If you’ve never given birth or witnessed a birth, let’s just say labor is a wild time to have your body taken over by the state.

aren't you all forgetting something

For those who may be interested, the eventual introduction of the 1994 Stillbirth Act means that if you experienced a #stillbirth in #Ireland before 1995, you are still able to retrospectively register your baby's birth. #ReproHist #HistMed #MedHums #HistMidwifery #ReproductiveLoss #Miscarriage

I’ve been out of the game for a while and lost track of people in the move to this place, so if you’re an adjunct/VAP/postdoc in history, can you reply and let me know what you work on? I am an editor at @contingent-mag.bsky.social and we are often looking for book reviewers etc.

It is entirely possible and easy to disavow the ideas and ideologies of eugenics and scientific racism etc without reifying the idea that these are not part of the ‘legitimate’ histories of science.

I’ve had this debate in class with STEM students before. They NEED to believe that eugenics and scientific racism etc are things of the past and are ‘pseudosciences’ because ‘science is objective’ and the ‘scientific method defends from bias.’ It’s a dangerous way to think.

I describe it as such as a historian of disability because I want to remind scientists and the world that the history of science IS the history of eugenics, scientific racism and medical racism, and more. I’m not comforting them with the idea that it was a ‘pseudoscience.’ This is your history.

Design for a Bookcase with Writing Desk c. 1550–70 Italian (Met Museum)

James Orr is one of those dangerous nuts on the Christian right who thinks you can wind the clock back centuries. You can’t do that and a lot of people will be hurt in the attempt. Beware people who have identified “when it all went wrong,” especially when it’s, like, the French Revolution

This is fucking horrifying, the headteacher caused this school to strip out 100s of titles from the library as inappropriate including feminist, anti-racist and LGBTQ+ positive works, and guess what: "the categorisation was generated using AI" They have entirely destroyed the librarian's career

On top of everything else this screed is just so paint-by-numbers, with the same old points rehashed in dire prose, with not a single half-interesting though in it

This may not be as striking a headline as immediate redundancies in the triple figures, but it is as impactful in overturning what academia is. The consultancies are removing research from education, taking the bite out of what university is and does.

This guy teaches at Cambridge btw

It’s been out a while now, but Rosemary Sweet and I have written a book about #18thcentury British travel to Spain and Portugal that is free to download here! uclpress.co.uk/book/no-coun...

Is this real? The abstract alone is a bit nauseating.

Ghormeh sabzi, tofu kebab, sabzi polo and tahdig, Shirazi salad. Whole lot of darkness out there these days, hoping for some more light on our Nowruz Shabbat. Shabbat Shalom, Eide Shoma Mobarak.

My colleague Daniel is a superstar!

Look at us!

So, arguably a little late (waiting for web update) but some exciting news: since January 2026, @susielaurie.bsky.social, Shuhita Bhattacharjee, Julia Kühn, Rachel Dickinson & I are now fully in place as the new Co-Editors of the @jofvictculture.bsky.social 🌟📃 academic.oup.com/jvc/pages/Ed...

Can’t recommend John’s book on the Red Brigades highly enough. It’s an astonishing story www.bloomsbury.com/us/red-briga... 🗃️

I’ll doing a paper on Monday at a hybrid seminar at the Scottish Oral History Centre, where I’ll be talking about gay men’s memory narratives, marriage culture and clandestine relationships in N.Ireland in the 1980s and 1990s www.strath.ac.uk/humanities/d...

I’m running a 2 hour online workshop for teachers, heritage professionals, journalists & anyone who wants to be able to discuss the British Empire and its afterlives with nuance and concision. It’s on 1st June. Do sign up if interested? onlineshop.sussex.ac.uk/product-cata...

Eid Mubarak to all those celebrating tonight! 🌙

Today It is Eid AND the unique Persian New Year - linked to the astrological spring equinox today. I was lucky enough to experience the joy of Nowruz in Iran back in 2019. And in part two of Art Of Persia, in Persepolis, we explored how this unique festival came to be. www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

Just seen the term 'bi non-practicing' to describe a bisexual person who only has relationships with people of the opposite gender. GTF please

If you're around St Albans on 6th June, you might want to check out this study day on 'Ann Radcliffe’s St Alban’s Abbey at 200', organised by Dr Elizabeth Bobbitt, Professor Dale Townshend, and Rosie Garland! More info and book tickets: www.stalbanscathedral.org/Event/ann-ra...

Credit where credit is due (and critique where it is not): really excellent scheme, this.

I have a 'History Department in UKHE' joke but it's been reduced from 250 characters to 50 and is now merged with jokes from across ten other largely-unrelated disciplines while still being expected to be Just As Funny.

Few lower tariff unis offer languages, excluding people from under-represented backgrounds who can't travel far to uni. The Uni of Essex is a shining star, offering French, German, Italian, Portuguese & Spanish. This is under threat! Read and sign 👇 docs.google.com/document/d/1...

🌟CFP - Special Issue of @jofhistgeog.bsky.social on "Black Historical Geographies: Querying the Archive" edited by @carolinebressey.bsky.social & Mona Domosh - further details available here www.linkedin.com/feed/update/... Abstracts due w/ editors 30 April 2026, full articles by 30 September 2026 📄

Got £30.22 in book royalties today. It's takeaway tonight

On Thurs 26 March, we're hosting a lunchtime seminar providing historians' insights on Modern Iran. 'Historical Context' is a new RHS event series, with historians bringing their expertise to current events. Booking for this online Webinar now open #Skystorians 🎟️ Book here: bit.ly/40zrMbt

Wooooo! I can’t believe we did this, it’s huge! It’s been such a wonderful experience, I’ve learned so much from all authors and co-editors @historyrocio.bsky.social & Amber. Thanks to everyone who made this happen. (But yes, pls ask libraries to buy this or subscribe online to handbooks, it’s £££)

'75 per cent of those employed [in creative industtres] hold a degree, significantly exceeding the UK average of 51 per cent. Furthermore, creative higher education serves as a critical engine for research and innovation, in addition to acting as essential cultural centres within their communities.'

I have history joke but no one can hear it due to the silences in the archives.

My book is available for pre-order. Use coupon code E26CRLLO to save 30% when you order from @dukepress.bsky.social dukeupress.edu/the-business...

Join us on Tuesday, 24 March at 4pm UK time for our next online seminar. We will be hosting Dr Ellen Hope Durban who is going to discuss her research on 'Activism for Married Lesbian Mothers in Britain in the 1970s and 1980s'. Read more and sign up here: womenshistorynetwork.org/sign-up-for-...

It is lovely that the Art Gallery of Ontario can now name the Black woman in the gorgeous #18thc portrait they acquired 6 yrs ago & also date the painting. It's from 1775. She is Eleonora Susette, enslaved by the Dutch governor of Guyana, accompanying his widow on her return to the Netherlands.

Delighted to be speaking with the fantastic Rebecca Clifford about my forthcoming book, WE HAVE COME TO BE DESTROYED: GROWING UP IN COLD WAR BRITAIN at one of my favourite bookshops, Collected Books, in Durham at 7.30pm on 7th May collectedbooks.co.uk/products/lau...

Missed this passage when skimming the HEPI white paper earlier today, but come on. No discussion about what the Reform ‘policy agenda and desired solutions’ are (kick out more immigrants, get unis to heel, etc.) or why unis should explore this possibility other than letting Reform set the agenda

"The sector’s core offer should resonate with everyday concerns: national pride, resilience, opportunity, fairness and belonging." Universities should establish a "legitimacy observatory" to "monitor and understand the misalignment between universities and national attitudes."

Jesus fucking Christ

Great to see the Guardian covering this kind of work, by @drkrisztinailko.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

A genuine question, not designed to stir up trouble. Is anyone else getting bombarded by, unsought and unprompted, videos (on Instagram, fb, etc) that tells you that every thought, habit, thing you do is neurodivergence?

We're hiring! We’re looking for a Research Assistant (0.4FTE, 12 month FTC) to join us and work with @gmmedicalmuseum.bsky.social. Role can be held flexibly (though not remote); centres around outreach + engagement, archival + oral history work in Worcestershire jobs.worcester.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx...

I keep my side of the social contract. I try to bring students together with evolving scholarship and hard historical evidence, and I try to get them to think about meanings and significance. To learn. Meanwhile, the govt actively encourages those students to let a machine write their essays.

They're literally saying the fascism is OUR FAULT. www.hepi.ac.uk/reports/prep...

This is HEPI's 3-point plan. 1 Is insulting, stating openly that we can't do our jobs properly. 3 is pollyannaish. 2 basically blows the others away by invoking "common sense", which in terms of engaging with populism, means accepting racism, sexism and homophobia.

Universities have many roles and purposes, but one of the Top 5, since the end of the Second World War, has been to STOP SHIT LIKE THIS HAPPENING. So I guess everyone's failing, here, really.

"Look, folks, the Nazis are a big party now. They have lots of support. You're just going to have to take a hard look at all those Jews you employ. It's just the way it is."