When faced with a shockingly exploitative new employment contract that would’ve forced them to sign away their IP, their likeness rights, and their power of attorney, Jupiter Jetson and her coworkers at Sheri’s fought back—fast. They organized a union in SIX DAYS. www.thenation.com/article/econ...

So thrilled to announce that I will be presenting an original research presentation, 'The Story of BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival', at British Film Institute (BFI) Flare's 40th Anniversary on March 23rd! 🎥 🏳️‍🌈 🎞️ 🏳️‍⚧️ Tickets go live on 26th February 12pm! whatson.bfi.org.uk/flare/Online...

It’s National #HIV Testing Week! Take a few minutes to order your free test kit – it’s quick, simple, and you can do it all at home 🏡 Testing is the only way to know your HIV status, and now’s the perfect time to test. Get your FREE test now: https://freetesting.hiv/#HIV #ITest #HIVTestingWeek

🚨The Scottish Parliament has voted against the ‘Nordic Model Bill’ in a win for sex workers' rights. Jacqui Stevenson, Senior Policy, Research & Influencing Manager, congratulates Scotland for Decrim: "This victory would not have been achieved without their tireless campaigning."

These are war crimes committed in our name.

New article out 🎉 Drawing on my PhD research, I explore the construction of the 'prostitute' and the 'client' within England's AIDS Policy in the late 1980s. Published with the @sshmedicine.bsky.social and now available to read here (though sadly not open access!): #histmed #histsex #AIDShistory

So excited for this important conference on the Politics of Motherhood in Feb- open to all! I'll be speaking about how narratives of motherhood were mobilised in discussions about and by sex workers in late twentieth-century Britain. Fantastic range of speakers and panels

It's wild that there appears to be more current concern for the Lost Library of Alexandria than for the British Library. The BL's crisis exemplifies the accelerating destruction--through apathy as much as by design--of human knowledge & learning. I'm not even being dramatic.

After years of decline, Trump’s cuts to HIV/AIDS funding, mirrored by the UK and others, mean that AIDS death and HIV infections are rising again. #WorldAIDSDay

NEW QUEER HISTORY ARTICLE from me & @charlielynch.bsky.social! muse.jhu.edu/pub/15/artic...

Anyway

💉 Big step forward in #HIV prevention! NICE recommends long-acting injection (cabotegravir/CAB-LA), given every 2 months, for people who can’t take daily oral #PrEP. Ensuring an equitable rollout will be crucial www.theguardian.com/society/2025... #STI #STISky 🛟

Landlords and their lobbyists threw everything they had at killing this bill and still lost. Amazing news for renters everywhere who refused to back down!

As if they keep writing all these headlines - and our membership numbers and polling just keeps shooting up. 🚀 Now at 110,000. Over 55% increase in just one month! Lower bills. Fund NHS. Tax the super rich. Join.greenparty.org.uk

📣New Issue Alert📣 Volume 38 Issue 3 of Social History of Medicine is now available online! with 12 original research articles (7 of which are #OpenAccess) plus #histmed book reviews

Rest in power, Miss Major. www.advocate.com/news/miss-ma...

*FIFTEEN THOUSAND JOBS LOST*. If this were in a sector in which the PM could go and do a photoshoot looking like One Of The People, we’d have had a government intervention by now.

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy known for her incredible resilience she survived homelessness, police brutality, and systemic oppression, yet kept fighting for the community she loved. Image courtesy of Miss Major/Beck Witt 📸

18,457 children. Murdered by Israel.

Fester Carceral Permeability and California's COVID-19 Correctional Disaster www.ucpress.edu/books/fester...

🚨 Academic Conference Alert! 🚨 Keynote title for our Opposition to Thatcher conference by the amazing Dr Amy Edwards: 'Begrudging bedfellows and oppositional allies: Thatcherism and the limits of Popular Capitalism' It will be great. See all speakers & sign up 👇 forms.cloud.microsoft/e/WFugaYiSyh

Congratulations 🎊 to @rebeccawynter.bsky.social and @janetweston.bsky.social for a brilliant conference! 👏🏻 Lots of amazing papers including @historywill.bsky.social @sophiemhistory.bsky.social @stephemmabrown.bsky.social @henryyeomans.bsky.social 🌟 Looking forward to next steps 😀

The UK's #HIV response is failing women. In 2023, new cases increased the most in heterosexual women, but they are less likely to be offered or to take a test. Too many are diagnosed with HIV late, when it is more likely to have affected their health.

The violent political policing of picketing at Orgreave coking works in June 1984 was the single worst abuse of state power during the miners’ strike. Miners and their supporters have been campaigning for an inquiry for 40 years. Congratulations to @orgreavejustice.bsky.social.

Parliament and Hansard have removed “We are all Palestine Action” from my speech on Wednesday 2 July 2025 — despite me saying it. This is a blatant attempt to censor me and rewrite the record. This is not how a democracy behaves. We will not be silenced.

What can historians bring to policy work on drug use? In this new post for the RHS blog bit.ly/4lBdak9, Virginia Berridge ‪@lshtm.bsky.social‬ describes her experience as deputy chair of the London Drugs Commission. The commission's report, 'The Cannabis Conundrum', appeared in May #Skystorians

My article exploring US immigration policy & family separation in the 1930s is out. It uses deportation files of the 'immoral classes' to show the ways that the deportation was structured around denying women's citizenship and separating mothers from children. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Really happy to see that this special issue on transnational histories of HIV/AIDS activism is out in the world. Thanks so much to @npapadogian.bsky.social and @somakbiswas.bsky.social for all their hard work bringing it together! #histmed [1/2] muse.jhu.edu/issue/55146

Hungary banned anything that “promotes homosexuality,” which means Pride. However, today over 500,000 people in Budapest told the government to fuck off. 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

EVERY. WORD. OF. THIS. @graceblakeley.substack.com Author of Vulture Capitalism: How to Survive in an Age of Corporate Greed #MomSky #Pinks #BuildCommunity #PopularPower

My book now has a cover! "Standardizing Sex" is the first book to trace the emergence of trans medicine in Scandinavia from the 1920s onwards. It explores the construction and negotiation of medical expertise among medical professionals, patients, and activists in press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

LAPD when they think no one’s looking

I have a piece on the History Workshop blog historicising Labour’s awful, but all too predictable Immigration White Paper www.historyworkshop.org.uk/migration/la... @historyworkshop.org.uk

A political failure in his own words, albeit from a past self. He won’t suffer the worst consequences of his failures even if he loses the leadership and next election. Instead, migrants, or anyone assumed not to belong, will suffer even more. An abject political failure growing worse every day.

📣Registration is still open for ‘Sexual Health: Past, Present and Future’. Check out our exciting programme below! Join us in person or online. Registration is FREE but essential. ⏰2-3 July 2025 🏛️University of Birmingham / online 👉Register here by Monday 2nd June: forms.office.com/e/mQHq8NgSmQ

An important reminder as the Supreme Court makes its judgement - not a single trans person was heard from at any point during this case before them, even a trans judge who applied was refused. This is, as usual, the British state acting as cis people to impose their will on trans people.

See the latest additions to our Modern History list ⬇️ From youth culture in post-war Britain and sex in England 1950-80, to Smallpox and Nepal - new titles out now! @drsarahlkenny.bsky.social @hannahcharnock.bsky.social @historicalmeredith.bsky.social #ModernHistory #NewinHistory #MUP

🎬 And it's a wrap! Over three days of masterclasses, creative workshops, reading groups and film screenings, we've explored how queer theory and praxis can shape health research at our Queer Methodologies in Medical Humanities #PhDSchool.

Adding some joy to the timeline! I’m pleased to announce my first publication, exploring how associations between sex work and drug use deepened in 1980s Britain in the context of the AIDS epidemic. Read it here in Modern British History’s latest issue: academic.oup.com/tcbh/article...

Today marks 22 years since the US & UK illegally invaded Iraq, costing hundreds of thousands of lives. The current Labour Government repeats history by arming Israel and increasing military spending. But we need a Labour Party that will promote peace & solidarity instead.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS Conference | 6 – 7 June 2025 | University College London Legacies of Section 28: a two-day event exploring the history and legacy of Section 28 of the Local Government Act, 1988. DEADLINE EXTENDED to the end of February royalhistsoc.org/calendar/leg...

Queer and HIV+ in Gaza: A Young Man's "Race Against Time" as Israel Blocks Medication

JUST PUBLISHED: It has been the honor of my career to co-author "Queer, HIV+ and Running Out of Medication in Gaza" with Afeef Nessouli @theintercept.com —a story about Palestine, AIDS, genocide, and an extraordinary survivor named E.S. Please read & share. theintercept.com/2025/01/13/i...

Just reminded of this short essay I wrote for Modernism / Modernity - on the queerness of history, the queerness of the past, and British culture in the 1920s and 1930s. And also about a charming gentlemanly trickster with whom I happened to be infatuated. modernismmodernity.org/forums/posts...

Wes Streetings decision to ban puberty blockers should be called out for what it is. He's playing culture wars where trans & non binary youth are collateral damage & Labour dance to Reforms tune. An attack on trans people is an attack on our LGBTQ+ community. We must say no.

Today is Thanksgiving in the US, or National Day of Mourning or "Unthanksgiving Day" for some Native Americans. Wampanoag people shared food with pilgrims in 1621 but were repaid with centuries of genocide. Learn about Indigenous resistance in this book: shop.workingclasshistory.com...

My first article has been published! If you fancy a read on the history of Britain’s gay and lesbian film curation, and an interview with Richard Dyer on his groundbreaking season ‘Images of Homosexuality’, then click the link below… academic.oup.com/screen/artic...