Luke Seaber
@thelong1930s.bsky.social
Senior Teaching Fellow in Modern European Culture, UCL. Proudly Cornish and quasi-Italian. Interested in the 1930s (1848-1950). Biographer of Celia Fremlin.
Reposted by Luke Seaber
There’s also been (at least for public institutions) a deliberate pivot away from the mission as we treat higher ed like a for-profit business. All these restructuring exercises based on ROI, closing key departments in the humanities, etc., are not mission-driven decisions.
November 19, 2025 at 2:16 PM
There’s also been (at least for public institutions) a deliberate pivot away from the mission as we treat higher ed like a for-profit business. All these restructuring exercises based on ROI, closing key departments in the humanities, etc., are not mission-driven decisions.
Reposted by Luke Seaber
It’s wild that the rate for writing 500 words in a compilation trade book is about the same as the royalties I’ve received over a 10-year period for an academic book that did reasonably well, by academic publishing standards
November 19, 2025 at 3:44 PM
It’s wild that the rate for writing 500 words in a compilation trade book is about the same as the royalties I’ve received over a 10-year period for an academic book that did reasonably well, by academic publishing standards
Reposted by Luke Seaber
"He got among a set of men who did nothing but smoke and drink beer. Malthusians, we call them."
"Malthusians!"
"'Malt,' you know, aunt, and 'use;' meaning that they drink beer."
"Malthusians!"
"'Malt,' you know, aunt, and 'use;' meaning that they drink beer."
November 19, 2025 at 1:56 PM
"He got among a set of men who did nothing but smoke and drink beer. Malthusians, we call them."
"Malthusians!"
"'Malt,' you know, aunt, and 'use;' meaning that they drink beer."
"Malthusians!"
"'Malt,' you know, aunt, and 'use;' meaning that they drink beer."
Reposted by Luke Seaber
Why is art only for some students?
ideas are for everybody. history is for everybody. art is for everybody. including the working young people of new jersey.
November 18, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Why is art only for some students?
That odd feeling when you have a chapter accepted *and have no recollection of what you proposed*.
November 18, 2025 at 10:37 PM
That odd feeling when you have a chapter accepted *and have no recollection of what you proposed*.
Reposted by Luke Seaber
"Chapman said that “the UK tries to do too much” and should focus on “where we can lead on the global stage”.
So, more investment in "Humanities" disciplines, right?
So, more investment in "Humanities" disciplines, right?
‘Strategic realignment’ underway at UKRI, says chief executive.
Ian Chapman says funding agency is responding to government priorities ahead of pre-budget summit.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...
Ian Chapman says funding agency is responding to government priorities ahead of pre-budget summit.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...
‘Strategic realignment’ underway at UKRI, says chief executive - Research Professional News
Ian Chapman says funding agency is responding to government priorities ahead of pre-budget summit
www.researchprofessionalnews.com
November 18, 2025 at 4:58 PM
"Chapman said that “the UK tries to do too much” and should focus on “where we can lead on the global stage”.
So, more investment in "Humanities" disciplines, right?
So, more investment in "Humanities" disciplines, right?
Reposted by Luke Seaber
1938 advert for colonial fizzy drinks made in Italian East Africa, proudly proclaimed to be Made in the Empire
(I would like to try tamarind soda though, I must admit)
(I would like to try tamarind soda though, I must admit)
November 18, 2025 at 12:30 PM
1938 advert for colonial fizzy drinks made in Italian East Africa, proudly proclaimed to be Made in the Empire
(I would like to try tamarind soda though, I must admit)
(I would like to try tamarind soda though, I must admit)
I’ve just realized that I’ve always been confusing Larry Summers and Larry David. Oops.
November 18, 2025 at 1:17 PM
I’ve just realized that I’ve always been confusing Larry Summers and Larry David. Oops.
Reposted by Luke Seaber
This mural has gone up in Kingston, ostensibly for Christmas but AI has ensured it's actually to celebrate the return of our dark lord Cthulhu
November 18, 2025 at 9:44 AM
This mural has gone up in Kingston, ostensibly for Christmas but AI has ensured it's actually to celebrate the return of our dark lord Cthulhu
Reposted by Luke Seaber
If there is ever a halfway progressive government in the UK, it will be important to ensure that the consequences of how ministers and MPs behave in *this* government follow them afterwards. No cushy jobs in think tanks, universities, NGOs, cultural organisations for those who deny basic humanity.
November 17, 2025 at 8:44 PM
If there is ever a halfway progressive government in the UK, it will be important to ensure that the consequences of how ministers and MPs behave in *this* government follow them afterwards. No cushy jobs in think tanks, universities, NGOs, cultural organisations for those who deny basic humanity.
Reposted by Luke Seaber
Really good to hear Stella Creasy on @newsagents.bsky.social saying students should be removed from immigration figures. Of course they should! And they make up a huge chunk of the figures - around half. They’re part of the success story of global Britain - coming here to get a great education.
"I know there are a lot of MPs who are deeply uncomfortable at the idea of frisking people at the border to see if we can remove their jewellery," says Stella Creasy.
"That's not the way we want to manage somebody who is a victim of torture"
www.thenewsagents.co.uk/article/labo...
"That's not the way we want to manage somebody who is a victim of torture"
www.thenewsagents.co.uk/article/labo...
Labour’s new immigration plan 'not progressive, or practical', says Stella Creasy | The News Agents
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has announced tough new measures to deter asylum seekers from attempting to enter the UK. Will her methods be enough, or is this simply an attempt to win back support…
www.thenewsagents.co.uk
November 17, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Really good to hear Stella Creasy on @newsagents.bsky.social saying students should be removed from immigration figures. Of course they should! And they make up a huge chunk of the figures - around half. They’re part of the success story of global Britain - coming here to get a great education.
Reposted by Luke Seaber
kudos for the curator who decided Kenneth Williams was more culturally significant than Richard Burton.
November 17, 2025 at 6:01 PM
kudos for the curator who decided Kenneth Williams was more culturally significant than Richard Burton.
Reposted by Luke Seaber
there is a better way forward rooted in Labour values that also ensures control at our borders. That’s why I will be a voice for common sense and compassion on asylum. My article for the guardian here: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
#trueLabour 2/2
#trueLabour 2/2
ICE-style raids on Britain's streets: that's all Labour's brutal asylum reforms will achieve | Stella Creasy
If we want to ‘stop the boats’, we need to stop the BS when it comes to what creates refugees, and how to respond to them, says Labour MP Stella Creasy
www.theguardian.com
November 17, 2025 at 11:02 AM
there is a better way forward rooted in Labour values that also ensures control at our borders. That’s why I will be a voice for common sense and compassion on asylum. My article for the guardian here: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
#trueLabour 2/2
#trueLabour 2/2
Reposted by Luke Seaber
Plans to leave refugees in a state of perpetual uncertainty about where and if they can rebuild their lives are not just performative cruelty, they are counterproductive to integration and the economy. It doesn’t have to be like this - 1/2
November 17, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Plans to leave refugees in a state of perpetual uncertainty about where and if they can rebuild their lives are not just performative cruelty, they are counterproductive to integration and the economy. It doesn’t have to be like this - 1/2
Reposted by Luke Seaber
This should be called ‘Allport‘s Law’.
These ‘OMG look how ignorant people are about history they should know’ polls are always designed to produce the results the designers intended. Always.
Very sympathetic to cause of greater education but the presentation of the survey here seems misleading. 85%+ not informed about slavery but 63% of the same sample support apology?
Seems like most respondents weren’t able to cite the right figures, rather than not knowing about enslavement at all…
Seems like most respondents weren’t able to cite the right figures, rather than not knowing about enslavement at all…
November 17, 2025 at 2:02 PM
This should be called ‘Allport‘s Law’.
Reposted by Luke Seaber
on some level the real divide on asylum policy is between people who have the wherewithal of mind to imagine being forced from your home at gunpoint, and idiots
i don't think you need to get significantly more elaborate than this: in a world on fire, where multiple total wars are actively raging and the climate is getting more and more unstable, people will flee. you would flee. i would flee. accept this and fix your heart, or die
November 17, 2025 at 12:58 PM
on some level the real divide on asylum policy is between people who have the wherewithal of mind to imagine being forced from your home at gunpoint, and idiots
Reposted by Luke Seaber
I’ve noticed there seems to be something of a correlation between the most pro trans MPs and those who’ve been speaking out on this - Stella Creasy, Sarah Owen, Tony Vaughan, Nadia Whittome etc
Not surprising but as you say not necessarily left vs right
Not surprising but as you say not necessarily left vs right
November 17, 2025 at 11:43 AM
I’ve noticed there seems to be something of a correlation between the most pro trans MPs and those who’ve been speaking out on this - Stella Creasy, Sarah Owen, Tony Vaughan, Nadia Whittome etc
Not surprising but as you say not necessarily left vs right
Not surprising but as you say not necessarily left vs right
Reposted by Luke Seaber
I in general love how living a transnational life is arguably more common than ever but policymakers still treat your needs, desires and concerns as essentially mythological middle class nonsense
November 16, 2025 at 12:03 PM
I in general love how living a transnational life is arguably more common than ever but policymakers still treat your needs, desires and concerns as essentially mythological middle class nonsense
I’ve long wanted to visit where once was Neutral Moresnet, putative world capital of Esparantoism.
(It was an Orwell rabbit hole that led me to it, as @darcy1968.bsky.social may appreciate)
(It was an Orwell rabbit hole that led me to it, as @darcy1968.bsky.social may appreciate)
Today's odd footnote: a tiny neutral condominium on the Belgian-German border, drawn up in 1816 to avoid conflict over a mine, finally abolished at Versailles.
(After the mine ran out they tried to run the economy on stamps, gin, gambling & ... Esperanto?) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutral...
(After the mine ran out they tried to run the economy on stamps, gin, gambling & ... Esperanto?) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutral...
November 16, 2025 at 11:16 AM
I’ve long wanted to visit where once was Neutral Moresnet, putative world capital of Esparantoism.
(It was an Orwell rabbit hole that led me to it, as @darcy1968.bsky.social may appreciate)
(It was an Orwell rabbit hole that led me to it, as @darcy1968.bsky.social may appreciate)
Reposted by Luke Seaber
If you’re around, I’ll be talking at the Highgate Lit & Sci on Monday (17th) 2pm, about my latest book. The Undesirables tells the story of the lives impacted by a terrible piece of UK legislation (which operated for 46 years)
hlsi.org.uk/courses/hist...
hlsi.org.uk/courses/hist...
November 10, 2025 at 6:21 PM
If you’re around, I’ll be talking at the Highgate Lit & Sci on Monday (17th) 2pm, about my latest book. The Undesirables tells the story of the lives impacted by a terrible piece of UK legislation (which operated for 46 years)
hlsi.org.uk/courses/hist...
hlsi.org.uk/courses/hist...
Reposted by Luke Seaber
Conferences, or whatever your professional domain’s equivalent communal gathering happens to be, are a fundamentally load-bearing aspect of building anything worthwhile at scale. Just excellent to feel like one amidst a host of likeminded people largely pulling in the same direction.
November 16, 2025 at 6:10 AM
Conferences, or whatever your professional domain’s equivalent communal gathering happens to be, are a fundamentally load-bearing aspect of building anything worthwhile at scale. Just excellent to feel like one amidst a host of likeminded people largely pulling in the same direction.
Do please try and attempt my Saturday quiz question…
At the stunning Nigerian Modernisms exhibition at the Tate Modern: I actually let out a gasp of surprise when I found out what these sculptures were commissioned for and what they represent…
Anyone want to guess?
Anyone want to guess?
November 15, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Do please try and attempt my Saturday quiz question…
At the stunning Nigerian Modernisms exhibition at the Tate Modern: I actually let out a gasp of surprise when I found out what these sculptures were commissioned for and what they represent…
Anyone want to guess?
Anyone want to guess?
November 15, 2025 at 11:44 AM
At the stunning Nigerian Modernisms exhibition at the Tate Modern: I actually let out a gasp of surprise when I found out what these sculptures were commissioned for and what they represent…
Anyone want to guess?
Anyone want to guess?
Two copies of The Curious Sofa, a pornographic work by Ogdred Weary.
November 14, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Two copies of The Curious Sofa, a pornographic work by Ogdred Weary.