Jonathan Potter
@drjonpotter.bsky.social
Researches Victorian periodicals, visual culture, and literature. Teaches English lit. Probably the least online person you'll meet online.
Author of Discourses of Vision in C19th Britain: https://tinyurl.com/5bxvawy6
Author of Discourses of Vision in C19th Britain: https://tinyurl.com/5bxvawy6
Reposted by Jonathan Potter
“One person is an autocratic president of the university for decades” certainly wasn’t a flawless system but it’s clear that “admins hop from job to job scaling the career ladder by filling their CV with ‘accomplishments’ that are expensive burdens to the schools they leave behind” is even worse.
The worst thing to happen to academia was the emergence of a nomadic administrative class like the one in corporations who just move from institution to institution setting fires and walking away.
Say what you will about the flaws of faculty governance, but at least they believe in the mission.
Say what you will about the flaws of faculty governance, but at least they believe in the mission.
December 1, 2025 at 4:28 PM
“One person is an autocratic president of the university for decades” certainly wasn’t a flawless system but it’s clear that “admins hop from job to job scaling the career ladder by filling their CV with ‘accomplishments’ that are expensive burdens to the schools they leave behind” is even worse.
Reposted by Jonathan Potter
So kid, in your heart you want to study humanities but you worry about your job prospects? Let’s play a game.
On the latest data, who is more likely to be unemployed after 15 months after graduation. The English Lit grad or the Maths grad?
WRONG!
On the latest data, who is more likely to be unemployed after 15 months after graduation. The English Lit grad or the Maths grad?
WRONG!
December 1, 2025 at 9:19 PM
So kid, in your heart you want to study humanities but you worry about your job prospects? Let’s play a game.
On the latest data, who is more likely to be unemployed after 15 months after graduation. The English Lit grad or the Maths grad?
WRONG!
On the latest data, who is more likely to be unemployed after 15 months after graduation. The English Lit grad or the Maths grad?
WRONG!
Reposted by Jonathan Potter
“Scholarly effort is in decline everywhere as never before. Indeed, cleverness is shunned at home and abroad. What does reading offer to pupils except tears?”
this guy has his finger on the pulse amirite
www.history-uk.ac.uk/history-in-p... 🗃️
this guy has his finger on the pulse amirite
www.history-uk.ac.uk/history-in-p... 🗃️
‘Doing the Readings’
Dr Will Pooley (Associate Professor in Modern History), University of Bristol The students, we often grumble, don’t read the secondary readings we set for class. Every year, we find ourselves press…
www.history-uk.ac.uk
November 28, 2025 at 6:13 PM
“Scholarly effort is in decline everywhere as never before. Indeed, cleverness is shunned at home and abroad. What does reading offer to pupils except tears?”
this guy has his finger on the pulse amirite
www.history-uk.ac.uk/history-in-p... 🗃️
this guy has his finger on the pulse amirite
www.history-uk.ac.uk/history-in-p... 🗃️
Reposted by Jonathan Potter
Grant. Andrew. Stewart. Andre.
Four vendors equipped to earn this winter.
A Vendor Support Kit gives them the tools to work their way to a better future:
♨️ Warm hat and gloves
☕ Hot food voucher
💳 Cashless payment support
📈 One-to-one sales coaching
Buy one online at bigissue.com/supportkit
Four vendors equipped to earn this winter.
A Vendor Support Kit gives them the tools to work their way to a better future:
♨️ Warm hat and gloves
☕ Hot food voucher
💳 Cashless payment support
📈 One-to-one sales coaching
Buy one online at bigissue.com/supportkit
November 28, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Grant. Andrew. Stewart. Andre.
Four vendors equipped to earn this winter.
A Vendor Support Kit gives them the tools to work their way to a better future:
♨️ Warm hat and gloves
☕ Hot food voucher
💳 Cashless payment support
📈 One-to-one sales coaching
Buy one online at bigissue.com/supportkit
Four vendors equipped to earn this winter.
A Vendor Support Kit gives them the tools to work their way to a better future:
♨️ Warm hat and gloves
☕ Hot food voucher
💳 Cashless payment support
📈 One-to-one sales coaching
Buy one online at bigissue.com/supportkit
Reposted by Jonathan Potter
What do UK graduates do? Lots of information in this annual report.
A reminder that Humanities graduates are quite employable. Compare unemployment rates for Biology (8.4%), Chemistry (5.9%) and Physics (8.0%) with English literature (6.4%), History (7.6%) and Languages (7.6%) for example.
A reminder that Humanities graduates are quite employable. Compare unemployment rates for Biology (8.4%), Chemistry (5.9%) and Physics (8.0%) with English literature (6.4%), History (7.6%) and Languages (7.6%) for example.
graduatemarkettrends.cdn.prismic.io
November 28, 2025 at 2:18 PM
What do UK graduates do? Lots of information in this annual report.
A reminder that Humanities graduates are quite employable. Compare unemployment rates for Biology (8.4%), Chemistry (5.9%) and Physics (8.0%) with English literature (6.4%), History (7.6%) and Languages (7.6%) for example.
A reminder that Humanities graduates are quite employable. Compare unemployment rates for Biology (8.4%), Chemistry (5.9%) and Physics (8.0%) with English literature (6.4%), History (7.6%) and Languages (7.6%) for example.
Reposted by Jonathan Potter
A huge figure in Dickens Studies, his contribution to the field over the last half century is unsurpassed. @dickensfellowhq.bsky.social has lost a champion.
November 27, 2025 at 5:42 PM
A huge figure in Dickens Studies, his contribution to the field over the last half century is unsurpassed. @dickensfellowhq.bsky.social has lost a champion.
Reposted by Jonathan Potter
A walk through the stone defences of Mither Tap, Bennachie in Aberdeenshire for #HillfortsWednesday
I believe occupied in the early Middle Ages, don’t know how far it goes back? Whenever it was, I hope it was less windy than now.
I believe occupied in the early Middle Ages, don’t know how far it goes back? Whenever it was, I hope it was less windy than now.
November 19, 2025 at 10:16 AM
A walk through the stone defences of Mither Tap, Bennachie in Aberdeenshire for #HillfortsWednesday
I believe occupied in the early Middle Ages, don’t know how far it goes back? Whenever it was, I hope it was less windy than now.
I believe occupied in the early Middle Ages, don’t know how far it goes back? Whenever it was, I hope it was less windy than now.
Reposted by Jonathan Potter
This is one of the worst, most horrifying exposures we have ever seen. It is hard to overstate how bad the things that people are using tools like for are, and it's insane to pretend like these tools are anything other than nonconsensual porn machines
www.404media.co/ai-porn-secr...
www.404media.co/ai-porn-secr...
Massive Leak Shows Erotic Chatbot Users Turned Women’s Yearbook Pictures Into AI Porn
Chatbot roleplay and image generator platform SecretDesires.ai left cloud storage containers of nearly two million of images and videos exposed, including photos and full names of women from social me...
www.404media.co
November 19, 2025 at 5:11 PM
This is one of the worst, most horrifying exposures we have ever seen. It is hard to overstate how bad the things that people are using tools like for are, and it's insane to pretend like these tools are anything other than nonconsensual porn machines
www.404media.co/ai-porn-secr...
www.404media.co/ai-porn-secr...
Reposted by Jonathan Potter
For anyone who is like “the creature is also named Frankenstein”; Mary Shelley went to see a play version of Frankenstein and was tickled that they listed the creature as “———“ in the dramatis personae:
“this nameless mode of naming the unnameable is rather good”
www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/3...
“this nameless mode of naming the unnameable is rather good”
www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/3...
November 12, 2025 at 9:56 AM
For anyone who is like “the creature is also named Frankenstein”; Mary Shelley went to see a play version of Frankenstein and was tickled that they listed the creature as “———“ in the dramatis personae:
“this nameless mode of naming the unnameable is rather good”
www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/3...
“this nameless mode of naming the unnameable is rather good”
www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/3...
Reposted by Jonathan Potter
Next time you visit the Pre-Raphaelite galleries at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, keep an eye out for more information about my project, Victorian Art & Design and the Global!
More information available at: www.birminghammuseums.org.uk/about/what-w...
More information available at: www.birminghammuseums.org.uk/about/what-w...
November 8, 2025 at 11:13 AM
Next time you visit the Pre-Raphaelite galleries at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, keep an eye out for more information about my project, Victorian Art & Design and the Global!
More information available at: www.birminghammuseums.org.uk/about/what-w...
More information available at: www.birminghammuseums.org.uk/about/what-w...
Reposted by Jonathan Potter
Reposted by Jonathan Potter
SAVE GEOGRAPHY at Leicester University (UK) - We call on the University of Leicester to urgently reconsider the proposal to dissolve Geography. This is direct attack on the discipline of Geography at Leicester with likely loss of Geography staff. Please sign + share
www.change.org/p/save-geogr...
www.change.org/p/save-geogr...
November 7, 2025 at 12:02 PM
SAVE GEOGRAPHY at Leicester University (UK) - We call on the University of Leicester to urgently reconsider the proposal to dissolve Geography. This is direct attack on the discipline of Geography at Leicester with likely loss of Geography staff. Please sign + share
www.change.org/p/save-geogr...
www.change.org/p/save-geogr...
Reposted by Jonathan Potter
STARSHIP TROOPERS was released 28 years ago today. Among the most popular films of director Paul Verhoeven, and a classic sci fi/action satire, the making of story is as outrageous as the film. Would you like to know more…?
1/69
1/69
November 7, 2025 at 11:41 AM
STARSHIP TROOPERS was released 28 years ago today. Among the most popular films of director Paul Verhoeven, and a classic sci fi/action satire, the making of story is as outrageous as the film. Would you like to know more…?
1/69
1/69
Reposted by Jonathan Potter
You may think this is an easy one, but what if you're a billionaire already planning to have retreated to an underground bunker in ten years, and need a technology which can persuade everyone else that everything is fine, really?
A fun question. In 5 years time, what looks better? The US’s enormous bet & capex on AI? Or China’s equally enormous bet and capex on renewables?
China has made cheap, clean energy available in huge quantities. The world should take the win econ.st/4oqFszB
Photo: Eyevine
Photo: Eyevine
November 7, 2025 at 8:54 AM
You may think this is an easy one, but what if you're a billionaire already planning to have retreated to an underground bunker in ten years, and need a technology which can persuade everyone else that everything is fine, really?
Reposted by Jonathan Potter
solidarity with all colleagues and students at Nottingham who are having their jobs and degrees destroyed by management. the relentless annihilation of language provision in UKHE is something that *every* academic should be calling out and pushing back against.
I am hearing that @uniofnottingham.bsky.social is suspending (i.e shutting down) *all modern language courses* in 2026-27. One of the largest departments in the UK. A shocking short sighted move that damages regional and national prospects @britishacademy.bsky.social @hetanshah.bsky.social
November 6, 2025 at 2:42 PM
solidarity with all colleagues and students at Nottingham who are having their jobs and degrees destroyed by management. the relentless annihilation of language provision in UKHE is something that *every* academic should be calling out and pushing back against.
Reposted by Jonathan Potter
'mean-spirited'
November 6, 2025 at 11:30 AM
'mean-spirited'
Reposted by Jonathan Potter
The truly maddening thing is that, unlike when I was a young man in science and the materials and engineering just weren’t there yet, the future is *right there.* The problem is *solved*. What’s holding us back is not just greed, but this bizarre nostalgia, an obsession with petro- masculinity.
Australia has so much electricity from solar power that it is going to start offering free electricity to everyone for at least three hours during the day as the wholesale price of power goes negative
electrek.co/2025/11/04/a...
electrek.co/2025/11/04/a...
Australia has so much solar that it's offering everyone free electricity
Australia's extensive solar power penetration makes so much energy that the government wants to offer free electricity at peak hours.
electrek.co
November 6, 2025 at 2:08 PM
The truly maddening thing is that, unlike when I was a young man in science and the materials and engineering just weren’t there yet, the future is *right there.* The problem is *solved*. What’s holding us back is not just greed, but this bizarre nostalgia, an obsession with petro- masculinity.
David Olusoga was interviewed on the radio this morning and now I'm really looking forward to watching this.
Don’t forget to watch this much needed and long overdue series on the British Empire. Remarkably, it’s not based on the opinions of a travelling ‘personality’, but on what historians who’ve actually researched it say!
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
BBC Two - Empire with David Olusoga, Series 1, Episode 1
David Olusoga tells the story of the beginnings of the British Empire under Elizabeth I.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 6, 2025 at 3:26 PM
David Olusoga was interviewed on the radio this morning and now I'm really looking forward to watching this.
Reposted by Jonathan Potter
It has been my duty as a historian to record how smelly Che Guevara was. Honestly one of the stinkiest dudes in history. He was immensely proud of this & once showed off a pair of underpants he’d been wearing for two months. They were so filthy, he won a bet that they could stand up by themselves.
I am listening to Red Heat, by @alexvont.bsky.social, and I am shocked by how shitty people the male protagonists of political events in Latin America and the Caribbean were in the cold war. And the idea of how bad Che Guevara must have smelt is chasing me in nightmares
November 6, 2025 at 2:49 PM
It has been my duty as a historian to record how smelly Che Guevara was. Honestly one of the stinkiest dudes in history. He was immensely proud of this & once showed off a pair of underpants he’d been wearing for two months. They were so filthy, he won a bet that they could stand up by themselves.
Reposted by Jonathan Potter
Reposted by Jonathan Potter
For 61 years the #BBCWorldService has been broadcasting the latest in science via its weekly Science in Action programme. That dies in the next half hour, with this final edition, reflecting on the fall in trust in expertise driven by malign interests over recent years.
October 30, 2025 at 8:20 PM
For 61 years the #BBCWorldService has been broadcasting the latest in science via its weekly Science in Action programme. That dies in the next half hour, with this final edition, reflecting on the fall in trust in expertise driven by malign interests over recent years.
Reposted by Jonathan Potter
Also good guidelines for life.
final project guidelines for both grad and undergrad seminars:
1. pick a topic you care about
2. don’t use ai
3. get smarter
1. pick a topic you care about
2. don’t use ai
3. get smarter
October 30, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Also good guidelines for life.
Reposted by Jonathan Potter
Genuinely delighted to download a PhD thesis from a university repository where the author has neglected to remove the words "BITCH THIS IS YOUR THESIS" from the filename.
October 30, 2025 at 8:21 AM
Genuinely delighted to download a PhD thesis from a university repository where the author has neglected to remove the words "BITCH THIS IS YOUR THESIS" from the filename.
Reposted by Jonathan Potter
There is still time to enter the Midland History essay prize
£400 first prize and opportunity to publish in a peer reviewed journal
Closing date for entries 31 October 🎃
#phd #ecr #postgrad
£400 first prize and opportunity to publish in a peer reviewed journal
Closing date for entries 31 October 🎃
#phd #ecr #postgrad
To enter the Midland History Essay Prize, the essay must be a genuine work of original research, not published or accepted for publication as an article or a chapter in an edited collection book. Max. 10,000 words, including footnotes, tables and figure captions (2/2)
More Details 👇
More Details 👇
October 24, 2025 at 6:55 AM