Arts and cultural engagement ‘linked to slower pace of biological ageing’

Historian of abolition here, history tells us how we got here, to put it succinctly “John Brown was hanged for treason and Robert E. Lee was not.”

Does the Declaration of Independence still matter? This is the question at the centre of the upcoming panel "The United States of America at 250". Learn more here:

..says man who wouldn't hold a by-election when he changed parties.

Spot on - while also feeling like we’re in a Michael Scott screaming “It’s Happening” doom loop moment

Issued by the Empire Marketing Board, the advertisement called on “the women of Britain” to “buy British”. Read the full post here: buff.ly/isK5Z2K

Our latest “Document of the Week”, chosen by Editorial Assistant, Chloe Haney, is an advertisement published in The Illustrated London News (ILN) on 12 December 1931.

Starmer isn’t brilliant at being PM. But turning against him plays right into the hands of Reform & RW influencers. Demonising the PM, rather than the govt, is surely a strategy to bring abt a change in leadership to legitimise populist clamour for general election.

🔥🔥🔥

Why I love declassified government docs, reason #51

DEMOCRACY IN ACTION!

"can't wait to see" is so revealing. They all think there's some sort of hidden secret button to deliver everything they want that the other parties are just refuse to press. On the economy, on immigrants, on "woke", etc

Night time choral rehearsal scenes earlier this week - looking forward to concert singing tonight at the lovely St Wulfram’s 🎶

The English results were terrible for the Tories, but not as bad as for Labour. That's not true in Scotland—Conservatives dropped from 31 seats to 12, shifting them from 2nd to 5th. They've fallen back *everywhere*. It's so strange to see Badenoch given a free ride to claim they're not a disaster.

This finals season I just want to be clear that posting student work online to make fun of it is evidence that you are a bad teacher

Really important tidbit here as well: even asking AI to *format* citations can result in hallucination. (I know this but my students absolutely do not believe it)

Seen a few posts about Sir David Attenborough not being able to play Lego any more. It seems Lego noticed this too and put out this new image allowing him to continue using Lego well beyond his centennial! Happy 100th birthday Sir David Attenborough, an absolute national treasure

Historians, the best way to support efforts like this is to join the AHA. We also are suing the administration over the Presidential Records Act, and your membership supports such efforts. historians.org/join You can also donate to support our work: historians.org/donate

'Details found in admiralty records and other archives have unearthed information about Jersey’s identity, his military service and even hint he may eventually have found freedom.' 1/2

An incredible human - we are so lucky to be alive at a time when he’s making shows, calling us to environmental action, and being part of remarkable TV history (including BBC sport & comedy, not just the natural world). A very Happy 100th Birthday to David Attenborough! youtube.com/watch?v=qWSG...

For everyone who thinks it's time to #DefundTheBBC & that the News/Politics/Current Affairs Department is everything... David Attenborough is 100 tomorrow & that without the BBC you'd never have enjoyed what he's given to the World... #AttenboroughAt100

Kind of surprised that this hasn't been bigger news. It's finals week for a whole lot of universities, and yet, Canvas (a learning/grading platform used by ~9,000 schools globally) is currently inaccessible because of a pay-or-have-your-data-leaked hack. www.insidehighered.com/news/tech-in...

happy 9th anniversary to the day we watched Zendaya fall madly in love with Tom Holland in real-time

Asked my Legal History students a question I don’t really like since I don’t do prognostication, but thought it worthwhile: What comes next? Over the semester, we’d studied moments when our Constitution collapsed and analyzed ways it got rebuilt. Their answers were fascinating:

It's David Attenborough's world, we're just watching it www.ft.com/content/82b3...

I. Don‘t. Need. AI. To. Teach. And. I. Shouldn‘t. Be. Forced. To.

Don't forget to vote, UK people, and especially to post your pictures of #DogsAtPollingStations

The personal toll the slashing and burning of large parts of the Higher Education sector, especially in Arts and Humanities, in Britain and now the North of Ireland on our colleagues should not be underestimated. This is horrendous but grimly unsurprising.

Literally the best email I've ever received. No notes.

Just scandalous - by the time everyone realises how vital humanities are to today, it’ll be too late. All expertise & learning opportunities will be lost. Hope @royalhistsoc.org attack what’s happening to the sector and the media actually respond. The situation is simply awful & unacceptable.

Survey of 1K+ UK university staff by @timeshighered.bsky.social: 93% say redundancies have affected morale, 77% strongly; 88% report increased workload, 64% strongly; 59% fear losing jobs in next 12 months, 26% strongly www.timeshighereducation.com/depth/he-has... via @pauljump.bsky.social

Why would we want to learn from our pasts, or ponder the power of the written and spoken word, or explore the deep questions of humanity? According to the University of Hertfordshire, we wouldn't. They've just cut all of our undergrad Humanities programmes

A student who sets out to write a research paper will now encounter chatbots who will offer to do their work in their word document, in their learning management system, in their email, in their web browser, and in certain library database interfaces.

One aim of the Society on BlueSky is to highlight organisations and opportunities that support historians and the humanities. One to promote is @britishacademy.bsky.social's UK-wide Early Career Researcher Network bit.ly/4f2H3tF which offers training, funding, peer support and events #Skystorians

What’s frustrating about Obama using the “college seminar” as a foil is that he very obviously means the humanities. Yet ”college seminars” in math or physics are actually completely unintelligible to the layperson and that’s a good thing. Complex ideas and specialized vocabulary are good.

Uhhh

If any historians want to suffer through the Florida Man Version of AP History, here's the document:

talking in a college seminar like: "yeah, no, I haven't done the reading" "has anybody done the reading?" ... "two of you. right, okay, let's take ten minutes so you can at least skim through the reading that you should have done"

We are pleased to offer a new research training session, Decolonising Society and Politics - Historical Perspectives, exploring decolonial methods in historical research and teaching. 3 June 2026 online. Further details and booking: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

It's crazy that "the authorities" don't seem to realise that 12.5k followers and daily engagement is the best publicity they could ever get for a historic site in the UK. Considering the amount of cash Sussex Archaeological Society needs, this is a poor decision... /1

University of Hertfordshire closes a swathe of Humanities courses, accelerating the sweeping tide against Human-centred disciples in the UK. Because understanding humans is so yesterday today. With such happy consequences, as we see when we look around us.

NEW from me: many of our universities are now in a dying fall. A new global-national-regional-local split is opening up, which could choke off progress on almost all the Government's plans. Do they have a plan? Nope, nothing, not a clue. 👇 isrf.org/blog/whats-t...

On Friday afternoon before the Bank Holiday, colleagues in the Humanities department were called to a meeting on Tuesday. They were informed that the University Portfolio Review had decided that English Language, English Literature, Philosophy, History & Creative Writing UG degrees would close

when ur on a walk and there's a dog

📢 Applications are now LIVE for the IHR Fellowship! Join our vibrant community of scholars. 🏛️✨ 🗓️ Deadline: 30th June 2026 🔗 Apply here: www.history.ac.uk/fellowships-...

WTF, NYer. "If we agree that college primarily serves a credentialling process that stamps select young people as worthy of work..." We do not. So much for the bastion of erudite journalism. This is sensationalism, damaging our most vital institution: education. www.newyorker.com/news/fault-l...

Delighted to see my first peer-reviewed journal article in print! Here I explore the GOP’s campaign in the South in ‘48. The first of my attempts to encourage us to reconsider conventional periodisations in the rise of southern Republicanism (1960s->). Thanks to all those who helped make it happen.🇺🇸

🗃️ @lewiskjohnson.bsky.social is doing some really important and innovative work on southern Republicanism. Massive congratulations on the first article 🥳

You can order my book “The Republican House Divided: Civil War Memory, Civil Rights, and the Transformation of the GOP” with a 40% discount until the end of May. Well, what are you waiting for?! 📚🇺🇸🗃️ uscpress.com/The-Republic... @uscpress.bsky.social @unipresssalesbot.bsky.social

A Short Poem for Star Wars Day Her name was Yoda, A showgirl she was.