Cushman Writes

 In January I wrote a blog post titled  The Value of Studying History: A Subject at Risk . Over the last few months, my Google algorithm has pushed a series of news articles to me highlighting the funding issues for universities. The problem of academic support, as such, continues to plague the profession. As it will become apparent in this post, the subject’s position may be affected by challenges faced at a broader level across UK academic institutions today. Funding Crisis Continues For Edinburgh University, funding is still an issue. In a Times Higher Education article, Juliette Roswell highlights the fears of staff in a ‘manufactured crisis’ at the news of cuts. It announced to its staff that £140 million in cuts would occur, despite capital expenditure growth reaching £186 million in 2024. [1]  Staffing costs also declined from 58.8% three years ago to 53.7% recently. As such, it is unclear why the university would wish to reduce staffing despite its seemingly posit...

  Photo via: https://images.app.goo.gl/9M7JuCbSRxRMSPPS7 Some breakups are so bad, they make history. So, in the spirit of poor life choices, cue the wine, 'All by Myself,' and this week’s dive into history’s worst breakups. A real Bridget Jones experience awaits… Think your breakup was bad? Well, history can undoubtedly show you some examples to make you feel better. From King Henry VIII and his many wives, to Oscar Wilde, this week we will examine the breakups of some of history’s most prominent figures to assert that maybe we don’t have it so bad after all.   The OG Red Flag While my breakup wasn’t as publicly humiliating as Henry VIII’s six wives, there’s still something timeless about realising someone never loved you the way you loved them… As the song goes: 'Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Divorced, Beheaded, Survived.' Henry VIII was the original 'boyfriend from hell'—if your ex had power, money, and a tendency to execute his partners. Despite the number of w...

“You should know this Freya,” my mum turns and says to me as we sit watching University Challenge - a round of questions focusing on some obscure period, I have never heard of playing out in front of us. If this was the jungle on I’m a Celeb, you’d hear me shouting, “I’m a historian, get me out of here” rather than attempting to answer. Now, it isn’t my mum’s fault that she asks me questions like these, or indeed the fault of my friends on the church-quiz team for doing the same, but it is simply an issue of awareness. I believe there is a lack of awareness for history as a study itself. People often think history is about knowing everything, but in reality, it’s the focused study of a specific, often small, period of time, using primary sources to understand the past more deeply. Thus, in this article I shall argue that despite doing a ‘history’ degree, I cannot possibly answer every question I face, as well as highlight some ways we could develop young historians' awareness. Th...