Sign in

Christine Ferguson

@cferguson.bsky.social
879 followers 784 following 216 posts

Professor of English, specialising in Esotericism Studies,Victorian Literature, and History of Spiritualism & Occultism. Fan of Indian cinema and all things horror related. Based in Glasgow

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Christine Ferguson
Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 14h
From the new Private Eye
411849685
Reposted by Christine Ferguson
UCU Edinburgh @ucuedinburgh.bsky.social · 20h
Day 8 of the UCU workers' strike at the University of Edinburgh against the job cuts imposed by senior management and their burgeoning salaries. Yesterday, a victory: the Principal announced he is stepping down in 2028. We must, however, change the system that elects Principals ...
11714
Reposted by Christine Ferguson
Nina Markl 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈 @ninamarkl.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
560 (!!!) FTE cuts approved & closure of music and languages courses. absolutely horrific proposals coming out of Nottingham. measuring ‘interest’ in languages in n of students on UG degrees is so disingenuous—language modules can be combined with anything! www.nottinghampost.com/news/notting...
nottinghampost.com
Uni to axe hundreds of jobs and scrap courses to cut costs
The university said the changes are 'among the most significant' in its 145-year history
36430
Reposted by Christine Ferguson
Neil Mackay @neilmackay.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
From the Scottish Enlightenment to the Scottish Endarkenment Scotland’s universities are falling apart. Edinburgh is axing 90 degree courses in arts and humanities including single honours Scottish Literature. These are the courses that teach Scotland about Scotland In @heraldscotland.bsky.social
heraldscotland.com
The Scottish Endarkenment has dawned in this dumbed-down nation
The mass closure of university courses is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the unravelling of Scottish culture today, says Neil Mackay
139852
Reposted by Christine Ferguson
Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
'The University of Nottingham has confirmed that it will close its music and languages departments as it presses ahead with more than 500 job cuts despite widespread opposition from staff and students.' A blight on East Midlands and UK higher education.
timeshighereducation.com
Nottingham confirms course closures with hundreds of jobs affected
Languages and music departments to close despite strikes and protests but university insists it has addressed staff concerns in revised plans
8259196
Reposted by Christine Ferguson
Plashing Vole @plashingvole.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Desperately sorry about this. Yet more HE sector vandalism.
04215
Reposted by Christine Ferguson
beetle moses @beetlemoses.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Three panel comic. Panel 1: on the set of the Jerry Springer show, a man sits in a chair. Jerry signals off-stage and says, “we have with us: your ancestor who crawled out of the ocean 375 million years ago!” Panel 2: the live studio audience is booing. Panel 3: security attempts to break up a fight between the man on stage, and his ancestor, a tiktaalik.
72117322370
Reposted by Christine Ferguson
UCU Edinburgh @ucuedinburgh.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Day 7 of the UCU workers' strike against the job cuts and worsening conditions of staff under the current management regime. Our principal, Peter Mathieson, under whose leadership the cuts & a supposed financial black hole of £140 suddenly emerged, has announced his intention to step down in 2029.
3206
Christine Ferguson @cferguson.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Well done to our inspirational colleagues at @ucuedinburgh.bsky.social for holding strong on their first week of strike! So much solidarity is with you across the whole sector ❤️
081
Reposted by Christine Ferguson
Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
'Lecturers and support staff say the action by members of the UCU, the EIS and Unison on Thursday could effectively stop the university from operating. Management at the university plan to cut about 50 posts and say they have not ruled out compulsory redundancies.'
bbc.co.uk
Three unions strike at same time over job cuts at Glasgow Caledonian University
Lecturers and support staff say the action by the UCU, the EIS and Unison on Thursday will effectively close the university.
2127
Reposted by Christine Ferguson
Rich Raho @richraho.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The Keynote Speaker at the Annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in March, folks.
60776662287
Reposted by Christine Ferguson
Kate Manne @katemanne.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I wrote for @thecut.com about the Cornell case and what it says that, at my institution and many others like it, protesters are often punished more harshly than sexual assailants www.thecut.com/article/what...
thecut.com
What It Feels Like at Cornell Right Now
As a professor at the Ivy League school, Kate Manne has known many, many victims. There’s a palpable feeling on campus, she writes, that this is big.
521873618
Reposted by Christine Ferguson
University and College Union (UCU) @ucu.org.uk · 30/09/2026
Our members at Nottingham University commence strike action today over threats to hundreds of jobs and course closures. Please show them solidarity as they head onto picket lines this morning.
17842
Christine Ferguson @cferguson.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Dundee suffering from Schrodinger’s deficit- it’s there when management want to cut staff, but on SFC’s closer inspection not enough to qualify for SFC relief. Which is it?🤔 Solidarity with @ducuuo.bsky.social as they fight for their jobs and their institution
057
Reposted by Christine Ferguson
Dundee UCU @ducuuo.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Dundee University is continuing with compulsory redundancies. It argues this is required for the financial survival. However, the University’s cash is so high they may not qualify for £27m of the £40m additional SFC funding. The SFC have asked PWC to investigate. www.theferret.scot/dundee-unive...
theferret.scot
Dundee university might have too much cash to qualify for its taxpayer bailout
The university has continued to argue staff cuts are needed to make ends meet. But a growing cash balance has raised questions about the need for more redundancies, and whether it qualifies for millio...
11421
Reposted by Christine Ferguson
Plashing Vole @plashingvole.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Great news: the School has sacked a third of its academic but we've acquired 2 new interim managers on top of the extra permanent ones. Fine work all round.
1616741
Christine Ferguson @cferguson.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Solidarity to @ucuedinburgh.bsky.social as they fight what have clearly been proven to be unnecessary and disproportionate cuts within an institution that remains the wealthiest university in Scotland. Victory to the strikers! www.ucuedinburgh.org.uk/blog/five-we...
ucuedinburgh.org.uk
Staff at the University of Edinburgh start five-week strike — UCU Edinburgh
Members of the University and College Union (UCU) at the University of Edinburgh today (Monday) start five-weeks of strikes in a dispute over £140million cuts and compulsory redundancies. The strike f...
02712
Reposted by Christine Ferguson
UCU Edinburgh @ucuedinburgh.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Day 1 of the strike by the workers of UCU Edinburgh against the manufactured deficit (which is not really a deficit), and against a senior management earning millions while staff disappear and education suffers. Solidarity against this parasitical form of management of our higher education.
26239
Christine Ferguson @cferguson.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
If Ed Miliband wants to be taken seriously on this-- as I sincerely hope he does-- then the proscription on Palestine Action has to be dropped right away www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
‘You were right’: Ed Miliband tells critics Labour was wrong on Gaza
Foreign secretary will tell party’s conference ‘we are not here to accept the status quo but to change it’
000
Reposted by Christine Ferguson
Paul Bernal @paulbernal.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Empty words whilst Shabana Mahmood remains in post.
518332
Reposted by Christine Ferguson
Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
'University and College Union (UCU) branches refused to grade coursework and exams at the universities of Nottingham and Edinburgh and Goldsmiths, University of London, in response to managers’ plans for sweeping job cuts.'
timeshighereducation.com
Hundreds of students still without marks after boycotts – union
Learners left unable to graduate or progress by ‘last resort’ industrial action
02914
Reposted by Christine Ferguson
Stephen Shapiro @stephenshapiro.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Edinburgh University lecturers begin five-week strike over cuts
Members of the University and Colleges Union are walking out in part of a long-running dispute over job and course cuts.
032
Reposted by Christine Ferguson
Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Hmmm on what is arguably the biggest issue in British politics right now, Andy Burnham’s government sounds a lot like Keir Starmer’s…. Wild thought, but maybe this is what happens when you keep the same people in post?
2025766
Reposted by Christine Ferguson
Cllr Dr Alex Powell @apowelllaw.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
So, just to be clear, Daniel Thomas was: 1- Carrying a knife contrary to section 139 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 2- Used that knife to commit criminal damage (Criminal Damage act 1971) 3- likely engaged in the criminal offense of endangering Life at Sea (Merchant Shipping Act 1995)
7245101
Reposted by Christine Ferguson
flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
How is this working out for everyone, by the way? Surely fifteen years of standing behind the Tories, Farage, the Sun and the Mail while they demand our lunch money has done the trick, so there’s no need to keep saying “Yeah, do what he says” or “Do you want me to hold your jacket for you, Nige”.
Our borders are porous. Why can't our politicians admit the problems of immigration?
Polly Toynbee
Migrant numbers matter. They depress wages and determine where state funds go. This can only be addressed with honesty
Sat 27 Feb 2010 10.00 GMTRemain needs to change tack on immigration - or risk Brexit
Jonathan Freedland
The hour is very late, but Labour remain campaigners need to address the number one concern of people who will vote to leave Europe next week Tue 14 Jun 2016 11.00 BSTTo help real refugees, be firm with economic migrants
Nick Cohen
By blurring the distinction between refugees and economic migrants, the left does little to advance its cause
Sat 6 Feb 2016 17.29 GMT
614743
Reposted by Christine Ferguson
Neil Mackay @neilmackay.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
This is terrorism. Jail him.
55110
Reposted by Christine Ferguson
Dundee UCU @ducuuo.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
We are pushing back the start of the picket line to 8:45am to avoid the worst of the rain this morning. It should be off by 10am. Please share with anyone planning on getting there earlier.
071
Reposted by Christine Ferguson
Charlie Lynch @charlielynch.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
From the deerstalker to the séance. Arthur Conan Doyle’s last novel was intended to convert readers to spiritualism and help avert the apocalypse, but has bewildered publishers and readers ever since. I spoke to Prof Christine Ferguson to find out more: www.thenational.scot/culture/2656...
thenational.scot
From séances to print: The strange journey of a lost Conan Doyle chapter
YOU’VE surely heard of Sherlock Holmes, but what of The Land Of Mist? Over a century after his creation, Arthur Conan Doyle’s deerstalker-clad…
0198
Christine Ferguson @cferguson.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
So delighted to see this feature on my new scholarly edition of Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Land of Mist In today’s National! Thanks to @charlielynch.bsky.social for the interview!
A newspaper article with a photograph of Arthur Conan Doyle
2236
Reposted by Christine Ferguson
Dundee UCU @ducuuo.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Day 2 of 25 of our strike action. Students, colleagues, members come and join us on the picket line as e fight for the future of the University of Dundee. Who’s University. Our University.
12511
Reposted by Christine Ferguson
Roger Luckhurst @theprofrog.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
I reviewed Miéville’s extraordinary, intimidating novel The Rouse here:
lareviewofbooks.org
Decolonizing the Dead | Los Angeles Review of Books
China Miéville’s first solo novel in over a decade is part Lovecraft, part le Carré—and quintessentially weird.
1199
Reposted by Christine Ferguson
Darryl Jones @profdarryljones.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Hem hem. Me and him again. crimereads.com/darryl-jones...
crimereads.com
Darryl Jones on Discovering the Remarkable Ghost Stories of M.R. James
I didn’t know this until years later, but I first encountered Montague Rhodes James on Saturday 28 June 1980 at 10.30pm.  The BBC did my generation the lasting service of showing horror double bill…
1153
Christine Ferguson @cferguson.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
🤞🤞🤞
010
Reposted by Christine Ferguson
Kristof Smeyers @kristofsmeyers.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
6-year fully funded research and teaching assistant job at University of Ghent in the fields of English literature/cultural theory, history/translation history, linguistics, language acquisition, communication. Own projects are welcome! Details: jobs.ugent.be/job/Ghent-As...
jobs.ugent.be
Assistant English
Assistant English
13856
Reposted by Christine Ferguson
Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
'In the most notable case, the University of Nottingham’s University and College Union (UCU) branch has declared strike action of 67 days, expected to last for the majority of the autumn term, as the institution looks to cut 600 full-time equivalent jobs.'
timeshighereducation.com
UK universities face autumn of chaos as ‘prolonged’ strikes planned
Unprecedentedly long strikes at Nottingham, Edinburgh and Dundee could be the shape of things to come, observers say
14432
Christine Ferguson @cferguson.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
😁
000
Christine Ferguson @cferguson.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Hah, hope you liked it!
111
Reposted by Christine Ferguson
David Veevers @davidveevers.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Think of the combined CENTURIES of expertise lost here, the creativity, the knowledge, the depth and breadth of cultural learning and understanding, the generations of minds enriched and enlightened, the sheer weight of history that led to the establishment of these programmes. Purged. Destroyed.
813991
Reposted by Christine Ferguson
Aberdeen City Arts Board @adeencityartsboard.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Join us and AK Press, Greenhouse Records and Seditionist Distro.! Stalls from campaign groups, workshops/skill-shares, craftivism and also food and drink and lunch. See you there Aberdeen
Aberdeen Social Centre Activist Fair 2026 poster - Saturday 10th October 11am - 5pm. Dunbar Hall - Kings Campus Old Aberdeen
095
Christine Ferguson @cferguson.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
😳 the absolute audacity! Commisserations and solidarity
040
Reposted by Christine Ferguson
Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
'The register...includes 45 C of E clergymen, whose investments helped fund hundreds of slaving voyages and a 1720 relaunch of the RAC. Among them was Henry Brydges, later a canon at St Paul’s Cathedral, who bought half of his £10,000 shareholding on the day he became the Archdeacon of Rochester.'
theguardian.com
Fresh evidence of C of E’s role in enslavement uncovered as church wrestles with reparations debate
Register of British Slave Traders shows clergymen financed company that trafficked enslaved Africans on hundreds of voyages
0106
Reposted by Christine Ferguson
Matt Bors @mattbors.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
It was exactly ten years ago today, on my 33rd birthday, that I posted this comic online.
485297767668
Reposted by Christine Ferguson
David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
If you work at an oil major, I urge you to think hard about what the next decade will feel like. Do you want to greenlight another decades-long extraction project without reckoning with its full climate cost? Or use this moment to demand a different path?
203138469
Reposted by Christine Ferguson
The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
9/11 victim Michael Massaroli’s son: "You do my dad's legacy & the legacy of all victims no honor using this tragedy to spread hate. I've had to spend 25 years seeing people use it to hate on our Muslim brothers & sisters, people who don't look like them."
442225456066
Reposted by Christine Ferguson
Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
'In some respects, what we are seeing resembles a form of collective grief. Not only grief for colleagues who have left, but grief for ways of working, professional identities and communities that once gave meaning to academic life. This creates an important challenge for university leaders.'
wonkhe.com
The loss of staff belonging in higher education
Nick Hulbert-Williams argues that what looks like low morale and change fatigue in HE may really be a crisis of belonging
711949
Reposted by Christine Ferguson
Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Businesses are 'clear that universities should do "more to help students to gain workplace experience".' Are they clear that such workplace experience needs to be provided by, ahem, businesses?
ft.com
UK universities pledge work experience to more than 1mn students
Initiative comes amid growing concern among employers about young people’s readiness for workplace
713131
Reposted by Christine Ferguson
Plashing Vole @plashingvole.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Is it OK to have 7 supervisors in 2 years? Asking for a PhD student who has been told there’s nothing to complain about.
1813224
Christine Ferguson @cferguson.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Can’t wait to get my copy!
010
Reposted by Christine Ferguson
Thomas Lecaque @tlecaque.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
The people building the plagiarism-driven bullshit machine that keeps convincing people to kill themselves think that there's a 10% chance their product will kill all humans but the people who think the product is garbage and doesn't belong in education are the backwards whackjobs?
916843