Reposted by Christine FergusonAdam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 14hFrom the new Private Eye 411849685
Reposted by Christine FergusonUCU Edinburgh @ucuedinburgh.bsky.social · 20hDay 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 FergusonNina Markl 🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈 @ninamarkl.bsky.social · 06/10/2026560 (!!!) 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.comUni to axe hundreds of jobs and scrap courses to cut costsThe university said the changes are 'among the most significant' in its 145-year history 36430
Reposted by Christine FergusonNeil Mackay @neilmackay.bsky.social · 06/10/2026From 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.socialheraldscotland.comThe Scottish Endarkenment has dawned in this dumbed-down nationThe 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 FergusonMargot 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.comNottingham confirms course closures with hundreds of jobs affectedLanguages and music departments to close despite strikes and protests but university insists it has addressed staff concerns in revised plans 8259196
Reposted by Christine FergusonPlashing Vole @plashingvole.bsky.social · 05/10/2026Desperately sorry about this. Yet more HE sector vandalism. 04215
Reposted by Christine FergusonUCU Edinburgh @ucuedinburgh.bsky.social · 06/10/2026Day 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 · 03/10/2026Well 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 FergusonMargot 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.ukThree unions strike at same time over job cuts at Glasgow Caledonian UniversityLecturers and support staff say the action by the UCU, the EIS and Unison on Thursday will effectively close the university. 2127
Reposted by Christine FergusonRich Raho @richraho.bsky.social · 02/10/2026The Keynote Speaker at the Annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in March, folks. 60776662287
Reposted by Christine FergusonKate Manne @katemanne.bsky.social · 30/09/2026I 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.comWhat It Feels Like at Cornell Right NowAs 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 FergusonUniversity and College Union (UCU) @ucu.org.uk · 30/09/2026Our 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 · 30/09/2026Dundee 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 FergusonDundee UCU @ducuuo.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Dundee 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.scotDundee university might have too much cash to qualify for its taxpayer bailoutThe 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 FergusonPlashing Vole @plashingvole.bsky.social · 28/09/2026Great 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 · 28/09/2026Solidarity 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.ukStaff at the University of Edinburgh start five-week strike — UCU EdinburghMembers 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 FergusonUCU Edinburgh @ucuedinburgh.bsky.social · 28/09/2026Day 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 · 28/09/2026If 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 GazaForeign secretary will tell party’s conference ‘we are not here to accept the status quo but to change it’ 000
Reposted by Christine FergusonPaul Bernal @paulbernal.bsky.social · 27/09/2026Empty words whilst Shabana Mahmood remains in post. 518332
Reposted by Christine FergusonMargot 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.comHundreds of students still without marks after boycotts – unionLearners left unable to graduate or progress by ‘last resort’ industrial action 02914
Reposted by Christine FergusonStephen Shapiro @stephenshapiro.bsky.social · 28/09/2026www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...bbc.co.ukEdinburgh University lecturers begin five-week strike over cutsMembers 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 FergusonPeter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Hmmm 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 FergusonCllr Dr Alex Powell @apowelllaw.bsky.social · 23/09/2026So, 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 Fergusonflyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 23/09/2026How 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”. 614743
Reposted by Christine FergusonNeil Mackay @neilmackay.bsky.social · 23/09/2026This is terrorism. Jail him. 55110
Reposted by Christine FergusonDundee UCU @ducuuo.bsky.social · 23/09/2026We 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 FergusonCharlie Lynch @charlielynch.bsky.social · 22/09/2026From 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.scotFrom séances to print: The strange journey of a lost Conan Doyle chapterYOU’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 · 22/09/2026So 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! 2236
Reposted by Christine FergusonDundee UCU @ducuuo.bsky.social · 22/09/2026Day 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 FergusonRoger Luckhurst @theprofrog.bsky.social · 21/09/2026I reviewed Miéville’s extraordinary, intimidating novel The Rouse here:lareviewofbooks.orgDecolonizing the Dead | Los Angeles Review of BooksChina Miéville’s first solo novel in over a decade is part Lovecraft, part le Carré—and quintessentially weird. 1199
Reposted by Christine FergusonDarryl Jones @profdarryljones.bsky.social · 21/09/2026Hem hem. Me and him again. crimereads.com/darryl-jones...crimereads.comDarryl Jones on Discovering the Remarkable Ghost Stories of M.R. JamesI 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
Reposted by Christine FergusonKristof Smeyers @kristofsmeyers.bsky.social · 21/09/20266-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.beAssistant EnglishAssistant English 13856
Reposted by Christine FergusonMargot 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.comUK universities face autumn of chaos as ‘prolonged’ strikes plannedUnprecedentedly long strikes at Nottingham, Edinburgh and Dundee could be the shape of things to come, observers say 14432
Reposted by Christine FergusonDavid Veevers @davidveevers.bsky.social · 18/09/2026Think 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 FergusonAberdeen City Arts Board @adeencityartsboard.bsky.social · 19/09/2026Join 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 095
Christine Ferguson @cferguson.bsky.social · 16/09/2026😳 the absolute audacity! Commisserations and solidarity 040
Reposted by Christine FergusonMargot 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.comFresh evidence of C of E’s role in enslavement uncovered as church wrestles with reparations debateRegister of British Slave Traders shows clergymen financed company that trafficked enslaved Africans on hundreds of voyages 0106
Reposted by Christine FergusonMatt Bors @mattbors.bsky.social · 14/09/2026It was exactly ten years ago today, on my 33rd birthday, that I posted this comic online. 485297767668
Reposted by Christine FergusonDavid Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 12/09/2026If 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 FergusonThe Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 11/09/20269/11 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 FergusonMargot 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.comThe loss of staff belonging in higher educationNick 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 FergusonMargot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 10/09/2026Businesses 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.comUK universities pledge work experience to more than 1mn studentsInitiative comes amid growing concern among employers about young people’s readiness for workplace 713131
Reposted by Christine FergusonPlashing Vole @plashingvole.bsky.social · 10/09/2026Is 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
Reposted by Christine FergusonThomas Lecaque @tlecaque.bsky.social · 09/09/2026The 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