@cferguson.bsky.social
Professor of English, specialising in Esotericism Studies,Victorian Literature, and History of Spiritualism & Occultism. Fan of Indian cinema and all things horror related. Based in Glasgow
I am a pufferfish and I must scream.
14.02.2026 07:57 β π 57 π 4 π¬ 1 π 0
π¨ UPDATE: The Met Police say they will no longer enforce the ban on Palestine Action
13.02.2026 11:56 β π 37 π 15 π¬ 4 π 3BREAKINGβ‘οΈThe High Court has just ruled that the government's draconian ban of Palestine Action was unlawful. This is a massive blow to the Home Officeβs authoritarian approach. They need to stop criminalising people protesting a genocide and start ending the UK's complicity
13.02.2026 11:09 β π 809 π 215 π¬ 20 π 13
Wow!
Palestine Action win judicial review - Guardian report.
This is a *big* legal win.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
The science showing the link between greenhouse gases, public health and environmental damage is solid. This won't change whether politicians like it or not.
Terrible decision
BBC News - Trump revokes landmark ruling that greenhouse gases endanger public health
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
#EnglishCreates: Futures
We are thrilled to share today's blog by Caroline Lucas, Britainβs first Green MP:
'Literature is the way we exercise the muscle of the imagination... And unless we can imagine a greener, fairer world, weβll struggle to achieve it.'
universityenglish.ac.uk/englishcreat...
Calling BAVS ECRs! Join @laurenicullen.bsky.social and I on Zoom today anytime between 5pm - 6pm (GMT) for the @bavs-uk.bsky.social Tea Time! DM us for the link π« βοΈ
11.02.2026 10:20 β π 6 π 5 π¬ 0 π 0So nice of my colleagues to rally round and insist I stay in my job. After all, I have important work to do! Such as opening this heavy, ticking package while my colleagues all watch. No one else will do it! Even though they're 200 yards away I can still see the supportive smiles on their faces.
11.02.2026 09:10 β π 15 π 1 π¬ 2 π 0
Such good news - basic Income for Artists to become permanent: www.rte.ie/culture/2026...
11.02.2026 07:04 β π 8 π 1 π¬ 0 π 0I take comfort in the fact that "Reform will close Welsh Universities because of Twitter drama" is actually a campaigning gift to Plaid for the 2026 Senedd Elections in plenty of places.
People work at universities, their kids go to them, and students buy things.
"Vice Chancellor Professor Wendy Larnerβs remuneration is Β£364k, comprising a salary of Β£294k, benefits-in-kind of Β£28k & pension opt-out contribution of Β£43k"
Wow. What a Shocker from Cardiff Uniπ²
Manifestly worth at most 30 cents per annum to an employer π
nation.cymru/news/univers...
The current situation at the University of Dundee is that we are not getting our annual pay increase and that promotion processes are paused.
At the same time the uni is refusing to rule out compulsory redundancies, it is advertising over 20 new senior management jobs for academic staff.
In one way or another, our Molochian centrist Labour government wants us just to be chill about constant child murder and the financial support of its perpetrators by a man they keep insisting is "decent"
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...
The contempt these people have for places they deem provincial as soon as those places refuse to be symbolic vehicles for white populism
10.02.2026 09:49 β π 81 π 19 π¬ 4 π 0
This is what we're up against. Bangor University, that fine and noble institution where I've spoken twice, nearly 150 years young and still going strong. The sheer hatred they reserve for us shows what could happen after 2029, but also that they're frightened of knowledge and learning.
10.02.2026 10:33 β π 614 π 168 π¬ 73 π 18This would imply, given their line on the two-child cap, that people may have exactly the number of children a government finds acceptable, no more and no less. This kind of freakery would make Reform desperately unpopular if only their opponents have the energy and skill to expose it effectively.
08.02.2026 13:17 β π 3 π 1 π¬ 0 π 0Parts of University of Dundeeβs action plan in response to the Gillies report are not being implemented.
There are no available Court agendas for the last 8 Court meetings (5 under the new chair), and no approved minutes available for 7 of these meetings.
Court is not transparent. Why?
NHS data could easily support Reform's plan of mass deportations of immigrants: 'Palantir, give me everyone whose birth date is prior to their first appearance on the NHS database.'
08.02.2026 08:14 β π 196 π 52 π¬ 8 π 3The dude whose company, thanks to Labour, will run our military analytics and to whom Wes Streeting is giving our personal healthcare data.
08.02.2026 07:27 β π 1126 π 557 π¬ 70 π 30
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: I'm Alasdair Gray's only child β we must remember my father's political message
07.02.2026 10:09 β π 27 π 7 π¬ 0 π 0
IMH researcher Adam Powell has contributed a chapter to a new publication which sheds light on people's experience of hearing spirit voices.
The chapter draws on data from a study of clairaudient mediums, part of our research project Hearing the Voice.
Read more π
www.durham.ac.uk/research/ins...
A US "free speech" fund is set to push Donald Trump's right-wing agenda in the UK and Europe, with Reform UK's involvement, reports have said
Read here: www.thenational.scot/news/2...
Oli is right. I paid nothing for my education while many who started Uni recently will never pay off their debt or the ridiculous interest rates levied on it.
When and why did we replace βeducation, education, educationβ with βdebt, debt, debtβ?
A truly hideous right wing smear campaign against these six activists for exercising their free speech rights to protest - and confronted with the evidence all six have been acquitted.
04.02.2026 14:20 β π 695 π 203 π¬ 18 π 13
If you want a break from snow or ICE, I have a #longread in the current @harpers.bsky.social about a mystical drift through London. Includes Blake, Hawksmoor, the Sex Pistols, Derek Jarman, John Dee and conversations with Alan Moore and Iain Sinclair harpers.org/archive/2026...
25.01.2026 18:53 β π 251 π 84 π¬ 11 π 22Hoping my former institution succeeds at the High Court. It is a critically important case for the whole sector.
03.02.2026 10:37 β π 12 π 5 π¬ 2 π 0
A book cover, showing the title 'Belfastmen: An Intimate History of Life before Gay Liberation' by Tom Hulme. It is lavender coloured with yellow text, and shows two men sat on a bench, c. 1935.
*drum roll*
Here is the cover for my book, which will be published by @cornellupress.bsky.social on 15 April 2026!
I thought it would be nice to share a bit of info on who these men were and how their lives and interests inspired the design...
