PS - as it is, what few university collaborations remain (we've lost one in the last 12 months owing to redundancies) are at risk, for various reasons, so it's moot. The host institution (IHR) is outside the REF system, partly to allow us to escape the issues the writer describes.

Yes, that's reasonable (and nothing very new - it was a sticking point for @vch-home.bsky.social projects two REFs ago - the research wouldn't get accepted, though the engagement would and measuring it was tricky). But the label remains quite silly.

Join us on 31 March to learn about family history in late Medieval Brecon! This webinar is hosted in collaboration with the Historic Towns Trust @historictownstrust.bsky.social Find out more: www.balh.org.uk/event-balh-f... #WeAreLocalHistory #LocalHistoryForAll

Only a small and comparatively recent element of UK archaeological research is purely academic. Today, the overwhelming majority is conducted within professional archaeology. Meanwhile UK avocational archaeology has 200+ years of national and regional associations, publications, and collections.

This is incredibly shit but also completely unsurprising. Every single large corporate in the UK is dropping everything useful or sustainable they might have been doing in favour of miraculous snake oil sold by grifters

Reform UK are too weird to win From Matthew Goodwin to Restore Britain, the online right aren’t radical – they’re cringe

“We all know it’s fracking, so treat it as such. It’s banned; therefore, it should not be approved" says Councillor Steve Mason. Fossil fuel firms claim a 'proppant squeeze' is different from fracking & therefore not banned in the UK. share.google/mIoqwLXTO3sX... 🧵 1/5

It's #WomensHistoryMonth 🎉 As usual, I'll be sharing ordinary women's stories. I like writing about these women. They didn't do anything the world would deem spectacular. They were just everyday people going about their lives. Surviving the way they knew best. #History

Not only are the daffs starting to open in the Necropolis, the bees are out as well. I know it's wrong so early in the year, but I will take wee brightnesses where I can.

Good day all.

#Books #Libraries #Reading

Celebrate St David’s Day with us! Our Welsh-language talks are now fully subtitled in a dedicated YouTube playlist. Explore Dinas Dinlle, St Teilo's Church & more — from Iron Age hillforts to chapel history. Start exploring: zurl.co/T7Okb

If you live in Flintshire and are interested in place names, come along to the Butcher's Arms, Nercwys at 19:45 on Monday 2nd March. Our Place Names Officer, Dr James January-McCann will be discussing local names, and our work recording them for future generations. The talk will be in English.

Sagging, deflected, and perilously close to collapse, the roof of St James’s, Llangua was in a dire state before our repair project. Now, thanks to the tireless efforts of Jones & Fraser, the roof has been brought back to a condition much closer to its original medieval form.

So MP @bromsgrovebradley.bsky.social wants to know about the CO2 impact of Chinese clean-tech manufacturing, having just asked a Q in parliament Which is lucky, cos we published detailed analysis on this last year: China’s clean-energy exports in 2024 alone will cut overseas CO2 by 1% (inc UK)

Next up in the AHSS Strathclyde Group Winter Lecture Series: Heritage with Purpose: Adaptive Reuse and Community-Centred Design, with Sarah Jane Storrie 🗓️ 19 March 2026 📍 St Andrews West Church & Renfield Centre, Glasgow ⏰️ 7:30 – 9:30pm 🎟️ £6 online/in-person | £2 students: buff.ly/va5EmB8

Hoping to show this in Manchester later in the year

Anyway at least the Commons now has someone actually qualified to lead the committee on repairing Westminster Palace.

@ystadaucymru.bsky.social Ystâd hanesyddol Glynllifon ar werth am y tro cyntaf ers canrifoedd newyddion.s4c.cymru/article/ysta...

After a decade as a de facto poop correspondent, it was great to see the sewage scandal brought together in Channel 4’s brilliant drama Dirty Business. Even if you think you know the story, watch it. I’ve tried to sum up the whole malodorous affair here: watershedinvestigations.com/a-decade-ins...

Hannah Spencer walking into Westminster, sucking her teeth, tutting, and muttering "tell you what, you've had some cowboys in here."

To celebrate the BNA reaching 100 million pages, my colleague Claire O'Halloran has written a blog sharing some of our highlights. A huge achievement-well done to everyone involved at @britishlibrary.bsky.social & @findmypast.bsky.social Here’s to the next 100 million! www.bl.uk/stories/blog...

#WorkingLives #Work

If anyone knows anything about this mysterious artist – please let us know in the comments!

Nicean decrees, phases of the moon and prompt bin collections, all sacred mysteries....

Yeah, quite key: it's not £21 million that is going directly to those 6500 students... The only ones winning anything (other than maybe £2000 per student) are the firm raking in the £7 million and the people keen to crash universities. Grim day for #UKHE.

This is the guy Trump first wanted for the job so he could help bury the Epstein files.

I feel that the fact that by 1918 much of the French Army on the Western Front consisted of forcibly-enlisted West Africans ought to be better known by military historians.

I am intrigued by the French immigrants to Canada who chose not to volunteer for service in the First World War, but got conscripted and sent over anyway.

Abbey church of St. Michael, #Farnborough where Napoleon III and Empress Eugenie are buried. #Tombs #Abbeys #Churches

Do you need support in looking after a Welsh chapel building, want to connect with others, share experiences and learn more? Have you got stories, history or experiences – past or present - to share? Join us for our first #CapelCymru event in Holyhead on 24 February: zurl.co/Y1uXA

THE ONLY MINORITY DESTROYING THIS COUNTRY IS THE SUPER RICH.

“.. We could spend the whole day reacting to every buffoonish spectacle coming out of the White House, but that's exactly what they want: for us to lose focus … Don't be distracted by the noise; watch what they are doing to your rights while you stare at the screen.”

I looked for this ALL MORNING and finally found it WOULD YOU SURVIVE VICTORIAN INFANCY? textadventures.co.uk/games/view/l... (The hosting is very 2003, but I made it on Twine in 2021 and must shift to hosting it locally)

Reminder to our allies abroad: War is when your government tells you who your enemy is. Revolution is when you figure it out yourself. -PM Aurora Maccormicki

A group of U.S. and Iranian religious leaders recently made a joint call to avoid war and instead choose diplomacy, human rights, and peace. "If action to transform violent conflicts is not taken now, the horrors of war and devastation will spread ... We can not allow that to happen.”

When you have a bit of a stand off with some sheep in the churchyard Gisburn #Yorkshire A hare hopped past just after I took this!

A political party that spent years yelling "Britain Is Full!" suddenly declaring that UK women should be forced to be broodmares by the state, I'd say 'lacks a coherent ideology', so is presumably run by a bunch of vile reactionary chancers who are easily bought. But then, I'm cynical like that.

fourth — and this is the main issue here for me, seeing as Palestine was formally recognised as a state by the UK in 2025 — why does the "place" field in the British Museum collections database only have the phrase "Palestine (historic)"?? www.britishmuseum.org/collection/

Fact Check: Nigel Farage claims the FT ignored the Mandelson-Epstein scandal it was on the front page for SIX days (long before he appears to have even noticed it)

#TombTuesday rare Neolithic tomb art from a Welsh passage grave: multiple spiral motifs inside the Boyne Valley-style cruciform chambers of Barclodiad y Gawres in Ynys Môn/Anglesey 📷 My own, winter 2023

A brief spell of sunshine yesterday illuminated the entrance to the wooded part of our Victorian cemetery.

21. There should be a massive statue of Gwerful Mechain in Mechain and outside the Senedd

For years I got told off for suggesting the far right were errrrrrrr … a bit far right …. We never learn it seems

BBC World Service and the British Council are core elements of UK influence overseas. In this moment of geopolitical upheaval they are needed more than ever. Appears reflective of wider spending issues. Could be Spring before we see a Defence Investment Plan, nearly 2 years after taking office.

BBC's Arabic radio service in Lebanon closed after 85 years as part of a £28.5m savings drive. 'Just months later, in October 2023, the Russian state-owned Sputnik news agency took over the frequency. Its news bulletin opened with “This is Moscow”, replacing the previous “This is London” intro.' 🙄

Show Me the Data: New Practices for Historical Sources @ruthahnert.bsky.social, @kmcdono.bsky.social and @danielwilson.bsky.social

Oh, Daily Mail, never let history get in the way of a dramatic headline. “Will Andrew become the first royal to go to prison?” The Tower of London would like a word.