Andrew Frayn
@afrayn.bsky.social
Academic. Work on First World War literature (Assoc Ed., FWW Studies); modernist studies (former BAMS Chair); non-canonical literature; rural modernity; late style. Grumbles my own.
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
Are you a doctoral researcher in Arts & Humanities in Scotland?
Apply to showcase your research at our 2026 Research Showcase. ✨
✔ Up to £1000 funding
✔ Creative formats welcome
✔ Open to all PhDs at SGSAH member institutions
Apply by 27th March ⏳
🔗 Full details: www.sgsah.ac.uk/about/news/h...
Apply to showcase your research at our 2026 Research Showcase. ✨
✔ Up to £1000 funding
✔ Creative formats welcome
✔ Open to all PhDs at SGSAH member institutions
Apply by 27th March ⏳
🔗 Full details: www.sgsah.ac.uk/about/news/h...
February 18, 2026 at 11:55 AM
Are you a doctoral researcher in Arts & Humanities in Scotland?
Apply to showcase your research at our 2026 Research Showcase. ✨
✔ Up to £1000 funding
✔ Creative formats welcome
✔ Open to all PhDs at SGSAH member institutions
Apply by 27th March ⏳
🔗 Full details: www.sgsah.ac.uk/about/news/h...
Apply to showcase your research at our 2026 Research Showcase. ✨
✔ Up to £1000 funding
✔ Creative formats welcome
✔ Open to all PhDs at SGSAH member institutions
Apply by 27th March ⏳
🔗 Full details: www.sgsah.ac.uk/about/news/h...
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
Until Sunday 22 February Bloomsbury are practically giving away my newly published
'Magic Rays of Light: The Early Years of Television in Britain',
with the pb at £18.89 (plus p&p)
and the .pdf or epub ebook just £14.57.
www.bloomsbury.com/uk/magic-ray...
'Magic Rays of Light: The Early Years of Television in Britain',
with the pb at £18.89 (plus p&p)
and the .pdf or epub ebook just £14.57.
www.bloomsbury.com/uk/magic-ray...
Magic Rays of Light
On the evening of 26 January 1926, inventor John Logie Baird held a public demonstration in his workspace on London's Frith Street of a 'seeing by wireless' app…
www.bloomsbury.com
February 17, 2026 at 10:36 PM
Until Sunday 22 February Bloomsbury are practically giving away my newly published
'Magic Rays of Light: The Early Years of Television in Britain',
with the pb at £18.89 (plus p&p)
and the .pdf or epub ebook just £14.57.
www.bloomsbury.com/uk/magic-ray...
'Magic Rays of Light: The Early Years of Television in Britain',
with the pb at £18.89 (plus p&p)
and the .pdf or epub ebook just £14.57.
www.bloomsbury.com/uk/magic-ray...
On my way to strike and picket this morning at (checks notes) Edinburgh Napier University, over (checks notes) redundancies in the institution barely a year after Prof Nolan's departure...
'Andrea Nolan, who stepped down as principal and vice-chancellor of Edinburgh Napier University in December 2024, will co-convene the group, alongside Neil Rennick, director-general education and justice in the Scottish government.'
Ex-Edinburgh Napier v-c to lead university funding review group
Scottish higher education minister commits to taking group’s recommendations seriously as work gets under way on new sustainability framework
www.timeshighereducation.com
February 16, 2026 at 7:57 AM
On my way to strike and picket this morning at (checks notes) Edinburgh Napier University, over (checks notes) redundancies in the institution barely a year after Prof Nolan's departure...
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
IMPORTANT pls RT
My online novel seed-story.com is loading sporadically/not at all
The servers belonged to Google Creative Labs Sydney (now apparently defunct)
If anyone reading worked there/knows someone who did pls get in touch urgently so this pioneering work of digital literature can be saved
My online novel seed-story.com is loading sporadically/not at all
The servers belonged to Google Creative Labs Sydney (now apparently defunct)
If anyone reading worked there/knows someone who did pls get in touch urgently so this pioneering work of digital literature can be saved
February 12, 2026 at 11:26 AM
IMPORTANT pls RT
My online novel seed-story.com is loading sporadically/not at all
The servers belonged to Google Creative Labs Sydney (now apparently defunct)
If anyone reading worked there/knows someone who did pls get in touch urgently so this pioneering work of digital literature can be saved
My online novel seed-story.com is loading sporadically/not at all
The servers belonged to Google Creative Labs Sydney (now apparently defunct)
If anyone reading worked there/knows someone who did pls get in touch urgently so this pioneering work of digital literature can be saved
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
Just a few hours left for this, but it's plenty of time. Even just answering the "overall do you agree" question can be meaningful. Speak against this endless cruelty.
The UK government is proposing radical and punitive changes to settlement rules. This is settlement, not citizenship. The consultation is open until 12 February; please respond to it and oppose these evil proposals. Amnesty have a good guide: www.amnesty.org.uk/resources/gu...
Guidance for responding to 'A Fairer Pathway to Settlement' consultation
We are Amnesty International UK. We are ordinary people from across the world standing up for humanity and human rights.
www.amnesty.org.uk
February 12, 2026 at 9:02 PM
Just a few hours left for this, but it's plenty of time. Even just answering the "overall do you agree" question can be meaningful. Speak against this endless cruelty.
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
UK friends, this is the kind of utter awfulness the present UK government is proposing re immigration and rights of settlement. Please please take some time today to respond to this (link in this thread below). This cannot pass.
the whole thing is of course completely revolting. 20 YEARS to settlement for refugees? no settlement if you’ve ever had a criminal conviction or a tax debt? 10 YEARS added if you’ve ever received benefits? partners and children on their own routes to settlement? What are you even TALKING about
February 11, 2026 at 10:44 AM
UK friends, this is the kind of utter awfulness the present UK government is proposing re immigration and rights of settlement. Please please take some time today to respond to this (link in this thread below). This cannot pass.
Meanwhile, today staff at Edinburgh Napier are on strike because of job losses, "voluntary" already enacted, and compulsory being pushed through.
'many argue that the situation is worse in Scotland, with higher education institutions receiving approximately 23 per cent less funding per student than their English counterparts, according to London Economics, and a collective £12.9 million deficit forecast for 2025-26.' 1/2
‘We’re looking at all parts of the system – except tuition fees’
In election year, Scotland’s higher education minister says fees policy non-negotiable, as newly formed review group looks for new models to heal nation’s ailing sector
www.timeshighereducation.com
February 10, 2026 at 7:58 AM
Meanwhile, today staff at Edinburgh Napier are on strike because of job losses, "voluntary" already enacted, and compulsory being pushed through.
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
Strike week at Edinburgh Napier. Our first two of 10 days of strike action happen on Tuesday and Thursday. Fighting against management's refusal to rule out compulsory redundancies. Our university has no debt, we have reserves and have already lost too many staff.
February 9, 2026 at 7:57 AM
Strike week at Edinburgh Napier. Our first two of 10 days of strike action happen on Tuesday and Thursday. Fighting against management's refusal to rule out compulsory redundancies. Our university has no debt, we have reserves and have already lost too many staff.
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
Against amnesia about the history of English literary studies, racism, and a brief note on #tolkien, occasioned by reading Collini, a thread on Sir Israel Gollancz, the first Jew appointed as a Professor of English literature in the UK.
1/
bsky.app/profile/step...
1/
bsky.app/profile/step...
February 7, 2026 at 12:34 PM
Against amnesia about the history of English literary studies, racism, and a brief note on #tolkien, occasioned by reading Collini, a thread on Sir Israel Gollancz, the first Jew appointed as a Professor of English literature in the UK.
1/
bsky.app/profile/step...
1/
bsky.app/profile/step...
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
NB: The UK govt owns the Student Loans Company, via which it directly funds most home students’ university places.
Framing graduates as indebted to this ‘company’ for the rest of their working lives is an accounting trick that both punishes the pursuit of education and undermines its public value.
Framing graduates as indebted to this ‘company’ for the rest of their working lives is an accounting trick that both punishes the pursuit of education and undermines its public value.
Tinkering with interest rates and repayment thresholds is not the solution to UK’s HE funding/student loans nightmare. We need to rethink higher education finance from the bottom up.
UK Universities in Crisis? Time to Transform Higher Ed Finance
by Rob Hawkes and Scott Ferguson Universities in the UK are in crisis. Job cuts in the sector are reaching ‘cataclysmic’ levels, with an estimated 10,000 already lost and many more at risk. Just da…
moneyontheleft.org
February 4, 2026 at 7:20 AM
NB: The UK govt owns the Student Loans Company, via which it directly funds most home students’ university places.
Framing graduates as indebted to this ‘company’ for the rest of their working lives is an accounting trick that both punishes the pursuit of education and undermines its public value.
Framing graduates as indebted to this ‘company’ for the rest of their working lives is an accounting trick that both punishes the pursuit of education and undermines its public value.
👀
Academics vying for a spot in Epstein‘s world. There are so many. I feel the need to make a thread, so I don’t keep confusing them. 1/
February 1, 2026 at 3:58 PM
👀
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
Meanwhile, at a school and university near you, AI tools that have yet to be tested on the types of students and subjects you teach are being rolled out to/in them without robust discussion and analysis. It's a major, shameful failing of the management of education systems.
“We found that using AI assistance led to a statistically significant decrease in mastery.”
Props to Anthropic for studying the effects of their creation and reporting results that are not probably what they wished for
www.anthropic.com/research/AI-...
Props to Anthropic for studying the effects of their creation and reporting results that are not probably what they wished for
www.anthropic.com/research/AI-...
How AI assistance impacts the formation of coding skills
Anthropic is an AI safety and research company that's working to build reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems.
www.anthropic.com
January 31, 2026 at 12:06 PM
Meanwhile, at a school and university near you, AI tools that have yet to be tested on the types of students and subjects you teach are being rolled out to/in them without robust discussion and analysis. It's a major, shameful failing of the management of education systems.
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
The British Labour Party has broken with even the most basic social democratic values... There are loads of public services I don't use and some I hope never to have to use but I want them to be there for those who need or want them. You'd imagine *the Labour Party* would understand that...
Rachel Reeves: "It is not right that people who don't go to university bear the cost for others to." I don't use local leisure centres and I don't drive, so will I be made exempt for taxation that pays for all that stuff? Or is it only education we'll be going after
January 29, 2026 at 11:51 PM
The British Labour Party has broken with even the most basic social democratic values... There are loads of public services I don't use and some I hope never to have to use but I want them to be there for those who need or want them. You'd imagine *the Labour Party* would understand that...
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
On almost everything – fraud, polarisation, radicalisation, misinformation – evidence suggests that over 60s are in much more urgent need of online protection and education than teenagers.
But that issue gets zero political attention, and is a total non-starter. Nothing good will come of it.
But that issue gets zero political attention, and is a total non-starter. Nothing good will come of it.
This was a minor story on London news this morning - but suspect is a real cautionary (and alarming) tale of an older man getting radicalised online.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Sidcup man convicted aover explosive attack on Ulez camera
Kevin Rees's homemade bomb caused damage to vehicles and property including a child's bedroom.
www.bbc.co.uk
January 29, 2026 at 9:43 AM
On almost everything – fraud, polarisation, radicalisation, misinformation – evidence suggests that over 60s are in much more urgent need of online protection and education than teenagers.
But that issue gets zero political attention, and is a total non-starter. Nothing good will come of it.
But that issue gets zero political attention, and is a total non-starter. Nothing good will come of it.
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
There is money for "education" if and only if that money is being directly funneled to corporations. Anything involving actual learning, however, well there's no magic money tree
BREAKING: Free AI training will be offered to every adult in the UK, with short courses to teach people how to use simple AI tools effectively in the workplace.
Technology Secretary Liz Kendall tells #BBCBreakfast about the scheme
Technology Secretary Liz Kendall tells #BBCBreakfast about the scheme
January 28, 2026 at 9:40 AM
There is money for "education" if and only if that money is being directly funneled to corporations. Anything involving actual learning, however, well there's no magic money tree
Not the most important thing about this article, but an unusual choice of illustrative image @tennispodcast.bsky.social
I summarized the biggest weather disasters of 2025 using last week's summaries from Gallagher Re and Aon. The costliest: $65 billion in damage from the L.A. wildfires. The deadliest: 24,000+ killed in the summer heatwave in Europe.
yaleclimateconnections.org/2026/01/eart...
yaleclimateconnections.org/2026/01/eart...
Earth was hit by 55 billion-dollar weather disasters in 2025 » Yale Climate Connections
The world endured its costliest wildfire on record in 2025, its sixth-deadliest heat wave, and four floods or storms that caused at least 1,000 deaths.
yaleclimateconnections.org
January 28, 2026 at 11:08 AM
Not the most important thing about this article, but an unusual choice of illustrative image @tennispodcast.bsky.social
I just feel like this is not the ideal thing for the Max Spielmann photo booths helpdesk to show up as in one's email inbox
January 26, 2026 at 5:29 PM
I just feel like this is not the ideal thing for the Max Spielmann photo booths helpdesk to show up as in one's email inbox
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
I turn 50 this year. My father wasn’t born yet in 1946.
As someone who spent the last 15 years working with aging brains & dementia, I can't stop thinking about this. It is gerontocracy: leaders who are substantially older than most of the adult population. When did we accept this? The new generations can't show up because the old generations never left.
January 22, 2026 at 1:47 PM
I turn 50 this year. My father wasn’t born yet in 1946.
Classic beginning of term/state of things dream last night: I was at a (?semi-) derelict version of my secondary school with a group of people. We were playing a game, which was to hide a box full of copies of what we were teaching among the ruined, deserted buildings. (1/2)
January 22, 2026 at 8:46 AM
Classic beginning of term/state of things dream last night: I was at a (?semi-) derelict version of my secondary school with a group of people. We were playing a game, which was to hide a box full of copies of what we were teaching among the ruined, deserted buildings. (1/2)
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
So many of HE’s problems are the product of these efforts to generate market structures that just simply don’t work because the conditions that markets need to work really aren’t there, and all they do is create uncertainty (and financial problems) for students, staff, and institutions.
The single biggest thing (in cost terms) I’ve changed my mind about is UK tuition fees. Dreadful system, need to scrap it.
This is clearly depressing and radicalising in a way a tax wouldn't have been.
January 15, 2026 at 10:29 PM
So many of HE’s problems are the product of these efforts to generate market structures that just simply don’t work because the conditions that markets need to work really aren’t there, and all they do is create uncertainty (and financial problems) for students, staff, and institutions.
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
Three short paragraphs, and you've got the whole mind-bending mess that is #UKHE finance & governance neatly laid out.
This is why it's all so exhausting: our managers declare there's only one static frame, while we know their framing is part of the issue.
💡 www.hepi.ac.uk/2026/01/10/w...
This is why it's all so exhausting: our managers declare there's only one static frame, while we know their framing is part of the issue.
💡 www.hepi.ac.uk/2026/01/10/w...
January 10, 2026 at 12:28 PM
Three short paragraphs, and you've got the whole mind-bending mess that is #UKHE finance & governance neatly laid out.
This is why it's all so exhausting: our managers declare there's only one static frame, while we know their framing is part of the issue.
💡 www.hepi.ac.uk/2026/01/10/w...
This is why it's all so exhausting: our managers declare there's only one static frame, while we know their framing is part of the issue.
💡 www.hepi.ac.uk/2026/01/10/w...
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
Look no further than an English or other Arts and Humanities degree
#EnglishCreates excellent careers
#EnglishCreates excellent careers
‘Contra the narrow focus of policymakers on Stem subjects or coding, now more than ever our economy rewards broad skillsets: team players, problem solvers, good communicators and creative thinkers.’ @jburnmurdoch.ft.com
www.ft.com/content/5e25...
www.ft.com/content/5e25...
How to AI-proof your job
The data suggests soft skills more than quantitative competency equal success in a rapidly changing labour market
www.ft.com
January 10, 2026 at 11:25 AM
Look no further than an English or other Arts and Humanities degree
#EnglishCreates excellent careers
#EnglishCreates excellent careers
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
Scottish universities PhD students in English and associated subjects, please come along to this a week on Friday! Signup at link in quoted tweet.
I'm organising this hybrid training event on PhD thesis to book for @sgsah.bsky.social Literature+ Catalyst on Fri 16 January. Great speakers inc. Sarah Bernstein, @drjamesbailey.bsky.social, @hannahkateboast.bsky.social, @emilyalder.bsky.social. Please sign up!
www.sgsah.ac.uk/e_t/dp/disci...
www.sgsah.ac.uk/e_t/dp/disci...
University of Glasgow - Events and Training - Discipline+ Catalysts - Discipline + Catalyst Events
www.sgsah.ac.uk
January 6, 2026 at 9:35 AM
Scottish universities PhD students in English and associated subjects, please come along to this a week on Friday! Signup at link in quoted tweet.
Scottish universities PhD students in English and associated subjects, please come along to this a week on Friday! Signup at link in quoted tweet.
I'm organising this hybrid training event on PhD thesis to book for @sgsah.bsky.social Literature+ Catalyst on Fri 16 January. Great speakers inc. Sarah Bernstein, @drjamesbailey.bsky.social, @hannahkateboast.bsky.social, @emilyalder.bsky.social. Please sign up!
www.sgsah.ac.uk/e_t/dp/disci...
www.sgsah.ac.uk/e_t/dp/disci...
University of Glasgow - Events and Training - Discipline+ Catalysts - Discipline + Catalyst Events
www.sgsah.ac.uk
January 6, 2026 at 9:35 AM
Scottish universities PhD students in English and associated subjects, please come along to this a week on Friday! Signup at link in quoted tweet.
Reposted by Andrew Frayn
How likely is ‘likely’? Does ‘likely’ have a higher probability than ‘probable’? I put together a quick quiz so you can see how you interpret probability phrases, then see how you compare with others: probability.kucharski.io
January 3, 2026 at 4:15 PM
How likely is ‘likely’? Does ‘likely’ have a higher probability than ‘probable’? I put together a quick quiz so you can see how you interpret probability phrases, then see how you compare with others: probability.kucharski.io