This, in particular. Increasingly of the view that government policy towards universities is the test case of whether it really has a wider economic policy.

Look on the bright side, England, it's only 3.5 prime ministers until the next world cup!

Really delighted to have an essay on Multilingual Books and Multilingual Readers in the marvellous new volume Multilingual Print in Early Modern Europe, just recently published by Brill and edited by Chloe Akers-Brewer, Arthur der Weduwen, and Andrew Pettegree. brill.com/edcollchap/b...

'Gemma Derrick...said the decision not to take account of maternity and paternity leave in the REF’s volume measure takes the UK’s four higher education funding bodies “out of [step] with every serious funding agency in the world when it comes to reasonable adjustments”.' 1/3

✨Lovely to be among great company @sarakbarker.bsky.social @earlymodernjohn.bsky.social @shantigraheli.bsky.social Arthur der Weduven, Chloe-Akers Brewer (of @universalstc.bsky.social) 📖The volume is entitled Multilingual Print in Early Modern Europe @dgb-mem.bsky.social #bookhistory

So this was a nice surprise to wake up to, thanks to all Cambridge University Press & Assessment and series editor @woolf-atthedoor.bsky.social Delighted that it is Open Access doi.org/10.1017/9781... @researchireland.ie @ucc.ie

The great shift to vernacular writing during the 16th/17th century www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-histor...

The latest issue of "Renaissance Studies" is out! Read some perspicacious, exciting and generally magnificent #EarlyModern scholarship assembled into one shiny issue by our erudite editor, @earlymodernjohn.bsky.social 💫 📖 💫 rensoc.org.uk/renaissance-...

I think that if you're from England — including Hot England (Australia) and Gun England (America) — you should generally take a moment before posting your little joke about Ireland just to check if it's actually funny.

We lost Rosamond McKitterick, a great scholar, a great teacher, and a great human being, far too early. This has been hard to write, but thinking about her, who she was and the person she chose to be can never bring me anything but joy. #medievalsky salutemmundo.wordpress.com/2026/06/15/a...

If you need an aperitif snack, Lidl and the other places often have very cheap jarred artichokes. Drain the oil and blitz them with a can of drained beans & a bunch of basil. Lemon, salt, pepper, a touch of the reserved oil. Toast some baguette slices, rub with garlic, and put this on top. Cin cin!

Looking ahead to what promises to be a landmark gathering next year. It's the *60th anniversary* of @srsrensoc.bsky.social , the conference is taking place at the @warburginstitute.bsky.social, and the theme is explicitly inviting us to move beyond limits... Cannot wait - spread widely!!!!!

Oh, so you can resign from cabinet if they absolutely shaft the sector you're in charge of? Interesting to know! @bphillipsonmp.bsky.social

Research Ireland's statement in response to the open letter from the Irish research community. One sentence strikes me immediately: "AHSS research can be a distinctive national strength for Ireland". In fact, it's more proper to say *is* already - not *can*. www.researchireland.ie/news/stateme...

So glad that Luqman Saeed - an academic at Ulster University - has written this piece about the Belfast riots. I hope I could write this clearly and perceptively were I under similar pressure right now. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/ju...

Disappointed to learn that this is not, in fact, the first drama series as Gaeilge set in the Pleistocene

We're down to the last handful of tickets for my workshop on 'Medicine and the Senses' in Leeds on 10 July. Please share! www.eventbrite.com/e/medicine-a...

If you want to read an extract of my book, All Roads Lead to Rome, before you commit to buying, the lovely @jonnelledge.bsky.social has much of the intro in this week's newsletter! bsky.app/profile/jonn...

So annoying — getting William the Conqueror's emails again

I have an essay in the Irish Times this weekend reflecting on the intimate practice of writing about queer history in Belfast. Warning: contains pillow talk www.irishtimes.com/life-style/p...

This is what we need Language-based Area Studies for. People who know language, culture and history. You know, the kind of departments they are currently closing down everywhere.

Ok .... this is where the increasing lack of language skills is taking us. If you don't know Korean, maybe leave the study of Korean history to those who do.

Area studies is already being gutted at universities and by governments; we are losing a generation of experts. If the idea that "AI translation can make all fields accessible to all people" becomes more widespread, I fear we are giving license to acceleration of the hollowing out of our field.

This book (written by a scholar with language competency in Japanese using LLMs to translate secondary scholarship Korean, which he cant read) raises important questions we as a field have to face about expertise and translation, as well as what the role of language-learning is in history (🧵)

eavesdropping on a couple of english lit academics in st. john, i overheard confirmation of what is surely going to be the biggest literary news story of the year

God how wild would it be to work in a university that actually wants to see your discipline prosper? Can you even imagine?

The Library is delighted to announce that another Gaelic manuscript has been digitised and added to @dias-isos.bsky.social. RIA MS B iv 1 is a 17th century paper manuscript containing some 494 pages of mostly early modern Irish tales and verse. www.ria.ie/2026/05/26/a...

And the book is Open Access so here it is... Remembering the Wars of Religion: Conflict and Coexistence in Early Modern France academic.oup.com/book/62521

Loved this long read on the Leeds beer scene and the dominance of Kirkstall brewery. One of the great things about Leeds was the variety in its beer scene - it would be great to see more support for other local brewers like Horsforth, Amity, and Piglove. www.pelliclemag.com/home/2026/4/...

This is a really great list of resources for teaching and learning Medieval Latin compiled by Brigid Ehrmantraut #medievalsky www.medievalists.net/2026/06/lear...

The History of Writing in African Languages: From Arabic to Vernacular. www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-histor...

*Call for Papers* @srsrensoc.bsky.social has announced its next #conference. 'The Renaissance beyond Borders' frames the #Renaissance as a dynamic, interconnected process that transcends the chrono-geographical limitations of a fixed European moment. Share your paper ➡️ rensoc.org.uk/cfp/12th-bie...

At my office getting up the time that I have of late lost by not following my business, but I hope now to settle my mind again very well to my business.

This feels like absolute vandalism as so many books are not e-resources so not available any other way and are absolutely essential for arts and humanities research in particular.

Exactly. I've never - not once -- heard a student complain about there being too much flexibility and too many options for modules. This is a fabricated issue put out there by people who know nothing about HE.

Very excited to read This Little World!

It's publication day! This Little World begins with a sixteenth-century refugee writing from Norwich to his wife abroad. It ends in the aftermath of civil war and revolution, asking what belonging and identity might mean in a world shaped by migration, empire and violence. (1/4)

This looks so great! I won't be in London but hope there'll be a publication or something similar coming out of it!

Very few sign-ups for the in-person document sessions on 16 and 17 June. Please circulate with PhD students etc who use legal records in their research (or I won't be able to run the sessions this year). I can promise witchcraft, treason, and all that good stuff (if it runs). Details via the thread.

Colleagues might consider signing this petition against the downgrading of AHSS research by Research Ireland openletter.earth/concern-abou...

A promotional post for cebeme.manchester.ac.uk/en, a platform for searching and visualising data across PLRE, Renaissance Cultural Crossroads, Plantin sales and provincial booksellers' inventories, c. 1500–1640. So, ownership, sales, and translations of books in #earlyModern England. #bookHistory

My belief that I'm not like the other dads who buy clothes in M&S taking an absolute battering from seeing the other dads around me buying clothes in M&S

Sweltering in the UK heatwave?? Why not visit your Local Archival Repository! Low temperatures and humidity GUARANTEED* And we throw in the history for free😍 *by regulatory standard BS4971:2017 Archives - Where the records are cool and so are you.

With the plans to retract and close swathes of departments across UKHE, we reaffirm the value of the humanities and other subject areas under threat. A broad and capacious knowledge base is vital for a thriving democracy. rensoc.org.uk/statement-on...

First few hot days of 2026 seem to be bearing this sad prediction out. The world we could have had!

brief introduction to Venetic here from @viewsproject.bsky.social with links to some further posts by @katherinemcdon.bsky.social

Archaeologists carrying out excavations ahead of the construction of a new road at Ponso, near Este in the Veneto region of Italy, have uncovered an ancient Venetic and Roman temple site, including numerous inscriptions in the Venetic language (all photos: SABAP Padova Treviso Belluno)🏺

I'm in the new issue of @historytoday.com with a review of Penny Roberts's latest, an honest to god archival detective story which reconstructs sixteenth-century Huguenot networks from a bag of letters seized at the port of Dieppe. www.historytoday.com/archive/revi...

I just hope the constable doesn’t drop by again

It must be emphasized that we need powerful, robust ACADEMIC history IN universities to sustain history OUTSIDE universities. If we can’t employ people in higher ed to train future generations of public historians, we will not have future generations of public historians. 🗃️