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)
Tim Causer
@timcauser.bsky.social
Principal Research Fellow, Bentham Project, @ucllaws.bsky.social Editing Bentham's works and correspondence. Historian of convict transportation and the Norfolk Island penal station.
After nearly six wonderful years together, last week Samson fell asleep in my arms. He was the greatest, most handsome little mate I could have wished for. I was so lucky I got to rescue him.
We are really sorry to let you know that UCL Open Days on Friday 26 and Saturday 27 June 2026 have been cancelled. Please do not travel to campus for these events. For the latest updates, please visit: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/study/prospective-students/open-days/undergraduate-open-days
We have two new 12-month postdoctoral fellowship opportunities at the British Library! Applications open soon to co-design projects in the following areas: - Colonial Deposit and our Newspaper Collection - Local Large Language Models and Personal Born-Digital Archives www.bl.uk/services/res...
The Joanna and Graham Barker Fellowship Scheme
Two funded-fellowship opportunities for early career, postdoctoral researchers.
bl.uk
you say "i asked chatgpt" i hear "i asked [an improv comedy group]" an improv group wrote this report instead of a therapist i use an improv comedy group
Anthony Moser@anthonymoser.com · last yr.chatgpt is much like an improv comedy group 1) you are the audience, giving it prompts 2) it produces things roughly shaped like your prompt 3) it is trained to respond with Yes, And 4) it has the factual accuracy of improv 5) it does not understand comedy
'Transcribe Bentham began in 2010, and another 20,000 or so manuscript pages require transcription. We’d like to invite your readers to help us complete the project and to explore the writings and correspondence of a figure of enormous historical importance.' #Skystorians
Join the crowd digitising Jeremy Bentham | Letter
Letter: Dr Tim Causer invites readers to help complete a transcription project and to explore the writings and correspondence of the philosopher and reformer Jeremy Bentham
theguardian.com
Help us turn Transcribe Bentham into Transcribed Bentham www.theguardian.com/science/2026...
Join the crowd digitising Jeremy Bentham | Letter
Letter: Dr Tim Causer invites readers to help complete a transcription project and to explore the writings and correspondence of the philosopher and reformer Jeremy Bentham
theguardian.com
MARC BLOCH COMIC BOOK. This is not a drill. MARC BLOCH COMIC BOOK!!! www.tallandier.com/livre/marc-b... #MedievalSky #Skystorians
Peter Mandelson was asked for his Whatsapp messages on his phone but refused to hand them over. A legal minefield: @vmantouvalou.bsky.social and I have written about it here in 'Bring Your Own Device — Now Hand It Over!' digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/cllpj/vol45/...
![The explanatory notes at the start of the document dump explains that "on 31 March the [Cabinet Office] wrote to Peter Mandelson - via his solicitors - to request any information held on his personal phone.
"Peter Mandelson declined to comply with this request. The government has no further recourse to search the personal devices of Peter Mandelson."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ujstglmdsoymx3t2yffcvgtm/bafkreigqc2bd5jar3nor6rkoqmfj32tacxf4jef2eejwgau4efst2wmnj4)
In light of closures of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences courses and departments across the UK in the past 2 years, what does that commitment mean? The University of Hertfordshire's announced closures of Humanities offer a case study for hard-edged reflection. 2/9 @victoria-collins.bsky.social
And there it is
Tim Causer@timcauser.bsky.social · 3mo agoPublished today in open access: The Correspondence of Jeremy Bentham, Volume 14: Supplementary Letters, edited by. P. Schofield, T. Causer (who he?), and C. Riley Featuring tales of JB's uni days and dozens of letters from Samuel Bentham during his Russian sojourn uclpress.co.uk/book/the-cor...
Publication Day 📖🍾🪩🎉: 'The Correspondence of Jeremy Bentham, Volume 14: Supplementary Letters', ed. P. Schofield, T. Causer, and C. Riley, is now available in open access from UCL Press (@uclpress.bsky.social). Available in hard/paperback, or free .pdf: uclpress.co.uk/book/the-cor...
The Correspondence of Jeremy Bentham, Volume 14
This volume, which supplements the main chronological series of The Correspondence of Jeremy Bentham, contains 252 letters written to and from Jeremy Bentham, 19 letters written to and from individual...
uclpress.co.uk
Published today in open access: The Correspondence of Jeremy Bentham, Volume 14: Supplementary Letters, edited by. P. Schofield, T. Causer (who he?), and C. Riley Featuring tales of JB's uni days and dozens of letters from Samuel Bentham during his Russian sojourn uclpress.co.uk/book/the-cor...
The Correspondence of Jeremy Bentham, Volume 14
This volume, which supplements the main chronological series of The Correspondence of Jeremy Bentham, contains 252 letters written to and from Jeremy Bentham, 19 letters written to and from individual...
uclpress.co.uk
'It was a glittering event and an impressive achievement – but unfortunately, detectives claim, the award itself was entirely fake and part of a complex international hoax worthy of a film script.' 1/3
French professor accused of ‘gigantic hoax’ after inventing Nobel-style prize
Authorities investigate Florent Montaclair over award given to himself and others including Noam Chomsky
theguardian.com
One aim of the Society on BlueSky is to highlight organisations and opportunities that support historians and the humanities. One to promote is @britishacademy.bsky.social's UK-wide Early Career Researcher Network bit.ly/4f2H3tF which offers training, funding, peer support and events #Skystorians
Early Career Researcher Network
An inclusive, researcher-led network for UK-based early career researchers working in the humanities and social sciences
bit.ly
University of Hertfordshire closes a swathe of Humanities courses, accelerating the sweeping tide against Human-centred disciples in the UK. Because understanding humans is so yesterday today. With such happy consequences, as we see when we look around us.
Owen Davies@odavies9.bsky.social · 3mo agoAye. Heard today that my university is closing UG History, Philosophy, English Lit, Linguistics, and Creative Writing in one go.
'Universities across the UK have reported more than 1,000 job losses in the first four months of this year, with the actual number likely to be far higher as institutions continue to roll out cost-saving initiatives.' 1/4
Research Professional News@resprofnews.bsky.social · 4mo agoOver 1,000 UK university job losses announced since January. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...
no one is doing it like jd vance, a loser across three continents in a single weekend
It's me in the Financial Times, detailing the deep and pernicious influence of one-size-fits-all management consultancy in our universities... Take a look! 👇 www.ft.com/content/5032...
Management consultants are ruining UK universities
Relentless off-the-peg commercial rewiring has undermined British higher education
ft.com
This week’s horror is our introductory module, which examines the literature, art, music, dialect, film and TV from the region 1500-2025 being forcibly replaced by an entire ‘success in HE’ module featuring two weeks on how to use AI. I designed my module to incorporate proper study skills…
The Government will more than double support for the Daphne Jackson Trust from £1.7m to £4m per year, which will help to unlock the talent of many more researchers whose careers have been paused. Find out more in our joint-statement with @ukri.org daphnejackson.org/2026/03/ukri... #ResearchReturners
Joint Statement : UKRI & The Daphne Jackson Trust - Daphne Jackson Trust
The UKRI more than doubles funding to Daphne Jackson Trust to support a more inclusive and representative research community.
daphnejackson.org
Congratulations to Professor Ioannis Lianos (UCL Laws), elected Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences for his contributions at the intersection of law, economics and the social sciences.👏 Find out more: www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2026/ma... #UCLLaws @acadsocsciences.bsky.social
UCL academics made Fellows at The Academy of Social Sciences
Research into sociology, global competition law, education and urban planning has earned UCL academics election to The Academy of Social Sciences.
buff.ly
Our #UCL200 celebrations began in spectacular style last week with the 75th Bentham Association Presidential Address and Dinner. 🎤 🥳 Prof Sir John Baker KC delivered an inspiring Address on ‘Sovereignty of Parliament and Legal History’. 🔗 Read more: www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/news/20...
In which people CHOOSE TO VOTE for a female plumber representing a party with broadly liberal values and an unelected life peer declares it to be the end of liberal democracy.
Turns out (says @jburnmurdoch.ft.com) it's not so much an oversupply of graduates in the UK (the same would be true of other similar countries but it's not) as an undersupply of the kind of jobs that a better-performing, more productive economy would supply.
‘Is university still worth it?’ is the wrong question
The graduate earnings premium isn’t really measuring what most people think
ft.com