This is an excellent - and practical - article on how historians can work with data.

'The single strongest predictor of whether a pub closed between 2016 and 2024 is how alone it was. Not how good the beer was or who owned it. But whether it had neighbours.' This is fascinating from @laurenleek.eu

'it is the great Exchange of all discourse.’ Brilliant @earlymodernjohn.bsky.social on early modern news. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

'“Equality” is a word notably lacking in the executive order.'

Delighted to be series editor for Cambridge Elements in Women, Gender and Sexuality in Premodern Literature and Culture. If you have something cool and interesting you’d like to work with us on please get in touch (micrograph 20-30k) www.cambridge.org/core/publica...

'Celebrate the season of love with the wisdom of nearly 120 years of editorial practice' no notes, perfect copy.

'Volunteering is not a transaction and should never be used as a tool of immigration control.' www.ncvo.org.uk/get-involved...

I'm back in November 18th.

From @npjgarland.bsky.social's @powertochange.org.uk essay on the history of place-based policymaking www.powertochange.org.uk/evidence-and...

Finished Laura Cummings' Thunderclap this week, a truly lovely happy-sad book.

Lyndal Roper on turbulent times. (Issue 100, @historyworkshop.org.uk) academic.oup.com/hwj/article/...

'Medicine can sometimes extend life; it cannot endow it with meaning. A society fixated on remaining young also risks forgetting why age exists at all, not merely as biological decline, but as the scaffolding of memory, care and generational responsibility.'

Our @glasnevincemetery.bsky.social @historytcd.bsky.social Spring Lecture Series is live. Theme is 'Work and working in 19th & 20th century #Dublin' - please RT. Speakers @antoniahart.bsky.social @dublincity.bsky.social @drdeefoley.bsky.social & Conor Dodd formerly Glasnevin.

'We force innovation where it doesn’t belong, pushing companies to be creative not in how they help us, but in how they exploit us.'

I'm here on BBC World Service's History Hour about 10.25mins in, talking about the history of children's protests! www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w... #skystorians #histchild #historyhit

'These phrases do nothing to capture any useful meaning. The economy is not leashed. There is no “fuel” that is needed to boost it. Whatever companies of a certain size are like, they are neither a boney carapace for nerve signals nor the fluid that carries oxygen around.'

'What they offer instead is a politics of limits, hierarchy and resignation—a boilerplate conservatism, repackaged for a gloomy age whose prevailing emotion is fear.'

❤️

New podcast featuring Prof @michaelkenny.bsky.social from @bennettschool.cam.ac.uk and fellow experts, on how to rebuild confidence in the future, & our collective ability to shape it through place & community. Download the podcast produced by @cisl.cam.ac.uk ow.ly/5E5X50Y16Uf

Read the full report here -> www.southampton.ac.uk/publicpolicy...

'But it matters, too, because it is a reminder of a neglected truth, that writing is a core part of providing effective leadership.'

This will be *fantastic*

Awful. apnews.com/article/immi...

'The Citizens Advice survey found more than 80% of its advisers felt that people receiving the highest rate of new style ESA – meaning they are severely ill or disabled – would be unlikely to return to work if and when they lost their contributory benefits.'

The full Warm Homes Plan is now out. It's a 152 page whopper... www.gov.uk/government/p...

'One of the bizarre ironies of the ICE abductions is that several Indigenous Americans — people whose roots on this land predate anyone else’s — have been detained.' www.nytimes.com/2026/01/19/o...

And it's only week 4 of the year.

Would love to be able to break this down a bit more to know about whether people are actively watching TV, using it as a second screen while doomscrolling, ambient tv versus sitting and focusing, etc etc www.ft.com/content/12f5...

Following some recent high-profile political defections, @alfiesteer.bsky.social and Dr @emmapeplow.bsky.social have delved into the History of Parliament's #OralHistory archive to explore some historical cases of MPs who 'crossed the floor' and changed their party affiliation.

Please help spread the word on this, especially to those who may be feeling cold winds towards their research. We’ve opened the call for our International Fellowships, enabling early career researchers to work for two years at a UK research institution www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/sche...

Really looking forward to @bennettschool.cam.ac.uk Annual Conference. Please do get in touch if you're coming along!

I'm assuming @bsky.app may be seeing the effects of an X-odus, so re-sharing the @bennettschool.cam.ac.uk starter pack. go.bsky.app/UX4T67L

Thrilled to be joining the @bennettschool.cam.ac.uk team! (And to have such a lovely commute this morning)

Three (of many) favourites from Anna Ancher: Painting Light.

'Isn't history sometimes written by the losers?' This is perfection.

Pressures on current tenants in terms of evictions and rents are easing a bit, but competition for new tenancies is still tough - check out the findings from GR's latest survey

'people are being denied a social home due to fears they will not be able to keep up with their living costs, and the report found 71% of housing associations said the benefit restrictions were a key reason for this.'

Behind the scenes in Ede and Ravenscroft's wig-room, 1920s vs 2025 www.ft.com/content/e035...

James Meek on the ghost(s) of the industrial revolution. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

“The brutal irony is that the generative AI tools affecting novelists are likely trained on millions of pirated novels scraped from shadow libraries without the consent or remuneration of authors" www.cam.ac.uk/stories/gene...

Great culture can save lives. Literally. Amazing letter in today’s @thetimes.com about Tom Stoppard

For the first time in a long old while, I have finally lived somewhere long enough to join AND use the local library, is this what happiness looks like??

'This is a context in which it is important to have a more consistent sense of priorities than the government has so far maintained.'

Even just looking at the chart titles here has reminded me how everything is now content and everyone is a content creator.

'Concern over a deeply unequal society and a lopsided economy is where the wealth tax-ers and I start – but doing something about it requires deep-rooted changes to give more people a fairer share.' Aditya Chakrabortty on the wealth tax www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

I think this counts as successful research impact. Turning your archive work into a bestselling trade book, which is then optioned as a feature film. www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

A List of Things Said to Have Been Ruined by Women 🧵

I had never considered patient satisfaction as anything other than an outcome on its own. Fascinating (if unsurprising really) to read the direct impact on health outcomes, that @samfr.bsky.social cites: bmjopen.bmj.com/content/3/1/...?

EXC: English councils will still be poorer in 2029 than they were in 2010, according to the IfG. Report finds councils are increasingly providing social care and little else. Libraries, youth services, parks, all falling by the wayside. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Reminded of @stephenkb.bsky.social's excellent column on AI and the curriculum. "It is knowledge that allows you to deploy and use your skills." www.ft.com/content/1369...