Seems the difference between ‘protestors’ and ‘terrorists’ is that protestors wear balaclavas while terrorists hold placards.
Dr Sarah J Young
@sarahjyoung.bsky.social
Russophone culture & history, prison/gulag writing, and C19 literature. Also cats. And needlework. Author/translator of Writing Resistance: Revolutionary Memoirs of Shlissel’burg Prison, 1884-1906 https://uclpress.co.uk/products/173021
Kent police said 'no arrests were made' of the people who blocked a port and roads. There's your two-tier policing, folks www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cm...
Port of Dover delays: Disruption as masked 'stop the boats' protesters block roads
Hundreds of demonstrators, wearing black with their faces covered, caused delays to traffic reaching the port.
bbc.co.uk
This is a beautiful piece and really resonated with my experience of losing my dad. Required reading for anyone with elderly parents.
Gaby Hinsliff@gabyhinsliff.bsky.social · 2d agoI’ve been a bit quiet on here lately, and this was why www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The University of Exeter has confirmed that it won’t proceed with compulsory redundancies “at this time”. This means colleagues do not need to complete the pro forma, and there will be no selection process.
Writers! There’s an ongoing scam (that everyone has probably experienced by now tbh) which involves AI-written invitations to book clubs and literary festivals. Only now they’re using real literary festivals and signing emails from real people. So: beware.
Charlotte Lydia Riley@lottelydia.bsky.social · 4d agookay so the festival might be legit but I’m fairly sure the email I just received about it… is not
There is a great deal here of interest. Looking forward to reading all of these essays.
Cambridge University Press Political Science & IR@cambup-polsci.cambridge.org · 3w agoNEW ISSUE from @nationalitiesp.bsky.social - Russia’s War Against Ukraine - Volume 54 - Special Issue 4 - https://cup.org/4yTkGhZ Where not #OpenAccess the articles in this issue are free to read for a limited period.
The striking thing about Russia is that its geopolitical identity, ideas, and goals are lifted straight from the Soviet past. After a quarter century of relative prosperity and (pre-2022) a benign international environment, it has failed to build or imagine anything new.
An "update" to JSTOR’s free reading program: they're downgrading access from 100 free articles/month to just 10. Access to academic writing is being whittled down, bit by bit. about.jstor.org/blog/an-upda...
An update to JSTOR’s free reading program
Beginning September 1, 2026, JSTOR’s free reading program will provide registered readers with access to 10 articles every 30 days.
about.jstor.org
I would object to LLMs even if they weren't planet destroying plagiarism-based bullshit engines because students need to learn core skills and how to do the work themselves. Also, they are planet destroying plagiarism-based bullshit engines that give answer-shaped nonsense.
Thomas Lecaque@tlecaque.bsky.social · last wk.No undergrad should be using an LLM and it's absurdly irresponsible to suggest otherwise.
No undergrad should be using an LLM and it's absurdly irresponsible to suggest otherwise.
The text of this equivocal act: statutes.org.uk/site/the-sta... #LegalHistory #EnslavedHistory
History of Parliament@histparl.bsky.social · last wk.On this day in 1833, the Slavery Abolition Act received royal assent, abolishing slavery in the British Empire. Our colleague @joempbaker.bsky.social looked into the specifics of the act, and why it was necessary 26 years after the passing of the 1807 Slave Trade Act.
The court heard a claim that prison staff had prevented Andrei Trofimov meeting his lawyer. At the hearing, Trofimov read a poem that said: “My friends, I’ll get back from prison. The age of the mad sultan is finite." peopleandnature.wordpress.com/2026/08/28/p...
Political prisoner Andrei Trofimov has appeared in court, but is not out of danger
The Russian political prisoner Andrei Trofimov has appeared on a video link to a court hearing on Thursday, after four months’ loss of contact. His supporters, who fear he was being mistreated in t…
peopleandnature.wordpress.com
In occupied Tokmak, Russians sentenced a 70-year-old Ukrainian woman to 15 years in prison for financially supporting the Armed Forces of Ukraine. She was charged with "state treason" for making 24 transfers totaling more than 33,000 UAH to support the Ukrainian army.
Think about Miss Piggy. She lost a best friend and now an ex-lover in matter of 24 hours.
I shouldn’t be shocked any more by the willful destruction of our universities and the inhumane treatment of staff, but it continues to be utterly shocking. So sorry for everybody dealing with this, at Exeter and other universities.
Alex Prichard@profalexp.bsky.social · 2w agoWe told Council the plans were stupid. The data and maths underpinning the proposals were riddled with basic errors, and there was no immediate reason for the cuts. We, Exeter Uni, have £200m in cash and a 1% operating surplus. The required 3% OS could only be met through staff cuts - apparently. BS
The best Dolly Parton posts are definitely the Miss Piggy ones
KJ Shepherd@kjshepherd.bsky.social · 2w agothere will be many ways to celebrate dolly parton and the one I want to point out is that she was a friend of Miss Piggy
British universities are now gripped by the ultimate madness. Some unis are bankrupting everyone else accepting students they can't even take and have to leave in limbo... While putting everyone on redundancy notice! It's crazed. Still no-one will intervene. thetab.com/2026/08/24/u...
University of Exeter offers deferred places following shortage of student accommodation
The university said it has not been able to offer accommodation to all students
thetab.com
'The University and College Union (UCU) said its members would strike on 30 September and 1 October and would then carry out "sustained strike action" from 5 October to 11 December over the Future Nottingham restructuring plans.' Girded loins for the autumn of discontent.
Union announces strikes over University of Nottingham restructure
The University of Nottingham said it was "disappointed" by the timing of industrial action.
bbc.co.uk
Vera is weary of all the houseworks and just wants everything back to normal* * being able to sleep *in* the box instead of on it
Sometimes society at large rejects certain ideas because they’ve been thoroughly shown to be wrong and also because they suck and the people who espouse them suck and when someone comes around arguing those ideas should be part of some edgy modern debate we can and should shun them and move on.
The Moscow Times spoke with Memorial co-founders Irina Shcherbakova and Elena Zhemkova about how Memorial’s work continues in exile — and why preserving individual stories remains essential at a time when the Russian authorities are increasingly rewriting and weaponising the past.
‘Our Work Is About Every Human Life’: How Memorial Preserves the Memory of Repression From Exile - The Moscow Times
For decades, Memorial has worked to safeguard the memory of the victims of Soviet repression and defended people facing political persecution in modern Russia. Today, one of the country’s oldest huma...
themoscowtimes.com
Interview with William #Kentridge, ahead of the opening of his exhibition in Brussels: “The world itself is irrational” www.bozar.be/en/watch-rea...
William Kentridge: “The world itself is irrational” | Bozar Brussels
Curator Tarek Abou El Fetouh met the South African artist to discuss Brussels, collaboration and the ideas that continue to drive Kentridge’s work.
bozar.be
The very important thing to understand about these threats from the Kremlin is that their purpose is to generate headlines like this. Unable to coerce the UK govt directly, they aim to do it through scare headlines that shift public opinion.
“The Guardian sought to establish what was true. … the Guardian sought to meet tests of importance and proportionality, covering the issue with nuance.” So 20-odd articles before Arday’sdeath, several of them front page news, was proportional? www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The Guardian view on Jason Arday: a tragedy that demands reflection | Editorial
Editorial: Legitimate scrutiny became entangled with a racial argument about merit and diversity. His death raises questions about how society treats black success and failure
theguardian.com
2/ As I said, we don't know what was in his mind. But I do know *my* mind. And as a human being who is also an academic, if I was on the receiving end of *this* - alongside similar stuff from other media, and losing my job - I would be a mental and emotional wreck. bsky.app/profile/keta...
Ketan Joshi@ketanjoshi.co · 3w agoThis is the coverage of Arday **just in the Telegraph** in the UK. This is only the first four pages of results, just in one outlet.
Ok, some thoughts, as an olde tyme academic, on the Arday tragedy. First, allegations about causes. We don't know what was in his mind, but many people are keen to blame him, or woke lefties/academia, or the media. Some people are absolutely certain that the media are faultless. 1/