Andrew Perchard
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andrewperchard.bsky.social
Andrew Perchard
@andrewperchard.bsky.social

Parent, husband and historian 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🇪🇺 🇳🇿

Prof @universityofotago.bsky.social
VProf @Birkbeck, U of London
CI @deindustrial.bsky.social
Editor @historyworkshop.org.uk
Editor, Business and Industrial History

Views my own .. more

Political science 39%
History 12%
Pinned
New from John Holt, Duncan Connors and me in Otago Daily Times on Big Tech, AI and the threat to democracy, the environment and society.

@universityofotago.bsky.social

@hypervisible.bsky.social
@plashingvole.bsky.social
@eicathomefinn.bsky.social
Democracy, society and hi-tech
Artificial intelligence is power-hungry in every sense of the term, Andrew Perchard, John Holt and Duncan Connors write. The Algonquian people...
www.odt.co.nz
At a time when humanities and social science courses are facing severe cutbacks I’ll be mounting a defence of them and their role in shaping a better future at this lecture at De Montfort University on 27 November. All welcome
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/shaping-a-...
Shaping a Brighter Future
The first event in our Vice-Chancellor’s Distinguished Lecture Series, delivered by Hetan Shah, Chief Executive, The British Academy
www.eventbrite.co.uk

My recent favourite was a VP at Glasgow: ‘rankings are our values’ 👌

Stunning

Reposted by Andrew Perchard

March 2024: We launch a complaint against the IEA
12 days later: Charity Commission dismisses our complaint
May 2024: We complain about that decision
1 year later: The regulator opens an investigation into the IEA
This week: The Charity Commission says the IEA must change
https://goodlaw.social/8vmm
Charity Commission: IEA must change to address political bias | Good Law Project
After a formal complaint from Good Law Project, the charities regulator has told a radical rightwing think-tank to act on transparency and balance.
goodlaw.social

Ask Grindr allegedly 😉

Which one? Love the old gin palaces.

Fantastic

I’m still wondering what universities think will happen when all that’s left in the ground zero of HE when the remnants are the senior management teams managing nothing resembling a higher education institution…

Shocked I tell you. Shocked!

Reposted by Andrew Perchard

Don't miss the @deindustrialpol.bsky.social virtual roundtable this Friday!

Policies and Programs: Deindustrialization and the Environment
Deindustrialization and the Politics of Our Time
Friday November 7th at 9:30am Eastern Time

niche-canada.org/2025/10/29/v...

#envhist #envstudies
Virtual Event - Policies and Programs: Deindustrialization and the Environment
7 November 2025 - This session brings together eight scholars whose research examines the intersections of industrial decline, environmental activism and remediation, and policy responses by a variety...
niche-canada.org

!

Very true’

Very important article: Elon Musk’s attempts to hijack the world’s knowledge base and make us all think like fascists.

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
In Grok we don’t trust: academics assess Elon Musk’s AI-powered encyclopedia
From publishing falsehoods to pushing far-right ideology, Grokipedia gives chatroom comments equal status to research
www.theguardian.com
'In February, Sheffield Hallam University, home to the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice (HKC), a leading research institution focused on human rights, ordered one of its best-known professors, Laura Murphy, to cease research on supply chains and forced labour in China.' 1/3
UK university halted human rights research after pressure from China
Exclusive: Leading professor at Sheffield Hallam was told to cease research on supply chains and forced labour in China after demands from authorities
www.theguardian.com

I’ll pass that on. Thanks.

Got my sister @tricksterprince.bsky.social Songs of Seven Dials for her birthday last month. She’s delighted!

This’ll be what Farage and Reform serve up in the UK as well. In return for a presidential pardon of Changpeng Zhao, two of Trump’s cryptocurrencies floated on Binance. The kleptocracy unabashed and at large!
Binance Boosted Trump Family’s Crypto Company Ahead of Pardon for Its Billionaire Founder
The giant crypto exchange facilitated a $2 billion purchase of World Liberty’s stablecoin and built its technology. The clemency for Changpeng Zhao—the tycoon known as CZ—surprised some in the adminis...
www.wsj.com

Another Halloween fitting piece: academic.oup.com/tcbh/article...
Validate User
academic.oup.com

Another absurd development

It’s also yet another example of politicians not adequately thinking through the consequences of their actions. In a former life as an official, albeit in a different policy area, I witnessed all too often the damaging effects of endemic short-termism reacting to headlines and political expediency.
A dreadful idea. Not satisfied with doing everything else in their power to undermine a vital sector, they’re proposing imposing further ill-conceived metrics. This micromanagement is precisely what you’d expect from a government devoid of big thinking, flip-flopping like a freshly landed catch!
'Proposals to reform assessment and the way teaching quality is measured risk standardising university curricula and treating institutions like big schools, critics have warned.'

'Big schools' does rather appear to sum up DfS's conception of universities, sadly. 1/3

A dreadful idea. Not satisfied with doing everything else in their power to undermine a vital sector, they’re proposing imposing further ill-conceived metrics. This micromanagement is precisely what you’d expect from a government devoid of big thinking, flip-flopping like a freshly landed catch!
'Proposals to reform assessment and the way teaching quality is measured risk standardising university curricula and treating institutions like big schools, critics have warned.'

'Big schools' does rather appear to sum up DfS's conception of universities, sadly. 1/3
Risk of ‘standardisation’ as ministers mull progression measures
Universities would look to ‘game’ new metric for testing learning gain, critics warn, with external examination defended as ‘best we’ve got’
www.timeshighereducation.com

All of this more broadly smacks of micromanagement by a government who are failing across the board…
'Proposals to reform assessment and the way teaching quality is measured risk standardising university curricula and treating institutions like big schools, critics have warned.'

'Big schools' does rather appear to sum up DfS's conception of universities, sadly. 1/3
Risk of ‘standardisation’ as ministers mull progression measures
Universities would look to ‘game’ new metric for testing learning gain, critics warn, with external examination defended as ‘best we’ve got’
www.timeshighereducation.com

🫡

Reposted by Andrew Perchard

Starmer says the SNP insults Scotland by planning for independence. The only one insulting Scotland is Starmer with his refusal to even say how another referendum will be held. If this continues the SNP should consider withdrawing its MPs from Westminster

My column in @heraldscotland.bsky.social
'It’s not John Swinney insulting Scotland, it’s you Starmer, you flailing buffoon'
If the SNP gets a majority at the next election and London still says No to indyref2, then the party should recall its MPs from Westminster, our…
www.heraldscotland.com

Just another example of the UK govt stipulating that Scotland has to mop up the bills for UK policy gaffs - Brexit and alignment with Trump and Netanyahu - without being able to exercise its right to self determination. Enough is enough! @snp.org @scottishgreens.org

For that matter, why should any UK taxpayer have to pay for the convicted felon and sex offender to play a round of golf and shore up his business interests.

£26m to satisfy UK ministers sycophantic placating of Trump. Why should Scotland shoulder the costs of this!
UK and Scottish governments dispute £26m cost of Trump and Vance visits
Finance Secretary Shona Robison is seeking to recoup the costs of policing the summer visits.
www.bbc.co.uk