FL is moving forward w/ plan to end all childhood vaccine mandates. Starting with hepatitis B, chickenpox, and the bacteria causing meningitis and pneumonia. Then next year GOP FL legislature is expected to revisit 1977 law re: whooping cough, measles, polio, rubella, mumps, diphtheria, and tetanus.

Happy Halloween! Here's something I wrote last year on medieval horoscopes - www.northampton.ac.uk/news/stars-s...

I'm making some extra income and developing my skills by assessing funding applications for the European Commission. And I'm slightly surprised to find I... enjoy it? It's interesting to read the proposals and then the commenting and grading is actually quite satisfying!

An introduction to a fascinating sounding project. Really looking forward to seeing its conclusions (especially where the narratives are being drawn from to be misshaped).

Nobody in authority ever suggested that "Essay mills are just an inevitable part of modern life, you should change your teaching-methods to circumvent them". They fucking MADE THEM ILLEGAL.

An excellent episode of is, too. We had a really interesting discussion.

Yet again, we can't afford to let LLMs become a source of epistemic grounding for society.

The UK should take note. Voters should not take this path, and Labour should stop being part of the problem with their never-ending lurch to the right.

Just started Nobody Wants This season 2 but I’m not sure the charm has survived them getting together…

For UK academic folk, in case you don’t know about this service, the AHRC does publish all panel outcomes, with figures for numbers of applicants, numbers of successful awards etc. There is a lag, though, so the most recent info is from January 2025.

Have they considered doing good things that people will like instead of bad things that everyone hates?

As a kid/teen I LOVED The Fast Show, so I was delighted when @charliehigson.bsky.social invited me on his fantastic history podcast. Episode "The Far Right History Hijack" is out now! podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

Sign up here for the upcoming @carantes.bsky.social talk by @menysnoweballes.bsky.social, online on November 18th! "Historical Nostalgia, Medieval Chivalry and Masculine Identity Formation in Far-Right Online Spaces”

Read @carantes.bsky.social‘s newsletter for some heartening advice on the spectrum of roles in antifascist organising, further great advice from @invisiblehistories.bsky.social, and an upcoming talk on medieval chivalry and Far Right masculinities by @menysnoweballes.bsky.social. Then follow them!

Need a late-night read? Or maybe late-afternoon… or mid-morning… Ya know what, time zones are annoying! The latest Carantes newsletter is out on our website! We look forward to Dr Rachel Moss's (@menysnoweballes.bsky.social) talk next month, details in the newsletter! carantes.org/2025/10/15/o...

This article argues that the problem with colleges is that they focus on "transactional learning." Their bombshell conclusion is that they should instead teach "premium skills" such as "verification of sources, contextual decision-making, and ethical reasoning under ambiguity..."

Nothing could possibly go wrong with this. Creating a lifelike digital avatar on a third party platform will definitely not open teaching staff up to career destroying issues in the event of that platform being hacked.

There’s a reason academics universally rejected the initial push to canonize Charlie Kirk as a saint devoted to free speech. We know all too well that’s the exact opposite of reality.

Just to say that teachers do an incredibly difficult job, with all the right intentions, and can be the defining influence on a young person's life. They are the exact opposite of poisoners because good teaching provides the antidote to so many dangers

Self promo plug to say if you’re interested in this & wanna invite me to your dept, esp if your city is nice - then invite me!! I am a good value seminar guest 😅

This is another example of the normalization of anti-constitutional and authoritarian behaviors. Nowhere in our history (pre-trump) would this not be a runaway scandal. But it’s become business as usual. 😒

Normally our December issue is six mini-essays, but with the support of the Kitchings Family Foundation, we're going to be able to support six shorts--twice the word count, twice the pay!--as well as an amazing feature-length review we've already got lined up.

Is anyone else in the UK - esp W Mids - feeling like air pollution/leaf mould/something is bothering them? I’ve been feeling a bit tight chested on and off the past few days and like I want to cough, but it doesn’t seem to be turning into a cold so I’m leaning toward allergens…

I was going to say that he isn't happy because they never are, but actually Farage seems to be the exception. He genuinely is having a great time being a total piece of shit, which may account for his longevity in the position of Official Right Wing Figurehead.

Thanks to everyone who came to my paper today! So many good questions!!

If you wondered how many of the major newsrooms covering the Pentagon would give in to Pete Hegseth and sign a new agreement if they wanted to maintain access, it looks like the answer is... none. So far. Via @status.news

This is a fundamental point that 99% of higher-ed coverage, and 100% of immig coverage, have missed.

Interested in letter-writing in early medieval Britain? A three-year postdoc on @francescatinti.bsky.social’s and my project is now available. Apps close on 17th Oct. Let me know if you have any questions and please circulate! 🙂 jobs.kent.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...

MATER meeting 2 is scheduled for 18 November. If you'd like to join our network, get in touch. Everyone working in medieval-related fields is welcome. 🗃️ #skystorians #medievalsky www.northampton.ac.uk/research-blo...

wrote about Comey, arguably the first capitulator in advance. trying to palliate trump led to the destruction of basically everything he was trying to preserve. it feels like we should learn from that. www.publicnotice.co/p/comey-indi...

bump for wednesday

If you're a Lady V London fan and you're either a size 8 or a size 30/32 UK, the 60% off sale has a TON of stuff for you (not so much for any other size): ladyvlondon.com/collections/...

Texas A&M already fired four people for one professor acknowledging the existence of trans people. They're making it so that the mere idea of transness itself is forbidden, upon which any number of atrocities can be committed.

Anyone who votes to end birthright citizenship as it is understood now, in defiance of clear law and the tradition they claim to value? They are voting to create a permanent underclass of rightness, stateless people in the United States. They are voting to bring back slavery.

I told you guys

Ugh, today I feel Stressed about my kiddo's future school options. Applying for secondary schools in the UK is an unnecessarily complex gambling game around catchment zones & subscription rates. Then throw in grammar school entry etc... I just want to ensure she's happy and secure!

Series 7 of RuPaul's Drag Race UK starts tonight (BBC Three, 8:40pm)! I'll be cheering for 'Titan of Brighton' Tayris, who is truly fabulous. 👠🌈📺 #tv Some Drag Race science: in 2020, a gorgeous species of Australian soldier fly was named after RuPaul - Opaluma rupaul! #PrideInSTEM #queer #science

In @icde.bsky.social's recent report on digital radicalisation, they note that "some growing online spaces feature strong personalities...Rather than charisma, these figures thrive on derision and open manipulation." Their desire to cause harm is often stronger than specific ideologies.

Look what just arrived in the post! Well-being Past and Present! A great volume edited by my great colleagues @uninorthampton.bsky.social 🗃️

Our History Research Seminar @uninorthampton.bsky.social kicks off next Wed 1 Oct with a talk by me on my new project 'Medievalism, gender and politicised nostalgia in the British extreme right, 1962 – 1982'. It will be at 12pm UK time and on Teams. Email rachel.moss @ northampton.ac.uk for a link.

"Stop telling your supporters that everybody who disagrees with you is a Nazi....[and start telling them that they are anti-Christian vermin linked to terroristic traitors in the Democrat Party who've been infected by the Soros-funded woke mind virus and are poisoning the blood of the country.]"

Useful reminder from Peter Kellner on the problems we refuse to acknowledge are getting better, and the politics of hopelessness that this breeds open.substack.com/pub/kellnerp...

Look, I'm official on @oxlifelonglearning.bsky.social - lifelong-learning.ox.ac.uk/profiles/rac...

"Nigel Farage has refused to rule out a link between paracetamol and autism" is the lead item on LBC News. Why? Why? He's not a doctor, he's not an expert, he's not a Minister, he's not the PM, he's not the opposition. Why is his bullshit the most important item on the news? Why?

Again, the *obvious* weakness Reform has is combining its first ~10%, who are much more conspiracy adjacent, with wider mainstream appeal. This is a wedge both Labour and Tories should be kicking. Remember how much Ref. floundered under Tice when they became the party of Covid-skepticism?

Just a note - quite a few of you follow me here now and I don’t keep track of new follows. If I know you, do @ me so I know to follow you back! Also v happy to make new acquaintances too, so please say hi. Otherwise I’ll generally assume you just want to follow along quietly 🙂

Ronnie Sanderson, eight at the time, told the BBC in 2010: “It all started in the playground – the word was there was a vampire and everyone was going to head out there after school” – ‘there’ being the splendidly named Southern Necropolis

Well, if it’s 23 September... YES, THAT’S RIGHT! It’s the 71st anniversary of the hunt for the Gorbals Vampire, in which hundreds of children aged from four to 14, armed with dogs, knives and sharpened sticks went looking for an urban myth

We had a fun games afternoon with our new @uninorthampton.bsky.social History students today… But do you feel one of these games is a bit close to the bone?! 😅

This pilot experiment PAID FOR ITSELF. Ireland spent $105 million on artists providing them basic income, and saw that drop to $72 million after accounting for economic impacts, then with $80 million in psychological wellbeing impacts, that dropped to -$8 million.