Half the planet is having a massive fight about how to correctly interpret an Ancient Greek poem but go ahead, close some more humanities departments.
Michelle Arrow
@michellearrow.bsky.social
Historian. Author, The Seventies (2019), co-author Personal Politics (2024). Writing a biography of Anne Deveson. President, Australian Historical Association. Whitlam Institute Fellow. FASSA. She/her. Views my own. http://newsouthbooks.com.au/books.
⭐️ FEATURED FELLOW ⭐️ Professor Michelle Arrow Affiliation: Macquarie University Discipline: History Read the article: socialsciences.org.au/news/feature... #populistmovements #australianhistory #socialscience @michellearrow.bsky.social
The one-off cut to student debt before last election cost $16b. Repealing JRG would cost around $1b annually. So the unconscionable delay on reform is a Labor choice.
Professor Euan Ritchie FAMS@euanritchie.bsky.social · 3w agoYou can fix this, today, @albomp.bsky.social @jimchalmers.bsky.social & @jasonclaremp.bsky.social The fact that you haven't speaks volumes! "Education Minister Jason Clare has agreed it "failed" and is "unfinished business", but it is not clear when he plans to act." www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07...
You can fix this, today, @albomp.bsky.social @jimchalmers.bsky.social & @jasonclaremp.bsky.social The fact that you haven't speaks volumes! "Education Minister Jason Clare has agreed it "failed" and is "unfinished business", but it is not clear when he plans to act." www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07...
'Failed' university scheme hurting home ownership prospects
There are calls for the government to dump a scheme that has more than doubled the cost of some degrees.
abc.net.au
Instead of waiting until 2027 for "advice", maybe Labor could follow advice from its own 2020 Senate report that rejected the anti-intellectual & inequitable scheme as creating an "Americanised education system characterised by high levels of private debt". And get rid of it. As promised. In 2022.
Of interest to UK university #Skystorians: Royal Historical Society open online meeting on 'The crisis in UK higher education: The future for History'. 4 August 2-4 pm.
The Crisis in UK HE: the Future for History
An open meeting for historians in UK higher education on what is needed to best support and protect the profession and discipline.
eventbrite.co.uk
It's not that a Humanities education turns all its graduates into good people, it's that it arms good people with the skills and knowledge they need to understand and advocate for themselves, others, and society.
Working in religious history and want to present at a conference? The Religious History Association wants to support you! therha.com.au/bursary-sche...
Bursary Scheme – Religious History Association
therha.com.au
There are plenty of ways to express anger at a failing political system without scapegoating particular communities, says Sisonke Msimang. But our very white mainstream media is treating racism as a reasonable response.
Check it out! Wonderful special issue on Legacies of IWY, ed by @michellearrow.bsky.social @scrozierderosa.bsky.social - v. honoured to be a part of this fab line up. Congrats eds 👏👏 Australian Historical Studies: Vol 57, No 2 www.tandfonline.com/toc/rahs20/5...
Australian Historical Studies
Special issue: Fifty Years On: Rethinking the Legacies of Australia’s International Women’s Year 1975. Guest Editors: Michelle Arrow and Sharon Crozier-De Rosa. Volume 57, Issue 2 of Australian Histor...
tandfonline.com
The government says it has ambitions to expand access to higher education. But by keeping job-ready graduates in place, they have demonstrated they don’t really mean it:
NTEU@nteunion.bsky.social · 3mo ago"The government has set out a genuine long-term vision for higher education. But without sufficient funding, the noble ambition of sending more students to universities simply cannot be realised.” - Dr Alison Barnes, NTEU National President. Read the full media release: nteu.info/budget2026
One Nation is a scourge on our country, we can all agree. But this is not a problem for Labor to solve, or the Greens, far less the poor teals. This is the political Right’s house to clear.
Thriller movie about a guy who builds a time machine and then all he does is go back 30 years to buy a house
how's this for an unintended consequence: some research suggests that teens perceive peers who comply with Australia's teen social media ban as less popular. i.e. banning social media for teens made it cool again
The skills the market had dismissed turned out to be the ones the machines could not do. Judgement. Interpretation. The ability to read between the lines of something that presents itself as neutral. The capacity to hold two contradictory ideas[.] theslowai.substack.com/p/why-humani...
The Humanities Are the Moat
Twenty years of defunding the disciplines that teach judgement. Now we are surprised nobody can tell when AI is wrong.
theslowai.substack.com
250 staff. $65 million per year. Almost three years operating. Over 6000 referrals. Not a single public hearing. Not a single major corruption finding.
Built to fail? NACC: the integrity body undermined from within
The National Anti-Corruption Commission’s performance since its inception has been widely condemned. The leadership of Commissioner Paul Brereton, in particular, has drawn heavy criticism. Indeed, the...
thepoint.com.au
"A robot can answer every question. It cannot notice the student who has stopped asking them." theslowai.substack.com/p/why-humani...
The Humanities Are the Moat
Twenty years of defunding the disciplines that teach judgement. Now we are surprised nobody can tell when AI is wrong.
theslowai.substack.com
Today at 2:30, @kfullagar.bsky.social and I will be giving evidence in the Senate inquiry into Job-Ready Graduates on behalf of the AHA. This failed policy is bad for history and history students and it must go. The hearings are live-streamed if you’d like to watch: www.aph.gov.au/News_and_Eve...
Watch, Read, Listen
Subscribe to our channel at @AUSParliamentLive to view the streams or listen to our podcast summaries of Question Time! LIVE STREAMING PARLVIEW VOD PODCASTING
aph.gov.au
Second year in a row Aboriginal elders have been booed and abused while giving the Welcome to Country at the Dawn Service. Organisers should make it clear they will abandon the service if that happens. They won’t, but they should.
This is an incredibly alarming investigation of the leadership of the NAAC.
Nick Feik@nickfeik.bsky.social · 3mo agoFor the past couple of months we have been working on this investigation into the NACC’s leadership. What we found was alarming and does not reflect well on the NACC.
It breaks my heart that in 2026 a Welcome To Country elicits such disrespect. Three generations of my family served this country and the haters can't spare them a minute of respect. 😢💔
Unis: we’ll keep you in poverty and debt til you get your first job in your mid 30s. Uni colleagues: but also retire by 60 or we’ll think you’re hoarding resources. Oh you want to pay a mortgage down and save for retirement?? lol.
Benjamin Balthaser@blbalthaser.bsky.social · 3mo agoThe problem is not that older faculty are sticking around - it’s that they are not being replaced. The argument of this piece is quite pernicious as it substitutes a class war btw workers and a neoliberal administration w an age war btw different ranks of workers
This is a superb piece on university governance by Hannah Forsyth: open.substack.com/pub/hannahfo...
Uni managers gain 'headroom' by fucking everything up.
University bosses claim legitimacy from the work others do. And then they make it impossible for them to do it.
open.substack.com
The AI rollout is an incredible test case for the power of capital to overrule everything in its way. An overwhelmingly stupid, obscenely polluting, and wildly dangerous set of technologies are being brute-forced into every part of our lives because money says so.
We're in Sheffield today to co-host our annual day conference, 'History and Archives in Practice', with @ihr.bsky.social, The National Archives, and University of Sheffield Library #HAP26 40+ speakers explore the contributions of history to social and civic identity: bit.ly/4tj8DqW #Skystorians
"Some people say, “I just use it to brainstorm ideas.” If you don’t know what to paint, or compose, or write, you’re in the wrong job. Art is the business of making up stuff — go make up some stuff."
Drew Magary@drewmagary.bsky.social · 4mo ago“I’m not saying all this to defend humanity. Humanity sucks. It’s totally terrible. I’m saying this because I believe in an old-fashioned virtue called Doing the Freakin’ Work.” - @colsonwhitehead.com www.nytimes.com/2026/04/15/o...
This issue of ‘Lilith' explores gender in 20th-century Australia and Britain, from maternal feminism and 'Citrus Queen' pageants to motherhood and mental health, and the arguments that won abortion law reform in 1960s Britain. Get your copy today: doi.org/10.22459/LFH... #feminist #feminism #gender
Writing tip #7: When, during the course of research, you come across a story that is central to the theme of your book, go ahead and write 2-3 pages about it. If you do this consistently, you’ll accumulate building blocks for the book. You’ll eventually find a place for each one.