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Leo McCann
@leomc76.bsky.social
Academic @york.ac.uk Sociology of Professions / Critical Management Studies / History
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...
Inside Britain's university crisis
As teaching staff face job loss, their bosses have netted pay rises and bought advice from a “vampiric” management consultancy, writes Prof. John Heathershaw of the University of Exeter
democracyforsale.substack.com
CDBU’s Chair has penned an open letter to the new Prime Minister, read now on our blog: cdbu.org.uk/open-letter-...
Open Letter to the Prime Minister - CDBU
20 July 2026 Dear Prime Minister On behalf of the Council for the Defence of British Universities (CDBU), I request a meeting with you to discuss Higher Education. The sector needs a review of managem...
cdbu.org.uk
Link doesn't seem to work: is this your event? www.bradfordlitfest.co.uk/event/iran-k...
Iran, Karbala and the Psychology of Resistance | Bradford Literature Festival
A major conversation exploring the relationship between history, memory and political identity within modern Iran.
bradfordlitfest.co.uk
Honestly, the experience of having Gemini forcibly embedded across MS Office is more annoying than that paperclip dude from Windows 97.
A statement from Exeter UCU branch @ucu.org.uk - please share far and wide.
"Faculty are frontline workers in the cultivation of a democratic citizenry. Their collective-bargaining needs to make academic freedom a nonnegotiable part of any contract, the first principle on which all the other clauses rest." (Joan W. Scott) #AcademicFreedom direct.mit.edu/daed/article...
Academic Freedom & the Politics of the University
Abstract. In this essay, I explore the relationship between the politics of the production of knowledge and partisan attempts to interfere with it. I argue that, despite changing historical contexts, ...
direct.mit.edu
NEW from me today: ICYMI it earlier, I've written for @arguablymag.bsky.social about the quiet crisis destroying almost everything important about universities, and why no-one's talking about it. Take a look: www.arguably.uk/p/the-quiet-...
The quiet collapse of British universities
One of our great triumphs and economic advantages is fading away
arguably.uk
The future of AI is being decided right now. Billionaires want bigger profits. The rest of us want a fair future. I just signed this to show our leaders where I stand. Can you take 60 seconds to add your name too? actionnetwork.org/forms/ai-sho...
AI should work for all of us, not a wealthy few
Instead of using AI to give us more holiday or a shorter working week, billionaires want to cut our jobs to boost their profits. Our leaders must make sure AI benefits everyone, not just tech billion...
actionnetwork.org
The "repetition compulsion": "But unlike other sectors that learn from past mistakes—and sometimes even hold those who make disastrous decisions accountable—senior management teams in UK universities respond by introducing yet another round of restructuring." #UKHE isrf.org/blog/dispatc...
Dispatch From a Middle Manager
isrf.org
Reading this as one of my many tasks today. Very downcast to see all those universities founded in the 1960s to foster the whole person, communities of hope and the conditions of freedom... ripped apart and trashed just a couple of generations later. For no good reason.
How do fixed-term academics experience academic freedom in light of their working conditions? New article by Suzanne Couloigner, Victor A. Perez Moraga, Ian G. Jones and Filippos Maraziotis. #AcademicFreedom #HigherEd journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Drawing academic freedom: A field of tension between decent and precarious working conditions among fixed-term academics - Suzanne Couloigner, Victor A. Perez Moraga, Ian G. Jones, Filippos Maraziotis...
This study examines from an emic perspective how fixed-term academics in the UK experience academic freedom in light of their working conditions. While traditio...
journals.sagepub.com
Historians slam ‘marketisation and neglect’ of higher education. Royal Historical Society issues stinging rebuke of English model amid escalating cuts. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-c...
In just months, Zohran Mamdani has shown what politics looks like when leaders actually try governing for ordinary people instead of donors and cable news panels. Affordable housing, childcare, transit, workers’ dignity and immigrant protection are not “radical” ideas.
Here’s a list of things Zohran Mamdani has done in just four months | First Dog on the Moon
Note to politicians: you can just do stuff regular people actually need and want and it’s OK
theguardian.com
"Shared governance is not a slogan or a problem to be solved. It is the mechanism by which universities protect academic freedom and intellectual integrity.. Faculty authority over curriculum, standards & scholarly judgment is not optional; it is foundational." www.insidehighered.com/opinion/care...
On Leading People Who Don’t Want to Be Led (opinion)
Many faculty say this is not the job they signed up for. They need leaders who see this and who are looking out for them.
insidehighered.com
To be honest, this brings back a lot of memories. It is another attack on scholarship questioning the orthodoxy within business schools, this time on scholars who, for example, initiated the Centre for Commons Organising, Values Equalities and Resilience. Please consider sharing and signing.
Ronald Hartz@ronaldhartz.bsky.social · 3mo ago"Universities are public institutions whose value lies in the breadth and independence of thought they sustain." A Public Statement in Support of the Management and Marketing Group, Essex Business School Please consider sharing and/or supporting the statement. sites.google.com/view/mmpubli...
Nothing about universities or higher education at all. The managed decline continues. www.gov.uk/government/s...
The King's Speech 2026
His Majesty’s most gracious speech to both Houses of Parliament.
gov.uk
"focusing on resistance as emotion work can enrich our understanding of resistance and thereby better prepare those resisting for its trials and tribulations" New ethnographic study about resistance as emotion work during academic industrial action. #HigherEd journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
‘Come together’: An ethnographic study of ‘resistance as ‘emotion work’’ during academic industrial action following the imposition of a new management strategy - Darren McCabe, 2026
This article draws on an ethnographic study of academic industrial action to introduce the exploratory concept of ‘Resistance as “Emotion work”’. It refers to h...
journals.sagepub.com
"Universities are public institutions whose value lies in the breadth and independence of thought they sustain." A Public Statement in Support of the Management and Marketing Group, Essex Business School Please consider sharing and/or supporting the statement. sites.google.com/view/mmpubli...
MM Public Statement
For release on 13 MAY 2026 at 09:00 A Public Statement in Support of the Management and Marketing Group Facing Compulsory Redundancies Essex Business School University of Essex
sites.google.com
Hegseth makes clear he's still refusing to spending congressionally allocated funds to support Ukraine
Outsourcing often comes at the expense of our services and the workers who keep them going. If you want public services to work for people, not just profit, sign the Record of Support for Labour’s insourcing pledge. www.megaphone.org.uk/petitions/of...
Official Record of Support: Back the Biggest Wave of Insourcing in a Generation
Outsourcing companies frequently compete to win public contracts by reducing costs: it's a race to the bottom on the pay, terms, and conditions for their workers. This has a knock-on effect for servic...
megaphone.org.uk
💡 Findings from a research project have been published as written evidence in the House of Lords Public Services Committee Inquiry 'The role of ambulance services in supporting accident & emergency departments'. committees.parliamen... Leo McCann, Ian Kirkpatrick, Shuyi Liu, Tina Kowalski
I'm in @theobserveruk.bsky.social today looking at why so many unis are in financial trouble and what the government needs to do to save HE. observer.co.uk/news/columni...
Why saving universities is far more than academic
Modern Britain needs young people with degrees – here’s how to make sure they still have somewhere to study them
observer.co.uk
I don’t want NYC to become a museum. It should be a living, breathing testament to the working people of our city.
This paper is now available to read open access. Very timely given the tragically high level of global conflict and militarism. Comments and feedback on my paper are very welcome.
Leo McCann@leomc76.bsky.social · 8mo agoNew paper in 'Accounting History': "'Because the kills all count the same': Accounting for death in the Vietnam War." The paper explores a specific artefact of 'war managerialism'. (If it's behind a paywall, please get in contact and I can share). journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Like… We cannot go ahead and have the World Cup now like nothing is going on. Regardless of what does or doesn’t happen tonight. Countries should simply refuse to send teams. The rest of the world cannot treat us as a remotely normal country after this
Donald Trump is unfit to serve as the leader of the free world. That's why I have cosponsored H. Res. 939 Articles of Impeachment to remove him from office.
