Wishing her all the best! It’s a wonderful city, we know it well as Barbara works at the uni. Tom just about to start year 4. Your wobbles will pass quickly!
Prof of Victorian Lit @Keele University and Pro V-C for Research and Innovation. Loves doing cultural stuff in Stoke-on-Trent and beyond
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Wishing her all the best! It’s a wonderful city, we know it well as Barbara works at the uni. Tom just about to start year 4. Your wobbles will pass quickly!
After months of solar energy, time to turn on the Rayburn to cook tonight’s dinner saying farewell to our son, Tom, as he heads back to Royal Academy of Music tomorrow
Glad to hear the direction is promising
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Tomorrow's #OnlineArtExchange theme is ⌛ time ⏰ for ‘Tony Foster: Exploring Time’ at @cornwall_museum Explore our time topic for inspo 👉 buff.ly/XpH83UY 📷 Lancashire County Museum Service
Lifetime friend of Arnold Bennett
Delighted to hear Claybody Theatre will continue to be based at The Dipping House on the former Spode pottery site. Looking forward to seeing many more place-based productions ‘shaped from the unique cultural heritage and contemporary lives of the people of Stoke-on-Trent & North Staffordshire.’
The Cameron-Osborne years offer an important reminder that it is possible to excel at the theatre of politics - to "look prime ministerial", to dominate the "media narrative", to project "competence" and to communicate a clear political "story" - while being strikingly inept at governing.
Belated Black Cat Appreciation Day, Pip, aged 16!
Moving monologue dramatisation of @lisablowerwrite story, ‘Blessing in Burslem’ by @NVBorderlines and #KwanzaCollective. Thanks and congratulations to all, including the amazing artists who captured the performance, making the theme of the piece part of the dramatic fabric. Brilliant.
The Arts Keele Three Counties Open Art Exhibition at Fenton Town Hall has a “real mix” of art on display, from paintings, to photography and a motorbike installation. @amigonidavid.bsky.social
Congratulations on all receiving A-level English Language, Lang & Lit, Literature results! 💫 And to all their teachers ! We commend the fantastic opportunities that study of these subjects offer 🥳. Find out what English studies brings ! englishassociation.ac.uk/case-studies/
Today marks the 150th anniversary of composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) 🎼 From published scores, autograph manuscripts, and sound recordings, read our new blog post with an overview of our Coleridge-Taylor collections: bit.ly/BLBlogColeridgeTaylor
Great post: I remember reading Mill’s ‘Representative Democracy’ and being surprised that the secret ballot was by no means his preferred method of voting
Interesting in the context of Two Cultures debate (1959). Can recommend ‘Corridors of Power’, a title that gave birth to a meme used frequently between 60s-80s.
Not so much Les Six, more Les Dawson. FAO @barbarakelly8.bsky.social
Great round up on foreign affairs from @uk.theconversation.com
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...
x.com/robinhadley1... : from co-author/researcher Dr Robin Hadley
A system is at work. We beed to recognise it. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Parliamentary contribution of J Wedgwood II, who also helped to further the Darwood network
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Many universities will have to change the way they approach free speech.
Remarkable piece
Fantastic view!
Without wishing to take away from your beauty and its novelty value, here’s another vineyard photographed today, this time from Saint Emilion, Bordeaux
Great post (thank you) and informative discussion
Illustrious anniversary
All the best Martin in achieving the balance you need.
Congratulations to the Lionesses – #WEURO2025 Champions! 🙌🏆⚽ 'Chloe Kelly Goal Celebration' by John Bulley (b.1950) © the artist. 📷 Tracy Jenkins / Art UK
It's been an intensive but fulfilling last two weeks! Thank you to @scs-dias.bsky.social for hosting such an amazing event, I've learnt so much and would definitely recommend the Summer School to anyone interested in expanding their knowledge of the Celtic nations!
Amazing institution which I enjoyed working in when in the N/E, c. 1990-95
This is lovely in Cleo Laine’s obit ‘She was also… mock-guilty about her lightness of spirit, saying simply: “I’m not a very neurotic person.” This realism allowed her to consider both her talents and her shortcomings with neither self-importance nor guilt.’ www.theguardian.com/music/2025/j...
Emma Bridgewater on why it’s crucial that her products were made in Stoke-on-Trent: “I knew when I first came here I wanted to make one of these factories come alive again … It wouldn’t have happened anywhere else. We have a highly evolved ceramics expertise here.” www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Congratulations, Martin!
Burnham is increasingly worth listening to. His emphasis on community and place is the best way of dealing with disaffection and he grasps, by things like the Bee Network, the importance of the state demonstrating how it's improving people's day to day lives.
Reductive misinformation moves ever closer to the centre of power
Agree, great news!
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Emma Bridgewater: “I always knew, from my first trip to Stoke, that it would happen. I knew in this city - where people held in their hands the skills and in their heads that traditions - was where my naive idea would become a reality.”
No one in the UK can get the money to attend
From alleged collective vulgarity to humane self-fulfilment: a politically progressive pathway
Thanks, I really did. I think it should go on tour. Loved thinking about the multiple layers of adaptation (ongoing, writing about it)
That’s a good line
Though IS hasn’t been so well received here in S-o-T
For those of us in R,D & I, a guide to getting the Industrial Strategy house in order …
A joy to see Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti’s brilliant adaptation, dir, Iqbal Khan, of #MarriageMarerial by @sathnam.bsky.social at #TheRep Birmingham. A lineage extending back to #ArnoldBennettt in 1908. Fabulous to enjoy this multi-generational drama with a full, responsive & diverse house
This week on Wonkhe: New research from Public First shows that every UK resident is better off due to international students. Charlie Jeffery explains why it’s vital this message cuts through
As we gear up to welcome 830 colleagues from 65 countries to UCL for #Metascience2025, we’re delighted to publish RoRI’s impact report, outlining our projects & progress over the past 2.5 yrs. researchonresearch.org/roris-impact... Huge thanks to all our partners & team @rorinstitute.bsky.social
CFP from my @ucc.ie colleague @georginanugent.bsky.social and Ronan Crowley @goetheuni.bsky.social-an invitation to address feminist, queer, intersectional and transnational approaches to the question of Joyce and his women contemporaries for a special issue of Feminist Modernist Studies #modernism
It's a mark of what's gone wrong with British politics that it's regarded as some kind of career-ending humiliation when a govt has to make concessions to Members of Parliament. We'd be much better governed if MPs found their backbones more often, & govts routinely had to respond to their concerns.
In which role we know you’ll continue to do your amazing and important work
Great, under-valued writer
I am so sad to hear of the death of Simon James: my sympathies to his family and colleagues at Durham. I saw him last in January. I admired his work on creativity but also his considerable scholarship on Wells and Edwardian literature.
Yes, thank you, Stuart; it’s a really interesting piece
I’d always assumed it was Alan Sheridan …
Congratulations to @stephemmabrown.bsky.social and all the New Generation Thinkers announced here
Happy Bloomsday "...and yes I said yes I will Yes." Leopold Bloom's Dublin day #OTD 1904 Ulysses by James Joyce, published in Paris 1922 by Sylvia Beach (Shakespeare and Company).
How to re-build from the ruins, with resonant implications for the research ecosystem in the UK, too
#Burslem + #FathersDay = #AMotherTownAnthology Words: me Illustrations: @ianrpearsall.bsky.social and @philshallcross.bsky.social Available via @barewall.bsky.social www.barewall.co.uk/products/a-m... #SOT100 #ThePotteries
The centenary civic lunch in Stoke-on-Trent College’s award-winning Hammersley Restaurant will see a menu of dishes created and prepared by hospitality and catering learners served on locally made ceramic ware and limited edition fine bone china charger plates. #WorldCraftCity #SoT100
‘What has been created is a very special moment in time, the hundredth birthday of the city of Stoke-on-Trent. All the work produced has a real sense of belonging and reinforces my belief that there is outstanding talent and skill in our city.’
In line with its published statement of intent, it’s wonderful to see the National Gallery promoting cultural engagement and the importance of people encountering art in unexpected locations. Galleries without walls. Masterpieces in the open air.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... why we should NOT want to sit as bathroom isolationists on the can all day, reading the news (read on …)
Congratulations, can’t wait to see your super novel dramatised when it comes to Birmingham
Some important questions posed here, and more evidence that HE needs a regulator that takes an interest in the collective health of the whole sector, at every level (oh, yes, we had one in HEFCE)
'Ultimately, the antidote to our overlapping crises is not just better data or smarter technologies—it is expansive imagination. And that imagination is cultivated not in labs or spreadsheets, but through the critical, creative, and interpretive work of the humanities.' wonkhe.com/blogs/our-fu...
In threatening to walk away from efforts to end the war in Ukraine, the US president is ignoring crucial lessons about the consequences of appeasement.
This Cultural Life - Abi Morgan, with the screenwriter and playwright talking about her creative influences. Reflecting on her time in Stoke-on-Trent when her parents worked with Peter Cheeseman at the Victoria Theatre: “There’s huge pride in the Potteries, huge spirit and guts.”
Important work from @britishacademy.bsky.social on humanities provision
When in #Leeds .... 'Voice of the Fans' is a brilliant exhibition celebrating how #fanzines have helped to shape #football Co-produced by @leedslibraries.bsky.social and @britishlibrary.bsky.social it runs until 10 August and is free to visit!
I read this hoping that Plato would save the academy from robotic dystopia but it seems not ….
Important piece from Stefan Wolff, @uk.theconversation.com
You can find my article on the evergreen subject of 'Geology and Genesis' in June's @historytoday.com. Alongside lots of other fascinating topics from the looks of it, including @kateloveman.bsky.social on censorship and the diary of Samuel Pepys.
Nice photo reminder of Dr Fatima Borrmann’s excellent conference on Family Fictions: Generations and Genealogy at KU Leuven, 15-17 May. It was wonderful to meet with these excellent colleagues and to engage in such an exciting, rich and diverse intellectual conversation. Thank you!
Thank you so much for explaining, I so enjoyed my visit to your university/city
www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...
Can’t wait to see this at the Birmingham Rep. Novel to be included in my book, and now stage adaptation it seems!
Great pleasure to be keynoting at the excellent Generations and Genealogy in European Literature conference: here’s Tagore, Faculty of Letters @speccoll-kuleuven.bsky.social : observed huge student social event: why is ‘The Bonnie banks of Loch Lomond’ such a hit among Belgian students??
It’s the driest spring on record here in the UK. Just a little reminder to please leave a couple of water trays out in your garden for the birds and little critters. They really, really need it right now. 🐦⬛🪲🐭 PLEASE SHARE TO GET THE WORD OUT THERE.
So pleased to speak at this fabulous event, looking forward to saying more at Dr Fatima Borrmann’s conference at Leuven, starting Thursday
Thanks, Martin. Some next steps coming up in Leuven.
Very bleak indeed. I find the attempts to attach a more nuanced resonance to it un-convincing. Not too many scholars of textual exegesis out there in Reform-land.
Alarmed at this attack on the arts and creative practitioners in the US
Political attacks are now supercharged by technology platforms retreating from accountability, and exploited by hostile foreign powers.
Achieving @UNESCO #CreativeCity accreditation is not just a one year-only accolade. It offers unparalleled opportunities to capitalise on Stoke-on-Trent’s cultural assets and creative expertise to support economic development, jobs creation, social diversity and cohesion.
Shocking decision
The Art Scholarships are one of the Trust's most popular and successful programmes and this week we are pleased to showcase the work that @the-rsc.bsky.social does to support young people access a unique training arts experience. Watch here: media.leverhulme.ac.uk/video/rsc-ne...
You should definitely take advantage and read, excellent novel - even better if you’re an Arnold Bennett fan (you don’t have to be)
'Universities exist to foster and disseminate research, learning and critical analysis.' But this rarely comes across in recent media discussions of higher education says @eicathomefinn.bsky.social - a Vice President of @britishacademy.bsky.social www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-v...
The Knot Unites! #StaffordshireDay
Someone you know would be brilliant at this job. Please tell them. Even if they don't want to apply everyone needs a cheerleader reminding them they've got really valuable skills and experience that make a difference. Please share and forward to someone who could. www.bath.ac.uk/jobs/Vacancy...
Do we need a new generation of public institutions for ST&I? Join us tomorrow at 4pm for the first in a new UCL-STEaPP seminar series with @geoffmulgan.bsky.social, followed by a discussion with @anjahuja.bsky.social & @williamcb.bsky.social. Details here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/do-we-need...
17th May Harper Street 3rd Anniversary FREE ENTRY Middleport Pottery’s Harper Street 3rd anniversary celebration in partnership with Middleport Matters. Filled with lots of fun children’s activities, shopping, music and entertainment. More Info: re-form.org/heritage-bui... #stokeontrent #kidsfun
I'd be super grateful if you could share this vacancy, and tap people on the shoulder if you think they'd be a good fit (e.g. they understand data and REF) and encourage them to apply. www.bath.ac.uk/jobs/Vacancy...
Discovered a couple of years back from a plaque that a friend lives in his last residence, Portobello.
Another valuable international news round-up from @uk.theconversation.com
Great thread on Turner from @artukdotorg.bsky.social
The Trump administration attack on Harvard is part of a much wider project.