DeclanKavanagh.bsky.social

Universities of Greenwich and Kent confirm new multi-university group to go ahead

In a sector in free fall, it’s good to see two institutions work together to find lasting solutions. It’s clear that help is not coming from gov & waiting to see what might happen isn’t a plan. Let’s hope this merger leads to exciting opportunities for both partners: www.kent.ac.uk/news/uncateg...

Looking forward to it! Congratulations 🎉

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...

Sticker of the late Catherine O’Hara in role as Moira Rose: reads ‘why must you be so constantly irksome’

Office door tat hits different

I shall! Thank you

Thanks; have lived here for over a decade.

Desk view with window / cathedral in frame / grey sort of day

I am teaching a seminar today on Samuel Richardson + responding to all the emails I let slip whilst moving. There’s also a @bsecs exec meeting, which will be a good opportunity to pour over feedback on the January conference. What are you up to? #Acwri

New home

Tabby cat sitting on a green chair with bird of paradise behind.

Belinda feels at home already

Thanks

Thank you x

Maureen Boyle ST BRIGID IN THE ORCHARD My favourite story of you takes place in an orchard. To begin, I imagine it as spring - grass wet underfoot, the air coloured in blossom. But now, I think it is winter, the sharp days around your feast day, the old trees gnarled in the wet, the nascent buds whorled and hidden. And there you come upon a young woman who is tortured by what has seeded in her without her choosing - an intimate anguish that has her almost inarticulate with fear. You are our Pomona, concerned not with fruit but with flourishing knowing that not all grafts take, that seeding is not the best way to make a new tree, that the canopy must be opened. And so, you gift her, her peace. The chronicle tells us you, 'Made the child disappear with no pain', meaning that when the spring comes, she will blossom into herself again.

Happy St. Brigid’s day - poem by Maureen Boyle that is achingly beautiful #mnà #StBrigid

Picture shows a lit up Canterbury cathedral against an inky black sky

After 12 solid hours of moving, I am finally in my new apartment. I am never moving again (too time consuming, boring, having to deal with belongings I have no memory of buying: no). Current view

On my gravestone will be written ‘Please italicise the titles of singular published works’.

A door into the dark of a shed with a bare floor save some odd bits of wood and cans of paint just out of view.

So the shed has been cleared out. My back is broken. I’ve discovered species of spiders that I am sure are scarily evolved. I never want to have to move again. Or sell anything. I feel like Winnie in Happy Days. A giant mound of stuff issuing and issuing without end. I never ever want to move again!

No one ever told me that when you have long hair you wake up with a mouthful of it. I am breaking the silence.

Solidarity!

The absolute stress of selling a house in England.

Well said.

Student loans: ‘My debt rose £20,000 to £77,000 even though I’m paying’ Millions of graduates are trapped by ballooning debts, as their repayments are dwarfed by the interest added

Whatever you think about the rights and wrongs of the student loans system, its sheer complexity makes justifying its use for a predominantly teenage population dicey.

Remembering Michael Longley, who sadly passed away a year ago today.

Intakes down by a third at some providers, latest Ucas data show Half of Russell Group universities accept record number of undergraduates, according to end-of-cycle admissions figures

'Several universities’ undergraduate student intakes fell by between 20 and 30 per cent for this academic year, as many elite institutions reported record numbers.' Sector as a whole accepted 2% more students. Russell Group up 9% (29% of all UK enrolments). 1/3

French judge explains how Trump sent people from the US Embassy to try to intimidate her during Marine Le Pen's trial for embezzlement — and details how he has used similar fascistic tactics to intimidate other judges around the world who rule against his alt-right friends.

there are plenty of reasons Air Force One would suddenly turn around. for example, they may have forgotten Kevin

Year after year these Scandinavians repeatedly fail to give me the Nobel Peace Prize so I’ve given up on Peace as concept. Let the galaxy drown in blood.

Dr. Gladys West, Mathematician Whose Work Made GPS Possible, Dies at 95 ALEXANDRIA, VA — Dr. Gladys West, the pioneering mathematician whose work laid the foundation for modern GPS technology, has died. She passed away

Dr. Gladys West, the pioneering mathematician whose work laid the foundation for modern GPS technology, has died. She was 95.

#EnglishCreates: Futures continues this week with a focus on the 'Blue Humanities':

'Oceans have always seemed mysterious, vast and invulnerable... Until recently, that is...'

universityenglish.ac.uk/englishcreat...

#EnglishStudies #HigherEducation #Ecocriticism #bluehumanities

I have successfully defrosted the freezer!

Disgusting that such bigotry is being encouraged and celebrated by the court, the press, and a billionaire transphobe.

Wrap indeed. Well spotted.