Graham Smith
graham-oh.bsky.social
Graham Smith
@graham-oh.bsky.social
Professor of Oral History. UCU member.
Reposted by Graham Smith
Reposted by Graham Smith
Colleagues doing very cool things! One for the labour, maritime and mining historians among you.
October 15, 2025 at 8:06 PM
There are more people in Newcastle waiting for Greggs to open of a morning than weird UKIP managed to get on Saturday's sad shambles.
September 30, 2025 at 5:57 AM
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What has Yvette Cooper’s proscription of Palestine Action done to this country?

Beyond absurd. It’s extreme authoritarianism. These police should be arresting rapists & crooks, not neglecting those duties to spend time arresting citizens standing against genocide.

It undermines police and the law.
September 29, 2025 at 6:22 AM
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My book, 'Wales in England 1914-1945. A Social, Cultural, & Military History', is currently available at a more affordable price (✨️58% off✨️). How ideas of Wales and Welshness influenced two generations of English soldiers & writers:
www.amazon.co.uk/Wales-Englan...
July 30, 2025 at 5:13 PM
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Scottish NSS results: 'Overall satisfaction in Scotland for 2025 was 80.7%, up from 78.1% in 2024. Satisfaction levels began to decline in 2020, when the overall rate in Scotland was 85%.'
University satisfaction rising but still trails pre-Covid level
Data from the National Student Survey suggests that Scottish universities are continuing to recover from a falloff in satisfaction in 2020.
www.heraldscotland.com
July 10, 2025 at 7:29 AM
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Interesting bit of research from @ersatzben.bsky.social suggesting QR funding is really critical for supporting interdisciplinary research
johnsonb.substack.com/p/what-actua...
What Actually Counts as Interdisciplinary Research?
A data-driven look at which funders support knowledge integration
johnsonb.substack.com
July 10, 2025 at 6:46 AM
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Edinburgh University want to impose £140m in cuts as part of their "more students, fewer staff" policy. Edinburgh staff and students say "an end to unethical university governance"
June 20, 2025 at 12:02 PM
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Come help our friends in the (slightly further) North!
Join us on this Wednesday 11 June for a big demonstration in Newcastle! @ucu.org.uk @ducu.bsky.social @ucunorthumbria.bsky.social
June 9, 2025 at 7:38 PM
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Newcastle University goes from 'Raising the Bar' to a doom loop of redundancies, course closures and failure. It's hard to see any future for UK HE except as a narrowly-focussed credentialling arm of the tech sector.
As the university's management escalates by pressing ahead with up to 38 compulsory redundancies, after losing over 260 of our colleagues through voluntary severance, our membership’s clear message remains: STOP this. Members are upset angry and aghast by the behaviour of university management.
June 1, 2025 at 6:21 PM
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The question is: Why (unless you're a schill for one of the big AI corps) you would advocate a UK industrial policy that slits the throat of its cultural industries (where it has an established global advantage) in favour of the AI sector where completion is intense and gains speculative (at best)
“I just don’t know how you go around, asking everyone first. I just don’t see how that would work,” Clegg said. “And by the way if you did it in Britain and no one else did it, you would basically kill the AI industry in this country overnight.”
Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry
Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.
www.theverge.com
May 26, 2025 at 5:55 PM
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I'll be going through the process of making this open access, but for those who do have permissions through their libraries - this came out today.

Some thoughts on the history of disability benefits and where UBI sits in that lineage. 🗃️

bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journal...
bristoluniversitypressdigital.com
May 26, 2025 at 5:57 PM
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Are you working in museum collections, digital storytelling, or projects featuring migration history? Join us for the first event in the Migration Network series, focused on how digital tools are being used to document and share migration stories through collections work.
May 14, 2025 at 8:45 AM
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Trade Unions 4 Trans Rights event this morning @newcastleucu.bsky.social
May 7, 2025 at 11:25 AM
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I stand by this. Solidarity with fellow workers is the first principle of trade unionism. An injury to one is an injury to all. reclaimucu.wordpress.com/2025/04/30/s...
Statement on NEC Meeting of 2 May 2025
On Friday, members of Unite UCU will be taking the final day of an unprecedented six weeks of industrial action. It is also the penultimate NEC meeting before Congress. One of the core principles o…
reclaimucu.wordpress.com
May 1, 2025 at 10:05 PM
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Een vote amongst staff shows trust in the current leadership is incredible low.
April 7, 2025 at 10:10 AM
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The results are IN for our industrial action ballot! On a 64.0% turnout (our highest ever confirmed %age), 72.2% of voters said they were prepared to strike, with 81.2% prepared to engage in action short of strike.

So what's next? Well. The employer knows where to find us. Time for a chat, perhaps?
April 1, 2025 at 3:49 PM
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“This is an insult to the 1400 academic staff still at risk of redundancy."

nation.cymru/news/vice-ch...
Vice Chancellor wants to avoid Senedd scrutiny on massive cuts programme
Martin Shipton Former Education Minister Leighton Andrews has accused Cardiff University’s Vice Chancellor of seeking to delay an appearance before the Senedd’s Education Committee until after final d...
nation.cymru
March 24, 2025 at 10:41 AM
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Monday morning we continue to show our management we don’t accept their approach. Why would we trust them to get us out of this when they are the ones who got us in this? Join your pickets 8 to 11 am. Check your email or section WhatsApp for section days.
March 23, 2025 at 5:39 PM
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Letter signed by members of the Columbia History Department urging resistance to the Trump Administration's efforts to dictate university policy.

"Should this control be realized, here or elsewhere, it would make any real historical scholarship, teaching, and intellectual community impossible."
March 20, 2025 at 12:14 PM
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📣REMINDER FOR UEA UCU MEMBERS!
📣Our industrial action will begin with a day of strike action on Wednesday 26th March.
📣We will commence continuous action short of a strike (ASOS) from this date.
📣Further details to follow. #SaveUEA #UKHE
March 17, 2025 at 5:55 PM
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📢 Exciting news: Voice of Witness is looking for dedicated individuals to join our Board of Directors and contribute to our impact.

Interested in supporting community-based storytelling, oral history, and education for justice?

#Nonprofit #NonprofitBoard #BoardofDirectors #NonprofitLeadership
March 12, 2025 at 3:55 PM
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MASSIVE Solidarity
Today, Shane O’Neill, our interim Principal announced the University of Dundee needs to cut 632 jobs to be financially sustainable.

Also there are 237 vacancies (in part due to the recruitment freeze since Nov).

That’s 870 colleagues from 3200. OVER A QUARTER!

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Dundee University to cut 632 jobs to plug £35m deficit
The University and College Union condemned the
www.bbc.co.uk
March 11, 2025 at 9:56 PM