Richard Carr
@richardcarr.bsky.social
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
History/politics lecturer. My views only.
Books about British-Irish relations, Blair/Clinton, Chaplin etc
Pinned
Richard Carr
@richardcarr.bsky.social
· Feb 14
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
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-...
Trade, tariffs, and sovereignty - so very current. Also marriage and migration.
www.routledge.com/Britain-and-...
Reposted by Richard Carr
Matt: we need measures to improve fertility - it's one of our biggest problems!
Also Matt: No not like that. I meant white people only.
Also Matt: No not like that. I meant white people only.
Reflections on the budget from the head of Students4Reform
November 26, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Matt: we need measures to improve fertility - it's one of our biggest problems!
Also Matt: No not like that. I meant white people only.
Also Matt: No not like that. I meant white people only.
Reposted by Richard Carr
Handing back student work that’s been written by ChatGPT with a 0 followed by the comment “This essay will never stand in authentic wonder before the Beauty of God’s creation.”
Pope Leo XIV told students not to use artificial intelligence for homework, saying that AI ‘won’t stand in authentic wonder before the beauty of God’s creation.’
Even God Is Worried About ChatGPT
Pope Leo XIV told students not to use artificial intelligence for homework, saying that AI ‘won’t stand in authentic wonder before the beauty of God’s creation.’
www.vulture.com
November 26, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Handing back student work that’s been written by ChatGPT with a 0 followed by the comment “This essay will never stand in authentic wonder before the Beauty of God’s creation.”
Reposted by Richard Carr
Political speeches, particularly in parliament, can sometimes run a difficult line between scathing and just a bit nasty, and it strikes me that Kemi Badenoch's budget response risks falling into the latter camp.
November 26, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Political speeches, particularly in parliament, can sometimes run a difficult line between scathing and just a bit nasty, and it strikes me that Kemi Badenoch's budget response risks falling into the latter camp.
Reposted by Richard Carr
Probably unfashionable view but, given the economic and political constraints, I think Rachel Reeves did rather a good job...nice also to see a marriage of political conviction and fairness...
November 26, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Probably unfashionable view but, given the economic and political constraints, I think Rachel Reeves did rather a good job...nice also to see a marriage of political conviction and fairness...
Reposted by Richard Carr
Tory front benches equally furious at a tax on mansions and hundreds of thousands of kids being pulled out of poverty. Shameful stuff.
November 26, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Tory front benches equally furious at a tax on mansions and hundreds of thousands of kids being pulled out of poverty. Shameful stuff.
Clobbering family homes? Naff off
November 26, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Clobbering family homes? Naff off
Reposted by Richard Carr
Looks like enough to broadly placate markets and lots of small things to please Labour backbenchers happy.
A safety first budget in terms of shoring up the government’s position.
But against a background of sluggish growth and a tough outlook for living standards.
A safety first budget in terms of shoring up the government’s position.
But against a background of sluggish growth and a tough outlook for living standards.
November 26, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Looks like enough to broadly placate markets and lots of small things to please Labour backbenchers happy.
A safety first budget in terms of shoring up the government’s position.
But against a background of sluggish growth and a tough outlook for living standards.
A safety first budget in terms of shoring up the government’s position.
But against a background of sluggish growth and a tough outlook for living standards.
Reposted by Richard Carr
A few things I liked in the #Budget - abolishing two-child limit (should've been done a year ago, but they got there!); I don't mind the freezing of tax thresholds - broadening the base of taxation is how you make your mega-bucks; the wee change to energy policy and removing...
November 26, 2025 at 1:42 PM
A few things I liked in the #Budget - abolishing two-child limit (should've been done a year ago, but they got there!); I don't mind the freezing of tax thresholds - broadening the base of taxation is how you make your mega-bucks; the wee change to energy policy and removing...
Can Madam Deputy Speaker “can colleagues please leave the chamber quietly” come into seminars and lectures where students do the keep chatting thing when you’re four or five sentences clearly into the start of the class
November 26, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Can Madam Deputy Speaker “can colleagues please leave the chamber quietly” come into seminars and lectures where students do the keep chatting thing when you’re four or five sentences clearly into the start of the class
Reposted by Richard Carr
And honestly I don't give a fuck if it's popular or not. It's going to make a lot of kids' lives better. That's the point of government. Not an opinion poll.
November 26, 2025 at 1:12 PM
And honestly I don't give a fuck if it's popular or not. It's going to make a lot of kids' lives better. That's the point of government. Not an opinion poll.
Reposted by Richard Carr
Whatever else this government do (and there's plenty of issues with this budget) ministers will always be able to point to this as an incredible important contribution to the country's future. Almost half a million kids taken out of poverty.
Scrapping the two-child limit in full is a monumental decision. Well done to all involved in the Child Poverty Strategy, and everyone who has made the case against the policy.
OBR says scrapping costs £3 billion in 2029-30 and will lift 450,000 out of poverty
OBR says scrapping costs £3 billion in 2029-30 and will lift 450,000 out of poverty
November 26, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Whatever else this government do (and there's plenty of issues with this budget) ministers will always be able to point to this as an incredible important contribution to the country's future. Almost half a million kids taken out of poverty.
Highly recommend. These are brilliant schemes, it’s a lovely place to work, and you could even research about former budgets…
📚 Whether you're an undergraduate, postgraduate, academic, or independent researcher, our research grants and By-Fellowships are designed to support work using our collections here at Churchill Archives Centre.
🔗 Click the link to find out more & apply: buff.ly/JGsTtHK
🔗 Click the link to find out more & apply: buff.ly/JGsTtHK
November 26, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Highly recommend. These are brilliant schemes, it’s a lovely place to work, and you could even research about former budgets…
Me when the Vice Chancellor’s weekly email hints at the content of that Wednesday’s town hall
November 26, 2025 at 12:37 PM
Me when the Vice Chancellor’s weekly email hints at the content of that Wednesday’s town hall
Reposted by Richard Carr
You know this govt deserves to be unpopular but hard to avoid the conclusion that it gets treated by the bbc like a govt that decided to nuke a old persons home when its just sort of shit
November 26, 2025 at 12:25 PM
You know this govt deserves to be unpopular but hard to avoid the conclusion that it gets treated by the bbc like a govt that decided to nuke a old persons home when its just sort of shit
Is this like one of those Civil Service fast stream “deal with this task quickly” exercises that is now being played on the entire wonk sphere?
The Office of Budget "Responsibility" just accidentally published their analysis of the whole Budget, half an hour before Reeves is due to start talking.
Nice one, lads.
obr.uk/docs/dlm_upl...
Nice one, lads.
obr.uk/docs/dlm_upl...
obr.uk
November 26, 2025 at 12:05 PM
Is this like one of those Civil Service fast stream “deal with this task quickly” exercises that is now being played on the entire wonk sphere?
Paid the £8 per file for three National Archive files to be investigated to see how much they’d cost to scan/send digitally to me.
File 1: 87 pages; just over £100.
2 + 3 not back yet but I’m tapping out here and some PhD student visiting is going to get a good offer to do it for less.
File 1: 87 pages; just over £100.
2 + 3 not back yet but I’m tapping out here and some PhD student visiting is going to get a good offer to do it for less.
November 26, 2025 at 11:59 AM
Paid the £8 per file for three National Archive files to be investigated to see how much they’d cost to scan/send digitally to me.
File 1: 87 pages; just over £100.
2 + 3 not back yet but I’m tapping out here and some PhD student visiting is going to get a good offer to do it for less.
File 1: 87 pages; just over £100.
2 + 3 not back yet but I’m tapping out here and some PhD student visiting is going to get a good offer to do it for less.
I’ll paraphrase it slightly but some mid 20s in the public policy arena person’s description of themselves as “having a month out to recharge” between leaving wonk job X and getting on the LinkedIn grind is an instant no
November 26, 2025 at 11:48 AM
I’ll paraphrase it slightly but some mid 20s in the public policy arena person’s description of themselves as “having a month out to recharge” between leaving wonk job X and getting on the LinkedIn grind is an instant no
This is like when a student wants a higher mark just because they feel they deserve one. Write better then
'Speaking to Times Higher Education shortly after Kendall’s speech at the Science Museum this week, Vallance said this interpretation [research concentrated in large universities; other HEIs focusing on teaching] was a “very bizarre reading of the White Paper”.' 2/3
November 26, 2025 at 8:42 AM
This is like when a student wants a higher mark just because they feel they deserve one. Write better then
Reposted by Richard Carr
This rhetoric would be so much more convincing if you weren’t resolutely ignoring the higher education crisis. Universities are in freefall and all Labour can do is introduce a tax to shrink international student numbers even further.
Always the way, isn't it? Graduate from top uni says other people shouldn't aspire to go to university.
The Prime Minister's target – two thirds of young people getting a degree or an apprenticeship – is the right one. Only Labour backs our young people.
www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...
The Prime Minister's target – two thirds of young people getting a degree or an apprenticeship – is the right one. Only Labour backs our young people.
www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...
Reform UK bigwig who went to top university says fewer others should do the same
Reform UK's former chairman calls for "fewer people going to university" after benefiting from a degree from one of the country's most prestigious ones himself
www.mirror.co.uk
November 25, 2025 at 7:08 PM
This rhetoric would be so much more convincing if you weren’t resolutely ignoring the higher education crisis. Universities are in freefall and all Labour can do is introduce a tax to shrink international student numbers even further.
Reposted by Richard Carr
Smith gives beautifully contradictory answer where they want to direct some bits of universities (research, national priorities) and yet they want to lean back and act as if they are not directing universities at all because autonomy and no it's not for us to &c. Hitherto unseen levels of smug.
November 25, 2025 at 10:40 AM
Smith gives beautifully contradictory answer where they want to direct some bits of universities (research, national priorities) and yet they want to lean back and act as if they are not directing universities at all because autonomy and no it's not for us to &c. Hitherto unseen levels of smug.
Great now I need to attend 9 workshops on can based performance optimisation
Oxford VC says REF ‘must do what it says on the can’.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...
November 24, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Great now I need to attend 9 workshops on can based performance optimisation
Reposted by Richard Carr
Folks asking what the aim is for this, and what the results will be, here's my take.
aim: Gov thinks intl students can be soaked, and unis will pass 100% of the cost. They know # will dip but not by how much.
result: Rich unis will go harder into clearing, pack even more domestic students in.
aim: Gov thinks intl students can be soaked, and unis will pass 100% of the cost. They know # will dip but not by how much.
result: Rich unis will go harder into clearing, pack even more domestic students in.
These are HEPI estimates of the 20 institutions affected: I think this illustrates the impact if the tariff is absorbed in full by institutions.
What share of the 6% tariff different universities may try to pass on to fees - or the impact might be on demand if they did - is not publicly known.
What share of the 6% tariff different universities may try to pass on to fees - or the impact might be on demand if they did - is not publicly known.
November 24, 2025 at 8:37 AM
Folks asking what the aim is for this, and what the results will be, here's my take.
aim: Gov thinks intl students can be soaked, and unis will pass 100% of the cost. They know # will dip but not by how much.
result: Rich unis will go harder into clearing, pack even more domestic students in.
aim: Gov thinks intl students can be soaked, and unis will pass 100% of the cost. They know # will dip but not by how much.
result: Rich unis will go harder into clearing, pack even more domestic students in.
Obviously an extremely tragic situation but this obsession over words and twisting them could not be more woke, lanyard class, whatever other pejorative is en vogue
There are some truly unhinged bits in the piece about Glasman, as to be expected when dealing with Glasman, but seriously what the actual? That's...one hell of a conflation of terminology.
November 23, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Obviously an extremely tragic situation but this obsession over words and twisting them could not be more woke, lanyard class, whatever other pejorative is en vogue
Reposted by Richard Carr
"my mother died in labour, turning blue in the process, and you want to help elect a Blue Labour government?!?!"
There are some truly unhinged bits in the piece about Glasman, as to be expected when dealing with Glasman, but seriously what the actual? That's...one hell of a conflation of terminology.
November 23, 2025 at 4:06 PM
"my mother died in labour, turning blue in the process, and you want to help elect a Blue Labour government?!?!"
This guy is 79, wants what seem like biological heirs, but has only set a must be *20* years younger cut off for the job description.
Exceptions to the rule but if anything he’s gone too woke
Exceptions to the rule but if anything he’s gone too woke
Sir Rowley Birkin QC is looking for love, ladies. What a catch.
West Country OAP aristocrat on hunt for bride 20 years younger
She must be taller than 5ft 6ins, have a shotgun licence, and not be a Scorpio
www.plymouthherald.co.uk
November 23, 2025 at 4:18 PM
This guy is 79, wants what seem like biological heirs, but has only set a must be *20* years younger cut off for the job description.
Exceptions to the rule but if anything he’s gone too woke
Exceptions to the rule but if anything he’s gone too woke