Tales of British infrastructure, no.94

Stuck in a lift at Manchester Piccadilly.

Good news!

I am still genuinely shocked by this. I spent most of September and October double-checking every citation in my upcoming book, because I rewrite a lot for style and know from experience that they get scrambled or (worse) lost.

okay but how much to jump in and swan about like I'm Anita Ekberg?

Hard no to this: French publisher Harlequin has told translators that their work will now be done by AI. They can ‘revise’ AI translations at much lower rate. It’s a subsidiary of Harper Collins so treat this as a test for rollout elsewhere

If they want sales to recover, they should bring back shops. I can't be the only person who's extremely fed up with online shopping and chaos delivery firms.

The University of Liverpool here advertising for a postdoc fluent in four modern languages plus Latin, and I wonder if it's even possible to acquire these skills if you start out in its local state schools?

The tragic shootings at Bondi Beach and Brown University have put questions of gun control back in the spotlight. As @Cathfletcher.bsky.social notes, the long history of these debates suggests that cultural attitudes to firearms are deeply embedded. historyandpolicy.org/opinion-arti...

Folks, if you want to get your alumni on board for this, may I suggest not implicitly insulting everyone who works outside London in paragraph 2 of your message.

Sure, it's funny now, but when this is the new AI-designed core module for History GCSE, you won't be laughing...

😍We are rejoining Erasmus. Official announcement tomorrow😍 www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...

Today on Gone Medieval I have an episode about the Jewish community in Medieval Norwich. I went up last week to interview my mate Oren Margolis and I am really proud of this one. I just wish it wasn't so timely. It feels weird. Anyway, check it out. share.google/PkLRhPHXoise...

Following the tragic shootings at Bondi Beach and Brown University this weekend, I wrote about the long history of debates on gun control for @historyandpolicy.bsky.social

exactly, we should go back to the good old days when if you wanted to see nudity you had to take a a holiday to Florence

If you are working in humanities education and thinking how to respond to the tragic events of this weekend, I'd like to draw your attention to a new project launching next month at the AHA. I would rather it wasn't so topical, but here we are.

If you are working in humanities education and thinking how to respond to the tragic events of this weekend, I'd like to draw your attention to a new project launching next month at the AHA. I would rather it wasn't so topical, but here we are.

ouch, I feel the burn just reading this

rather than Viscount De Perverto paying a bag of florins, it's @FurryArtEnjoyer24 and his 500 friends each giving £3 a month

might set this as an essay question

The most assigned books in US high schools, 1963 vs 2024, acc to a recent study::::

There are at least half a dozen people from my PhD and postdoc years that I might have been developing projects with now if they still had academic posts

My article, ‘Visualizing the executions of British queens in early modern Europe‘, has been published in “Historical Research” and can be read here: academic.oup.com/histres/adva...

Spot of classic Stanley Baxter for the uninitiated: keep watching through the sketch for the detailed language tuition.

Found broccoli and Stilton among the limited supplies in my fridge and made an excellent soup though I say so myself

Was that James I's drag name?

apparently there's 'falling growth' in the 'scientific research' sector, and yes, that is what will happen if you slash jobs in universities

Pope Leo on the importance and roles of Archaeology www.vatican.va/content/leo-...

Just received an email headed "eleventh-hour gifting" which has arrived at least 13 days too early for the eleventh-hour hardcore

For avoidance of confusion, that’s just about all academic staff, excluding Heads of Dept and- of course - Senior Management Team.

Well this is one route to dealing with problematic collections of imperial artefacts

evergreen UK academia post

fyi

at the risk of a slight spoiler, one for any of you teaching a public history class

Classical Reception, Wigan-style

My morning coffee had just worn off when the door opened. I knew from the silhouette who it was. "Leo. Hear you made it to the top." "Yeah. Got a job for you." He said. "Why me?" "Catholicism needs your... unique skills again." He said, smiling darkly. "Time to bring them down. From the inside"

How are soldiers who volunteer for foreign causes commemorated in the countries they served? @ninajanz.bsky.social on foreign fighters and the struggle over memory.

If we fixed the gender pay gap, more women could afford to eat in the posh restaurants with tiny portions

I must be spending too much time online because I read this and thought, what, they have a whole District for Gaslighting now?

Looks like a good Christmas present for music-lovers

Finally I have a full draft of our grant application!

Facebook is now serving me ads for a 'cheat with AI' subscription service

These applied history fellowships are a positive thing, but it's odd to restrict this one, endowed by an expert on South Africa, to people working on British and Irish history of the Modern World. Surely studies of other countries can have policy relevance.

The bigger question about IoT is whether it's going back to live broadcast, once again the radio equivalent of an undergrad history exam for its contributors

Now every time you pet a cat you have to think about the Roman Empire

we could do with a few more vice-chancellors making this case in the UK

Very much agree with this. The days when, if pushed, you could wing it as a seminar tutor by relying on a critical mass of students having done the reading and arrived prepared to discuss it are long gone.

This is so problematic. Creating big-money grants (7m EUR!) is such a travesty. Instead of funding 1 researcher, why not fund 25 with smaller grants? It would create more ideas, secure more careers, and create so much more innovative knowledge. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-euro...

Saw an amazing little exhibition at the new Petri archaeology museum in Berlin - "degenerate" art confiscated by the Nazis and excavated in 2010 during construction of a metro station.

RIP Martin Luther, you would have loved Papal Audience Black Friday deals.