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...

"trees maintain a cooler temperature than the surrounding urban surfaces as much as 15 degrees in the hottest times of the day" Trees are a quieter way to cool our cities - on.ft.com/3Jpv8Zg via @financialtimes.com

It was known as the 'St Kilda Parliament' and consisted of all the adult males on the island. www.ambaile.org.uk/asset/38917/

Blasket Islands had a similar romantic appeal as St Kilda, also had a parliament for the men to make communal decisions. www.marxists.org/history/etol...

I missed this earlier. Sad news: a great historian and a great tutor. www.some.ox.ac.uk/news/barbara...

122. This is one of the many arguments against considering the ‘History is philosophy teaching by examples’ line to be authentic T. He doesn’t mention ‘history’, he doesn’t talk about philosophy, and he doesn’t believe in exemplarity. But apart from that…

66. T.’s political opinions are a black box; his overt statements are always equivocal, and might always relate to specific circumstances rather than reflect general principles.

56. Lucian suggested that a historian should be ‘apolites’, a man without a polis - a man without loyalties that might sway his judgement. T. is a plausible model for this idea…

16. The first great reader of Thucydides is Lucian, in ‘How to Write History’, who discerns his qualities through contrast with lots of terrible would-be imitators.

One like, one Thucydides opinion.

Let's say it again, "the economy" is entirely dependent on the environment. No economy on a dead planet, no #PublicHealth on #biodiversity-depleted islands www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Water meadows, floated not flooded, artificial not natural. Irrigation, the purpose is not only water supply for grass, enables early spring grass growth as chalk spring water is warmer than air, if the river water carries nutrients, it also fertilises grass, made on most chalk streams in Wessex.

The draft Local Nature Recovery Strategy is open for comment until 11 Sept. The LNRS describes our most precious habitats in Cambridgeshire & Peterborough, including chalk streams & fen habitats. For benefit of future generations & our non-human kin yourvoice.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/lnrs/consult...

<cracks knuckles> www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub...

HELLO! Well, there goes the rest of my morning ... #EarlyModern 🗃️

So on this analysis of the Lords, something I've personally got stuck on in our work is how much it makes sense to apply standards for MPs to Lords www.tortoisemedia.com/2024/11/20/t...

But it's also a great example of my wider point that the "expertise" version of an appointed house is inherently corruption friendly. Part-time Peers who have other interests are part of the point - and then the argument is made because of the scale tracking it is "burdensome".

I didn't know that Helen Cam was a significant figure in the Cambridge Labour party lostcambridge.wordpress.com/2020/06/14/p....

Partout dans le monde, des records de chaleur pulvérisés à cause du changement climatique www.liberation.fr/environnemen...

Charles Frederick Tunnicliffe (1 December 1901 – 7 February 1979) was a major visual influence on my childhood. House Sparrows feeding on wheat, a story about abundance, about a pest, which became a beloved bird (for many people) which became scarce.

Couldn't make the lecture so really enjoyed this by Lyndal Roper: about the Peasants' War, but also about popular history writing and why it needs to be more creative and less constrained by chronological narrative www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWPM...

This is a wonderful thread - taking what you can see in the Ladybird image and thinking about it through land use, how humans respond to change, need, and their surroundings, over time, through law, farming, observation, and art.

Maybe? I wrote a review essay assessing a recent argument for a kind of democratic localism and don't really find it all that persuasive. More generally, I'm just trying to think through the analysis of the moment & its challenge; so, diagnosis, but not prescription yet. bsky.app/profile/kjep...

Researching the Swiss tariff regime on agricultural products, I am reminded of this gem. Swiss MP just cannot stop laughing. www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBeL...