www.redthreads.media/p/armenias-w... I found this reading of the Armenian election to be highly instructive - a recommended counter-perspective to all the geopolitics.

#Armenia votes this Sunday. After losing the war over Nagorno-Karabakh in 2023, the country is looking towards Europe and the US. I a new episode of #Roundtable_Osteuropa, political scientists Anna Ohanyan (@carnegieendowment.org#Armenia#Roundtable_Osteuropa& Hakob Matevosyan (ZOiS) discuss the small country's course.

Spent an enjoyable day or so pretending to be a historian of Modern Britain, talking about Rochdale instead of Armenia. Listened lots, learned lots.

Armenia’s election is scheduled for Sunday, and issues of war and peace have been at the top of the campaign agendas. Candidates have debated dueling visions of Armenia’s relations with Azerbaijan, Türkiye, Russia, and the West. Our preview from @crisisgroup.org: www.crisisgroup.org/qna/europe/a...

More depressing than infuriating. 17 years on from my diagnosis there has been virtually no progress in diagnosis/treatment. The ‘extreme’ option discussed, a hysterectomy, can relive pain but bring other horrible symptoms. I’m not sure that the surge in awareness has brought any tangible benefits.

Emma Barnett’s documentary on endometriosis is on BBC2 tonight at 9, and on iplayer. I suspect it will make me furious, but I’m glad it’s out there. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

More good luck than good planning, but the roses in the garden this year are just amazing.

A ’new‘ crossroads? FFS. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

The way our hound is eyeing up the beer… Cora is as ready for this weekend as me!

Everyone read the end of it: "Governments in Scotland and Wales have finally realised that a viable, meaningful higher education sector needs greater oversight and control, and cannot be left wholly to the market. Now Westminster needs to wake up to this need for joined-up thinking"

Excited to celebrate the end of my first year as CIDRAL director with the annual creations launch, this time in the wonderful setting of the John Rylands library.

Wonderful lecture from Anna today brought together colleagues from history, HCRI, CHSTM, REES and East Asian Studies and really showed the value of interdisciplinary, multilingual dialogue for scholarship in the humanities. I am a very happy CIDRAL director today.

Our CIDRAL visiting fellow for this year, Dr Anna Mazanik will give our keynote lecture this afternoon in the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures. All welcome!

Yesterday Kier Starmer announced Labour will nationalise British Steel, and save 2700 jobs. Today, the Uni of Nottingham put 2700 staff at risk of redundancy. This is just one university. Across the UK 15,000 higher education jobs need saving. Where is the rescue package for our universities?

Petition to save the Humanities at the University of Hertfordshire: c.org/9JLppW5tMS

Picture of the crazy hound being impossibly cute to counter the bleakness

Grim week for the humanities in the UK, everywhere we look courses are closing or being reconfigured for the sake of ‘efficiency’ while the government says and does NOTHING. I‘m exhausted and I’m not even at the sharp end of this - solidarity to all of those who are.

This is vandalism. Pure and utter vandalism.

The joy of a day with no meetings!

In response to the horrible antisemitic attack in London, Mark Pendleton and Bijan Parsia submitted the following late motion to tomorrow's NEC (1 May 2026). #UCU ucucommons.org/nec-late-mot...

Today is a Chornobyl anniversary. After a Russian drone hit the metal safe confinement arch in 2025, it’s not been hermetic, the tech to make it hermetic again doesn’t yet exist, and it’s likely to start rusting around 2030. Meantime, more drones fly by almost nightly www.bbc.com/ukrainian/ar...

Bluebell time in our woods

obligatory trip up the cascade for some Ararat contemplation. Fitting conclusion to a productive trip.

Little bit nervous about teaching a class of undergraduates in Armenia for the first time. Fingers crossed!

Have any visitors to Yerevan found a way to buy a metro ticket without having an Armenian phone number or bank card. I was completely stumped today. Bring back the jeton!

One day in Yerevan, and I’ve already eaten more than it is reasonable for one person to eat in a week. 🤣

I was kind of dreading turning my phone on to look at the news after a long flight today, but the joy of discovering some light from Hungary after all this darkness. ❤️

Armenia bound again.

I am organising a workshop at Manchester on 11-12 June entitled 'HIV/AIDS and the Boundaries of Europeanness'. Abstracts are due 29 April and you can find the full call for papers here: docs.google.com/document/d/1... Please share with interested colleagues!

I was worried the blossom o our tree wouldn’t survive storm Dave, but it’s as glorious as ever, and a much needed bit of joy today.

We are recruiting two postdoctoral researchers (2.5 years, full-time) 📢 Preference for candidates working on the Caucasus and/or Central Asia, but applications focusing on other regions of the late Romanov Empire are also encouraged. 📅 Deadline: 4 May 👉 Apply: lnkd.in/dPejtfYs

And a couple more for fellow Manchester Catholic history enthusiasts @cathfeely.bsky.social @katrinanavickas.bsky.social. Consecration of St Patrick’s church Collyhurst 1937. My Great-grandad was a labourer on the project, I believe.

This week feels cursed. Unrelenting bad news from every direction. Going through some family photos brought a bit of relief. My grandad‘s football team (the Farmyard Pub, Harpurhey) on a day out. He’s on the back row, head tuned, laughing. I think mid 50s, I’m terrible at dating men’s clothes.

Is a drama free day too much to ask for? Apparently yes.

Last chance to view our exhibition in the Samuel Alexander Glass Corridor: Encountering Biblical Bodies – Sarah Lightman’s Biblical Women 📅 Until 26 March 2026 📍 Samuel Alexander Glass Corridor

New post alert! This week we have Stanisław Edward Boridczenko on interwar Polish memoirs and the power of irony www.peripheralhistories.co.uk/post/peasant...

I don‘t even know how to start attacking the work backlog that two days off sick has generated, so I’m just going to look at my garden coming to life instead.

Strong statement from UCU on principles for implementing AI in teaching, research and administration. This is much more reflective and comprehensive than the pervasive catch-all of 'responsible AI'. www.ucu.org.uk/media/15656/...

Cold season is not over it seems. Ugh.

An incredible cover has landed for an incredible book - Philippa Hetherington's "Circulating Subjects: Sex Work and Migration in Russia, 1885–1935." More on how to pre-order a copy of her "riveting" and "radical" @cornellupress.bsky.social book here: www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...

Totally superb and fearless writing here from Susan Pedersen. “…any man shocked by the Epstein story has been working over time at shutting his eyes” www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Alen Lee is a cool artistic writer to watch rn: www.tate.org.uk/research/res...

Currently in the glass corridor gallery in the Sam Alex building, the biblical domestic. I love it. sites.google.com/view/encount...

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has announced he is mobilising the armed forces following an Iranian drone attack on Nakhchivan International Airport, adding that troops ‘must be ready to carry out any operation’. 🔗 Read more: oc-media.org/iran-reporte...

We’ve done a whole lot at MERIP over the last year that helps explain how we got here.

As the US–Israeli war against Iran entered its third day on Monday, drawing in at least 12 different countries in the region, the governments of Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan have continued to hedge their bets. 🔗 Read more: oc-media.org/armenia-azer...

So tired. Aiming to be more Cora this weekend.

Accidental radio 2 listening this morning. I’m not sure why I find ‘the piano room’ so enraging, but I do.