Thanks to Anastasia Tenisheva for quoting me in her article for @themoscowtimes.com about the impact of soldiers returning from the war in #Ukraine on #Russia's society www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/09/19/i...

Life in a war zone.

Shadow finally got his wish: yesterday’s rain has gone away and now he is enjoying a nap in a sunny spot

'Resting Fox' by UK printmaker Sarah Bays #WomensArt

“Rain, rain, go away…” 🎶

Two radio interviews done before 9am on a Saturday morning.

Bruce helps with the #Caturday morning household chores by sitting on the laundry so it can’t escape the washing basket #CatsOfBluesky

State Senator Graciela Guzman is out here in front of the facility demanding the release of two of her constituents (who are U.S. citizens), asking to speak with federal agents. No response from them so far. Shes putting on a respirator.

Fearful Americans Stockpiling Facts Before Federal Government Comes To Take Them Away https://theonion.com/fearful-americans-stockpiling-facts-before-federal-gove-1819579589/

Thanks to Kateryna Hodunova for quoting me in her article for @kyivindependent.com. I think this is the first time that I have been quoted in the same article as Boris Johnson! kyivindependent.com/how-russia-h...

Shadow in a thoughtful mood on #CatsNoirFriday

State corp Gazprom Media took over a critical network, NTV, which ran political satire “Puppets”, in 2001. By 2004, NTV bosses fired its last major investigative journalist too. With the muzzling of NTV, the regime controlled free-to-air television. The first step towards controlling communications.

I don’t know the story here but my best guess is “tripped over the cat going down stairs in the dark but still love him”. Photo from my collection, 1958.

Impressed by the way the person signing conveys the emotion and intensity of the speaker.

Caucasian Albania is a name given to an ancient state mostly located in what is now Azerbaijan, so perhaps he was referring to some epic struggle between the past and present of that tragic, blood-soaked territory? bsky.app/profile/adam...

My first academic article was on the dictatorship of Uzbekistan inventing a group called "Akromiya" that did not really exist but which they used to arrest anyone with whom they disagreed under the pretext of "terrorism". Just bringing this up for no reason whatsoever!

People interested in this history good podcast workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e91-...

Feel like you’re going mad watching fiction become fact, anti-fascism become fascism, hate become love, and aggression become respect under Trump? Now you know how it feels to have spent 20 years studying Russia. And guess what? It only gets more crazy.

A gasoline shortage in Russia, triggered by Ukrainian drone strikes on oil refineries, is spreading to central oblasts as fuel prices hit record highs.

After the rains the snails come out to ascend the mighty bronze fennel plant in front of the house. 🐌

"Oh we filming now??" Here’s how I did it! 👀😅🤣 #cat #catday #bluesky

It was dry enough after the storms for a quick walk down the lane

Some big news: the University of Birmingham is launching a new MA in Gender & Sexuality. It's interdisciplinary, with a focus on combining theory & practice. It's going to be amazing. I'm convening it: message or email with questions. www.birmingham.ac.uk/study/postgr... @unibirmingham.bsky.social

⚡️ In minerals deal first, U.S. delegation scouts Ukrainian mines for potential starter projects. The deal gives the U.S. special access to investment projects in Ukraine, spanning natural resources, related infrastructure, and even defense projects.

It's a journal article acceptance day - an article, which took a lot of time and energy to research and write, that got rejected from one journal, was revised and submitted to another journal, then went through revisions in response to reviewers' comments...has been accepted for publication!

Pleased to be included in this issue of @theworldtoday.org. My article considers the aspirations of #Ukraine's #Africa strategy and the challenges the Kyiv is facing in competing with #Russia for sympathisers and allies on that continent.

Passage (2007) by land artist Cornelia Konrads #WomensArt #Monday

It's a stormy morning here in #Aberystwyth

Not my cat but one very much like him. 😹😹😹

Sunday afternoon on the sofa with Bruce. #catsofbluesky

'Solar System' quilt by Ellen Harding Baker of Cedar County, Iowa, US in 1876, she used her textile work as a teaching aid for her lectures on astronomy in the small towns of her state. Find out more in the 1st @womensart1 book, 'Unravelling Women's Art'....

#Autumn Sunlight, Sennen Cove, Cornwall, 1922 by Laura Knight #UnlockingWomensArt

After Ukrainian drone attacks on oil refineries, Russia has been hit by a severe fuel shortage: gasoline deficits have already spread to more than 20 regions. If earlier the problem was mostly recorded in the Far East and in Crimea, by September it had crept into ten more territories:👇

Evening skies over Bae Ceredigion/Cardigan Bay 🌞🥰

It’s the last night of #bbcproms and Shadow is soaking in some culture. #catsofbluesky

Managed to find a break in the showers for a walk down the lane.

You’re think *you’re* depressed? Try being at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association right now with 5,000 political scientists presenting their work on the state of democracy, public opinion, and media. They are also drinking heavily.

russia has approached Turkey with a proposal to buy back the S-400 surface-to-air missile systems that were delivered to Ankara in 2019. The intensity with which the 🇺🇦 Security Service and the Main Intelligence Directorate are destroying russian radars and air defense systems 1/2

The work of Diana Catchpole, contemporary UK based illustrator and printmaking #ReframingWomenPrintmakers

Being serenaded by the local tawny owl while doing some early morning work on the book that @allysonedwards1.bsky.social and I are writing.

Important 🧵

Wishing everyone a good weekend with this photo taken by @equusonthebuses.bsky.social One more week until the start of term!

It’s Friday afternoon and Bruce has commandeered a lap. #CatsOfBluesky

This ⬇️

Russia's fuel crisis continues expanding, now with stations in Nizhny Novgorod completely out of gasoline.

This isn't "just" Shaheds on Poland It's jamming v/d Leyen and German general's planes It's bombing the EU HQ in Kyiv It's bombing Ukr civilians every day and night with 800+ drones and missiles AND THIS IS JUST LAST WEEK.

Got to love the photo of the kitchen, complete with cat on the table 😹

My copy arrived today. Thanks to @magslong.bsky.social @rorycormac.bsky.social Genevieve Lester @markstout.bsky.social & @dvanp.bsky.social for assembling such an impressive range of scholars and country studies. 📚

My latest for @uk.theconversation.com is out - why #Russia's territorial ambitions in #Ukraine are not limited to the Donbas region, and how #Putin looks to history to support these claims theconversation.com/russia-has-p...