Well, this is a rather lovely start to the New Year: I’m so OVER THE MOON that my Domination is @waterstones non-fiction Book of the Month for January 2026! And just out in paperback too… waving to all my readers, past, present and future! www.waterstones.com/book/dominat...

Well-researched and detailed history, written in a very readable style by @profaliceroberts.bsky.social Draws useful comparisons with modern-day politics & culture wars, where appropriate. Completely changed my understanding of both chi-rho and Emperor Constantine. Worthwhile. #books 💙📚💡

I just rewatched this excellent documentary with @profaliceroberts.bsky.social about trying to read scrolls from ancient Herculaneum. If you've not seen it you have just under a year to do so. Don't miss out. Thanks, Alice. www.channel5.com/show/the-los...

#DiggingforBritain returns on 7th January with a new 6-part series on BBC Two with @profaliceroberts.bsky.social, and includes two @nationaltrust.org.uk properties: 4th February - Woolsthorpe Manor, Lincolnshire 5th February - St Michael's Mount, Cornwall. Tune in to find out more!

I talked to the lovely Dan Snow about how the Roman Empire never fell - but evolved - and my book, Domination: youtu.be/HynJ2_9_Rmk?...

You missed: Free public access to hypocaust Replace grumpy Roman gardener with someone more cheerful Be nice to @durotrigesdig.bsky.social Happy New Year!

Here are the New Year's resolutions we plan to break in the next week or so: Be nicer to #CuratorRob 🙄 Post about Fishbourne Roman Palace from time to time 🫡 Fewer typos 😳 Get over the whole "Villa" thing 🧐 Get engaged (we're looking at you, Merchy) 😍

We talk a lot about “church schools” in Britain — but almost never about who actually pays for them. I started digging into the data expecting a small technical footnote. What I found instead was a much bigger mismatch. #LetsRethink #UkPolitics #Education

I’ve gone purple for Yule, to celebrate my book Domination. Lovely to see so many of you on my tour this autumn - new dates have been added for Feb/March! And I hope some of you found a copy in your stockings!

Here's Cernunnos, wishing you all a merry Yuletide, however you celebrate! The name Cernunnos appears in an inscription on a first-century CE Roman pillar from Gaul, associated with a horned figure.

The plagiarism-droid just wants to please you, and it will do that by inventing citations, which you will love because of confirmation bias. It's not a literature review if you haven't reviewed the fucking literature. Jeez...

Inside and on top of the Wellington Arch in London - the first time I’ve been inside!

I’m almost as confused as the Romans were! I must confess I thought it was Sunday…

Merry Yule! It’s the shortest day of the year and we can now look forward to the return of the light! The Romans seem to have been a bit confused about measuring the daylight and celebrated Sol on 25th December instead. That will never catch on! www.instagram.com/reel/DSStf1u...

Here's an archaeological investigation of their abused bodies, in just one graveyard: the-past.com/feature/tire...

In 1811-12, the Luddites attempted to resist some of the first waves of machine-industrialisation. They were crushed. 20 years later "pauper apprentices" (= orphan children) were being SOLD to factory-owners as cheap labour. Think on, dear hearts, think on.

Nothing that an "AI" does has any anchorage in material reality, it's all just code, continuously juggling. It has no grounded understanding of anything, no responsibility, no reasoned sense of consequence, or anything else...

When I was a medical student 45 years ago, I clerked in a 13 year old girl with deep jaundice and an abdominal mass. She was Hepatitis B positive. That had led to a primary liver tumour. In a 13-year-old. She was dead within the month. Avoidable with vaccination.

Thank goodness for that. Something that shouldn’t have happened, happened. And now it’s set to unhappen. Great for students, great for research in general and great for Britain. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...

Announcing new tour dates! Feb & March 2026… just in time to buy the archaeology lover in your life a gift for Saturnalia! www.alice-roberts.co.uk/tour

As ever, we'll be doing a foodbank collection at Nine Lessons this year. The list of most urgently needed items are at cosmicshambles.com/ninelessons CC @robinince.bsky.social, @soozuk.bsky.social, @nataliehaynes.bsky.social, @seismatters.bsky.social, @profaliceroberts.bsky.social

The Incredible Unlikeliness of Being, Evolution and the Making of us, to give it its full title by @profaliceroberts.bsky.social remains as I wrote in my review of it, the best book I have read in 30 years. I also called it an orgasm of the mind as with each page you go wow - all the above is true

California is providing its own version of the CDC - “a shield” - to provide reliable health information at a time when it’s lacking in the rest of the US, Governor Gavin Newsom announced. It’s not a Shadow CDC, he stressed, not at that federal level, but it will have links with the WHO.

I think the fundamental gap here is that non-creative people think that creative people make things for the end product, when in fact it’s the act of creation and not the end point that makes it worthwhile.

If we are really worried about the pressure put on the NHS by flu then shouldn’t we have offered the flu vaccine to more people for free?

This looks like a fantastic present for any lover of landscape and archaeology! Something to look forward to in the New Year!

🔴 REVEALED 🔴 The Institute of Economic Affairs – the anti-state, anti-climate pressure group that "incubated" Liz Truss – was bankrolled by oil giants and Rupert Murdoch’s media empire. 📝 Exclusive findings from @desmog.com 👇

Very sad that I felt I had no choice but to resign from The Infinite Monkey Cage - a victory for the transphobes and other bigots - I did it because so much of the media has chosen to believe the kind and empathetic people are a fiction - they are real and so often unrepresented.

Ongoing decimation of British universities part 252: Apx. 1000 academic staff at University of Essex just received formal ‘risk of redundancy’ letters via email. Please share @ucuessex.bsky.social @ucu.org.uk

This is a really appalling editorial error on BBC Question Time "Apparently one in three children don't speak English as a first language, why does this matter?" Chair says "have English as a second language" Caption changes the meaning entirely "Don't speak fluent English"

I see #bbcqt is platforming Reform Ltd again. With a Tory defector. And a Tory MP. No Lib Dem, despite them having more MPs in Scotland than the Tories. Reform have precisely none. #bbcbias

Stephen Flynn criticises Nigel Farage from attacking children who speak more than one language #BBCQT "A man who aspires to be PM of these isle would pick a fight with school kids, would hold school kids up as an object to beat, absolutely repulses me and it should repulse all of you as well"

🎄 📚 A Christmas book post: Endless love to everyone who has supported #Kindred over the years - if you've read & loved it, consider gifting it to someone else this year, or you can give me a little 🎁 with a review! (on whichever website you prefer)

“Air pollution fell substantially as Paris restricted car traffic and made way for parks, people-streets and bike-lanes.” Better for the climate, better for health, better for livability and quality of life. Common sense. Such a no-brainer, it’s remarkable that more cities HAVEN’T done the same.

New discovery: 4th-century mosaic hall unearthed in Türkiye’s ancient Hadrianopolis The mosaics feature motifs such as peacocks drinking from a fountain, geometric patterns, ribbon designs, or an eight-pointed star. About 80% of the mosaic has survived intact. www.dailysabah.com/life/history...

A small victory, perhaps. The Guardian replaced the word “Man” with “Humans” in this headline. After I pointed out the misogynistic anachronism. I’m not saying the two things are causally linked, but it happened.

Okay. This is angering me. First of all, “MAN”!? We’re not in the nineteenth century FFS. There’s a better word and it is “Humans”. And secondly - who the f£&k thought HUMANS only learned to control fire 50,000 years ago???!!! www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

🏺 Top tip for British Museum visitors: go across the court, up rotunda stairs, cross bridge into upper floor, head past crowds aiming for Egypt and Mesopotamia, and go straight to Rooms 50 and 51 where the most stunning array of glories from later prehistory await you!

For much much more on the profiteers behind Britain's catastrophic pandemic failure, check out 'VIP Lane' by @russellscott1.bsky.social All books are currently 15% off with code: TISTHESEASON 👉 subscribe.bylinetimes.com/product/vip-...

‘Yeah. Sorry I’m running late for work. It’s taken me ages to find number 10 on my advent calendar. Cheers.’

Yes, but why are they using their FINGERS?!

"there's a new serif in town"

Today’s must listen: Kinship, Culture, and Death in Neolithic Ireland. On the value of integrating aDNA science and archaeology to better understand the nature of prehistoric groups.

Isn’t it wonderful to think that you could bring someone from 2000 years ago to visit their home today - and while so much has changed, to topography - and the very reason for its location - are still the same!

the brexit referendum remains one of the craziest fucking things a country has ever done

Higher education, if done right, will transform you into a LIFELONG learner. I am curious about so many things because my curiosity was cultivated in college. A BA/BS is only the beginning. You should be reading, visiting museums, going to concerts, debating and discussing things for LIFE.

Remember: There is nothing natural or inevitable about extreme inequality; it’s the result of an economic system that values wealth and power over human dignity and justice. It doesn't have to be this way.

THIS IS INCREDIBLE!