Sign in

Andrew Frayn

@afrayn.bsky.social
2.3K followers 893 following 696 posts

Academic. Work on First World War literature (Assoc Ed., FWW Studies); modernist studies (former BAMS Chair); noncanonical literature; rural modernity; late style. Grumbles my own.

PostsRepliesMedia
Andrew Frayn @afrayn.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I made a mistake on the sign-up form, which meant that anyone who's tried previously wasn't able to click through. Here's a link that should work: forms.cloud.microsoft/e/Mjsn26ZMek
forms.cloud.microsoft
Microsoft Forms
011
Andrew Frayn @afrayn.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Good afternoon especially to the man on this train who has now come through 4 times and been told every time that the door to the driver's cabin is not the toilet 🍻
020
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
Gregory Norminton @gregorynorminton.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
We wanted robots that would relieve us of menial tasks and free us up to be creative. Instead, we’ve ceded our creative selves to robots and ended up with all the washing and cleaning.
3208
Andrew Frayn @afrayn.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
We're having an online launch event for Beyond Modernism: noncanonicity in early-twentieth-century British literature, at 6pm UK on Monday 12 October. Speakers will include the editors, @nicholasbirns.bsky.social, @rsazzad.bsky.social, Chris Hopkins, +... Sign up: forms.cloud.microsoft/e/Mjsn26ZMek
The cover of Beyond Modernism: Noncanonicity and early-twentieth-century British literature.  At the top, the title is in white on dark blue, with the subtitle below in dark yellow.  The image is a hand taking a blank-spined book from a shelf; the other spines have the names of classic novels crossed out.
12115
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
AP Stylebook @apstylebook.com · 23/09/2026
Artificial intelligence systems do not think, feel, want or understand. Avoid language that gives them human characteristics.
apnews.com
https://apnews.com/article/openai-safety-ai-framework-089e75b95bc935af092da7b79d92706d
5542221615
Andrew Frayn @afrayn.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Ahhhh yes Andy, "it worked", and we are definitely not in year 19 of a subsequent recession (*winks and taps temple)
010
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
Dr Cath Feely @cathfeely.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Last night, an exhibition I've been working on was launched at Cromford Mills in Derbyshire to mark 250 years since building of 2nd mill (blue print for cotton factories worldwide) and early industrial housing. It's open all weekend, with lots of activities. Critique my graphic design efforts!
Exhibition panels printed on cotton fabric hanging in pairs down a mill building from wooden ceiling beams. On the front panels the date 1776 and 'Why did cotton come to Cromford' are legible.
1721545
Andrew Frayn @afrayn.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
This is really shameful cultural vandalism. www.heraldscotland.com/news/2655944...
heraldscotland.com
Full list of the 90 programmes earmarked for closure at leading Scottish university
Managers say the cuts are necessary “to protect our world-leading reputation and resilience in research and teaching” but staff members have hit…
020
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
First World War Studies @fwwsjournal.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
We are recruiting new Associate Editors! First World War Studies, the interdisciplinary journal of the International Society for First World War Studies, published by Taylor & Francis, is seeking to expand its editorial team.
12128
Andrew Frayn @afrayn.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
New Work in Modernist Studies - the BAMS conference aimed at PGRs, and particularly first-time conference speakers, is always a lovely, welcoming event. Please consider submitting! And I always look forward to a trip to beautiful, ummm, TBC ;)
021
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
Dr Andrew McInnes @drbeard79.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
This list of things the University of Brighton has de-recognised is insane 🤯🤯🤯
108149
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
Marie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 14/09/2026
I think we should have one day a week when no-one is allowed to talk about AI, so we can have a rest
1851371
Andrew Frayn @afrayn.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
As a not yet binned member of staff who has been threatened with the bin within the last year, I'm genuinely curious about the feasibility of this and what it might look like.
030
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
Scott Lyall @scottlyall.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
I'm really looking forward to this talk from the President of @asls.org.uk, Dr David Goldie, at Craiglockhart Campus @edinburghnapier.bsky.social , organised by the excellent @afrayn.bsky.social. Registration link below 👇
0157
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
Ben Williamson @benpatrickwill.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Literally *years* of research on AI in education - *reams* of it by now - just does not support such sweeping proposals for mass AI access for students or educator "AI trailblazers", and it's maddening to see such uninformed, industry-friendly, research-free ideas from key sector bodies
47538
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
Scott Lyall @scottlyall.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Out now: TOWARDS A NEW HISTORY OF THE SALTIRE SOCIETY: TWO ESSAYS by Sarah Leith and Scott Lyall. Edited by Gerry Carruthers, the pamphlet is published in the University of South Carolina Scottish Literature Series. @asls.org.uk | @iassl.bsky.social | @scottishpen.bsky.social
The front cover of Towards a New History of the Saltire Society: Two Essays by Sarah Leith and Scott Lyall. 

The cover image is a detail from 'The Community: A Festival of Time', painted by the artist James Cumming.
284
Andrew Frayn @afrayn.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
I was recently in New Chapter Books in Wigtown, Scotland's Book Town, and they had this fantastic display of ephemera found in the pages of books!
A selection of ephemera found in books pinned to a bookshop wall. Items include an advert for a Waterman's fountain pen, a photo probably of someone's grandparents, a baby photo, a stick of gum, a Baltimore and Ohio railroad rocket, and many more.A selection of ephemera pinned to a bookshop wall, including typewritten and handwritten letter, train and bus tickets, photos, and other items.A selection of ephemera pinned to a bookshop wall, including a flyer for a 1980s performance of Brecht's Life of Galileo, very old rail seat reservations, a tear off calendar page, and many other sundries.
251
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 02/09/2026
Who would like to guess why UK, US and European media outlets are not publishing 3,000 articles per minute about this www.dukechronicle.com/article/duke...
dukechronicle.com
‘Insane data’: Duke professor Dan Ariely accused of additional research fraud
New evidence released Monday shows that Dan Ariely, professor of business administration in the Fuqua School of Business, likely tampered with or fabricated data in an influential research paper from ...
502489756
Andrew Frayn @afrayn.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Guy Pearce // Gav Maclean
110
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
Andrew Frayn @afrayn.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
I'm organising a Remembrance Lecture on Mon 9 November at Edinburgh Napier's Craiglockhart Campus- as a War Hospital, this was where Wilfred Owen & Siegfried Sassoon met. This year David Goldie will talk about Scottish Poetry of the First World War. Register: forms.cloud.microsoft/e/MTEHXf41Mf
The ubiquitous photo of the staff, nurses and patients of the Craiglockhart War Hospital on the lawn outside the historic front of the building, from 1917.  The men are in their khaki uniforms, with hats, and the women are in their nurses's uniforms and headdresses, flowing white.
13523
Andrew Frayn @afrayn.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
I'm organising a Remembrance Lecture on Mon 9 November at Edinburgh Napier's Craiglockhart Campus- as a War Hospital, this was where Wilfred Owen & Siegfried Sassoon met. This year David Goldie will talk about Scottish Poetry of the First World War. Register: forms.cloud.microsoft/e/MTEHXf41Mf
The ubiquitous photo of the staff, nurses and patients of the Craiglockhart War Hospital on the lawn outside the historic front of the building, from 1917.  The men are in their khaki uniforms, with hats, and the women are in their nurses's uniforms and headdresses, flowing white.
13523
Andrew Frayn @afrayn.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
What if it wasn't universities not preparing students for jobs, but that the economy has been fucked for approaching two decades? www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cq...
bbc.co.uk
Neets live: More than one in eight young people are out of work, training or education, figures show
The Office for National Statistics says just under a million are Neet - a larger figure than this time last year.
190
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
Dr Hannah J. Elizabeth @sexhistorian.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
We're looking for a fabulous person to join us @strathclydehass.bsky.social on a funded PhD with me & Prof Matt Smith. Are you a historian with an interest in activism who wants to design a cool project on unorthodox health movements in Britain after 1948? Apply! www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DSR502/p...
jobs.ac.uk
PhD Studentship: Unorthodox health activism in Britain after 1948 at University of Strathclyde
Apply for a PhD Studentship: Unorthodox health activism in Britain after 1948. Discover a wide range of PhD opportunities at jobs.ac.uk.
01026
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
University and College Union (UCU) @ucu.org.uk · 23/08/2026
📰 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.
This table describes the level of job losses in several universities across the UK.
44442
Andrew Frayn @afrayn.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Out today!
1158
Andrew Frayn @afrayn.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
The follow-up to The Wicker Man attracted some scrutiny from animal rights activists
A larger wicker model of a horse, head bowed, against a town square background of trees and grass
020
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
Scott Lyall @scottlyall.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Out today: to mark this year's centenary of Hugh MacDiarmid's 'A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle', AYONT THE THISTLE, edited by Jim Mackintosh, Alan Riach and James Robertson. 'Jean', my short story in Scots, is amongst the contributions. @asls.org.uk @iassl.bsky.social @modernistudies.bsky.social
The front cover of Ayont the Thistle: A gallimaufry of poetry and prose to mark the centenary of Hugh MacDiarmid's A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle.
22011
Andrew Frayn @afrayn.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Post today, believe it's already out online, publication date in print 20th Aug! www.bloomsbury.com/uk/beyond-mo...
A man in a blue t-shirt with a grey beard holding a copy of the book Beyond Modernism (Bloomsbury, 2026). The book cover depicts a hand taking a book from a shelf on which the other books have classic titles crossed out on the spine.
4172
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
Glen O'Hara @gsoh31.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
A deeply destructive and inexpert management consultancy class has emerged whose sole purpose is to shrink Anglosphere universities and to undermine their future - all the better to secure more work. democracyforsale.substack.com/p/inside-bri...
democracyforsale.substack.com
Inside Britain's university crisis
As teaching staff face job loss, their bosses have netted pay rises and bought advice from a “vampiric” management consultancy, writes Prof. John Heathershaw of the University of Exeter
410262
Andrew Frayn @afrayn.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Just one symptom of the crisis in Higher Education, and in the Humanities in particular: seeking peer reviewers, and of the top 5 scholars I would like to review, 2 are in institutions with massive redundancy schemes, 2 seem to have moved institution because of redundancy schemes [...]
140
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
4 nations, but ultimately 1 major UK crisis.
02713
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
Ed Newton-Rex @ednewtonrex.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
I've confirmed that the UK's new Sovereign AI Fund does no due diligence on whether AI companies use copyrighted work without permission before investing in them. It took me 3 Freedom of Information requests to find this out: 🧵 1/10
10787465
Andrew Frayn @afrayn.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
I'm a big sports fan who lives in the central belt, and talked earlier this week, with my big sports fan partner who used to work in major events organisation, about how we'd not seen much about the Commonwealth Games, and I STILL didn't know this was happening tonight
020
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
Kirsty Sedgman @kirstysedgman.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
GIVEAWAY TIME! To celebrate the launch of my new book, How to Understand Theatre Audiences, I’m going to send a prize to the first person who messages/emails me to say they found the sex joke. What’s the prize you ask? A 3D printed trophy that says “I Am An Amazing Reader Slash Genius” Ready? GO!
021
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
Plashing Vole @plashingvole.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Congratulations to the government on saving 2700 jobs by nationalising British Steel. Now, about the 18,000 university jobs lost in the last 18 months, with more coming…
15996386
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
Stephen Shapiro @stephenshapiro.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
The reality is that the UK Higher Education system only performed well in phases of academic immigration - the 1930s and the 90s/00s. Closing the pipeline isn't just a generational loss, it's a systemic one. bsky.app/profile/eica...
042
Andrew Frayn @afrayn.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
This base has already been narrowed in the great post-2008 recession, and the last decade is a lost decade for new academics in many subjects. Even in regions that are not so-called "cold spots," many will not be able to access courses for class reasons from grades to social "fit".
142
Andrew Frayn @afrayn.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Overheard Leith phone conversation: "so, that's the positive thing. The negative thing is that Brian is doing my fucking head in."
120
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
Lauri Donahue @lauridonahue.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
futurism.com/future-socie... lol
As one New York financier told Financial Times journalist Gillian Tett, new hires who were seen as “AI natives” are turning out to have alarmingly shallow ideas. So much so, the anonymous finance worker admitted, that his firm now actively avoids seeking out AI-literate STEM graduates, and opts to comb through humanities students instead.
178105252958
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
Natalia Cecire @ncecire.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Academic departments deserve to be saved, supported, resourced, allowed to grow even if they're not "best in the country," "first in the REF," "top-ranked," "at a Russell Group uni," or whatever other austerity-brained nonsense senior managers have been using to flimflam you out of solidarity
151072297
Andrew Frayn @afrayn.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
I completed my PhD in 2008. It isn't hyperbole to say that the entirety of my postdoctoral career has been, or at the very least has felt, precarious. Everyone I know has at least contemplated what they would do if they weren't an academic.
180
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
University English @univeng.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
This week, Andy Burnham – an English graduate with a love of poetry – stepped closer to becoming Prime Minister. Andy’s remarkable journey embodies the central message of the #EnglishCreates campaign: this subject has the potential to enrich lives, open up opportunities, and shape the future.
03115
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
Peter Whitewood @pwhitewood.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Great letter in the LRB on the managerial university and its consequences.
11914
Andrew Frayn @afrayn.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
I'm also in this, responding to Cristina Pividori (UAB) on our teaching in war literatures from the FWW to today. It was really enjoyable to write about pedagogical practice and think again about some of the things I've now been doing for many years at ENU. It's a really stellar set of contributors!
052
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
will pooley @willpooley.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
the media and voter messaging should be this: the current government and the government in waiting do not want your children to be able to go to university, they will not support people in the UK to do original research, they do not care about job losses in one of the largest sectors in the economy
515373
Andrew Frayn @afrayn.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Of all the betrayals of the HE Sector, this is right up there with the most egregious since my time at university, beginning in the first year of fees.
030
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
Dave Andress @davidandress.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
If you ask young people "Would you like to get a degree for free while also being paid to work part-time?", they will say Oh Fuck Yes by the thousand. If you ask employers to take responsibility for guiding someone through several years of work/study, they will say Oh Fuck No by the thousand.
519339
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
Mark Williams @mrfw17thc.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
"Cardiff University has admitted that it doesn’t know how much it is spending overall on external consultants or hold a central record of what work they are doing." Staff expenditure: Count every last penny or you may lose your job. Their expenditure: Meh.
nation.cymru
Cardiff University criticised over consultant secrecy
Martin Shipton Cardiff University has admitted that it doesn’t know how much it is spending overall on external consultants or hold a central record of what work they are doing. Academic sources have ...
512151
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
Will Jennings📉🗳️ @drjennings.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
A reminder that Brazil banned Twitter for failing to stop the spreading of disinformation. There is nothing stopping the British government from doing the same.
8136041128