Me trying to write a history phd:

I wrote something quite personal about what use trans history In These Times:

"The Problem Is The Law: A Movement of Movements for Decriminalisation" A one-day event bringing together those working to decriminalise sex work, drugs, mental health, migration, abortion and trans life 🗓️ Saturday 18 October 📍 Proposition, London E2 🎟️ www.eventbrite.com/e/the-proble...

Learned a lot from this show sharing music from countries that were colonised by Portugal - Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Angola etc. Lots of great anticolonial tunes soundcloud.com/clydebuiltra...

It's the final day of Glasgow Doors Open Day weekend, and there are still lots of locations open and free to visit. I took the tour of The Mitchell Library yesterday, which was a great opportunity to see behind the scenes.

People often say they don't know how to start and the reality is that you just start. You can figure things out and people will help you to do so if you reach out to them.

Couple of great @uofglasgow.bsky.social global history events coming up at the start of Oct. Firstly a roundtable on Wed 1st taking on the state of Global History in Scotland (has coffee and cakes and great panellists) www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/scottish-g...

Join us for an online People's Papers research project workshop to learn about the history of 1970s alternative newspapers, their archival preservation & their continued relevance for today. All welcome! Tickets: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/archiving-...

Listening to Sunny Govan while I work today, they're vox popping folk at Govan X about what they like/want to improve about the area. Then they get to give a wee shoutout and choose a tune. Bemused old guy just got them to play Acker Bilk. Long live community radio www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cEr...

📢 #BHM25 is live! For over 20 years, CRER's Black History Month events programme has brought people together to celebrate history, heritage & creativity across Scotland. Our 2025 programme is packed with tours, talks, exhibitions, film & more. 🔗https://www.blackhistorymonthscotland.org/whats-on

The question I try to keep in front of my students' minds is: how do you think the wealthy and powerful people who've developed these tools feel about students using them instead of thinking for themselves, and why?

Emergency root canal on a Monday morning, come on now! The good thing about this is the week can only improve from here.

escalation of fascism around migration - w/ anti immigration protests from toronto to australia to UK - is not a coincidence. borders create false binaries of workers vs migrants; provides a convenient scapegoat for austerity, and reinforces racism. anti fascist, anti capitalist is pro-migrants!

I've written a piece about the bomber's view of the past: how aerial archaeologists of the Middle East have looked at the region's past through the eyes (and lenses) of people who bomb it in the present. In fact they're sometimes the same people. www.historyworkshop.org.uk/empire-decol...

Glasgow, we're bringing the forest to you! 🍃 4 Nov: celebrate @silver-press.bsky.social Ursula K. Le Guin titles THE WORD FOR WORLD & SPACE CRONE w @taylorwdriggers.bsky.social, Phil Crockett-Thomas (Abolition Science Fiction!), Matthew Sangster & me in convo. www.waterstones.com/events/a-cel...

Really enjoyed reading this over the weekend. Chapter on Scotland's love of hi-NRG was so interesting - suggestion that clubbers in Scotland and the North of England have a shared love of fast music going back to Northern Soul, had never thought about it like that

Rothesay railway poster, c.1950

Game workers in Scotland! Come join us in Edinburgh tomorrow for a @gameworkers.co.uk social at 7pm at the Waverley Bar. Everyone welcome, members and non-members alike! luma.com/31xt32ok

@rogerneilbarton.bsky.social Hi Neil, just wanted to let you know we've a new tour of the Gorbals coming up in a few weeks. Don't book tickets though! Just come along if there's a date that works, you and Alex are due a freebie for being long-time supporters www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1651152213...

In light of the Scottish Parliament's vote to adhere to the demands of BDS, here is my article I wrote on the very topic last year: scottishleftreview.scot/is-scotland-...

Check out this write-up of some Glasgow tours I co-developed with refugee historians earlier in the year. Also has links to the two tours - city centre and Govanhill - which you can download and do as self-guided walks www.refugeefestivalscotland.co.uk/2025/09/look...

Far too often, racism is either unreported or dismissed as anti-social behaviour. Our platform will gather verified reports and push to ensure they’re taken seriously by the media and public institutions. Share, report, support. ⬇️ antiracistradar.co.uk

NEWS: I’ve set up an independent anti-racist reporting and monitoring organisation. We’ll document racist attacks, support victims, pressure authorities to act, and amplify the voices of smaller, more isolated Black and Asian communities across Britain.🧵

I try to live by this and also by the reality that we will be surprised in all directions [good and bad]. Uncertainty is a given so we might as well do what we can.

STUC statement on standing alongside the people of Falkirk against racism 👇 @sutrscotland.bsky.social

Pointless and conscious cruelty which has been perpetuated for years. I used to work for an org that provided emergency destitution grants and new refugees who had been completely fucked over by the move on period were always a significant proportion of the applicants

John Maclean (1879–1923), socialist & Red Clydesider, was born #OTD, 24 August Listen to Hamish Henderson’s “The John Maclean March”, sung by Dick Gaughan (1972) ✊ www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uAs...

"Club Julio A. Mella" (Cuban Workers' Club), 1937 by Henry Glintenkamp. Newyorkan left-wingers met at this club on 5th Avenue and 115th Street, organising fundraising for Spanish Republicans and volunteers to fight in Spain. Note closeup detail of famous Spanish Civil War poster.

And their judges spoke with one dialect, but the condemned spoke with many voices. And the prisons were full of many voices, but never the dialect of the judges. And the judges said: “No-one is above the Law.” —Tom Leonard, “And the judges said” from Situations Theoretical & Contemporary (1986)

Really looking forwards to being part of this! Loads of brilliant speakers and workshops - drop in to the Tramway at 12:30 to hear my radical Govanhill patter and chat about people's history. With special accompanying zine feat. anarchist hecklers, antifascists, occupations & revolutionaries

Proud to have contributed to this comprehensive and kaleidoscopic book, alongside a host of brilliant thinkers, writers, organisers and educators. There is a lot of really vital writing in here on ethics, decolonial praxis, grief, politics and community.

refugees are being housed in hotel rooms that do not meet their basic needs: families are being housed in rooms with no cooking facilities, nowhere for children to play, frequent reports of mould, damp, vermin. if an MP can’t explain that to constituents what are we doing here.

Definitely one to tune in to - saw Randa Jarrar perform as part of the Govanhill Book Festival last weekend and she was absolutely tremendous ✨

When Cuarón & his writing team were adapting PD James's Children of Men, something that he brought up in interviews is that all they did was look at the UK in the early 2000s & extrapolate from there. Being viciously anti-refugee/asylum seeker (back then & now) is a key unchanging UKGov/media trait.

Brilliant film!

The word gutties (my preferred term) comes from 'gutta-percha', a kind of rubber that came from Malaysian trees that was used to make soles for shoes.

Clyde Film (1985) by members of the Cranhill Arts Project, shows, according to historian, Lucy Browne, “a montage of images of Glasgow representing the city’s industrial past, and ways in which work, housing and culture related to working-class identity.” m.youtube.com/watch?v=6WOS...

Don't miss this on Wednesday at 12 in Portobello Town Hall, Palestinian journalists Ahmed Alnaouq and Eman Alhaj Ali relfect on ten years of writing. Please help share this rare chance to hear directly from Gazan writers: www.edfringe.com/tickets/what...

I’m editing some writing from several years earlier in my PhD. Absolutely love a vicious edit on my own work - cheerio thousands of unnecessary words 👋🏻

I was in @lighthousebks.bsky.social yesterday and was delighted to learn about this - an absolutely tremendous programme all for free, in-person and online!

ALT BOOK FRINGE Presents: STORIES OF PALESTINE ✨🌍 TODAY | 1pm 📚 Life & Culture from Gaza to Jerusalem 🏙️ What does it mean to resist through storytelling? To preserve culture amid destruction? Join Mahmoud Muna & @matthewteller.com as they dive into the heart of Palestine’s resilience and culture.

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Don't miss this on Wednesday at 12 in Portobello Town Hall, Palestinian journalists Ahmed Alnaouq and Eman Alhaj Ali relfect on ten years of writing. Please help share this rare chance to hear directly from Gazan writers: www.edfringe.com/tickets/what...

Are you interested in the #history of Bellahouston Park, #Glasgow ? A new app provides augmented reality stories about heritage, identity, and the 1938 #Empire Exhibition. Android link below, iOs available soon. See the park in a whole new way. play.google.com/store/apps/d... Please share. #gbl

Something I want to do more in 2026 is to actively encourage more people to organize grassroots public history projects where they live. Instead of wringing our hands re the Fed attacks on Black studies, women's studies, LGBTQ studies etc we can just teach at the community level intergenerationally.

If you live in/are visiting the west of Scotland this summer you should treat yourself to a wee trip on the Waverley. We did Greenock-Millport then got the Cal Mac ferry back to Largs. Perfect day out

Great time at Glasgow Zine Fair today meeting many top cats and acquiring lots of great stuff!

Glasgow pals I’m at the Glasgow Zine Fest tomorrow (11am-6pm at the Tramway) with a ton of @radicalglasgowtour.bsky.social radical history zines as well as the full set of tasteful and elegant RGT badges. Drop in and say hiya!

There's no way we're not going to be there' – Ned Boulting, David Millar and Lizzie Deignan launch plans for free audio and video Tour de France coverage www.cyclingweekly.com/racing/there...

Queerness in Scotland has always existed, hidden in medieval manuscripts, coded in Jacobite poetry, or expressed through the arts. In the first of a 3-part series, @nationalgalleries.bsky.social explores queer artforms & artists from Scotland, past & present #Pride 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKBC...