Very proud of (nearly) Dr Alex Worsfold who passed his viva today! Well done @alexworsfold.bsky.social

Good news 👏 In the face of global uncertainty, progress on rebuilding UK–EU ties can’t come soon enough. The faster, the better. https://www.politico.eu/article/nick-thomas-symonds-britain-eu-point-man-reset-deal-can-be-done-summer/

More than 4 million books published in the US alone in 2025. I wonder how many get read www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...

Gordon Forster Essay Prize 2026 Deadline: 1 May 2026 Open to postgraduate students and ECRs, the winner receives £200 and their essay will be considered for publication. Essays should fit within the journal’s aims & scope, and be between 7000-10000 words (inc. footnotes). Please repost.

I just finished a three-year term as an editor at an international relations journal. I began at the start of the LLM era but ended right in the middle of it. Our volume of submissions tripled and our desk reject rate rose to 75%. I have some thoughts. open.substack.com/pub/hegemon/...

Happy new year everyone! If you are looking for something to read in 2026, The Dead Sea: A 10,000 Year History is now available in paperback. @yalebooks.bsky.social ‬

One potential contributing country for an International Security Force for #Gaza is #Indonesia - which is why I'm particularly excited to see an article I co-wrote with @nirarielli.bsky.social on it will take to succeed published by the Jakarta Post! www.thejakartapost.com/opinion/2025...

@jacobstoil.bsky.social, Mary Elizabeth Walters and I wrote about deploying a multinational peacekeeping force to #Gaza long before it was cool. Now that such a force is being assembled (haphazardly), we revisit some of the ideas we put forward in 2023 share.google/Zm2MEI5kNdIF...

Diaries out - here's what we have in store for you at ILF this week and weekend! 🗓️ 📚 Tickets available at ilkleylitfest.org.uk or call the box office on 01943 816714 🎟️

This is the best plan available out of this nightmare. Netanyahu will try his best to torpedo it. I hope it'll be implemented nonetheless. @jacobstoil.bsky.social

I recommend this book wholeheartedly. Not only because it was written by my friends @enacciai.bsky.social, Morten Heiberg, and Carl-Henrik Bjerström, but also because it is innovative and fascinating. @universitypress.cambridge.org www.cambridge.org/core/books/a...

@jacobstoil.bsky.social - does some of this look familiar to you?

Do you prefer to listen to books rather than read them? Good news, in that case - the audiobook version of The Dead Sea: A 10,000 Year History is now available. Many thanks to @tantoraudio.bsky.social & @nigelpatterson.bsky.social tantor.com/the-dead-sea...

It was an honour and a privilege to work with experts from Jordan, Israel and Palestine, developing ideas to alleviate the environmental crisis in the #DeadSea. Good to be reminded that there are plenty of kind and forward-facing people in the region. www.leeds.ac.uk/news/article...

Our History books of the year so far, as chosen by the critics. Includes books by @tlgrady68.bsky.social, @hdiamond.bsky.social, @nirarielli.bsky.social and many more! You can shop this selection with a 30% discount and free UK postage here: yalebooks.co.uk/history-book... #skystorians

Want to retain anything from your studies? Try writing your own essays rather than relying on #AI www.media.mit.edu/publications...

My former padawan Jacopo Pili is co-organizing the conference "Pius XII and Decolonization: Catholicism in North Africa and the Levant, 1939-1958", which will be held in Cairo in November 2025. If your research relates to the topic, check out the call for papers. networks.h-net.org/group/announ...

Very sad to learn that historian Motti Golani, an expert on the British Mandate in Palestine, passed away unexpectedly.

Nir Arielli, author of The Dead Sea, was interviewed on American Purpose's podcast, Bookstack @nirarielli.bsky.social @americanpurpose.bsky.social https://www.persuasion.community/p/episode-160-nir-arielli-on-10000?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Prophecy can never be delivered because when it is, the entire faith/cult/movement ceases to have purpose. So much politics is just a giant pyramid scheme.

I am very grateful for this generous review of The Dead Sea: A 10,000 Year History in the Sri Lanka Guardian slguardian.org/the-dead-sea...

Great to see the first of this new suite of videos about our undergraduate degrees in History at Leeds launched. Featuring brilliant colleagues @sarakbarker.bsky.social & @lauracking.bsky.social and our wonderful students & alumni, plus me making the case for the value and joy of a History degree.

Reminder for people in the London area: if you fancy a trip to Greenwich this Thursday, 13 March, please join us at the PEF for an event marking the publication of The Dead Sea: A 10,000 Year History @yalebooks.bsky.social

Sharing my latest podcast recorded with my old friend @nirarielli.bsky.social discussing his book The Dead Sea 10,000 Years of History @yalepress.bsky.social newbooksnetwork.com/the-dead-sea

I'm very grateful to the Gerda Henkel Stiftung for supporting my research and to Moritz Binkele for this interview where we discussed The Dead Sea: A 10,000 Year History. #DeadSea #skystorians @yalebooks.bsky.social @universityofleeds.bsky.social lisa.gerda-henkel-stiftung.de/arielli_dead...

For people in the London area: if you fancy a trip to Greenwich on Thursday, 13 March, please join us at the PEF for an event marking the publication of The Dead Sea: A 10,000 Year History @yalebooks.bsky.social

UK soil breakthrough could cut farm fertiliser use and advance sustainable agriculture

I really enjoyed the book launch event last night at Waterstones Leeds @waterstones.bsky.social. Huge thanks to @earlymodernjohn.bsky.social for his excellent questions and good humour. Many thanks to all the friends, colleagues and students who were able to join us. Photo by: Emily Zobel Marshall

There are a lot of positive signs in #Lebanon but #Hezbollah still wants to attack #Israel & poses a threat to peace & security... @nirarielli.bsky.social, Mary Elizabeth Walters and I discussed how to change this in our latest article in @newsweek.com www.newsweek.com/how-turn-fra...

Really looking forward to interviewing the brilliant @nirarielli.bsky.social at tonight's launch event for The Dead Sea: A 10,000-Year History. 7pm at Leeds Waterstones, get a copy of the (beautiful) book with your ticket, you might get a glass of wine. The perfect pre-Valentine's treat?

Very happy for and proud of my wonderful friend and colleague @elinevanommen.bsky.social. Nicaragua Must Survive is an excellent book and I'm glad it is getting the recognition it deserves.

Released on Jan 28, we see The Dead Sea: A 10,000 Year History by @nirarielli.bsky.social who provides a wide view of the history and importance of the lake, including its scientific significance. 🧪 amzn.to/4gJNzU8

I'm delighted to see this very generous review by David Abulafia in the Literary Review. Worth Its Salt The Dead Sea: A 10,000 Year History literaryreview.co.uk/worth-its-salt @yalebooks.bsky.social

I am very grateful to Peter Gordon for his thoughtful review of The Dead Sea: A 10,000 Year History in @asianreviewofbooks.bsky.social @yalebooks.bsky.social asianreviewofbooks.com/the-dead-sea...

Thousands of trees planted in Devon to start creation of Celtic rainforest

The University of Leeds is leaving Twitter/X. @universityofleeds.bsky.social

The Dead Sea: A 10,000 Year History is celebrating its publication day! Huge thanks to the many people who have helped me along the way @jogodfrey.bsky.social @katie-urquhart.bsky.social @chloe-bookpr.bsky.social @drtermagant.bsky.social @universityofleeds.bsky.social #DeadSea 🗃️

It was a pleasure discussing my new book with Gilad Halpern. Do give this a listen @yalebooks.bsky.social

Very grateful to Violet Moller for her thoughtful review of my soon to be published book, The Dead Sea: A 10,000 Year History @yalebooks.bsky.social www.telegraph.co.uk/books/non-fi...

Now that the "day after" is finally on the horizon, Mary Elizabeth Walters, ‪@jacobstoil.bsky.social and I return to the idea we have been promoting since the early days of the war in Gaza.

Very grateful to Vanja Celebicic for these beautiful images of the Dead Sea area. #deadsea #jordan #photography

That’s that.

This experiment with letting a small handful of people amass most of the wealth in a society and then inflict something devastating on the world when they reach middle age and realize no one likes them seems to have run its 5000-year course. We might not need to run additional trials.

'As a means of transport, trains have the lightest carbon footprint: taking a train instead of a car for medium-length distances reduces emissions by about 80%, and taking a train instead of a domestic flight cuts them by 86%, according to the climate and data researcher Hannah Ritchie.'

Finishing up the reading list for a module on transnational activism in the 20th century. Any recommendations? Looking for texts on environmental activism, feminism, racial justice, human rights, humanitarianism et cetera

www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQ0a... The Dead Sea is shrinking. Its level drops by about a meter every year. Here's a short clip on why floodwater that reaches the lake after heavy rains is so important. @yalebooks.bsky.social #DeadSea #Jordan #Israel #Lakes

A joint article by Israeli and Palestinian authors calling on the PA and Israeli authorities to work together on a coordinated plan to oversee wastewater reuse, which would improve public and environmental health. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Crunch time for Saudi-hosted drought, desertification talks