Elaine McGirr
@emmcgirr.bsky.social
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Eighteenth-century & theatre historian; cat & child wrangler; immigrant.
reposted by
Elaine McGirr
The Museum of English Rural Life
8 days ago
Weâre appointing a writer-in-residence! Join us to respond to our holdings related to the Bloomsbury Group (including the archives of Leonard and Virginia Woolfâs Hogarth Press) ahead of a major exhibition in 2027. Applications close 19 May. Best of luck!
collections.reading.ac.uk/news-and-vie...
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Call for Applications: Writer in Residence - Blooming Bloomsbury and the Modernist Archives Publishing Project -Creativity and Community Co-Curation (2026) | Museums and Collections
The selected writer will spend the summer months (JuneâSeptember 2026) drawing inspiration from MAPP to develop new creative work. From September to December, they will build on this...
https://collections.reading.ac.uk/news-and-views/call-for-applications-writer-in-residence-blooming-bloomsbury-and-the-modernist-archives-publishing-project-creativity-and-community-co-curation-2026/
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Elaine McGirr
Senator Chris Van Hollen
8 days ago
Today, I offered an amendment that would have shut this scam down. My amendment would've prevented self-dealing by public officials â including the President & members of Congress â who own or promote digital asset companies, including crypto. Every Republican voted against it.
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Elaine McGirr
Mic Wright
8 days ago
Farage now insisting he is ânot and has never been a crookâ. Lucky thereâs no political history of âI am not a crookâ as a line of defence coming back to bite anyone.
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I taught in Hums at UHerts & the students & staff were & are incredible. They deserve better than this & society needs more thoughtful, creative, curious humans. Save Humanities.
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10 days ago
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Elaine McGirr
Jo Grady
10 days ago
Yesterday Kier Starmer announced Labour will nationalise British Steel, and save 2700 jobs. Today, the Uni of Nottingham put 2700 staff at risk of redundancy. This is just one university. Across the UK 15,000 higher education jobs need saving. Where is the rescue package for our universities?
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Elaine McGirr
Dan Kaszeta FRHistS
11 days ago
Shouldn't running a fictional person as a candidate incur some sort of criminal sanction?
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Elaine McGirr
Finbarr Bermingham
11 days ago
10/10, no notes
www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/nationa...
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RTE to air Father Ted Eurovision episode as it boycotts song contest
Ireland joins Spain and Slovenia in refusing to compete in or broadcast the competition, while the Netherlands and Iceland have refused to send acts.
https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/national/26097358.rte-air-father-ted-eurovision-episode-boycotts-song-contest/
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Lolz. French professor investigated for awarding himself fake prize
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
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French professor investigated for awarding himself fake prize
The academic is accused of dreaming up the prize he went on to win and has been suspended from his university.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g8pwjdp6do
15 days ago
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Elaine McGirr
Dave Andress
16 days ago
Informed people make choices that are better for them and for society at large. The mission of partisan mass-media is to keep people poorly-informed. This is also why Musk bought Twitter, how Facebook works, and why independent journalism is becoming untenable as a profession.
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Imagine a technique that can heal Britain of division and keep out the hard right. I call it âradical listeningâ | George Monbiot
In my constituency, a group of volunteers chats with people â most of whom find they are to the left of their voting intentions, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/may/07/technique-heal-britain-division-hard-right-radical-listening-constituency-volunteers
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Elaine McGirr
Natalia Cecire
18 days ago
So much of the economics of education are predicated on the obviously false proposition that learning is not labor
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Elaine McGirr
Tobias Wilson-Bates
24 days ago
Being asked to do more with less is one of those internet era maxims that seems to imply ingenuity, but is actually just the managerial slogan for squeezing uncompensated labor out of workers unwilling or unable to leave their current employment.
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Elaine McGirr
Caroline Dodds Pennock
24 days ago
Well, well, well.
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Sussex University overturns ÂŁ585,000 fine as high court rejects free speech breach claim
Ruling is blow to Office for Students after it issued fine for handling of protests over professorâs trans rights views
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2026/apr/29/sussex-university-overturns-fine-free-speech-kathleen-stock
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today's hero is William 'Gentleman' Smith who knew how to do retirement well: "he continued riding, drinking good wine, and walking until his late eighties."
#lifegoals
25 days ago
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Elaine McGirr
Danielle Terrazas Williams
about 1 month ago
PhD Funding! Kingâs College Londonâs Leverhulme Centre for Research on Slavery in War is pleased to announce the availability of a fully funded doctoral studentship from October 2026. We invite proposals on aspects of historical war studies 1791-1926.
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DRD022/p...
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PhD Studentship: Kingâs College Londonâs Leverhulme Centre for Research on Slavery in War (CRSW) Doctoral Studentships at King's College London
jobs.ac.uk now advertising a PhD Studentship: Kingâs College Londonâs Leverhulme Centre for Research on Slavery in War (CRSW) Doctoral Studentships Visit jobs.ac.uk to apply and to browse more PhD opportunities.
https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DRD022/phd-studentship-kings-college-londons-leverhulme-centre-for-research-on-slavery-in-war-crsw-doctoral-studentships
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Is there a nice way to say that actors making charitable appearances get the credit for being charitable w/o having to actually part with any cash? (Writing about who benefits from benefits)
#amwriting
#c18
#theatrehistory
about 1 month ago
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Teen was doing her homework in the kitchen. Cat, Ć” infinite love, brought her a mouse & ripped it open to show Teen the exciting mousie insides. Teen did not appreciate her gift.
about 2 months ago
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Elaine McGirr
Jennifer Caroccio Maldonado, PhD
about 2 months ago
You know who actually supports my work? Daycare workers. That's the industry that needs billions poured into, not tech and slop AI.
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Today's tiny work rebellion was completing the compulsory DSE training on my laptop from my bed. Where I've been writing & reading for the last 3 months.
about 2 months ago
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The cats are worried abt me: yesterday they gifted me a 5 am mouse, & today they put an exciting slug in my bed.
2 months ago
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Things I've asked my writing group this week: âą Do I need to be more explicit that the dancing-masters were pimps? âą which of these quotes is the filthiest? âą is it obvious that the stilts represent an erection?
#amwriting
#c18
#theatrehistory
2 months ago
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This is horrific. Universities (*all* of them đ at you RG) exist to educate. Teaching is the core business. Teaching staff are core staff.
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2 months ago
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Today's tasks: tidy up my Eliza Haywood essay (she acts! She sings! She has a great sense of humour!); get stuck into my benefits aren't as beneficial as managers think essay & go to parent-teacher night at Child's school.
#amwriting
#soloparenting
2 months ago
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Who needs Molly Bloom when you have Lady Flame?
2 months ago
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Today's writing clocks in at -800 words, but there are 2,000+ new and improved ones after the general slaughter.
#amwriting
#slowly
2 months ago
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Elaine McGirr
Alex Coupe
3 months ago
9,600 redundancies at just 24 universities. Imagine what the picture is for the sector as a whole. This is the other half of the student loan scandal picture, which has been national news lately. Nothing at all from the government on a key sector effectively in freefallâŠ
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Writing is as tortured as the cat's spine. Not, alas, as fluid as the cat.
#amwriting
3 months ago
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They brought a plane of food ... to ITALY
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3 months ago
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Elaine McGirr
Power, Corruption & Likes
4 months ago
As Google Books starts to sink, it's worth remembering how Google organised a separate class of employees to do the actual labour of the book scanning, and kept them in a separate building on the Google campus with none of the privileges of regular Google staff.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0RT...
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Workers Leaving the Googleplex
YouTube video by Andrew Norman Wilson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0RTgOuoi2k
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Can I get away with describing the 'Eliza' section of _The Dunciad_ as an authorial piss-up?
#amwriting
4 months ago
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Elaine McGirr
Adam Bienkov
4 months ago
The defection of Suella Braverman, who was sacked twice from Government in disgrace, spent ÂŁ700m of taxpayers' money to send four volunteers to Rwanda on a deportation scheme that was then scrapped and has a public approval rating of minus 32 is currently being described as a "major coup" for Reform
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Elaine McGirr
Elisabeth R. Anker
4 months ago
Wise words from WEB DuBois to gird us today: "It would be shame and cowardice to surrender this glorious land and its opportunities for civilization and humanity to the thugs and lynchers, the mobs and profiteers, the monopolists & gamblers who today choke its soul and steal its resources."
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Mistead this as "cheese piece" and am now slightly disappointed
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4 months ago
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Elaine McGirr
Tita Chico
4 months ago
great readings for our students to understand what 'generative AI' is. I take the approach of bringing AI into our course work as an object of inquiry--to study it, to understand what it is, its myriad contexts. And my students are hungry for this information. I bet yours are, too.
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Things are terrible so here's a cat enjoying Wild London.
4 months ago
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So the Teens did let me sleep and largely managed themselves while I was ill. But they also made sure to let me know that I'm still needed (I'm on the mend, but still sound like Iggy Pop on a bad day)
4 months ago
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And the curse of research leave lurgy strikes again. Have been too sick to work (or even drink coffee) for days. Feeling better enough now to mostly feel sorry for myself.
4 months ago
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đ¶on the first day of research leave, my true love gave to me... a Smeg bean-to-cup coffeeđ¶ [maker - in the sales!]
5 months ago
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It's my first day of research leave. & while I have a truly terrifying number of things that must be written in the next 6 months, today I'm settling down to read, because *research*
5 months ago
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Elaine McGirr
Margot Finn
5 months ago
2025 has been a rotten year for most early career postdoctoral researchers, especially in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. For a better 2026, check out (or repost) this short thread on a free resource for UK-based SHAPE PhDs within 10 years (excluding career breaks) of the doctorate. 1/3
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Early Career Researcher Network
An inclusive, researcher-led network for UK-based early career researchers working in the humanities and social sciences
https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/early-career-researcher-network/
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Happy Boxing Day to all who celebrate
5 months ago
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Elaine McGirr
Dr Andrew McInnes
5 months ago
Before essay mills were banned in 2022, advertising for essay mills were all like âstudents, get help with your ideasâ and *everyone* knew it was bullshit. EVERYONE! And now universities themselves are encouraging students to âget help with their ideasâ from ChatGPT - and itâs STILL bullshit!
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Out of office is ON. I am on annual and/research leave from now until September 2026. đđ
5 months ago
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Elaine McGirr
Merriam-Webster
5 months ago
Merriam-Websterâs human editors have chosen âslopâ as the 2025 Word of the Year.
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The remains of end-of-term bounty
5 months ago
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www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
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Hundreds of items stolen in 'high-value' Bristol Museum raid
More than 600 artefacts from the museum's British Empire and Commonwealth collection were taken.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8dyr37qzrno
5 months ago
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đ€Ź
5 months ago
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Elaine McGirr
Dr Dave Hitchcock
6 months ago
Unfortunately the HE 2025 ballot failed at 39% turnout. I have written about why and about what desperately needs to change in UCU's national structures off the back of this result. Some HEC members need to chi up and understand their role in all this, and how disconnected they are from members.
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The HE Ballot failed, now what?
If youâre reading this it is because today the UCUâs 2025 national ballot over pay and conditions in universities has failed. The last timeâŠ
https://hitchcockian.medium.com/the-he-ballot-failed-now-what-ff5fd1245e69
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Because the world is too much with us of late, I give you this pure unadulterated joy:
youtu.be/OZqz94ODz18?...
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Miracle on 42nd Street
YouTube video by TheYahsInitiative
https://youtu.be/OZqz94ODz18?si=5YElxyAuC2ZmM40J
6 months ago
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Kittens holding paws for your evening palate cleanser.
6 months ago
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The children & the cat also had v different reactions to the end of the snow flurry
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6 months ago
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