Reposted by Ian Websterbecimay @becimay.bsky.social · 19/09/2026My TLS piece on the Exeter cuts ✨ 314152
Ian Webster @websterij.bsky.social · 02/09/2026"the pleasure of describing complex things and conveying the joy of understanding" Good Weird or Bad Weird www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...lrb.co.ukColin Burrow · Good Weird or Bad Weird: Uses of CriticismLiterary criticism is a supremely occasional skill, where you have to be bold enough to operate where there aren’t any... 010
Ian Webster @websterij.bsky.social · 29/08/2026Well done University of Exeter management. Redundancies, a shortage of accomodation, and now this. A tip top team. www.theguardian.com/education/20...theguardian.comExeter University approves deal with Saudi Arabia to train military officers and officialsIn move that could generate millions, Exeter academics to deliver MA at National Defense University in Riyadh 010
Ian Webster @websterij.bsky.social · 25/08/2026The management of the University of Exeter goes from strength to strength. 001
Ian Webster @websterij.bsky.social · 18/08/2026It’s difficult. But perhaps a moral imperative to imagine a world “expanded to the limitless dimensions of hope.” 110
Reposted by Ian WebsterDerek D. Turner @wiserthanddt.bsky.social · 10/08/2026Excellent letter from the BSPS. Watching what's happening at Exeter with great concern for friends there. 0103
Ian Webster @websterij.bsky.social · 03/08/2026Make sure you make it to the end 16/16 is super important. Congratulations Matt. 020
Ian Webster @websterij.bsky.social · 01/08/2026Let's not forget that these changes are about remaking the university into a corporate entity... no longer an education, but customers buying products 020
Ian Webster @websterij.bsky.social · 24/07/2026Someone's labour theory of value - Ricardo, Sraffa, or maybe Marx www.theguardian.com/technology/2...theguardian.comElon Musk says he got ‘carried away’ with Trump – but still holds on to contentious political viewsIn interview, billionaire says instead of running ‘Doge’ he should’ve ‘worked on my companies’ and shares extreme predictions 000
Ian Webster @websterij.bsky.social · 21/07/2026And I thought Burnham should have kept Jones as he seemed a capable minister and his previous chairing of Select Committees was brilliant. But now I understand Burnham's reasoning 000
Ian Webster @websterij.bsky.social · 20/07/2026Congratulation to @lucympowell.bsky.social. You've been brilliant as deputy leader and can you now please sort out the mess in higher education? 010
Ian Webster @websterij.bsky.social · 20/07/2026Looks like Burnham’s going for the Poincaré option: ‘The Rentiers of the Right could entrust him with their purses, and the Puritans of the Left could entrust him with their principals’ 020
Ian Webster @websterij.bsky.social · 20/07/2026It's something that The Guardian is supportive, but it needs to be longer and louder in that support www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...theguardian.comThe Guardian view on humanities cuts in universities: academic departments are more than cost centres | EditorialEditorial: Literature, the arts and social sciences must not be sacrificed as higher education funding is squeezed 011
Reposted by Ian WebsterHetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 18/07/2026My heart is heavy that we are making a collective miscalculation in undervaluing the humanities - from my FT piece www.ft.com/content/fbde... 727693
Ian Webster @websterij.bsky.social · 17/07/2026Though not about the cuts in humanities in the UK this piece wonderfully explains the inadequate thinking, reading, and analysis done by those making decisions with "the credulous use of social-science or scientistic [or economic] methods for the concerns and objects of the humanities" 010
Ian Webster @websterij.bsky.social · 17/07/2026Maybe there is some economic value in English after all. 000
Ian Webster @websterij.bsky.social · 15/07/2026Kudos to Bristol www.theguardian.com/education/20...theguardian.comFlorence Welch’s mother says cuts to arts and humanities ‘absolutely tragic’Exclusive: Prof Evelyn Welch, vice-chancellor of Bristol University, believes her daughter’s success shows value of arts education 021
Ian Webster @websterij.bsky.social · 15/07/2026Good to see that University of Exeter has its priorities right. Cutting humanities, and cozying up to the defence industry. 020
Ian Webster @websterij.bsky.social · 06/07/2026So much for universities cutting humanities departments. It is naive and will back fire. 000
Ian Webster @websterij.bsky.social · 01/07/2026This analysis of the crisis at British universities, using Exeter as the prime example deserves a wide audience. johnheathershaw.substack.com/p/the-crisis...johnheathershaw.substack.comThe Crisis in Britain’s UniversitiesThe cuts that have been proposed at the University of Exeter demonstrate the crisis of purpose in Britain’s universities. Should not universities also be places to prepare for "eternal dwellings"? 000
Ian Webster @websterij.bsky.social · 01/07/2026Only when big names shout out do the media pick up the story. The story is not Exeter or their supporters it is about the dismantling of humanities: www.theguardian.com/education/20...theguardian.comFury over Exeter University plan to scrap dozens of humanities postsRowan Williams and Mark Kermode join campaign against proposed cuts for arts and social sciences 133
Reposted by Ian WebsterVenus Bivar @vbivar.bsky.social · 01/07/2026In solidarity, always, while simultaneously aware that I am extremely lucky to be where I am. c.org/2nzpctxpmFc.orgSign the PetitionSave the Humanities at the University of Hertfordshire 067
Ian Webster @websterij.bsky.social · 30/06/2026This is one of the reasons why Exeter's decision to make cuts to the English department doesn't make sense. Even in a world where universities are solely for getting a job for graduates, English manages to do that rather effectively. 020
Ian Webster @websterij.bsky.social · 30/06/2026@steveracemp.bsky.social any comment on what's happening at the university? 000
Ian Webster @websterij.bsky.social · 30/06/2026Unbridled vandalism www.timeshighereducation.com/news/i-thoug...timeshighereducation.com‘I thought we were safe’: shock at Exeter’s humanities ‘gamble’Leading department being in the firing line shows how changing student preferences are fundamentally reshaping universities 053
Ian Webster @websterij.bsky.social · 30/06/2026It might just help change the senior management team's minds 021
Ian Webster @websterij.bsky.social · 29/06/2026Don't let the senior management at Exeter play silly financial games with the brilliant academic staff c.org/XDMSfwtvw5c.orgSign the PetitionStop Redundancies at the University of Exeter 110
Ian Webster @websterij.bsky.social · 25/05/2026It's made it to the FT giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...giftarticle.ft.comWhy young academics are leaving academiaAs more PhD holders compete for limited university jobs, many are reconsidering the appeal of industry careers 000
Ian Webster @websterij.bsky.social · 21/03/2026T.S. Eliot described by Golding as a 'silly old twit'. It's a wonderful review. www.the-tls.com/lives/letter...the-tls.comDarkness visibleIn February 1955, William Golding wrote to Charles Monteith, his editor at Faber & Faber, the firm that had published his first novel, Lord of the Flies, a few months earlier: “The other night I sat u... 021
Reposted by Ian WebsterTony Cuda @ajcuda.bsky.social · 26/11/2025We're overjoyed to announce next summer's star-studded line-up of scholars. Join us at Merton College, University of Oxford, 4-12 July 2026, for an unforgettable week of poetry! 053
Ian Webster @websterij.bsky.social · 27/01/2026This tells us what a Reform government would be like 000
Reposted by Ian WebsterThe International T. S. Eliot Society @intleliotsociety.bsky.social · 19/01/2026Why is the Eliot Summer School ALWAYS FUN? We think it's thanks to Director Cuda and all the students! Sign up, join, come or come again to nerd out at Eliot Camp this summer 💪🤓🌻 022
Ian Webster @websterij.bsky.social · 15/01/2026Perhaps if we think of AI as a market it might give us a reasonable guide on how to regulate it 000
Ian Webster @websterij.bsky.social · 25/11/2025be gone analysis, examination, and determining... it is time to wonder 120
Reposted by Ian WebsterTony Cuda @ajcuda.bsky.social · 15/11/2025Why is this mysterious woman ALWAYS RIGHT? She's the skeleton key to T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land... register for the 2026 International Summer School and let's talk about why! tseliotschool.com. @intleliotsociety.bsky.social @tseliotfoundation.bsky.social thanks @benjuhmuhn.bsky.social art, 031
Reposted by Ian WebsterRia Banerjee @ria4983.bsky.social · 03/11/2025Hey what could be better on a chilly Thursday in November than to edit those abstracts destined for MSA/BAMS? Doing so with the Eliot Society grad reps, of course! 041
Reposted by Ian WebsterTony Cuda @ajcuda.bsky.social · 30/10/2025The Waste Land, Halloween edition! 011
Reposted by Ian WebsterTony Cuda @ajcuda.bsky.social · 26/10/2025Help me get this word out? Thanks! Scholarships available, full schedule soon 012
Ian Webster @websterij.bsky.social · 13/10/2025From the FT "Joel Mokyr is known as an economic historian rather than someone who stuffs their papers with whizzy maths. And this is the fourth Nobel in a row to feature a substantial economic history element." Some hope for the economics profession? 000
Ian Webster @websterij.bsky.social · 20/06/2025Always an fascinating award to following. Congrats to the winners. societyofauthors.org/prizes/the-s...societyofauthors.orgEric Gregory Awards - The Society of AuthorsFor a collection by poets under the age of 30 020