iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dr Stuart McKie @bigfridge224.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

This. And while we're on the subject I'll repeat my plea to permanent academics that they update their own pages. Writing job apps that fit a department profile is so much easier if you know what other people are *currently* working on.

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Émilie Oléron Evans @bringyourownsun.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

'[Students] generally do not want history departments to normalise or require high levels of AI use.'

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Dr Stuart McKie @bigfridge224.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Months go by, but then a day comes along when I remember that the hilarious, smutty, puerile webcomic Oglaf exists. Today is one of those days. Today is a good day.

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hookland.bsky.social @hookland.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

From tonight's Hookland talk on Re-enchantment as Resistance at @treadwells-books.bsky.social. 'Folklore is often the wild frontier of belief, the place where wonder may still live. Here be Woodwoses, here be Harrowhounds, the ghosts which whisper wisdom.' #FolkloreThursday

Folklore can ignite enchantment within us. Enchantment that fuels our imaginations. Enchantment that shifts our consciousness, allows us to envisage new and better worlds. It begins the process of manifesting the changes we desire. Re-enchanted, the world is full of new, feral possibilities. Re-enchanted our imagination is an accessible superpower.

The stories we intentionally absorb, the stories we select to tell ourselves, they allow us to live in the world differently. They allow us to make and remake the world differently.

Folklore is often the wild frontier of belief, the place where wonder may still live. Here be Woodwoses, here be Harrowhounds, the ghosts which whisper wisdom. We need this space. We ache for the sublime. For re-enchantment is an assertion of wonder and the numinosity of our relationships with landscape. Re-enchantment is an assertion of our collective ability to both imagine and experience better worlds. As a refusal of despair, as a lensing of hope. In re-enchantment we stop dreaming of inevitable apocalypse and find the permissive space to tell stories of hope.

Re-enchantment is personal metamorphosis. The space in which we grow glowing red eyes to patrol our communities against this long night of authoritarian pisspuffinry. The space in which we develop iron-hard fur, immune to the curses reductionist racists, misogynists, homophobes and AI cultists throw at us. Re-enchantment as the permissive circle where we can voyage into ourselves and find the marvels and bravery we need to deal with this age of violent bruising. This is why I walk the territory of folklore. Wear my witch-cloak of swan feathers, hold hag stone to my eye. This is why I created Hookland as a home for stories, a community for Fully-grown Changelings.

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Dan Snow @thehistoryguy.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

England is a made up thing. It has no basis in the ineluctable laws of nature. Its extent is defined by Edward II getting his arse handed to him. Athelstan conquering York. The Welsh of Cumbria were incorporated, the Welsh of Gwynedd were not. It is a political idea, an aspiration - not taxonomy.

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Dr Stuart McKie @bigfridge224.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

As if we needed another reason to hate LLMs - they are killing Perseus 😭

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

It remains true that if the Russians went home tomorrow, the drone strikes would stop, no Ukrainian would follow them over the border and the war would be over. They can just *go home* and be at peace. The war persists because Putin wants it to.

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Dr Stuart McKie @bigfridge224.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

The hardest thing about getting a stack of books for your birthday is deciding which one to read first!

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Dr Kate Cook @katexe.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I think what's happening at universities is appalling. But I also think that if some academics paid more attention to their temp colleagues it would not be so surprising. At 3 separate institutions I've been made redundant while new hires were got to cover teaching I'd been doing - 1 perm, 2 temp.

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Dr Stuart McKie @bigfridge224.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Just when you think you're starting to like someone, they go and use 'action' as a verb. Ick.

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Dr Ellie Mackin Roberts @elliemackinroberts.net · 10/09/2026

Here is a snapshot of how devastating it is to be a precariously employed academic in the UK right now: I feel SO LUCKY that I have a part-time teaching-only position for this year, that I have been shortlisted for jobs (though I made slightly under 1/4 of the applications I made three years ago...

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Dr Stuart McKie @bigfridge224.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Decorated my daughter's bedroom today and was daydreaming about starting a painting business. I would call it Fabulous Pictor.

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Exeter UCU @exeterucu.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

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.

photo of Nicole Kidman looking incredibly joyful and free after her divorce from Tom Cruise was finalised

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Dr Stuart McKie @bigfridge224.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Going through a drawer after we moved I found an old notepad. This is a playlist from when I did student radio as an undergrad c.2009. Absolute bangers

Handwritten list of songs:
Gogol Bordello - Not a Crime
Muse - Knights [of Cydonia]
Maximo Park - Apply Some [Pressure]
Metallica - One
Los Campesinos! - You Me Dancing
Bullet for my Valentine - Scream Aim [Fire]
Less than Jake - Metalheads
Arcade Fire
Bombay Bicycle Club
[Flogging] Molly - Left of the Flag
NFG - My Friends Over Yoy
Kaiser [Chiefs] - OMG

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Dr Stuart McKie @bigfridge224.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

The spine of this book made it look like it was about the facial hair of great thinkers. A bit disappointed now tbh.

The spine of a book that says 'Philosophy Beards.'

The front page of a book saying 'Andrew Beards, Philosophy: The Quest for Truth and Meaning.'

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Alex Prichard @profalexp.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

A thread on the dispute at Exeter Uni. #ucu #defendexeteruni @ucu.org.uk On 15 June HR called Exeter UCU into a confidential meeting and informed us they would be putting over 500 colleagues at risk of redundancy and expected to loose around 200 staff. The number of c.150 you’ll have seen is FTE.

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Patrick Andelic @pkandelic.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Me, getting ready for the 2026-27 academic year:

Screencap from the MERL video below showing Ollie Douglas seated in a seminar room with his arms spread wide. Caption: “This seminar room is bussing.”

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Dr Stuart McKie @bigfridge224.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Apparently I am missing a lot of the Celtic fringe whereidlive.com/t/uk-live

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Dr Stuart McKie @bigfridge224.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Anyone out there still playing Pokemon Go? Recently picked it up again and I need new friends! Add me: 753818721881

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Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

In the Renaissance people theorized, since the Aeneid is great, if you wrote poems made only of words & phrases from the Aeneid rearranged they should be great too, since a great source regurgitated should yield greatness. They produced NOTHING we still read. Thinking about that a lot lately.

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Jess O'Thomson @jessothomson.co.uk · 15/08/2026

We are writing to the Prime Minister, and the Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, calling for an immediate public inquiry into the British press, following the tragic death of Jason Arday. Sign here 👇

goodlaw.social

Jason Arday Letter | Good Law Project

Commission an immediate public inquiry into how to ensure a responsible press given its contribution to Dr Arday’s tragic death.

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Brendel @brendelbored.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

At one point in The Silmarillion Sauron gets his shit absolutely rocked by a big dog and my long held opinion would be that the movies would be better if Frodo had failed and the armies of the free peoples were about to fall and then a big angry dog comes out and just bites the fuck out of Sauron

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Big Ben @bigbenclock.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

BONG

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Dr Kate Cook @katexe.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Does anyone happen to have access to the Whitaker's Almanac for 1914, specifically p945? Google Books no longer shows it, and it's not among those I have library access to - but might be accessible for US users of HathiTrust?

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Dr Stuart McKie @bigfridge224.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Increasingly clear to me that we're seeing the inevitable end point of casualisation in HE. Treating all academics as transferable or disposable is easy for management to follow because it's just an extension of how ECRs have been treated for years already.

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Dr Stuart McKie @bigfridge224.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

The only adaptation of the Odyssey we ever needed

A dog in Ancient Greek armour. The words 'Wishbone classic: the Odyssey, by Homer'

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Dreadnought Holiday @dreadships.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

This implies the existence of semi-skimmed Catholics, and I'm not really sure what to do with that information.

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Dr. Carly Maris @vintagehistorian.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

My favorite part of the Odyssey movie was at the end when Rizzo the Rat pops up and says, “Nice Story Homer,” and then Gonzo (as Homer) says “Oh thanks. If you like this you should read the book.”

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Dr Stuart McKie @bigfridge224.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Archaeologists disagree on post-ex handling of ancient Jewish artefacts.

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Dr Stuart McKie @bigfridge224.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

I can't get to see the Odyssey until next week, so no spoilers please.

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Dr Stuart McKie @bigfridge224.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

These numbers are grim, but really just confirm what precarious academics have known all along. A 30% drop in Classics ECR numbers since 2012/13. At the same time, a 29% increase in professorships. Our discipline is eating its young.

Within the humanities, several subject areas have shown particularly marked long-term decline in early career staff numbers between 2012/13 and 2024/25:

History -32%
Classics -30%
English Studies -19%.
These declines at early career level have been accompanied by stable or slightly increasing numbers at mid career/established and senior levels, and substantial growth at professor level (23% for History, 29% for Classics, and 25% for English Studies), indicating a particularly concerning trend for the future talent pipeline in these disciplines.

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The British Academy @britishacademy.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

"This is a crisis for social mobility, young people’s careers, the skills our economy depends on and the opportunities available in communities across the UK" Our newest data covered by The Guardian this evening and dropping tomorrow morning to our SHAPE Observatory. shorturl.at/Qpa9Q

theguardian.com

Humanities among degrees being ‘extinguished’ by hard-up universities

Exclusive: Experts fear rise in education ‘cold spots’ and social immobility as 4,000 academic posts lost in one year

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Dr Stuart McKie @bigfridge224.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

So happy I got to see this in situ at the weekend!

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Andrew Snow @asnoweplan87.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

I've been thinking about this a lot - it makes you feel really lonely. My redundancy was barely acknowledged by colleagues - I'd worked there for 10 years across different positions. Like you say Kate, to now have relative uproar when FTCs are quietly shifted out - compounds that sense of isolation.

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Dr Stuart McKie @bigfridge224.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Coventry for me,which feels unforgivable given I went to university nearby in Leicester

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Claire E. Aubin @ceaubin.com · 02/07/2026

They don’t tell you that when you do a 20th century history PhD you might still somehow end up needing to read the Res Gestae Divi Augusti anyways

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Dr Stuart McKie @bigfridge224.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

I left the hardest bit of this chapter to write until the end. Now it's the end and I still don't want to write the hard bit.

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