“I am not now, nor have I ever been, part of any kind of antifascist or anti-racist organization – I just haven’t. I’m a professor,” Bray said on Monday about the circumstances. Noting that antifa is a decentralized movement, he added: “I’m a professor of the history of the left.” (via The Guardian)

Very concerning news emerging from the USA, where academics are increasingly targets of political attacks and ostricisation. This is part of a much longer campaign from the organisation which is notorious for its Professor Watchlist, which encourages students to report on left-wing professors at US institutions.

If, as the Education Secretary claimed this week, the government is serious about choice, social mobility and access to education it needs to appreciate that the provision of local universities and courses is now at considerable risk given the financial turmoil affecting UK higher education. What’s clear is that our current situation and trajectory is not a route to greater choice and accessibility. Rather, it is a potential channelling of resources and students into an ever narrowing range of options deemed by policy makers as being in the country’s best interests for the future. (via the RHS blog)

Lucy Noakes, President of the Royal Historical Society, on ‘The Value and Provision of History and the Humanities’

This weekend we celebrated the career of Prof. Peter Mandler with a book launch and a conference featuring contributions from friends and colleagues across his career. The book, entitled Democratising History: Modern British History Inside and Out, is edited by Freddy Foks, Laura Carter, and Philip Harling. The introduction, by Laura and Freddy, is a particularly rich contribution to the field, outlining a rough genealogy for the concept of ‘democratisation’, which has so far received surprisingly little detailed attention by historians of Britain. The book is available to download for free now!