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

This Thursday, 15 May: Join us for an online event to celebrate the Fitzcarraldo Editions publication of Diane Seuss' MODERN POETRY and FRANK:SONNETS. Seuss will be in conversation with Jonathan Ellis. Tickets are free: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/diane-seus...

Booing Trent only helps Arsenal.

Great day of #SUCUstrike action at the University of #Sheffield. Today we started our #Palestine support roving picket, which much solidarity around the campus. Join us! ucu.group.shef.ac.uk @drvaleriehobbs.bsky.social @lisastampnitzky.bsky.social @amnakaleem.bsky.social @sheffielducu.bsky.social

Nice to be striking in the sunshine today!

🔹Thursday, 15 May🔹 We will be hosting a virtual launch for Diane Seuss's FRANK: SONNETS and MODERN POETRY. Diane Seuss will be in conversation with Jonathan Ellis. The event is free, sign up here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/diane-seus...

I'd be tempted to ban Ted Hughes questions at Sylvia Plath events.

Apply for small grant. Pass quality threshold. Lose in lottery. Apply for small grant. Pass quality threshold. Lose in lottery. Arts and Humanities funding is Beckettian tragicomedy.

REF2029: concerns about the implications of decoupling | The English Association : Please read this important joint letter we have written (on behalf of us, our chair @jennyrichards.bsky.social ) along with @ies-sas.bsky.social & @univeng.bsky.social englishassociation.ac.uk/ref2029-conc...

The Guardian has FOUR articles on “With Love, Meghan” on their website.

“The university has gone from a marketplace of ideas to a marketplace.” From Amandla Thomas-Johnson’s brilliant essay, Poked in the Eye. mid-theory.com/2025/02/05/p...

In full support of BAAS for doing this.

This is an important letter from bodies representing Arts and Humanities in the UK. Please share widely

Good chance I’ll be seeing several of EB’s “loved houses” this year. Watch this space!

Continuing to write while all kinds of storm (literal and metaphorical) rage around you is easier said than done. Picking up the first forced rhubarb of the season helps. Small things first, etc.

I see jobs at Oxbridge still come with an “entertainment allowance.”

He had nicknames for everyone, bless him.

I will drink several damn fine coffees over the next few days in memory of the wonderful David Lynch. Elephant Man, Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive and of course Twin Peaks each made me love cinema.

Yes, it looks like I’m convening five modules this semester…

Why do I always forget how difficult writing is…

Let’s see how long it takes me to deal with 252 emails…

Sylvia Plath in Catalán

Merry Christmas (courtesy of Elizabeth Bishop’s postcard from Key West!)

For Taylor Swift’s birthday, a podcast of some clever people (and me) talking about her music & why studying her lyrics at university is perfectly fine! offtheshelf.org.uk/event/analys...

‘Tis the year’s midnight apparently…

There are no alternate spellings of Jonathan.

Your voice matters. If you agree with us.

As many of us have been saying for some time #GCSEReform #Edusky #TeamEnglish #PearsonExamBoard www.thetimes.com/article/6507...

A trip down memory lane in rainy Hull today. Along the way, I found a Vanessa Bell painting, a toad & some very brown ties.

At the museum

This man has been keeping me sane today!