This is bleak. Essentially, lecturers as middle managers between students and chatbot.

This Is Just To Say

I have turned off
the AI features
that were in
the update

and which
you were probably
hoping
to monetize

Fuck you
they were stupid
so unnecessary
and so annoying

This is dreadful. I’m so sorry.

It would surely be illegal under existing equalities law and it would be interesting to know if such an advert had ever been signed off by HR. As opposed to a job advert that specified, say, teaching certain modules *about* a specific ideology.

Universities in England could face fines for freedom of speech failures Office for Students to launch new complaints system as Bridget Phillipson says academics too often are being silenced

Would love to know what they mean by “job adverts requiring specific ideological beliefs” and what evidence there is that this has ever happened. www.theguardian.com/education/20...

You'd only know it if you consulted the public record, so here it is: lordslibrary.parliament.uk/office-for-s...

Come and visit us!

OpenAI: We’re burning money like the Joker. A miracle needs to happen for us to turn a profit

Microsoft: Please please use our AI systems, we’re teetering on the edge here

Anthropic: I wonder what’ll kill us first: lawsuits, regulations or model collapse

Media and universities: AI is here to stay

Event poster for 'Russian Pendulum: Paradoxes, Practices and Patterns' with an image of the book cover.

🔊We have just released some additional tickets due to high demand!

Join us to celebrate the launch of 'Russian Pendulum' (@uclpress.bsky.social) by Prof. Alena Ledeneva.

🗓️ 30 April at 6pm
📍 UCL SSEES
➡️ Free and open to all: www.ucl.ac.uk/arts-humanit...

Russia opened a “Ten Centuries of Polish Russophobia” exhibit at the Katyn memorial, where the Soviet secret police executed thousands of Polish POWs in 1940.

Polish flags were removed in 2022; Stalin busts were added to the nearby Mednoye mass grave site in 2023

Human rights activists believe that the latest repression against Memorial is linked to the declining popularity of Vladimir Putin’s regime Legal experts argue that the Supreme Court’s decision paves the way for the prosecution of members and supporters of such organisations. They also contend that the timing of the ruling was no coincide...

Supreme Court’s ruling against Memorial is linked to the declining popularity of Vladimir Putin’s regime, experts say.

Peter Duncan obituary Other lives: Lecturer at UCL who wrote books on Russian politics and advised the House of Commons

Nice obituary of Pete Duncan, the legendary scholar and teacher of Russian politics. Generations of students and colleagues benefitted from his kindness, his knowledge, and his academic rigour. A unique, and uniquely valuable, scholar. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

Universities ‘threatened by spurious Home Office visa rejections’ New rules will punish institutions if study visas are rejected — but they say the official reasons given for refusals are often inaccurate

This Times report suggests the Home Office is unable to reverse egregious mistakes, if it realises it has rejected university applicants on spurious grounds due to its own incompetence
www.thetimes.com/article/1644...

My co-translation of Svetlana Alexievich’s CHERNOBYL PRAYER comes out in the USA on 5 May.

‘A beautifully written book, it's been years since I had to look away from a page because it was just too heart-breaking to go on.’ — Arundhati Roy

A great new article on Stalinist repression, 1937-45, showing how Soviet women formed a significant and systematically targeted group, and more so than previously understood.

At QMUL:
- 99 language modules cut
- 50 language modules marked as 'to be confirmed'
- single honours language degrees in questions
- 'possible futures' includes the closure of languages at QMUL altogether

The harm done to language studies is immense, and ramifications are not going to be pretty.

Data Visualization with Textiles This site is notes and drafts that may someday become a Handbook of Data Visualization with Textiles.

If you like data, or making things with textile crafts (sewing, knitting, crochet, weaving, etc.), I've finally written something up about data visualization with textiles. More words coming over the next few months! #DHmakes

Sticky Toffee puddings are on the mainstream media's agenda

Hard no from me too. Never used it, never going to use it, never going to encourage my students to use It.

The Alexander Nash Fellow will be appointed for two years to undertake an independent programme of research in Albanian Studies, from which peer-reviewed publications will be generated and results and findings disseminated to a variety of audiences. The Fellow will also support the delivery of the School’s undergraduate and postgraduate teaching portfolio, including but not limited to providing dissertation supervision to any students specialising in Albanian Studies.

Job vacancy: Alexander Nash Fellowship in Albanian Studies

The postholder will be appointed for two years to undertake an independent programme of research in Albanian Studies.

💼 Full time, fixed-term
🗓️ Closing date: 30 April 2026
💬 Interviews: 26 May 2026
➡️ Apply now: buff.ly/hs3NHH8

Writing (beyond) War: Ukraine in the World A SSEES Rethinking Eastern Europe and Eurasia event with Myroslav Laiuk, Yuliya Musakovska and Luke Harding, co-organised by the Ukrainian Institute London.

Come and hear two of Ukraine's best writers - Myroslav Laiuk and Yulia Musakovska - discuss writing about Ukraine with the brililant Luke Harding at UCL on 14 April. In partnership with @ukrinstitute.bsky.social. @uclssees.bsky.social @lukeharding1968.bsky.social www.ucl.ac.uk/arts-humanit...

Внимание, внимание!

Early-bird discount deadline is fast approaching.

Come and spend a week immersed in the wonders of literary translation.

This is fabulous news - hard to think of anyone better to lead @uclssees.bsky.social

1 [Corporate brand ident: ‘Everlasting’ - with logo featuring a green drawing of an apple and a tree] 2 [SATAN walks on in front of the logo] SATAN: Hi there 3 I’m Satan, CEO of Everlasting* [*Formerly known as Hell] 4 and I want to talk to you about how we’re working… [SATAN opens a door into Hell] 5 [We see Hell, burning pit, tortured souls etc] … towards a sustainable future. 6 Over the last 6 millennia we’ve increased our fiery pit efficiencies 7 By pushing more souls in at once… [Souls being poked into the fiery pit by demons] ….with sustainably sourced soul-pokers. 8 Plus we’ve developed state of the art SCT* *Scream Capture Technology 9 To power the flaying machine! [We see the flaying machine] 10 And we’ve even got a page on our website [Satan shows us a screen on a laptop] with a nice illustration and some green writing… 11 about some vague community thing we did in a school. [Show photo on screen of Demons doing STEM lessons with terrified schoolschildren] 12 [Back to logo] Everlasting ⁃ For Eternity - SATAN: [walking off screen] Will that do [ends]

From 2021

Good HE is really simple: quality time spent with subject experts who know and care about their students. My university and many others are deliberately abandoning this truth in favour of financial and organisational efficiency.

Well, after last night’s GBNews debate I no longer need to explain to students the risks of using AI to write papers since Matt G has done us all a favour by having a fever dream meltdown trying to justify it.

And to think we thought his contributions to academia were over.

A top job for someone - Associate Professor of History, University of Toronto: looking for an economic historian of the Soviet Union and successor states

I keep telling people we are THISCLOSE to just creating a completely illiterate generation of college educated young adults and this is my new Exhibit A

Dr Diana Kudaibergen Wins 2026 Alexander Nove Prize We are delighted to announce that Dr Diana Kudaibergen has been awarded the 2026 BASEES Alexander Nove Prize for her book The Kazakh Spring: Digital Activism and the Challenge to Dictatorship

Celebrating with @uclssees.bsky.social

www.ucl.ac.uk/arts-humanit...

Big change I’ve noticed this year with students, perhaps due to increasing dissatisfaction with having AI constantly pushed on them.
The number of students coming to see me to discuss their essays has exploded. I’ve been telling them to do so for years, and uptake gradually increased to 30-40%.