Finally got my thesis printed to massage my fragile ego. Here's Reina Fenix showing it the respect it deserves.

Hallam bet big on London. Now it’s cutting jobs in Sheffield @sheffieldtribune.bsky.social www.sheffieldtribune.co.uk/sheffield-ha...

Our local academic publishing house has a treat for everyone: "The story that hatched Mothra—available in English for the first time, translated by Jeffrey Angles, who wrote an afterword about the novella’s cultural context, the unusual story of its composition, and the development of the 1961 film"

I know it's not popular to say in my research-work circles, because we desperately need more/+diverse trustees, but - very literally, being a trustee almost killed me. It used to be something I'd always sign up to do & encourage others to do the same. But there's no support for when it goes wrong.

Extremely strong work from Hallam colleagues here, excited to drop in tonight.

This was an excellent event from @peoplespapers.bsky.social and @gpadmoreinstitute.bsky.social on the Black Radical Press in England in the 1970s - including activists and archivists both. Lovely stuff. www.youtube.com/watch?v=of9E...

Sheffield Hallam University today proposing to: 💥 force its teaching staff into employment by a subsidiary company to put them on worse pensions 💥 keep teaching staff w/ SRR as SHU employees to maintain REF eligibility 💥 Research staff - fuck around & find out? Outstanding. @ucuhallam.bsky.social

Super cute electioneering

One of the annoying things about being Sick is that when you're better enough to start again, you're too scared to face everything that's backed up over the Sick time, so then you need more Sick time

Got a new article out today in @jbritishstudies.bsky.social. It's about the ways in which the music press constructed race in late 20c Britain. Open access so do share it around! Thanks to @leverhulme.ac.uk and @uniofreading.bsky.social for supporting the research. doi.org/10.1017/jbr....

I have a new OA article out on the early history of Irish young people’s anti-abortion group Youth Defence. It’s part of a special issue by Agata Ignaciuk and Sylwia Kuzma-Markowska on anti-abortion activism in Europe.Thanks to reviewers and the RSE for funding. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Maaike Matelski & Lise Woensdregt write in our July '25 issue on community-based organisations in Kenya, the highly-varied forms these organisations take, and how communities are represented in Kenyan aid chains #CDJ #Kenya

Heard of the term 'epistemic injustice' before but not sure what it means? Coined by British philosopher Miranda Fricker in her 2007 book, Epistemic Injustice: Power and the Politics of Knowing'. But as an idea, it has a much longer history than that. Learn more at our webinar next Tuesday at 7pm.

Highgate New Town - 'dreams and nightmares': an essay on the architectural fashions that have shaped council housing and the political and social forces which have moulded the lives of its residents. municipaldreams.substack.com/p/highgate-n...

Also: giant ants 🐜 😍 🧪

Some excellent additions to the campaign badge library

Out now! Issue 60.4 of the Community Development Journal, featuring a special section on "Radical pedagogies for territorial contestations", with lots of exciting articles centred on Latin American community work and activism. academic.oup.com/cdj/issue/60/4

One of the sacked reps from @uniteitf.bsky.social spoke at our victimisation strike rally yesterday. What’s happening to them is another stark example of the union movement’s ‘leadership’ losing its way. Please join us in sending full solidarity & give them a follow. #UniteAgainstVictimisation

A week of zero progress on literally anything, plus another lovely bit of institutional violence. Ho hum.

Today's the day! Join us online at 3pm (UK time): www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/archival-w... with @gpadmoreinstitute.bsky.social @irrnews.bsky.social @ethnicityuk.bsky.social. Hope to see you there!

Bleeps and bloops - live! stream.gravitons.org

Absolute Units is back tomorrow! We delve into the world of Old Crockern, the mythical spirit of Dartmoor, with activists @lisaschneidau.bsky.social and Ruth Webb. Learn about Old Crockern's tale, and why he returns today. Listen to past episodes: merl.reading.ac.uk/explore/abso...

Our Co-Editors Ruth Pearce and Kirsty Lohman write in our July '25 Editorial on the claiming of space by community organisations, self-organisations, and how "cracks" can lead to "tiny victories" buff.ly/C5MC4ZS #CDJ #Editorial

It's hard to remember sometimes that most people are able to fully function for 3, maybe even 4 can you imagine, weeks out of every month. news.stv.tv/west-central...

I keep getting work emails about quants methods from someone called David Byrne and every time my heart does a little flutter

Sun! Blue sky! And suddenly the road has come alive with people meeting like they've not met for 20 years. The Big Rain forgotten. Until tomorrow, when it will wash the joy back into the storm drains again.

This is a thread about UCU & what it has become over the last few years. But the first thing I want to say is I didn’t join a union to stay silent or turn my back on a single parent of three facing dismissal on the basis of their trade union activities. Marie Monaghan is the Unite UCU 1/12

🗣️“In pursuing arbitrary savings figures, the government risks our lives rather than testing new approaches that benefit disabled people, and the wider economy and society." - DR UK's Mickey Erhardt in Disability News Service's latest piece Read more 👇 www.disabilitynewsservice.com/cuts-to-disa...

Some very strong covers from yesterday's book haul. This is not the first time a retiring community development researcher has let me pillage their collection. Hopefully one day some enthusiastic young thing will take them all off *my* shelves and wonder at the way things were.

Sending much solidarity to the brilliant @uniteucu.bsky.social members! The way you're being treated is unconscionable, and that it's being done by a trade union and in the name of our members defies comprehension. #handsOffMarie

Extremely good haul from a now-retired community development colleague, plus a million books ❤ You can in fact find copies of Community Action digitised here through the excellent People's Plans project (but I just like Things) www.peoplesplans.org/peoplesplans...

Maaike Matelski & Lise Woensdregt write in our July '25 issue on community-based organisations in Kenya, the highly-varied forms these organisations take, and how communities are represented in Kenyan aid chains #CDJ #Kenya

🪴Everyone's Environment Local - Get involved! This programme helps community-based organisations and DPOs take part in climate action We are looking for 60 community organisations from Greater Manchester to join us - check it out below! www.disabilityrightsuk.org/everyones-en...

Argh I posted things on LinkedIn in a brief moment of ego and dopamine hunting and now I'm suddenly horribly visible and why didn't I just stay in my little goblin hole

Great to see the new EMR fleet has preserved some of the best loved features from the old trains, would have really missed that broken reservation system and the futile hunt for a working socket.

I am giving the Edinburgh Uni LGBTQ+ History Month lecture on the evening of 27 February, with the title 'Scottish Trans Pasts, Useable and Otherwise'. Details and link to register are here: hca.ed.ac.uk/updates-even... Do come along if you're in Edinburgh!

Excellent piece on Sheffield's Friends Of groups, covering histories, class divides and state withdrawal - all the voluntary sector studies classics.

The vicitimisation of trade union activists affects us all. Even more so when it's done *by our own union* 🤯 Sending much solidarity to @uniteucu.bsky.social & asking everyone to write to the GS to put an end to this. (and @tuc.org.uk, please have a word...) #HandsOffMarie

Regrettably our members will be commencing strike action from 9 February over the victimisation of our Health and Safety Officer. uniteucu.wordpress.com/2026/01/28/u...

Save the date! Join us for an online archival workshop with @gpadmoreinstitute.bsky.social and @irrnews.bsky.social to explore the materials and histories of Black activist publishing in the UK from the 1970s: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/archival-w...

'Joyride', Franta Belsky, 1959. Belsky was commissioned by Stevenage Development Corporation to produce something symbolic for a recently created New Town (the Corporation took inspiration from the use of symbolic sculpture in the rebuilding of bombed Rotterdam).

Worked on this for Union Workers Union late last year. Hoping to do more on it. Xoxo a disgruntled ex trade union employee.

🚀 It’s here. Launching today: Learning from Big Local - a new website with 15 years of lessons from community-led change. Explore research and stories from 150 hyper-local areas - this is your resource for community-led change. Visit the website: https://bit.ly/4rbcuop

And Trans stories too - this is just lovely stuff (and - as always - #CharityHistory)

A redundancy consultation opened by the RNLI is facing scrutiny from the trade union Unite, which claims that the charity’s workers are being “denied a voice” on proposed closure plans at one of its manufacturing sites.

🚨 REMINDER 🚨 Join us online *tomorrow* to hear from @deannalyncook.bsky.social about her research into Norman Manley’s Visits to Britain and Transnational Care in Postwar Britain! Get your tickets below: 🔗 www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...