21 years ago today I thought, huh, looks interesting, and created a Wikipedia account. Things sort of snowballed from there. It's been fun. 21 thoughts on Wikipedia, in no particular order: 🧵

Our special section of the Transactions of the @royalhistsoc.org on 'Parliamentary Culture and Indigenous Traditions of Assembly in the Americas and South and East Asia, c.1500–1700', co-ed with @pseaward.bsky.social & Jim van der Meulen is out! www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

UK House of Commons: @commonsproccom.parliament.uk has launched an inquiry undertaking a detailed review of Written Parliamentary Questions (WPQs) committees.parliament.uk/committee/12... Find written questions and answers questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-ques... #opengov #FOI -relevant

Here's a full list of all the new things on TheyWorkForYou from last week www.mysociety.org/2025/10/23/t...

This is quite a story: the US employed every strongarm tactic available, including personal threats against delegates and their families, to derail an agreement on reducing shipping emissions that was almost finalized. on.ft.com/47lq3dZ

The notion of an ailing body politic feels sadly relevant today. My November blogpost reflects on a workshop held in September that explored how the notion of the body politic was deployed by republican writers in the C17 and C18. www.rachelhammersley.com/new-blog/2025/10/28/republican-bodies

This feels like a timely story today

NEW BLOG: The Modernisation Committee: revisiting past experience The committee's new chair, Alan Campbell, might usefully study the committee’s 1997–2010 predecessor Tom Fleming & @hannahkelly.bsky.social summarise the key findings from a new article reviewing the previous committee's record

Really enjoyed recording this discussion with David Runciman, covering threats to democracy, early 20thc theories of oligarchy, how algorithmic social media is changing politics, the problem with 19thc approaches to suffrage - and much, much more!

A neat tool I just came across: Viabundus, a digital road map of northern Europe 1350-1650, that lets you calculate contemporary travel routes/times. In 1500, going Amiens → Köln by horse took almost 7 days and 13 toll payments. #medievalsky www.landesgeschichte.uni-goettingen.de/handelsstras...

Deze cartoon over #covid blijft actueel. Uiterst zorgwekkend dat verkiezingsdebatten elke keer weer vrijwel uitsluitend over die eerste gehypete golven gaan, terwijl politici en media dondersgoed (kunnen) weten welke heel veel grotere golven er op ons afkomen. De olifant in de kamer. #DontLookUp

Do you have a memory so vivid you can relive it as if it's happening all over again? Researchers - incl. Professor of Modern History, Alexandra Walsham - have launched a public survey to help unlock the secrets of vivid memory & find ways to help better recall past experiences. Add your memories ⬇️

We are thrilled to share the CFP for our Symposium, Politics and Culture of the Late Stuart Court, 1649-1714. We hope to bring together a range of interdisciplinary research on this complex and understudied period! #EarlyModern #CfP

The House gave the speaker recess authority (‘when no question is pending’) in 1993. As for adjournment authority (‘at any time’ during a district work period):

“Yet another threat to humanity” World’s oceans losing their greenness, study finds. Researchers say decline in phytoplankton suggests weakened planetary capacity to absorb CO2. Dire implications for climate, food chain & oxygen levels. Story by me www.theguardian.com/environment/...

The History of Parliament team were very sad to hear of the recent death of Professor Michael Rush. A pioneering scholar of parliament, Professor Rush's work on the social background of MPs and resulting Database stands as a fundamental source for generations of historians and political scientists.

Michael Rush and the Database historyofparliament.com/2025/10/15/m...

‘The sect of Alarmists’: The Third Party and the reluctant leadership of William Windham, 1793-4 historyofparliament.com/2025/10/02/t...

But the chamber of the House of Commons never was and never could be a place to be an effective legislator and thinker. It's not really what it can be for. It's for (and has been since the at least the late C18th) the presentation of a case to the public, not for the creative discussion of them.

« Il est grand temps de rejoindre nos voisins européens, qui ont tous recours à la proportionnelle »

Just published w/ @snfschlee.bsky.social & @ryanswift93.bsky.social! We find that accompanying interviewees around the UK Parliament "allowed us to directly experience the estate...and the ongoing negotiations and interactions which produce it as a living site". www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

protonsforbreakfast.wordpress.com/2025/10/10/w... Why you should care about Net Zero. My attempt to sum it up in 450 words for the good people of Maidenhead.

29 'missing' Hen Harriers & nearly 40 birds of prey poisoned, trapped or shot in Yorkshire Dales National Park since 2015. Not so much a National Park - more of a National Disgrace. #RaptorResearch #WildlifeCrime #Ornithology #Yorkshire raptorpersecutionuk.org/2025/10/04/2...

📢 Lugg Meadow, the UK’s largest remaining Lammas meadow, is under threat from housing plans. A rare habitat, rich in wildlife and tradition, could be irreversibly damaged. 🚫 We’ve objected to the proposal. Now it’s your turn. 👉 Have your say: https://loom.ly/-yNvG6g

Who did what in early modern England? New #OpenAccess book, 'The Experience of Work in Early Modern England' by @jwhittle.bsky.social, @markhailwood.bsky.social, @hkrobb.bsky.social & @aucointaylor.bsky.social, based on thousands of #EarlyModern court depositions 🗃️ Read it: doi.org/10.1017/9781...

Agree - I am much more concerned about staff budgets (the number one complaint I hear is 'I want to be able to hire a proper office manager'), which I think do create an asymmetry between parliament and government and also make it harder for MPs to be effective.

I think a lot of this is primarily about what many of us in the media now rewards. I chaired quite a few fringes at Labour conference, and at all of them I walked away impressed by the quality of all the MPs and their contributions.

The European Commission has proposed delaying the EU's flagship anti-deforestation law for the second year in a row as it continues its war on red tape.

Villagers are ripping invasive plants from the banks. Trout habitats are being restored. Wildlife is being tracked. But one thing still poisons the Cam: sewage pouring from treatment works. Kate Moore reports #BigRiverWatch

Had a very interesting day in Bloomsbury at the 'What is a Parliament?' workshop organised by @stephenholdenbates.bsky.social @benworthy.bsky.social and @pseaward.bsky.social Thanks to them and to all the speakers who gave such thought-provoking papers!

As parliament goes into conference recess, we're re-sharing @alfiesteer.bsky.scoial's #HistParl article from 2023 on Labour's 1993 conference, where the system of All-Women Shortlists for parliamentary selections were endorsed for the first time.

ohhh this is something I keep meaning to write about - think an underrated dynamic in Westminster is that becoming an MP or a peer (usually Tory but clearly sometimes Labour) will push you into a world of people richer than you and some people can resist those siren calls but....not everyone will

In the 1895 General Election the newly formed Independent Labour Party contested a number of seats including Preston. The newly digitised ILP archive at the LSE (free access on-line) gives an idea of some of the issues, relevant now as then wp.me/p15p2Q-eK0

Check out this RHS blog post by our author @mctom.bsky.social on his new book, Waterscapes, published #OpenAccess in our #NewHistoricalPerspectives series! @royalhistsoc.org @ihr.bsky.social blog.royalhistsoc.org/2025/08/28/w... The book can be downloaded from our website and read for free.

Patterns in Orvieto.

Very sorry to hear of the death of Prof Michael Rush, formerly of Exeter University. He was both an excellent scholar and a lovely kind man, always supportive of his colleagues and fellow academics.

Today marks the anniversary of the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Prevention Act receiving royal assent in 1883. My new post for @histparl.bsky.social looks at the Act's impact on election expenditure and electoral corruption: historyofparliament.com/2025/08/25/1...

My fundamental point is that No10 is about politics. It isn't a great place for originating ideas. They are often wacky, biased by whoever just walked in, too influenced by the short term. And never wholly focused on growth. But it *is* the place where powerful political cards can be played 6/

New article out from me, in which I consider: what if I'm wrong about everything re: what's important for a flourishing democracy? I use a recent book attacking institutions & advocating disintermediated localism to explore the limits of my view. Get it free here: academic.oup.com/psq/advance-...

Extremely helpful from @pkrugman.bsky.social about why markets' reaction to Trump's attempts to abolish the foundations of American prosperity have been so muted, even as he's gone after Fed independence: paulkrugman.substack.com/p/why-arent-... It's even got a political epistemology angle.

Died #OTD 1877, William Schaw Lindsay. From destitute orphan to shipping tycoon and then MP, Lindsay certainly experienced a remarkable rise. Although his time in the Commons was less spectacular, his path still managed to intertwine with a number of major events: buff.ly/iUIpI8E

🐝Hivemind🐝 Do I know anyone who's a specialist in the history of the memoir, or can recommend any work about it? Looking specifically at military memoirs, but welcome any info about the format - I'm interested in how conventions might have shifted during the 19thc.

In defence of procedure: Gaines Post in 1946 on Quod Omnes Tangit

Without formal education beyond age 16, Roy Strong became one of the most powerful civil servants in Westminster:- ukcivilservant.substack.com/p/the-most-p...