The comments on this post should be required reading for every Labour MP and policy wonk.

My internal rule used to be that I would stay in a shop only so long as someone didn't ask if I needed help in a way that I found intrusive and annoying. I rarely bought anything at Gap.

I have had a beard for over twenty years. Many people have never seen me without one. And yet, when people who I haven't met in a while fail to recognise me, they always go for the 'it's because you have a beard' gambit.

Every time a tech entrepreneur says “we don’t need to stop global warming because AI will” I want to slap them with a fish that says, “if a superhuman intelligence came into being and we asked it how to stop global warming, it would say ‘stop burning fossil fuels, you fools.’”

It's #DigitalFriday ! This is my routine appeal to #skystorians and all other academics prepping for teaching to share any software, hardware, online resources (primary, secondary, teaching tools, blogs) tips and tricks that they've found useful this week! #AcademicSky 🗃️(pls boost to relevant feeds)

A medieval/early-modern postdoc opportunity here -- please distribute across your networks.

And this is where I went to school...

I feel so out of touch with the language of research culture facilitation. I see people have moved on from sandpits and are now running fishbowls...

The best thing about the QS survey is that QS stands for Quacquarelli Symonds, a name that conjures a certain image if your research and teaching is history of medicine adjacent. Apologies in advance if I send you an email inviting you to participate in the QS survey.

The tragedy of Aberfan still resonates 59 years on. Today we remember the 144 lives lost, and those who fought to save them. Read/listen to accounts of Swansea University students who helped at the disaster site: ow.ly/8fV550Lgx6c With thanks to Richard Burton Archives, Swansea University.

(a) *sigh* (b) What's that Kemi? Regulation and not marketised competition is the key to ensuring quality?

MLGB is back!! Delighted that Medieval Libraries of Great Britain @bodleian.ox.ac.uk is now back online. We are also working had on plans for the next phase of the resource, enhancing & adding data & functionality. HUGE thanks to my colleagues for their hard & clever work mlgb.bodleian.ox.ac.uk

Look, I'm as much of a fan of speculative fiction and casual thought experiments as the next nerdy-PhD with some training in both the sciences and philosophy. But maybe we could focus for now on respecting the rights of the persons we have, rather than those we're just imagining.

Reposting with tags -- #HistSci #HistSTM #History

I'm pleased to share the news that I have recently begun a term as co-editor of the British Journal for the History of Science (BJHS), working together with the now editor-in-chief, the brilliant Amanda Rees @amandarees.bsky.social.

Ebooks are HERE! uk.bookshop.org/ebooks

While we're waiting for growth, perhaps we could try human decency, basic fairness, empathy, familiarity with other cultures, and humanistic inquiry as antidotes to division -- facilitated by principled political leadership, ethical business practices, and a responsible media. Utopian, I know...

Facebook is trash... It belongs in the bin.

I don't think Digital ID is the solution to the 'migration crisis', regardless of its advantages and disadvantages (few and many in number) because I don't think there is a 'migration crisis'. What there is, is the repeated and avoidable human tragedy of adults and children being placed at risk...

Only a week to go folks! If you’ve not got your tickets head over to @waterstones.bsky.social ! We would love to see you there! @gevemac.bsky.social #Africa #AncientHistory #Heritage

For those of you who were thrilled by That Meeting Could Have Been an Email, Academic Horror Productions is delighted to present the sequel, That Other Thing That Could Have Been an Email is Now a Recorded Video.

Well the weather sign could be worse for the first day... Happy New Academic Year to those of you who celebrate.

Final call to join our Youth Panel! Are you 16–18 and passionate about nature? Help decide how £6,000 in funding is awarded to youth-led projects across the UK. Gain experience, training, and a reference - all online and flexible. Apply by 19 Sept: buff.ly/9YpscPC Questions? [email protected]

'In the brave new world of AI, will it still be worth doing a degree like English literature or history? “Yes, if they’re well taught", says Rogoyski.

This week we invited applications for a new job at the Society: Events and Academic Engagement Officer (0.6 FTE) bit.ly/3V8q5PC The post-holder will join our professional Office to help us support history and historians. £36,433 pro rata. Closing date: Sunday 5 October #Skystorians

Last day to apply to join our Nation Committees 📍 As part of our new governance structure, we're looking for 12 members to join our committees to support our work in the four nations of the UK. Find out more and apply by 14 September 👇

Only one week left to submit your abstracts for the 'Medieval Wales and the March' International Medieval Congress sessions sponsored by the Mortimer History Society. Deadline is 15 Sept. Don't delay, submit today! @imc-leeds.bsky.social #IMC2026 #medievalsky #skystorians #academicsky

It's peregrination time again. This year it's London > Cologne > Copenhagen > Ven(!) and back again, by train (and one ferry). First leg today: London > Cologne. Have to say, my Eurostar being cancelled yesterday was not the best of starts, but it was easy enough to book onto another one.

You can access the recording of Professor David Turner's paper here, too! #disabilityhistory

News | Caerphilly Castle to reopen following two-year restoration – elsewhere, Cyfarthfa Castle and Shire Hall Museum receive funding for transformative projects

Time travel would be useful in my line of work, but it turns out that my superpower is actually spotting astronomical prints being used as set dressing in tv comedy-dramas.

If you ask the new Grok (via grok.com without any custom instructions) for opinions on controversial topics it runs a search on X to see what Elon thinks I know this sounds like a joke but it's not. This genuinely happens: x.com/jeremyphowar...

I was really fortunate to hear @sadiahqureshi.bsky.social speak about this book at the @bshsnews.bsky.social annual conference public plenary this week. This is especially important work at the present 'moment' of polycrisis — buy it, read it, and -- yes -- enjoy it!

I'm not a fan of Amazon, but it's selling the Kindle version of Greg Radick's wonderful book _Disputed Inheritance: The Battle over Mendel and the Future of Biology_ for the unreasonably low price of $4. I don't know why or for how long, but some seeing this might be interested. #hpbio #histsci

A call for help from @swanseahistory.bsky.social's Gethin Matthews @ww1cymru-wales.bsky.social.

This is a really thoughtful piece from @davehitchcock.bsky.social on the threat that AI presents to history and historians alike:

Howard Hotson's work on 17th-century universities is wonderful, but let me tell you it's not a good distraction-by-way of research from the conditions of UK HE in the 21st century: too much curriculum transformation to suit state needs, and too many institutions (and their staff) in crisis...

The Society welcomes applications to join at any time from historians of all backgrounds and career stages. This includes the many who practice outside #History depts / HE or work independently bit.ly/43Y2u8g For these historians, we hope to offer community, support and collegiality #Skystorians

I don't know: posters on this site complaining about content... that's been created. It's almost as if people think that stuff is supposed to have some meaning and value over and above farming engagement for ad revenue...

this is handy for framing "literacy" in the AI situation themindfile.substack.com/p/against-ai...

#BookSky my office next-door-neighbour, the brilliantly creative Alan Bilton, has published this novel (his fourth):

So #reformazing #skystorians... What scholarship on the vernacularization of the Lord's Prayer should I read to make sense of a sixteenth-century accumulation of polyglot examples?

Historian: How sciences end - the case of... Astrology: [close of movie jump scare] In your dreams, baby!

Look at all the wonderful use cases for generative AI: astrology, 'color analysis', 'not real' therapy, life coaching, and looksmaxxing advice. What a Brave New World, eh?

If you're in the UK, please sign this open letter asking the government to correct the misleading claims they made in the AI & copyright consultation. They said copyright law is currently unclear on this point, which is false. This misled the public. openletter.earth/uk-governmen...

An Adjunct Professor 'teaching AI, Genetics, Ethics, Longevity Science and Venture Capital'. Well, I'm sure the poor authors are _greatly_ reassured by that concatenation of interests...

Today's writing soundtrack is the screams of pain and cries for help drifting into my office from the major incident simulation taking place in the university meadow. At least, I hope that's where they're coming from...

Headphones with cameras? Is that so that people can photograph things they're not looking at, or are they inventing a Spotify-enabled otoscope?

Looking forward to the day when 'shallow paddle' replaces 'deep dive' in the edu-business lexicon.