Alexander Curtis
@alexandercurtis.bsky.social
AHRC (M4C) funded PhD Student at University of Nottingham, looking into literary representations of the 1984-85 Miners Strikes, especially in Nottinghamshire.
Reposted by Alexander Curtis
"What is certain, and felt instinctively by almost everybody, is that things cannot go on in their present way" – The Times, May 1975
“It is difficult to imagine a previous period when such an all-pervasive hopelessness was exhibited at all levels of British life” – Professor Stephen Haseler, 1975
“It is difficult to imagine a previous period when such an all-pervasive hopelessness was exhibited at all levels of British life” – Professor Stephen Haseler, 1975
November 14, 2025 at 9:13 AM
"What is certain, and felt instinctively by almost everybody, is that things cannot go on in their present way" – The Times, May 1975
“It is difficult to imagine a previous period when such an all-pervasive hopelessness was exhibited at all levels of British life” – Professor Stephen Haseler, 1975
“It is difficult to imagine a previous period when such an all-pervasive hopelessness was exhibited at all levels of British life” – Professor Stephen Haseler, 1975
Thanks for the judicious edits from @jacobsaliba.bsky.social – a pleasure to write this piece for the JHI Forum!
In a new think piece for the JHI Forum on political economy, Alexander Curtis intervenes into today's debates around neoliberalism, arguing for the role of "irrational subjecthood" in the context of Margaret Thatcher's economic policies during the 1980s. @alexandercurtis.bsky.social
The Roots of the Neoliberal Subject: Margaret Thatcher and the Creation of Homo Oeconomicus
by Alexander Curtis
This think piece is part of the forum “The Return of Political Economy in Intellectual History.”
web.sas.upenn.edu
November 10, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Thanks for the judicious edits from @jacobsaliba.bsky.social – a pleasure to write this piece for the JHI Forum!
Went to bed last night with a strange twitching in my arm, which Google tells me is a result of overcaffeination. Had the best time at my first Historical Materialism Conference - challenging, rewarding and, somehow, hopeful - and am already looking forward to next year's. @histmat.bsky.social
November 10, 2025 at 11:03 AM
Went to bed last night with a strange twitching in my arm, which Google tells me is a result of overcaffeination. Had the best time at my first Historical Materialism Conference - challenging, rewarding and, somehow, hopeful - and am already looking forward to next year's. @histmat.bsky.social
My first @histmat.bsky.social conference next week, presenting on Jameson's periodisations and turning the lens on British culture in the 1970s. Can't wait to get stuck in!
BADA BOOM! The HM London Conference programme is now online!
Online registrations close Tuesday 4 November at midnight GMT!
Online registrations close Tuesday 4 November at midnight GMT!
Twenty-Second Annual Conference - Historical Materialism
Deadline extended to 27 May! Resurgent Reaction: Marxist Strategies at the End of the Liberal Order 6-9 November 2025, SOAS, Russell Square, Central London Deadline for abstracts: Friday 16 May 2025
www.historicalmaterialism.org
October 28, 2025 at 8:34 PM
My first @histmat.bsky.social conference next week, presenting on Jameson's periodisations and turning the lens on British culture in the 1970s. Can't wait to get stuck in!
Reading Andy Beckett's Promised You a Miracle: Desmond Plummer is a character straight out of The Long Good Friday. Reckon Guy Pearce in Brutalist mode could do a decent job of him.
August 15, 2025 at 8:54 AM
Reading Andy Beckett's Promised You a Miracle: Desmond Plummer is a character straight out of The Long Good Friday. Reckon Guy Pearce in Brutalist mode could do a decent job of him.
Reposted by Alexander Curtis
Reflection on cuts and closures in the humanities from @britishacademy.bsky.social, including an essay on the work of @englishassociation.bsky.social @ies-sas.bsky.social @univeng.bsky.social, thanks to my brilliant colleagues journal.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/thematic-col...
Current Articles
The Journal of the British Academy is an online, open access journal, showcasing the very best research in the humanities and social sciences. It aims to deepen and connect scholarship – not only with...
journal.thebritishacademy.ac.uk
March 21, 2025 at 11:59 AM
Reflection on cuts and closures in the humanities from @britishacademy.bsky.social, including an essay on the work of @englishassociation.bsky.social @ies-sas.bsky.social @univeng.bsky.social, thanks to my brilliant colleagues journal.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/thematic-col...
Had the most amazing time and came home stuffed with ideas, thank you British School at Rome!
We were delighted to host the Midlands4Cities DTP at the BSR last week, led by the wonderful Lara Pucci. The group had the opportunity to stay at the BSR, connect with our staff and award-holders, and immerse themselves in the vibrant city of Rome.
March 18, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Had the most amazing time and came home stuffed with ideas, thank you British School at Rome!
Really enjoyed this by @solgamsu.bsky.social -- made me reflect a lot on my tendency to focus on painting a picture of how bad things are -- "Avoid moaning without directing it towards some sort of action"
I wrote this for @bjsociology.bsky.social on organising in universities & the work we all need to do to defend & remake the university.
It's a reflection on being heavily involved in UCU with practical tips on what everyone can do, esp. now with redundancies.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
It's a reflection on being heavily involved in UCU with practical tips on what everyone can do, esp. now with redundancies.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
If You Want the University to Change, Don't Theorise—Organise!
Organising as workers to build industrial power within our universities is a key element of how we respond to redundancies, marketisation and other political pressures on higher education. This piece...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
March 18, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Really enjoyed this by @solgamsu.bsky.social -- made me reflect a lot on my tendency to focus on painting a picture of how bad things are -- "Avoid moaning without directing it towards some sort of action"
Reposted by Alexander Curtis
If people outside of the UK wonder why their colleagues in the UK are stressed:
Check out this list-->
qmucu.org/qmul-transfo...
Check out this list-->
qmucu.org/qmul-transfo...
UK HE shrinking
This is a live page of all the redundancies, restructures, reorganisations, and closures taking place across the sector at the moment. Solidarity to all. This sector is vital to the country’s…
qmucu.org
December 11, 2024 at 1:43 PM
If people outside of the UK wonder why their colleagues in the UK are stressed:
Check out this list-->
qmucu.org/qmul-transfo...
Check out this list-->
qmucu.org/qmul-transfo...
Dipping my toes into the blue waters in order that my profile is not that of the coy and blank lurker: here's a thing I wrote for Verso on the miners' strikes before being pulled under by my PhD.
FFO state finagling and rhetorical failures on the Left
www.versobooks.com/en-gb/blogs/...
FFO state finagling and rhetorical failures on the Left
www.versobooks.com/en-gb/blogs/...
Choose your side. Choose your weapons
Terry Winters, one of many narrators in David Peace’s GB84, and a proxy for Roger Windsor, the Chief Executive of the National Union of Mineworkers during the strikes, does not share Arthur Scargill’s...
www.versobooks.com
December 11, 2024 at 11:54 AM
Dipping my toes into the blue waters in order that my profile is not that of the coy and blank lurker: here's a thing I wrote for Verso on the miners' strikes before being pulled under by my PhD.
FFO state finagling and rhetorical failures on the Left
www.versobooks.com/en-gb/blogs/...
FFO state finagling and rhetorical failures on the Left
www.versobooks.com/en-gb/blogs/...