you cannot sit motionless in the heart of these perils

Here, here!

relevant again today.

I wonder what proportion of these papers reweighted their analytical sample to account for UK Biobank's extreme selection bias? More to the point, I wonder what proportion of the authors on these papers are even aware of the issue with selection bias in UK Biobank? #EpiSky #CausalSky

Dickie Bird obituary

Rest in Peace Dickie. You were and are an absolute legend.

An important counter narrative to the recent headlines — actual journalism about the daily lives of asylum seekers in the UK www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Core work hollowed out to feed the beast. I have a lot of sympathy for how hard it is to run a uni in this messed-up funding system. But that should lead managers to advocate to changes to the system, not knowingly push the risk & the pain on some of the most vulnerable. www.ft.com/content/3f49...

Early bird registration and bursary applications are now open for Theoretical Archaeology Group (TAG) conference 2025 in lovely York: tag2025.hosted.york.ac.uk/en/registrat...

“Paused” majors at Syracuse include Classics, Modern Jewish Studies, and Religion, as well as French, German, Italian, Russian

“Syracuse University paused admission to 20 majors in the College of Arts and Sciences without faculty input” dailyorange.com/2025/09/coll...

A fraudster sets up an account in your name with security questions to which only they know the answer. You talk to the govt agency who can't talk because you don't know the fraudster's security answers. You appeal but have to continue paying back the loan. www.theguardian.com/money/2025/s...

"history is also going to remember the cowards who definitely knew better but still let things happen—whether it was for money, convenience, or just comfort. Use ... the only phrase that can genuinely make a weak bully go away: F**k you. Make me.”" www.pajiba.com/news/john-ol...

BBC News - Ctrl Alt Deleaf blows away competition as new leaf-busting train name www.bbc.com/news/article...

This has been a concerning trend for a while. #profjohnfriedman #criticalthinking #curriculum

As we keep saying: when the humanities are in trouble, the sciences are, too; generally, at UK universities, the sciences are cross-subsidised by the arts and humanities. www.theguardian.com/education/20...

‘Other countries would have preserved it’: Yemenis mourn the demolition of historic mud-brick palaces | Global development | The Guardian share.google/U3otJfWif09d...

This was the flag in question.

This was the #flag shown in my previous post. The message could be interpreted as a death threat against a local MP. #Flags BBC News - Arrest over flag with 'threatening message' on York city walls - BBC News www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

This free online event in October from Dig Ventures looks like a wonderful opportunity for anyone with an interest in archaeology, gaming or technology in general 👇 digventures.com/product/reim...

Early modern name of the day: Mrs Easter Trollop, who consulted Napier in September 1626. @lsangha.bsky.social

The fact that Your Party is developing organised factions before it even has a name or formal membership reminds me of the old joke about two Trot parties walk into a unity meeting and four walk out

This was in York earlier this week. Note the misspelling of the name of the MP for York Central - her name is Maskell - yet here it has been rendered as 'Maskill'. This is the tone of the flag raising in York. C.f. my previous post on the estimated cost to the council (£¼m).

@eringloriaryan.bsky.social This was the full projection on Windsor Castle - youtu.be/K8V4VNBw078?... Led by Donkeys have done this kind of thing a lot.

For all those looking for an alternative to Academia Edu.

If you’re on academia dot edu, let me suggest that you strongly consider deleting your account.

The best advice to students beginning university can be summed up as: if in doubt, ask your teachers (or librarians, or student support staff, etc. as relevant) and not the plagiarism robot. The Guardian can send my fee to my PO Box.

A very happy feast of Hildegard of Bingen to all nuns and medievalists!

My latest cartoon for @newscientist.com p.s. this week I am on a USA/Canada tour with my new book. Details and preorder links at tomgauld.com

It melts my head that X is still used for official Government communications, and, catching up on today's news and the fact we have a foreign billionaire inciting violence on our streets, it's clearer than ever that this should end. I raised this in Parliament last week 👇

Elon Musk openly called for violence on our streets yesterday. I hope politicians from all parties come together to condemn his deeply dangerous and irresponsible rhetoric. Britain must stand united against this clear attempt to undermine our democracy.

Helen Adelaide Wood (1860-1927) was a botanical artist and scientific illustrator known for her illustrations held at the Natural History Museum of Jamaica. Her artwork collection has been inscribed on the UNESCO Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Memory of the World Register.

#Nuntastic www.bbc.com/news/article...

As someone who has been open about having mental health issues and who has been homeless, I have sadly heard these attitudes. It underlines how 'pro-life' they actually are. It also shows how distorted their 'Christian values' are. To quote John 11:35 - Jesus wept.

www.bbc.com/news/article.... #trains

The cost of dealing with #flags and associated graffiti in the City of York Council area has been estimated at over £¼m.

The idea that there needs to be immediate ROI on historical and archeological research is ... so very business school. The tapestry of humanity cannot be seen by a single thread, yet a single thread can change how we see the tapestry.

I have recently spent multiple hours researching a particular topic in the history and archaeology of medicine which might prima facie appearing to be 'hobbyist research' and yet if you look a bit deeper not only does it change our perception of the past it opens up possible modern day applications.

One of the major issues affecting geopolitics at the moment has its roots in the misunderstanding, misuse, and abuse of medieval history and archaeology including in current 'identity politics'. Knowing how these things go, work on this area would likely be classed as 'hobbyist research'.

My first full-time academic contract expected me, like my colleagues, to engage in research leading to publications of high academic quality. Offered one term of leave in 7 years to support it, & negligible funding, pocket money basically. So basically “unfunded hobbyist“ was contractual expectation

Historian of science here: it’s worth pointing out that getting paid for doing research is a fairly recent thing. William Harvey did his research as a hobby, as it were. So did Charles Darwin.

You what now? Who gets to define 'hobbyist'? The REF 'funds' research. Anti-intellectual, utilitarian, ignorant approach from the UUK president.

Can share this again now that the paper has been published: www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

Help maybe? I'm trying to finalise a grant budget and include some £££ for artistic reconstructions but I haven't had much luck getting estimated costs. I'd LOVE to pay real artists for this...but if I don't know how much to cost for I can't really budget for it.

Why am I not surprised that people yelling about English culture don't appear to actually care about heritage and history? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I made some short explanations of Ancient Greek Pottery shapes for my classes: ✨Part 1: common shapes✨