Tom Cutterham

Students without A‑levels are more likely to be working‑class, care‑experienced, disabled, mature and racially minoritised, often via BTECs, access courses and foundation years. Restricting loans by qualification route would hard‑wire existing inequalities into who gets to go to university.

Thank you to Verso for letting me write a 50,000 word little book about the American Revolution. It's like an antidote to those Dad-history-book doorstops! www.versobooks.com/en-gb/produc...

Will, you are also a great colleague and public historian (poster)!

The work your unique mind does while reading sources is the whole point of reading sources--primary and secondary alike.

A 1960s portrait of Secretary of the Interior, Stewart L. Udall, By Official Administration photograph - JFK Library: Stewart L Udall, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18389534

In October 1972, almost exactly a year before the start of the 1973 Oil Crisis, former Secretary of the Interior, Stewart L. Udall, wrote an essay for 'The Atlantic' (@theatlantic.com) titled, "The Last Traffic Jam" that 54 years later speaks directly to our current moment. A 🧵:

A pole at a pedestrian crossing adorned with two stickers, one handwritten in green pen that reads “VOTE 💚 LOVE” and the other that has the Reform party logo in a Red circle and with a cross through it

Spotted this nice combo of stickers after I voted just now, which pretty much capture where I’m at. Vote Love and Anti-Reform.

When Labour offers nothing but more hatred and division, it has to be Hannah Spencer and the Greens this time.

I can still fix it.

Laugh all you like but this is also long-standing British government policy! 🤪

Love to be in a department meeting and have colleagues tell me, "So, I inputted your report into ChatGPT and here's what it said..."

In the 1760s, John Erskine preached to his Edinburgh flock about the rights of colonists in North America. In 1776, one of the schoolboys who had heard him set out on a drastic course in support of the revolution. (This is the latest issue of my newsletter!) buttondown.com/cutterham/ar...

This post prompted in part by @boapublishing.bsky.social's document of the week: John Erskine's "Shall I Go To War With My American Brethren?"

In the 1760s, John Erskine preached to his Edinburgh flock about the rights of colonists in North America. In 1776, one of the schoolboys who had heard him set out on a drastic course in support of the revolution. (This is the latest issue of my newsletter!) buttondown.com/cutterham/ar...

Pity those of us whose hometown is Royal Tunbridge Wells!

#skystorians A rare permanent job at Warwick - Assistant Prof in Early Modern British History
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQO295/a...

UCU elections 2026 Elections to the following roles will take place between 30th January and 2nd March 2026: * Vice president from the further education sector,  becoming President 2028-29 * By-election Vice Presiden...

On which note, if you haven't yet voted in this year's NEC election, I recommend @ucucommons.org candidates! ucucommons.org/election26/

ACAS summary of changes to workers' rights rules: August 2026 changes Trade union ballots These changes will happen in August 2026: 1) trade union members will be able to vote electronically or in-person in ballots for industrial action, union elections and other statutory ballots – if the employer and trade union agree 2) the requirement for a 50% turnout for industrial action ballots will be removed – this had originally been expected in April 2026

The rollback of Tory anti-union legislation, and restoration of workers' rights, is happening incrementally. For #UCU, the really big change is going to be this one in August. That's going to make it even more important for members to engage in internal union democracy!

Publication day! My book Keeping Hold: A Cultural and Social History of Possession in Eighteenth-Century Britain is out now. 20% discount code KEHO2026. www.cambridge.org/core/books/k...

Happy to help with this if you haven't already found someone. Email me the details at my Birmingham address and I can put the order in tomorrow.

Applications open for the Keasbey Isaac Newton Fellowship in American Studies at Selwyn College, Cambridge.

This is a 3yr postdoc/JRF for a scholar of US culture, society, politics or history from any discipline. Closes March 19

Please spread the word
www.sel.cam.ac.uk/jobs/Keasbey...

Rev. Jesse Jackson's "I *am* somebody..." remains one of the all-time great pieces of 20th century rhetoric / agitprop

And he could deliver it at a Black separatist meeting, the Democratic National Convention, or on god-blessed Sesame Street (see below 🥹)

RIP to the Voice of the Voiceless

Exclusive: Labour And Greens Locked In Poster Battle As By-Election Tensions Soar The left-wing rivals in Gorton and Denton are upping their game as polling day approaches.

I love this - Landlord puts up Labour supporting poster and the tenants put up Green Party ones. Perfect way to sum up the country and who the parties work for: www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/excl-l...

Chilling piece by my friend and college classmate (vice dean for AI initiatives at Columbia)

UK ban on Palestine Action unlawful, high court judges rule Protest group’s co-founder wins legal challenge against decision to proscribe it under anti-terrorism laws

Wow!

Palestine Action win judicial review - Guardian report.

This is a *big* legal win.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Friends, can I ask you to spread the word that we have a THREE-YEAR postdoc in American history at Cambridge up for grabs - ANY field, but applications are due March 1 so don't delay - apply, apply, apply! networks.h-net.org/jobs/69790/u...

Last time I had my recycling collected, Joe Biden was still president

“The combined tuition fees of the entire Question Time panel would not cover my cost for 1 year of uni. Is that fair?”
Oli Dugmore

It’s absolutely NOT fair. This outrageous scandal must end

250th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence update: the State Department is apparently using it "to fund Maga-aligned think-tanks and charities across Europe to disseminate Washington’s policy positions."

Morgan McSweeney's Labour Party: low-energy Trumpism.

'Victory' in Palestine Action trial, say families The six defendants are cleared of aggravated burglary, but could face a retrial over other charges.

Heroic activists, heroic jurors. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...