FUCK AI.

Quite significant. A kind of textile factory?

Just back from the printers, very excited! Being sent out to Staffordshire Record Society members soon.

10 Years of Brexit 🇬🇧🇪🇺 On the night of the Brexit ref in 2016, as the result came in, this young woman was asked how she felt. Her mixture of anger, grief, shame, shock and despair spoke for millions of us that night — and everything she feared might happen came true. #RejoinEU 🇬🇧🇪🇺

#MapOnATuesday is the c. 1911 map of Greater Birmingham coloured to show ward boundaries as proposed. Some of the boundaries differ from those finally adopted. Ref – MAP/456336 #LibraryofBham

One of my favourite funding schemes! We are offering up to £300k for international interdisciplinary research on the theme of mobilities - the movement of people, things and ideas. Apply by 7 October. Please help spread the word! www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/sche...

Midnight in Iceland, June 20th.

Is binning expert correspondents in eastern Europe a good idea at a time like this? Disinformation on the rise, Russia interfering in many countries, threatening several and actually at war with one? Well, BBC News management seems to think so. It's disposing of me and 4 of my colleagues.

One of the largest data centers in the country is rising from the desert of southern New Mexico. At 1,400 acres, it could swallow New York's Central Park While there might be enough land, there isn't enough water. Locals concerned Project Jupiter will destroy the chile & pecan farming ✏️ @npr.org

Almost identical to the ‘weapon dancer’ who features on the Torslunda die matrices! This horned, spear-wielding, foot-stepping figure is ubiquitous across North Sea ‘warrior’ groups, and is possibly Odinic in nature

A really good article IMO. Brings together diverse evidence to show how one place had a long-term significance.

Mini-article out now Open Access in Notes & Queries – take a look for my theory of what Wulfstan II means by ‘injustice in the north’ (spoiler: Vikings and weird legal stuff in the Danelaw) doi.org/10.1093/note... #Medievalsky #Medievalists

'(Ironically, the history degree has proven hugely valuable in a business that is all about first-hand reporting, detecting narrative bias and the second source.)' Weird use of 'ironically'. Surely this value is also part of why so many lawyers have studied history at university.

In a new exhibition in the Nationalmuseet in Copenhagen, "Vølvens Varsel", this silver mount is believed to depict Loki wrapped in his son's intestines. Peter Pentz believes it's a rare early depiction of the god. It's c. 2.5cm, and was found near Skanderborg 4 years ago. www.dr.dk/nyheder/sene...

The poll shows that trust in historians has risen since 2017, up from 71% to 77% - ranking the profession third after nurses and doctors for the trustworthiness of their expertise: bit.ly/49I9NV7 2/4 #Skystorians

Job alert! Postdoc position in late medieval history and literature @uvahumanities.bsky.social in #Amsterdam. Come and work with us on chivalric literature and tournament culture in the project ‘Vivre le mythe'. #medievalsky #skystorians www.academictransfer.com/nl/jobs/3614...

Join me and @echomikeromeo.bsky.social on 4 June for an evening of trans history at the Birmingham LGBT Centre. Expect fun stories, unexpected connections, serious takeaways, and a little bit of hope. Free but register here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/british-tr...

Great little film from @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social media students at the mindbendingly fabulous Sutton Hoo ship project www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7jh...

Enjoyed another great medieval research paper in Birmingham this evening. This time from Prof John Baker of @namestudies.bsky.social at University of Nottingham. They’re a real model of sustained collaborative research involving the public and university researchers.

This is what whaling should mean.

I’m missing the weather.

If you've already had your doom quotient for the day, I'd recommend skipping this.

Iceland in May.

They are killing us. Each of the UK’s richest 0.1% produces more carbon pollution in eight days than someone in the bottom 50%. Since 1990 bottom 90% of population has cut carbon emissions by 26%. Top 0.1% increased theirs by 53%. Govts do little to curb harms by the super-rich.

www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DRO233/d... one year post in Old Norse #medievalsky

“It’s just frustrating to see them come into our community and run all over us like the citizens don’t matter, and then they’re above the law when they do break it,” resident, James Clifton said. www.politico.com/news/2026/05...

There’s definite plausibility to the idea that the critical thinking which can come from the humanities is in higher demand as AI gets better www.ft.com/content/c0ae...

My dear friend Emma is on her book tour! She’s awesome so if she’s at an event near you, go and hear about Servus, how slavery made the Roman Empire @emmasouthon.bsky.social #rome #ancienthistory #slavery #romanempire #book

My 2023 Kathleen Hughes Memorial Lecture, "The Moral Economy in Early Medieval Ireland", is now available as a free PDF download from the ASNC website, for anyone who's interested! #OpenAccess #MedievalSky #Spéirghorm #Speirgorm @ceilteachomn.bsky.social www.asnc.cam.ac.uk/publications...

There’s still time to register. Registration closes at 5pm tomorrow.

It’s remarkable in this day and age to hear a politician anywhere say the following: “Support for a diverse, rigorous and accessible body of historical scholarship should be a much greater priority for democratic governments even at a time of stretched budgets.“

Switzerland is testing a simple idea: lay removable solar panels between train tracks to generate power from space that normally sits unused. A pilot in Buttes has installed 48 panels over 100 metres, producing about 16,000 kWh a year while trains keep running. SNCF buff.ly/xXCnpg6 #ShareGoodNewsToo

This is why I object to the use of AI for mundane tasks. The planet can’t cope with it. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Job Opportunity! Teaching Associate in Medieval History University of Sheffield - School of History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DRL054/t...

Today the Norwegian Kulturhistorisk museum assumed responsibility for further investigation of the location of the incredible Mørstad hoard - no fewer than 3841 silver coins have now been found! 🇳🇴 All these photos are theirs, including the rare triquetra penny of Harald Hardrada.

France passed a law in 2022 requiring car parks to install #solar. * Applies if ≥80 spaces * Must cover at least 50% of area * Exemptions (grid constraints, heritage sites) We did it with disabled spaces why not solar? There are obstacles but none are strong enough to justify not doing it at all!

Two weeks to go!

Land rises and pressure continues to increase at #Svartsengi on #Iceland's #Reykjanes Peninsula: while #magma continues to accumulate the most likely scenario remains that a magma intrusion will propagate, which could lead to a #volcanic eruption.

📰 Pre-Viking-Age ship burial in Norway is one of the oldest in Scandinavia, providing a chronological bridge between earlier English ship burials, such as Sutton Hoo, and later Viking ones 🏺 #AntiquityResearch #ArchaeologyNews via @labrujulaverde.bsky.social www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2026/04/a...

Just under a month now!

Today we also open the call for applications to our 2026-27 Master's Scholarships programme: bit.ly/4dTHmXe Scholarships of £5000 are for students from groups currently underrepresented in academic history to study for an MA in history or a related subject. Closing date: Friday 5 June #Skystorians

This conference we are supporting in Birmingham in June has an amazing mix of 40 panels - a veritable Choose your Own Adventure through modern British studies. It’s also the inaugural event of the Association of Modern British Studies! Great stuff here www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/events/briti...

It’s a spring special, all about the return of the migratory kría, the arctic tern.

I'm delighted to be talking at the 2026 Midlands Viking Symposium on 15 May - sign up link here!

It's a month until the 2026 Midland Viking Symposium on 15 May. Sign up here! This year it's free, it's online and it's on a Friday. Please share. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sagas-the-...

👉 Deadline approaching! Funded PhD position in The Netherlands on medieval representations of disability

It's a month until the 2026 Midland Viking Symposium on 15 May. Sign up here! This year it's free, it's online and it's on a Friday. Please share. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sagas-the-...

When you’re a pilot and it’s your last day at work before you retire….

But go on, you were saying that universities don't need to teach medieval history...