CfP: Society of Dix-neuviémistes Annual Conference, 'Craft and Industry / Artisanat et industrie', University of Dundee, 14-16th April 2027 Abstracts (in French or English) due 1st December 2026 Full CfP on the blog: www.bars.ac.uk/blog/?p=6536

We have a cover! ‘For the Dead Remember: The Life of M. R. James’ will be published by Oxford University Press on 10 September 2026. Set your watches, mark your calendars, and spread the word!

Coming soon: the game-changing, years-in-the-making new biography of M.R. James written my most excellent colleague, Darryl Jones! @profdarryljones.bsky.social @irishgothichorror.bsky.social @tcddublin.bsky.social

Also working-class autodidacts didn't just read alone - they read in groups, set up libraries and reading rooms, and battled for Mechanics' Institutes (many long ago merged into unis) to teach music, history, and politics. They built the public adult education infrastructure that's being destroyed

Colleagues at Exeter have asked me to circulate their petition as widely as possible: www.change.org/p/stop-redun...

A statement from Exeter UCU branch @ucu.org.uk - please share far and wide.

Both the government and the Court of Appeal now treat protesters as terrorists and terrorists as protesters. It's hard to accept that a "Labour" government is imposing rightwing authoritarianism on the UK, but please read this column to see what's happening.+🧵 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

It was through this joint statement that I learned the authors of the hit piece "concede that their conclusions are 'not yet supported by the kind of quantitative evidence that would be expected in a peer-reviewed study'"

Albanese's latest report on the systematic, ubiquitous, soul crushing, permanent torture of Palestinians by Israeli authorities, soldiers & settlers is one that we can only turn our eyes away from at the price of losing what is left of our souls. END THE GENOCIDE. NOW! www.ohchr.org/en/press-rel...

Anyone in Edinburgh, please consider joining the pickets on 30 March and 1 April and showing solidarity with colleagues at the Edinburgh UCU, once again forced to take strike action against devastating cuts from an utterly hostile administration. www.instagram.com/p/DWQlhwxDBx...

It’s the Government’s duty to protect all communities - including trans people. They’re failing to do that. Trans people deserve safety and dignity. www.attitude.co.uk/news/zack-po...

Was Habermas “one of the greatest” philosophers, as this obituary asserts? I very much doubt it. In any case, his reputation will be tarnished by his (unmentioned) complaisance in the Gaza genocide.

Israel is announcing that the entirety of Dahieh is being ethnically cleansed a day after announcing that the entirety of South Lebanon is being ethnically cleansed. “Save yourselves and evacuate immediately”

It’s truly incredible that with the Americans and Israelis making up claims of potential Iranian WMDs, there is virtually no mention anywhere in most of the mainstream coverage so far that the *only* Middle Eastern state with undeclared nuclear weapon is Israel.

@alexcallinicos.bsky.social for @socialistworker.bsky.social on #andrew #Mandelson and the #LabourPartyRight socialistworker.co.uk/alex-callini...

Today, February 21, 2026, is the 178th anniversary of the publication of the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels and is celebrated around the world as #RedBooksDay. Read a red book today!

Find out more on our website and via our newsletter: hzj520.wixsite.com/eighteenth-c...

📣 ECEN's inaugural lecture! Please join us in welcoming Dr. Jeremy Davies of the University of Leeds, who will be speaking to us about 'Continuity and Change in Eighteenth-Century Environmental Culture'. When: 26th February, 5-7pm GMT Where: Online & in-person at Heslington Hall, York

Please join us for this inaugural lecture! We're beginning the seminar series with such an excellent speaker and truly an expert within the environmental humanities. You won't want to miss it! 🌱

It's here! We are delighted to announce that Issue 8 of the RRR Journal, Play in the Long Nineteenth Century, is available to read now at the link below. We can't wait to hear your thoughts on these brilliant articles! www.rrrjournal.com/issue/8

Didn't take long. Who would have thought that someone who has long called for the privatisation of Venezuela's energy resources would support the US's violent and illegal takeover?

If there was any doubt about the use of the Nobel Peace Prize as Western soft power... After today, the 2025 selection of the pro-capitalist, pro-Trump, and pro-privatisation María Machado certainly looks a lot more like a preparatory hearts-and-minds move. www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...

So the New Year starts with horror.

The bombing of Venezuela is an act of aggression: unprovoked, unjustified and unjustifiable.

Saving.

I'm very excited to announce the launch of the #18thC Ecologies Network! Co-convened by myself & @calsutherland.bsky.social at @cecs-york.bsky.social , ECEN is a hub for researchers interested in the many diverse ecologies of the period 🌱 Find out more: hzj520.wixsite.com/eighteenth-c...

The #18thC Ecologies Network, based @cecs-york.bsky.social is a hub for researchers interested in the many diverse ecologies the period. Details of their seminar series will be published here: hzj520.wixsite.com/eighteenth-c... #skystorians #climate #environhist 🗃️