Tom Cutterham

Me in the morning, sowing: so nice to have a bit of light in the sky again! Me at 3.45pm, reaping: 😑

In turn, this minimalist early government strategy was shaped by widespread opposition to the use of force (and its potential cost) in every layer of British society.

"Although this might all seem like history, there are important lessons for us to draw." Really nice of the head of my university to acknowledge so gracefully that, just maybe, against all expectations, learning about history has value in the present!

AOC: "As AI begins to encroach in our society, their goal is to take your cognition away from you. AI's goal is to take your thoughts away from you, your ability to think away from you, so that you become dependent on a machine ... reading books is active resistance"

My overheads are around 160%. So for every £10k that goes to cover my salary etc, the university charges £16k for overheads. For that I am given a hot desk in an open plan. I have an email account that vanishes emails. I use my own personal laptop. I often wonder how much goes on 'leadership'?

The government trumpeting the creation and safeguarding of a grand total of ~300 jobs by granting Jackdaw, and vandalising our planet in the process. For context, *Aberdeen University alone* lost 440 roles between 2023-25.

If you use AI-produced writing in humanities scholarship you are dead to me. How I evaluate that kind of writing is by crossing you off my list,

The big question, it seems to me, is not whether we’ll see a major tech company fail in the near future. It is what happens afterward. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

Reading The Times (UK) for work reasons and, well, it's really meeting expectations.

This #BlackHistoryMonth #BHM2026 we’re highlighting a remarkable story from our Revolution 250 exhibition. Scipio Handley was a free-born Black Loyalist, fisherman, Revolutionary War veteran, and spy. His story took him from revolutionary America to London’s growing early-modern Black community.

Initially thought this read "so far" [like in that Simpsons meme], which would also of course be true.

This piece, which I wrote several years ago, lays out the arguments for celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day in place of Columbus Day. Enjoy. michaelleroyoberg.com/discovery-an...

Guardian copy-editors, you are killing me.

This is how we should see these magnificant animals, not hauled up on a boat or in fillets on a slab. We should no more catch or kill this rare and stunning megafauna than we should trap or kill tigers or whales. Here are some more of Rupert’s photos from yesterday, with his kind permission.

With two days of strike action under our belts, we now begin over two months of continuous in response to our university's gross financial negligence. Shout out to Notts Solidarity Group for the slides! And @tregenza.bsky.social for the original photos.

Your city might not be as far gone as Birmingham, but no matter where you live, you're likely to find familiar many of the aspects of @sarahchaundler.bsky.social's brilliant and now publicly available short film "City of Cars." Stop what you're doing and watch this.

I'm now past the phase of receiving sycophantic bot emails about how brilliant my new book is, and into the phase of increasingly rude follow-up emails: most recently just, "hello???"

PPE has always been above the law.

The ability to end these disruptive strikes lies in the hands of @uniofnottingham.bsky.social managers. The staff on strike are trying to save the university and the education of current and future students. #UCU #UKHE www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Why isn't one of the broken mugs here (in this Guardian cartoon) the famous "Controls on Immigration" one? Or is that not a slogan Burnham fans are prepared to say was bad?

Bleak

But, needless to say, that is not a university: that’s a taxpayer-subsidized engine for private capital accumulation that retains the external form of a university —a beloved brand, taken over by private equity, that’s now different & worse, but keeps the old name—which is of course the whole point.

Love this city 🫶 #birmingham

Bombshell

If you live in Birmingham and don't already subscribe to The Dispatch--you really should!

In my part of the university they cut the support staff, then cut the joint honours programmes "because they're creating too much work for the support staff." We no longer offer History & Philosophy (among many other things).

"Scholars have groped for what even to call this dire diminishment of intellectual capacity. 'Human enfeeblement' has been proposed, and alike 'cognitive surrender' and even 'cognitive extinction.' (You could also call it, 'losing your mind.')"

I endorse the anti-AI pedagogy, obviously, but also: imagine having this kind of democratic, department-level control over our policies and practices. Not in UKHE!

Paul Johnson's turn as a radio journalist is giving me renewed respect for Alan Partridge.

What a cover! @uvapress.bsky.social are killing it lately.

Good scrolling effect at the top of this: www.propublica.org/article/dona...

Berkeley is hiring in Modern European Intellectual History - please help us spread the word 🙏

Join us for a lunchtime conversation featuring historians Tom Cutterham and Leanne O’Boyle! In-person tickets include a self-guided tour of Benjamin Franklin House! Thursday 17th September 2026, 12pm-1:30pm Benjamin Franklin House & online Link in bio for more details!

Stealing Cars, Part II: Fordism and Flexible Enclosure

One week to go! booksontherise.com/event/empire...

Sadly such a common sight. And absolutely not acceptable. #schoolstreets #streetsforkids #carspreading

When it comes to any new technology, the burden should be on its proponents to explain and show that it's (1) ethical and (2) pedagogically sound before it's introduced in the classroom. Most of the AI debate is flipped, as if objecting on ethical or environmental grounds is a personality quirk.

We know how to teach books in the age of AI: small classes, close reading, research-engaged learning (which is how you ’let students see you struggle’). The issue is nobody will hire and pay the requisite # of faculty to offer this.

We have to reform our governance structures to avoid this being sprung on us again. We are not a corporation. VCs don't deserve that pay. Universities are a non-profit, educational instituons. We need to prioritse academic freedom to pursue curiosity-led research and world leading education.

My 3rd thread on the dispute at Exeter Uni. What are we fighting for? Is it just to save jobs? No. We need a workplace that is run by the expert professionals that make up the staff body. This 🧵 explains the governance reform proposals we have put to Council, Senate and the Uni Exec #DefendExeterUni

"When I am in my study and among my books, and have nothing to encumber me I am happy. But so weak are my spirits that the the smallest hurry and even the consciousness of having any thing to do which *must* be done, will sometimes distress and overpower me." Richard Price, 1779