Having had a sneak preview of this, I can say it’s every bit as good as the cover suggests!! 🔥

The new issue of @renewaljournal.bsky.social, themed around the far right, is out now and it couldn't be more timely. Free to read articles by guest editor @sachahilhorst.bsky.social, @profafinlayson.bsky.social and Cailtlin Prowle. Subscribe here to read the rest: renewal.org.uk/journal/volu...

I don't think Peter Mandelson is PM's biggest problem. The biggest problem is not standing up to the literal violent racism on our streets, supercharged by the richest man in the world, and threatening the very fabric of our society. If he and so many commentators can't see this, we're truly lost.

My MP, Peter Kyle, might not be ‘disturbed’, but I certainly am!!

this didn’t happen at the height of the Brexit referendum. I don’t *think* it’s happened since National Front were at their peak in 1970s. This is organised racist intimidation & movement building, and it’s happening because Labour Party leaders have not opposed that campaign.

Sometimes politicians saying something is wrong, regardless of who that angers, can swing things their way in itself, because it is good to watch them standing up. As the Prime Minister did in the face of the riots last summer.

Labour has been quietly going quite hard on "community empowerment" – possibly because it's one of the few halfway coherent theories knocking around the party about how to tackle anti-politics. I've spoken to a lot of people about it for @newstatesman.com: www.newstatesman.com/comment/2025...

I just want him to come out and say “we’ve seen some disgusting, racist behaviour outside hotels housing asylum seekers and it’s got to stop”. Is that really so hard to say?

(Griffiths won Smethwick in the 1964 election, after his supporters used that slogan (“if you want an [n-word] for a neighbour, vote Labour; if you’ve already got one, vote Conservative”) — his response to the slogan as above. Harold Wilson condemned him as a “parliamentary leper”. Quite a shift.)

if people can’t apply for family to join them after their successful asylum applications, more women and children will be forced to make illegal and dangerous journeys to the UK, rather than sending male relatives first who later plan to reunite with family. this is: obvious.

If you have published anything, please consider doing this. The window is closing and you should get your details registered now for a chance at a settlement. The form works wherever in the world you are based.

Such a perfect ex of how these things get students to cheat themselves. You have access to 1-on-1 advice from experts in their fields, and seeking it would help build relationships with mentors and confidence in seeking counsel, but grammarly lets you skip all that and this is…winning, somehow?

I didn’t know until now that in the original Rosie the Riveter painting, she is crushing a copy of Mein Kampf under her foot. Happy feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, remembering all the women who crush the serpents of Satan under their heel.

#MaritimeHeritage #CoastalHeritage #Shipwreck

On Saturday 4th October, I'm running a guided walk around Ted Hughes's formative National Service Landscape at Patrington - It's a leisurely amble around the area, and an insight into a crucially formative but neglected part of Hughes's life. www.eventbrite.com/e/ted-hughes...

JOB ALERT: amazing 4-year post in postwar British history and refugee studies at @uniofreading.bsky.social Humanities! A post perfectly suited for someone working on political and social histories of race and migration in late 20c. Deadline 5 September. jobs.reading.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...

Barely an hour ago, Palestinian journalist Anas Al-Sharif warned us all: “If this madness doesn’t end, Gaza will be reduced to ruins, its people’s voices silenced, their faces erased — and history will remember you as silent witnesses to a genocide you chose not to stop.” Israel just killed him.

Israel claimed responsibility for killing five Al Jazeera staff in Gaza, including Anas al-Sharif, in a strike on their media tent outside al-Shifa Hospital, bringing the total journalists killed to 237 since the war began. 🔴 Follow our LIVE coverage: aje.io/1490et

If you want a weird but true fact to talk about: Dexter Holland, lead singer of The Offspring, was instrumental in this. His doctorial thesis in molecular biology was sequencing mRNA in HIV. The paper was also heavily cited in creating the COVID-19 vaccine.

"Because the LLM cares more about keeping the conversation going, and reassuring and affirming the user, it will prefer plausibility to evidence, facts, and expert consensus. A past that makes too much sense: this is history as confirmation bias." Another reason to avoid LLMs.

David Marquand’s Intellectual & Political Legacy SI edited by @pjsloman.bsky.social Colin Crouch & Ben Jackson with @emilyrobinson.bsky.social Will Hutton @npjgarland.bsky.social @anthonybarnett.bsky.social Hilary Wainwright Andrew Gamble Jean Seaton & + politicalquarterly.org.uk/collections/...

UK university staff: keep signing!

I shared the link yesterday, but (UK citizens only please) the Gaza petition to UK parliament is here if you're looking for it; just cracked 76k and the rate at which people are signing is creeping up; currently 4500/hour and only needs 347 signatures every hour for the next 3 days to hit 100k

Londoners, my friend Jack's trans history walking tours have two more dates: events.humanitix.com/trans-histor... I don't shill for friends indiscriminately - if you're keen on accessible, entertaining, moving, locally rooted & politically engaged trans history, I would genuinely recommend this!

Jesus Christ, what are we letting happen www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

All famines are man-made, all famines are political. Historians of empire and humanitarianism have known this forever. Gaza is not starving, Gaza is being starved, by Israel, and this starvation is enabled by our government and by every other government that does not step in to force food and aid.

‘Cleethorpes is all set for a seaside revival’. So here for this! 🌊☀️⛱ www.theguardian.com/travel/2025/... And if you visit, do check out our free exhibition: ‘Ravenser Odd, the sunken island of tne Humber’. At the Library until late August, with a bunch of free talks and workshops…

Any weaponisation of starvation is heinous, but the photo I've just seen of a child the same age as my youngest son where every bone is visible: what the Israeli government are doing in full view of the world is monstrous and unforgivable. That other states are allowing it is beyond an outrage.

Are you a queer historian who is up for talking about the parallels between the government's new RSE guidance about gender identity/transness and Section 28? If you'd be able to answer some questions for me *today*, please slide into my DMs or email me at [email protected]!

If it has ever been clearer that teachers and universities are simply an impediment to these companies seeking to make students a captive population and then making trillions off those students it’s here

#Job alert! Come and join us for 12 months in our lovely @chppc.bsky.social team @ihr.bsky.social. We're seeking a fixed-term #Lecturer in Historic Environment, who'll work on @vchlondon.bsky.social projects & more. Closing date 29 August. Please share! www.jobs.london.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...

Just the best news - congratulations @clairelanghamer.bsky.social FBA! www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/fellows/clai... @ihr.bsky.social

Just over a week to go until the closing date for this...

Congratulations to Dr Nick Garland!!! (Yes, that is a cake in the shape of Marquand’s Progressive Dilemma — courtesy of the also relatively new Dr Goldsmith)

This puts out in the open something I've been thinking for some time. Why do companies - Microsoft immediately comes to mind - think that anyone can give permission for the company to access everything on their computer? Many people have content on there that they are not allowed to disseminate.

WeTransfer just changed their TOS giving themselves permission to train AI on any content you transfer and produce derivative works based on content you transfer that they are allowed to monetize and you are not allowed payment for. Stop using WeTransfer.

Myself and Mary's fellowships are ending in October, and we're now looking for two new fellows! I have had the best time, it's been a brilliant way to transition out of the PhD alongside teaching. It's been a joy to learn from the team and contribute something of my own too! Any questions? DM me!

One of my micro campaigns these days is to highlight what a seriously nasty piece of work Douglas Carswell is. A couple of reminders on Sam's Substack today....

The second of our MAMO Landscapes and Medievalisms panel features papers by Fran Allfrey (York), Kathryn Maude (@krmaude.bsky.social‬, The National Archives) and Emily Robinson (@emilyrobinson.bsky.social, Sussex), and Bathsheba Lockwood Brook (UCL). 👇 #MAMOmonth

I know this has now been widely shared already, but I'm going to keep it in my back pocked for all the colleagues who think they can "train" GenAI slop-makers. Look how hard this woman worked to make it do what she asked, look how it said "yes, I'm doing what you asked" and then didn't.

Judy Wajcman, speaking at @assist-uk.bsky.social's gala to celebrate the 40th anniversary of 'The Social Shaping of Technology' has the perfect response to genAI.

Time to tap the fucking sign oh my goddddd

Grateful to everyone who shared their thoughts with me for this piece about the difference between how people imagined they would show up for a moment like this one, and how we're actually showing up—and how we can begin to close the gap between aspiration and action.

“I want to save as many as these 14,000 babies as we can in the next 48 hours,” he told the BBC.

Support for historians at mid-career: the Society invites applications for its 'Funded Book Workshop' programme bit.ly/4fYQcRC Workshops enable authors of a 2nd or 3rd monograph to hold a day-long discussion of a book MS with 6 readers of their choosing. Closing date: Friday 11 July #Skystorians

Who Wore It Better, Met Gala 2025 celebrities or Duke University Press book covers? Ava DuVernay or Work! by Elspeth H. Brown? #MetGala

OPEN LETTER: HISTORIANS FOR TRANS RIGHTS Are you a historian in the UK or working on UK history fed up at seeing the history of LGBTQIA+ discrimination repeat itself? Sign this open letter to MPs demanding they stand up for trans rights now! Letter: tinyurl.com/879vuver Sign: tinyurl.com/4p7wktrn

Just heard a great talk from @corinnefowler.bsky.social on her project on walking in the countryside and unpacking its colonial history. Lots to think about - and a helpful reminder that the data shows many rural towns were once *more* diverse than they are now, not less!