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Glen O'Hara @gsoh31.bsky.social · 6d

ICYMI on Tuesday, here's my *new* and *free* short-form summary of what's gone wrong in our universities. This is something of a last word really, because unless the Budget and White Paper do something really radical, the fate of much HE is already sealed.
politicalquarterly.org.uk/blog/where-n...

Where now for Britain’s Universities?

UK higher education now faces a very bleak future, retreating in the face of little public sympathy and limited political interest.

politicalquarterly.org.uk

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London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 6d

Tony Harrison’s poem ‘V.’ is to be performed in the Leeds cemetery that inspired it.

The day of site-specific readings will now also serve as a tribute to the poet, who died last week.

Read the article: www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/s...

Book tickets here: www.slunglow.org/v-a-homecomi...

Tony Harrison’s poem V to be performed in the Leeds cemetery that inspired it

The site-specific performance of the once controversial poem was planned for its 40th anniversary in October, but will now double as a tribute to the writer who died last week

www.theguardian.com

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Dr Ian McCormick @wokestudies.bsky.social · 11d

‘Them & [uz]’ by Tony Harrison (1937–2025)

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Plashing Vole @plashingvole.bsky.social · 20d

Very much enjoying the culture of trust and respect implicit in the installation of room usage monitoring devices on academics' office doors today. Imagine my shock on discovering that managers' doors remain unsullied…

A SmartViz monitoring device installed at a university.

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Hyo Yoon Kang 강효윤 @hyoyoonkang.bsky.social · 21d

Gillian Rose's on law, history, and Marxism.
This should be an essential workshop with deep intellectual and theoretical engagement that is becoming rarer by the day in UK legal academia. Organised by the wonderful Rosie Woodhouse. Registration and more info here: warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/law/...

Poster of Gillian Rose: history, Marxism, and the Turn to Law. 3 December 2025, University of Warwick. With Jessica Feely, Will Spendlove, Tarik Kochi, Adrian Wilding, Chris O'kane, Nadia Bou Ali and the organiser, Rosie Woodhouse.

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Jonathan Gibbs @jonathangibbs.bsky.social · 23d

Jeremy Noel-Tod on the importance of ‘unfunded’ or ‘hobbyist’ research in academica.

open.substack.com/pub/someflow...

Unfunded Hobbit Research

In defence of academic inspiration

open.substack.com

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British Association for Modernist Studies (BAMS) @modernistudies.bsky.social · 29d

We’re excited to share #TheModernistReview57, our first autumn issue! It includes seven reviews on diverse topics in modernist studies. Go check it out! we hope you enjoy reading:
modernistreviewcouk.wordpress.com/2025/09/09/t...

The Modernist Review Issue #57

8th September 2025 All the months are crude experiments out of which the perfect September is made. (Virginia Woolf, ‘The Lands End’, 1905) September arrives again, and with the beginning of autumn…

modernistreviewcouk.wordpress.com

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British Association for Modernist Studies (BAMS) @modernistudies.bsky.social · 29d

We’re delighted to announce a CFP for a Virginia Woolf special issue of TMR, marking the 34th Annual International Conference on Virginia Woolf. Please see the details below:

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Weimar Film Network @weimarfilmnetwork.bsky.social · Sep 5

📢📢📢 Upcoming Conference: 'Rethinking Weimar Cinema' (University of Oxford, 17 - 19 June 2026)

Full Call for Papers: drive.google.com/file/d/1pxBI...

Deadline: 31 October 2025

Please share widely with anyone who may be interested in joining us in Oxford next year!

Call for Papers: Rethinking Weimar Cinema (University of Oxford, 17 - 19 June 2026)

Keynote Speakers:
Dr Paul Dobryden (University of Virginia)
Dr Sara F. Hall (University of Illinois Chicago)
Dr Qinna Shen (Bryn Mawr College)

Film Screenings: TBC, in collaboration with the Ultimate Picture Palace and Weimar 100

Organizers: Dr Lawrence Alexander (Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford) and Dr Molly Harrabin (University of St. Andrews/University of Warwick).

Deadline for submitting proposals: 31 October 2025

The centennial years of the Weimar Republic (1918-1933) have seen a rise in academic engagement with and public interest in this period of German film history. As one of the most dynamic and experimental periods in global cinema, Weimar film has long been recognized for its aesthetic innovations, sociopolitical commentary, and influence on subsequent film movements. Yet these anniversary commemorations have not only reaffirmed the significance of this era, they have also opened the door for new questions, perspectives, and critical paradigms. This conference seeks to build on this momentum by revisiting Weimar cinema through fresh critical lenses and innovative methodologies, inviting participants to reconsider its cultural, political, and aesthetic significance in light of new archival discoveries, theoretical frameworks, and interdisciplinary approaches. The conference will take stock of our current understanding of Weimar film to map where this field may be heading as well as offering new genealogies of those images, figures, and texts that have defined it thus far.

In addition to traditional conference papers, we welcome contributions from archivists, practice-based researchers, and works of videographic criticism. Please submit proposals of up to 300 words to lawrence.alexander@rsa.ox.ac.uk and mlh21@st-andrews.ac.uk by 31st October 2025. Notices of acceptance will be sent out in December.

A limited number of bursaries are available to contribute to travel and accommodation costs for postgraduate and early-career speakers.

This event is hosted by the Weimar Film Network and funded by the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) as part of a three-year Promoting German Studies networking grant awarded to the German Screen Studies Network, co-directed by Dr Paul Flaig and Dr Dora Osborne.

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Sarah Pyke @sarahpyke.bsky.social · Aug 28

very much enjoyed reviewing Jane Cholmeley's excellent A BOOKSHOP OF ONE'S OWN for Publishing Research Quarterly

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Screenshot of a book review, of Jane Cholmeley's A Bookshop of One's Own, in Publishing Research Quarterly

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Glen O'Hara @gsoh31.bsky.social · Aug 13

This is what I'm hearing too. A total failure of public policy all the more staggering for having been totally predicted and predictable. A disaster.

Dr Stuart Wallace @echrhawk.bsky.social · Aug 13

Hearing a lot of Russell group unis are taking on staggering numbers of Home UG students to offset weaker international recruitment. This has been a recent trend, but it seems to be out of control this recruitment cycle. Downstream impact on newer unis will be catastrophic @gsoh31.bsky.social

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Anna Girling @annagirling.bsky.social · Aug 12

Further to this @thetls.bsky.social essay about Una Marson's early work as a publisher, the full run of Marson's 1920s/1930s magazine, The Cosmopolitan, is now freely available on the Digital Library of the Caribbean (@dlocaribbean.bsky.social): www.dloc.com/AA00114844/0...

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Modernist Studies Association (MSA) @moderniststudies.bsky.social · Aug 7

In 2026, the MSA Conference will look a bit different-- weird, even! That's because we're having a joint conference with BAMS @modernistudies.bsky.social in Loughborough, UK from July 1- 4, 2026. The CFP will be out soon! But in the meantime, please save the date.

Tarot card image of the empress with a crown of stars. Text reads Weird Modernisms BAMS/ MSA 1- 4 July 2026 Loughborough University, UK

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Andrew Thacker @andrewthacker.bsky.social · Aug 4

Very pleased to see my piece on Teju Cole published and available as open access for now.

www.euppublishing.com/doi/10.3366/...

Lagos and the Uncertain New Modernism of Teju Cole | Modernist Cultures

This article offers an innovative account of the work of the Nigerian American writer, Teju Cole, and argues that his fiction demonstrates an ‘uncertain new’ modernism of the city. In particular, the ...

www.euppublishing.com

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Rami Ismail (رامي) @ramiismail.com · Jul 14

Bye forever, WeTransfer.

WeTransfer TOS says they can use all your uploaded content for genAI

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Modernism/modernity @mmodernity.bsky.social · Jul 14

Our latest cluster, "Hope Mirrlees's 'Paris: A Poem' @ 100", edited by Nell Wasserstrom and Rio Matchett, takes a long walk along the Seine.

Read more here: modernismmodernity.org/forums/mirrl...

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Glen O'Hara @gsoh31.bsky.social · Jul 11

Superb piece from the ISRF on the Great University Crisis: all financial changes to Higher Ed should have to undergo an open and public Educational Impact Assesment. Great to see an actual new idea in what passes for the 'debate'. isrf.org/blog/a-new-r...

A New Regulatory Framework for University Cuts

isrf.org

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Dr Ian McCormick @wokestudies.bsky.social · Jul 11

Balliol College (University of Oxford) and the Proceeds of Slavery: Project Report.

#highered #history

www.balliol.ox.ac.uk/sites/defaul...

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David Kernohan @dkernohan.bsky.social · Jun 24

Daniel Hannan day greetings to all those working in the higher education sector. www.reaction.life/p/britain-lo...

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Andrew Thacker @andrewthacker.bsky.social · Jun 22

Just caught up with this fine summary of the total mess of UK universities today.

London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · Jun 10

‘As in other industries, the enormous wage disparity within universities distances the corporate leadership from the concerns of rank-and-file employees: it helps to steady the hand that wields the axe.’

Ed Kiely on Labour’s higher education reforms:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Ed Kiely · Short Cuts: University Finances

Universities’ reliance on international students is only the most recent attempt to solve a broader problem, one that...

www.lrb.co.uk

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Simon Grivet @simongrivet.bsky.social · Jun 2

We just lost an immense historian and editor: Pierre Nora.

www.lemonde.fr/disparitions...

L’historien Pierre Nora est mort

Historien, maître d’œuvre des « Lieux de mémoire », publiés en sept volumes à partir de 1984, le créateur de la revue « Le Débat » est mort le 2 juin, à l’âge de 93 ans.

www.lemonde.fr

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East Anglia Bylines @eastangliabylines.co.uk · May 29

Britain’s universities train global leaders, generate billions in exports, & lead world class research.

The government’s immigration plans aim to cut international student numbers.

Stephen McNair asks: Isn’t it time that policies build on our strengths?

Will the government’s immigration plans be good for our universities?

The Immigration White Paper aims to reduce international student numbers. But universities need them. Can the circle be squared?

eastangliabylines.co.uk

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Susan Pickford @libripotens.bsky.social · May 27

My latest book, Translating Science in the 18th and 19th centuries (co-edited with my dear friend Alison E. Martin), is now available in open access format at tinyurl.com/yy3wt4h7

Translating Science in the 18th and 19th Centuries | Interdisciplinary

This book explores the role of translation in shaping the knowledge-sharing processes that were and are seminal to scientific endeavour. It considers the

tinyurl.com

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Helen Smith @wordsmith.bsky.social · May 20

A contributor has had to withdraw from something I'm editing, late in the day. I'm looking for a sprightly 10,000 book historical words on the broad theme of 'consumers/consumption' and the period 1450-1650 (not necessarily all of it).

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Annette Yoshiko Reed @annetteyreed.bsky.social · May 21

👀 www.cnbc.com/2025/05/16/c...

“Even so, demand for humanities majors is on the rise, and with good reason.

“At a conference last year, Robert Goldstein, the chief operating officer of BlackRock, the world’s biggest money manager, said the firm was adjusting its hiring strategy for recent grads. “We have more and more conviction that we need people who majored in history, in English, and things that have nothing to do with finance or technology,” Goldstein said.

“This demand for liberal arts degrees is due in part to the rise of artificial intelligence, which drives the need for creative thinking and so-called soft skills.”

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