It's been a long time since I did any academic writing, now I'm onto the final typos and referencing checks. I want to claw out my own eyeballs.

Somehow my Instagram algorithm is now pushing me reels of Slavoj Zizek. Is he the new meme guy of the moment?

POV you're an independent scholar with no institutional access - 48 hours access for £41 !!!!!

My driving licence was renewed so has Dr on it, being out of academia I often forget I'm a Dr. Bloke at a hotel check in was impressed, so there is proof a humanities PhD is not useless.

archive.is/ixN0h totally not biased political campaigning group are demanding unis & museums stop using 'Ancient Palestine' to describe areas in Palestine in ancient times & use 'neutral' terms like 'the Levant'.

I can't express how damaging this is, music and languages aren't just optional extras, they are at the core of what a university does: cultivate knowledge and culture in the next generation. And if they'll cut those, what's next? It's institutional self-destruction. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Academia has just sent me an email asking me to pay to see an AI comic they have generated out of a paper. WTF.

When your bibliography & footnotes are seemingly disorganised, nah its just a

Ah academia where they mention annual increments of pay increase as a job perk, in bold at the top of a job advert, for a fixed one year contract 🤣

About 20 now have been arrested in Liverpool outside labour party conference for supporting Palestine and opposing genocide. Police slowly picking them off one by one. Some legend with a speaker is playing the Star wars imperial march every time the police swoop in to arrest.

Arrested and escorted away by multiple police officers for holding a sign opposing genocide.

Auto correct BC of my terrible typing of the day - somehow ended up calling John Garstang the fiesta director of antiquities, instead of first.

youtu.be/-ndswC8hiN0?... This is painfully true and hilarious. one of Frankie's best.

Student at my college was interviewed live on BBC & spoke out about Gaza & BBC bias. Even though I don't know the kid, as a member of staff at the same college I'm proud!

When your shampoo starts reading Foucault.

To ignore the pivotal role archaeology has played in creating orientalist perceptions of Palestine which have been used to disconnect Palestinian from Palestine, to erase and silence, to justify occupation, is to be complicit.

Thank you all for showing that archaeologists stand with Palestine. With just 1 day left, we ask you to continue to sign, share & talk about the open letter to @archaeologyeaa.bsky.social demanding they do the right & principled thing: #boycottisrael forms.gle/YkcYuikrqh1D... #archaeology #🏺#eaa2025

This evening in Liverpool. Solidarity.

More reasons not to rely on AI, Google AI overview is trying to tell me a song was recorded in 1998. It authoritatively cites the source as a compilation album from 1998. However, the singer died in 1978 & I have it on another compilation from 1988.

This thread on Reddit if true is a terrifying insight into the state of UK HE & many universities priorities - www.reddit.com/r/UniUK/s/OR...

First post PhD paper done, today @batw.bsky.social looked at Liverpool as a city of empire & connections to archaeology as a colonial discipline & the appropriation of the past to legitimise empire. Inspired by this artwork by Nathan Coley. #batw25

targeted ads on Instagram are now so targeted they're advertising me books by my thesis examiner . . . @drtermagant.bsky.social

V interesting thread. Archaeologists, this also involves us. Permission to excavate & appropriate land used similar legal systems. Results of said excavations then used to 'prove' historic claims to land etc, I I.e archaeology is complicit, so we need to stop pretending we're not.

Anyone interested in the reception of the ancient world should check out the Simpsons shit posting Reddit right now - on fire with memes based on the Ea-Nasir tablet -https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complaint_tablet_to_Ea-n%C4%81%E1%B9%A3ir

As I'm seeing a lot of discussion on both uni and jobs Reddit discussions.on what a 'good' uni is - RG unis 'better'or is it bc RG unis are a social signifier, you see a RG uni on a CV that's a signal to an employer you're more likely to be of a certain social background.

Williamson Tunnels heritage centre may close due property developers. Fundraiser here gofund.me/493d557a

The British Museum Israel event, another in a long, long, long line of events going back to the earliest days of archaeology, in which archaeology, museums, heritage have been used as tools of colonial power.

This reel on insta is very accurate for academia, for those who can't see it's Lauryn Hill talking about the music industry pressuring her to release. The 'window' and 'time is running out' www.instagram.com/reel/DKNCAUB...

We are fundraising to support #archaeology #students in #Gaza to settle their tuition fees & complete their degrees. We've worked with them at the #GAZAMAP project monitoring vulnerable #culturalheritage. Please donate and share: gogetfunding.com/help-gazan-s...

📜🏺 As archaeologists and heritage practitioners, we have a duty to speak out against the ways our disciplines facilitate genocide. The least we can do is alleviate suffering through donating - like at the link below to support archaeology students in Gaza ⬇️ bsky.app/profile/gman...

This kid is an exemplar of what education is, learning, thinking, using your knowledge to inform. NYU is an example of everything education shouldn't be, education as a tool to oppress & silence.

Been off here for a while, honestly I don't know how anyone else has a day job & also keeps up with academic stuff as an independent scholar (or maybe they just don't work in education & spend all their spare time & money dancing 😂)

Happy to have a paper accepted for @batw.bsky.social conference in Liverpool in June, very proud to be presenting in my hometown, about my hometown.

We condemn the University of Cambridge's attempt to place legal restrictions on all pro-Palestine protests. Alongside @pscupdates.bsky.social and @libertyhq.bsky.social we call out this application to the High Court for an injunction what it is: a shameful attack on basic democratic rights.

Some very good articles in the guardian today - www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...

www.theguardian.com/education/20... the impact on many towns & cities would be disastrous jobs wise if unis collapsed.

So record numbers of young ppl applying to uni, maybe we should invest in unis.

Following on from that Reddit thread, it's clear there's a disconnect between what academics think uni is, what students think it is & what uni managers etc think it is.

www.reddit.com/r/UniUK/s/MI... this is massively depressing thread from all angles. Seems like there has been a massive communication failure as to what a uni education is & should be.

100%! @chancebonar.bsky.social wrote a clear and concise post on the matter last fall for #EOPalestine everydayorientalism.wordpress.com/2024/09/16/t...

This is interesting on the state of UK academia, might have to get this book www.yiannisgabriel.com/2025/02/toug...

The supposed 'neutrality' & head in the sand attitudes that archaeology is somehow detached from all this need to end now. The idea you can detach and just focus on some old pot sherds or whatever is absolute nonsense. Archaeological organisations need to speak up.

Thank you to Rafi Greenberg for his open letter to his colleagues participating in next week's grotesque occupation archaeology conference taking place in Jerusalem His letter was shared via @EmekShaveh's newsletter. It is quoted in full here (# 72): everydayorientalism.wordpress.com/2024/03/21/c...

Everyone needs a non-academic friend that when you mention ideas about stuff about the reception of the ancient world they make a joke about Business Secrets of the Pharaohs in Peep Show.

…the clocks were two and a half feet wider than the face of Big Ben. Shortly before their installation, at the dawn of the twentieth century, the directors of the Royal Liver Company ate lunch off one of the clock faces. Is there any better symbol of a city whose economy was living on borrowed time?

Seeing my FE students applying for uni all hopeful & excited, then looking back at what's going on in unis. Seriously we have been stressed AF getting UCAS done & the irony of that happening when unis are in a death spiral. It's a bizarre place to be.

Just seeing news about Newcastle uni. Ironically a colleague was asking me today if things are really that bad in UK unis & am I looking for a job in academia.

The vast majority of the 90 Palestinians released from Israeli prisons last night were political prisoners who did nothing that even comes close to violence. Most were not tried. Conditions in these prisons in the last 15 months have been horrific.

Razed to dust, this is what Israel's apocalyptic erasure of Northern Gaza looks like. Palestinians are "returning" to nuclear-scale desolation.