An exciting new hybrid talk from @lauracforster.bsky.social on 9 June, exploring the Communard refugees who arrived in Britain following the defeat of the Paris Commune in May 1871. Find out more: sslh.org.uk/2026/05/29/e...

My German is crap but from what I can gather this is a lovely and thoughtful review of 'The Paris Commune in Britain'! Thank you @christopherwimmer.bsky.social 🙌

HAPPY MAY DAY✊🟥 For Radical May, 'Friends in Common' is half price! Treat yourself! It's a book about friendship & radical struggle, historically & today. It argues that friendship has revolutionary potential in the face of a profoundly anti-social capitalist system (1/8)

Jobs! Three jobs! I am hiring three full-time, three-year postdocs to research the long history of song at Newcastle, from any disciplinary background (within reason), starting 1 October 2026. Spread the news far and wide – all details in the link below... jobs.ncl.ac.uk/job/Newcastl...

New article! It considers how travelling activists - lecturers, wandering outsiders & Clarion caravanners - figured in the landscape of socialist organising in the late 19thC & argues that experiences of intimacy, friendship, & frustration were key in generating socialist ideas & making socialists

‘In​ its short life, the Commune could fulfil little of its programme. But it transformed Paris into a network of elected democracies, cancelled rent arrears and abolished religious education.’ Neal Ascherson on the Paris Commune in Britain. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Googled my favourite Matilda quote to find a clip of the relevant scene and the auto AI overview that I can't seem to turn off came through with something accurate for once

‘Once, the men and women waiting for soup in Newman Passage had believed that everything was possible. Now they knew it wasn’t.’ Neal Ascherson on the Paris Commune’s refugees in Britain. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Hey everyone, a collective I'm part of is starting a radical bookshop and community space in Newcastle, a city where the last radical bookshop closed around 40 years ago. We've just launched our crowdfunder. Please take a look a share widely! www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/booksfromb...

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Such a brilliant book!

Hey look - a lovely review in the @lrb.co.uk of @lauracforster.bsky.social's magnificent book about the exiles of the Paris commune! www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Happy St. Patrick's Day, New York.

Call for Papers New Left Histories and Historiographies: Mapping a Renewed Research Field Workshop to assess the current state of research on the New Left. Cfp for an event to be held in November at QMUL. Info here www.bbk.ac.uk/events/event... @bbkhistorical.bsky.social @qmul.bsky.social

'...a lively, scholarly account, full of bold personalities and surprising connections' Thanks to Neal Ascherson for this generous review of 'The Paris Commune in Britain' in the @lrb.co.uk today Particularly pleased to read that the book took Neal to the Newman Arms in search of the Communards 🍻

‘Solidarity with Commune veterans on the part of British working-class movements was usually more symbolic than active. Plenty of “Vive la Commune!” and “Down with Capitalism!”, but no barricades.’ Neal Ascherson on the Paris Commune in Britain. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

'...a lively, scholarly account, full of bold personalities and surprising connections' Thanks to Neal Ascherson for this generous review of 'The Paris Commune in Britain' in the @lrb.co.uk today Particularly pleased to read that the book took Neal to the Newman Arms in search of the Communards 🍻

This is really excellent and informative, as ever. From the best @eskandarsadeghi.bsky.social

I've got a new article out @parlhistjournal.bsky.social 💥 It's about late 19thC socialist caravan tours & the production of everyday forms of cross-cultural connection & provincial internationalisms that were vital for the development of socialist ideas in this period

What does history have to offer to a world beset by upheaval? @lauracforster.bsky.social, @julialaite.bsky.social, Laura Schwartz, Anne Irfan and Jo Kelcey consider the complexities of this question in our new podcast 🎙️

CONFERENCE - 'Sociability & Political Life', University of York, 3rd/4th July 2026 Get your abstracts in by 14th Feb!

The latest issue of History Workshop Journal is out now, and it marks two exciting milestones: 50 years and 100 issues of innovative radical history. You can read the journal on the HWJ website through the link below! academic.oup.com/hwj...

CONFERENCE - 'Sociability & Political Life', University of York, 3rd/4th July 2026 Get your abstracts in by 14th Feb!

📖 EPISODE 230! 📖 In today’s episode, we discuss the book Friends in Common: Radical Friendship and Everyday Solidarities by @lauracforster.bsky.social and @joeljoel.bsky.social (and published by @plutopress.bsky.social).

Next year we are co-hosting a celebration event with @rshc.bsky.social to mark the 100th issue of History Workshop Journal. 📍Birkbeck, University of London 🗓️Saturday 31 January 2026 ⏱️14:00-18:00 Everyone welcome! Please make sure to book via the link below.

This is tonight! 6pm! York! Come along if you're in the neighbourhood

On Wednesday at 6pm my two fantastic colleagues Purba Hossain and @lauracforster.bsky.social are having a joint book launch for their new monographs at Kings Manor in the centre of York. If you're interested you can sign up at the Eventbrite here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/labour-mov....

📢Call For Papers📢 Sociability & Political life Marc Jaffré & I are organising a conference! We're asking: can there be politics without sociability? How have friendship, intimacy, socialising & informal attachments been central to political projects & movements? Get your abstracts in by Feb 14th!

"Palestinians experience the displacement of the 2020s genocide not as a singular event, but as part of a repeated cycle." Anne Irfan on the importance of writing Gaza's history.

It shouldn’t be forgotten that a big piece of Mamdani’s campaign was simply “cities are cool and lots of people enjoy living in them” which in and of itself dismantles alot of rightwing talking points

The Curriers' Prize is now open! Submit your best unpublished essay on any aspect of London's history, and you could get a £1,000 award! Full details: 👇 w ww.history.ac.uk/funding/awards-bursaries-prizes/curriers-prize

In the midst of political pessimism, this episode on friendship as transformative power gave me some hope.

Joel & I in conversation with the wonderful @marybethhamilton13.bsky.social - talking about friendship, forms of belonging, & revolutionary histories for @historyworkshop.org.uk

How might we reassess friendship as a transformative, even revolutionary, political resource? Laura Forster (@lauracforster.bsky.social) and Joel White (@joeljoel.bsky.social) join Marybeth Hamilton (@marybethhamilton13.bsky.social) to discuss the radical potential of friendship 🎙️🗃️

I can heartily recommend Laura's brilliant new article - innovative, creative and hopeful!

I’ve just added my voice to this consultation saying I don’t want a situation in which staff and fellow swimmers might scrutinise or judge my body, or anyone else’s, when I use the ponds. The current policy of trans inclusion works perfectly well. You can fill out the consultation linked below.

This will be great!!

I've got a new article out @historyworkshop.org.uk. It argues for history as a form of intergenerational friendship. History, like friendship, can be a politically powerful way of talking and thinking across time, and can connect past, present, and future struggle ✊ academic.oup.com/hwj/advance-...

Joel & I talking to Chris Browne about friendship, reimagining the world, & fighting the far right Radicals in Conversation 📻 open.spotify.com/episode/1gNi...

NEXT WEEK! Come and hear @samwetherell.bsky.social and me chat about radical pasts & radical futures💥

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Myself and the amazing @lauracforster.bsky.social are doing a joint event to launch our books in York. Come to learn about Liverpool, the aftershocks of the Paris Commune and the new kinds of histories our present crisis demands! www.york.ac.uk/news-and-eve...

My first piece in the TLS — a review of a fantastic and pioneering new study of the Paris Commune’s afterlives in Britain and Ireland by @lauracforster.bsky.social www.the-tls.com/history/the-...

All historians should read this jaw dropping interview as a case study in moral and political decrepitude. Evidence if any more were needed that the accrual of massive amounts of evidence about the past does not automatically engender a critical reflection on the present.

The Paris Commune in Britain reviewed in the TLS by the wonderful @mauricejcasey.com

“A thoughtful, collaborative mediation on the often-thorny ways that friendship intersects with the political” @lauracforster.bsky.social and @joeljoel.bsky.social speak with @theskinnymag.bsky.social about Friends in Common: www.theskinny.co.uk/books/featur...

⚡️TODAY⚡️ @lauracforster.bsky.social and @joeljoel.bsky.social speak at Lighthouse for @edfringe.bsky.social 2025! 🗓️Wed, Aug 13 ⏰1 pm 📍@Lighthousebks lighthousebookshop.com/events/frien...