Jonathan Potter

Dismay as north of England universities miss out on share of £54m talent fund Exclusive: MP presses minister for explanation as thinktank says omission undermines innovation in the north

As I've been saying, it's clear that the UK has decided to concentrate university spending and R&D on a very small and geographically-concentrated elite. Now okay, that's a decision that will have positives and negatives, but it should at least be made explicit. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

"It's just fields and fields of gray ash."

www.instagram.com/reel/DM8H5L2...

I’m always absolutely captivated by the way Baldwin expressed himself - much less the words his brain thought up.
There’s not another societal critic more appropriate for our current moment.

The difficulty with writing anything about anything is that any given thing, on closer inspection, appears to be connected to every thing, and now you’ve gone from writing about anything to writing about everything 😅

Edison phonograph machine

Famous yellow cover of Dracula (1897)

In Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897), Dr Seward’s journals are famously ‘Kept in Phonograph’. Join me for a nerdy deep dive in which I, brandishing back-of-an-envelope math, calculate the cost of Seward's phonograph habit, & encounter a creature more uncanny than Dracula himself! 1/14 #Gothic

Hello! If you have a position at a UK university please sign this thanks

A fabulous resource! Chosen at random, among cases that used electricity as a treatment (among many others), is this 1778 case of James Thomson, who had impaired vision www.rcpe.ac.uk/peoplesdispe..., and Betty Smart in 1783 with 'hysteria' www.rcpe.ac.uk/peoplesdispe... #histSTM #histmed

If, like me, you missed out on being at #RSVP2025, check out @marielsj.bsky.social’s timeline for stellar live posting from the end of last week! Wonderful to have these insights into what was clearly, as ever, a fascinating set of papers on the diversity of C19 periodicals 📚

Hannah with megaphone

New member @1hannahharvey.bsky.social who has supported members as a @ucu.org.uk buddy addresses our lunchtime lobby of the @mybcu.bsky.social governors today, bringing attention to the importance academic skills members bring for students - disbanding these teams will hit students hard

Please support BCU staff fighting against cuts! We're repeatedly told these are not financially driven yet they have been rushed through with little planning or fairness.

IT'S ALIVE!!!!! I had the best time working with Annemarie to edit our fabulous contributions - huge thanks to our authors for sharing their research, and for being polite when I suggested revisions. Huge thanks also to VPR ed Kathy Malone for her patience and making the editorial process so smooth.

Descartes gave us all the tools we need to survive in an era of misinformation. Simply begin with the understanding that you are real but everything else is fairly likely to be the cruel games of a demon sent to torment you specifically.

Whoa- those were the days. 9 year sabbatical, nice work if you can get it!

Someone else said something very similar to this the other day, but.

It really burns me that our (millennials') generation was legally terrorized for like, downloading Radiohead discographies

But we're supposed to be ok with billionaires stealing human intellectual output in its entirety bc AI

"You use "long eighteenth century" a lot in this book, but each century is exactly as long as another. I do see in your bibliography that there is a book that uses this. If you want to keep "long" here, please provide a brief explanation of what you mean. After that, I see no need to keep reminding your readers of it..

Happy anniversary to my favorite copy editor comment of all time.

"You use 'long eighteenth century' a lot in this book, but each century is exactly as long as another."

There really is little better as a writer than being edited well. What a joy! What a relief! What a pleasure to have someone make me seem smarter and more articulate than I am!

And a f-ing terrible one at that.

I honestly despair.

To be clear: immigration is NOT the primary cause of the housing crisis. It has a tiny impact.

Decades of foolishly using property as our primary personal asset class, combined with under investment in social housing, is the cause.

The Rosemary VanArsdel Prize – RSVP The VanArsdel Prize is awarded annually to the best graduate student essay investigating Victorian periodicals and newspapers. The prize was established in 1990 to honor Rosemary VanArsdel, a founding...

Calling all grad students! If you're working on Victorian periodicals, the VanArsdel Prize is for you. Honor the OG Rosemary VanArsdel by keeping the field sharp. Guidelines here: rs4vp.org/awards/vanar...
#VanArsdelPrize #GradStudents

Entirely this: I’d add that being serious about climate change is a hygiene factor for many voters. In not a single UK constituency does concern about climate drop below 50% - hitting 68% in Clacton. There’s a debate on the ‘how’ and particularly how to do it fairly but much less on the principle.

Increase in productivity since 1979: 86%

Increase in hourly pay since 1979: 31%

Just so happens that ~25% of workers were unionized in 1979. Today? 10%.

As unions declined, the super-rich have taken a larger share of wealth generated by labor. We must build back union power.

Great solidarity from ucu President Elect Maria Chondrogianni at our strike rally
#BCUstrike #May1

Just one out picket lines for @bcu-ucu.bsky.social today. We’re outside Curzon but we’re also outside Parkside, Millenium Point, Benjamin Zephaniah and Seacole. Come and join us! #BCUStrike

Workers on a picket with placards and supporters visiting

The #BCUstrike is go! Benjamin Zephaniah picket is growing… Solidarity and bring your sun cream! 😎🪧 #May1

People standing in front of a building with strike signs

Seacole is buzzing as we strike for fair negotiation over performance targets and to defend jobs! #May1 #BCUstrike

Today we're striking to protect jobs and for meaningful negotiations about performance measures imposed on staff. We're striking because we believe in BCU as a place for life-changing education for all. We want the support and resources to deliver that. #BCUstrike #1May

Section 28 didn’t come out of nowhere.
It came from a society where 75% thought homosexuality was wrong.
From a society that feared the sight of a man in drag would corrupt.
From a society that believed ignorance was better for children than any knowledge of gay lives.
🧵 1/16

Can you spare a minute to help mikhail horn? Defend the Internet Archive

chng.it/D7QxzVXDtN

THE INTERNET ARCHIVE IS BEING TAKEN DOWN!!
IF YOU CARE ABOUT PRESERVATION AND DON'T WANT DISINFORMATION TO GET WORSE PLEASE HELP PITCH IN!!

PSA.

For people in the UK who donate to food-banks, and have Nectar cards, right now Sainsbury's are doing lots of smallish Easter Eggs for £1.50 each.

University of Derby staff face mass job cuts as management plans to axe half of senior academics University of Derby staff face mass job cuts as management plans to axe half of senior academics

University of Derby faces mass job cuts as management plans to make half of senior academics redundant. Please spread the word. www.ucu.org.uk/article/1398...