Alexia Yates
@ayates.bsky.social
Historian of modern Europe, global urban history, history of economic life. Florence/Manchester/Paris/Toronto/St.John’s.
Partly an effect of the business speak (and approach) applied to universities. “Providers” “exit markets” all the time. It’s how The market works! Collective institutions of public good…now those are different things.
7 x 3000+ students + 17 smaller institutions must mean 30,000+ affected students. That’s about the same size as Sheffield uni, which employs 8000ish staff. Why is the government tolerating the impending collapse of up to 24 related employers and 8000+ more lost jobs? Where is the sense of crisis?
Chief exec of OfS 'said the OfS believes there are 24 institutions at risk of exiting the market in the next 12 months, seven of which are large providers with more than 3,000 students. There are another 25 or so institutions of various sizes at risk over a two- to three-year period, she added.'
November 26, 2025 at 9:28 AM
Partly an effect of the business speak (and approach) applied to universities. “Providers” “exit markets” all the time. It’s how The market works! Collective institutions of public good…now those are different things.
Reposted by Alexia Yates
🚨 Day 2 of 4: Staff strike at Imperial.
UCU & Unite are on the picket lines Tues–Fri, followed by two weeks of UCU teaching-targeted action until the end of term.
What began as a pay dispute has become a serious governance crisis.
🧵(1/)
UCU & Unite are on the picket lines Tues–Fri, followed by two weeks of UCU teaching-targeted action until the end of term.
What began as a pay dispute has become a serious governance crisis.
🧵(1/)
November 26, 2025 at 8:12 AM
🚨 Day 2 of 4: Staff strike at Imperial.
UCU & Unite are on the picket lines Tues–Fri, followed by two weeks of UCU teaching-targeted action until the end of term.
What began as a pay dispute has become a serious governance crisis.
🧵(1/)
UCU & Unite are on the picket lines Tues–Fri, followed by two weeks of UCU teaching-targeted action until the end of term.
What began as a pay dispute has become a serious governance crisis.
🧵(1/)
Reposted by Alexia Yates
I once asked a bookseller at a large indie store how many people would have to buy a book for it to get the attention of the store buyer and cause an additional order and they said: Three.
I see some book piracy discourse, and, to make a positive argument in favor of buying books, your marginal ability to influence what books get published and support the careers of writers you like is massive compared to most other forms of media.
November 25, 2025 at 11:07 PM
I once asked a bookseller at a large indie store how many people would have to buy a book for it to get the attention of the store buyer and cause an additional order and they said: Three.
Oh I enjoyed this muchly.
hyperallergic.com/1058360/maur...
hyperallergic.com/1058360/maur...
Maurizio Cattelan Is No Duchamp
One elevated the prosaic. The other merely gilded the familiar.
hyperallergic.com
November 24, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Oh I enjoyed this muchly.
hyperallergic.com/1058360/maur...
hyperallergic.com/1058360/maur...
Reposted by Alexia Yates
This is on the X account of the UK Home Office. A Labour government.
Where is this country going?
I would like to remind the British government that among the taxpayers in the UK there are millions of non-British people.
#notonationalism #migrantsarenotcriminals
Where is this country going?
I would like to remind the British government that among the taxpayers in the UK there are millions of non-British people.
#notonationalism #migrantsarenotcriminals
November 22, 2025 at 12:21 PM
This is on the X account of the UK Home Office. A Labour government.
Where is this country going?
I would like to remind the British government that among the taxpayers in the UK there are millions of non-British people.
#notonationalism #migrantsarenotcriminals
Where is this country going?
I would like to remind the British government that among the taxpayers in the UK there are millions of non-British people.
#notonationalism #migrantsarenotcriminals
Of interest to many researchers @eui-history.bsky.social
📢Call For Papers📢
Sociability & Political life
Marc Jaffré & I are organising a conference! We're asking: can there be politics without sociability? How have friendship, intimacy, socialising & informal attachments been central to political projects & movements?
Get your abstracts in by Feb 14th!
Sociability & Political life
Marc Jaffré & I are organising a conference! We're asking: can there be politics without sociability? How have friendship, intimacy, socialising & informal attachments been central to political projects & movements?
Get your abstracts in by Feb 14th!
November 21, 2025 at 11:17 PM
Of interest to many researchers @eui-history.bsky.social
Reposted by Alexia Yates
It's almost Eyes Wide Shut holiday screening days. The way it replaced It's A Wonderful Life as the go-to family christmas film is a triumph of not just cinema, but cinéastes themselves.
November 20, 2025 at 3:57 AM
It's almost Eyes Wide Shut holiday screening days. The way it replaced It's A Wonderful Life as the go-to family christmas film is a triumph of not just cinema, but cinéastes themselves.
Reposted by Alexia Yates
And people still look me square in the face and deadass ask me why women don't report.
"A Regina police officer has pleaded guilty to using police databases to pursue intimate and personal relationships with women. [...] It's not clear how many people Semenchuk may have contacted."
Regina officer pleads guilty to using police databases to pursue women | CBC News
Sergeant Robert Eric Semenchuck remains suspended with pay, as required under the province's Police Act. He has pleaded guilty to breach of trust and unauthorized use of a computer
www.cbc.ca
November 21, 2025 at 5:25 PM
And people still look me square in the face and deadass ask me why women don't report.
Ponzi austerity, for an entire nation.
It's time to commercialize AI, "for the benefit of humanity," PM Carney says after landing some UAE IOUs for critical minerals upgrading. 🤔 nationalnewswatch.com/2025/11/21/c...
Carney wraps United Arab Emirates visit with pledge of $70B to be…
National Newswatch: Canada's most comprehensive site for political news and views.
nationalnewswatch.com
November 21, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Ponzi austerity, for an entire nation.
a key moment (and painfully prolonged set of moments) that profoundly changed my view of my university as an employer and, unfortunately, my union.
“Covid-19 has thrown into stark relief how universities are prioritising institutional reputation over social responsibility”
Almost too painful to go back to the USSbrief that several of us published 12 March 2000, when British unis were largely doing business as usual medium.com/ussbriefs/re...
Almost too painful to go back to the USSbrief that several of us published 12 March 2000, when British unis were largely doing business as usual medium.com/ussbriefs/re...
Reputation over responsibility: UK HE and the Covid-19 crisis
Number 92: #USSbriefs92
medium.com
November 21, 2025 at 11:46 AM
a key moment (and painfully prolonged set of moments) that profoundly changed my view of my university as an employer and, unfortunately, my union.
Reposted by Alexia Yates
Spain has too rosy a view of Franco’s regime. Let’s remind ourselves of its horrors | Giles Tremlett
Spain has too rosy a view of Franco’s regime. Let’s remind ourselves of its horrors | Giles Tremlett
Little is taught about the murderous, incompetent dictatorship – and now almost one in five young people say Franco was good for the country, says historian Giles Tremlett
www.theguardian.com
November 21, 2025 at 6:13 AM
Spain has too rosy a view of Franco’s regime. Let’s remind ourselves of its horrors | Giles Tremlett
Reposted by Alexia Yates
Please join us for the next session of the Joint Center for History & Economics seminar (in person and on Zoom) on Fri 21 Nov at 12pm EST. @malickghachem.bsky.social (MIT) will discuss 'Bubble Colony: Saint-Domingue & the Debt of France. Click for further information and Zoom link.
MALICK GHACHEM
Bubble Colony: Saint-Domingue and the Debt of France
histecon.fas.harvard.edu
November 19, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Please join us for the next session of the Joint Center for History & Economics seminar (in person and on Zoom) on Fri 21 Nov at 12pm EST. @malickghachem.bsky.social (MIT) will discuss 'Bubble Colony: Saint-Domingue & the Debt of France. Click for further information and Zoom link.
Reposted by Alexia Yates
We are running a search for an Associate Professorship (or Professorship) in Modern Middle Eastern History 1830-1970, with expertise in across key regions, including Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Turkey, Egypt, and the Maghreb.
www.trinity.ox.ac.uk/vacancies
www.trinity.ox.ac.uk/vacancies
November 20, 2025 at 2:57 PM
We are running a search for an Associate Professorship (or Professorship) in Modern Middle Eastern History 1830-1970, with expertise in across key regions, including Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Turkey, Egypt, and the Maghreb.
www.trinity.ox.ac.uk/vacancies
www.trinity.ox.ac.uk/vacancies
Reposted by Alexia Yates
🍾 We are proud to announce “Introduction: New Perspectives in Global Economic History” by @alkaraman.bsky.social (@ucl.ac.uk ), author of the piece and editor of the special issue on global economic history in @rhi-ihr.bsky.social .
Read it open access 👉 doi.org/10.1344/rhi-...
Read it open access 👉 doi.org/10.1344/rhi-...
November 20, 2025 at 8:21 AM
🍾 We are proud to announce “Introduction: New Perspectives in Global Economic History” by @alkaraman.bsky.social (@ucl.ac.uk ), author of the piece and editor of the special issue on global economic history in @rhi-ihr.bsky.social .
Read it open access 👉 doi.org/10.1344/rhi-...
Read it open access 👉 doi.org/10.1344/rhi-...
Reposted by Alexia Yates
Where else to catch the best of new scholarship in business history?
We are delighted to bring you the first of this year's three Krooss Prize summaries, with Joshua Lappen's Cultures of Power: Electrification, Politics, and Visibility in Greater Los Angeles." Available now, Open Access.
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Cultures of Power: Electrification, Politics, and Visibility in Greater Los Angeles | Enterprise & Society | Cambridge Core
Cultures of Power: Electrification, Politics, and Visibility in Greater Los Angeles
www.cambridge.org
November 20, 2025 at 7:01 AM
Where else to catch the best of new scholarship in business history?
Reposted by Alexia Yates
The New School: we are eliminating all of our humanities majors
Jill Lepore: some students were mean to me 15 years ago
The Chronicle: let’s check in on why some students were mean to Jill Lepore 15 years ago
Jill Lepore: some students were mean to me 15 years ago
The Chronicle: let’s check in on why some students were mean to Jill Lepore 15 years ago
November 19, 2025 at 8:22 PM
The New School: we are eliminating all of our humanities majors
Jill Lepore: some students were mean to me 15 years ago
The Chronicle: let’s check in on why some students were mean to Jill Lepore 15 years ago
Jill Lepore: some students were mean to me 15 years ago
The Chronicle: let’s check in on why some students were mean to Jill Lepore 15 years ago
Emphasis on *actively despise*
This is, of course, a stark betrayal of the New School’s storied history and animating spirit. It demonstrates something many of us know intellectually but have trouble grasping: many university leaders *do not care* about, even *actively despise*, the basic values that bring us to work every day.
The New School is now a place where students cannot major in History, Anthropology, Sociology, Global Policy & International Affairs, Global Studies, Urban Studies, or Environmental Studies. And more pauses, closures, and mergers coming down the pike this week. The future is uncertain.
November 19, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Emphasis on *actively despise*
Reposted by Alexia Yates
A Reminder that the Economic History Review now has its own Bluesky account!
Be sure to follow: @echistsocreview.bsky.social
For updates on the latest articles available on Early View, with research on all aspects of economic and social history from around the world and from all periods.
Be sure to follow: @echistsocreview.bsky.social
For updates on the latest articles available on Early View, with research on all aspects of economic and social history from around the world and from all periods.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 19, 2025 at 4:55 PM
A Reminder that the Economic History Review now has its own Bluesky account!
Be sure to follow: @echistsocreview.bsky.social
For updates on the latest articles available on Early View, with research on all aspects of economic and social history from around the world and from all periods.
Be sure to follow: @echistsocreview.bsky.social
For updates on the latest articles available on Early View, with research on all aspects of economic and social history from around the world and from all periods.
When things seem grim remember that there is, at least, Libby.
November 19, 2025 at 12:07 PM
When things seem grim remember that there is, at least, Libby.
Reposted by Alexia Yates
Super interesting dialogue and discussion around the publication of David Engerman’s new book *Apostles of Development* with @humeiraiqtidar.bsky.social & @asobocinska.bsky.social at @kingsindiainst.bsky.social org by
@kritikapila.bsky.social & Poornima Paidipaty 1/
@kritikapila.bsky.social & Poornima Paidipaty 1/
November 19, 2025 at 10:59 AM
Super interesting dialogue and discussion around the publication of David Engerman’s new book *Apostles of Development* with @humeiraiqtidar.bsky.social & @asobocinska.bsky.social at @kingsindiainst.bsky.social org by
@kritikapila.bsky.social & Poornima Paidipaty 1/
@kritikapila.bsky.social & Poornima Paidipaty 1/
Not to reify ultimately harmful brands, but if the Russell Group is going to exist, should it do something useful and say that if you want to belong you need a basic complement of things that universities do?
This isn’t “efficiency” it’s an ideological shift towards a Little England university system.
Nottingham is set to become the only Russell Group university with no modern languages or music degrees.
48 courses on the line. We’re fighting it.
www.theguardian.com/education/20...
Nottingham is set to become the only Russell Group university with no modern languages or music degrees.
48 courses on the line. We’re fighting it.
www.theguardian.com/education/20...
University of Nottingham considers axing language and music degrees
Total of 48 degrees could disappear from Russell Group institution, with falling revenues and rising costs blamed
www.theguardian.com
November 19, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Not to reify ultimately harmful brands, but if the Russell Group is going to exist, should it do something useful and say that if you want to belong you need a basic complement of things that universities do?
Waste of the genre.
November 19, 2025 at 11:48 AM
Waste of the genre.
This government will make my life in the UK (and of course thousands of others’) untenable.
Among the many things wrong with Labour’s immigration strategy, this stands out: to “fight” a few thousand so-called illegal migrants, Shabana Mahmood is willing to make life hell for hundreds of thousands of people who are legally in the UK.
🔗 theconversation.com/labours-plan...
🔗 theconversation.com/labours-plan...
Labour’s plan for migrants to ‘earn’ permanent residency turns belonging into an endless exam
In this hierarchical system, migrants are kept on extended probation and judged by standards never applied to British nationals.
theconversation.com
November 17, 2025 at 9:27 AM
This government will make my life in the UK (and of course thousands of others’) untenable.
Reposted by Alexia Yates
💬 How were the EEC–Yugoslavia relations? And how did the EC build its own diplomatic corps?
Join us on 17 November for our next research seminar with @migrutinovic.bsky.social (Institute of European Studies, Belgrade) and Jonah Berger (EUI) exploring Europe’s external relations.
🔗 loom.ly/15xC2tE
Join us on 17 November for our next research seminar with @migrutinovic.bsky.social (Institute of European Studies, Belgrade) and Jonah Berger (EUI) exploring Europe’s external relations.
🔗 loom.ly/15xC2tE
November 13, 2025 at 8:11 AM
💬 How were the EEC–Yugoslavia relations? And how did the EC build its own diplomatic corps?
Join us on 17 November for our next research seminar with @migrutinovic.bsky.social (Institute of European Studies, Belgrade) and Jonah Berger (EUI) exploring Europe’s external relations.
🔗 loom.ly/15xC2tE
Join us on 17 November for our next research seminar with @migrutinovic.bsky.social (Institute of European Studies, Belgrade) and Jonah Berger (EUI) exploring Europe’s external relations.
🔗 loom.ly/15xC2tE
Reposted by Alexia Yates
Been a while since the pink beanie came out. Sheffield pickets here we come.
Our message to management is simple: No redundancies. Stop the incessant restructures. Listen to your staff. There is no University of Sheffield without us.
Our message to management is simple: No redundancies. Stop the incessant restructures. Listen to your staff. There is no University of Sheffield without us.
November 17, 2025 at 7:19 AM
Been a while since the pink beanie came out. Sheffield pickets here we come.
Our message to management is simple: No redundancies. Stop the incessant restructures. Listen to your staff. There is no University of Sheffield without us.
Our message to management is simple: No redundancies. Stop the incessant restructures. Listen to your staff. There is no University of Sheffield without us.