Hazlitt, corduroy jackets, leather elbow patches, wrong side of the history man, changing places, waiting for the barbarian while the British Museum falls down
Joined May 2023
- Tweets10.5K
- Following249
- Followers2.7K
- Likes6.3K
Friends, it's been a blast, but this is Philip's last active day. By tomorrow the reason for his creation will cease to exist & he will sail off into the sunset. As a man of parts he will continue to contemplate the forthcoming second edition of his monograph on Hazlitt. It's
Philip Swallow retweeted
The real target of criticism should never be an entire religion or a people, but the extremist ideologies and violent movements that claim to speak in their name. Amos Oz himself repeatedly warned against fanaticism and the abuse of power. We can condemn occupation, violence, racism, and crimes against civilians without turning that condemnation into hatred toward Jews or Judaism. Human dignity must remain our standard for everyone.
New policy. As soon as someone misrepresents something I wrote or attributes to me a view or belief I have not expressed - instant block. First strike & you're out. I think this will increase the sum total of human happiness.
This is true. I've been saying it for years. I can excuse people early on in their career or on fixed term contracts, but people with nothing to lose who stand by & say nothing are part of the problem.
@blagden_david I’m sure you’re right. But a major part of the problem is that too much of academia is QUIETLY aghast, letting the nonsense happen. If the majority do not rouse themselves to ACT, they have no one to blame but themselves if their profession, institutions, and disciplines fall into disrepute.
The idea that academics have some kind of official research topic & if they deviate from it or comment on something else they lose the protection of academic freedom is mad. That line was tried by TRAs against Kathleen Stock it was bollocks then & it is bollocks now. My contract
Well it looks like a consensus is emerging among the academic be kind & caring classes over on bluesky that scholars should be fired if their scholarship is poor. So, let the bonfire begin. And no whining allowed when the fackel is at their feet.
Philip Swallow retweeted
Watching people explain to you how retaliation against whistleblowers works reminds me of explaining to an elderly relative that the email she received isn’t really from a Nigerian prince.
If J. S. Mill were alive today a substantial portion of academia would be saying he was worse than Hitler.
35 marathons in 30 days? Possible. But in London, the city that never sleeps, you'd think someone would remember the guy with one leg twice the size of the other limping through the darkened streets & asking "you all right mate?"
Irrelevant to the Arday/Cofnas stuff, but since 2017 to ensure equality of the sexes in the senior leadership team those standing for election of Rector & Vice Rector of the University of Ghent must run in male/ female pairs. In a resounding blow for female equality, the current
One of the reasons given for Cofnas' suspension is that he pursues academic work outside of the topic of the project on which he is officially employed. If that is academic misconduct then I am a banana as Ian Hislop once said. As long as they pursue their academic duties on the
One of the illusions I had about academia was that it wasn't like arguing with a bloke down the pub. Turns out I was wrong.
You are not taking the word of the university. You are taking the word of a pressure group of academics. These are not the same thing. Nothing in that document contradicts what I wrote. The very Rector that has now suspended him originally defended him on inter alia the same