Jak Peake
@jakpeake.bsky.social
Senior Lecturer in Literature, Film and Theatre Studies and trade unionist - currently on UCU's Higher Education Committee. Interests: Caribbean and U.S. literature, 90s alternative/indie rock/grunge/alt dance, old films, books. campaignforucudemocracy.com
Reposted by Jak Peake
Word of the Day is ‘hunch-weather’ (19th century): weather so cold it makes you hunch your shoulders when you walk outside.
January 4, 2025 at 9:20 AM
Word of the Day is ‘hunch-weather’ (19th century): weather so cold it makes you hunch your shoulders when you walk outside.
Though a few things have moved on in #UCU terms since I wrote this, much of it still holds up. I'm considering writing a part II in the New Year. www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/uk-univ...
A UK university strike now risks being futile and counterproductive
Avoiding layoffs is the issue of the hour. The UCU would do better to prioritise negotiations on pay-related issues such as workload, says Jak Peake
www.timeshighereducation.com
December 30, 2024 at 12:44 PM
Though a few things have moved on in #UCU terms since I wrote this, much of it still holds up. I'm considering writing a part II in the New Year. www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/uk-univ...
It's a good (& telling) point @sawherry.bsky.social. If a #UCU HEC member voted for an industrial action ballot, you'd expect some clear justification to be given wouldn't you. Personally, I would like all HEC votes to be transparent. Please vote for #CUCUD and #Commons members in the NEC elections.
Interestingly, since I emailed the HEC at #UCU I have had replies from all of those who voted against it but not a single reply from those who voted for it. If you cannot justify the evidence base for your actions when we are in an academic union, what use are you?
December 30, 2024 at 12:35 PM
It's a good (& telling) point @sawherry.bsky.social. If a #UCU HEC member voted for an industrial action ballot, you'd expect some clear justification to be given wouldn't you. Personally, I would like all HEC votes to be transparent. Please vote for #CUCUD and #Commons members in the NEC elections.
Jimmy Carter dies at 100. Martin Luther King III, Martin Luther King Jr's son, and Arndrea Waters King remember him: “While history may have been hard on President Carter at times, today, he is remembered as a global human rights leader". www.google.com/amp/s/amp.th... #USPresident #news
Jimmy Carter, former US president and tireless rights advocate, dies aged 100 – latest updates
Former president, who spent decades after time in office campaigning for better global health and human rights, has passed away
www.google.com
December 29, 2024 at 10:16 PM
Jimmy Carter dies at 100. Martin Luther King III, Martin Luther King Jr's son, and Arndrea Waters King remember him: “While history may have been hard on President Carter at times, today, he is remembered as a global human rights leader". www.google.com/amp/s/amp.th... #USPresident #news
Reposted by Jak Peake
This letter from John Steinbeck to Marilyn Monroe is pretty well known, I guess, though I just read it for the first time a couple minutes ago. I would be more surprised by how funny it is, if I hadn't read Steinbeck's Paris Review interview. In person, apparently, he was a hoot.
December 29, 2024 at 6:12 PM
This letter from John Steinbeck to Marilyn Monroe is pretty well known, I guess, though I just read it for the first time a couple minutes ago. I would be more surprised by how funny it is, if I hadn't read Steinbeck's Paris Review interview. In person, apparently, he was a hoot.
What's the best Christmas movie of all time? Santa Claus: The Movie (with Dudley Moore)? Elf? The Muppet Christmas Carol? Home Alone? Die Hard? Trading Places? Miracle on 34th Street? Kiss Kiss Bang Bang? The Grinch? The Nightmare Before Christmas? It's a Wonderful Life? You tell me #filmsky
December 28, 2024 at 4:49 PM
What's the best Christmas movie of all time? Santa Claus: The Movie (with Dudley Moore)? Elf? The Muppet Christmas Carol? Home Alone? Die Hard? Trading Places? Miracle on 34th Street? Kiss Kiss Bang Bang? The Grinch? The Nightmare Before Christmas? It's a Wonderful Life? You tell me #filmsky
Interesting stats on wealth inequality in the U.S. Do you think this was top of mind for U.S. voters in the recent U.S. election @rbreich.bsky.social? And, if not, how could it be made so for the next U.S. election in 2028?
America's richest 10% now hold 60% of the nation's wealth.
The bottom half of America? It holds just 6%.
Wealth inequality is eating this country alive.
The bottom half of America? It holds just 6%.
Wealth inequality is eating this country alive.
December 28, 2024 at 4:32 PM
Interesting stats on wealth inequality in the U.S. Do you think this was top of mind for U.S. voters in the recent U.S. election @rbreich.bsky.social? And, if not, how could it be made so for the next U.S. election in 2028?
This new book Picturing Black History: Photographs and Stories That Changed the World, by Daniela Edmeier, Damarius Johnson, Nicholas B Breyfogle and Steven Conn offers US students (& readers generally) a visual way of learning about Black history in the United States. Looks like a much needed book.
December 25, 2024 at 10:51 PM
This new book Picturing Black History: Photographs and Stories That Changed the World, by Daniela Edmeier, Damarius Johnson, Nicholas B Breyfogle and Steven Conn offers US students (& readers generally) a visual way of learning about Black history in the United States. Looks like a much needed book.
Reading Jane McAlevey's No Shortcuts feels prescient. "Trump attained power by decrying the elite, and turning the working class... against one another...Yet we’ve found no better system... than democracy and no better mechanism for ensuring decent lives for its working-class citizens than unions".
December 22, 2024 at 6:47 PM
Reading Jane McAlevey's No Shortcuts feels prescient. "Trump attained power by decrying the elite, and turning the working class... against one another...Yet we’ve found no better system... than democracy and no better mechanism for ensuring decent lives for its working-class citizens than unions".
Can't agree with you more @dyfrigjones.bsky.social: if you want UCU to not simply embark on annual ineffective industrial action, then you need to vote in UCU's NEC elections for Campaign & Commons candidates. Dyfrig's been great on NEC. That's why I'll be voting for him as VP this January.
If you’re tired of UCU engaging in poorly-supported industrial action that seems lacking in strategy, then there’s a simple way of avoiding it. Help get like-minded people elected to NEC. And stop voting for UCU Left / Rank and File candidates, because they’re the ones pushing this agenda.
December 22, 2024 at 5:39 PM
Can't agree with you more @dyfrigjones.bsky.social: if you want UCU to not simply embark on annual ineffective industrial action, then you need to vote in UCU's NEC elections for Campaign & Commons candidates. Dyfrig's been great on NEC. That's why I'll be voting for him as VP this January.
Reposted by Jak Peake
I need to log off and get on with revisions but I also submitted a motion for Thursday's Special HEC (below). The hostility I received in response can only lead me to conclude that people in the meeting did not want any version of the motion to pass. Why oppose researching member disengagement?
December 18, 2024 at 2:33 PM
I need to log off and get on with revisions but I also submitted a motion for Thursday's Special HEC (below). The hostility I received in response can only lead me to conclude that people in the meeting did not want any version of the motion to pass. Why oppose researching member disengagement?
This is such a crying shame. We need people who reflect what the majority of members want on NEC: please vote for Campaign for UCU Democracy and Commons folk in the upcoming NEC elections. UCU Left & the so-called independent left/Rank and File Network have snubbed members & damaged negotiations.
UCEA have withdrawn from negotiations on the terms of reference, after the disastrous decision by 18 HEC members to ballot for IA.
As they were warned. Specifically. As we clarified was a very real possibility, in case they missed it.
As they were warned. Specifically. As we clarified was a very real possibility, in case they missed it.
December 22, 2024 at 5:29 PM
This is such a crying shame. We need people who reflect what the majority of members want on NEC: please vote for Campaign for UCU Democracy and Commons folk in the upcoming NEC elections. UCU Left & the so-called independent left/Rank and File Network have snubbed members & damaged negotiations.
Excellent blog from @dyfrigjones.bsky.social which summarizes his, Campaign for UCU Democracy's and Commons' arguments on UCU's HEC: that UCU should have progressed on pay-related issues (as 86% wanted), given branches headroom to ballot locally on redundancies & not launched a national pay ballot.
A very quick blog about the shambles that was last week’s UCU HEC meeting. It’s short, but not very sweet. medium.com/@DyfrigJones...
WTF HEC?
I swear I’ve used that title before. Pretty confident I’ll need it again at some point.
medium.com
December 22, 2024 at 5:20 PM
Excellent blog from @dyfrigjones.bsky.social which summarizes his, Campaign for UCU Democracy's and Commons' arguments on UCU's HEC: that UCU should have progressed on pay-related issues (as 86% wanted), given branches headroom to ballot locally on redundancies & not launched a national pay ballot.
Enjoying reading Percival Everett's Erasure - only 23 years after its publication. Makes me appreciate what a great adaptation American Fiction is. Will have to read James, next, his retelling of Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, from Jim's POV. #fiction #authors #ListenToBlackVoices
December 22, 2024 at 5:09 PM
Enjoying reading Percival Everett's Erasure - only 23 years after its publication. Makes me appreciate what a great adaptation American Fiction is. Will have to read James, next, his retelling of Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, from Jim's POV. #fiction #authors #ListenToBlackVoices
A few firsts this week for me. I've joined Bluesky! I've been meaning to transition from X/Twitter. Elon Musk's ascendancy into politics, not to mention his unholy alliance with a certain Convict Elect & unhealthy interest in UK politics/Reform UK - has been the kicker #hellobluesky #firstpost
December 22, 2024 at 5:00 PM
A few firsts this week for me. I've joined Bluesky! I've been meaning to transition from X/Twitter. Elon Musk's ascendancy into politics, not to mention his unholy alliance with a certain Convict Elect & unhealthy interest in UK politics/Reform UK - has been the kicker #hellobluesky #firstpost