Samuel Harrison
@samharrison1812.bsky.social
Historian of political thought and political theorist. Currently postdoc at the Turin Humanities Programme, looking at ideas about slavery and citizenship in C18 France. Inarticolato informatore. All views are those of my employer. he/him.
Between the 1970s and 1990s the UK state made a strategic bet to expand Higher Ed. They poured in untold billions of your money. Now it's been handed over to private creditors to burn in a furnace. Then they just laugh at you: at all the taxes you've ever paid or will ever pay. True story. (2/2)
youve heard of failing upwards. well academic careers in 2026 encapsulate the reverse: succeeding downwards. so many talented, highly qualified people, being punished for their achievements
This week: the fires in France and the rise of the lottery state
Scorched earth
Political rows over the wildfires in France mask the deeper helplessness of a state that has itself already been torched
open.substack.com
Since I have recently had some things come out, here's a mini-threat of published my work on citizenship 🧵
The UK is torching one of the few sectors in which they still have a global edge, horrifying to watch.
the four stages: 1. Allister Heath's columns are not real 2. Allister Heath's columns are not serious 3. OK, they are real and serious but it's too late to do anything about them 4. Our only hope is to find a way of adapting to Allister Heath's columns
The sec of state who has seen at least 15000 academics lose their jobs just said this. Out loud. Mercy me. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
‘It hurts to lose a job you love’: Starmer loyalist Bridget Phillipson fights on despite cabinet demotion
Exclusive: The former education secretary on her new role as Labour chair and continuing as the minister for women and equalities
theguardian.com
Reupping my @prospectmagazine.co.uk piece on how Israel systematically razed Gaza. One man who grew up in Rafah, the southern Gaza city now largely destroyed, said this to me: “You can say you miss your city if it still exists. It’s gone, you know” /4 www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/world/middle...
‘The directive was nothing left’: How Gaza’s cities were destroyed
Israel has razed large parts of the Gaza Strip since the war began in October 2023. The evidence points to systemic destruction
prospectmagazine.co.uk
Enjoy imagining what Allister Heath would write if somebody did seriously propose we all have a two-hour siesta every day.
Leo Hickman@leohickman.carbonbrief.org · 7d agoThe Daily Telegraph has raced through all five stages of climate denial this week. But this is, perhaps, the most ridiculous column so far: "Without minimising the severe downsides…especially on some poorer nations, many in Britain would enjoy the kind of warmer climate predicted by modellers..."
Really quite a minor point in the grand scheme of things, but it does make the whole thing even more galling: the journals mostly don't even offer a good service in exchange for these millions! Poor interfaces, weak search functions, slow handling of papers...
Charlotte Lydia Riley@lottelydia.bsky.social · last wk.open! access! is! a! con!
University of Austria taking a proactive approach to the academic jobs crisis
Sentinel-2 imagery taken over the past 10 days in southern Lebanon shows continued mass demolitions in villages in IDF-occupied territory. Haddatha, Beit Yahoun & Kounine, north of Bint Jbeil, all show signs of large-scale demolitions between July 18 & July 28 (in addition to previous demolitions).
Jake Godin@godin.bsky.social · 3w agoThis is the area around Baraachit as seen in June 25 and July 15 Sentinel-2 imagery. Both of the villages of Haddatha and Beit Yahoun show signs of heavy demolition/destruction. They were both previously outside the Yellow Line before it was extended last month.
Many thanks to @voltaire.ox.ac.uk for letting me write about my book for the VF blog! I lay out how and why the meaning of citizenship changed between 1789 and 1815, and why that matters for us today:
Citizens of a New Enlightened Age
It was late October in 1792, and in the Swiss town of Porrentruy, a revolutionary group was meeting. Its president, a man named Guinens, addressed his fellow members with a grandiose statement: ‘Ci…
voltairefoundation.wordpress.com
This week: why did the Court of Appeal reduce Marine Le Pen's sentence to let her stand for the presidency?
Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
The French Court of Appeal wanted to avoid the impression that it was putting its thumb on the scales of next year’s presidential election, but the political cat is out of the legal bag
open.substack.com
Just received my author copies from @degruyterbrill.bsky.social! Available on their website www.degruyterbrill.com/de/document/... or on Amazon www.amazon.co.uk/Citizens-New...
This week I've had a go at explaining why the Court of Appeal gave Marine Le Pen the green light to stand for the presidency, and why that may be a political blunder:
Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
The French Court of Appeal wanted to avoid the impression that it was putting its thumb on the scales of next year’s presidential election, but the political cat is out of the legal bag
open.substack.com
An Italian friend and I both had the same frisson of excitement when it looked like the film might actually go in this direction, but Hollywood is apparently not ready for it. Considerate la vostra semenza: fatti non foste a viver come bruti, ma per seguir virtute e canoscenza.
shaunc@shaunc.bsky.social · 2w agoOf course we know from Dante what happens to Odysseus when he sails off to the west.
I sadly agree, which brings my other worry into focus, which is that 'losing a major university' may not even take a form recognisable to our sector, much less to politics. What if one just gets quietly bought and turned into a degree mill? (this has already happened).
The political project of Israel's government is the elimination of Palestinians from Gaza (and eventually between the river and sea). Their actions and words all point in that direction, and that has remained unchanged. Beyond the question of how you call it, we need to recognise it for what it is.
As the academic job market gets tighter and tighter, ECRs have to devote ever more time and energy to the things that make us competitive in academia -- which in turn means neglecting skills that might make us more widely employable, further heightening the stakes of not getting an academic job
My guess is mass redundancies and mergers at departmental level, with a sorting effect where, e.g., all the medievalists go to University A and all the modern historians to University B. This will be combined with shrinking departments (and the number thereof) and increasing workloads.
'Ministers have rejected calls to establish a “special regime” for bailing out universities facing insolvency, saying that political intervention should not be the “default response” in such scenarios.' 1/3
Ministers rule out insolvency regime for struggling universities - Research Professional News
Government says institutions are “responsible for managing their finances” as Jacqui Smith retains ministerial role
researchprofessionalnews.com
This week: Macron has his aviators back on, but will it be enough to entrench French influence in Syria?
Two Young Napoleons
A young, handsome technocrat with a record of political flexibility meets, well, Emmanuel Macron
samuelharrison.substack.com
This week: what Emmanuel Macron's visit to Syria reveals about the limits of French global power samuelharrison.substack.com/p/two-young-...
Two Young Napoleons
A young, handsome technocrat with a record of political flexibility meets, well, Emmanuel Macron
samuelharrison.substack.com
The historian and the computer: Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie tries out the first computer to be introduced to the catalogue room of the Bibliothèque nationale de France on the rue de Richelieu in February 1988 🗃️
Pour ceux et celles qui ont accès à un abonnement institutionnel à Cairn (par les universités et bibliothèques), mon livre sur la révolution de 1848 y est désormais accessible en ligne ! 🎉 shs.cairn.info/quand-la-rep...
shs.cairn.info
