I worked at the Jean Piaget Archives in the University of Geneva, the family donated the intellectual contents of his home. Fortunately, my supervisor decided to retain the locations of the papers. Because Piaget's own "filing system" was to add new desks and shelves when the old ones filled up

A sobering start to a fascinating training session for PhD supervisors on alternatives to academic careers with @naomityrrell.bsky.social

I feel this photo should set up a whole thread where we all share the most chaotic boxes of archival material we’ve come across! I just need to find the photo I’ve got of a particularly disorganised but oh so promising box at the UK national archives first…

This really is a lovely piece - an uplifting story of shared memories of going to football matches and collecting autographs.

I've been working as a freelance professional academic editor for over 15 years and have finally got around to creating a website. If you're an academic writer seeking experienced editorial help on a writing project (e.g. book, chapter, journal article), get in touch! And please spread the word ✏️📖

This is presumably the scaled down and evolved version of the mentoring scheme that the UK department of education pulled out of? Warwick was lined up to provide mentors under Cardiff’s guidance until the project was shelved. Just think how very different the GCSE landscape might look…

As an Exeter fan and Trust member I’m obviously biased, but this was a really good header by the keeper!

As my maternity leave comes to an end, a reminder that I’m now offering an archive photography service primarily for museums/archives in the south east England (IWM, TNA, BL etc etc) to help make ends meet. Details below: lucybetteridgedyson.com/archive-rese...

French man, 86, issues historic apology for family’s role in transatlantic slavery

“We are not a counter-movement, we are the wider movement” notinourname.org.uk/one-year-on-...

i have followed the evolution of the wikipedia AI detection guide with interest and regret to say that i still bombed their quiz. i think there are grounds for quite extensive pessimism about how this is going to play out in both teaching and research. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikiped...

In two months I’ll be giving my first online talk about Norman Cross! So if you’ve ever wondered what the prisoner of war camp was like or what the prisoners made, now’s your chance to find out www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/prisoners-...

You can still “see” a 1100-year-old Viking frontier in England through place names. “-by” and “-thorpe” cluster in the former Danelaw, while “-ton” and “-ham” dominate elsewhere. Not a clean border, but a lasting cultural imprint. Source: buff.ly/NlTRNKY

I'm pleased to announce I'm a founding co-editor of the new @manchesterup.bsky.social book series, Radical Histories. Do let me know if you have a proposal for a book that fits our inclusive remit on radical histories. manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/series/radic...

Quite something to think we are staring down the barrel of a crisis which will end high level research and teaching as something spread evenly across the country's cities and towns, accessible to all, and both UK and devolved governments just don't seem to particularly care?

Race, Law and Empire, 1750-1850 Conference University of Southampton AND online 17th - 18th July 2026 Call for Papers extended by popular request. Full details below. Please share widely. Established, emerging researchers are very welcome. Supported by @leverhulme.ac.uk

How about giving a few quid to support a new blue plaque in London celebrating Black history? Only takes a minute to do your good deed for the day 🗃️

#CFP: RADICAL PRINT CULTURE IN THE LONG 18TH-CENTURY Join us for a day long discussion of the political power of print, featuring keynote lectures by Dr Helen Williams & Dr Esther Chadwick & a handling session inside the Borthwick Archives. More Info: www.york.ac.uk/eighteenth-c... #18c #18thC

What will you discover? It's our first open day of the season today and we would love to show you around our medieval house and garden! Sunday April 12th. 10am-4pm Free to visit. You'll find the Weaver’s House at Black Swan Terrace, 121 Upper Spon Street, Spon End, Coventry CV1 3BQ

Discover a little piece of medieval in Coventry. Open day: Sunday 12th April, 10am-4pm. Free to visit!