I'm giving a keynote lecture at 2 pm (UK) on Fri 3 Oct to the annual gathering of Quakers Uniting in Publications on "Depth and Discernment in Spiritual Writing". Focussed mainly on my titles with @BirlinnBooks. Other speakers too - full programme and Zoom registration at www.quakerquip.com

Ocean acidification, caused by carbon emissions from fossil fuels, has exceeded safe levels, hindering the ability of shellfish and corals to develop, impacting fisheries and the ocean's capacity to absorb carbon dioxide, thereby exacerbating global warming. www.cbc.ca/news/climate...

Centre for Human Ecology alumnus Adam Weymouth: “Ten years ago I walked across Scotland, beginning on an estate attempting to reintroduce wolves, & finishing where Scotland's last wolf is reputed to have been shot, in 1680. Along the way I spoke with gamekeepers, hikers, conservationists & farmers…”

I’ll be on Thought for the Day on BBC Radio Scotland tomorrow (Tuesday) at about 0720 on the mackerel fishing season, a terrible tangle, and for World Quaker Week, how Scrappy Mick taught me to “think it possible that you might be mistaken”. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...

Our department is hiring! Assistant Professor and Ruby Heap Professorship in Women’s History universityaffairs.ca/search-job/?...

Proud of our PhD student Sarah Squire presenting on heritage and conviviality at Charles University Prague @insuhi.bsky.social @paulmalgrati.bsky.social

Ullrich Kockel from @insuhi.bsky.social presenting on heritage and displacement at Charles University Prague @paulmalgrati.bsky.social

The Manuscript of the Week is RIA MS 23 P 16, Leabhar Breac: www.ria.ie/collections/manuscripts/irish-language-manuscripts/leabhar-breac-the-speckled-book-the-book-of-mac-egans-leabhar-mor-duna-doighre/

Review of Belfast Twilight by Gabriel Rosenstock

Congratulations to Associate Professor Jessica Smyth &Associate Professor Dr Neil Carlin, and International colleagues, on their publication in Antiquity today, "The ‘king’ of Newgrange? A critical analysis of a Neolithic petrous fragment from the passage tomb chamber" www.ucd.ie/newsandopini...

My thoughts on prayer, Gaelic and the corncrake @lillis.bsky.social @frankrennie.bsky.social @alastairmci.bsky.social @insuhi.bsky.social @paulmalgrati.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Delighted that we passed the Scottish Languages Bill today, recognising for the first time in law that Scots is one of our native languages and strengthening measures to support both it and Gaelic. 🧵 I passed about 50 amendments to strengthen the bill in various ways, inc:

The kid read her first real book front to back with limited assistance tonight. This is a well done children’s book because it is a meaningful story with accessible and repetitive vocabulary to build confidence. Would recommend 10/10. She was very proud of herself 🔥

#booksky #writingcommunity

Applications are now open for the International Writing Workshops. The scheme is designed to help early-career researchers enhance their writing skills and increase the uptake of their research in academic publications. Learn more: buff.ly/GxYuIKT

Worrying days for The Shetland Times and all of us. We hold all the editions on microfilm and it’s an essential historical resource. If we lose our newspapers it gets much harder to find and preserve consistent output by trained journalists.

Baubi Urquhart of Yell, Shetland: "photographs of Baubi were once used to illustrate two quite different stories – one about folklore, specifically tales of ‘seal women’ or ‘selkies’ from the Northern Isles of Scotland, and the other about women’s work in the rural economy of the 19th century."

On dry-stone walling niamh MacKenzie of @insuhi.bsky.social @intangble.bsky.social

Great presentation on outdoor education by sarah squire of @insuhi.bsky.social on outdoor education @frankrennie.bsky.social @alastairmci.bsky.social @lukedevlin.bsky.social

Great presentations by @insuhi.bsky.social PhD students @paulmalgrati.bsky.social @sarahsquire.bsky.social

Delighted with our special issue on ich and climate change @ppmcdermott1.bsky.social @insuhi.bsky.social @uhihistory.bsky.social @paulmalgrati.bsky.social

Thank you @alastairmci.bsky.social @apilz.bsky.social @creativeethnology.bsky.social @sabhalmorostaig.bsky.social @robdunbar.bsky.social @roibeardmac.bsky.social @irishunireview.bsky.social @irishtimes.com

I listened to this. Well handled. It’s a very emotive topic and one which people care deeply about

among the things found in my aunt's house that's being cleared out is a copy of jonathan livinston seagull. i remember reading this book four or five times when i was a kid - it was required reading in just about every school, church, reading group. which makes me wonder if anyone still reads it

Royalty and Ritual: Landscapes of Power in Early Medieval Scotland & Europe. Professor Alex Sanmark @thinkuhi.bsky.social #uhivems & Dr Mark Hall Perth Museum & Art Gallery #research & new book published shortly. See blog institutefornorthernstudies.com/2025/06/04/n...

I've just finished indexing 'Folklore: A Journey through the Past and Present' by @odavies9.bsky.social and Ceri Houlbrook, published by @manchesterup.bsky.social in September. A tremendous book, and an important reflection on British folklore: manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526180384/

I listened to this. Well handled. It’s a very emotive topic and one which people care deeply about

Thank you @alastairmci.bsky.social @apilz.bsky.social @creativeethnology.bsky.social @sabhalmorostaig.bsky.social @robdunbar.bsky.social @roibeardmac.bsky.social @irishunireview.bsky.social @irishtimes.com

@apilz.bsky.social @creativeethnology.bsky.social @alastairmci.bsky.social @nbissell.bsky.social @geopoetry.bsky.social @davidfarrier.bsky.social @alisonphipps.bsky.social @lillis.bsky.social @folklorepod.bsky.social

Thank you @bellacaledonia.bsky.social @frankrennie.bsky.social @mfenske.bsky.social @alastairmci.bsky.social @carsoncenter.bsky.social @folkloresociety.bsky.social @artisforliving.bsky.social @lillis.bsky.social @rewildscotland.bsky.soc @valbold.bsky.social @wildjustice.bsky.social

Thanks to @bellaclub.bsky.social for sharing @frankrennie.bsky.social @apilz.bsky.social @carsoncenter.bsky.social @alastairmci.bsky.social @lillis.bsky.social @mfenske.bsky.social bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/05/09/t...

Delighted with our special issue on ich and climate change @ppmcdermott1.bsky.social @insuhi.bsky.social @uhihistory.bsky.social @paulmalgrati.bsky.social

@mfenske.bsky.social @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social @daraobriain.bsky.social @rewildscotland.bsky.social @rewildingire.bsky.social @folkloresociety.bsky.social @carsoncenter.bsky.social

@apilz.bsky.social @creativeethnology.bsky.social @alastairmci.bsky.social @nbissell.bsky.social @geopoetry.bsky.social @davidfarrier.bsky.social @alisonphipps.bsky.social @lillis.bsky.social @folklorepod.bsky.social

D'fhoilsigh siad mo litir bheag inniu.

www.qub.ac.uk/events/whats... @insuhi.bsky.social @uhiarchaeology.bsky.social @uhihistory.bsky.social @paulmalgrati.bsky.social

My thoughts on leadership and imperfection on BBC Radio 4 Extra tomorrow morning @insuhi.bsky.social @alisonphipps.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Haiku found in The Wild Swans by Kenneth White. blood red bird follows a path of light salmon race upstream with its wing it can break your arm wild swan in the reeds a man haunts the lakeside seeking wild swans on the fifth day twilight falls blue and rose cry of wild swans

Interesting news from the National Museum of Ireland on St Bridget - 'a very early vellum fragment with her name which survives in a Swiss abbey' (and which will feature in an exhibition in the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin May to October 2025). www.museum.ie/en-IE/Collec...

Dawn today - Iona Abbey - four of our GalGael Trust volunteers have gone for Work Week with the Iona Community. We are re-building the links that once were strong between grassroots folk in Govan (Glasgow) and this ancient heart of Celtic spirituality. “Work as worship” and worship as “worthy ship”.

"What does it mean to be a human being? What does it mean to be in this body, with these people, standing on the solid ground of Scotland’s soil, right now?" My independence convention address from last week. bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/03/01/t...

@oneplacestudies.bsky.social if you haven’t read it already, you might like my 2020 book on what makes a place special? ‘The Changing Outer Hebrides: Galson & the meaning of place’. Winner of the 2020 Highland Book Prize & shortlisted for Saltire Research Book of the Yr in the National Book Awards.

I will be on BBC Radio Scotland’s “Sunday Morning” tomorrow, 0910 - 0955 discussing Children’s mental health, diminishing attention spans and coping with trauma. Anent which, I was pleased to see this👇 on mentoring at my old school, sparked off by a Lewis man Dr Iain MacRitchie.

The January 2025 edition of the revitalised Folklore Podcast e-newsletter has been mailed out today. If you subscribe, keep an eye out or check your spam. If you don't, you can also sub at eepurl.com/g8UwUn and if you would like to read the January one, email [email protected] and ask!

Sad to see the great Irish poet Michael Longley (1939-2025), died yesterday. Far from the perimeter Of watercress and berries, In the middle of the field I stand talking to myself, While the ash keys scatter And the gates creak open And the barbed wire rusts To hay-ropes strung with thorns.

I’ll be presenting Thought for the Day on BBC Good Morning Scotland tomorrow (Tue) at the slightly earlier time of 0719-ish. On President Trump’s Oath of Office, the paradox that oath-swearing is forbidden by Christ, and why do we say “to be honest…”? www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...

As Donald Trump retakes power, a 50 minute "Out of the Wild" podcast with me interviewed by Ken Ilgunas. kenilgunas.substack.com/p/5-alastair...

This is anazing theconversation.com/why-has-this...

📆Deadline for proposals 31 January 2025📆 Call for papers: 'Folklore and the Senses'. Our annual conference, in collaboration with the Department of Folklore & Ethnology @ucc.bsky.social. Fri 20 Jun - Sun 22 Jun 2025, online & at University College Cork. folklore-society.com/blog-post/fo...