Call me Cassandra, but if you make thousands of HEI staff either compulsorily or 'voluntarily' redundant and create conditions in which senior staff take early retirement in an attempt to save more junior colleagues' careers without significant new hiring, a critical loss is exactly what happens.
Keen to meet a new generation of historians researching British history in the (very) long 18th century? Join us for our annual Lightening Talks presentations and Q&A on 29 April at 5:30pm. All welcome. Free. In person at the Institute of Historical Research in London or online on Zoom. #Skystorians
Telegraph newspaper editorial on Mandelson's appointment in December 2024 versus editorial today
Three year postdoc going at @qmulsse.bsky.social working with @karlpike.bsky.social on ‘Politics and mythmaking: disentangling myth from ideology’, funded by the Leverhulme Trust. Details here:
Chart showing estimated fall in GDP per person resulting from Brexit (based on different specifications in a synthetic control model): UK, Q1-2026 to Q2-2025
Brexit has likely done more economic damage than feared.
Recent evidence suggests the economic cost of Brexit may be approaching twice the 4% impact assumed by the OBR.
The Chancellor has signalled a shift in approach to EU trade, but the effect will depend on how far the govt goes on alignement.
'The fundamental problem is that the relationship between the English state and higher education – what this paper terms the “HE/state nexus” – is broken....This mechanism has failed, by every metric its architects set for it, and its failure is structural, not incidental.'
Stark and to the point.
Deadline THIS WEEK for a three-year postdoctoral position in political theory in my department.
You'd only know it if you consulted the public record, so here it is: lordslibrary.parliament.uk/office-for-s...
Anyone working in history of comedy/satire, television, modern British politics - there's a fully funded PhD to research the Spitting Image archive @theul.bsky.social, with supervision at Exeter Uni. All disciplines considered, pls do share widely.
www.exeter.ac.uk/study/fundin...
Senior Tory MP claims knife crime went up by 72% in London.
In fact offences fell by 11% in the year to September 2025.
News I'm hearing from across universities is disastrous. The sector has been falling apart for months, but the process is now continuously speeding up. Outside a small handful of institutions, HE as we've known it has basically zero future.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
ICYMI!
Feminism, Fascism & the Future: Tracing the Global Anti-Gender Movement, with GPRG and Women in PIR
27 April, 11am, Chrystal Macmillan Building
Register: edin.ac/4tQwMFk
Full-funded (home or international) collaborative PhD studentship (Kew and Royal Holloway, University of London) available. Deadline 8 May.
Topic: ‘Just acquisitions? Law and ethics over time in Kew’s overseas plant collecting history’ #Skystorians
JOB! I'm hiring a Senior Research Associate in Social and Political Philosophy as part of the ERC LEAD Project.
Deadline is May 3rd, and candidates would ideally begin in September 2026 or asap after.
Feel free to contact me with any questions - Share widely!
www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/de...
This is quite extraordinary- scientists set a kind of trap for AI chat bots by inventing a fake disease. AI told people it was real and… the deliberately bogus preprints started being cited in peer reviewed literature 🫣
🧪 #MedSky
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
PhD Studentship: King’s College London’s Leverhulme Centre for Research on Slavery in War (CRSW) Doctoral Studentships- King's College London - Department of War Studies #skystorians 🗃️www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DRD022/p...
Assistant Professor in History of Capitalism (111484-0426)
University of Warwick - #History #skystorians 🗃️www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DRD759/a...
QMUL is advertising an exciting opportunity: a fully funded PhD studentship, working on European politics, ideology, and political 'myths' with @karlpike.bsky.social and @timbale.bsky.social. Details below.
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DRB421/p...
'The number of English language and literature academics fell by 8 per cent to 4,680 – among the largest decrease of all disciplines.
And the number employed in modern languages dropped 7 per cent to 4,890. This is 17 per cent below peak levels in 2015-16.' 1/3
Change is possible, but also hard.
"Truss says Islamism is backing the UK government, for which there is no evidence," says Lewis Goodall.
"She says there is Sharia law in Britain, and that's a problem – also a complete lie."
The UK doesn't listen to Liz Truss, so why does MAGA America?
www.thenewsagents.co.uk/article/why-...
'Brunel University of London has posted one of the largest deficits seen in the UK sector over the past financial year.'
Total income dropped 15% with taught PG international students dropping 46%. Thanks Rishi et al!
Nottingham and Coventry also among those with highest deficits.
Soas loses £1.2m climate grant due to US funding cuts
City St George’s and Sussex universities have also lost projects, freedom of information requests reveal.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...
NEW: I’ve found an opaque financial vehicle owns a large chunk of the Observer. And neither it or the Guardian will say who it is. Why?
Well there is a clue. Which goes by way of Saudi Arabia…
1/
open.substack.com/pub/broligar...
“Some politicians are trying to sell us a dangerous fantasy of endless gas reserves, when the truth is – after 50 years of drilling – we have already burned most of it,” Khan said.
Really pleased to advertise these 4 LSE postdocs in the history of popular government as part of our ERC Synergy Project "Popular Government in Global Perspective (POPGOV)"
The dismal tide accelerates, sweeping from Coventry through Sheffield Hallam to London South Bank. 1/2
"The alarm is being sounded over suspicions of insider trading," says Emily Maitlis.
"There is a question whether some people are getting filthy rich on the back of an announcement that probably wasn't even true"
www.thenewsagents.co.uk/article/did-...
This week over 100,000 ALCS members will receive their share of £34m. Let's celebrate the value of human creativity, something that isn't going anywhere 💡📖🌳
