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Elaine McGirr

@emmcgirr.bsky.social
1.4K followers 889 following 705 posts

Eighteenth-century & theatre historian; cat & child wrangler; immigrant.

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Elaine McGirr @emmcgirr.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Sorry to report my furry research assistants have fallen down on the job.
Two black and white cats flopped in a sun spot not being any help to anyone
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Elaine McGirr @emmcgirr.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Students never cease to amaze & impress me. This morning's hat-tip is to the undergrad chatting to a friend about how their planned early night turned into a late one & yet they were there at 9 am with packed lunch, bright eyes & bushy tail.
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Ana Marie Cox @anamariecox.com · 17/09/2026
New cat just dropped. Landed on its feet, it’s fine.
nationalgeographic.com
Meet the First New Cat Species Discovered in 100 Years
A small, spotted tiger cat from Bolivia may just be the beginning of a wave of new small cat species.
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Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshks.org · 16/09/2026
UMass budgeted for AI services. It decided to not budget for (1) a humanities center; (2) adequate research support in the humanities; (3) desperately needed faculty lines; (4) urgent capital improvements to physical buildings. It’s not that it’s “too expensive,” it’s that they don’t want to.
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Annalisa Nicholson @apuddleofmuddle.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
It's just weird isn't it when the British Museum is running a sold-out exhibition, when The Odyssey reports $1billion at the box office, when the V&A has just opened the most innovative and accessible museum model in Europe....and this is what our minister for research comes out with.
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Elaine McGirr @emmcgirr.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Mood
Frightened-looking stone lion dude
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Alex Prichard @profalexp.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
It also became clear that Uni exec were leaning on the advice of a consultancy firm that has been shaping HE policy in the US, Canada, Australia and the UK: Nous (or Nousferatu, as they’re now known). The fact VCs and others are delegating policy to consultants, despite £400k salaries, is disgusting
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Jack Lynch @jacklynch000.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
"What is the point of having money if you don't use it to help people?" — Dolly Parton, Dollywood Foundation press briefing (2016) (Attn: today's mega-billionaires.)
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Adrian Streete @profastreete.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
We’re advertising a Lectureship in British Romantic Literature - please circulate. www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DSS069/l...
jobs.ac.uk
Lecturer in British Romantic Literature at University of Glasgow
Discover Lecturer in British Romantic Literature jobs and more in higher education on jobs.ac.uk. Apply for further details on the top job board.
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Elaine McGirr @emmcgirr.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Mood
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Elaine McGirr @emmcgirr.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Mood
Portuguese tile showing a cat caught in a net painted by someone who had never ever seen a cat
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Dr Hannah Murray @hlmurray.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
A reminder that the institution cannot and will not love you back.
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Elaine McGirr @emmcgirr.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
RAIN!
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Elaine McGirr @emmcgirr.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
💯 this. But it's also relative: 20° C is pleasantly warm for England; 80° F is pleasantly warm in the States. They are not the same temperature
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Elaine McGirr @emmcgirr.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
I have always said my fears of bees/wasps in the car & sneezing while driving are not phobias as are v rational
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Glen O'Hara @gsoh31.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
The UK has now said it will actively harm or damage: *Chemistry *Nursing *High-end physics *Languages *Astronomy *Creative arts *Theatre and performance *Cultural industries *Europe-level science The UK has lost its mind. 🇬🇧
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Elaine McGirr @emmcgirr.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Look at my brilliant colleagues being brilliant
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Elaine McGirr @emmcgirr.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
It's off. I mean, it's still kinda shit, but it's off.
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Elaine McGirr @emmcgirr.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Ugh. I *have* to get this essay off my desk today & I hate each and every of the 6253 words in it. Send gin.
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Liesbeth Corens @onslies.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
This petition needs as many signatories as the Exeter one. Please sign and share — don’t let Hertfordshire managers get away with this just because a Russell Group one took the spotlight. #UKHE
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Elaine McGirr @emmcgirr.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Hathitrust is questioning my humanity
Computer screen showing "security verification" as it "verifies you are not a bot". It seems pretty conflicted.
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Arts Matter Bristol @uobartsmatter.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Congratulations to Future Places Toolkit which has now been incorporated & launched as a registered company! 🥳 Led by Prof Paul Clarke (Theatre), Future Places uses VR & AR to help communities actively co-design the places they live & socialise in Read more 👇 www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2026/ju...
bristol.ac.uk
June: Bristol spinout brings neighbourhood planning to life with immersive tech | News and features | University of Bristol
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
UK-based early career historian in need of up to £2,000 to complete a project? Deadline for the Royal Historical Society's scheme is 4 September: royalhistorical.smapply.io/prog/early_c...
royalhistsoc.org
Early Career Fellowship Grants - RHS
The Society's Early Career Fellowship Grant scheme provides grants of £2,000, maximum, for discrete research projects lasting no more than six months. In 2026, two rounds of grants will be awarded by ...
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Trans* Book History @transbookhistory.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Book and Print History Folks: In the press room we use a rope tied to the bed of the handpress and to the ceiling to support the open tympan and frisket. I've been told this rope is called an "ingham" but I cannot find any reference to it in the literature. Whatcha got?
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Elaine McGirr @emmcgirr.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
RIP David Hockney. Husband & I went to. Hockney exhibition on our first date. Hockney always makes me happy.
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Elaine McGirr @emmcgirr.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Your regular reminder that percolation is also writing: after days of productive procrastination while the back of my brain worried about this chapter, I just churned out 500 words in an hour. #amwriting #theatrehistory
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Elaine McGirr @emmcgirr.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Sadness. Buffy and Ted Lasso star Anthony Head dies at 72 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Anthony Head: Buffy and Ted Lasso actor dies at 72
The British actor, who also appeared in Merlin and Little Britain, died of complications from pneumonia.
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Elaine McGirr @emmcgirr.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
Cycled uphill (both ways! It's Bristol!) to the library to collect a book & now I'm too enervated to actually read it.
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Elaine McGirr @emmcgirr.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
Sitting in my office trying to decide if the library's A/C is enough inducement to counterbalance the long hot slog to get there. I can't believe I was complaining about the hail & freezing temps last week.
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
The 'stinging rebuke' is open access here. You don't need to be an historian to applaud it. #Skystorians 2/2
royalhistsoc.org
History and the humanities at the University of Hertfordshire – a statement from the Royal Historical Society - RHS
Even for those familiar with bleak times, this has been a particularly bad few weeks in UK higher education. Confirmed job losses at the University of Essex were followed by further bad news from Hert...
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The Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) @themerl.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
We’re appointing a writer-in-residence! Join us to respond to our holdings related to the Bloomsbury Group (including the archives of Leonard and Virginia Woolf’s Hogarth Press) ahead of a major exhibition in 2027. Applications close 19 May. Best of luck! collections.reading.ac.uk/news-and-vie...
collections.reading.ac.uk
Call for Applications: Writer in Residence - Blooming Bloomsbury and the Modernist Archives Publishing Project -Creativity and Community Co-Curation (2026)  | Museums and Collections
The selected writer will spend the summer months (June—September 2026) drawing inspiration from MAPP to develop new creative work. From September to December, they will build on this...
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Senator Chris Van Hollen @vanhollen.senate.gov · 14/05/2026
Today, I offered an amendment that would have shut this scam down. My amendment would've prevented self-dealing by public officials — including the President & members of Congress — who own or promote digital asset companies, including crypto. Every Republican voted against it.
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Mic Wright @brokenbottleboy.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Farage now insisting he is “not and has never been a crook”. Lucky there’s no political history of “I am not a crook” as a line of defence coming back to bite anyone.
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Elaine McGirr @emmcgirr.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
I taught in Hums at UHerts & the students & staff were & are incredible. They deserve better than this & society needs more thoughtful, creative, curious humans. Save Humanities.
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Jo Grady @drjogrady.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
Yesterday Kier Starmer announced Labour will nationalise British Steel, and save 2700 jobs. Today, the Uni of Nottingham put 2700 staff at risk of redundancy. This is just one university. Across the UK 15,000 higher education jobs need saving. Where is the rescue package for our universities?
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Dan Kaszeta FRHistS @dankaszeta.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
Shouldn't running a fictional person as a candidate incur some sort of criminal sanction?
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Finbarr Bermingham @fbermingham.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
10/10, no notes www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/nationa...
oxfordmail.co.uk
RTE to air Father Ted Eurovision episode as it boycotts song contest
Ireland joins Spain and Slovenia in refusing to compete in or broadcast the competition, while the Netherlands and Iceland have refused to send acts.
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Elaine McGirr @emmcgirr.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Lolz. French professor investigated for awarding himself fake prize www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
French professor investigated for awarding himself fake prize
The academic is accused of dreaming up the prize he went on to win and has been suspended from his university.
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Dave Andress @davidandress.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Informed people make choices that are better for them and for society at large. The mission of partisan mass-media is to keep people poorly-informed. This is also why Musk bought Twitter, how Facebook works, and why independent journalism is becoming untenable as a profession.
theguardian.com
Imagine a technique that can heal Britain of division and keep out the hard right. I call it ‘radical listening’ | George Monbiot
In my constituency, a group of volunteers chats with people – most of whom find they are to the left of their voting intentions, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
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Natalia Cecire @ncecire.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
So much of the economics of education are predicated on the obviously false proposition that learning is not labor
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Tobias Wilson-Bates @phdhurtbrain.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
Being asked to do more with less is one of those internet era maxims that seems to imply ingenuity, but is actually just the managerial slogan for squeezing uncompensated labor out of workers unwilling or unable to leave their current employment.
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Caroline Dodds Pennock @carolinepennock.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
Well, well, well.
theguardian.com
Sussex University overturns £585,000 fine as high court rejects free speech breach claim
Ruling is blow to Office for Students after it issued fine for handling of protests over professor’s trans rights views
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Elaine McGirr @emmcgirr.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
today's hero is William 'Gentleman' Smith who knew how to do retirement well: "he continued riding, drinking good wine, and walking until his late eighties." #lifegoals
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Danielle Terrazas Williams @drdanielletw.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
PhD Funding! King’s College London’s Leverhulme Centre for Research on Slavery in War is pleased to announce the availability of a fully funded doctoral studentship from October 2026. We invite proposals on aspects of historical war studies 1791-1926. www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DRD022/p...
jobs.ac.uk
PhD Studentship: King’s College London’s Leverhulme Centre for Research on Slavery in War (CRSW) Doctoral Studentships at King's College London
jobs.ac.uk now advertising a PhD Studentship: King’s College London’s Leverhulme Centre for Research on Slavery in War (CRSW) Doctoral Studentships Visit jobs.ac.uk to apply and to browse more PhD opportunities.
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Elaine McGirr @emmcgirr.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
Is there a nice way to say that actors making charitable appearances get the credit for being charitable w/o having to actually part with any cash? (Writing about who benefits from benefits) #amwriting #c18 #theatrehistory
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Elaine McGirr @emmcgirr.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
Teen was doing her homework in the kitchen. Cat, ŵ infinite love, brought her a mouse & ripped it open to show Teen the exciting mousie insides. Teen did not appreciate her gift.
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Jennifer Caroccio Maldonado, PhD @drcaromaldo.blacksky.app · 26/03/2026
You know who actually supports my work? Daycare workers. That's the industry that needs billions poured into, not tech and slop AI.
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Elaine McGirr @emmcgirr.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
Today's tiny work rebellion was completing the compulsory DSE training on my laptop from my bed. Where I've been writing & reading for the last 3 months.
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Elaine McGirr @emmcgirr.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
The cats are worried abt me: yesterday they gifted me a 5 am mouse, & today they put an exciting slug in my bed.
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Elaine McGirr @emmcgirr.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Things I've asked my writing group this week: • Do I need to be more explicit that the dancing-masters were pimps? • which of these quotes is the filthiest? • is it obvious that the stilts represent an erection? #amwriting #c18 #theatrehistory
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