레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 05/10/2026A suggestion: Palestine Action should switch tactics and rebrand as Palestine Doggers. 000
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 26/09/2026Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines ran like absolutely dogshit on my toaster PC when it came out, yet I somehow still managed to sink hundreds of hours playing through all the clans. I am going to have to install it again... 131
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 21/09/2026Ah yes, Edinburgh, that place well-known for having absolutely no Chinese community whatsoever in the 1990s, not even those Chinese people who first started living in Edinburgh in... 1779. 163
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 20/09/2026Thanks for your writing on your situation which I've now read. What I'm trying to say is the outpouring of grief from academics as well as direct challenges to VC/SMTs on LinkedIn--a platform predicated on hierarchies, sharing 'success' and 'happiness' (thus easily lends to slop)--is new or newish. 020
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 20/09/2026One thing I've observed in 2026 is the rapid increase of UK-based academics posting about working conditions and redundancies on LinkedIn, in 'genuine' grief and anxiety instead of mindful slop. This didn't really happen before. The UK HE crisis has finally reached the happy clappy thrilled place. 111
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 08/09/2026As black shirts are literally running around in the streets, it's nice to know Universities UK will 'engage' with--or as it turns out, nod compliantly at--fascists and Nazis. 110
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 01/09/2026NPC in a computer game criticising the name that I have given to the protagonist. 000
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 26/08/2026Extremely sad that my favourite Saudi Arabian academic Andrew Timming has dropped plans for his third book "Woke Nonsense", which was the one thing I was really looking forward to. Now his third book "examines the history and meaning of body art across time", which isn't my cup of tea to be honest. 010
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 26/08/2026The amazing thing was that my dad bought a copy back then and he thought this front cover was absolutely fine for a 11/12 year old. I remember him saying something like "it's quite wordy so he'll learn some English". 110
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 26/08/2026Getting acid flashback of that part where you have to decode some drumming in the park 110
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 24/08/2026Ah shit and now somebody has done the phlogiston variation as well lmao 000
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 24/08/2026Attempted to formulate a history of science joke about how global academia needs to disprove "racial science", geocentrism, phrenology, mesmerism, the Piltdown Man, and Mary Toft giving birth to 17 rabbits again. But somebody has already done it (the joke, not the disproving). 110
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 23/08/2026Every single comment on higher education from Nick Hillman of HEPIstatic.klipy.comI Think You Should Leave Hot Dog SuspectALT: I Think You Should Leave Hot Dog Suspect 010
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 21/08/2026Where you analysed 'HOLY MOTHER OF GOD' Covid guy in your book, I did think there were even more examples you could put forward -- now I know why...! 021
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 19/08/2026To people still publishing their hot takes about the poor man who died: 000
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 15/08/2026As far as I know, at least one current faculty member has publicly defended/supported Kathleen Stock. Since the death and retirement of a number of well-known staff, that department is hardly a bastion of progressive politics or scholarship anymore. 070
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 14/08/2026Fantastic to see the Tory grifter Nick Hillman from HEPI, architect of the current HE system and quoted in this BBC News article, identifying a problem that I (and countless academics) already highlighted SIX YEARS AGO. medium.com/ussbriefs/st...medium.comStockpiling students? Covid-19, caps, and growth inequalities in UK HE from 2014–5 to 2018–9Number 94: #USSbriefs94 010
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 11/08/2026August is the time when people who want a revolution demand others do that revolution for them while they themselves go on annual leave, because annual leave is sacred and trumps the revolution that they demand others to do for them. 250
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 04/08/2026Somebody suggested to me that they were eulogising him because at least some of them (e.g. DocStockkk) wanted to take over the now vacant gigs. So this is an audition. 010
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 02/08/2026To "teach out" means "the university stops accepting new students to the degree, staff will continue to teach the existing students on the degree until they graduate or leave, and then the staff will also be made to leave". 170
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 29/07/2026... unfortunately his Mandarin teacher then told him it was too 'obscure' and 'unnatural', and made him adopt the Chinese name 何立克, which sounds like what Hong Kongers call the hot drink 'Horlicks'. 000
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 29/07/2026I (PhD in Chinese history) once created a beautiful Chinese name for free for a colleague: 郝科吏 -- not only does it match the pronunciation of his English name, it contains his job (appointing scientific officials), and I even used Four Pillars of Destiny (stroke count matching birthday)... 110
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 28/07/2026You pay the granny 50 HKD (about 5 GBP), and she'll write the name of the person you hate on a paper effigy, then she'll repeatedly strike the effigy with a shoe, while shouting '[Name], I wish you a violent death'. Hong Kong government calls it 'intangible cultural heritage'. 030
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 28/07/2026As a Hong Konger, I think it's perfectly valid to wish somebody a violent death. In Hong Kong, you can even pay a granny to do this on your behalf, in a practice called 'da siu yan' (villain hitting, lit. 'striking little people'). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villain...en.wikipedia.orgVillain hitting - Wikipedia 110
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 15/07/2026Context for Evelyn Welch refusing to say that fascism is, in fact, bad: 010
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 15/07/2026Agree with Evelyn Welch, vice-chancellor of University of Bristol, that cuts to humanities are tragic. If the humanities were thriving, it would mean a university vice-chancellor like Evelyn Welch would be able to say that fascism is bad, which she refused to do. www.theguardian.com/education/20...theguardian.comFlorence Welch’s mother says cuts to arts and humanities ‘absolutely tragic’Exclusive: Prof Evelyn Welch, vice-chancellor of Bristol University, believes her daughter’s success shows value of arts education 110
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 14/07/2026Great that people are paying attention to NOUS consultancy now -- years ago (2018!) I started taking the piss out of them on Twitter (their 'principal' Zac Ashkanasy used the cringe adage 'Culture eats strategy for breakfast' to describe what they intend to do to universities) and I got blocked lol 031
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 11/07/2026As far as I'm aware (and I'm not 100% sure as can't read Norwegian well enough), non-union members must negotiate their pay and conditions themselves with the employer. This may explain the very high density of union membership in Norwegian public universities. 110
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 11/07/2026The tiny domino here is renaming the University of Bolton to the University of Greater Manchester. Hopefully the bigger domino here is becoming the first university vice-chancellor to go to prison. 094
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 09/07/2026Maybe it's a reflection of my life (so far), but I don't think I'll ever forget this video until the end of my days. Perhaps in that sense it really was £22,000 well-spent from De Montfort University. 110
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 09/07/2026Lmfao completely separately I also thought of the video: bsky.app/profile/acup... 100
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 09/07/2026Bonnie Tyler died. Therefore I'm posting a video that De Montfort University spent £22,000 to make in 2012, in which their former vice-chancellor Dominic Shellard lip-synced to 'I Need A Hero'. youtu.be/LzndSqMxaXs?...youtu.beDominic Shellard Vice-Chancellor of De Montfort University I Need a Hero full video 7 November 2012YouTube video by UUK spin 020
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 07/07/2026Forskerforbundet, Norway's equivalent of UK's University and College Union (UCU), has a density of 80% in public higher education institutions. Overall union density in Norway is 50%. In the UK overall union density is 22% as of 2025. www.forskerforbundet.no/en/become-a-...forskerforbundet.noWorking in NorwayRead more about Forskerforbundet, the Nordic Model and the role of trade unions in Norway. Also, meet some of our international members. 141
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 07/07/2026A researcher at University of Bergen shows what happens when you upload PDFs containing minutes of a university departmental meeting into an AI podcast generator. They also experimented with uploading **empty** PDFs. Results are horrifying and hilarious. Journal paper below: doi.org/10.1177/0163...doi.orgAI-generated podcasts: Synthetic intimacy and cultural mistranslation in audio overviews from Google’s NotebookLM - Jill Walker Rettberg, 2026This paper analyses AI-generated podcasts produced by Google’s NotebookLM, which generates audio podcasts where two chatty AI hosts discuss whichever documents ... 020
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 05/07/2026Peter Fleming just died. A while ago we discussed his book "Dark Academia" at Kingston. He was brutally honest about academics' role in the death of UK universities: too many of us "went along" with the disastrous system (out of self-interest, fear or "we can navigate this") until it was too late. 0135
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 04/07/2026You can always count on Nick Hillman, the architect of the current HE funding system and a man permanently wearing a giant hotdog suit, to **defend** job cuts and redundancies (in this case University of Exeter). 033
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 03/07/2026To use an imperfect analogy: Tesco is currently selling 1 pint (568ml) of semi-skimmed milk for 90p. Tesco is now proposing, from a future point onwards, that the same pint of milk will cost you 80p. It'd be highly unusual if consumers then insist on continuing to pay 90p for the same pint of milk. 031
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 30/06/2026Would this be the same James Marriott who studied English Literature at Lincoln College, University of Oxford between 2011 and 2014? 370
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 25/06/2026It seems odd to me that Panini has never made a sticker album of panini, therefore I have remedied this. 030
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 15/06/2026I also strongly recommend getting an internet router with parental controls, in order to control your parents. For instance, mine cannot access Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, The Sun, and so on. 020
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 15/06/2026Unpopular opinion: I actually support wholeheartedly a social media ban, not for under-16s, but for over-60s. Boomer online radicalisation is the real danger to society, especially to young people and children. 141
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 08/06/2026Office for Students and Advance HE (CEO Alistair Jarvis, remember him?) using the Slop Machine to generate images for press releases? #aesthetic Source: www.officeforstudents.org.uk/news-blog-an... 011
레온 로차 @acupunctureuss.bsky.social · 06/06/2026I am sure his contribution will be full of delightful insights like this one: 140
