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Richard Carr

@richardcarr.bsky.social

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https://www.routledge.com/Britain-and-Ireland-from-the-Treaty-to-the-Troubles-Independence-and-Interdependence-c-1921-1973/Carr/p/book/9781032879871 History/politics lecturer. My views only. Books about British-Irish relations, Blair/Clinton, Chaplin etc

www.routledge.com

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Richard Carr @richardcarr.bsky.social · Feb 14

My book on Britain and Ireland from the 1920s to the early 1970s is now available to pre-order (sure, given the price, very likely for an institutional library - but hey, flag it up).

Trade, tariffs, and sovereignty - so very current. Also marriage and migration.

www.routledge.com/Britain-and-...

Britain and Ireland from the Treaty to the Troubles: Independence and Interdependence, c. 1921-1973

Using extensive and fresh archival material, this book places the relationship between the United Kingdom and Ireland after 1921 in a new light, encouraging us to rethink the dominant narrative of con...

www.routledge.com

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Richard Carr @richardcarr.bsky.social · 1h

Tweed jacket photo-op like Osborne’s use of high-vis to signify “I like building”

QM_UCU @qmucu.bsky.social · 4h

*FIFTEEN THOUSAND JOBS LOST*.
If this were in a sector in which the PM could go and do a photoshoot looking like One Of The People, we’d have had a government intervention by now.

LopaLeach @lopa.bsky.social · 16h

Cuts equivalent to 15,000 jobs planned at UK universities – UCU www.timeshighereducation.com/news/cuts-eq...

Reposted by Richard Carr

Jonn Elledge @jonnelledge.bsky.social · 3h

anyway, I am pleased with this column, I think it is good, I hope you read it rather than just shouting at me for what you think it might say

www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

By Jonn Elledge

Illustration by Roy Scott / Ikon Images
“Acomputer terminal,” Douglas Adams once wrote, “is an interface where the mind and body can connect with the universe and move bits of it about.” In the same way, while the platform known in happier times as Twitter is famously not the real world, that’s never meant it can’t affect it.

One of the less upsetting ways those effects can manifest is outlined in a new report from “reputation management consultancy” (euch) Montford Communications. Posting to Policy explores the way wonks, politicos and shitposters alike drive government action through the raw power of their takes. “A niche account posts something punchy. It lands,” the report explains, with more full stops than is acceptable anywhere but LinkedIn. “Traditional media pick it up. Politicians respond. And policy follows. This is the ‘posting to policy’ pipeline and it’s fast becoming the new normal.”

Not all the examples the consultancy gives of this pipeline in action are entirely convincing. The “Nick, 30 ans” meme may have generated discourse, but it has not, as far as I’ve noticed, led to attempts to actually rethink intergenerational fairness; and while Robert Jenrick’s fare-dodging video made some waves, the shadow justice secretary is not, appearances notwithstanding, a shitposter. The most persuasive example offered is the transformation of Motability from a worthy but obscure scheme allowing those in receipt of mobility allowance to lease cars, to a “something must be done”-level spending scandal through noise on X alone.

Montford’s argument isn’t wrong: it’s abundantly clear by now that things that happen on the internet rarely stay there, and while hacks and wonks hang out on the same platforms as those with actual power it’s unsurprising that ideas sometimes migrate from the former to the latter. That, though, does not mean these conclusions are either new or significant. I can think of things I put on the internet ten years ago that g…

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Richard Carr @richardcarr.bsky.social · 23h

Frontline admin also have it worse. What's going on here?

Richard Carr @richardcarr.bsky.social · 23h

I'm definitely doing more with less but also apparently somehow doing the same?

Again, I'd rather have the job of course, but the maths isn't really mathsing.

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Richard Carr @richardcarr.bsky.social · 23h

This is absolutely not the headline thing here ofc, but in a world where we have demonstrably fewer frontline employees and definitely more tasks for them to do (thanks: non-shrinking managers!), how are universities making their workload models for the staff that remain stand up?

University and College Union (UCU) @ucu.org.uk · 1d

‼️NEW: Universities have tried to axe over 15,000 staff this year.

Yet the vice-chancellors responsible are paying themselves more than ever before.

We’re balloting to save higher education.

Our GS @drjogrady.bsky.social broke the story on BBC Today this morning👇

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Reposted by Richard Carr

Alice Lilly @aliceolilly.bsky.social · 1d

Really interesting- and, I think, welcome- to see MPs sharing this kind of data about casework.

Casework is largely invisible (other than to the constituents it helps!) compared to what MPs do in the Commons chamber but is a huge part of MPs’ workload, and it’s really hard to get robust data on it

Dr Beccy Cooper MP @drbeccycoopermp.bsky.social · 1d

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Richard Carr @richardcarr.bsky.social · 1d

Page one of book: come out swinging against another historian's misdating. Stall set out.

Text from a book pointing out another historian's error in misdating the formation/nature of the Peace Pledge Union

Richard Carr @richardcarr.bsky.social · 1d

Yep. I mean there’s rightly discussion about “is it wise to do a PhD right now with the job market as it is” but not much about the mid/late career type suddenly turfed out

Richard Carr @richardcarr.bsky.social · 1d

Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 1d

Here’s a primer on ‘primer.’

It’s pronounced ‘PRIMM-er’ if you mean “a small book” or “a short informative piece of writing.”

It’s pronounced ‘PRY-mer’ if you mean “an initial coat of paint.”

Richard Carr @richardcarr.bsky.social · 1d

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Thousands more university jobs cut as financial crisis deepens

University workers will vote on national strike action this month over a 1.4% pay offer made in the summer.

www.bbc.co.uk

Richard Carr @richardcarr.bsky.social · 1d

Beyond my obsession with higher education trade press tat, the piece does get across the bind

Even if the 44-year-old retains his job, the chemistry course at the university is being phased out, with similar closures happening across the country.

Zak says this limits the opportunities for him and his colleagues.

"People could, even if they lost their job, get a job at another institution. That's not happening now," he says.

"They're probably looking not only at the end of the a job, but really the end of their career in academia."

Richard Carr @richardcarr.bsky.social · 1d

“Experiential and immerse engagement with the student living experience can help lecturers bridge the gap between teacher and learner”

- Jessica Surname, Vice Dean of Pedagogical Dynamism, for THE

Extract from BBC News article on redundancies in university sector:

Dr Zak Hughes, a chemistry lecturer at the University of Bradford, is at risk of redundancy.

"There are a lot of stressed and upset people who are struggling to deal with it, both within the school but also more widely within the institution," he says.

Zak, who has worked at the university since 2018, says he now faces the prospect of having to move back home to live with his mum if he loses his job.

"I won't be able to pay my rent, I will be in my forties and living back at home," he says.

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Reposted by Richard Carr

Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 2d

Generative AI, in both form and content, and whether looked on favourably or critically, seems to embody a collective hopelessness about the prospect of human learning and creativity, if not human knowledge altogether. It’s as if climate change had fans.

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Rachel Cunliffe @rmcunliffe.bsky.social · 2d

Hollow laughter

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Richard Carr @richardcarr.bsky.social · 2d

I forget the rules, does the impact only count from 1 Jan 2021? Whatever, they kept it on the shelf for six months then read it, we've still got a smoking gun here

Richard Carr @richardcarr.bsky.social · 2d

Can the MP who got bored during Covid and borrowed my book from the House of Commons library simply own up and I can claim the resultant REF impact?

A list of books borrowed by MPs including in July 2020 March of the Moderates written by myself

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Reposted by Richard Carr

Marc Morris @marcmorris.bsky.social · 3d

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Richard Carr @richardcarr.bsky.social · 2d

Certainly the Conversation has a portal, upload type thing for when you do get an article accepted. Can't they have a quick yes/no tick box thing editors can just smash, and a 48 hour time limit that it automatically times out and gives the no if not? This would get around the ambiguity of "a few"

Richard Carr @richardcarr.bsky.social · 2d

This is every blog's model of course. Only pitch to us but also we reserve the write to do naff all with it - and slowly.

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Richard Carr @richardcarr.bsky.social · 2d

There's just a disconnect between "WE NEED TAKES NOW!" and "yeah we probably won't reply"

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Richard Carr @richardcarr.bsky.social · 2d

This site, man. I've written for them before, doubtless I will again. But given the amount of badgering every university press team gives people to write for them I wouldn't call it a smooth experience.

Message from The Conversation saying that due to the high volume of pitches they receive they cannot guarantee a reply

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Richard Carr @richardcarr.bsky.social · 2d

Again. I will die on this hill.

Richard Carr @richardcarr.bsky.social · 15d

The percentage of total staff actually on the tills/ready to make a coffee in any Gail’s I’ve been into is insanely low

Reposted by Richard Carr

Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 3d

Badenoch's argument is that the Conservatives failed by not following their principles (2024), but succeed when they follow their principles.

Where does Boris Johnson's 2019 electoral success fits into this: a booster agenda of higher spending, levelling up, net zero and cakeism on most things?

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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 3d

Kemi Badenoch, a woman who excuse-makes for obvious racism and can't condemn it without doing mimsy false equivalences, talking about 'courage', is it?

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Richard Carr @richardcarr.bsky.social · 3d

House of Guinness: bollocks. Maybe good bollocks. Certainly watchable enough.