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)
Mark McCormack
@markmccormack.bsky.social
Sociologist. Professor. Focus on sexualities, transgressive leisure and society. Editor-in-Chief of Sexuality & Culture. Posts are in a personal capacity. I volunteer with The Loop, read and play badminton.
Interesting new article in Sexuality & Culture: Queer Shores. Non-Heteronormative Spaces on the Bulgarian Black Sea Riviera. doi.org/10.1007/s121...
Glad someone senior from the sector is pushing back. Labour MPs need to understand the serious real anger from graduates and the people who produce them. And the dangerous financial situation they have allowed to fester, or indeed worsened, in one of Britain’s leading sectors.
Labour has harmed universities as much as Trump, London School of Economics head says
LSE vice-chancellor Larry Kramer points to domestic student fees freeze, international student limits and rise in employers’ national insurance
ft.com
I know people like to take the p*ss out of Adrian but this is a great piece of writing.
I’d never cried during a live broadcast – then three poignant words had me sobbing | Adrian Chiles
I couldn’t help choking up when the writer Katriona O’Sullivan told me her life story. Now I’m on a mission to get everyone to read her memoir, writes Adrian Chiles
theguardian.com
"By the end of 2030," reports NYT, the amount of energy used by data centers"is expected to quadruple, eclipsing the power used by all countries in South America and Africa combined." This is extinctionism.
I have a modest proposal for a new tax. It involves a deck of cards and a monkey throwing darts. Here are the rules:
I wrote this the other day arguing AI means the humanities become even more important in an age where AI can solve questions that are defined and data rich, leaving the wicked issues where we can’t even agree on the nature of the problem… www.ft.com/content/fbde...
It's funny how no-one ever asks where the money is coming from when you announce a cut in immigration.
Hey, the court just gave final approval to the settlement in Bartz v. Anthropic. I'm reading through the order right now. www.courtlistener.com/docket/69058...
Judgment AND Order AND Terminate Civil Case AND ~Util - Terminate Motions – #680 in Bartz v. Anthropic PBC (N.D. Cal., 4:24-cv-05417) – CourtListener.com
Judgment AND Order AND Terminate Civil Case AND ~Util - Terminate Motions
courtlistener.com
Wes Streeting is the first UK Secretary of State for Defence who is openly gay. Gay people have been able to serve openly in the UK Armed Forces since 2000. Like PM Andy Burnham's Catholicism, something that would have been controversial is largely now a matter of biographical colour.
The first article I published in Sexuality & Culture was in 2019, and has been read 25,000 times: "A Mixed-Method Study of Same-Sex Kissing Among College-Attending Heterosexual Men in the U.S." link.springer.com/article/10.1...
A Mixed-Method Study of Same-Sex Kissing Among College-Attending Heterosexual Men in the U.S. - Sexuality & Culture
This is the first research to assess the prevalence of same-sex kissing among college-attending, heterosexual men in the United States. We utilized a mixed-method study of 442 quantitative surveys and...
link.springer.com
To talk about the final; I feel sorry for Ginger Minj - this season was FAR MORE produced for Crystal to win than Ginger, but there wasn't the blowback because Ginger was better so made the win more obvious?
On Saturday we are drug checking in #Hackney. How does it work? 1. Surrender a substance 2. Tell us what you think it is & about your drug use 3. We do lab tests inc. a test for synthetic opioids 4. After~1 hour, we have results & can give honest advice wearetheloop.org/drug-checking
I’m sorry, but what is ‘radical’ about the policies pursued by Miliband?
At IASR, and discussion of this important report: The Next Wave: How Religious Extremism Is Regaining Power: www.epfweb.org/node/1147
The Next Wave: How Religious Extremism Is Regaining Power
A new alliance of religious extremists, far-right populists, and oligarchic funders is reshaping European politics. The Next Wave describes this covert, strategic effort to launder religious extremism...
epfweb.org
Sexuality & Culture is a leading international multidisciplinary journal that publishes excellent empirical and theoretical research on the topic of sexuality and culture, broadly conceived. Info re the journal and how to submit here: link.springer.com/journal/12119
Interesting new article at Sexuality & Culture: "Aging, Intimacy, and Sexual Selfhood Among Midlife and Older Iranian Women: A Qualitative Study of Body Image and Sexual Well-being" doi.org/10.1007/s121...
Minimum agreed standards would be good - it's surprising how many people don't know about the borderline predatory publishers. But these standards shouldn't, in my view, introduce significant new practices for clearly established high quality journals.
Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 3w agoIn an outspoken attack on the “incredibly profitable” but “completely unregulated” scientific publishing industry, Thomas Südhof...said he wanted to see US or European Union agencies establish minimum standards for journals that wish to describe themselves as “peer reviewed”. 1/3
Shift of resource and emphasis when HE sector is on fire is v worrying
Jennifer Williams@jenwilliamsft.bsky.social · 4w agoThanks, he knows the value of HE. That doesn’t mean there won’t be a shift of resource and emphasis
The Department for Education has confirmed that universities will receive £50.9 million less in teaching grants next academic year. Bridget Phillipson, the education minister has defended the reduction in light of tuition fee rises. https://ow.ly/6UWJ50ZkLlf
A “complete breakdown in cash management” and a “lack of expenditure control” at the top of the University of Dundee contributed to its perilous financial state, according to long-awaited accounts finally released today. Georgia Louise Luckhurst reports #jobcuts #edusky https://ow.ly/mc0V50ZjhYM
If you use Gmail, you need to read this. Google’s AI, Gemini, can read your emails, attachments, bank statements, etc. For many, this feature was switched on without consent. Here's how to turn it off 🧵 1/
'it would be wrong to assume that earnings are the only valid measure of a degree. Going to university can be a life-defining experience that enables new social contacts and opportunities aside from formal learning.' 1/2
The Guardian view on universities: public confidence in degrees is wavering – ministers should shore it up | Editorial
Editorial: Unfair changes to student loans and concerns about job prospects must be weighed against the life-changing potential of education
theguardian.com
New article at Sexuality & Culture: Behind Monosexual Norms: A Scoping Review of Bisexual Experiences in Southern Europe link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Behind Monosexual Norms: A Scoping Review of Bisexual Experiences in Southern Europe - Sexuality & Culture
Bisexual individuals remain significantly underrepresented in research, practice, and policy, particularly beyond Anglophone contexts. This scoping review aims to map and synthesize empirical studies ...
link.springer.com
He published it as a LinkedIn article. And any staff member and manager in #UKHE should read it and keep bringing it up in any meeting about cutting into departments.
The Cost Allocation Death Spiral and the University
The Cost Allocation Death Spiral and the University Accountants, as people whose business it chiefly is to bring hard news to powerful people, generally avoid emotional terms. They prefer softer, nuan...
linkedin.com
QM_UCU@qmucu.bsky.social · 2y agoOn the other site, Jonathan Mills shared this article about the Cost Allocation Death Spiral. It will hit too closely to anyone paying attention to accounting in UK Higher Education. May we all find ways to convince our governing bodies that our executives are inflicting harm. x.com/Muinchille/s...
Ford has rehired hundreds of senior engineers after replacing them with AI backfired and has cost the company billions of dollars. AI adoption is blamed for Ford being the most recalled automaker in the U.S. with 51 recalls covering over 11 million vehicles in the first half of 2026 alone.
