if you’re an isolated, angsty, strange young man, please know that you can become a Kierkegaard scholar instead of joining fringe online communities

Accepting applications: ICS Public Engagement Grants Apply for up to £500 to support Classics-themed public engagement activities, demonstrating aspects of research in Classics in ways that are accessible, enjoyable & understandable for non-specialist audiences Deadline 1 Nov: shorturl.at/BRqqU

Hot off the press, the British Academy's Cold Spots: Mapping Inequality in SHAPE Provision in UK Higher Education report. Read it if you care about universities or access to the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences for the rising generation. 1/5

So what precisely do the right want to do about the white working classes? Certainly not go to university, as they want numbers down. Nor to have a unionised manufacturing job, as they don't want unions. No, they just want pawns as part of their culture wars. They don't give a toss.

This again... bsky.app/profile/rola...

Paul Magdalino is back in Istanbul as the co-convener of the 324 Symposium at the Pera Museum. In his keynote speech, he described the identity of early Constantinople as “Constantinian first, Roman second, and Christian third.” #byzantinebluesky #blueskybyzantine #medievalbluesky

Starting Dimiter Angelov’s Imperial Ideology & Political Thought in Byzantium, 1204–1330 (CUP). Always struck by how Byzantium’s resilience was intellectual as much as political. #Byzantium #MedievalStudies #IntellectualHistory

Waterstones opens 10 new stores a year as younger adults embrace reading

imo a big problem right now is the fetishism for proper procedure that grips so many left-of-center elites, which leads them to believe that the only way to resist is lawsuits. sooner or later someone must realize that you have to simply refuse (or give a countermanding order) and face trump down

The other day someone described getting a degree to me as an exercise in delayed gratification. For me (in research and teaching), the process was always the thing. There's no end point where research or learning is "done", so if you really care about either, you have to connect to that process.

Don’t worry. No one else knows what they’re doing either.

I know this feeling!

In anticipation of my book on the Roman emperor Julian coming out next month… 1 like = 1 fact/opinion/observation about him.

another weird thing about the genocide is that you can arguably trace it back to British imperial decisions via a stranger route than the usual faultlines. namely, before 1857 there were a *lot* of Bengalis in John Company's army. After 1857 80-90 percent of Bengal regiments were dissolved ...

The AHA has published Guiding Principles for Artificial Intelligence in History Education, offering a disciplinary approach to AI that focuses on the specific needs and challenges of history educators. 🗃️

The headline here should say: "Number of private schools increases by 35 - showing fears of an exodus to be unfounded". (The increase is mentioned way down the article.) www.thetimes.com/article/19ef...

Trying to teach myself Greek is hard, especially when the sources I want to read are so complex. Here’s hoping I discover a previously under-explored faculty for languages

🙏🏻❤️🙏🏻❤️🙏🏻

Applications now invited for the Society's two Centenary Fellowships, 2025-26 to support PhD students complete a doctorate in #history. The Fellowships are held in conjunction with @ihr.bsky.social and are for £8500 over 6 months. Applications, by 31 May, are via the IHR bit.ly/4mybVDV #Skystorians

And they didn't link the crowdfunder... I despair for journalism. www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-save-...

We’re nearing the end of the second month of #AHAReads! What books did you read? Which tasks did you fulfill with them? 📚🗃️

Looking to branch out into Byzantine/Eastern Roman History. Any accounts that I should be following? Book recommendations also welcome! #Byzantium #EasternRoman #Medieval #LateAntiquity #Historians #History

<taps the Royal Historical Society briefing, once again> Both quantitative and qualitative data showing that History is a verrrrry valuable degree. But will university managers and market departments listen, or continue the vibes-based approach? files.royalhistsoc.org/wp-content/u...

Chances of the deal actually working are low, but PM has achieved the impossible by persuading Macron to accept returns www.independent.co.uk/voices/keir-...

New on the blog: Catherine M. Jaffe and Karen Stolley explore the lasting impact of the "Black Legend" - the narrative of Spain and its empire as cruel and intolerant - examining its historical roots, and modern debates on colonialism and memory. Read more: bit.ly/4b1Zf2q @voltaire.ox.ac.uk #c18

Some good counterprogramming for today. Just start it for my Wed seminar

It is hard to identify a bigger vandal of British democratic institutions than Boris Johnson: Musil’s ‘man without qualities’… Welcome to Kakania… www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

The Badenoch Brexit planning stuff is an excuse to repost this. From 2019. Held up quite well. Short version: Brexit was never likely to create a new model for the British economy, instead it would likely mean just a worse version of the existing model. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

"'Patriot' sometimes reads like a thriller in which the narrative opens with 'If you’re reading this, I’m already dead.'" And so he is, but he speaks from beyond the grave, and we should listen. @cathyyoung63.bsky.social on Navalny's posthumous memoir:

Winter cleaning and found this unused graphic and…yes. Why, yes. share.transistor.fm/s/04bdba34

“am not arguing that the humanities should adopt scientific norms, but that they should have the financial means to complement, contest, or rival science in explaining people, societies, and cultures. To do this properly today, they need a step-function increase in funding.”

Now that’s what a male intellectual should look like. Ernst Bloch.

Let us remember Thomas Becket on his feast day at his best: unencumbered with excommunication and politics, smoking a cigarette, arm in arm with Elisabeth Taylor.

Just in case you were worried. The Hall is still here. It’s snoozing under a weight of pigs in blankets and port.

As I study the history of gender in England, I increasingly realise the power of novels. The 19th century heralded a rise of tremendous female authors, who could directly communicate with women like my relative, Edith (born in 1875). This enabled ideological persuasion! ✨

Taking #readinglist recommendations now , any good hashtags to follow?

Labour’s air passenger duty hike for an economy seat on a long-haul flight is an extra £12. To get to a “£400 tax hit”, the Mail has taken four people flying long-haul, which will increase in 2026 from: 4x£90 = £360 duty To: 4x£102 = £408 duty To call it dubious is generous.

Despite my being under strict orders against any new books this year, due to groaning bookshelves, the kids saw me right. @hofrench.bsky.social

I love how Denmark isn’t taking any shit from Donald Trump. 🇩🇰 🤣

“And yet there is something inescapably bleak about a Britain that relies on philanthropy to tackle its social and economic problems.” www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Apropos of several different conversations I've seen here in the last day or so: ACADEMIC AND POPULAR HISTORY WRITING ARE TWO DISTINCT GENRES. Should we do both? Yes. Yes we should. Should ALL work appeal to both audiences? No, absolutely not.

Watch them change their tune in about 0.0001 seconds when it looks like their local uni is going bust.