Chronic migraine and the intense screen time needed for the last push to finish a book manuscript do not go well together.
Jo Laycock
@jolaycock.bsky.social
Historian: migration, refugees, humanitarianism, South Caucasus, Armenia. Sidelines in histories of Rochdale and of the Manchester Guardian. UCU Manchester equalities (disabilities) officer. Tired.
I was quite impressed that at least two people had managed to bring colanders to the British library yesterday. I barely remembered there was an eclipse.
'Strip away the grandiose language and a pattern emerges – some combination of fewer, larger modules, almost always wedges of 30 credits, an all-core or heavily prescribed first year, reduced optionality in later years, curated pathways instead of individual module choice... [cont.] 1/4
Curriculum reform is a wedge issue
With curriculum reform converging on fewer, larger modules across the sector, Jim Dickinson argues that consolidation solves institutional problems while reallocating regret onto students least able t...
wonkhe.com
Just a reminder to everyone: join a trade union. And if you're already a member, please be active. Vote, volunteer, become a rep or an officer. You are the union. The larger the union membership the more strength and agency we have.
It is too hot and Euston station is the worst place in the world.
Today at the BL I have managed to purchase the same lunch I ate every single day at school between the ages of 4 and 18 - a dairylea sandwich and a kit kat. (And you wonder why I am such a shining picture of health…)
London heat is unbearable, but the BL is so lovely and cool. Perhaps this was not the worst ever week to come on a research trip to London after all (trying not to think of the journey back).
Review | Weaving Culture — from Nagorno-Karabakh to Yerevan, knot by knot oc-media.org/review-weavi...
Review | Weaving Culture — from Nagorno-Karabakh to Yerevan, knot by knot
Born from a residency in Armenia, this exhibition turns Anna Boghiguian’s watercolours into carpets woven by women displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh.
oc-media.org
Know the signs: heat stress, heat exhaustion, heat stroke. Act early – move to a cool place, rest, rehydrate. Heat stroke is a medical emergency: call 999. Let's have a workplace culture where stepping back in the heat is normal and not stigmatised. 3/3
I am thanking my lucky stars for the super thick (if slightly crumbly) walls of my 300+ year old house today. I am more puzzled than ever as to why the last owners decided to attach a huge glass box (sorry, conservatory) to the back - it had topped 42 in there before this heatwave even started
A statement from Exeter UCU branch @ucu.org.uk - please share far and wide.
Pretty much every academic at every UK university has a significant possibility getting the 'at risk of redundancy' email. Act accordingly.
Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 2mo agoOutside permanent posts at Cambridge and Oxford, there are no safe spaces. Accepting that is an essential step toward resisting it. Likewise, there are no safe disciplines/subjects. Thinking strategically demands thinking with solidarity.
UCU - Global academic boycott imposed on University of Sheffield over job cuts & pay docking www.ucu.org.uk/article/1453...
ucu.org.uk
Great job in modern British History @manchester.ac.uk - please share 🗃️
Lecturer in Modern British History (post-1800):Oxford Road
jobs.manchester.ac.uk
www.redthreads.media/p/armenias-w... I found this reading of the Armenian election to be highly instructive - a recommended counter-perspective to all the geopolitics.
Armenia’s Working Class Is Missing from Election Coverage
Armenia's elections are framed as a geopolitical contest, but the real fault line is class. The ruling party's resilience reflects the legacies of postsocialist transition and the absence of a left.
redthreads.media
#Armenia votes this Sunday. After losing the war over Nagorno-Karabakh in 2023, the country is looking towards Europe and the US. I a new episode of #Roundtable_Osteuropa, political scientists Anna Ohanyan (@carnegieendowment.org) & Hakob Matevosyan (ZOiS) discuss the small country's course.
Armenia's Election: Between Moscow, Brussels and Its Own Path
Mit Anna Ohanyan und Hakob Matevosyan
zois-berlin.de
Spent an enjoyable day or so pretending to be a historian of Modern Britain, talking about Rochdale instead of Armenia. Listened lots, learned lots.
Armenia’s election is scheduled for Sunday, and issues of war and peace have been at the top of the campaign agendas. Candidates have debated dueling visions of Armenia’s relations with Azerbaijan, Türkiye, Russia, and the West. Our preview from @crisisgroup.org: www.crisisgroup.org/qna/europe/a...
Issues of War and Peace Gain Top Billing in Armenia’s Election | International Crisis Group
Armenians will head to the polls on 7 June for the country’s first general election since 2021. In this Q&A, Crisis Group expert Joshua Kucera explains why foreign policy has dominated the campaign an...
crisisgroup.org
More depressing than infuriating. 17 years on from my diagnosis there has been virtually no progress in diagnosis/treatment. The ‘extreme’ option discussed, a hysterectomy, can relive pain but bring other horrible symptoms. I’m not sure that the surge in awareness has brought any tangible benefits.
Jo Laycock@jolaycock.bsky.social · 3mo agoEmma Barnett’s documentary on endometriosis is on BBC2 tonight at 9, and on iplayer. I suspect it will make me furious, but I’m glad it’s out there. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Emma Barnett’s documentary on endometriosis is on BBC2 tonight at 9, and on iplayer. I suspect it will make me furious, but I’m glad it’s out there. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Emma Barnett: We can’t ignore endometriosis, a disease that leaves women like me in agony
Women tell the BBC presenter how endometriosis affects their lives, as she challenges ministers to take action.
bbc.co.uk
More good luck than good planning, but the roses in the garden this year are just amazing.
The way our hound is eyeing up the beer… Cora is as ready for this weekend as me!
Everyone read the end of it: "Governments in Scotland and Wales have finally realised that a viable, meaningful higher education sector needs greater oversight and control, and cannot be left wholly to the market. Now Westminster needs to wake up to this need for joined-up thinking"
Royal Historical Society@royalhistsoc.org · 3mo agoThe Society's President and Council have released the following statement on the proposed closure of undergraduate degrees at the University of Hertfordshire, in #History and the wider humanities bit.ly/4dmV5oO This comes at a time of further bad news from Essex and Nottingham #Skystorians
Excited to celebrate the end of my first year as CIDRAL director with the annual creations launch, this time in the wonderful setting of the John Rylands library.
School of Arts, Languages and Cultures@uomsalc.bsky.social · 3mo agoCIDRAL-JRRI Creations Launch Showcase 📅 Thursday 21 May ⏰ 4-6pm 📍 The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, 150 Deansgate, M3 3EH 🎟️ Free – Booking required
Wonderful lecture from Anna today brought together colleagues from history, HCRI, CHSTM, REES and East Asian Studies and really showed the value of interdisciplinary, multilingual dialogue for scholarship in the humanities. I am a very happy CIDRAL director today.
Jo Laycock@jolaycock.bsky.social · 3mo agoOur CIDRAL visiting fellow for this year, Dr Anna Mazanik will give our keynote lecture this afternoon in the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures. All welcome!
Our CIDRAL visiting fellow for this year, Dr Anna Mazanik will give our keynote lecture this afternoon in the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures. All welcome!
Yesterday Kier Starmer announced Labour will nationalise British Steel, and save 2700 jobs. Today, the Uni of Nottingham put 2700 staff at risk of redundancy. This is just one university. Across the UK 15,000 higher education jobs need saving. Where is the rescue package for our universities?
Petition to save the Humanities at the University of Hertfordshire: c.org/9JLppW5tMS
Sign the Petition
Save the Humanities at the University of Hertfordshire
c.org
Picture of the crazy hound being impossibly cute to counter the bleakness
