Christian I of Norway failed to pay a dowry for his daughter Margaret, queen to James III – so #Orkney & #Shetland were annexed by the Scottish crown #OTD, 20 Feb 1472 NORTHERN-NESS looks at literature from the northern isles, from the sagas to the far future www.thebottleimp.org.uk/2019/07/nort...

what I want people to feel, when they look at South Korea and the UK and Brazil holding elites accountable, is that it's possible here too. Elect true leaders this year and in 28, empowered - but also driven by us, the people - to hold the criminals accountable for their crimes. It's possible.

Bolsonaro in prison, Yeon sentenced to prison, Andrew arrested on his birthday...and America still holding on to a 34 count felon as President.

I have not seen UK friends on the socials this happy since Thatcher died.

I don't think I have ever seen Berlingske translate their articles from Danish to English before (or remove the paywall..) Tells you something about the moment we are in and the deep mistrust and anger the Danes are now feeling towards the US Enjoy reading...

Live Literature: Folklore of Kintyre 26 Feb, online – free @dougiestrang.bsky.social presents an evening of #folklore from Kintyre & wider Argyll, highlighting aspects of heritage that cannot be easily represented through physical objects alone www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/live-liter...

We’re delighted to see @sundaypost.com celebrate Alasdair Gray ahead of Gray Day (25.02.26) at Òran Mór. At The Alasdair Gray Archive, we keep his work open, active and alive. Culture is a shared right—join us!

For those unaware, a quick primer on perhaps the most dangerous of the oligarchs. Peter Thiel.

A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning -John Donne

Noam Chomsky, Jeffrey Epstein and the Politics of Betrayal www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGZ1...

Need more #18thC in your life?? OF COURSE YOU DO! Click below for an incredible programme of events from our friends @cecs-york.bsky.social #skystorians #18thC 🗃️ www.york.ac.uk/eighteenth-c...

CFP The Incredible Nineteenth Century: Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Fairy Tale 1–2 May, free online Presentations invited on any aspect of #sciencefiction, #fantasy, or #fairytale in the Long #C19 as well as modern reinterpretations of the #C19 in literature & media docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

again we do not really do a good job of explaining how wealthy people like Jeff Bezos are his net worth is $253.2 billion. so he could take one million dollars, and just light it on fire and then do it again tomorrow and again the day after that and then do it every day for 693 years and 8 months

📢 We’re excited to share our programme of events for this semester, accessible on our events page. We’re offering some seminars as hybrid so we hope you can join us in York or online. Full details at www.york.ac.uk/eighteenth-c...

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Can’t make Gray Day on 25.02.26? Explore Gray’s Lanark online with Gray: Beyond the Horizon—an interactive multimedia exhibition bringing Lanark: A Life in 4 Books to life - www.graybeyondthehorizon.com

Gray Day 2026: Reimagined Glasgow—45 Years of Lanark. Alasdair & Agnes: connected archives & literary lives with Sorcha @sorchadallas.bsky.social @aowensarchive.bsky.social & Laura MacDonald. 25 Feb, Kelvingrove, 2–3pm. Free: [email protected]

Remember the other day when I was saluting my friend Greg Ketter, owner of Minneapolis’ DreamHaven Books? This is him the following day. Greg will never say this, so I will — now is a great time to buy books from DreamHaven. Support Americans who stand up vs. 🧊. dreamhavenbooks.com

Ae fond kiss, and then we sever; Ae fareweel, and then forever! Deep in heart-wrung tears I’ll pledge thee, Warring sighs and groans I’ll wage thee… —Robert Burns published in SELECTED POEMS & SONGS (OUP, 2013) #BurnsNight #romanticism #C18 global.oup.com/academic/pro...

No, people were not quiet in the face of rising fascism. No, the fascist regimes were not efficient economically. No, fascist science was not cutting edge but politically incorrect. No, fascist leaders were not evil geniuses. No, fascist state agents were not reluctant to carry out their orders...

*DANISH PENSION FUND AKADEMIKERPENSION TO EXIT US TREASURIES

Everything Trump says here is verifiably untrue. During this period of time the number of US installations on Greenland went from 17 to 1 as a result of US determinations that they were not needed.

Just a reminder that Trump is selling Venezuelan oil and depositing the proceeds into a bank account in Qatar that is NOT under any control by the US government or Congress. He's just stealing it. It really is that simple.

Had an intriguing editorial discussion recently: how did people in the past talk about 'minutes' when they didn't have watches or standardised times? How does that affect your thinking? Come down an Elizabethan/Jacobean rabbit hole with me. 1/

A Saturday in Copenhagen. www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...

New Open-Access Book Maps a Medieval Kingdom of the Isles www.medievalists.net/2026/01/new-... About Hebrides at PG: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subje... #archeology #cartography #history

#WorldCup2026 DON'T GO.

As I was walking all alane, I heard twa corbies making mane; The tane unto the t’other say, “Where sall we gang and dine the day?” —“The Twa Corbies”, first published in Scott’s MINSTRELSY vol. 2 (1810), is a darker, grimmer, #Scots version of the English ballad “The Three Ravens” #WyrdWednesday

Greenland PM Jens-Frederik Nielsen: "If we have to choose between the US & Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark. We choose NATO. We choose the Kingdom of Denmark. We choose the EU." "Greenland does not want to be owned by the US. Greenland does not want to be governed by the US" he later added.

Remember, Scott Adams won't see your posts focusing on his late-career bigotry, but J.K. Rowling might.

As Trump increasingly threatens to take control, some of the most powerful people in the world have taken their own interest in the mineral-rich territory to the North.

Cultures without writing store vast amounts of pragmatic information through song, story, dance - essential for survival. Memory devices (such as skulls) are involved. Why is the role of knowledge systems not included when interpreting performance sites? www.iflscience.com/neanderthals...?

Dictionary of the Oldest Written Language–It Took 90 Years to Complete, and It’s Now Free Online www.openculture.com/2026/01/dict... #books #literature #language

I guess we know why they cover their faces now

NEW: The ICE killing of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, the Venezuela attack, the new White House Jan. 6 website—these each convey a powerful & unsettling message from Trump, Miller, and their crew: Violence is ours to use, at home and abroad, to get what we want. Beware. Please read and share.

I'm going to be speaking at this symposium in Cambridge next week about my practice and current work-in-progress 📚 Can't wait to hear the other speakers & see what emerges! #MedievalSky

Noticing that CNN is calling Jan. 6 a “riot,” not an “insurrection.” PSA: It was an insurrection.

"50 years after Hannah Arendt's death, the ideologies are back. On a global scale, but also in the everyday life of each individual. The globe is being redistributed, and it's not entirely clear how it will turn out. Arendt can teach us how to confront this world." www.spiegel.de/internationa...

Rare #Merlin and #KingArthur text found hidden in binding of #medieval #book. The ‘extremely significant' text was hidden for centuries. Link for more photos, a video and information: www.popsci.com/science/king...

Building the Collection: AGA grew from preserving 5,000+ items from Gray’s home to a living archive—now 3,500 donated works and the 700-item including the new @aowensarchive.bsky.social —showing Gray within a wider cultural ecosystem.

FYI: In 1916 the U.S. signed an agreement for control of St. Thomas, St. John & St. Croix, known as the “Danish West Indies,” in exchange for $25 million & a declaration that the U.S. would “not object to the Danish Govt extending their political & economic interests to the whole of Greenland.

What do these companies have in common? -Cigna -Comcast -General Mills -Allstate -Marriott -Hilton -Walmart -Amazon -Microsoft -Meta All promised after January 6, 2021 to stop funding lawmakers who tried to overturn the 2020 election. And all have broken that promise.

Can’t wait for one of the “respectable” tech CEOs to break character, drop the warm light for all mankind talk, and say, “look you slack jawed chucklefucks, we’re going to make money from this if we have to run an Ethernet cable up every single ass on the planet, so bend over and get prompting.”

A not-insignificant point is that they can do this to anyone, for any reason, any time, and you will be stuffed, with no comeback.

I feel seen

1/2 I haven’t accomplished much in 2025, but stay alive. I did finish my first piece of knitting EVER. The pattern is of a woman’s Sontag shawl from Jutland 1897. Turns out modern nutrition makes for a different take on sizes comp to rural 19C Jutland. Would have been a hit were I into Shibari 😳.

New Years can be hard when you’re chronically ill People are setting goals for the upcoming year… and many of us can’t participate Our goal is to survive & lessen suffering If all you did in 2025 was survive, that’s ok It’s ok if that’s your goal for 2026 too Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise

I've taught little medieval lit over the last few years, and what I have taught has been through the lens of book history or HEL. In preparation for next semester, I've spent the last few days reading the Broadview Anthology of Medieval Drama and it's so beautiful and weird. I love this stuff!

“What are ye, little mannie? And where are ye going?” “Not of the race of Adam,” said the creature; “the People of Peace shall never more be seen in Scotland.” —The fairies’ farewell to Scotland, at Eathie, in Cromarty, c.1780. From Hugh Miller’s THE OLD RED SANDSTONE (1841) #WyrdWednesday

NYT piece on Trump's abandonment of Ukraine is necessary reading but there are a few weird bits. First, how do you drop the news that Kushner has done business w/Kirill Dmitriev w/o further context? That was the barely disguised goal in Dmitriev's 2017 outreach. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...