this was such an important source for me when I was writing my book: vital for reconstructing the familial networks of men arrested for having sex with men. brilliant to see it expanded!

In case you missed it… my talk in Dublin with @tomhulme.bsky.social and @paraickerrigan.bsky.social ! youtu.be/CttFfqDEZpY?...

How could I have possibly known that Peter Mandelson couldn't be 100% taken at his word, says Keir Starmer, about a man whose public nicknames include 'the Prince of Darkness' and 'the Dark Lord'

@manchesterup.bsky.social are celebrating LGBTQ+ history month with related books at a 30% discount. Delighted to see that Eva Gore-Booth: Irish radical poet, rebel and reformer is available for preorder at this discount. In print on 3 March!

Our ‘Founding Cara-Friend’ exhibit will be in display at QUB’s McClay Library for LGBTQIA+ History Month, honouring Cara-Friend long-standing links to QUB! The exhibit is open to all — just ask at the front desk and find the display of portraits and materials in front of the short loan section!

It should not require an act as morally repulsive & treacherous as leaking govt intel to an overseas pedophile sex trafficker who may also be a Russian spy to permanently end a political career. Permanently banish anyone who deliberately or recklessly engages in ethical wrongdoing from public life.

Politicians should not be treated like toddlers. A time out on the naughty step before being welcomed back is not an effective deterrent for adults who've deliberately or recklessly engaged in ethical wrongdoing. It's an encouragement for more violations - as demonstrated by Mandelson's career.

Piers always gives such beautiful talks, and this sounds like an amazing source: gay diaries from WWII-era Norwich!!

*drum roll* Here is the cover for my book, which will be published by @cornellupress.bsky.social on 15 April 2026! I thought it would be nice to share a bit of info on who these men were and how their lives and interests inspired the design...

In response to the news that @qubelfastofficial.bsky.social has cut ties with Senator George J. Mitchell, following new information that suggests he remained in contact with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, we have released the following statement. 1/5

#TodayInQueerHistory February 2 (1988) To protest the homophobic Section 28, 4 lesbian activists abseil into the House of Lords. They were Olivia Butler, Rachel Cox, Angela Nunn and Sally Frances. Sally recalls "If they had voted against it, we weren’t going to do it. But they voted for it."

this just in from a supposedly social democratic politician

if an institution falls out of the ‘top 200’, Chinese applicants seemingly drop significantly. So we really need to get away from this model of using international students to prop up UKHE finances; it is not only ethically dubious but simply inadequate because of marketised instability!

The government’s suggestion that rolling out 20 minute courses on writing “AI“ prompts, sponsored by Google, Microsoft and Amazon, is somehow comparable to the founding of the Open University (the Wilson government‘s, & Jennie Lee’s, proudest achievement), is an insult to our human intelligence.

£42k for a lead (I.e. extensive experience) curatorial post - with management responsibilities - at a national library in one of the most expensive cities in the world? no wonder they’ve been on strike!

Now up on our website: expert analysis on the recently published accounts of our university by our stalwart member Paul Hudson. Vital information for understanding the financial landscape & context within which the recently Voluntary Severance Scheme took place. www.ucuqub.org/Press/Statem...

Interview for @urbanhistory.bsky.social of Simon Gunn, @petermandler.bsky.social, & I about the recently published book The Modern British City. www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wvE....

Not a surprise, but absolutely stark

if you’re wondering how it feels to be old & out of touch, I did a ‘pop quiz’ today with my 1st years on my history of sexuality module, & not 1 could answer “which tv series in the 90s focused on the gay scene of Manchester’s canal street”. please excuse me as I lower myself into a coffin 🥲

New year, new article… me and @leannemccormick.bsky.social are editing a special issue on modern Irish queer history, so we are attempting to write the first historiographical review of the sub discipline, from Montgomery Hyde to @aearls.bsky.social!

I can’t think of a pub that’s shut permanently in Belfast over the last decade. I presume it’s cos of arcane local laws that mean licenses are as rare as hen’s teeth & so highly valuable. Tho that might also be why the average price of a pint is over six quid… www.theguardian.com/business/202...

LGBTQ+ conversion therapy was in the news recently, after a BBC report revealed many examples in English NHS hospitals in the 1960s/70s. On 16 Feb I’m giving a talk on the history of sexuality & psychiatry in Northern Ireland, as part of @niscifest.bsky.social. nisciencefestival.com/event/shocki...

@mbsbirmingham.bsky.social Modern British Studies Conference 2026 CfP is live. Deadline for proposals 31 January 2026. www.birmingham.ac.uk/events/moder...

tasty sale. my haul:

Does anyone know of any large collections of correspondence between women covering the 1910s-1960s? I have surveyed a huge collection covering 30+ years of friendship and I’m wondering how unique it is?

A cartoon from "Out for Ourselves: the Lives of Irish Lesbians and Gay Men", published by the Dublin Lesbian and Gay Men’s Collectives in 1986.

interesting piece on social media, public profile & publishing. many followings (I’d observe) are built by being good at shit posting & online activism, or simply being physically attractive… which is jarring when the published topic is then totally different! hate the game not the player I guess?

wonderful to see this beautifully readable & important biography of a queer Irish figure being republished!

Lots of promising queer history books to look forward to in 2026. Here are just a few coming soon . . . 🌈📚🗃️ www.beacon.org/A-Black-Quee... www.bloomsbury.com/uk/queer-inh... www.dukeupress.edu/gay-print-cu... manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526165312/ utppublishing.com/doi/book/10....

If a larger share of your vote than the average population are LGBT+, or minorities, or Muslim, and your government is transphobic, anti-migrant, tolerant of brutalisation of Muslims abroad, and you’re not substantially and visibly improving people’s lives in other ways, you’ll be very unpopular!

Give me your best recent British & Irish LGBTQI+ history recommendations! I'm updating the reading list for my queer & trans history module. Looking for things published in the last 2-3 years. 🌈🎓 ‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️ #queerhistory

Join me, @tomhulme.bsky.social & @paraickerrigan.bsky.social in Dublin on Jan 23 at the Irish Georgian Society to talk about my book, Love in the Lav! Tickets scanner.topsec.com?d=1962&r=sho...

A free Xmas day dinner put on by my local Belfast Bengali restaurant for people by themselves during the holidays #EverydayMulticulturalism

I enjoyed speaking to @fieryparticle.bsky.social and @polprofsteve2024.bsky.social about MULTICULTURAL BRITAIN, and its relevance for the politics of today open.spotify.com/episode/59aX...

A joy to examine this terrific PhD on urban photography & social welfare in the 1st half of the 20th c. The strengths are myriad, but I was most struck by how visual culture informed welfare state narratives; important to remember as modern British urban history is moving to a post-1945 focus.

Dustjacket

Thrilled to say that I passed my viva last week! Thank you to my examiners @tomhulme.bsky.social and Keir Waddington for such an enjoyable and constructive conversation, and to my brilliant supervisors @erikahanna.bsky.social and Tom Allbeson

It's a few weeks away - January 23rd - but it would be great to see a good turnout for this Dublin discussion of Averill Earls' important new book on male same-sex desire in 20th c. Ireland!

a brilliant, incisive piece by @earner.bsky.social et al. The focus on “stories that disturb rather than coalesce with grand narratives” - and how such histories might be written - is a vital framing for what we might playfully dub the New Irish Queer History.

come on, lads; we need to up our game.

this is not behavior becoming of a FIFA Peace Prize recipient.

I'm on my way to a Chanukah event. It should be a celebration but instead our community is once again mourning. I will be thinking of everyone in Australia and those around the world in the Jewish Community who know this fear and loss. We stand with you.

How come the media isn't reporting what is going on in universities? The implications of this (and this is just 1 of many universities doing the same) are terrifying. For the local populations, for the towns affected, for the next generation, for research & development, for the future! #academicsky

Ongoing decimation of British universities part 252: Apx. 1000 academic staff at University of Essex just received formal ‘risk of redundancy’ letters via email. Please share @ucuessex.bsky.social @ucu.org.uk

Scotland continues to be the queerest part of the UK, with 4.2% identifying as LGB, followed by England (3.7%), Wales (3.6%) and Northern Ireland (2.4%).

#OpenAccess Research article, 'Between sickness and sin: models of male homosexuality in Northern Ireland c.1960-1990', by Charlie Lynch is available through the following link: @universitypress.cambridge.org

a brilliant, incisive piece by @earner.bsky.social et al. The focus on “stories that disturb rather than coalesce with grand narratives” - and how such histories might be written - is a vital framing for what we might playfully dub the New Irish Queer History.

#OpenAccess research article, 'Encountering modern Irish history: historiography, archives and imagination in the twenty-first century' by Lindsey Earner-Byrne, Roisín Higgins and Carole Holohan is available through the following link! @universitypress.cambridge.org @earner.bsky.social

If you're after a festive gift or want to treat yourself @manchesterup.bsky.social are offering a 40% discount on Songs of Seven Dials at the moment. A new history of London and the 1920s and 1930s for the knockdown price of £12: what's not to like? manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526181954/

If you'll be in Dublin at the end of January, come to hear me talk for a bit (and then converse with the wonderful @tomhulme.bsky.social and @paraickerrigan.bsky.social), the eventbrite sign up is now live: www.eventbrite.ie/e/love-in-th...