Read 'em and weep. (www.nber.org/system/files...)

📣 Next week we are delighted to host a book launch for Local Priests in the Latin West, 900-1050, by Alice Hicklin, Steffen Patzold, @jbwaagmeester.bsky.social & @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social, who will be joined by John Arnold, Julia Barrow & Conrad Leyser. Weds 19 Nov, 5.30pm, King's. All welcome!

An impressive level of incompetence to manage this on the same day as Doctors strike begins.

Parallel point is that all this leaking and kiteflying has built the budget up into an even more high stakes and emotionally and politically charged event. People are going to be angry no matter what at this point

Goodwinism is an unpopular, extreme view.

One backbencher: the PM and CX “have been warning MPs..the gilt markets are watching us like hawks… And now..they’re dropping their biggest revenue-raising measure...in what will look like a panicked response to their briefing wars debacle. You can’t make this up.”' www.politico.eu/newsletter/l...

Why seek political office if you have a stonking majority and you use it to…endlessly fret about losing your majority rather than running a country? It’s no good. There is no theory for how to make things better. It’s not even well managed decline.

"every year, bottom trawling releases 370 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere" www.euractiv.com/opinion/the-...

Maybe it’s just the Humanities professor in me, but let it be noted that events of today (ahem) have demonstrated the value of being able to assess a large volume of qualitative data and do careful textual analysis with deep attention to context.

In an electorate that is fragmented across multiple dimensions and no longer anchored to political parties, every party aiming for a double figure vote share must bring together a coalition like this and they all have fault-lines within them. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

'Matthew Goodwin, who is now a hard-right activist and prominent Reform supporter, has confirmed on X that he has been made the honorary president of the new Students4Reform organisation.' Will "Prof" Matt Badlose be a student asset or an own goal for Reform? 2/3

UK's first three small modular reactors will be built at Wylfa on Ynys Môn. Bringing nuclear power back to Wales means: - thousands of jobs - billions of investment - work starting next year

To knit together two stories: through intimidation, litigation & extortion, Trump is clearly trying to create a media ecosystem where nobody asks him about Epstein - or indeed anything discomfiting. It is appalling to see so many UK media individuals & institutions aiding & abetting his corruption.

I'm not sure if others have noticed this, but interesting that one of the Prescott criticisms of the BBC is based on those of the 'History Reclaimed' group, which is also associated with the 'Restore Trust' group's attacks on & so far unsuccessful attempts to take control of the National Trust. 1/3

Back in 1997, there were just 11 booming male Bitterns left in the UK – almost extinct. Thanks to conservation by @rspb.bsky.social and @naturalengland.bsky.social 283 booming males were recorded in 2024. Les Cater shares his story and stunning photos of these rare birds ⤵️

BBC Under Attack: Pot and Kettle Special The new Private Eye is out now.

The fact that the BBC has made serious culpable errors does not negate the point that there is a real and concerted right-wing media campaign to destroy it. Both points can be true at the same time and the campaign would not end even if the errors did.

“Fearless journalism is what terrifies politicians, and it must not be cowed." The BBC must stand up to Trump's $1 billion lawsuit - or risk legitimising the president's false narrative of what really happened on January 6 www.thenewsagents.co.uk/article/if-t...

Genuinely cannot recall a culture secretary delivering such a full-throated and caveat-free endorsement of the BBC, which Lisa Nandy describes as a "light on the hill." deadline.com/2025/11/bbc-...

An excellent summary of work and introduction to the most important study of Domesday book in a generation - or more. /1

Between the news media in the UK and the US the biggest difference is the strength of the BBC at the center. Which makes it a target. As @brianstelter.bsky.social writes: "the BBC is positioned as an apolitical brand, yet operates in a politically poisonous atmosphere. www.cnn.com/2025/11/09/m...

'people who are multilingual are half as likely to show signs of accelerated biological ageing than are those who speak just one language.' Good thing that schools, universities and governments are so actively promoting modern languages then, isn't it? 1/2

One nice detail that can easily be lost in this graph - even right wingers trust the BBC more than the right wing tabloids

'“Following a summer of further racist disorder, it is little wonder a growing number of nursing staff report feeling unsafe, particularly when having to work on their own and often at night.' 2/2

It’s astonishing that a man who was director of communications for a political party & who helped set up a right wing propaganda TV channel should have ever been placed on the board of a supposedly impartial & independent broadcasting service. www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...

There is, after all, the risk of a dangerous precedent here. The BBC will often offend foreign leaders - some worse than Trump. Sometimes it will make factual mistakes in reporting on them. Yield to Trump now, and who next?

The Telegraph routinely spreads myths about a range of subjects - especially climate change. It has been forced to publish over 100 corrections this year so far. Yet it has the gall to lecture the BBC - and whip up a national panic - about journalistic standards

Shout this as loud as possible over and over again. It should be the central, fundamental argument. (And see the whole of this excellent thread. No more tinkering. Grasp the nettle that many/most of us need to pay more, but also - on the grounds of fairness- tax wealth.)

“We're seeing a level of proliferation of bodies & body piles from space that's unlike anything I've ever seen…” Human rights investigator Nathaniel Raymond explains how more people could be killed within a week in Sudan, compared to the past two years in Gaza. 🔗 zeteo.com/p/sudans-dea...

Which one is more English?

Reposting because of the interest of the book and article, but also because the thread gets to some of the fine grain of the impact of redundancies. In every way they threaten so much.

If you've not read it, you should: Henry Parkes's landmark article on Emperor Henry II, which has had a significant impact on scholarship internationally. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/P9YSAI...

Dominic Cummings has this racialised take on David Lammy There is an increasingly prevalent kneejerk online rightwing trait to call the presence of any black or Asian person a diversity hire

Asylum seekers, housed in hotels in Manchester, are reaching out in their own words to address the concerns of the local community. Please take a minute to read their letter, & share it with the people in your life who need to hear the truth about the people they are protesting.

The crucial bit of this tactical 'only Labour or Reform can win here' VI poll, though, is that Labour and Reform would be tied. Not enough Lib Dem or Green voters are (right now) prepared to tactically vote for Labour to offset the number of Tories willing to tactically vote for Reform.

This would also be anti-growth, because it would reduce new EV sales and do little to curb congestion.

The runner up of the #PollardPrize 2025 is Niall Gray for his paper on '“The Burns Connection”: the Scotland-USSR Society and Cold War cultural diplomacy'. Congratulations to our winners and thanks to @Oxfordacademic.bsky.social for sponsoring the prize!

Congratulations to @berrypillot.bsky.social for winning the #PollardPrize 2025! Berry's paper 'No Place to be a Child? The Persistence and Peculiarities of Children’s Play during the Second World War in London and Liverpool' will be published in Historical Research @oxfordacademic.bsky.social

A brief interjection from sofa-bound Covid malaise (boo, so boring) to bring you some thoughts on Reform, six months on

... starring @sarahsemple.bsky.social and Chris Ferguson on new work at Yeavering - and the Ad Gefrin museum.

Come hang out next year! #medievalsky

Some call it mass uncontrolled migration. Others call it the British empire.

In case you, like me, missed @magistraetmater.bsky.social's recent post on the unmemorable queen. magistraetmater.wordpress.com/2025/08/12/t...

For those interested in thinking about rethinking periodization, especially the line between the Roman and early medieval periods in British history and archaeology; www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

'The contrast between frontline professionalism and the kneejerk cynicism of some rightwing politicians and commentators, in using these events to stoke fear and prejudice, could hardly be greater.'

This is powerful stuff: the reasoning behind Pillay’s commission finding that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza. “Children who were meant to be born from these reproductive specimens will never exist. Families will be forever changed and bloodlines may end.” www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...

Add to this a media environment whose constant theme is ‘Broken Britain’ and you might understand a lot about current patterns of voting intentions.

It’s History Day #HistDay25 🎉 I’ll be there to talk about the courses in Book History offered by @ies-sas.bsky.social 📖🪶

NEW: Walking 5,000 steps a day may help slow the onset of early-stage Alzheimer's disease, according to research that blends brain scans, activity records and cognitive tests. Even as few as 3,001 steps - less than 3km - could have a big benefit in slowing decline. www.ft.com/content/91fc...

Five years, four authors, one book. Out now (fully open access), our new book on local priests in the tenth century 🌟 www.cambridge.org/core/books/l... @jbwaagmeester.bsky.social