“It’s been 25 years since I got my PhD…” (me) “Why aren’t you a professor yet?” (the Little One)

“Neglect bordering on vandalism.” Pithy but true summary of successive governments’ treatment of universities. But Labour’s in power now and needs to do something about it fast before further damage is done. @labouruk.bsky.social

'Proposed staff cuts at some of the UK’s leading science departments should prompt ministers to reconsider whether the future of subjects key to industrial strategy ambitions are left to the markets, experts have said.' 1/2

East Asian Studies is being gutted at Sheffield - all staff at risk with 8.6 FTE proposed to go (a third of us). Biggest cuts in Chinese and Japanese Studies. We’ll be taking a few days to process. Solidarity to Materials and Chemistry colleagues who are also dealing with similarly bad news.

Plans to reduce staff numbers in the University of Sheffield’s famed chemistry department risk causing “lasting damage”, @sheffielducu.bsky.social warns www.timeshighereducation.com/news/sheffie... via @jgro-the.bsky.social

Historic Oxford cinema under threat as Oriel College refuses to extend lease

#EnglishCreates: Futures 'Varieties of English' concludes with a series of posts on Elizabeth Bishop, curated by Dr Jonathan Ellis (University of Sheffield). The series will also feature posts by students who were involved in the project - watch this space! universityenglish.ac.uk/the-art-form...

Exactly what I talk about in my @isrfoundation.bsky.social piece this week. Increasingly Arts and Humanities will be limited to so-called 'top' universities, with large cold spots across the country which mean that students from lower income backgrounds simply cannot access them. Do you want that? 🤷‍♂️

Is the government doing anything to prevent the hollowing out of university departments across the country? If 1000s of jobs were being lost in housing or manufacturing, ministers would at least be forced to answer difficult questions.

Agh

GCSEs day 1 chez nous. Yes, French was involved.

Sheffield has long nursery waiting lists Yet Sheffield Hallam University’s nursery - open beyond just staff - has falling attendance It's not well publicised 😉 Because SHU wants to shut it & sell the building to balance the books. Convenient timing 😲 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Little one is old enough to watch The Sopranos. Significant milestone achieved. Bada Bing!

Alas, this. And very close to home.

Book cover reveal! #Letters

Updating my CV is not an activity that fills me with joy.

We managed 24 pancakes this year! With Vermont maple syrup courtesy of a friend.

Looking forward to being in conversation with Harriet Tarlo this evening at the Old Head Post Office. As a letter writer I can’t think of a better venue!

I have just typed the following sentence to a friend—“Paris show coming together”—and it’s not a lie.

Staff ,supporters and students gathered outside Firth Court today in solidarity with colleagues locked out and facing withheld pay after lawful strike action at @sheffielducu Punishment is not negotiation. ✊

This includes my book, with an already reasonably prized paperback manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526167125/

In a fortnight I am leading a four week online class on Elizabeth Bishop’s Geography III. Info on how to register is here: roundtable.org/live-courses... @roundtable92ny.bsky.social

Senior University administration recruits mainly from two populations Those who did not succeed in academia Those who made it all the way to professor, found nothing left to think about & sought fulfilment in meetings & money This explains present condition of UK universities

James Merril’s poem “Christmas Tree,” written while he was dying of AIDS. 1995.

I think one of the best things my university could do for my mental health is allow me to unsubscribe from end of year emails that tell what a great and wonderful 12 months that was and how jolly things are looking for the future. It's like getting newsletters from a parallel universe.

I’ve been lucky getting a grant this year which means lots of fun things to look forward to in 2026 & 2027 but the constant & destructive attack on arts and humanities, some from close to home, is anxiety inducing and upsetting. I’ve seen the very best and the very worst of people this year.

One of the reasons that emergence of ‘cold spots’ of subject provision matters: 52% of 18 year olds from the most disadvantaged backgrounds (the most deprived quintile in the Indices of Multiple Deprivation) plan to live at home when they go the university www.thetimes.com/article/22cc...

If you are a University of Sheffield student could you please consider signing this letter in support of the strike? Thank you. You need to log in to Muse to sign @sheffielducu.bsky.social @ucu.org.uk docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Evidence aplenty that the open letter is not dead!

Reading about the return of the Erasmus scheme and I read this: “Any agreement for EU students to pay the same as Britons is being resisted by the UK university sector.” Groan.

Universities: investing millions so students ”develop literacy in the language of AI” Also universities: defunding the humanities so students are illiterate in ordinary languages

What the British government is letting happen to universities is unconscionable

FAQs that aren’t even shared with staff is certainly a novel form of communication.

Check out this post about our current situation from a colleague at another university. @sheffielducu.bsky.social

A great essay on why close reading is a more radical methodology than most people think and why university managers don’t like those of us who teach it!

“Letter Writing Among Poets: From William Wordsworth to Elizabeth Bishop” is just £12.50 in the EUP sale (Paul Muldoon, Hermione Lee, Anne Fadiman, Angela Leighton… and others!) edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-letter-....

“Reading Elizabeth Bishop” is £13.50 in the EUP sale… edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-reading...

How have Sheffield University management contrived to turn an easily resolvable dispute into something approaching MAB-like levels of crisis? From a pre-strike offer that could have been patched up into something that worked, to threatening a lockout from 5 January. I despair.

Tuesday my union offered to call off 2 weeks of strikes, in return for postponing the redudnacy of, maybe, 5 people for three months. Yesterday the uni wrote to all staff saying "not interested", unless we completely caved. Today we toured picket lines across campus: @sheffielducu.bsky.social

Too sad to say anything coherent about the state of UK universities.

Happy to see this rave for two books by and on people I love… observer.co.uk/culture/book... @notquitehydepark.bsky.social #SylviaPlath #TaylorSwift #MaggieNelson

Yes life was better under Franco for some. For the majority, no: 1/ May Spaniards leaving the country because they could not make a living 2/ No compulsory education and underfunded state schools 3/ no job security either: people in squares waiting to be offered work for the day

Celebrating #NationalPoetryDay and our 2026 collections – Divinations on Survival by Natalie Linh Bolderston @natlinhbolderston.bsky.social, Here & Thereafter by Alice Miller, and Against Falling by Linda Anderson. Available to pre-order from Friday the 10th October! bit.ly/Pavilion26

We are delighted to announce the shortlist for our Michael Murphy Poetry Prize! englishassociation.ac.uk/michael-murp... Winner announced on #NationalPoetryDay! @carcanet.bsky.social @prototypepubs.bsky.social @bloodaxebooks.bsky.social @faberbooks.bsky.social @picadorbooks.bsky.social

📢 We’re thrilled to announce that we have up to 4 student bursary awards for the MA in Eighteenth Century Studies at the University of York for 2025-26. Deadline to apply is 31 July. Please share widely! www.york.ac.uk/eighteenth-c... #18thcentury #18thC

The gutting of the NEH is appalling.

Very good UK job for a very good org that won't fold any time soon. First litmag to publish my poems, too, FWIW!

Blur for REM