Mark Robson
@markrobsoninfo.bsky.social
Arriving here but gently.
Reposted by Mark Robson
We will start 25 days of strike action next week as we fight to save jobs at University of Dundee.
Join us on the picket line on our first day of our action (Monday 21st September) and you will find a delicious selection of home baked treats. Raising money for the student hardship fund and members.
Join us on the picket line on our first day of our action (Monday 21st September) and you will find a delicious selection of home baked treats. Raising money for the student hardship fund and members.
September 18, 2026 at 6:57 AM
We will start 25 days of strike action next week as we fight to save jobs at University of Dundee.
Join us on the picket line on our first day of our action (Monday 21st September) and you will find a delicious selection of home baked treats. Raising money for the student hardship fund and members.
Join us on the picket line on our first day of our action (Monday 21st September) and you will find a delicious selection of home baked treats. Raising money for the student hardship fund and members.
So if I understand today’s news correctly, the UK is threatened by AI-powered foreign eggs that arrive on small boats.
August 27, 2026 at 9:22 PM
So if I understand today’s news correctly, the UK is threatened by AI-powered foreign eggs that arrive on small boats.
Reposted by Mark Robson
I hope everyone caught this Lancet study confirming that Elon Musk & DOGE are responsible for genocidal levels of suffering & death.
Evaluating the impact of two decades of USAID interventions and projecting the effects of defunding on mortality up to 2030: a retrospective impact evaluation and forecasting analysis
USAID funding has significantly contributed to the reduction in adult and child mortality
across low-income and middle-income countries over the past two decades. Our estimates
show that, unless the a...
www.thelancet.com
August 23, 2026 at 6:30 PM
I hope everyone caught this Lancet study confirming that Elon Musk & DOGE are responsible for genocidal levels of suffering & death.
Reposted by Mark Robson
"All of this falls apart if humans don't adopt the tech. This is why you've seen Meta cram its lame chatbots into WhatsApp and Instagram. This is why Notepad and Paint now have useless Copilot buttons on Windows. This is why Google Gemini wants to "help you" read and reply to your emails."
Analysis: OpenAI is a loss-making machine, how can it survive?
Don't call it a bubble! Loss-making monster OpenAI is on the hook for $1.4 trillion (with a T) in compute commitments. How can this go on?
www.windowscentral.com
November 29, 2025 at 11:30 PM
"All of this falls apart if humans don't adopt the tech. This is why you've seen Meta cram its lame chatbots into WhatsApp and Instagram. This is why Notepad and Paint now have useless Copilot buttons on Windows. This is why Google Gemini wants to "help you" read and reply to your emails."
Reposted by Mark Robson
Change the name of the institution and the vampire consultants and this is the same story at any number of different institutions.
A national scandal.
A national scandal.
Behind the bewildering transformation of British universities, are management consultants being paid millions
Really proud to have this vital piece on our unis are being gutted from the inside by @jheathershaw.bsky.social on Democracy for Sale. Do read
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/inside-bri...
Really proud to have this vital piece on our unis are being gutted from the inside by @jheathershaw.bsky.social on Democracy for Sale. Do read
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/inside-bri...
Inside Britain's university crisis
As teaching staff face job loss, their bosses have netted pay rises and bought advice from a “vampiric” management consultancy, writes Prof. John Heathershaw of the University of Exeter
democracyforsale.substack.com
August 3, 2026 at 11:44 AM
Change the name of the institution and the vampire consultants and this is the same story at any number of different institutions.
A national scandal.
A national scandal.
Reposted by Mark Robson
A birthday card I made for a poet friend
August 1, 2026 at 6:22 PM
A birthday card I made for a poet friend
Reposted by Mark Robson
I gave evidence to the House of Commons Education Select Committee: very short account here
schoolsweek.co.uk/secondary-en...
schoolsweek.co.uk/secondary-en...
Curriculum 'crowds out' reading for pleasure, says expert
'Teach for the test' approach and a focus on phonics are taking the fun out of reading, say experts
schoolsweek.co.uk
May 15, 2026 at 10:33 AM
I gave evidence to the House of Commons Education Select Committee: very short account here
schoolsweek.co.uk/secondary-en...
schoolsweek.co.uk/secondary-en...
Reposted by Mark Robson
A deeply destructive and inexpert management consultancy class has emerged whose sole purpose is to shrink Anglosphere universities and to undermine their future - all the better to secure more work.
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/inside-bri...
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/inside-bri...
Inside Britain's university crisis
As teaching staff face job loss, their bosses have netted pay rises and bought advice from a “vampiric” management consultancy, writes Prof. John Heathershaw of the University of Exeter
democracyforsale.substack.com
August 1, 2026 at 10:21 AM
A deeply destructive and inexpert management consultancy class has emerged whose sole purpose is to shrink Anglosphere universities and to undermine their future - all the better to secure more work.
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/inside-bri...
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/inside-bri...
How can anyone not want to eat in a place called George Lobster?
July 21, 2026 at 8:39 PM
How can anyone not want to eat in a place called George Lobster?
Meant to include @gsoh31.bsky.social
As TS Eliot almost put it: ‘Facts don’t fall from the sky like rain, they are laid like bricks into the place prepared for them’. Where ideology meets university-as-business spreadsheets are mind-maps @ducuuo.bsky.social
Humanities among degrees being ‘extinguished’ by hard-up universities
Experts fear rise in education ‘cold spots’ and social immobility as 4,000 academic posts lost in one year 🔗⮛
Experts fear rise in education ‘cold spots’ and social immobility as 4,000 academic posts lost in one year 🔗⮛
July 14, 2026 at 8:04 PM
Meant to include @gsoh31.bsky.social
As TS Eliot almost put it: ‘Facts don’t fall from the sky like rain, they are laid like bricks into the place prepared for them’. Where ideology meets university-as-business spreadsheets are mind-maps @ducuuo.bsky.social
Humanities among degrees being ‘extinguished’ by hard-up universities
Experts fear rise in education ‘cold spots’ and social immobility as 4,000 academic posts lost in one year 🔗⮛
Experts fear rise in education ‘cold spots’ and social immobility as 4,000 academic posts lost in one year 🔗⮛
July 14, 2026 at 8:02 PM
As TS Eliot almost put it: ‘Facts don’t fall from the sky like rain, they are laid like bricks into the place prepared for them’. Where ideology meets university-as-business spreadsheets are mind-maps @ducuuo.bsky.social
Reposted by Mark Robson
I don't think we can fix the currently tattered contract between generations if we keep on doing stuff like this.
It's like the reverse of future-proofing. Future damning?
It's like the reverse of future-proofing. Future damning?
Performing and creative arts university courses will no longer receive funding from a government teaching grant as part of “difficult decisions” about spending priorities, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has said.
DfE slashes creative and performing arts teaching grants for universities - Arts Professional
Performing and creative arts university courses will no longer receive funding from a government teaching grant as part of "difficult decisions" about
www.artsprofessional.co.uk
July 8, 2026 at 10:32 AM
I don't think we can fix the currently tattered contract between generations if we keep on doing stuff like this.
It's like the reverse of future-proofing. Future damning?
It's like the reverse of future-proofing. Future damning?
Reposted by Mark Robson
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. 🇬🇧
*Chemistry
*Nursing
*High-end physics
*Languages
*Astronomy
*Creative arts
*Theatre and performance
*Cultural industries
*Europe-level science
The UK has lost its mind. 🇬🇧
July 8, 2026 at 11:02 AM
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. 🇬🇧
*Chemistry
*Nursing
*High-end physics
*Languages
*Astronomy
*Creative arts
*Theatre and performance
*Cultural industries
*Europe-level science
The UK has lost its mind. 🇬🇧
Much of the world’s violence stems from the desire to prevent the coming generations from changing the world, so as to preserve the status quo from which those in power benefit. It begins by limiting attempts to imagine that different world. This matters.
www.artsprofessional.co.uk/news/dfe-sla...
www.artsprofessional.co.uk/news/dfe-sla...
DfE slashes creative and performing arts teaching grants for universities - Arts Professional
Performing and creative arts university courses will no longer receive funding from a government teaching grant as part of "difficult decisions" about
www.artsprofessional.co.uk
July 8, 2026 at 11:01 AM
Much of the world’s violence stems from the desire to prevent the coming generations from changing the world, so as to preserve the status quo from which those in power benefit. It begins by limiting attempts to imagine that different world. This matters.
www.artsprofessional.co.uk/news/dfe-sla...
www.artsprofessional.co.uk/news/dfe-sla...
I remember a game on Twitter that allowed you to boot Farage into the sea. Did it make it to Bluesky?
July 7, 2026 at 1:58 PM
I remember a game on Twitter that allowed you to boot Farage into the sea. Did it make it to Bluesky?
Thank god Farage never had any credibility. He’d be in trouble now otherwise, but.
July 6, 2026 at 11:14 PM
Thank god Farage never had any credibility. He’d be in trouble now otherwise, but.
Education, education, ssshhhh. The sheer negligence of this highlights the contradiction between the casual destruction of higher education and every policy ambition (social mobility, growth, employability, economic health of ‘regions’, etc.). Self-interest doesn’t need to be very enlightened here.
The Department for Education has confirmed that universities will receive £50.9 million less in teaching grants next academic year. Bridget Phillipson, the education minister has defended the reduction in light of tuition fee rises.
https://ow.ly/6UWJ50ZkLlf
https://ow.ly/6UWJ50ZkLlf
July 6, 2026 at 11:12 PM
Education, education, ssshhhh. The sheer negligence of this highlights the contradiction between the casual destruction of higher education and every policy ambition (social mobility, growth, employability, economic health of ‘regions’, etc.). Self-interest doesn’t need to be very enlightened here.
Wonderful that that nice Mr Trump thinks Harry Kane, scorer of of one goal, is great. I wonder why he didn’t mention Jude Bellingham, scorer of two goals? Thankfully we can’t suspect any prejudice, or else it might seem odd.
July 6, 2026 at 11:04 PM
Wonderful that that nice Mr Trump thinks Harry Kane, scorer of of one goal, is great. I wonder why he didn’t mention Jude Bellingham, scorer of two goals? Thankfully we can’t suspect any prejudice, or else it might seem odd.
Reposted by Mark Robson
The special issue on ‘The Sentence’ that I edited for them in 2025 is currently the freely available sample issue. www.euppublishing.com/toc/count/11/1
Edinburgh University Press Journals - Table of Contents - count: Vol 11, No 1
www.euppublishing.com
June 25, 2026 at 1:18 PM
The special issue on ‘The Sentence’ that I edited for them in 2025 is currently the freely available sample issue. www.euppublishing.com/toc/count/11/1
Reposted by Mark Robson
wanna learn more about myths and lies, and truths and numbers, on lifetime employment opportunities for english majors and other humanists?
we've got (free) merch!
humanitiesworks.org
we've got (free) merch!
humanitiesworks.org
June 27, 2026 at 1:23 PM
wanna learn more about myths and lies, and truths and numbers, on lifetime employment opportunities for english majors and other humanists?
we've got (free) merch!
humanitiesworks.org
we've got (free) merch!
humanitiesworks.org
Good start to the week with a couple of enjoyable days in Oxford for a @countertext-eup.bsky.social roundtable.
June 25, 2026 at 1:15 PM
Good start to the week with a couple of enjoyable days in Oxford for a @countertext-eup.bsky.social roundtable.
Kai Havertz and let slip the dogs of war …
June 14, 2026 at 6:52 PM
Kai Havertz and let slip the dogs of war …
Watching A Very Peculiar Practice partly out of nostalgia, and it’s still sharp and funny, but painful to see the normalisation of what Andrew Davies saw (rightly) as the unhinged undoing of the university.
June 3, 2026 at 10:13 PM
Watching A Very Peculiar Practice partly out of nostalgia, and it’s still sharp and funny, but painful to see the normalisation of what Andrew Davies saw (rightly) as the unhinged undoing of the university.