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Andrew McRae

@mcraeandrew.bsky.social
1.6K followers 991 following 880 posts

English prof, Uni of Exeter. Prone to talk about UK politics, higher education policy, the 17th century, the excellence of English studies, & Aussie sports.

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Henry Mance @henrymance.ft.com · 44m
Okay
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Seth Abramson @sethabramson.bsky.social · 15h
With each additional news report following yesterday's shocking announcement, it will become even clearer which side of the war in Europe America is now on
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
My man ended USAID, condemning millions to death
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Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
“Well, I never did”, as my dad used to say.
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Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
This is completely outrageous and disgusting. This must immediately be blocked by Congress and Trump should be impeached for this. The US is now funding Putin’s war machine as he murders civilians including children. We are lost as a country.
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Mic Wright @brokenbottleboy.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
“Badenoch is more popular than her party in the way that being kicked in the crotch is preferable to beheading.” brokenbottleboy.substack.com/p/kemi-charm...
brokenbottleboy.substack.com
Kemi-charmed life
Praise for Kemi Badenoch’s Tory party conference speech shows the British right-wing press engaged in an act of collective fantasy.
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 08/10/2026
Q: How do you define socialism personally? JD VANCE: I think in reality what it actually means in the American context is you want to replace American workers with foreigners workers, and you want boys to play in girls' sports
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Taylor Aucoin @aucointaylor.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Our book The Experience of Work in Early Modern England has turned one. They grow up so fast! 🎂 This blogpost marks the publication anniversary with a brisk walk through the labours & fruits of #earlymodern #autumn 🍎🍺🐂👇 drtayloraucoin.com/2025/11/20/t... #history
drtayloraucoin.com
The Autumnal Experience of Work in Early Modern England
This post is part of a series marking the print and online Open Access (free) publication of The Experience of Work in Early Modern England. The book is co-authored by Jane Whittle, Mark Hailwood, …
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Martin Paul Eve @eve.gd · 05/10/2026
This is the political economic trade-off in our space: politics (time devoted to critiquing AI, developing policies for handling it) vs. pleasure (reading and teaching literature). And that’s what AI, along with every other bureaucratic incursion, ends up taking away from us. eve.gd/2026/10/05/m...
eve.gd
My View on AI and University-Level English Literature
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Andrew McRae @mcraeandrew.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
It includes this stunning description of Raise the Colours. Better late than never - and pity it’s left to p. 7.
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Andrew McRae @mcraeandrew.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
The only problem with this story is that the Guardian editors didn’t splash it across page 1. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
theguardian.com
‘Bully in every way’: domestic abuse survivors say ex-partners behind far-right UK street patrols
Seven women share their stories to make people aware of patterns of violence behind anti-immigration street patrol movement
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
"Yeah, sorry your kid died or whatever. What do you think about my chandeliers?"
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Rev. Dr. Liz Gloyn @lizgloyn.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Just looking at the Future Nottingham program and spotting that one of its planks is 'our Tutoring for Students Success initiative will replace traditional one-to-one personal tutoring'. Namely, breaking the link between pastoral support in a department and a student. I have VIEWS.
nottingham.ac.uk
News - Shaping Nottingham's future - University of Nottingham
Over the past two years, we have been developing a clear plan to strengthen our organisation for the future. Known as Future Nottingham, the aim is to create a university that is more focused in its a...
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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
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Onni Gust @onnigust.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
41% staffing cuts in the Faculty of Arts at UoN. We're entering a wilderness of creativity and critical thinking.
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Andrew McRae @mcraeandrew.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
In an ideal world, the way Musk wants to perceive himself might differ from the way our left-wing newspaper chooses to depict him. Too much to ask?
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Andrew McRae @mcraeandrew.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
This man’s reckless, inhumane actions have caused untold death and suffering across the world. Is this really an appropriate image for the Guardian?
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Andrew McRae @mcraeandrew.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Lectures in ethics, of course - possibly entirely unpaid. 🤷‍♂️
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Prof. Liz Oakley-Brown @earlymodlancs.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
An English Literature degree (broadly defined) is underpinned by so-called soft skills
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Dan Sohege @danielsohege.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Who amongst us hasn't been tempted...
Accountant calls police after being asked to attend meeting
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Dale Vince @dalevince.com · 01/10/2026
Was just explaining this to someone at Labour’s conference - Crown Estate owns the coast and seabed and charges for the use of it for green energy projects - pushing up energy bills.
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The Empty City @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Bless.
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Jack Lynch @jacklynch000.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Teaching Swift today, and will always share this on “Modest Proposal” day.
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Henry Mance @henrymance.ft.com · 30/09/2026
Man City have shown zero remorse and are still belittling the legal process. Hard to see how they can expect any leniency.
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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
It’s a mark of the corruption of our whole way of thinking about the world that trying to meet a planetary emergency is routinely described as “ideological”, while continuing to accelerate it is presented as “pragmatic” and “economic”.
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James Austin @jamesdaustin.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Rally is as packed as anything I've been to at Conferance - with a huge range of excellent, passionate speakers. The fight back against the EHRC guidance and to rebuild trans rights starts here.
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Andrew McRae @mcraeandrew.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
This thread offers a glimmer of hope. bsky.app/profile/heta...
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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Each week you think: Braverman will never outdo this. She'll never say something madder than what just came out her mouth. And each week, she proves you wrong. Just the maddest fool on earth.
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Andrew McRae @mcraeandrew.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
An appeal for the UK HE English community: I’m convening a panel for the @univeng.bsky.social OGM, 11/12, for people coordinating REF2029 returns for UoA2029 (or for a cognate sub-panel, but including English lit/lang researchers). Contact me if you’d like to contribute.
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Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP @bellribeiroaddy.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Three people, including a child, drowned in the Channel today. Our politics is so broken that the debate is never about how we stop these deaths and always about how we can come up with harsher policies that make more deaths inevitable.
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Andrew McRae @mcraeandrew.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
But with that income, surely comes greater responsibility for campus culture. Classism is insidious; I’ve seen it at multiple unis, not least my own. I’m not sure a casual assurance from the vice-principal that students may bring prejudices but ‘tend not to leave with them’ really cuts it.
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Andrew McRae @mcraeandrew.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
This piece exposes a university business model unlike any other in the UK. 20% of UGs are Americans! No redundancies there, then. www.theguardian.com/education/20...
theguardian.com
‘It’s like the Scottish Upper East Side’: shame and snobbery as American students blamed for St Andrews classism
Online comments reflect class tensions at Scottish university between those from lower-income families and wealthier US undergraduates
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Andrew McRae @mcraeandrew.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
#wato just assured us they ‘look like … British men’. 🤔
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David Kernohan @dkernohan.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/...
wonkhe.com
Graduates now cover 84 per cent of the cost of a degree
The effects of little-noticed threshold freezes
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Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
She was an FBI agent. She started an investigation of the murder of Renee Good. Trump forced her to reclassify it as an ICE agent assault. She was then forced to resign. Her evidence confirms that a cover-up of the homicide has been undertaken, directed from the highest levels.
cnn.com
FBI agent who initially investigated fatal ICE shooting in Minneapolis has resigned | CNN Politics
The FBI agent who initially began working with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to investigate the fatal ICE shooting of Renee Good has resigned from the bureau, two sources familiar with...
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En Buen Ora @enbuenora.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
This is a fantastic brief essay in how news media & pundits turn upside down who is who is being punished for speaking freely--in the case of Kraft, Macklemore, & Sheeran--when rich elites want things to go one way, but unruly peasant masses refuse to go along. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/se...
lrb.co.uk
Lorna Finlayson | Public Positions
In much of the coverage of the Ed Sheeran-Macklemore debacle, the reality of the incident is turned on its head, as...
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Andrew McRae @mcraeandrew.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
And if it really is as simple as ‘rich guy buys an academic title with £millions’, somebody very senior needs to go.
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Andrew McRae @mcraeandrew.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
This is so completely mad, it reads like an April 1 story. www.theguardian.com/education/20...
theguardian.com
Backlash as Indian oil heir made professor of sustainability by Newcastle University
Role for Anant Ambani, son of India’s richest person, who also runs a controversial mega-zoo, met with incredulity
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John Stott @jpsastro.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Had a UKRI funded grant proposal rejected at the "AI triage stage". "This AI-based triage was used only to identify approximately 50% of the strongest proposals to take forward to full human review." 🧪 #academicsky
I am writing to let you know that, unfortunately, your application was not successful.

Review process

As part of the initial triage of the 179 proposals submitted to this call, each was assessed using an AI-based review. Every proposal was read independently by several different AI models against the same seven criteria used to shape this call (including cyber security relevance, research quality and novelty, importance of the problem addressed, feasibility of the project plan, likely outputs and impact, value for money, and responsible research practice), with each model asked to give a score and a written justification with supporting quotations from the text. To guard against any one model's idiosyncrasies, we also ran a second, independent process in which different AI models debated the merits and weaknesses of each proposal before reaching a judgement, again against the same criteria. Scores from both processes were combined to produce an overall ranking. 

This AI-based triage was used only to identify approximately 50% of the strongest proposals to take forward to full human review.  Projects selected for funding were drawn from those that progressed to the full human review stage. We recognise that AI-assisted assessment is a new and evolving part of the review process, and we are continuing to evaluate how well it aligns with the judgements of human reviewers on this call. We will soon produce a document detailing our method, so that others can build upon it and improve it.

Feedback on your application

Your application was not selected to progress beyond the AI triage stage.  To provide transparency on the outcome of this assessment, we are sharing below the scores (out of 5) from each of the two AI review processes described above, together with the mean score across the two processes.
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Alasdair Mackenzie @alasdairmackenzie.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The BBC has long given up even pretending to be interested in who these people are, why they are coming or how they might feel, in favour of acting as a kind of shop window for the parties to display their wares of violence and cruelty
bbc.co.uk
Most migrant small boat arrivals in single day of 2026
A total of 781 migrants arrive on Wednesday, but the yearly total is below the same point in 2025.
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Andrew McRae @mcraeandrew.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
‘You can’t make this up.’ 🤔
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Dan Sohege @danielsohege.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Not a dicky bird about thugs trying to sink a dinghy with a rescue worker on board or their claims to be "forming an army". Two boats of people seeking safety land and bingo bango they're the ones portrayed as the issue. Labour is complict in the rise of the far right. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Home Secretary hits out at 'unacceptable' migrant landings in Kent
Usually brought ashore by Border Security Command or the RNLI, these are the first uncontrolled landings since 2025.
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Andrew McRae @mcraeandrew.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Gobsmacking, headexploding radio. #bbcpm
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BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
something has gone very, very wrong with the UK
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Tom Freeman @tomfreeman.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
I mean, any time now would be good. If it's not too much trouble
Headline: "‘Outright racist’ Daniel Thomas will face full force of law over any crimes, says home secretary"
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Peter Whitewood @pwhitewood.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
‘If converted into registrations, that fall in [international student] applications would represent a loss of about £416 million of income per annum for the university sector’
timeshighereducation.com
V-cs seek answers over ‘late surge’ in UK student visa refusals
Growing numbers of institutions expected to have breached new compliance rules, endangering future recruitment prospects
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Andrew McRae @mcraeandrew.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
‘Daniel Thomas, known as Danny Tommo, shared a YouTube livestream of the boat from the Channel.’ Seriously, how obvious does far-right crime need to be before the BBC reports it? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Dozens of migrants taken to Dover after more than 30 hours at sea
Protesters had earlier gathered in Gosport after an initial report that the small boat would be brought further west.
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Brandy Zadrozny @brandyzadrozny.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Bonus for whoever wrote this chyron
Trump speaking at UN — MS NOW chyron reads: Trump touts being a peacemaker while asking if he should annihilate Iran
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Paul Bernal @paulbernal.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Thousands of university jobs lost too, and barely a peep either.
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