9,600 redundancies at just 24 universities. Imagine what the picture is for the sector as a whole. This is the other half of the student loan scandal picture, which has been national news lately. Nothing at all from the government on a key sector effectively in freefall…
Exceptionally fluid cat sleeping in a near back-bend. Hi head appears to be on upside down.
Cat flopped out of his basket, limbs splayed every which way. He's still asleep tho
Writing is as tortured as the cat's spine. Not, alas, as fluid as the cat. #amwriting
They brought a plane of food ... to ITALY
As Google Books starts to sink, it's worth remembering how Google organised a separate class of employees to do the actual labour of the book scanning, and kept them in a separate building on the Google campus with none of the privileges of regular Google staff.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0RT...
Can I get away with describing the 'Eliza' section of _The Dunciad_ as an authorial piss-up? #amwriting
The defection of Suella Braverman, who was sacked twice from Government in disgrace, spent £700m of taxpayers' money to send four volunteers to Rwanda on a deportation scheme that was then scrapped and has a public approval rating of minus 32 is currently being described as a "major coup" for Reform
Wise words from WEB DuBois to gird us today: "It would be shame and cowardice to surrender this glorious land and its opportunities for civilization and humanity to the thugs and lynchers, the mobs and profiteers, the monopolists & gamblers who today choke its soul and steal its resources."
Mistead this as "cheese piece" and am now slightly disappointed
great readings for our students to understand what 'generative AI' is.
I take the approach of bringing AI into our course work as an object of inquiry--to study it, to understand what it is, its myriad contexts.
And my students are hungry for this information. I bet yours are, too.
Cat in front of a telly, hyper-focused on an extreme close-on of pigeons
Things are terrible so here's a cat enjoying Wild London.
Incredibly messy kitchen sink with dishes everywhere
So the Teens did let me sleep and largely managed themselves while I was ill. But they also made sure to let me know that I'm still needed (I'm on the mend, but still sound like Iggy Pop on a bad day)
And the curse of research leave lurgy strikes again. Have been too sick to work (or even drink coffee) for days. Feeling better enough now to mostly feel sorry for myself.
Teal green Smeg coffee maker on a counter
🎶on the first day of research leave, my true love gave to me... a Smeg bean-to-cup coffee🎶 [maker - in the sales!]
It's my first day of research leave. & while I have a truly terrifying number of things that must be written in the next 6 months, today I'm settling down to read, because *research*
2025 has been a rotten year for most early career postdoctoral researchers, especially in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.
For a better 2026, check out (or repost) this short thread on a free resource for UK-based SHAPE PhDs within 10 years (excluding career breaks) of the doctorate. 1/3
A cat in a box. On boxing day.
Happy Boxing Day to all who celebrate
Before essay mills were banned in 2022, advertising for essay mills were all like ‘students, get help with your ideas’ and *everyone* knew it was bullshit. EVERYONE!
And now universities themselves are encouraging students to ‘get help with their ideas’ from ChatGPT - and it’s STILL bullshit!
I made the decision to stay on this side of the Atlantic for the foreseeable, but will miss you and all my c18 friends
Out of office is ON. I am on annual and/research leave from now until September 2026. 🎉🎉
Merriam-Webster’s human editors have chosen ‘slop’ as the 2025 Word of the Year.
Richard Pettigrew ate most of them, but there are a couple left if you're in!
Red celebrations chucolate tub in which all the chocolates except the bounties have been eaten. The rest of the tub filled with the healthy oranges wch were also rejected.
The remains of end-of-term bounty
Link cut: theft at Bristol Museum Archive
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
🤬
Retraumatised.
Unfortunately the HE 2025 ballot failed at 39% turnout. I have written about why and about what desperately needs to change in UCU's national structures off the back of this result. Some HEC members need to chi up and understand their role in all this, and how disconnected they are from members.
Because the world is too much with us of late, I give you this pure unadulterated joy:
youtu.be/OZqz94ODz18?...
Two black & white cats curled up in polystyrene crates. Thru are oriented towards each other & their front paws are intertwined
Kittens holding paws for your evening palate cleanser.
The children & the cat also had v different reactions to the end of the snow flurry
