Sent from the Foreign Office 28 March 1845. Postscript: "Such bungling work you have been making of it with the ?????. You ought to stop." I have two possibilities for the queried word, but is there something I've missed? The remainder of the letter is about a map of W Africa. ##NavalHistory

RFK Jr just said research on vaccines and autism has been suppressed by the scientific community. This is a lie. Here is a PubMed search I just did for “vaccines and autism,” yielding over 1,200 results. The first one is a meta-analysis!

I was just strolling through the Internet, the way you do, trying to find the original of the rhyme "'Twasn't the cough / That carried her off" when I tripped over a forum that was discussing childhood memories. 1/2

Read on!

No information at all on the postcard featuring these three young sailors, but they caught my eye, so I bought the card... early 20th century, I reckon. #NavalHistory

Somerville's final Open Day of 2025 is this Friday! If you're thinking of applying to Oxford, please come and visit us between 8.45am and 5pm. It's a great opportunity to meet some of these friendly faces, learn about the college, and talk to our fantastic tutors.

I'll be there and singing! Details in Alt text.

Here is how we use AI together: I remind them every chance that AI is a marketing term to put a fancy gloss on an autocomplete program that feeds them lies while draining our water supply and hastening climate catastrophe. And it makes everyone who uses it dumber.

One down, one to go - and I'm so much in demand that this afternoon I was even co-presenting in absentia at the British Society for the History of Medicine...

'“Deserves it! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement.' (J.R.R. Tolkien)

I do believe I've finished creating my presentation – so now we're off for a couple of days in the New Forest (wedding anniversary tomorrow). Will have to leave a run-through for time till Friday – fingers crossed🤞

I see white horse chalk figures are in the news thanks to nationalist idiots. There are quite a few white horses dotted around the Wiltshire Downs (plus a couple in neighbouring counties), well worth a visit. I spruced up my old blogpost on a white horse tour airandseastories.com/2014/12/19/w...

how it feels to contribute to an edited volume

If anyone wants to find me next weekend, Sunday morning is fully booked. Saturday afternoon, however... #NavalHistory www.gosportheritage.co.uk/dr-james-lin...

Lovely. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Presentation woes - when giving a 40-minute talk, how many slides is too many? How many words ditto?

Melbourne Uni's VC could sacrifice a fraction of her $1.6m salary to cover any purported financial losses of Meanjin and lose a fortnight's income while fostering the nation's literary culture Most people spend a greater % of their salary on fuel. A VC who cares about culture would intercede

For years, HOPE not hate has successfully thwarted attempts by nazis to organise music festivals and gigs across the UK. We’ve got word that another event has been organised for Great Yarmouth in early September. This gig would be the biggest in a decade and has acts flying in from across Europe.

I don’t suppose I know anyone in the #letterpress #printmaker communities who has a spare Adana 8x5 chase they’d be willing to part with in exchange for a reasonable amount of ££? (Shares appreciated.)

I have a couple of sessions at Gosport Heritage Open Days, 13 & 14 September! With my History of Naval Medicine hat on - online booking opens August 23rd. Free of charge. www.gosportheritage.co.uk/dr-james-lin...

NEW: Oxford researchers have discovered an unexpected and powerful new function for platelets. Platelets act as scavengers, capturing and storing fragments of DNA that are circulating in the blood, including fetal DNA and mutated DNA from cancer cells. ⬇️ www.ox.ac.uk/news/2025-08...

"Perimenopause is triggered when your ovaries—or 'pelvis chickens'—quit dependably laying eggs each month. Maybe some months they lay eggs, but other months they just sit on the couch, drinking a nice Malbec, eating corn nuts, and watching Better Call Saul."

Sadly the writer has died in an airstrike.

#InternationalCatDay #NavalHistory so here is ship's cat Sausage, HMS Kent, in the early 20s when my grandfather was probably Torpedo Gunner aboard (source: INM archive).

And there are the multitude of global labor violations, including hiring children to rid scraped data of harmful, violent, and sexual imagery to make it 'usable'. Here's data: theimportantwork.substack.com/p/why-im-say...

#NavalHistory 31 July 1970, Black Tot Day www.navyrecords.org.uk/members_blog... Having my own commemorative tot in my old Wardroom

#NavalHistory much as I'm enjoying being co-author of a paper on Royal Naval hospital ships in WW1, it'll be a relief when we've got it past the referees... 🚢⚓️🏥⚕️

Friend and fellow-blogger Cathrin Hagey posts an interview we did together a few years back - all about fairy tales, magic and enchantment. www.cathrinhagey.com/an-interview...

I repeat: what kind of educator, and what kind of unionist cannot see how "AI" will be used to automate and dehumanize education at all levels? It is a THREAT to labor, it is environmentally disastrous and built on the theft of the labor of artists and authors. For shame.

There IS no ethical way to use AI. Stop pushing it on us. And stop being so uncritical of techbros and their outsize promises about AI; they seek captive markets in the education sector, and do not care if it ends up with the wholesale automation of the sectors. PLEASE STOP.

Wonders aloud in @petermgilliver.bsky.social 's hearing whether Sir Terry Pratchett's coining "embuggerance" will ever make it into the OED...

Did you know? 100 years ago today, the BBC broadcast the #ShippingForecast for the very first time, produced by the Met Office for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. More than just a lifesaver, it’s become a beloved part of Britain’s cultural identity. Learn more: bit.ly/4kg877D 🛳️🌊

Seventeen years ago this morning (11.03 to be precise, it's graven on my memory), I held my mum's hand as she died after five weeks' illness with duodenal cancer. I miss her so much. She wasn't perfect (who is?), but she was lovely and funny and – all sorts of good things.

So lucky still to have my wonderful Dad with us.

GP is threatening to offroll me unless I agree a harmful care plan that removes disability adjustments that were helping me access care. It seems there is no way to stop this Any ideas? Anyone come across anything similar? If you can’t help please repost/like to help reach someone who can 🤍 1/3

Just a reminder that visually impaired people use tech that reads our words. It cannot read hashtag words unless they are defined by capital letters, as in #NowPlaying and #WeekendSingles and so on. Thanks people.

Feeling very sad & anxious because of family stuff. Could do with some virtual hugs because I don't feel able to tell the 2 people involved how it distresses me ...

Just started reading Akwaeke Emezi's YA fantasy Sọmadịna; really, really enjoying it.

‪Today in 1794 the British navy defeated the French at the 'Glorious First of June.' Mary Anne Taylor was a powder monkey aboard HMS Brunswick. She was injured in the thigh and ankle. Her sex was not discovered for another two years. She had an extraordinary military career…. 

Me at the last ever Templecombe Medieval Pageant, holding a peregrine falcon.

I don't know how many times we have to say this, but they're "Thieves", not "Nighthawkers". They're not highwaymen, they're looters #ancientbluesky

Finished! Illustration for 'The Dandelion girl' for @dyslexictales.bsky.social forthcoming book A garment for the moon for @orkneyology.bsky.social One of my favourite pieces so far, reflecting the love I hold for this tale and the hope that it holds of healing and happiness, and dancing!

This is devastatingly awful - for Jess, personally, and for everyone pushed into a similar situation. Access to Work is vital funding and to cut it in this manner, without explanation, is just beyond words. Especially amid all the trumpeting around forcing disabled people back into employment.

Looking for a friendly historian to discuss how the Bow Street Runners fitted into social etiquette patterns in 1820 (for someone else's historical novel that I'm checking). Happy to return the favour by proofreading or researching.

@bho.bsky.social Hallo! When I search on your website I get the attached image. Can you fix whatever the issue is, please? Thank you kindly...

My brother is giving a lunchtime lecture at the National Gallery on 17 June 🙂 www.nationalgallery.org.uk/events/talks...

Hey isn't it weird that every single AI lab is saying that their ultra-powerful flagship AI model is just around the corner, but it isn't ready yet and you can't see it and they don't know when it'll be done? Isn't it strange that everybody is having the same problems?