Nowhere in the hysterical pile-on against the BBC in the British press has anyone mentioned that BBC News now has 77 million viewers & listeners in the US and has established itself as the second most trusted news source there.

Little Owl of the day. Colour photograph by Skoflek István (1960s-1970s), from the collections of the Museum of Kuny Domokos (Tata, Hungary)

Little Owl of the day: ‘I think you will consider this proof enough of the mischief it does’. The Field, 1919

It is amusing to me that some people were speculating that The Times had been taken in by a deepfake as part of some shadowy political interference campaign. Nope. They just emailed and then interviewed the wrong Bill DeBlasio.

My book UP IN THE AIR: A HISTORY OF HIGH-RISE BRITAIN is out today!

Teaching the histories of slavery and keen to inform your students with insights from the most recent research? Just a month to go before @uclpress.bsky.social publishes this open access (free to download) expert volume. uclpress.co.uk/book/teachin...

Little Owl of the day, 1938 Photograph by G. A. L. Bisseling & F. Kooymans, published in the Illustrated London News

MUST READ! In the latest CST blog about the damaging changes going on at the BBC Written Archives Centre, @marklewisohn.bsky.social delivers his cri de cœur squarely at those who came up with or are signing-off on this policy shift. Please read and share widely. cstonline.net/defending-th...

Thrilled to say I'm a judge for the first ever Inspiring History Teaching Awards, in association with Historic Royal Palaces. Do you know a great history teacher in the UK who deserves to go down in history? Nominate them here bit.ly/42yhGZP

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Most people who use it say it’s amazing at every field other than the one they’re experts in. This seems to be a trend among AI boosters.

During this period of open peer review of the Living w/Machines book, 2 new chapters are available: 1. MapReader - a deep cut on the epistemological shift it offers for computational map studies 2. Environmental Scan - a method for digital source criticism at scale #skystorians #dh #maps #histstm

As I head off in search of a branch of Caffe Nero's so I can look at the British Library Online Newspaper Archives for free, I'd like to remind people that this is something you can do.

Listen now to the Bureau of Lost Culture podcast episode with me, discussing commons and common rights bureauoflostculture.podbean.com/e/who-owns-t...

I got my first taste of archival research when visited the BBC written Archives as a 3rd year undergrad in 2001 to research my dissertation. I studied the papers relating to radio programme 'Ack-Ack Beer-Beer', broadcast in WWII for Anti-Aircraft and Balloon Barrage personnel. 1/

For reasons, it would be v. helpful to have information from a broad range of academic and non-academic (incl. GLAM) users of the BBC Written Archives OTHER THAN historians, briefly on: 1) What you've used it for and 2) How the proposed changes would impact on your research. Reposts welcomed.

I am writing this because it has swiftly become crystal clear to me that many people have no idea what is happening or how this works. Here is a thread for non-academics to put into context what just happened to Dr. Mark Bray, a fellow historian.

Join us for a roundtable on 'The Modern British City' in January at Senate House, London, with Simon Gunn, Erika Hanna, Owen Hatherley, Peter Mandler, Otto Saumarez Smith and Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite, followed by wine! www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

Dad’s books are full of empathy, common sense, and a healthy suspicion of the powerful. But at its heart his work is also about how systems keep people poor while pretending it’s their own fault. So I hope Kemi’s taking notes as well as reading the jokes.

Applications are open for our free Teacher CPD Conference (16-17 Dec). For state-school teachers & leaders focused on pupil progression, especially those new to Oxford, the Russell Group, or HE. Accommodation and meals included. For more info, go to https://tinyurl.com/4ha7f8wk.

These are Charlie Kirk’s politics; this is his legacy

'“The idea that universities have lost public support…comes from the media, from a cacophony of newspaper journalists who fill papers with a daily diet of anti-university stories, circulating and recirculating the same stories".' Might help if senior managers articulated the counternarrative. 2/2

interested in the history of mining, smelting, heavy industry, workplace health & safety, or company magazines in canada?the trail bc museum and bcrdh.ca have just digitized a complete run of "cominco magazine." bcrdh.ca/islandora/ob... thanks to @kellyblack.ca for the tip! #bchist #cdnhist #envhist

Doing some of my favourite kind of research: surveying periodicals. The ones I'm looking at are usually bound up with other random titles, leading to some wonderful chance encounters!

Truly facile, awful analysis by Nick Robinson normalising hate speech by 'ordinary people' and equating it with free speech. The boiling point is too many of Britain's commentators unthinkingly wading in the toxic swamp of X and believing it is what passes as normal.

Happy World Narcolepsy Day! I was first diagnosed with the condition almost a decade ago, and it's been great to see the work done by Narcolepsy UK to raise awareness in the past few years. I'd love to hear from fellow narcoleptics on here!

Rich discussion about #PublicHistory in the UK. Katie Carpenter, Anna Maguire, David Geiringer, and Julia Laite in History Workshop journal academic.oup.com/hwj/advance-...

36 mo postdoc / research fellow position in Philosophy, History, and/or Social Studies of the Life Sciences in the STS dept. at Technical Universtiy of Munich, apps due Oct 31: #histphil #histsci #histSTM www.sts.sot.tum.de/en/sts/arbei...

Probably worth me directing people to Max's story from back in May, again. 🧪 cen.acs.org/biological-c...

A very welcome repeat of this landmark 1992 series which also led to a BFI book of the same name. One of its researchers, Stephen Bourne, would be quick to point out it depended heavily on exploratory research of BBC files. You couldn't do that now.... www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

What's new in #DH text analysis land/CLS that I should assign this autumn to MA students? (Historical, literary, cultural, info studies all welcome.) While I want to introduce new methods, I want to emphasize that methodological novelty isn't the only path. (We don't start for another month 😅)

In case you missed it yesterday... #waccampaign

Asking for a friend: has anybody been asked by a publisher to sign an AI licensing clause as part of a book contract? Did you consider saying no? The ones I’ve seen so far look very vague

We'll be launching a book inspired by Peter's research on 26th September in Cambridge. Sign up for tickets here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/democratis... @camhistory.bsky.social @cammbhw.bsky.social

Our campaign for the continuation of independent access to the BBC Written Archive Centre is highlighted this morning by Vanessa Thorpe in The Observer. Her article, with excellent contributions from David Kynaston and Ian Greaves, outlines the issue with clarity. observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

This is not only a serious issue for historians and not only a serious issue for academics (although it is that). It's a development that's also deleterious for the GLAM sector, for example, and part of a much larger trend nationally and internationally to restrict and dismantle access to archives.

‘… social historian David Kynaston, told The Observer he suspects “a serious scandal is unfolding” John Wyver, Ian Greaves, Erica Wagner and others on the growing battle to prevent damaging changes to the BBC’s priceless behind-the-scenes archives:

The Call for Papers for 'Talking Records: Pollution in the Archive', a symposium at The National Archives in London, 4 December 2025, is now open! Submission deadline: Friday 19 Sept See the CFP and details about bursaries for speakers here: orlo.uk/Z8StS #envhum #envhist

I reviewed Eli Erlick's new book Before Gender for @womenshistoryrev.bsky.social: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... This was the smoothest production process of all time and I'm grateful to see a venerable women's history journal making space for trans history!

"the new AHRC funded Community Hub, which will support inclusive, community-led research across the UK GLAM and heritage sectors ... The ‘Spaces, Places and Belonging’ Community Hub will offer three grant schemes - Seed Corn Grants, Skills Bursaries, and Project Grants" tinyurl.com/tnacommunity...

He was very good in person with his trans fans too. Growing up going to SF cons, I met many trans people before I even knew what trans meant. I gave my parents very little they needed to accept in their child, so they had lots left over for everyone else. 😉 www.thepinknews.com/2021/08/06/t...

The BBC Written Archives Centre has changed its access policy for researchers: we will no longer be allowed to see documents not previously vetted. This is a *huge* blow to historical and media research in the UK. About 1/3 of my PhD research would have been impossible under the new rules!

Graduate outcomes and incomes as well as course satisfaction in History are all actually strong. Suggesting that Humanities degrees are not 'career-related' is simply bizarre. 2/2

My book 'Magic Rays of Light: The Early Years of Television in Britain' can be pre-ordered from Bloomsbury here, currently with discounts on the hardback, paperback and e-book versions. Publication 8 January, just ahead of the centenary of television in Britain. www.bloomsbury.com/uk/magic-ray...

Join us in signing and sharing this petition to prevent layoffs of over 400 people (both academic & professional services staff) at Lancaster University. We are all at risk and it's a scary time.

This but for academic writing. I'd offer: 1. Pay attention to your affective experience of visiting the archive. There's good stuff there! 2. Don't be scared of storytelling. 3. Speculation can absolutely be a valid research method.

A major new resource by a wonderful team that will be essential for anyone teaching, and researching, South Asian histories of Britain. A huge congratulations and thank you for making this wonderful, and much needed, site a reality! #skystorians

Join us for the launch of Democratising History: Modern British History Inside and Out on 26th Sept. The book is publishing in August, will be #OpenAccess and is published in association with @ihr.bsky.social. uolpress.co.uk/book/democra... Launch details 👇

On Friday, Sept 26th, we'll be marking the retirement of @petermandler.bsky.social as Professor of Modern Cultural History at @camhistory.bsky.social with the launch of 'Democratising History: Modern British History Inside and Out', published by @uolpress.bsky.social. (Free) tickets available!