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Karl Johnson

@karlpjohnson.bsky.social
203 followers 387 following 201 posts

Shetlander in Edinburgh, Sociology lecturer, Gaada advisory board, comic & sci-fi fan, parent and dog butler. Wrote The Loki Variations📗 saraband.net/sb-title/the-loki-vari… He/Him. Views are mine and Morag's🐶

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Reposted by Karl Johnson
Emily M. Bender @emilymbender.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Anthropic is out with new nonsense about Claude (or the collection of models called Claude) deserving moral consideration and/or be able to feel distress, so my inbox is filling up with journos asking me to comment. I've also got a day job, so here is a brief set of public comments on this: >>
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Death by a thousand cuts as universities revoke international offers "en masse" of prospective students from Bangladesh, Nigeria and Pakistan to avoid losing ability to recruit international students. More job losses and course closures predicted in consequence. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
giftarticle.ft.com
UK universities withdraw offers from international students to avoid blanket ban
Pullback comes in response to doubling in number of study visas being refused by the Home Office in the first six months of 2026
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
'In response to the era of artificial intelligence, and the questions it raises about culture, copyright and corporate power, the academics behind the Stuart Hall Archive Project have barred AI bots from accessing the data.'
theguardian.com
Thatcherism via the Walkman: Stuart Hall’s British cultural studies preserved online
Project lead says it celebrates ‘incredible contributions’ Jamaica-born sociologist made to Britain’s culture
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Shetland News @shetnews.co.uk · 08/10/2026
Loganair has apologised after “incorrectly” saying that removing the air discount scheme (ADS) would not affect its passenger numbers The airline has now walked back its comments after one of its officials claimed that the abolition of the ADS would have no impact, sparking uproar shet.news/pveat
shet.news
Loganair apologises for ‘incorrect’ ADS comments
LOGANAIR has apologised after “incorrectly” saying that removing the air discount scheme (ADS) would not affect its passenger numbers. The airline has now...
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Karl Johnson @karlpjohnson.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Can't imagine Thinking Allowed costs enough to warrant being cut. One of the few publicly accessible avenues into sociology, and a resource for students keeping up with new research.
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Moby Dick @mobydickatsea.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
all this is both foolish and unnecessary
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Karl Johnson @karlpjohnson.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
That time #Loki was a horse...
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Karl Johnson @karlpjohnson.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
You ARE cool. Maybe I'll stick it in my intro to soc module and see how/if the 1st year's respond...
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Karl Johnson @karlpjohnson.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I keep meaning to put this in a lecture. Love it.
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Becca Harrison @beccaeharrison.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
If I were running a university where staff spent weeks and weeks of time putting grant proposals together only for UKRI to feed them into LLMs without informed consent—effectively theft of the time and work—I’d be taking serious action to defend those staff. But I’m not running a university, so
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Dr Vanessa @hpsvanessa.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Just so, so, so, so tired of having to spend so much of my time, effort and mental energy on thinking and talking about a theft-based ecocidal socially harmful technology whose core public face (the LLM-slop type) has zero - ZERO - proven use cases in education and academia.
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Dr Vanessa @hpsvanessa.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Cannot tell you how much I hate this & how ashamed & angry I am that @ukri.org have taken this step. We KNOW this sort of gAI is socially biased, we KNOW it favours slopAI output over human-written. Our research landscape is falling apart due to underfunding, & they do this? it's *appalling*
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FinnMackay @finnfox.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Sociology! Yes Nige! Cheers bruh, do you wanna just put the clearing hotline up while you're at it....
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Fabio Chiusi @fabiochiusi.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
AI Exec: We May Have Pulled Off “The Largest Theft of Labor in Human History” www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
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Karl Johnson @karlpjohnson.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
There are still real people making real art in the world. Do yourself a favour & take 10 mins to see what @gaada.bsky.social is up to, as 3 of its artists are displaying at V&A Dundee www.vam.ac.uk/dundee/whats... until 4th October. www.youtube.com/watch?app=de...
youtube.com
Gaada: Art, Disability and Building a Different Kind of Art World
YouTube video by Gaada
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Caroline Dodds Pennock @carolinepennock.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Ditto 30,000 roles in universities in the past three years.
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Karl Johnson @karlpjohnson.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Is this really the best use of your (our) time right now?
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Karl Johnson @karlpjohnson.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
My pitch: everyone is a Muppet except for The Doctor.
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Euan Healey @euanhealey.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
That's just one subject, if a symbollically important one. It is hard to overstate the cultural and economic damage this level of assault on teaching and research will have in both the short and long term. Why do none of our governments seems to care about the death spasms of our universities?
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Karl Johnson @karlpjohnson.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Thank you kindly for all your hard work on this story and others like it.
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Karl Johnson @karlpjohnson.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Josh, could I trouble you to ask what the 6 programmes are in the School of Social & Political Science, please?
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Gav Maclean @gavmaclean.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Without paywall. £90m cuts aimed at staff; 1400 jobs. For an institution that is at zero risk and an institution that sucks so much money out of the wider ecosystem, this cannot be allowed.
archive.is
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Karl Johnson @karlpjohnson.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
JFC Solidarity with staff & students at Edinburgh. We're living through such a devastating act of self-harm. I dread to think what this will inspire other HEIs to do next.
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Gav Maclean @gavmaclean.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Feel like we need to start a sideline in steel to get a government rescue deal.
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Jonathan Pugh @jonpughislands.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
1/3 CFP: Islandness in Contemporary Critique Online Conference | 1–2 Feb 2027 We invite 15-minute papers advancing one clear conceptual provocation about how islandness is generative for contemporary critical thought 500-word abstracts due 1 Nov 2026
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Karl Johnson @karlpjohnson.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
"Union leaders have estimated that as many as 1,400 jobs could be lost. [...] The Herald understands that information about cuts in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (CAHSS) is expected imminently."
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UHI Institute for Northern Studies @insuhi.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
OK, get your diaries out (or open your digital diaries, of course) and note these dates for the upcoming UHI Institute for Northern Studies Free Public Seminar Series events. Register through tinyurl.com/pmf3e58a
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Ernesto Priego @ernestopriego.com · 11/09/2026
Wish we could finally admit that “speeding things up” and “maintaining robust processes” are fundamentally at odds, particularly when the intention is to achieve both through automation.
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Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
The idea that classrooms are chiefly spaces for product testing, and that it is irresponsible pedagogy not to enforce this, is both cynical and vile, and “fuck off” is a cogent response from any professional educator to any non-teaching salescreep or tech-but-not-subject-matter expert who voices it.
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Lauren Fraser @walkyouhome.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Blowing people's minds by reminding them that LLMs are built on information stolen from creators without their consent so undermine academic integrity by design
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Paul Haine @paulhaine.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
A lot of people don't realise this but in the UK we have to replace our Prime Minister every two or three years or else the rights revert back to Marvel
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Professor Peter Matthews @urbaneprofessor.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
just a reminder - the creation of Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire & Rescue Service led to everything going to shit for three years, before the services managed to struggle back to some semblance of a decent, locally-responsive service. The NHS will be f**ked by this.
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Professor Peter Matthews @urbaneprofessor.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
So "radical reform" is "make big and Scotland-wide" then . So innovative. So radical... And I bet you 20p and a used lollipop stick that the "specific arrangements for the islands" will involve getting rid of elected councils and councillors www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Swinney says reform is at heart of his programme for government
The first minister is due to set out his plans for the year ahead which are expected to include proposals for significant public service reform.
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Ballot Box Scotland @ballotbox.scot · 01/09/2026
Some rumours that the Programme for Government may include allowance for local authorities to merge. Before usual ill-informed "does a country Scotland's size need 32 councils" narrative fires up again, a reminder: Denmark has 98, for same population, in half the area, and those are largest in EU!
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Karl Johnson @karlpjohnson.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
One would hope/expect that Shetland's new SNP MSP, with responsibility for Public Finance, would be strongly against this.
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Karl Johnson @karlpjohnson.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Cutting 14 Regional Health Boards down to just 2 centralised ones is not 'reform', it's cuts that will cost more in the long-term to the communities (esp. Highlands & Islands) negatively impacted by loss of local knowledge, expertise, resources.
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Miriam Brett @miriambrett.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Scotland is highly geographically diverse. Centralising regional health boards wouldn’t only be costly and time consuming - diverting focus from service delivery - it’d undermine distinct geographical needs within and between regions, particularly for rural and island communities
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Karen Gregory @karengregory.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
It also raises serious questions about collective quality of life in the UK, as uni funding is a placeholder for range of broad social issues: local economies, economic health generally and labor markets, social mobility, global knowledge production, research infrastructures...
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Glen O'Hara @gsoh31.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
It's the Scottish (and even more so the Welsh) universities that one fears for most. As the system is configured now, they have no chance of continuing to provide good teaching and research. Many will not survive at all. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Scotland's universities face 'bleak' future as £200m funding gap revealed
A new report paints a 'bleak' picture of falling income from Scottish students and an over-reliance on international tuition fees.
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Antony Johnston @antonyjohnston.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
In 2014 Dolly Parton played a now-legendary set at the Glastonbury festival. The BBC has re-uploaded the whole performance to iPlayer, for those of you in the UK (or using VPNs… 😉) www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...
bbc.co.uk
Glastonbury - Dolly Parton (2014)
Dolly Parton performs a crowd-pleasing set including self-penned classics such as Jolene, Coat of Many Colours, 9 to 5, Islands in the Stream and I Will Always Love You.
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Kieran Hurley @kieranhurley.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
A lot will be made of Dolly Parton's persona, charisma, advocacy and philanthropy but of course she was also straightforwardly a shit-hot songwriter of the highest order. One of the greats.
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Karl Johnson @karlpjohnson.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
The world is genuinely poorer without her in it. These are truly the end times.
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Laura Webster @lauraewebster.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
🚨Exciting opportunity here: A very rare chance has emerged to become a Political Reporter with The National and Sunday National. We have a brilliant political team here, and we're looking for someone just as passionate about Scotland as we are to come and join us.
Some members of the team earlier this year
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Karl Johnson @karlpjohnson.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
To the tune of 'Crocodile Shoes'
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Shetland Elects @shetlandelects.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Population of Shetland by age, 2024: 0-19: 5,097 (-1,449) 20-39: 5,065 (-1,559) 40-59: 6,194 (+833) 60-79: 5,441 (+2,268) 80+: 1,393 (+575) +/- vs. 1991
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Roseanne Watt @roseannewatt.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Fave Shaetlan expressions ee noo: Hadd dee sheeks (“shut your mouth” lit “hold your cheeks” and I enjoy the ambiguity of cheeks there) Da deevil o hell couldna o fried him (a dear old friend said this of a piece of mackerel he was struggling to brown in the pan) Mixy up (“squash/diluting juice”)
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Grumpy Philosopher @stevecooke.org · 07/08/2026
One table has moved on to how much extra work reorganisations have created, & how moving people into open plan spaces means they can no longer work on campus or meet students easily. Increasing workloads while also making familiar tasks more onerous & crushing morale is the theme. Familiar.
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Grumpy Philosopher @stevecooke.org · 07/08/2026
Doing some work in one of our university cafes prior to a meeting. All I can hear is people around me talking about the shabby way they've been treated in the latest cost-cutting measures, misery about redundancies & departmental closures, & discussion of retirement. Things are grim.
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HWUCU @hwucu.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
WE HAD A DEAL! Watt happened? HWUCU back on strike today because our employer has signalled they won't keep their side of a deal made in June to protect jobs. No Compulsory Redundancy. @ucu.org.uk @joshpizpom.bsky.social @timeshighered.bsky.social @theferret.scot @ucuscotland.bsky.social
WE HAD A DEAL banner being hammered by 'worker bee'.
Two people in UCU hats hold a large banner, while a picketer in a bee costume hits the word deal with a mallet.Picketers in front of the Heriot-Watt sign protesting employer double cross.
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