Leo McCann

UK university staff: a final chance to tell us your feelings about the redundancy wave Whether you have direct experience of redundancies or not, and whatever your role is (or was) in the university, we are still keen to hear your views

www.timeshighereducation.com/uk-universit...

Times Higher has not always been a friend of universities given the league tables, rankings, etc. But it might be worth completing this survey to help publicise the widespread redundancies and terrible standards of management and leadership in UK HE.

Suzanne Tritium, headteacher at the Curtis LeMay Elementary School, describes the new Strangelove GenAI system as a vital learning resource for all K-12 students.

AIs can’t stop recommending nuclear strikes in war game simulations Leading AIs from OpenAI, Anthropic and Google opted to use nuclear weapons in simulated war games in 95 per cent of cases

www.newscientist.com/article/2516...

GenAI is a study buddy. A cutting-edge employability tool.

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

The paper it's based on is here

Unintended Consequences of the Re-Professionalisation of Policing in the UK Dr Cliff Bacon A centralised attempt to professionalise policing has been in operation for over a decade. The mechanism of change management to facilitate this, has, I argue, strained the relations…

Very interesting blog from Cliff Bacon of University of Salford. Summarises and builds on the ethnographic work he did for his PhD.

bscpolicingnetwork.wordpress.com/2026/02/18/u...

A screenshot of my messaging app, containing a text I generated only by using the predictive text options it supplied. The message says "Yesterday's announcement of a major overhaul in energy policy and the impact on the environment was welcomed with great excitement as we discussed. I hope that this is the beginning for our next generation to take a new direction."

New blog post: How I'm teaching about Generative AI. catherinedenial.org/blog/uncateg...

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

"When we ask what is at stake if academic freedom is not
protected, the answer is not only vital knowledge and democracy itself. The untruthful language marking universities as we know them, might be a precursor to the demise of academia itself."

Distressing but important piece by Susanne Taüber.

Now published! Universities Degraded, by @beccaeharrison.bsky.social & me, reveals the scale of job losses in UK universities, exposes employer practices & shares testimonies of those made redundant & their colleagues.

Warning: some of the content is distressing.

zenodo.org/records/1563...

@wearehighered.bsky.social

Fast Food Research in the Era of Unplanned Obsolescence Click on the article title to read more.

"One of the defining qualities of contemporary academic research concerns its built-in obsolescence." (Marinetto, 2018)

In contrast, Marinetto suggests to prioritise:

- Being read over being published
- Thinking over productivity
- Broad over narrow reading

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Erasing critical scholarship: How attacks on academic freedom undermine democracy - Susanne Täuber, 2026 Building on a number of case studies, this essay examines the role of university management for ensuring academic freedom in the European context. The emerging ...

"The untruthful language marking universities as we know them, might be a precursor to the demise of academia itself." (Susanne Täuber, 2026)

An important, powerful essay about attacks on academic freedom and the erasure of critical scholarship.

#HigherEd

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Dump Your Toxic Ex This Valentine's Day, choose love instead of hate.

Using X is not harmless. Just by logging in, you pad Elon’s metrics. He gets paid every time you scroll past an ad. And you normalize him just by staying. Because if what he’s done isn’t a dealbreaker for you, why should it be for anyone else?

Northumbria Pay and Pension Petition: Stop the Steal! If Northumbria does this, other universities will too.  These cuts will harm thousands of people, their students, families, and their local communities now and into the future.

Northumbria University attacking its staff's pensions. Please consider signing this petition: www.megaphone.org.uk/petitions/no...

UK university staff: please complete our survey about redundancies Whether you are an academic or professional services staff member, employed or unemployed, we are keen to hear your views

www.timeshighereducation.com/news/uk-univ...

Times Higher hasn't been such a good friend of HE, with all the rankings garbage. But this survey is surely worth completing

The Goffman Nobody Knows Click on the article title to read more.

'The Goffman Nobody Knows.' Really enjoyed this book review from @jerolmack.bsky.social. The book sounds fabulous. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Fewer Europeans Are Heading To The U.S. This Summer—Here’s What That Could Mean For The World Cup Airline bookings to the U.S. in advance of the World Cup are soft, calling into question whether the high-profile tournament will deliver the boon U.S. tourism officials are expecting.

Airline bookings to the U.S. in advance of the World Cup are soft, calling into question whether the high-profile tournament will deliver the boon U.S. tourism officials are expecting.

The sequencing of academic freedom violations during democratic erosion: Comparing the cases of Hungary and Poland - Ellen Bos, Marianne Kneuer, 2026 This paper addresses the widely accepted but still little elaborated observation that democratic erosion evolves in a sequential manner. We argue that the viola...

"[V]iolating academic freedom becomes an essential requisite for entrenching and sustaining the specific illiberal mindset that the erosion agents pursue."

Interesting new study about the erosion of #AcademicFreedom in Hungary and Poland.

#HigherEd

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

An excellent video from @ucu.org.uk highlighting the continued destruction of higher education in this country. We need urgent change to how the entire sector is funded, led and governed. Please, @bphillipsonmp.bsky.social, can this Labour government do something?

Week zero of the semester and life is hectic. Looking forward to getting back in the classroom but the amount of things swirling around... Let's just say this fog feels appropriate. Hope everyone is well and feeling some sunshine soon! ☀️

The phrases used to avoid saying 'redundancy' and to sanitise the brutality of laying staff off are really something. "Adapting for continued success" here. What others have you heard?

Calls Mount for FIFA World Cup Boycott Amid US Rights Abuses By Camila Escalante  -  Jan 29, 2026 At least 15 nations scheduled to participate in the World Cup face U.S. travel bans and visa restrictions, as ICE abductions, disappearances and killings continue....

orinocotribune.com/calls-mount-...

Shaping for Mediocrity by Gibson Burrell et al Was the University of Leicester the test bed for the current waves of redundancies, asks Steven Brown reviewing Shaping for Mediocrity by Gibson Burrell and friends.

Worst I've seen in university sector was 'shaping for excellence' at Leicester.

Shaping for Mediocrity by Gibson Burrell et al - The Sociological Review share.google/3C4iucDwvizA...

For Everything to Stay the Same, Everything Must Change ... a riposte to academic nostalgia

'We likely require fewer academics with research in their remit, but those that do need greater time allocated, and must be subject to a strategic research management regime'.

I remain very sceptical/negative about the medium- and long-turn impacts of separating research and teaching. 1/2

UK loses measles elimination status Decision made after outbreaks in 2024, when there were nearly 3,000 cases in England and Wales.

*hisses like a cat* BAD www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

France announced today it’s phasing out Teams, Zoom, etc. to be replaced with a French/European solution called Visio. The data is hosted on Outscale. Transcripts and subtitles are also handled by French providers. The target is set on 2027 for government agencies.

German FA official wants 2026 World Cup boycott talks A German football association official believes it is time to consider a boycott of the 2026 World Cup in the wake of United States President Donald Trump's actions.

A boycott of the World Cup absolutely needs doing. But I very much doubt anyone else will suggest it. Few in sport or politics have the gumption or courage.
www.bbc.com/sport/footba...

Donate to Support University of Sheffield striking staff!, organized by Mark Pendleton I'm the branch treasurer for the University of Sheffield University and… Mark Pendleton needs your support for Support University of Sheffield striking staff!

And, if you are able, please consider donating to the strike fund:

gofund.me/0a7c7dac4

No lockout for University of Sheffield staff UCU members have been standing up against the continual cutting and restructuring of the last several years which has significantly damaged the University’s international standing, the quality of educ...

Please consider supporting striking staff at University of Sheffield. Please sign: www.megaphone.org.uk/petitions/no...

Three major research universities opt out of new Elsevier deal Complaints over ‘price increases’ and open access models spur UK institutions to walk away from offer from publishing giant, despite nationally negotiated agreement

Kent, Essex and apparently Sussex all decline to be gouged by Elsevier Read & Publish deals. Others may well follow. 1/2

While it's good to fight back against the price gouging, the library cuts are hurting research. Papers we publish aren't open access any more, making public engagement harder. Write a blog and the links effectively take you to paywalls. This isn't right.