Has appetite for COP fizzled out? The only headlines I've seen about it this year are in, well, Private Eye.

Developing & Leading a Major Project in Classics Thurs 27 Nov, 1–3pm Register: shorturl.at/qH4K7 Designed particularly for mid-career researchers seeking to develop a major project, hear from: •Arlene Holmes-Henderson (Durham) •Alex Mullen (Nottingham) •Corisande Fenwick (UCL) •Ellen Swift (Kent)

The Department of Medieval History at the University of St Andrews invites applications for the Donald Bullough Fellowship to be taken up during either semester of the academic year 2026-2027. The closing date for applications is Monday 1 December 2025.

There should be the odd sporadic complaint fired off as dusk is falling, with complaints being registered in both organised and more reckless forms during the evening, culminating in a spectacular volley of complaining emails to the council around 9pm

The most British headline I've seen in a long time.

Call For Papers: Teaching With Ovid. Any aspect of teaching Ovid in the classroom, for a 2-day symposium on 12-13 June 2026. Classicist teaching Ovid? Medievalist teaching the Ovide moralise? Librarian/archivist with historic copies of Ovid to share? Take a look: shorturl.at/RiviU Deadline 16 Jan.

Does anyone in Oxford know if driving to the Westgate car park will incur the congestion charge, and if there's a maximum stay time there?

ARCHIVAL FUNDING: Ann Ball Bodley Visiting Fellowship in Women’s History, to use Bodleian Libraries collections to advance scholarship in women’s history, of any geographical area and historical period. Deadline 28th Nov. www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/csb/fellowsh...

The proofs, as they say, are in the pudding, and I am pudding in some proofing time today. Expecting some disagreements but it's been so fun to work on this. And brilliant and humbling to work with @rantyben.bsky.social!

Interstellar being THE big-screen must-watch is always very funny to me because the sole time I have watched it was on a long haul flight with the worst possible screen and sound options

A timely video by @lewisproberts.bsky.social from @trincollcam.bsky.social on 'The Difficulty of Milton' - on the value of engaging with difficult texts and forms, and lots of interesting stuff about Milton along the way! www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMN7...

Great news recently on the EU Waste Framework Directive (firms will have to fund the collection, sorting, and recycling of their products). But reports like these show how far there is to go in the fast fashion industry: recycling is not a magic bullet www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

🎓Call for Papers🎓 A longtime friend of and contributor to the SNLS, Dr Rebecca Menmuir @rebeccamenmuir.bsky.social, is organising a symposium on “Teaching with Ovid,” with a call for papers open until 16 January 2026! See the flyer below and follow the link for more information: shorturl.at/RiviU

It's true: I wrote a book. And what's more, the book is done and soon you'll be able to own a copy. And what's more more, if you want a hard copy you can order one for 50% off now, with the code SAR50. And if you want it digitally, it'll be open access! www.arc-humanities.org/978180270163...

MLGB is back!! Delighted that Medieval Libraries of Great Britain @bodleian.ox.ac.uk is now back online. We are also working had on plans for the next phase of the resource, enhancing & adding data & functionality. HUGE thanks to my colleagues for their hard & clever work mlgb.bodleian.ox.ac.uk

Completely new Purcell?! Amazing archival work here www.theguardian.com/music/2025/o...

Call For Papers: Teaching With Ovid. Any aspect of teaching Ovid in the classroom, for a 2-day symposium on 12-13 June 2026. Classicist teaching Ovid? Medievalist teaching the Ovide moralise? Librarian/archivist with historic copies of Ovid to share? Take a look: shorturl.at/RiviU Deadline 16 Jan.

Fairly difficult writing day. Feeling the pressure to both be concise and for every sentence to be majestically perfect and powerful.

What a great opportunity 👇

And most of all, SOMEONE needs to give the world a good Troilus and Criseyde film. I need Criseyde arch looks (”what? May I not stand here?” eyebrows), Troilus wallowing (tossing and turning like Ixion in hell!), cool Trojan-London sets…

This was a really tremendous production. One gender swap I did not like at all. Hector looked like my favourite footballer (but wasn’t). Riotous laughter from the crowd at times which I didn’t expect at all. Very gripping! Horribly nauseating! Determinedly ambiguous!

Troilus and Cressida at the Globe later today. Looking forward to feeling unremittingly bleak about everything (in a good way?).

Hello #medievalsky. Where's the best place to search for images of manuscript initials? (Bonus: that I could use in an academic publication?)

Now with poster! The Middle English Reading Group this Michaelmas.

Are you a #school #teacher introducing students to #Chaucer? Come along to this amazing #free #event on Saturday 4 October, to discover resources & share expertise. From tackling the #medieval language to creative methods. I'll be there! ies.sas.ac.uk/news-events/... Please share! Booking info 👇

Apropos of universities jumping on the AI bandwagon. Are we not supposed to be, you know, trying to come back from the brink of extinction? Rather than increasing emissions by 50%? FIFTY per cent? Delusional. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

It'll be a new Oxford term soon, which can only mean a brand new text for the Middle English Reading Group! We'll be reading Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. It will be hosted at Lincoln College. Message or email me for details - anyone at Oxford welcome! @oxmedstud.bsky.social @engfac.bsky.social

Contrary to past reviews I felt really quite connected on Margate Sands

Name a more English seaside activity than fighting the wind to finish your Mr Whippy.

After the warm summer we've had the blackberries must be plump and ready for devouring! These hand-coloured beauties are from Hieronymus Bock's 1552 herbal #Blackberries #Autumn

Recently one of our manuscripts was rebound in modern conservation binding. Follow the progress, and an amazing discovery, as our Head of Conservation reveals the steps taken for this careful work A deep dive in medieval manuscript binding 🕵️ www.corpus.cam.ac.uk/articles/chr...

The Summoner has entered the chat.

Does anyone has access to the journal Style? Published by Penn State University Press. I'm trying to access this article: Lian Zhang, Yu Yan or Fable: The Earliest Introductions to The Canterbury Tales in China muse.jhu.edu/pub/2/articl...

Accidentally took the mathematically perfect shot of our local cat.

That’s the location of the next MAMO sorted, then 😍 @themamoconf.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

I can highly recommend @rebeccamenmuir.bsky.social’s walking tour of Early Modern Latin in the City of London. Visited some new sites and finished off with a nice pub lunch and a toast to Wynkyn de Worde www.layersoflondon.org/map/trails/e... #layersoflondon

Perhaps relatedly (but not entirely!), we have a new blogpost up at @guildmedmak.bsky.social on 'what to do when you're stuck, creatively'! This arose from a spontaneous discussion at the end of our last Making Space session so we thought we'd write it up! www.guildmedmak.com/blog/what-to...

Barista-in-training spotted at the @britishlibrary.bsky.social 🐭

Is anyone else having trouble viewing Cambridge ebooks? I fear something has happened...

Academic writing question: when writing an anonymous submission, what do you guys do with individual acknowledgements throughout the article? 'Thanks to [redacted] for their help here', or simply add the footnote in post-reviews? The latter seems to run the risk of looking citation-less.

Are you a late stage doctoral or postdoctoral reasearcher with expertise in medieval and/or early modern landscape history & an interest in working with or in the heritage sector? This opportunity with the University of Oxford and West Horsley Place may be for you: www.tss.ox.ac.uk/vacancies/19...

The National Archives is looking for an Early Modern Parliamentary Records Specialist. Pros: you'll get to work in the same department as me. Cons: you'll have to work in the same department as me. Details via the link. www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOD893/r...

Grateful to the Clarion for providing updates on this meeting. As Cllr Ian Middleton says in an earlier post: “I want Oxford United to continue to thrive... But the land is tightly constrained, there’s no room for expansion, and surrounding highways cannot absorb what this stadium will generated.”

We have a new Meet a Medievalist Maker blogpost!🖋️ Meet Mary Flannery (@15thcgossipgirl.bsky.social), the 'accidental medievalist' who writes about the medieval for both scholarly and public audiences:

My book is out! Medieval Responses to Ovid's Exile, with Cambridge UP @universitypress.cambridge.org. I am so grateful to the friends, family, colleagues, librarians and archivists who helped along the way. Nervous and excited to see it in the world! www.cambridge.org/core/books/m...

Everything‘s trying to stay cool at Knole today.

Update on the All Hallows series of FREE online lectures - all titles now available at churchmonumentssociety.org/events/all-h...

After waiting 119 years for a trophy, Crystal Palace have their second in a matter of months. The Selhurst Park side beat Liverpool, the Premier League Champions, on penalties to win the Community Shield, having beaten Manchester City to win the FA Cup in May. #CPFC

Glorious weekend. The Christmas infusions begin, earlier than ever.

Can attest that this is an excellent teaching book (and useful for those teaching, too!)