“Don’t bite the hand that feeds you”—yet what of criticising the state when academics are state employees/civil servants? Perhaps the biggest difference coming to Norway from Australia, where universities are publicly funded but academics are autonomous professionals at independent institutions.

Blimey

Multiculturalism implies a pluralism that makes possible talk of integration, but talk of integration in states that believe their values to be universal is conceptually confused. Best be honest and frame the discussion in terms of the most appropriate means to assimilate.

Scandinavia with Simon Reeve illustrates well that multiculturalism is not the aim here. Assimilation is. The show’s talk of ‘integration’ is thus off the mark because integration belongs to a multiculturalist policy of integrating a heterogenous whole, not assimilating a homogeneous one.

In search of 'relevance' in your history degree program? Recall that nothing is more 'relevant' than bringing historical knowledge to bear on the problems of the present.

I had a wonderful conversation with Scott Stephens and Walled Aly on Radio Nationa's "The Minefield." Episode - on Beauty in the age of speed, frictionlessness and AI slop - now online: www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

My talk ‘From Liberalism to Illiberalism' will highlight four turning points. Moral phil translated into politics (1810s), 'socialism in disguise' (late-C19), primacy of economics (1940s), perversion of founding emphasis on indiv. protections (recent) @historicalculture.bsky.social 12.30-13.30EOJ376

Cannot recommend this book highly enough: it takes history education seriously and is a history of ideas about it - it’s also a powerful philosophical enquiry. #historyeducation

Empathy and History @berghahnbooks.bsky.social—the principal arguments: 1) Empathy designates the attempt to grasp the 'context' in which people’s actions made sense 2) The methodological question raised by empathy concerns the way in which this 'context' enters a historical explanation 1/2

Spread the word about this brand new Masters in Public Environmental Humanities with me and The Greenhouse crew in Norway. For those outside of EU, registration is in second half of November, so don’t miss it!

Immensely excited that we will soon be offering this venerable programme. Huge thanks to the excellent @jonasgjerso.bsky.social for initiating PPE!

The appeal of the knowledgeable orator is timeless. And thus the academic lecture will live on.

Today 2026 booking opened for over 600 DNT cabins (hytte) dotted all over Norway. Looking forward to staying in the three that we have booked #lifeinnorway

I am all for learned criticism, but save me from the killjoys, cynics and cul-de-sac sceptics. Life's too short and, besides, I've got work to do

Our underfunded universities are spending money renting office spaces for academics who are seldom there. I don't know the answer, but whatever it is, it will involve being mindful of the way knowledge is produced in the different academic disciplines.

I am endlessly amazed by how much good historical work remains to be done.

Proud to become dual Australian-Norwegian citizen! (Norway, I know you dearly protect your fishing industry but these salmon-coloured passports are too much 😘).

Congratulations to @kreskildsen.bsky.social on the publication of his @universitypress.cambridge.org THINGS OF THE PAST: a modern yearning, in the Elements in Historical Theory and Practice series. Free to download till 13 November at DOI: 10.1017/9781009342988. www.cambridge.org/core/element...

The Department of History at Queen’s University seeks a postdoctoral fellow to start July 1, 2026. Applications are due on January 15, 2026 for the Marjorie McLean Oliver Post-Doctoral Fellowship. The full position description can be found here: www.queensu.ca/history/abou...

My family have never quite grasped my interest in history and now that I've told them about my interest in the Bourbon Restoration they seem truly poised to stage an intervention.

Dual biography, comparative biography, or two separate biographies of the figures concerned. That is the question today.

Norwegians have created a simple solution to everything being shut on Sundays. Go for a walk #lifeinnorway #mosvatnet #stavanger

In a week, I’ll be referencing Dilthey, Ranke, Burckhardt, Heidegger, Troeltsch and Benjamin, all in one talk! From historical contemplation as existential consolation to history as a source of existential Angst. Do join!

Stuart Macintyre used say, ‘start the day by picking up a book that inspires you’. Presently, that book for me is Catholicism and Democracy by Emile Perreau-Saussine. It’s the most brilliant book on Catholic political thought with sharp comparative insights into liberal Protestantism.

Well I guess that brings to an end the Long Reformation.

3 years later and I'd like to stress this: Orderly progression, cumulative development, incremental improvement. These concepts are not to be confused with the concept of progress. They carry none of the temporal expectations and moral assumptions that progress carries 1/2

📅 Save the date! The University of Stavanger, invites you to a symposium entitled: Freedom of Expression in Times of Genocide 🗓 Wed. Nov 12, 5–7:30 pm | Sølvberget, Stavanger & online Speakers include: Sindre Bangstad, Raz Segal, Zoé Samudzi, Maha Abdallah & Martin Shaw More details to follow.

PhD coursework? Come to Stavanger to study my hermeneutics course (5 ECTS). It's about developing a methodological language to communicate your aims as a humanistic researcher. www.uis.no/en/course/DU...

The series grows, and I love Maria's phrase 'iconoclastic activism'.

I reviewed Frank Ankersmit's new book for the AHR academic.oup.com/ahr/article-... @historians.org + brilliant defence of historicism and how individual representations of historical reality contribute to the growth of historical knowledge - bogged down in the mysteries of the Leibnizian system