'The dials of opportunity are all pointing in the wrong direction – not least the gap in elite university enrolments between private and state schools. In truth, the most persistent admissions gap at Oxbridge is between a tiny cadre of top schools and the rest.'

This is cool, I had absolutely no idea.

Grump.

Storms, on the stone-cliffs beaten, fell on the stern In icy feathers; full oft the eagle screamed With spray on his pinion. 'The Seafarer', trans. Ezra Pound

what's on my desk today is unfortunately topical: the first collection of folk-tales in Kalaallisut (Greenlandic), printed on the first major printing-press in Nuuk in 4 volumes from 1859 to 1856, illustrated by the Inuk hunter and artist Aron of Kangeq

In the 19th century folklorists started collecting Norwegian folk literature. Mostly they found fairy tales, folk songs, and so on, but one piece stood out quite sharply. A visionary poem called Draumkvedet, or the Dream Lay. It has been compared to Dante's Inferno.

A special request for @matthew-blake.bsky.social and @shroomgirl.bsky.social St Tredwell's chapel on a frozen in part loch. Rain and low cloud stopped play. #Papay #Orkney

This is very cool www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

I think part of the problem here is language. The past (one damn thing after another) is not very instructive but history (theoretically and methodically backed study and analysis of the past) very much is. But then again this understanding of history shares much with the subjects that Max mentions.

My 2 workshops on academic grant writing start NEXT WEEK—and there are still spaces available! (Pls share!) You get: - access to 2 dozen successful applications for major grants (e.g. ERC, NEH, NSF) - guidance to help you write stronger grant proposals - 1-year subscription to Page by Page 1/5

He's carrying a recurve ffs.

I just swapped my nice modern recurve barebow for a laminated piece of wood with a string, so I’m glad I got my gold badge before everything goes to shit.

Full moon rising over the Rutland snowfields

Just picked up my cat and they smell of woodsmoke. Reader, we do not have a wood burning stove.

In Agadoo did Kubla Khan Push pineapples, shake the tree

Happy new year! All of the poetry from the sagas of Icelanders are now publicly accessible! This includes the poetry of Egill, Kormákr, and other gems like Darraðarljóð.

If nothing else, 2025 is the year I finally discovered my apocalypse skill.

english degree: good luck getting a job, buddy! AI can replace you coding degree: good luck getting a job, buddy! AI can replace you film degree: your deep knowledge of behind the scenes stories from Who Framed Roger Rabbit will delight and entertain coworkers in any field for decades to come

Watching Stranger Things and, on reflection, not casting Joe Keery as young Han Solo was a pretty big oversight.

what I love about LotR is that it is at its heart about moving through a melancholy landscape largely filled with ruins, faded histories and legends - I would have filmed it that way and cut the fights to a bare minimum, plus add Merry's interest in comparative philology as a major plot element

Here's one of the bits of historical inspired art I made that I was happy with this year

I love seeing my partner’s 96-year-old grandmother because she’ll say things like “oh how elegant” when I tell her I’ve taken up archery.

Hey tis the season once again, for Mongolian Jingle Bells from the Altai Band youtu.be/qJkiYNeDsw4?...

Day 23 and we've reached penultimate window of this year’s Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar! Today’s word is: 🌊 strand — 'the land bordering a sea, a shore or beach' Common to Germanic, strand being the default ‘beach’ word in Dutch, German, Danish and Norwegian.

I did my own translation of The Wanderer and wrote it out in calligraphy for a college class, so I loved this post.

My absolute favorite of the OE poems as well, and this is a lovely set of thoughts on it. Was a joy to recently revisit it for the baþian brimfuglas - bathing sea-birds - part of the coastal world imagined by the poet (from experience?)

Wrapping presents? Why not listen to me witter on about early medieval poetry while you’re at it?

Appropriately enough for the longest night. Great post.

New post, in which I talk about the Old English poem “The Wanderer” and the place of empathy in interpretation. nikolasgunn.co.uk/2025/12/19/t...

In our initial discussions about the Guild we thought we'd be doing well if we gathered a community of 20 medievalists in our first year. We now have over 100! None of it would have been possible without the outstanding @drlauravarnam.bsky.social and @hellomizk.bsky.social (whose comics are below).

Norse in the North 2026: Mind and Body Deadline for Abstracts: 2nd February 2026 We welcome postgraduate students from any level with research on any aspect of Old Norse, medieval Scandinavian, and Viking studies that fits the theme. #NitN2026 #medievalsky #callforpapers #oldnorse

Stuart Hall on teaching 💛 “Let me put it this way: you have to be sure about a position in order to teach a class, but you have to be open-ended enough to know that you are going to change your mind by the time you teach it next week” (Hall, Essential Essays vol. 1, p. 245)

Mad Max Fury Road. Went in knowing nothing about it and about a third of the way through I thought “fuck this is amazing” and turned to my friend Jennie who was plastered into her seat clutching the armrests in sheer ecstasy, like the Doof Warrior was blasting his guitar directly into her face.

Every now and then I remember that I probably wouldn’t have been able to go to university in Leeds to study English under the current system. No maintenance loan would have been the big factor, but also a massive cultural shift towards utilitarianism.

Sunset sky

Writing Your First Novel: 4 workshops starting January 6th. Please share! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/finding-yo...

Abstract deadline for Oslo Student Conference on Medieval Europe imminent (Friday 12th) Theme of "Close Encounters" to be held in March 26.

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

In the Middle Ages, the English had to import yew because there wasn’t a large, quality supply of it in the country to make longbows from. So actually it would’ve been quite a good present.

1. Some manuscripts have real character. They are often not the smartest, shiniest manuscripts, but rather the ones that have seen things. The manuscripts that have really been used (and abused). Today I spent the day with a very charismatic manuscript at the NLS, Edinburgh...🧵

This is Norman Nicholson’s “Cornthwaite” for those who were curious.

I’ve written the @resprofnews.bsky.social Sunday Read this week. I’ve looked at the value and importance of the arts, humanities and social sciences and what policymakers might do to support them at a time we are seeing major cutbacks in universities www.researchprofessional.com/news-article...

The land then named him back.

Joining my local archery club has me constantly feeling like Hugh in Detectorists when Russell finds out he’s 35 years old, not 18.

Attention creative medievalists! Eleanor Barraclough & I are co-editing a special issue of Public Humanities entitled CREATING THE MEDIEVAL NOW! See the cfp for details: essays of 2,000-3,000 words due 1 May 2026. (Amazing artwork by @hellomizk.bsky.social). 1/ www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

culture is bad for you is £6:59! manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526177810/

Reading this with my students tomorrow. 'The writer of history is a walking anachronism… He must try to work authentically, hearing the words of the past, but communicating in a language the present understands.' It’s all just so good! www.theguardian.com/books/2017/j...

A blast from my past - the Medieval Soldier database takes nearly 300,000 military service records from 1369-1453 and makes them available as a searchable database. An invaluable resource for understanding medieval warfare, society and the English medieval state. Learn more in the link. 🗃️