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Nicki

@nickinde.bsky.social
180 followers 336 following 105 posts

writing about work, exploitation and exhaustion in the Nile Valley. Also union secretary at a Welsh university. No genAI. Direct action may not always work, but it does make you feel better

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🇵🇸 Dean Tāne 🇵🇸 @dean-tane.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Three years into this genocide there’s still many who think this is too “nuanced” or “complicated” to have an opinion on it
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Musa Okwonga @okwonga.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Excellent analysis. There is no sugarcoating what is happening here in Germany. Most of the political centre is enabling if not actively supporting the rise of fascism. The Left‘s remarkable performance in the Berlin elections is not being heralded as an earthquake but treated as a threat.
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Nicki @nickinde.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I’ve marked several essays about the terrible crimes of King Leopard II in the Belgian Congo
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Paul Hebden @paulhebden.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
So are we saying that if I got a van and started ramming ambulances, slashing their tires and assaulting their staff, I'd be fine as long as I was a fascist. Mahmood should be sacked. The situation with this government is intolerable.
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Jess O'Thomson @jessothomson.co.uk · 23/09/2026
Don't know what to say anymore
Protesters amassed in Gosport, Hampshire, after rumours spread that the migrants might be brought ashore by lifeboats there. Police closed off access roads to the marina as activists rallied by Thomas on YouTube arrived to attempt to block the boat’s arrival. Crowds of masked protesters confronted a line of police to chants of “let them drown” sung by a child over a megaphone.
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👻 🎃 🦇 Bela Lughosti's Dad 🏳️‍⚧️ 🇵🇸 @belalugosisdad.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
A very dear friend and antifascist comrade is facing serious charges resulting from defending migrants housed in hotels in Bristol from a far right march in 2025. He's a father, has £11k in legal fees up front, and may be facing prison time if he doesn't win. Please dobate below.
chuffed.org
Support a Bristol antifascist on trial
Support a Bristol antifascist facing charges for resisting far right attacks
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Anna Girling @annagirling.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
The Centre of African Studies is the only academic institute in Scotland of its kind - with its own budget, space, and leadership - and has produced, and brought to Edinburgh, generations of scholars. The proposal to close ('restructure') it diminishes the university, and Edinburgh, as a whole.
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Daniel C. Blight @danielcblight.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
***URGENT PLEASE SHARE*** University of Brighton management have announced today that they ‘give notice of termination of all collective agreements’. This is a fundamental erasure of workers' rights. Management have announced the termination of all contractual documents, which includes:
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Independent Social Research Foundation @isrfoundation.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Plans for university restructuring and cuts follow the same pattern - an announcement of voluntary severance schemes, followed by risk of redundancy letters and then a 90-day consultation period. What happens during these negotiations? Our latest dispatch explores further
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Negotiating the cuts: Reflections on a University Statutory Redundancy Consultation
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Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
they've been pushing "AI in the classroom" for years now and while the studies of its detrimental effects pile up, and *student* as well as instructor resistance builds, the arguments for it haven't gotten any better or even changed from this tired, greasy attempt at giving orders
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Jack Saundrs @jacksaundrs.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Can you imagine, can you imagine, what the cops, the media and the political class would be doing right now if a left group dressed in masks and uniforms to go blockade a port
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Laurence Totelin @ltotelin.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
No compulsory redundancies is good news, but it means that management was successful in scaring enough people to leave. And that has serious implications, outlined in this thread. Solidarity
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Laleh Khalili @lalehkhalili.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
On the one hand, the press hound a black scholar to death, on the other hand, on this one, where the academic fraud is front and centre and the dude is an Epstein pal... crickets... www.dukechronicle.com/article/duke...
dukechronicle.com
‘Insane data’: Duke professor Dan Ariely accused of additional research fraud
New evidence released Monday shows that Dan Ariely, professor of business administration in the Fuqua School of Business, likely tampered with or fabricated data in an influential research paper from ...
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Nicki @nickinde.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
And/or: you are an academic with racist, sexist and/or transphobic views who needs to maintain this fictional version of “academic freedom” to help avoid your own consequences
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End Political Homelessness Now @raaleh.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
The British Press routinely hounds named individuals to suicide. Break up the papers and regulate them into nonexistence because their continued operation is a threat to everyone who lives here who they may choose to target.
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Ed @notdred.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Kind of hard for Bluesky people to argue this was all about academic standards when these guys are openly crowing that it was about race
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John Aerni-Flessner @lesothojohn.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
This is an absolute travesty. Northwestern has, probably, the 2nd best library collection for African History/Studies in the USA (behind Yale and ahead of MSU, UCLA, etc). A self-inflicted wound that is absolutely, 100% unnecessary given the massive wealth of Northwestern--north of $15 billion.
thepurplewire.beehiiv.com
SCOOP: Northwestern moves to close Program of African Studies
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arnie @arnie.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
one of the absolute best ways to reinvigorate the high street is to fix housing & rents (& there are several ways to do that), so ppl who would spend their money locally rather than it going to ppl who hoard it for a 4th or 5th btl property & their annual 2-3 week trip to barbados every february
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Steven Perkins @stevenperkins.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
“Look I am quite capable of destroying higher education *and* kicking trans people in the teeth at the same time and I deserve to be allowed to continue”
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mattie lubchansky @mattielubchansky.com · 29/07/2026
what the fuck do you mean "everyone is using AI and nobody admits it." what the fuck do you mean. who are you talking to. you have allowed a demon to devour your soul. begone
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Clive Lewis MP @labourlewis.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
1/4 A growing number of higher education institutions are using dirty tactics to undermine staff pension rights, pay and working conditions.
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Nicki @nickinde.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Cardiff Uni have proudly put out press about this to celebrate
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daviddoddington.bsky.social @daviddoddington.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
🧵Bittersweet in the bonfire of UKHE, and some personal disappointment from my Uni, but receiving recognition from my peers is the most incredible honor, and I'm lucky in so many ways. A huge thank you to the Social History Society for awarding me the book prize. www.cardiff.ac.uk/news/view/30...
cardiff.ac.uk
Cardiff University historian receives award and multiple nominations
Dr David Stefan Doddington has won the Social History Society’s (SHS) Book Prize 2026.
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Alan @gammacounter.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
6 years of research: "The only trait that consistently predicted objections to remote work was narcissism—the tendency to be self-centered & entitled. The higher the opinions of themselves leaders expressed, the more they coveted power and status—& the more they favored return-to-office mandates."
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Nicki @nickinde.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Today is ten years to the day since my dad died, and I am finding reading this wonderful thread of real computer science comforting. I have some ideas of what he would think of AI code, and I treasure his 1970s programming punch cards. Miss you dad
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David Harvie @davidharvie.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Given ongoing attacks on university staff and research (at @exeter.ac.uk and many other institutions) with arts and humanities, critical social sciences, environmental science and sustainability particular targets, it’s worth resharing ‘Universities Degraded’.
zenodo.org
Universities Degraded: Staff Experiences & Employer Practices of Redundancies in UK Higher Education
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Conducted between August and October 2024 and publicised mainly by members of the University and College Union (UCU), the ‘Survey for UCU Members on HE Redundancies’ invited response...
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Alex Prichard @profalexp.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
@exeter.ac.uk is not in deficit, has £200m+ cash reserves, hasn’t invested in white elephants, doesn’t have a recruitment problem, never had 1000s of international students, and deliveres outstanding outcomes in teaching and research. If UEB’s data projects a deficit won’t they share it with UCU?
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Dr Susan Greaney @suegreaney.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
And now it is Exeter's turn. Along with c.500 other academic staff, mostly in humanities, my job is 'at risk' in order to make c.150 of us redundant 😞
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Ben Phillips @benphillips1989.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
A statement from Exeter UCU branch @ucu.org.uk - please share far and wide.
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Nicki @nickinde.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Other kids must study how to survive and work most efficiently within the real world (apprenticing, skills, AI) and their kids must get to explore new intellectual frontiers
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Julie Cupples @juliecupples79.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
It's never just about saving money, the point of university restructuring is to be cruel and bring about trauma, based on an assumption that traumatized subjects do not fight back.
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Royal Historical Society @royalhistsoc.org · 18/06/2026
The Society now invites applications, from PhD students, for the 2026-27 Martin Lynn Scholarship in African History bit.ly/4xD5ZyN The Scholarship provides funding to support doctoral research in Africa and is named for the late Professor Martin Lynn (QUB). Closing date 4 September #Skystorians 1/2
bit.ly
Martin Lynn Scholarship in African history: applications now invited from PhD students - RHS
Applications are now invited for the Society's annual Martin Lynn Scholarship in African history. The Scholarship supports graduate students undertake doctoral research in Africa during the academic y...
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Mark Williams @mrfw17thc.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
"Cardiff University has admitted that it doesn’t know how much it is spending overall on external consultants or hold a central record of what work they are doing." Staff expenditure: Count every last penny or you may lose your job. Their expenditure: Meh.
nation.cymru
Cardiff University criticised over consultant secrecy
Martin Shipton Cardiff University has admitted that it doesn’t know how much it is spending overall on external consultants or hold a central record of what work they are doing. Academic sources have ...
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BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
writing about Rabban Sauma and he is definitely the funniest of the Mongol-era world traveller guys because he literally spends thirty-five years living in a cave and aged 55 or so is like 'well i guess it's time to travel the length of Eurasia.'
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Nicki @nickinde.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
This is an incredible win using really powerful strike threat, huge congratulations to @ucuhallam.bsky.social It’s coming for the rest of the sector, and we need to learn faster than the velociraptors
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BOOsky Eldritch 🖤👻🦝 @tenredpencils1.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
citizen! to deal with you accordingly we must know - are you holding the firebomb of legitimate concerns, or the placard of illegal opinions?
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New-Cleckit Dominie @ncdominie.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Every staff update in every university right now: 1. We are excited to announce a strategic investment of eleventeen squillion pounds in ACRONYM, a new AI-powered centre for the development of strategic acronyms. 2. Staff have until Friday to apply for enhanced Voluntary Death.
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Pete Miles @petermiles.eurosky.social · 03/06/2026
Cory Doctorow was interviewed by Anna Foster on BBC Radio 4 Today on the topic of AI. I've captured a transcript of the questions here in a short thread (with the help of Google AI voice-to-text. Good AI, thank-you.) 1/5
AF: We could spend the whole of the rest of the day talking about AI but sometimes we need focus…

CD: Oh God, must we?

AF: We must, we must and while we decided to focus on this idea of a crisis of control, do you think that there is one?

CD: I think AI is the money-losing-est thing the human race has ever done, I think it's grossly oversold and I think that the capital markets have lost their minds because of the confluence of large tech monopolies that have saturated their markets and need to convince investors that they can keep growing despite the fact that they have 90% market shares and the fact that they have a large customer base of bosses who are just infinitely excited at the prospect of firing mouthy workers who know how to do things that they don't know how to do and replacing them with software that compliantly does whatever it's told.
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Grumpy Philosopher @stevecooke.org · 03/06/2026
Three quarters of universities in deficit, tens of thousands of jobs being lost, & the government tells us there’s no money. They can, however, find close to the entire budget allocation for teaching from the Office for Students on a private theme park.
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Nicki @nickinde.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Just to note, Cardiff Uni management has paid over £1m to this dangerously bad consultancy in only the last 11 months. At redundancy rates over 2025/26, that’s about 13 full time academics (who are just “costs”)
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Nicki @nickinde.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
Excellent thread on UK uni sector risks, can vouch for the cardiff non-crisis
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Nicki @nickinde.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Horrific. The university executive should not know peace
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Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshks.org · 20/05/2026
It must be emphasized that we need powerful, robust ACADEMIC history IN universities to sustain history OUTSIDE universities. If we can’t employ people in higher ed to train future generations of public historians, we will not have future generations of public historians. 🗃️
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Nicki @nickinde.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Wes Streeting [redacted] challenge
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David Veevers @davidveevers.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Jesus Christ - this is Uni of Herts. Solidarity to all colleagues there.
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Plashing Vole @plashingvole.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
15 minutes; no questions; government got the blame; my department to have 60% of us sacked. Apparently sacking us will lead to a ‘new, improved’ curriculum. No voluntary scheme, straight to selection and legal minimum redundancy payment.
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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
everyone is going to be assigned Deleuze and Guattari readings until we figure out what is going on
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QM_UCU @qmucu.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
Just declaring that job security and workable workload are 'simply gone', as if it's some abstract, outside entity has irreversibly imposed that, and not the decisions made by *her* and her team -- and their refusal to actual advocate for what universities are.
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Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
Can anyone explain to me what the Blue Labour justification for this is? Who out there will vote Labour because Mahmood prevented a Sudanese Chevening Scholar? And to be honest, why won’t the PM simply overrule her?
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