Nick Harland
@nickh18.bsky.social
Freelance writer based in Sheffield, mostly writing about higher education and culture. Bluesky casual. https://authory.com/NickHarland
20 years ago today, Costello Music by The Fratellis was released. At the time, it was one of several albums pilloried by the music press for being ‘landfill indie’. This is the story of landfill indie: an often criticised but maybe misunderstood genre. www.risefall.blog/p/landfill-i...
Landfill indie
A shortened history of landfill indie: the deeply unfashionable genre that sold millions of records in the mid-noughties.
risefall.blog
Costello Music by The Fratellis turns 20 tomorrow. In totally unrelated news, I will also be publishing the rise and fall of landfill indie tomorrow. Stay tuned! risefall.blog
The Rise and Fall | Nick Harland | Substack
Tracking the rise and the fall of cultural moments, trends and traditions. Click to read The Rise and Fall, by Nick Harland, a Substack publication. Launched 6 months ago.
risefall.blog
I'm writing an article about cuts to UK higher education and want to know what's happening on the ground. Are classes getting bigger? Contact hours reduced? Heating being switched off!? If you work at a UK university and might have something to contribute, please let me know!
Record numbers of university students + record numbers of redundancies. Yes, I'm sure that's going to end well
University and College Union (UCU)@ucu.org.uk · last mo.📰 Today’s Sunday Times exposes just a fraction of the attacks on jobs in Universities. We know the true picture across the UK is even worse. With record student sign ups this situation is completely untenable. The government must intervene.
Just published a new Substack. This time I wrote about the fascinating story of snuff: once Britain's favourite drug, now a long-forgotten relic of the past. How did snuff become so popular, and what happened so that it almost totally disappeared from public view?
The rise and fall of...snuff
Snuff was once the UK's favourite drug, but it has long faded from the public consciousness. What happened to it?
open.substack.com
I wrote a little something about the weird and wonderful world of Mexican higher education, which has the same number of universities as the US but around 15m fewer students. Why is that? magazine.qs.com/qs-insights-...
Plans aplenty in Mexico - QS Insights Magazine 44
Mexico's higher education sector is vast in size but uneven in reach. A new national strategy promises change — but can it deliver?
magazine.qs.com
Why Gen Z is raising a glass to cask beer ft.trib.al/lHhPIYw | opinion
Why Gen Z is raising a glass to cask beer
From Boddington’s to Old Peculier, heritage beers are attracting younger drinkers who search for provenance, affordability and connection
ft.trib.al
UEFA spokesperson Dietmar Fumm said to reporters "This decision effectively signals that Gianni Infantino is an enemy of world football". tl;dr: FIFA "foe" - Fumm
I've just published the latest story in The Rise and Fall - this time covering that very 2010 phenomenon: dubstep. Please read and share if you like what you see!
Dubstep
Dubstep exploded out of nowhere in the late 2000s, but disappeared just as quickly. Why did dubstep die?
open.substack.com
We're working with Culture Sheffield to develop our city's bid to become UK City of Culture 2029. Do you work in arts and culture in #Sheffield? We want to hear from you! Share your ideas, experiences and ambitions for culture in our city by filling in our short survey ⤵️
Sheffield City of Culture Survey | Have Your Say Sheffield
Sheffield has been longlisted to become UK City of Culture 2029. This is an exciting opportunity to celebrate everything that makes our city special and to share Sheffield's stories, creativity an...
haveyoursay.sheffield.gov.uk
So it turns out the "contract" teenagers signed for their student loans wasn't actually a contract at all, the government always had the right to retrospectively change the terms, and at no point was this explained to those taking out the loans... www.newstatesman.com/politics/edu...
Government mis-sold student loans to a generation, report finds
A new Treasury Committee report has found that the state did not sufficiently communicate the terms and conditions
newstatesman.com
I've written before about the 'creative cull' going on at British unis (magazine.qs.com/qs-insights-...) - another sad example here of senior management deciding that any vaguely creative course needs to go.
Times Higher Education (THE)@timeshighered.bsky.social · 3mo agoPlanned cuts to the University of Exeter’s prized humanities department show no job is safe in the UK’s current wave of redundancies, according to affected academics. Juliette Rowsell reports #jobcuts #highered #humanities #academicsky https://ow.ly/nhQH50Zie1y
Recently wrote a piece for QS Insights Magazine about the phenomenon of classflation at British universities. I explored how growing class sizes are placing increasing pressure on faculty, cheapening the student experience and potentially impacting grades. magazine.qs.com/qs-insights-...
British classrooms keep growing - QS Insights Magazine 42
The traditional promise of a university degree as a pathway to stable employment is increasingly under strain. Universities now face the challenge of aligning academic education with evolving labour m...
magazine.qs.com
If you've been watching the World Cup recently and been wondering why Italy aren't there, my article about the fall of its domestic league might go some way to explaining it.
Serie A
From the dominant league of the 1990s to crisis-ridden and saddled by debt, what happened to Serie A?
risefall.substack.com
Chimes with a recent piece I wrote suggesting that young people are starting to turn away from uni. Sometimes, it's easy to see why... magazine.qs.com/qs-insights-...
Financial Times@financialtimes.com · 4mo agoThe number of Britons saying a university degree is worthwhile has halved in less than a decade, a new survey shows. Reform UK voters were also more likely to be sceptical about the value of a degree than supporters of other parties, with 42% agreeing it is not worthwhile ft.trib.al/wGw0hNz
I wrote a little something about the rise and fall of jazz. It boils down to this: how can something go from the best-selling genre in the world to a niche pursuit that people openly took the piss out of? Any reads, likes, shares or subscribes would be much obliged. Ta! risefall.substack.com/p/jazz
Never quite seen anything like this on a football pitch before
The Observer@theobserveruk.bsky.social · 5mo agoRochdale vs York, and the scarcely believable drama only sport can deliver George Simms bore witness to Josh Stones’ 103rd-minute goal, which secured promotion to EFL after Rochdale thought they had won it themselves https://bit.ly/4mOKTIK
Wrote the second post on my new Substack (The Rise and Fall). This time it's about 3D films: why did they suddenly get so popular, and what happened to them? If you could read, like, subscribe, share etc. then it'd mean the world!
3D films
Once heralded as the future of cinema, 3D films have gone from an integral part of the movie industry to being largely forgotten about. What happened?
risefall.substack.com
HEADLINER REVEAL 🎤🫳🏿 Surprise! We're dropping our first Sheffield festival headliners before the full line-up this year. First up is... 🔥Fuse ODG, the MOBO Award-winning Ghanaian-English singer, songwriter and rapper you’ll know from megahits Antenna and Dangerous Love.
The Finnish word for an auction, huutokauppa, means “shout market” (or “shouting shop”) * read on for more of my favourite Finnish words (a thread in honour of today being Day of the Finnish Language)…
ICYMI (and I know you did), published the first post on my brand new Substack the other day. Give it a read if you please: risefall.substack.com/p/pub-jukebo...
Just published my first ever Substack on the rise and fall of pub jukeboxes - please be nice and please give it a share if it's to your flavour!
Pub jukeboxes
Jukeboxes used to be part of a pub’s furniture; as crucial to the pub experience as pickled eggs or pork scratchings. But they have become a rare sight in our drinking establishments. What happened?
open.substack.com
Sheffield has a new piece of football sculpture in the city centre, marking the only time in history when an FA Cup fixture was decided on the toss of a coin. ‘Heads or Tails’ was created by sculptor David Westby for the charity sheffieldhomeoffootball.org
I've done the unthinkable and started a Substack. It's called The Rise and Fall and - as you may guess - it's about the rise and fall of cultural moments, trends and traditions. First post coming next week, so please do subscribe before then. risefall.substack.com
The Rise and Fall | Nick Harland | Substack
Tracking the rise and the fall of cultural moments, trends and traditions. Click to read The Rise and Fall, by Nick Harland, a Substack publication. Launched 2 months ago.
risefall.substack.com
Exclusive: 'I have to commute to the UK from France every week just to be there for my family' I spoke to Rolando Mercado about being trapped in a 1500-mile, bi-weekly arrangement to see his family in Manchester after his visa application was rejected in 2024. uk.news.yahoo.com/home-office-...
'I have to commute to the UK from France every week just to be there for my family'
Rolando Mercado has been trapped in this 1,500-mile, bi-weekly arrangement since his family visa application was rejected
uk.news.yahoo.com
Hoping the Leadmill finds a new home in Sheffield
Far Out Magazine@faroutmagazine.co.uk · 7mo agoSheffield’s The Leadmill launches crowdfunder to set up new venue
I wrote about whether more young Brits will turn away from university given the spiralling costs, student loan arrangements and graduate unemployment. For QS Insights Mag. Thanks to @nickhillmanuk.bsky.social from @hepi-news.bsky.social, Dave and Michael for contributing.
Ditching the uni dream - QS Insights Magazine 38
For the first time, the proportion of British young people opting to study at university dropped. Do they still see value in a degree?
magazine.qs.com
The future of greyhound racing is murky. Can it survive? www.huckmag.com/article/futu...
The future of greyhound racing is murky. Can it survive?
A night at the dogs — With roots in ancient civilisations, the sport has traditionally been a pastime of Britain’s working classes. But falling betting…
huckmag.com
