Bonus episode @therestpolitics.bsky.social in which Cat Neilan and I take your Qs on her recent mini series WHO FUNDS REFORM? podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

Mary Beard Looks at Trump and Sees Roman Emperors but not always in thevway you might think! www.nytimes.com/2026/07/03/o...

The Last Post for Rory RIP Good dog

Yay! Six years old!

Starmer’s goodbye gift to UK: a £44.7bn US pharma deal that could be more lethal than Covid. Pushes up the cost of NHS drugs, boosts US corporate profits. Secret contract, no debate in parliament. The next PM must renegotiate, produce drugs at home wherever possible.

📣 Job opportunity: We are looking for up to 5 outstanding postdoctoral or doctoral researchers in #DigitalHumanities to join us at the @textandlanguagelab.bsky.social Please share widely 🙏 ⏰ Deadline: 24 July 2026 For more info: www.fau-jobs.de/jobposting/6...

This is getting silly now, can someone kick the Bluesky server.

This Parliament is forecast to be better for living standards than the last. Unfortunately for Andy Burnham, most of the forecast growth will have already taken place by the time he's expected to take office. What other challenges face the new PM? Find out ⤵️ buff.ly/vTEZMib

I'll summarize this: Mamdani asked NYers to keep air conditioning at 78 degrees. A wave criticism hit online. A MSNBC broadcast pointed out the US Department of Energy recommends that 78 degree figure. Immediately after, the US Department of Energy deleted 6,000 web pages related to energy saving.

When volume three of the books based on my podcast comes out, I am using two blurbs: One is “can only be compared to, say, the construction of the Oxford English Dictionary...in its scope it summons up Gibbon or Pepys... it will eclipse every literary project in history” The New Yorker

4 MONTHS FROM TODAY are the Midterm Elections. Make sure you & everyone you know are registered to VOTE. VOTE for Dems to take back the House & Senate. VOTE to hold the most corrupt individual ever to occupy the WH accountable! VOTE to let our country to begin to heal. 🇺🇸 On 11/3/26: VOTE BLUE 🌊

For those who missed any of them, I'm reposting all of my animal-photos-with-alt-text-stories threads here. If you did see them before, all you have to do is close your eyes for a couple of seconds, and they'll be gone. It won't hurt a bit. 1. The Sheep. bsky.app/profile/dj-a...

An unpublished manuscript by J.R.R. Tolkien has been identified in the Bodleian Library. His modern translation of the Middle English religious text 'Sawles Warde' ('Soul's Ward') had been found in a drawer by a former student in 1983 and has now been published. www.stcatz.ox.ac.uk/visiting-fel...

This is Penny. She came up with her own trick. Really hopes you like it, and will repeat it as many times as necessary until you acknowledge that you do. 14/10 (IG: pennycorgipoo)

This is Nala. She thought your face had disappeared. Turns out it was behind your hands the whole time. Incredible. 12/10 (IG: goldennala27)

This is Hina, Sasha, Momo, and Kikko. They just got in line behind their turtle friend. Not sure what the line is even for, but man is it moving slow. 12/10 for all (IG: yokokikuchi_ks)

Here are the top 5 dogs of the week!

This pup found a stick shaped like an old timey pipe earlier today and has already solved three mysteries. 13/10

This is Harley. She's never rolled down a hill before, but she's super proud of her first attempt. 13/10 nailed it (TT: jesskoselke)

R we ded yet?

Mordor on the Orient Express

Witches were alchemists (complementary) vs witches were not alchemists (derogatory). Both quotations are from radical feminist interpretations of witches. The first is the 1968 WITCH Manifesto, the second is Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English’s “Witches, Midwives, and Nurses” (1973).

The paperback of The Basque Witch-Hunt: A Secret History is out next week, and @bloomsburyhist.bsky.social published a blog in which I explain why I called it a secret history. The witch hunt is well known but the familiar story never quite rang true for me: www.bloomsbury.com/uk/discover/...

‘Byl has opened up an almost entirely unmapped treasury of material on the prosecution of witchcraft in East-Central Europe, in a meticulous, thorough and authoritative study of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.’ My review of Vital Byl's new book: drfrancisyoung.com/2026/07/03/r... @dependencybonn.de

mashable.com/tech/donald-... #MAGA lock up #Trump and his cronies.

Test the use of local AI in improving access and interpretation of born-digital archives in this funded fellowship Apply by 15 July link.bl.uk/4j9

In case you missed it, British Library E-Theses Online Service (EThOS) update from Sept 3: https://www.bl.uk/collection/ethos EThOS is the national database of UK doctoral theses.

Join free artist and researcher-led walks for Whitechapel Gallery's Backyard Biennial. As part of a CPEP-funded Collaboration and Innovation Grant pilot project, the Walking! Power! Inclusion! series will explore East London with curiosity, creativity and criticality. Book here: bit.ly/4giD90p

It was a delight to see that my co-edited volume on #Tolkien and #Romanticism warmly reviewed by Peter Francev for the @bars.bsky.social Review. A "seamless and intriguing blending of ideas from the worlds of Romanticism and Tolkien": www.bars.ac.uk/review/index...

Into The Meadow. 21°C and a strong Westerly. Hares hiding.

I had not posted about it but as I am now earnestly grappling with it: I am writing another book for @bodleian.ox.ac.uk Bodleian Publishing, 'Tales of Horror from Medieval England'. Expect translated narratives of violence, sorcery, fearsome creatures, the undead, and the end times.

Appeasing Trump. UK would need to divert £44.7bn from essential NHS services to pay for new medicines under the terms of the UK-US trade deal. US corporate profits boosted. Could result in more than 200,000 avoidable UK deaths. Self-sufficiency for essentials saves lives.

1905 exploded all over everyone's face, like a surprising, sticky mess.

Happy “liberal arts professor helps save the Union” day to all who celebrate

The Times (via Politico): "Christopher Harborne, who has given Reform £15 million and Nigel Farage personally £5 million, owns a jet fuel company that sources from refineries using large volumes of Russian crude oil."

Shocking allegations that King Harold was not spending 3.5% on defence.

With Sony stopping physical discs for games you have to wonder what's next, films and music you'd assume, magazines can't be long for this world, books? What an utterly shit future.

to everyone at risk or redundancy in academia right now:

Morning all. Photographer Roger Perry Richmond, south west London, 1976.

witch hunt alert 🚨 @witchesetc.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/01/witch-hunt-in-niger-as-military-regime-rounds-up-lgbtq-population ‘Witch-hunt’ in Niger as military regime rounds up LGBTQ+ population Fears of resurgence of HIV/Aids amid loss of access to PrEP drugs as at least 40 people arrested in ‘toxic’ climate.

I think this might be the biggest difference between universities now and a couple of years ago: I know from experience that saying this to managers now results in them looking at you like you're an idiot with no grasp of reality and solely an ideological agenda. ...

Palantir CEO Alex Karp couldn’t stay seated in his chair as he proudly stated: 'We kill people sometimes', while speaking to shareholders. (Feb 2026)

More evidence of the ‘greater financial stability’ in HE that Jacqui Smith spoke of this week.

'The proposed industrial action is over plans to cut 200 jobs as the Brighton facility attempts to save £35m annually. It comes after more than 600 staff were put at risk of redundancy across academic, technical and professional services departments.'

In June 1688, the 'Immortal Seven' wrote to William of Orange, asking for military intervention, after the birth of a son to James II and Mary Beatrice. They wanted to prevent James II's Catholic son becoming heir. In fact, they argued that he wasn't even the king's son at all... ow.ly/bCt350P19TJ

I am very glad to see how widely covered the insanity at Exeter is, but please I beg everyone, understand this is happening EVERYWHERE in UK universities. If people care about anything valuable that this sector does or contributes too, they need to get loud, now.