Adventures in Nitassinan, in the flood plain of the Mishta-shipu River and in the shadow of the mountains called Akami-Uapishkᵁ. Where the sky and the land are twice the size as they are other places, where beavers and muskrat swim in icy cloud rivers & where the silence is so deep it has a sound.

Up early to begin my journey to Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador! I've wanted to go ever since I heard my grandpa's stories of 'going on the Labrador'. I'm going to talk about my work on the Beothuk & to think with folks there about how we re-story the troubling & fascinating history of our region.

My hero? My fate? www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-e...

I have personally witnessed this immense change since arriving in the UK 22 years ago and these stats confirm my observations. It feels like there are twice as many motor vehicles on the road because there are. Cycles are not the problem. They are the solution.

Here's to the annual diwali-halloween-bonfire night mash-up with my friends. Here's to parkin & pumpkins & cider & samosas. Here's to light in the dark. Here's to all the blended cultures in the past and all the blended cultures yet to come

A perfect rainy autumn night to make my great-great-grandmother's gingerbread for her great-great-great grandchildren. A very old-fashioned recipe from my grandmother's head, scrawled by me.

Someone make me a fabric based on these nasturtium.

Kid the Younger just tried parma violets for the first time and is now spluttering around the house wailing, 'Oh my god, why? Why?'

Happy Halloween and a blessed Samhaim to all!

The allotment at sunset. Not pictured: the smell of quince wafting up from my arms.

I just had a brilliant seminar with my 1st years abt assessment in the age of AI. We chatted about what knowledge was; the value of making mistakes; what skills we are actually assessing; how we shouldn't sacrifice inclusive assessment (i.e. doubling down on exams) just to punish those who use AI.

I just had a brilliant seminar with my 1st years abt assessment in the age of AI. We chatted about what knowledge was; the value of making mistakes; what skills we are actually assessing; how we shouldn't sacrifice inclusive assessment (i.e. doubling down on exams) just to punish those who use AI.

Oh, Jamaica, you're in my thoughts. May all your hatches be battened.

My gelder rose tree couldn't decide what autumn colour to wear so it put them all on.

I thought my shed was being broken into only to discover it was in fact Tux, my duck friend, throwing her body against my back door because I wasn't giving her lunch.

Here is my first publication from my new project on the history of colonial Newfoundland and the Beothuk people, and I'm rather nervous to put it out in the world. Genuinely, all thoughts on this work are welcome as I head into writing a book about it...

Dying. Someone please make this your next Only Fans project.

I cannot quite describe how it feels to hear a proposal to deport millions of people coming from the ostensible 'right of centre' party. I cannot tell you how it feels to know this while waiting for my son's heart surgery: a claim on healthcare that would see me deported under this proposal.

I stand in solidarity with @sbsisters.bsky.social. 'A feminism that refuses to name these forces [of racism, colonialism, religious supremacy and patriarchy], or only challenges them when politically convenient, is not intersectional; it is complicit.' southallblacksisters.org.uk/news/sbs-sta...

It is one of my great sorrows that I am never home for the utter majesty of autumn, when the blueberry bushes turn the hills fuchsia and the maple and birch are a riot of yellow and orange and gold and red.

Yarvin is a full-blown techno-fascist and the fact that the University of Oxford sees fit not only to platform him but to give him the floor entirely should sound the loudest alarm bell it's possible to sound about the number of elite fascist sympathizers in the UK right now.

Yarvin is a full-blown techno-fascist and the fact that the University of Oxford sees fit not only to platform him but to give him the floor entirely should sound the loudest alarm bell it's possible to sound about the number of elite fascist sympathizers in the UK right now.

Yarvin advocates for 'the liquidation of democracy, the Constitution, and the rule of law,' to transform the government into “a heavily-armed, ultra-profitable corporation.” Odd choice for a lecture dedicated to 'thoughtful conservatism'. That's before we even get to the outright racist Starkey.

Happy Diwali to all who celebrate! We've never needed the story of light's victory over darkness more and one of my favourite things about Diwali is how many different ways it has to tell that story.

After all this, he's still given the courtesy of stepping down. This and so much more--should be *taken* from this odious man, who took so much from others. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

The pervasive reduction of human knowledge & understanding to 'information' in GenAI discourse is astounding. Trying to explain why we don't just need 'information' to AI zealots is like playing chess with a pigeon except the pigeon is the size of Texas & uses more electricity than a small country.

I'm grateful that a renewed discussion of this article by @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social is doing the rounds, because it's helped me think more deeply about shame/shaming as a feature of public history. Táíwò isn't talking about history and heritage but... www.bostonreview.net/articles/how...

75% turnout & 98% vote for strike speaks for itself, morale & conditions must be dire. Pay offer of 2.4%. UCEA take note (academic pay ‘offer’ - read, cut - is 1.4%)

Giving thanks for peace and food and family and friends, in a world where so many go without. Happy Thanksgiving*, all. *a day early

My god. I've just learned what it is called and I can barely contain myself. Friends. It is called A Hush Pouch.

My god. I've just learned what it is called and I can barely contain myself. Friends. It is called A Hush Pouch.

A striking thing about articles I’ve read claiming to “study the effects” of generative AI on student writing skills and consumption of information is that (1) they nearly always find the effects are negative and (2) most “conclusions” are still written assuming that we must use AI, for some reason.

Potato History Reclaimed.

I feel the need to state an obvious & humane point this morning. Communities of people cluster together because that's what humans do. It's wonderful to be surrounded by people with whom you share a background. If there was a Newfoundland Town in my city, I'd probably be living there.

This is excellent news from the Dakota Nation, for whom the 49th parallel has only ever been a colonialist fiction.

All I hear when I see this is Matt Berry saying 'Grayyyyt Brittian'.

I’ve just added my voice to this consultation saying I don’t want a situation in which staff and fellow swimmers might scrutinise or judge my body, or anyone else’s, when I use the ponds. The current policy of trans inclusion works perfectly well. You can fill out the consultation linked below.

This is an incredibly important point to remember.

This poem, written by Joseph Fasano (who was also born with a heart condition), has hit me directly in the heart like an arrow today, as I watch our world's mess unfold while waiting for Kid the Younger's annual cardiology check up. We cannot save each other now. We can.

My heart goes out to British Jews marking Yom Kippur today in the shadow of a violent attack on their community. Conflating the behaviour of the Israeli state with the Jewish faith or culture is fundamentally Antisemitic & I condemn the targeting of civilians by warmongers & terrorists alike.

I heard her speak once in Cambridge and she opened her talk- as I'm sure she did many talks- with a chimpanzee call. And I know that she's taught so many people so much but on that day, she taught me there was more than one way to be an academic. www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

Absolutely exquisite.

Change is possible, in a good way. Kudos to the Mayor of London, who had a plan, implemented it and stuck to it.

The real question is how many are 'not racist but'

I hate that they've used this incredibly misleading image. But let's take a minute to really look at it. What I see is a group of people who are on a very dangerously over-crowded boat who are nonetheless helping others get back on, even if it makes it more dangerous for them....

I feel this so deeply, for myself and for so many others. The cumulative effect on this nation and its communities is staggering and completely unaccounted for by anyone in power.

It really is just relentless the constant dehumanisation in this country. Prove you deserve to be here. Prove you deserve to be cared for. Prove your gender. Prove you deserve to have human rights. Prove you deserve to stay after a whole decade. It just chisels away at your humanity

[Opens giant can of worms] I have been invited to publicly debate someone who is anti-trans and anti-sex worker. I understand the well-reasoned arguments for no-platforming. But these arguments also feel a little...utopian...at present. Do I accept the invitation?

How do we teach public history today? Pleasure to join @julialaite.bsky.social, @ktrcarpenter.bsky.social & Anna Maguire in this roundtable for @historyworkshop.org.uk. Image from @qmul.bsky.social qHeritage project with @museumofthehome.bsky.social academic.oup.com/hwj/advance-...

Apples stored and squash tucked away to cure and garlic planted. I declare autumn officially begun!