Christine Ferguson 🇵🇸
@profccferguson
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Professor in English Literature, FRHistS, FEA, Daughter of the Rock, Occulturalist. She/her.
Glasgow, Scotland
Joined January 2014
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Tonight I am watching a Shah Rukh Khan film and there's this scene where he beats the shit out of an entire market with a leg of lamb, and this, my friends, is why I love Indian action films
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Just got a request to do some free work from a university currently deducting 100% salary from staff participating in the
@UCU
MAB. I have to say: I enjoyed composing my response.
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In solidarity with colleagues
@BirminghamUCU
in light of the horrific ASOS pay deductions they face, I have this morning withdrawn from a scheduled talk at the University of Birmingham. Here's what I wrote to Vice-Chancellor Adam Tickell
#UCUstrike
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A plea to all not-yet striking colleagues: it is not too late to join us. It is far less expensive than the alternative, and we do not help our students by enabling brutal working conditions that will eat them alive. Let's show them that they can and should stand up to injustice
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I have no idea what lies ahead for us in our
@UCU
#MAB
, but my god, we will never, ever forget the beautiful and brave solidarity of the incredible generation of students🥲
“It would not be right to stand here and not acknowledge staff who have been fighting for not more than the bare minimum”. How can we thank you enough for this brave and moving oration at Edinburgh Graduation today.
@ucuedinburgh
@ucu
@sssn_edi
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A disgusting libel by one of the world's richest, and thickest, men. I may not have agreed with every decision Humza Yousaf made as FM, but he has more principle in his little finger than Musk could ever summon with all his wealth.
Elon Musk is a dangerous race baiter who must be held to account for his actions.
I can't think what it is that upsets him so much about a Brown, Muslim, progressive politician? 🤔 But his billions won't stop me calling out his support for the far-right.
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Fellow academics: feel free to chime in any time now. I swear to you tweeting about your latest research trip is not more important than speaking out against the racist violence being unleashed in this country
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People of Twitter: I'd like to introduce you to my new life partner
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New study now complete! Now just need to arrange to be mummified or mellified in here after death
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Thank you so much for this incredible message of solidarity
@PeterStefanovi2
- what has been happening to us indeed outrageous. We really appreciate your help in amplifying our plight! ❤️
One of the worst cases of bullying of workers I’ve seen. This is why I’m standing shoulder to shoulder with my friends in
@ucu
. Workers across the country must now stand TOGETHER and send a clear message that
#EnoughIsEnough
!
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@ucu
By his own logic, the university might cut his salary by, say £250K, because it really would still be an excellent salary, really better than most other salaries in the private sector. And think of the permanent contracts that could be offered with the savings!
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New payslip, more deductions. In this year alone I have lost £4.5K for taking part in
@Ucu
industrial action to fight against increasingly dire working conditions in academia. Nothing good will come of this punitive wage theft; employers need to stop deductions now + negotiate
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Congratulations to my brilliant Croatian PhD student (and now Dr)
@markovic_ana
who absolutely smashed her viva today, defending an incisive, witty, and elegant thesis on Queer Wildeana. Without ERASMUS, we would never have met- I am 1 very proud + emotional supervisor today
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OMG my brother-in-law's brother-in-law plays the Dutch guy who seduces Hannah Waddingham in the latest Ted Lasso episode, and this is objectively the greatest thing that has ever happened to our family
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We tragically lost our dear colleague and friend Professor Justin Edwards at the beginning of the year. Now our division is raising funds for UoS student prize in his honour. If you can circulate/donate, we would be so grateful!
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Together with
@glaikitscone
, I am co-organizing the Stirling hub of next year's innovative no-fly
@BAVS_UK
@navsa
@AusVicStudAssoc
conference, taking place Sept 2024 and focusing on "Victorian Events." Abstracts & panel proposals are due Oct 12; full CFP below. Come and join us!
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Delighted at the (likely) restoration of our
#USS
pensions after a long, hard struggle; delighted also that it will annoy those anti-unionist self-elected “realists” who called us naive to fight and assured us that we would never win.
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Delighted to receive this beautifully-produced book in today's post, which I had the privilege to read in pre- publication form. Congratulations
@DrEframSS
!
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Like many colleagues, I have now lost almost £5K in IA deductions in 2023. For that loss, we really do need to see some accountability from both UCEA and those who chose to leave us without a mandate. This isn't a game
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UK academic job candidates: consider using the time in interview when you are asked if you have any questions, to ask about the university's policy on MAB deductions and approach to resolving the dispute. This is important information for you to have as you consider any offer.
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And to those secure members of staff who could well have afforded to strike for this but chose not to, do have a word with yourself. More precarious and poorly paid colleagues sacrificed ££££ for you to get 35% of your pension back; how will you support them in future?
Thanks to the strength of striking members and the tenacity of our negotiators, a massive injustice based on a lie has now been overturned. We were repeatedly told to "get real," to give up, and to accept defeat. It took massive courage to keep going, but we did. Unions work 💪
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Finally, after decades in academia, I am able to include in my syllabus the one thing that is 100% responsible for both my entire career as a scholar and adult romantic choices: Carry On Screaming
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It is now clear that many
@UCEA
employers are lying about the extent of the MAB's impact. And this story is not just about who hasn't been able to graduate - press needs to use FOI to investigate dodgy ways in which standards have been abandoned to push through marks
Huge love and thanks to these students, who continue to care passionately about the future of UK higher ed despite the toll that the marking boycott has taken on them
#ucuRISING
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This is the stage of lockdown where all I want is to be drinking a post-British Library pint (pishy lager, obvs) in a seedy pub in Bloomsbury, eating a bag of cheese and onion crisps, and planning my route for a long night walk.
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Uni Senior Management Teams across the country: just stop arranging meetings at which you are prepared to offer nothing. Not one single person will believe this farce to represent an actual attempt at meaningful negotiation. Constantly saying no is not actually negotiation
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Esotericism Studies PhD students! Fancy a Jan 2022 workshop on the Occult in the History of Science, Art, and Religion at the beautiful Monte Verità in Ascona, sharing and presenting you work with fellow researchers? Of course you do! Applications due 10/31/2021
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Today's trawling of Victorian newspaper database for reviews of 1840s occult fiction classic Zanoni has been hopelessly scuppered by the co-existence of successful 1840s race horse Zanoni
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So pleased and honoured to be part of this spring's cohort of new Fellows of the
@RoyalHistSoc
! Many thanks to my nominator Dr Angus Vine, and congratulations to my fellow new members 😃
Today we welcome 315 new Fellows, Associate Fellows, Members and PGR Members to
@RoyalHistSoc
:
The new Fellows and Members reflect the breadth of historical research and scholarship in the UK & overseas
#twitterstorians
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Gothicists! The CFP for next year's International Gothic Association conference, to be held at the beautiful Trinity College Dublin July 26-29, is now live! Get your proposals in for Jan 31
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Really excited because today is the day when I finally get to write the explanatory note about the Polish medium who got caught cheating after badly burning his arse by dipping it in hot wax during a Parisian seance.
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Now that marking is finally over, I wanted to take a minute to say how blown away I am by the students I've worked with during the Great Tribulation of 2020. All of you, whatever your outcome, deserve a bloody medal as far I'm concerned. But some of you...
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Two Stirling Gothicists who are delighted to have given their papers at
@IGADublin2022
(with Tim Jones)
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I rarely get invited to speak in Germany, but as it happens this is the third of these I have had to send this year. Boycott should be seen as a privilege not a burden; a welcome opportunity to do *something* rather than continue to normalise an intolerable situation.
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This is absolutely ridiculous-- so essentially
@UniofOxford
want academics to go ahead and mark their students' dissertations anyway, but not officially, and while still receiving MAB deductions. All this rather than ask
@UCEA
to get back to the table? Shameful
Really,
@UniofOxford
? Asking students affected by the MAB to get their dissertation supervisor to write, confirming they have read it, giving a review, and providing a predicted mark? One of the reasons we are in this dispute is that workloads are at crisis point.
@ucu
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I have been teaching Neo-Victorian Jack the Ripper fictions, in one way or another, for nearly twenty years now. I will never again do it without using
@HallieRubenhold
's incredible The Five. This is an incredible game changer for all Victorianists; thank you!
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And this is just one of the many reasons I love reviewing for
@OUPAcademic
- what a boon, and just in time for the Easter break!
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Back in the archive today-- hooray!- where my research reminds me of the immortal truth: never, ever underestimate the creativity of bored teenage girls
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Re the smear pieces on my wonderful programme; far from being 'dropped,' Jane Austen features on both Stirlng's compulsory first-year course (Northanger Abbey) and our English Literature 1700-1830 course (Sense and Sensibility). We also teach Toni Morrison. And the story is...?
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There truly is no better reviewer report than the one that asks you to "say more" about the fascinating, bizarre, and arguably unsuccessful occult murder plot that you thought you better keep the lid on in the first version of the article. Happily, reviewer 1, happily!
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Basking in the satisfaction of having written a really good explanatory footnote. Might just take the rest of the day off.
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Shout out to yesterday's bus driver, who ended his phone call, turned to the queue waiting to get on, punched the air, and shouted "I got the job! Nae mair buses!"
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Come and join us for the Conan Doyle and London conference at the IES in November, where I will share the bill with Roger Luckhurst, Douglas Kerr, and others. I'm going to be talking about the West London geographies of the dead in "The Land of Mist"
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Decided to put on some make up and started by applying concealer to a spot that turned out to be a dried piece of chocolate croissant, so that's how my morning is going
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Oh FFS, I am absolutely ready to throw in the towel. They want heritage but they don't want the humanities. What is the point? It was already next to impossible for us to gain a small piece of the research pie, and now this.
Research funding in the
#UK
will be cut significantly and
#humanities
research will be hit the hardest. What is the future of British
#academia
if insufficient money is available to support top research?
#EnglishLit
#History
#Anthro
#HPS
#STS
#HistSci
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Mid-way through a fantastic research trip down here at the Warburg Institute, where I'm finally able to see Aleister Crowley's Simon Iff stories in their original serial publication form in The International. The covers are SERVING
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This week, in one of most exciting episodes in my research career, I travelled to
@ChristiesInc
in London in the midst of a pandemic to examine the manuscript of Arthur Conan Doyle's The Land of Mist before it is sold into private collection
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Here it comes-- -and it won't stop here. Time to fight for our colleagues and our collective survival
Today
@RoehamptonUni
became the first University in the U.K. to announce a Voluntary Severance Scheme during the pandemic.
15% of academic posts will go
Staff on scale 7 and above are ALSO being asked to take a ‘temporary’ pay cut. 1/
@ucu
@DrJoGrady
@LondonUCU
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Getting ready for turning 50 this week by watching documentary about JLo turning 50. We have so much in common it's like we're practically the same person
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Today at the
@ransomcenter
I am reading Arthur Machen's turn of the century notebook, which contains among his story ideas this delightfully banal chore list:
"put down linoleum
Put up plate rack
Take carpet up
Take matting up
Take stair carpet away'
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In today's occult reading, I come across an Agatha Christie story featuring a spiritualist medium named 'Cristine Ferguesson.' Coincidence???? I think not....
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Just got some *brilliant* news about a colleague's grant success, and honestly one of the things I miss most about this whole Covid sitch is the ability to spontaneously down tools and hit the pub for a bit of celebratory collective joy when things like this happen
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'Durham told the Observer that it would negotiate directly with employers or universities offering masters courses to help students.' And yet you won't negotiate your own actual staff,
@durham_uni
? Now that's what I call disappointing
@ucuatdurham
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It isn't easy to drink a can of lager and eat a family-size bag of Sainsbury's Cheese Balls through a hydrating sheet mask, but I, dear reader, am no ordinary woman
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I am so very sorry to hear of the passing of Andre Faivre, a scholar without whose work the academic study of western esotericism simply would not exist. it is difficult to overstate the extent of his influence on the field; we are all in his debt. Ave atque vale!
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Up at the crack of arse for the early morning picket in Stirling. Love and solidarity to all my fellow strikers who are fighting to take us out of the abyss
#UCUStrikesBack
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Well this is a hell of a day to be updating my queer theory lecture. Wonder if I can deliver it as a prolonged 50 minute scream
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Victorianist Twitter: I am reading about Edward Bulwer Lytton (again), who I have seen referred to as "Bulwer," "Bulwer-Lytton," "Bulwer Lytton," or just "Lytton." For the love of god, please tell me which usage is right. Does it change when he becomes a Baron? Inherits? Ack..
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Today my writing process mostly resembles cooking vast amounts of fresh spinach. Weeks and weeks of reading boiled down to just a sentence or two. I hope to god it preserves its nutritional value.
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Is anyone else traumatised by having to watch their own girning face staring back at during Zoom/MS Teams/canvas conference meetings?
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Came across this
#HistoricalHottie
while doing some Theosophical research at the NLS today; let's hear it for scholar, translator, writer, and lawyer Mohini Mohun Chatterji
@WhoresofYore
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Tools ready to start annotating the final two chapters of The Land of Mist- work that has really given me life this term
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Were these same laws not in place for our massively successful October 2022? Maybe, just maybe, the result has something to do with members being frustrated with the very misrepresentation and spin this tweet represents.
NEW: Anti-union laws stop UCU members from taking strike action.
Our ballot results show UCU members want to strike for better pay & conditions.
But anti-democratic laws that single unions out for special treatment have blocked us from taking action.
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On Sept 30, I'll be talking about the Cottingley Fairies, the history of photography, and the technological history of the paranormal
@MediaMuseum
for
@MediaMediumship
; free tix for this hybrid event (online and on site) available at
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And lo, on my very busiest week of the autumn term so far, I test positive for COVID again. Be careful out there folks; there's lots of it about right now 😫
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One of the things I am enjoying most about
#TheTerror
is how much Ciaran Hinds looks like one of the brooding arseholes from Kate Beaton's "Dude Watchin' with the Brontes" cartoons
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Today I will be reading the names at graduation, so naturally I woke up at 5am from a nightmare in which I rocked up to the ceremony 2 hours late, in a deeply age-inappropriate bedazzled neon orange minidress, and, I regret to say, drunk.
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It's Friday afternoon, the sun is shining, I'm about to start a week of annual leave, and that fascist who harangued Nicola Sturgeon in the South Side yesterday only got 46 votes. I might pop open a wee can.
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@PhilipProudfoot
Speaking from the Scottish left, I am gutted that we may lose what RUK has already ceded to Labour - free uni and prescriptions, a robust opposition to Brexit, and a government that will stand up for Gaza + call for an end to arms sales. It's not just status quo for us 😞
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Out now, and featuring my chapter on "Women Writers and the Theosophical Tale of Terror," which discusses H.P. Blavatsky's Nightmare Tales and Rosa Campbell Praed's "The Brother of the Shadow." I'm delighted to appear alongside so many brilliant contributors!
Newly published: The Palgrave Handbook of Steam Age Gothic edited by
@CliveBloom
!
The next installment in our Gothic Handbook trio, this book examines the emergence of the greats of Gothic literature and the supernatural between 1830 and 1914.
🧛🧛
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Joke's on you science, because in the 90s our jeans were absolutely massive
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Horrifying news-- we stand with our colleagues at Edgehill as they protest this short-termist strategy. And big up to Edge Hill students for organising and getting a a petition going, which you can sign below!
Lectures in the Creative Arts at Edge Hill Uni are facing a terrifying amount of redundancies in an attempt to save ~£1m in payroll. Us students have started a petition to make some noise on their behalf. Please read for more info!!
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I am rereading this today, and it is even better than I remembered; proper frightening, and one of his finest ever novels about the eerie dissociative effects of newspaper reading. Time for a revival of Machen's late works; they don't deserve such a bad rep!
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You know, I'm actually kind of glad about the Rees-Mogg book. I usually open my Vic Lit course by skewering bullshit Tory misrepresentations of the 19th century, and this example will be much more recognisable to my students than Thatcher.
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Next week, I'll be talking here about Dr Anna Kingsford, occult murder, and black magic at the University of Paris, 1870s style-- looking forward to it
Join us at Leeds Trinity next week as we lift the veil between this world and the next in the
@LCVSLeeds
Science and Spiritualism Conference. Read more here
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Just finished The Old Curiosity Shop, and wow; of of all the deathy Victorian death books, this surely has to be the deathiest, more thanatophilic than even Dracula. A true vampire tale.
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Solidarity is beautiful! Thanks to
@UCUScotland
and
#NUSScotland
for a fantastic rally in Edinburgh today!
@ClaireSquires
@glaikitscone
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Here is a picture not only of me but also of my twin sister
@drheatherferg
at age 20, in which she somehow managed to persuade Jim Kerr of Simple Minds to put me in a headlock. And no, I have no idea how she managed this either
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These plans by are nothing less than obscene.
@BirkbeckUoL
, you have one of the very best and most inclusive English departments in the world, and you want to gut it? This makes as much sense as cutting off your arms to use them as canoe paddles
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@AyoCaesar
Ah, Shell, the company that killed Ken Saro-Wiwa and so many others in Ogoniland, stepping up for anti-racism.
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When you meet your twin at 5 am at the airport for an early morning flight - guess whose going to Tanzania for fieldwork and whose going to Ascona for an esotericism conference?
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Striking, boogieing to Scottish rock royalty, and shoving a piece of delicious student-made (thank you very much!) banana bread into my mouth at the same time, while the puritanical
@profastreete
looks on and thinks of the reformation
#UCUstrikeback
Main gate picket throwing shapes to keep moving at -2c
#ucustrikesback
@UCUGlasgow
@profastreete
@profccferguson
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So proud of my amazing twin sister
@drheatherferg
being interviewed on tonight's STV about her new project on mosquito and malaria transmission in Scotland!
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My people
Who needs rainbows in the window.. Not this flat in Glasgow 😏
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Why do the Tories even want to produce an exclusive stream of STEM graduates? Do they want more people whose advice on climate breakdown they can ignore?
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Getting into my Glasgow quarantine style by hingin ma legs oot the window and drinking a big glass of sovvy b
#tenementlife
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This is going to be a huge problem and significant legal liability for universities where MAB deductions have fluctuated across faculties, depending on the sensibilities of particular managers. If staff are being differently treated for the same action, lawsuits are inevitable
(We're also getting reports across the university of radically different approaches to such deductions depending on faculty, which is additionally outrageous. We're also looking into concerns that more senior staff are finding it easier to have deductions paused.)
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Getting really nervous every time I read a new headline promising to expose the sordid details of Professor Ferguson's quarantine private life. I'm like "Who knows what, man?" 😬😳
What would you like UK news channels to report on today?
A. Professor Ferguson’s private life
B. Matt (watch your tone) Hancocks statement to Parliament yesterday that we are doing 100,000 tests a day when we are nowhere near that figure
If “B” RT👇
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If unis persist in refusing to close, we must tell our students we will not be taking attendance and put as much material as possible online. It is bad enough that our young people have got screwed by Brexiteers; I will not be complicit in putting them at risk for Covid-19
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Is it wrong that initially read this as a words-most-commonly-used-during-sex per country?
Map shows the first word of each European anthem. Source:
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This academic yr has been incredibly grim, but my despair this week has been lightened k by students who took the time to send incredibly kind words of thanks. Students who do this; you have no idea how much this means, especially now. And right back at ya all!
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Despite the horror, I'm off to Florida to see my actual live Dad for the first time since the start of Covid end times and am giddy as a school girl
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Today I am at the NLS immersing myself in the literary occulture of 1924 for our upcoming
@DoyleEdinburgh
conference in a few weeks
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Campus looking particularly lush this afternoon
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