Charles Fonge
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fongebob.bsky.social
Charles Fonge
@fongebob.bsky.social
270 followers 190 following 71 posts
Records Manager and University Archivist @uoyborthwick.bsky.social.
Part-time acronym wrangler: BIA, ARC, UOY, CYS, SCOLMA, IRMS. Full-time advocate for folders that close properly. Views are my own.
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Charles Fonge
ryanboyd.bsky.social
There isn't a single problem "solved" by edtech that couldn't be fixed with smaller classes led by well-paid teachers given real academic freedom
December 12, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Reposted by Charles Fonge
mikeyearworth.bsky.social
There is another issue here - "cutting-edge" sciences need properly functioning library services too. I think it is actually operational delivery of valuable services, everywhere, that is considered dull and old - the day-to-day delivery of services that constitute vital infrastructure.
hetanshah.bsky.social Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 9d
Finally a piece in the Times about the British Library! It echoes many of the points I raised a few weeks ago, including why policymakers and the media have paid so little attention to it
www.thetimes.com/article/ff7a...
In short, the place is in disarray. And the reason this has gone on for so long without anyone outside the library community caring very much says a lot about modern Britain. It's not that we don't, as a nation, value research. Medical breakthroughs, scientific advances, the world-changing claims of the Al pioneers, the jaw-dropping investments of the tech bros - these are constantly in the news. But what happens at the BL is, mostly, the wrong kind of research. It's about the dull old humanities, not the cutting-edge sciences. It mostly looks backwards, not forwards. So it's regarded, not least by our political leaders, as a backwater.
December 8, 2025 at 10:05 AM
fongebob.bsky.social
Clifford’s Tower channeling the Red Keep #GameOfThrones #GOT
Clifford’s Tower in York illuminated at night, its curved stone walls glowing orange on top of the castle’s motte and set against a dark sky.
December 6, 2025 at 10:21 PM
fongebob.bsky.social
A Friday Find. A rare image of the architects’ model for what looks to be the original Langwith College. With Derwent College, Langwith celebrates its 60th anniversary this year.
Architectural model of Langwith College buildings, featuring a cluster of interconnected rectangular structures with varied heights and orientations. The model includes a central courtyard, walkways, pathways, and wire trees, all set on a landscaped base representing the surrounding environment.
November 30, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Reposted by Charles Fonge
gsoh31.bsky.social
As far as I can see, if students are excluded immigration in the year to June 2025 was just 381,000 and falling rapidly.
November 27, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Reposted by Charles Fonge
curatorian.bsky.social
Is it 'online training course'?
Headline 'Scientists have discovered "third state" between life and death'.
June 17, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Reposted by Charles Fonge
petermiles.bsky.social
"The economic disaster that is Brexit"

(A lot worse than I had thought)

Will Hutton in @theobserveruk.bsky.social
The economic disaster that is Brexit The chancellor admitted last week that Brexit has hit productivity and the economy much harder than previously thought, a fact that the budget - courtesy of the OBR - would recognise. In a little-reported speech last week, Bank of England monetary policy committee member Swati Dhingra gave a hint at official thinking, citing recent independent research suggesting that Brexit had lowered Britain's output by between 6% and 8% and investment by between 12% and 18%, compared with what it would have been had the UK remained in the EU. Worse, these losses are permanent. The devastating numbers, much worse than the OBR's earlier official estimates, are the single most important cause of weakened productivity. They also mean that the exchequer has lost not £40bn but up to £80bn of tax revenue every year. Outside wartime, no leading country has ever committed so much economic self-harm.
October 26, 2025 at 7:33 PM
fongebob.bsky.social
Excited for this year’s Canterbury and York Society Annual Lecture.

Join us in the amazing Parker Library @corpuscambridge.bsky.social to hear Professor Chris Given-Wilson on

‘𝗔𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗯𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗽, 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗼𝗿, 𝗞𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿: 𝗧𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘀 𝗔𝗿𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗹’

5 November 2025, 3:30pm
Canterbury and York Society 2025 Annual Lecture. Professor Chris Given-Wilson on ‘Archbishop, Chancellor, Kingmaker: Thomas Arundel, 1353-1414’. To be held at the Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, on Wednesday, 5 November 2025 at 3:30 pm.
October 17, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Reposted by Charles Fonge
saa-official.bsky.social
Did you know that access to government records was one of the many grievances enumerated in the Declaration of Independence. That's right, transparency and access to government archives and records has been a paramount value of the US from day one! #AskAnArchivist
Graphic of the parchment Declaration of Independence in the background with the SAA logo on an archives box that reads, "Safeguarding America's Many Histories"
October 16, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Reposted by Charles Fonge
uoyborthwick.bsky.social
On 3rd November The Rowntree Society will be shining a light on a little known aspect of Rowntree history - their newspaper ownership in the early 20th century. You can find out more (& get your free tickets) at the link below, or scan the QR code on the poster!

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/rowntree-n...
Poster for the event 'Rowntree newspaper ownership in the early 20th century' to be held at Bootham School auditorium on Monday 3rd November, 7pm-9.30pm.
October 16, 2025 at 8:44 AM
Reposted by Charles Fonge
ihr.bsky.social
Today is World Mental Health Day. Through the Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH), you can research the history of mental health. BBIH’s free reading list on the history of emotions highlights some recent scholarship on the history of mental health in the UK and Ireland buff.ly/OK5HSbu
Engraving of an 18th century building in a pastoral landscape
October 10, 2025 at 11:02 AM
fongebob.bsky.social
The inbox when you’ve been away in meetings all day
A bronze sculpture of Atlas kneeling under the weight of holding the globe on his shoulders
October 8, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Reposted by Charles Fonge
royalhistsoc.org
This week, the Society's President Lucy Noakes wrote in response to Bridget Phillipson's Labour conference speech - and its implications for history and the humanities in UK higher education bit.ly/3KBX7Fw

#Skystorians
Image of badges with logo 'I know the value of history' and text 'The value and provision of history and the humanities: it's time for a political response.'
October 4, 2025 at 2:37 PM
fongebob.bsky.social
‘Take us to your leader’

A nice find in an early 1970s’ edition of Nouse, satirising the University’s Central Hall 🛸
Cartoon line drawing of two aliens with the University’s Central Hall behind them resembling their space craft
September 30, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Reposted by Charles Fonge
jessothomson.co.uk
Everyone should have the right to go to University. Not because it's superior. Not because a degree should be required for every job. But because everyone should have the opportunity to spend a few years learning how to think critically about a subject they are really interested in.
September 30, 2025 at 1:43 PM
fongebob.bsky.social
And breathe…
Ornamental pond with goldfish and lilies in the full ground, herbaceous borders in the middle ground and in the distance the impressive house of the gardener
September 26, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Reposted by Charles Fonge
araukie.bsky.social
Why aren’t Police Records in England & Wales covered by the Public Records Act? We've been campaigning on this since 2012 - blog for more info:
www.campaignforrecords.org/blog/why-arent-police-records-covered-by-the-public-records-act
#publicaccountability
of interest @andyburnham.bsky.social ?
Photo of a paper airplane on fire with text that reads "I am under no obligation to disclose anything and the papers belong to me. If I wanted to I could take them into the yard and have a bonfire with them" South Yorkshire Chief Constable Med Hughes. Credit for photo of on fire airplane is Aron Yigin via Unsplash
September 25, 2025 at 10:36 AM
fongebob.bsky.social
I close most of my emails ‘Best wishes, Charles’ but Google’s Smart Compose feature is stubbornly fixated on suggesting ‘Besties’ and ‘Charlatan’. 😤
September 25, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Reposted by Charles Fonge
araukie.bsky.social
Yesterday we sent out this briefing to all UK MPs and our press list. It is our response to calls for digitisation of adoption and care records. We believe there is a better - & much needed - solution to make these records more accessible to those that need them. #LongLostFamilies bit.ly/4mBqsxo
Statement on recent press discussion about the digitisation of adoption records — Campaign for Records
The Chief Archivists in Local Government Group of the Archives and Records Association have put out this statement in response to press discussion on digitisation of adoption records and propose an al...
www.campaignforrecords.org
September 25, 2025 at 10:38 AM
Reposted by Charles Fonge
ianmilligan1.bsky.social
A nice article - en français - about the critical and important @internetarchiveca.bsky.social. A few words from me too on how important web archiving is for us all.

ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/219...
Préserver la mémoire du pays avec Internet archive Canada
L’organisme américain Internet archive a un siège social à Vancouver et sert d'outil pour garder des traces de l’histoire numérique du Canada.
ici.radio-canada.ca
September 24, 2025 at 12:37 AM
Reposted by Charles Fonge
rluk.ac.uk
Thanks to Sally Kent & Eleanor Parmenter for sharing with #RLUKICIL reflections on @theul.bsky.social project w/ Zambian visual artists exploring new ways to engage with problematic material & collaborating outside library’s trad user base

📺 You can watch a recording of their talk at bit.ly/ICILOND
Screenshot of Zoom discussion with Sally Kent, Eleanor Parmenter, and event chair Helen Wakely on screen.
September 23, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Reposted by Charles Fonge
varioushats.bsky.social
theconversation.com/travel-as-ac...

Just out in the Conversation Africa:

My take on moving to be free. A study of black working women in apartheid who “travelled to gain ground for the greater cause of freedom, while discovering new versions of themselves along the way.”
Travel as activism: 6 stories of Black women who refused to ‘stay put’ in apartheid South Africa
The stories of six South African women who travelled to fight for workers and for women’s rights, and risked it all.
theconversation.com
September 21, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Reposted by Charles Fonge
johnmorgan3.bsky.social
Yet more warnings to govt on its plan for a levy on universities' international student fees.

Levy would push further 14 universities into deficit, including three Russell Group members, MPs on education committee told.

By @sophieatrpn.bsky.social

www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...
Fee levy would push 14 more universities into deficit, MPs told - Research Professional News
Sector slams international student fee proposal as education department promises further details in autumn budget
www.researchprofessionalnews.com
September 18, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Reposted by Charles Fonge
mrcwarwick.bsky.social
The Campus Kin project is celebrating the wonderful green spaces we have @uni-of-warwick.bsky.social campus - gathering our experiences of nature on our beautiful campus reflecting the changes over the years. Share your stories here: warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/sca...
Black and white photograph of a six storey 1960s building surrounded by fields with hay bales in them. Colour photograph of Canada geese grazing on the grass outside a three story building which is idenitifid as the MRC
September 10, 2025 at 8:47 AM