during my PhD, when I was 22, at *redacted* archive in Rome, supposedly open to the public, they wouldn't let me in. I tried everything - begging letters, calls, turning up every day for a week, attempted string-pulling... so one day I turned up in my shortest skirt. They let me straight in.

Back in the motherland, my friends and family have a pretty identical view of the matter

Mincemeat (in mayo jar) homemade by Nonna Orange butter shortcrust homemade by me Mince pies made solo by the daughter Three generations of Wilcox women in one pie 🥧 ♥️

I had to say this to a very brilliant student recently Are you independently wealthy?have you won the lottery? are you about to marry someone independently wealthy? maybe your kid brother is about to become a Premier League footballer? if not, please for the love of God do not to a PhD.

In 2020 I made daughter a Belle dress for her 5th birthday, and have been letting down the hem ever since Now it's definitively too small and I'm taking it back up for her cousin, and sewing this damned 20cm gathered hem all over again 🙃

My response to anything over the next two weeks

I'm sharing this here, as I have on Facebook and Instagram, but there's no account on here to share from, and I just think this is wonderful. A really good balance of design and implementation, and appears to achieve everything it set out to do, and it *SO* appeals to my inner 'work nerd'.

A Christmas present for all lovers of Lewis Grassic Gibbon and Sunset Song. My biography of my grandmother, the dedicatee of Sunset Song, is available for just 99p on Kindle between now and December 25th. amzn.eu/d/fIHPuPA

Christmas perks of the husband's job. The branded fizz makes me giggle every year, its just so random (Worrh noting that Inter send us nowt)

me talking to friends and mentees: just SAY NO to all these unnecessary distractions and other people's projects! focus on your own book, prioritise yourself! me every time I'm invited to contribute to conferences, edited books, talks, random events of all kinds:

all done! Christmas can now commence (well, working on other projects like the edited book, the other book, the *other* other book, the journal article etc etc can now commence, to be strictly accurate)

This looks like such a great conference and if it wasn't in term-time I would have sent in a proposal about food theft (and especially fruit) in FWW colonial Tripoli but those of you who can go should definitely be sending in a proposal!

Today I MUST finish grading these 19thC Europe exams if it kills me (it might) I should not be on here until they're done

Domanda: quanti panettoni è normale mangiare in una piccola famiglia nel mese di dicembre? 🤔

We'd already covered "some people realise that they aren't the gender everyone else thought they were" pretty early on Then one day we had "your uncle is now your aunty" to which kiddo's response was "cool! I love aunties!" Not difficult 🤷‍♀️

Liking this Italian Microsoft 1995 anti-piracy ad, which basically threatens all kinds of evil and illness if you are using a pirated version of Windows: viruses, "nuclear contamination", data loss, prison, nervous breakdown, etc

Nicolas Sarkozy reçoit le “prix de littérature” de la FIFA https://www.legorafi.fr/2025/12/12/nicolas-sarkozy-recoit-le-prix-de-litterature-de-la-fifa/

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

Pls sign/share! UNC is preparing to cave to political pressure from the Heritage Foundation by publishing all syllabi online. This puts a target on instructors' backs. It clears a path for abuse and endangers student safety. actionnetwork.org/petitions/pr...

So my history & memory students have done their final. I give them the assignment details (see image) one week in advance, they can research, plan & prepare it. They can also bring in images into the exam with them to submit if they like, but no written notes.

Sitting outside in the sunshine having lunch with a new friend

Asked by the 1905 census carried out in Eritrea what language he habitually spoke, this hero said 'Veneto dialect' (but confessed he spoke a little Italian as a secondary language 'un pocco di italiano' Also enjoying his religious faith: 'God without priests '

no wonder Trump believes he's sane and cognitively competent, surrounded by people like Rubio and Hegseth

human snoring: disgusting, shudder-inducing, intolerable. someone else's snot inside my ears cat snoring: adorable, delightful as a baby's smile, how can I amplify this incredibly lovable sound, please bless me by snoring into my ear O Magnificent Creature

One of the many reasons AI can't produce good writing is it can't hate its own writing. It can't think to itself "Maybe I'm illiterate" during the writing process. And that's essential

If you were interested in buying this excellent book, there is currently 40% off!! bsky.app/profile/univ...

there is absolutely no universe in which you will be able to guess the surprise twist in this video. this is literally the most surprising finale ever committed to screen.

This looks so great! And extremely reasonably priced too

The course Sam's teaching costs £155 (concessions £80), and will be on Wednesdays at 6-7.30pm UK time for 10 weeks, starting on Wednesday 21 January. Texts range from classics (including Austen + Heyer) to more recent novels by @authormsbev.bsky.social and @oliviawaite.com , as well as some films.

Italian historians currently engaged in a gigantic collective shudder. You'll never regret a trip on the Arandora star, apparently! @dreadships.bsky.social

Très heureux d'annoncer que le livre collectif Mondes en guerre vol. 3 / guerres mondiales et impériales 1870-1945 sortira en poche le 5 mars prochain chez @passescomposes.bsky.social !

ah la famosissima sanità Lombarda, eccellenza rinomata nel mondo.... quanto sono felice di vivere a milano 🙃

This is enormously exciting. A conference - Empires at War - co-hosted by the Royal Military College of Canada and @ucddublin.bsky.social in Newman House, 17 - 18 Sep 2026. Call for Papers now open. Keynotes - @jonathanfennell.bsky.social Linn, Khan, McGaughey, Thomas. www.ucd.ie/warstudies/c...

The Oh bej! Oh bej! Christmas fair at the Castello Sforzesco in Milan Drinking some mulled wine and enjoying the sunshine and the day off

We are told that, under stress, the humanities must be sacrificed. But amidst a war of aggression scholars in Ukraine have undertaken one of the most ambitious knowledge projects of our time. It's a privilege to be involved with Ukrainian History Global Initiative snyder.substack.com/p/ukrainian-...

Mamma, sapevi che gli austriaci erano molto cattivi verso noi italiani? #aiuto #propaganda

Enjoying the ultimate in trash tv, Love is Blind Italia. Some of these people are absolutely off their heads. Imagine asking sometime you've never seen yet how they'd parent your hypothetical 14 yr old kid. Ma questa è matta fracica, dice mio marito giustamente.

when you're a colonial bureaucrat in 1905 who's supposed to be collating regional censorship returns but instead you're fantasising about using some government cash to fund a camping and stargazing holiday ⛺️🔭

As an aside: I did most of the work for this piece in the history library of the Università Statale di Milano and it was bloody freezing, so much than when I skimmed through my essay today I felt a sudden shiver of intense cold 🥶 😅

Christmas sewing goals!

Delighted to receive my copy of Framing the First World War, a great collection edited by @draefox.bsky.social @mpmfinch.bsky.social and @dmorganowen.bsky.social who have put together a broad range of original essays

A successful morning in the archive, finding - granular colonial census reports from 1905 - a case involving one of the women I'm researching & her employees - censored letter extracts from Eritrean ascari fighting in Libya in 1915

which of us have not yearned for a 3-bed, 7-bath bungalow?

this is why you should always push your publisher for a snazzy book cover! it encourages people to put it in their conference slides 😅

My history, memory & popular culture seminar students have just submitted their final projects & they are SO GREAT, I am really thrilled. Topics include sectarian murals in Belfast, the Gettysburg Cyclorama, Mary Q of Scots on TV, local FWW memories in the Alps, Italian (neo)facism & FWW theatre

I take one tablet daily, the only reminder that I'm living with HIV. It keeps my viral load undetectable, meaning that I can't pass HIV on. I can expect a normal lifespan. One of the greatest challenges is stigma, due to a lack of knowledge. HIV has changed. #WorldAIDSDay

I was out all day yesterday and so Byron has decided that we need to make up for missed #Caturday cuddles on the sofa

239 years ago, on the 30th of November 1786, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany became the first modern state to abolish the death penalty. Grand Duke Leopold I, who was influenced in the decision by the book 'On Crimes and Punishments', would later become Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II. #otd #history 🗃️

Breakfast of champions on the first Sunday in Advent: panettone pain perdu!

Marathon of baking now completed!