Anyone who knows immigration bureaucracy will know that people who seek asylum because they are gay undergo hostile and humiliating scrutiny. Media reports that suggest people “pretend to be gay because it’s an easy route for a visa” are missing the glaring fact there is no “easy” way to get asylum.

I can't wait to see the exhibition when I go to Stockholm (soon). St Croix is 1 of the ports I wrote about in my book (at painstaking editing stage) on 15 Ports that made Empires through Slavery (Basic Books (US) / John Murray (UK)). www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

Cis people: just nip over to your GP to feel a little perkier by taking some T. Trans people: just spend 5 years on a waiting list, go through a few psychiatric assessments, and if you survive that then you might get a prescription for exactly the same HRT.

The wonderful Lavender Menace in Edinburgh are doing a fundraiser to support their operating costs! They've been able to do so much as a staffed organisation - it will be so good for queer life in Scotland if they can keep going: www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/save-laven...

In 1996, an unlikely Cornish case secured a crucial workplace right for Trans+ people. Here’s the story behind it 👇

Glasgow colleagues affiliated with GLINTS are organising a workshop on 18 June with the title 'Trans studies at a crossroad: decolonisation, anti-gender politics and the future'. It looks like it will be fab! The CFP is here: www.gla.ac.uk/media/Media_... and the deadline for abstracts is 3 May.

It's #NationalUnicornDay 🦄 Here's an illustration (bottom) from Cuvier's 'De l'histoire naturelle des cetaces' (1836) of the 'unicorn of the sea' - the narwhal! Both volumes of this work (text & atlas) can be found in the rare books room in the library @thembauk.bsky.social 📖BL.95/C

Pesach sameach! Every year I revisit Chava Alberstein's 'Chad Gadya' (1989) every year the cycle of violence gets worse. Next year, let's hope we will see freedom for Palestine and an end to war in Lebanon and Iran. youtu.be/Zd8d_wN0_v0?...

This #TransDayOfVisibility, we’re highlighting our favorite queer ecology reads. These books, essays, and memoirs break down binaries and explore the expansiveness of gender & identity in nature.

Seeing "trans kids given deadline to segregate themselves" and "trans women banned from yet another part of society" headlines *every single day* while everyone you know and every organization stays breathtakingly silent takes such a damn toll on your heart.

Excellent statement from @reacpolrn.bsky.social on hegemonic defeatism in academic circles regarding the resurgence of the far right "HEPI’s Preparing for Populism is a profoundly unhelpful document that mistakes capitulation for strategy" reacpol.net/populism-hepi/

It's #ManateeAppreciationDay and we certainly do appreciate these aquatic mammals. Please enjoy this illustration from 'An introduction to the study of mammals living and extinct' by W.H. Flower & R. Lydekker, 1891 📖BL.95/F

Why Black queer history belongs in Britain's classrooms www.wearequeeraf.com/why-black-qu...

Here’s my interview with Shishir Mehotra, the CEO behind Grammarly’s “expert review” feature which attributed writing advice to people - including me lol - without permission. Or, as you will hear us talk about a lot, compensation. www.theverge.com/podcast/8987...

“Every missile strike is another downpayment on a hotter, more unstable planet, and none of it makes anyone safer,” said Patrick Bigger of the Climate and Community Institute and co-author of new analysis about the climate impacts of the war on Iran, in @theguardian.com:

"More alignment between university and national attitudes. This includes a legitimacy observatory to track public trust and gaps between university culture and wider public attitudes." This reads ominously, another way of stifling academic freedom to address injustices & uncomfortable truths.

Everyone should stop what you are doing and read about @notrightruth.bsky.social receiving an important award for her excellence in trans and feminist scholarship and action. Ruth has been setting the bar for years & its great to see that recognised: www.scenemag.co.uk/trans-femini...

Staff at Sheffield Hallam University joined an ‘All staff’ call & were told the university must save £26.6m by August after disastrous London property venture Blameworthy Vice Chancellor Chris Husbands has since moved into consultancy/advisory roles in HE www.sheffieldtribune.co.uk/sheffield-ha...

“AI can never be AI without humans. It is not artificial intelligence. It’s African intelligence...We are training our own death. We train ChatGPT and it’s killing us slowly.” Kenyan workers are still the underpaid labor behind AI training, moderation, and sex chatbots. Now, they're fighting back.

Fears NHS has begun review that could end free Trans+ adult healthcare 👇 www.wearequeeraf.com/fears-nhs-ha...

Do you (or have you ever) worked with natural history collections? Are you trans or non-binary? If you said "yes" to both of those, @rin-krichilsky.bsky.social and I want to hear from you! Please consider filling out our survey and please share with others! 🏳️‍⚧️ 🐛🦕🦴🌿 docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Alongside the humanitarian disaster, the scale of environmental disaster of this war is almost unfathomable. And all the MMM can talk about are oil prices, what about the cost of the release of toxins and CO2 into the atmosphere?

Just a quick reminder that our Vice Chancellor said this into a microphone in front of university employees last week and thought nothing of it!

There are two things you can do right now to support young trans people in England. 1) Engage in political advocacy and community support. I've got *loads* of advice on this in my blog post and zine "But what can I do? How to fight the trans panic".

Dropsite reports “Black rain” + “nuclear winter” caused by Israeli strikes on oil depots in Tehran - chemicals are producing acidic precipitation that causes skin burns + severe lung damage on contact - the rain is corrosive + could damage structures - heavy metals leaking into soil/water systems

In The Future That Was, @durba.bsky.social offers a pathbreaking account of how Third World women seized the means of knowledge production to fight against rising authoritarianism & imagine a future freer than our present. Out March 17 (12 May UK pub): press.princeton.edu/books/hardco... #History

A rare thing: *four* three-year hums/soc-sci posts in animal studies, on the Multispecies Mutualisms project at UoSheffield - with @rosaleenduffy.bsky.social, me, Robert McKay and Alasdair Cochrane; see here for a video explainer: digitalmedia.sheffield.ac.uk/media/Multis...

Are you studying, researching or teaching the histories of gender? Try using the Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH). It contains 670,000+ resources from 55 BCE to today! Find out how to use BBIH buff.ly/yD11954 @brepols.net

Powerful oped, not just about public health but the state of our democracies: "That’s real progress. Not GDP going up 0.1% or Rachel Reeves forecasting an extra couple of billion in fiscal headroom – but whether you live or die, are well or sick" www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Dear Shabana, Let's clear some things up around migration and remember we're talking about people's lives.

My heart breaks for every child lost to this horrific and senseless conflict, I cannot imagine the pain of their families.

I'm really hoping we can return momentum to this mental health project for Palestinian kids who were in occupation prisons!!!! Because this is a project of hope, and one that we can all blessedly join in with and help make happen. Read more and chip in: chuffed.org/project/hmg

Is the proof in the room with us right now?

NEW: The Scottish Secretary has said that he expects Anas Sarwar is now clear his 'responsibility is not to be a commentator on British politics' after the Scottish leader called for the Prime Minister to resign Read here: www.thenational.scot/news/2...

My review of @brad.bolman.com 's 'Lab Dog' has just been published with Social History of Medicine. This is a truly excellent book that will be of great interest to historians of animals, lab sciences, and beyond. doi.org/10.1093/shm/...

We're recruiting a Book Reviews Editor! This is a great role for ECRs working in Modern British History (broadly defined). Details at the link below. Any questions, don't hesitate to get in touch with Hannah! 🗃️ academic.oup.com/tcbh/pages/c...

Important survey on impact of HE redundancies. It's really important that APM staff fill this in too. @uonucu.bsky.social

100% this 👇

Publication day! My book Keeping Hold: A Cultural and Social History of Possession in Eighteenth-Century Britain is out now. 20% discount code KEHO2026. www.cambridge.org/core/books/k...

Join us next Tuesday, at the IHR, London or on Zoom for 'The Empire's treasure house: diplomatic gifts, bureaucratic indifference and the erasure of provenance in colonial India'. Free and open to the public. #Skystorians

Yes! What if we treated extremely normal human variation as something other than a "disorder"??? www.positive.news/society/yout...

“Rather than being threatened with a criminal sentence, he should be commended for his courage in organising the largest Pécs Pride in history.” Solidarity with Géza Buzás-Hábel and the many other activists in Hungary fighting for their freedoms. Everyone should be free to celebrate Pride. 🇭🇺🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈

www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQJ574/j....

CJZ science in the news: Missing pieces added to ancient global fish puzzle www.scimex.org/newsfeed/mis...

18 month postdoc at the lovely IHR in London, $41,740. Deadline 7 March. 'The Fellow will play a key role within the IHR team responsible for hosting the 2027 North American Conference in British Studies (NACBS)' in London 2027. Repost to spread the word. #Skystorians

The UK government is proposing radical and punitive changes to settlement rules. This is settlement, not citizenship. The consultation is open until 12 February; please respond to it and oppose these evil proposals. Amnesty have a good guide: www.amnesty.org.uk/resources/gu...

Hello! I am sharing information about my @researchireland.ie project Locating Loss: histories of infertility in landscapes and spaces. I would love to connect with researchers/ practitioners from a wide range of backgrounds and disciplines, so please share widely! @nursingclio.bsky.social

If Reform are pushing propaganda through your letterbox, don’t engage with it. Don’t argue with it. Don’t platform it. Return it to sender. Write REFUSED on the envelope and put it straight back in the postbox. Unopened. They pay for that. Every time. Bulk mail returns are