My column on how capital becomes a death cult. Faced with a choice between profit and human life, the radical right chooses profit. Then it tries to persuade us that mass death is what we want. It's the new phase of climate denial: accept your fate, earthlings. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Murderous heat, an endangered food supply, decimated landscapes: embrace the Mediterranean life | George Monbiot

As climate disaster stares us in the face, the radical right says ‘Embrace the Mediterranean life’. Embrace death, more like it, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

theguardian.com

'Ben Johnson, co-director of...Science Works and a former government science adviser, told Research Professional News the government must understand how and where the sector is contracting or risk losing pockets of research capability.' That horse is already exiting the stable. 1/3

Research Professional News@resprofnews.bsky.social · 13h ago

Government ‘doesn’t know where research capability lies’. Contractions in the university sector need to be understood, former government science adviser says. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...

Great to see Osterley House, National Trust engage again with the long legacy of the East India Company and its material cultures in Hounslow. Exciting to see another exhibition on this theme: Journeys: Wedding Shawls, Baghs and Phulkaris from the Karun Thakar Collection, open until 1 November. 1/4

Karun Thakar brings British Asians into Osterley House with National Trust exhibition

Exhibition of shawls invites visitors to rediscover estate's India links

easterneye.biz

💖 all animals deserve freedom 🌿❤️🩷🧡💛💚💙🩵💜🤎🤍🌿

Not to make light of a difficult to diagnose allergy. But given that climate survivals demands that humans eat much less red meat, this may also be read as 'nudge' from nature.

Meat allergy is on the rise — what scientists want to know

The allergy is caused by ticks, but researchers have much to learn about it.

nature.com

Really appreciated a piece that lays out the multiple horrors of UK HE in humane detail.

Peter Geoghegan@petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 2d ago

Behind the bewildering transformation of British universities, are management consultants being paid millions Really proud to have this vital piece on our unis are being gutted from the inside by @jheathershaw.bsky.social on Democracy for Sale. Do read democracyforsale.substack.com/p/inside-bri...

NEW on Wonkhe: International students are often treated as financial assets rather than pedagogic partners. Sumeya Loonat sets out four lenses for moving beyond the deficit model buff.ly/jnPFPMD

This should be self evident but clearly isn’t. From @lewisgoodall.com

I'm not only incredibly sad about this, I'm also profoundly angry; mostly with the government & sector leadership who allowed this to happen, but also with colleagues who rejected the idea that lifting the cap would make this inevitable and told me that I had no right to stop students 'trading up'.

Owen Davies@odavies9.bsky.social · 4d ago

So a whole lot of my talented Humanities colleagues are now unemployed as of today. A lot of understandable concern over Exeter. But for over two decades my Hums colleagues were in the top quartile for their research contribution to society. History top 10. Now gone with only a national whisper.

This is an absolutely disgusting state of affairs. While only Russell Groups are in the news, the humanities at many other universities are being eviscerated.

Owen Davies@odavies9.bsky.social · 4d ago

So a whole lot of my talented Humanities colleagues are now unemployed as of today. A lot of understandable concern over Exeter. But for over two decades my Hums colleagues were in the top quartile for their research contribution to society. History top 10. Now gone with only a national whisper.

Thinking through the unedifying, un-evidence-based rush to an undefined, apparently unmodelled paradigm of 'specialisation, what's being lost/threatened? Herts History was an excellent example of performing to a top standard in REF, but also much more than that. Questions to think with include: 1/4

Glen O'Hara@gsoh31.bsky.social · 3d ago

So it's farewell to the History subject area at the University of Hertfordshire, not the first nor the last to go. One of the best departments in the country, just extinguished like a snap of the fingers. Think of the waste. (1/2)

In late 2023, the Society spent a day with Hertfordshire’s historians. We saw the quality, creativity and distinctiveness of teaching, research and engagement. We were told by a (now departed) senior manager that History was ‘a portfolio the university will guard very carefully’. bit.ly/4hLediN

Glen O'Hara@gsoh31.bsky.social · 3d ago

So it's farewell to the History subject area at the University of Hertfordshire, not the first nor the last to go. One of the best departments in the country, just extinguished like a snap of the fingers. Think of the waste. (1/2)

NEW on Wonkhe: Universities UK’s Future Universities strategy aims to tackle public apathy towards universities. Sally Mapstone explains why that means doing more than “telling better stories” buff.ly/PglwhMi

The 'stinging rebuke' is open access here. You don't need to be an historian to applaud it. #Skystorians 2/2

History and the humanities at the University of Hertfordshire – a statement from the Royal Historical Society - RHS

Even for those familiar with bleak times, this has been a particularly bad few weeks in UK higher education. Confirmed job losses at the University of Essex were followed by further bad news from Hert...

royalhistsoc.org

we’re all signing petitions to save other people’s department until we’re the ones organising the petition and then we’re back to signing other people’s petitions please sign & share to save humanities at hertfordshire

University of Hertfordshire UCU@uhertfordshireucu.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Petition to save the Humanities at the University of Hertfordshire: c.org/9JLppW5tMS

Higher education in the UK just got much lower. How much lower will it sink before your MP notices and speaks out?

University of Hertfordshire UCU@uhertfordshireucu.bsky.social · 3mo ago

On Friday afternoon before the Bank Holiday, colleagues in the Humanities department were called to a meeting on Tuesday. They were informed that the University Portfolio Review had decided that English Language, English Literature, Philosophy, History & Creative Writing UG degrees would close

University of Hertfordshire closes a swathe of Humanities courses, accelerating the sweeping tide against Human-centred disciples in the UK. Because understanding humans is so yesterday today. With such happy consequences, as we see when we look around us.

Owen Davies@odavies9.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Aye. Heard today that my university is closing UG History, Philosophy, English Lit, Linguistics, and Creative Writing in one go.

✍️ Our Public Engagement Fellow, rosscmrn.bsky.social, sheds light on the origins of our project in the latest Bulletin of The Royal College of Surgeons of England! Read the full article here: publishing.rcseng.ac.uk/doi/full/10....

Next workshop at The Quilters' Guild coming up soon!

The Victorian Hand@victorianhand.bsky.social · 4mo ago

We launched our Work of Mending workshop series at The Quilters' Guild in York, exploring skilled hands from the nineteenth century to the present day. Thank you to everyone who joined and we’re looking forward to continuing the conversation at our next workshop at @hunterianmuseum.bsky.social!

Rachel Feldberg shares how the discovery of a young women's diary revealing an interest in science, culture, and sociability in York sparked collaborative research, a conference, and a book that brings Jane Ewbank’s world to light. #18thC #BookSky #skystorians Read the blog > buff.ly/ATgu3WP

BBC News - Iris Murdoch's lost poems to be read at Oxford Brookes festival - BBC News www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

May I interest you in £10k for humanities or social science research? Our small grants scheme is open. Apply by 3rd June. We allocate through partial randomisation - awarding randomly between all applications that meet our quality threshold www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/sche...

British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grants

The British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grants are available to support primary research in the humanities and social sciences. These awards, up to £10,000 in value and tenable for up to 24 mont...

thebritishacademy.ac.uk

ONE WEEK REMAINING: Small Grant Scheme📣 Offering #grants up to £10,000 GBP for organisations that want to increase public access and engagement with maritime history and/or their collections. Apply🔗👉 hec.lrfoundation.org.uk/get-involved...

HEC Small Grants Scheme

The small grant round is now open from 2nd February 2026 to 13th April 2026

hec.lrfoundation.org.uk

Working on the history of hair? Or just found a hairy case study you would like to explore? We are looking forward to it! Please answer our CfP on „Global Histories of Hair, c. 1500-2026“ and join us in Lucerne this October! #skystorians #earlymodern

Some sad news to report, I'm afraid... Jeff Grant, the director of legendary public information film Lonely Water, died on 13 March. He fought to include the film's horror elements, and they proved so successful that it opened the door to the shocking PIFs that we know and love. (1/2)

Every part of the lily plant is deadly to cats - even drinking water that lilies were sitting in can kill them. Other popular spring flowers like tulips and daffodils can also make them very sick, but there are plenty of beautiful and safe alternatives.

Cats of Yore@catsofyore.bsky.social · 4mo ago

This weekend and always, NO LILIES FOR KITTIES. www.fda.gov/animal-veter...

Sharing on behalf of @newcastleuni the Call for Papers for their upcoming conference “Caring Communities: Rethinking Care, Class, and Kinship, 1800-Present”, taking place at Newcastle University on Thursday 3 and Friday 4 of September 2026.

🧡🧡

The Victorian Hand@victorianhand.bsky.social · 4mo ago

We launched our Work of Mending workshop series at The Quilters' Guild in York, exploring skilled hands from the nineteenth century to the present day. Thank you to everyone who joined and we’re looking forward to continuing the conversation at our next workshop at @hunterianmuseum.bsky.social!

🤝 AI is back in the headlines and still can’t get hands right. In this month’s blog, our Research Associate Helen Victoria Murray looks at Glasgow’s arts community response to a proposed AI-generated mural. Read the full blog to explore the debate: www.thevictorianhand.uk/gallery/ai-s...

This is very interesting and supports the notion that the planet will be ok without us: "What it shows is how ecosystems respond when the familiar rules break down – and how profoundly human absence, even when born of catastrophe, can reshape the living world." www.sciencefocus.com/nature/5-ser...

5 seriously strange ways wildlife is changing inside Chernobyl | BBC Science Focus Magazine

Forty years after the reactor explosion, the wildlife around Chernobyl has recovered in strange and unexpected ways.

sciencefocus.com