Advance notice on this #OnePlaceWednesday of a Northumberland Archives #HouseHistory Workshop, Researching the History of your House. This will take place on Wednesday March 18th from 9.30am to 11.30am GMT, at County Hall, Morpeth. Follow the link for more info and to book a free place.

This looks brilliant - A call for children’s folklore!! 👇👇👇 “What do those who were kids in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s remember about the things they believed or told each other? … OR things a child you know has told you in the last five years?”

Just over two weeks left to submit your abstracts! Had quite a few already. Please share with your networks. Welcoming colleagues across time periods and disciplines!

"The mission of Living Streets has always been close to my heart. I am hugely excited at having the privilege of leading the charity as it expands its vital work.” Meet @johnstreetdales.bsky.social, our Chair-elect https://www.livingstreets.org.uk/press-media/new-chair-announced-for-living-streets/

The New World asked me to speak to some British trans women about what life has been like for them over the past few years - here's what they had to say, in their own words: www.thenewworld.co.uk/marie-le-con...

We’re thrilled to share this AHRC-funded PhD opportunity from Swansea University @swanseauni “Serious about Play: Childhood, Play and Policymaking in Wales, 1945 to present” explores how Wales developed its own distinct stance of child’s play through the examination of postwar Welsh childhoods.

🔊🔊 Episode 2 of our mini-series on authoritarian urbanism is out with @urbanpolitical.bsky.social. I discuss emergent and intensifying authoritarian practices w/ @nitin-bathla.bsky.social @alkejenss.bsky.social @sdwolfe.bsky.social @ebrukurtozman.bsky.social open.spotify.com/show/5PaTdRP...

Mooted social media ban for under 16s, instead of tighter regulations for social media companies. Reminiscent of efforts to remove children from streets instead of addressing road danger - caused by drivers and dangerous road layouts.

Our first Green Team volunteering session of the year is on Saturday, 24 January, 10am to 12.30pm. We'll be doing some practical grassland management work, removing invasive species by the River Team, and joining in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch. More info: www.tynederwentway.co.uk/article/2736...

Hello and welcome to the Irish Historic Towns Atlas BlueSky page! The IHTA is a long-term research programme housed by @ria.ie with the aim to record the topographical development and history of towns across the island of Ireland. To date, 32 atlases have been produced with many more in the works.

'The report found that early career academics experience sector uncertainty “very differently” to those more advanced in their careers, and that early career academics believed more senior colleagues “struggled to understand and accommodate” their experiences.' 3/3

So long to Claudette Colvin, who made history by refusing racial segregation on buses, paid a mighty price for it, and long lived in the shadow of Rosa Parks (who herself lived in the shadow of MLK). This biography is very good and accessible 👇

How can locating women, children and diversity in the #archives be used in the present? Incl. @jessamycarlson.bsky.social from The National Archives and @lizzybarchivist.bsky.social from @northeastmuseums.bsky.social #Genealogy #genealogists #familyhistory #archivists #museums #divorce #marriage

Revamped website for @transportfornewhomes.org.uk - lots of research showing the gap between the good words in planning policy on sustainable transport and then what actually built on the ground: www.transportfornewhomes.org.uk

The DfT is doing some consultation on the new Manual for Streets with professional bodies and others (I don't know the full list). As I understand it, there will be three sections and section A was released just before Xmas with a response deadline just after.

“Around six months after the cyber incident I talked to the then chair of the science select committee, who was not aware of this incident” w o w

Really enjoyed presenting the work of the @historictownstrust.bsky.social and the @varchgroup.bsky.social winter conference. Great fun and lots of interest. www.historictownstrust.uk

Owls hooting and the football fans roaring here in Newcastle. A thin layer of snow on Armstrong Bridge.

Back in print! The Radburn Idea 1. Also available, The Radburn Idea 2! Stories of how postwar English architects and planners attempted to produce pedestrian-friendly, car-free housing estates. £10 each, postage free. For sale here: theradburnidea.bigcartel.com

Parking on the pavement in London has been illegal for 52 years and in the rest of the UK it's just a fact of life. Central government just opted against a blanket national ban. Anyway here's an excellent advert from when it was banned in London: www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8Yg...

“These new powers do not go far enough to protect pedestrians. It’s disappointing not to see a nationwide prohibition.” Our @charitycat.bsky.social responds to the news that local authorities will receive legal powers to restrict pavement parking. https://www.livingstreets.org.uk/pavement-parking

I call on my party and my government to remove themselves entirely from X and communicate with the public where they actually participate online and can be protected from such illegality.

Commenting as Govt launch a road safety strategy. Every death on our roads is unacceptable. We need a Vision Zero ethos: no deaths or serious injury. Change driving culture, reject speeding, use speed-limiting tech, strengthen sentences, end ‘accident’ language. Driving is a privilege, not a right.

Have started a new job which means I am going to be spending a lot of time on the @tynederwentway.bsky.social in 2026. This week meeting new colleagues in the snow!

Notwithstanding all this, the cover of the new Road Safety Strategy shows three mothers with children on a zebra crossing. It feels an awful lot like they’re not really the focus of the strategy.

Please sign and share. @playengland.bsky.social @playscotland.bsky.social @playwales.bsky.social secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/...

The Road Safety Strategy is an opportunity to address the dangers pedestrians face every day, but the vision should be for zero people to lose their lives. We should not accept that a certain number of people will die on our roads. livingstreets.org.uk/RSScomment

The article really uses the words "a modern, high-quality retail destination" then follows with a photo of a drive-thru Starbucks and a massive 1960s parking lot. The two further stories about #UKCarCulture you can link to on the side make this quite the primary document of life in our times.

I've crossed this pedestrian overpass many times, but didn't know about this history. Incredible how much pedestrian and cycling infrastructure has come into being only through political struggle.

Councils struggling to get kids to sign up for swimming lessons in shark infested waters. Like something out of @tomflood.bsky.social Rovélo Record....

We've had another go over night here. If you've had snow or it's turned to ice, I'd love to hear your views about clearing it.

I’ve begun a new research project and now escape today’s madness by rifling through pre-1914 cycling magazines. I’ll share stuff here and there on this thread, starting with …

Walk from Souter Lighthouse to Seaburn and back today. Am in awe of the people who thought it was a good day for surfing in the North Sea.

If Santa brought you some book tokens, do consider my book as an option. I chart the history of protest in public spaces in England over the last 150 years. Event at Housmans bookshop on 21st January housmans.com/events/

9️⃣ The ninth entry on our 2025 Coming of Age list of the best British architecture now eligible for national heritage listing is Hope House in Hampton, by ZED Factory (1994-95). Bill & Sue Dunster’s experimental home was the prototype for the later BedZED project. ➡️ c20society.org.uk/coming-of-ag...

This was a puzzle with its Victorian and 80s-90s houses. Turns out that after starting life as cottage homes for girls it was an approved school from the 30s-70s @jessamycarlson.bsky.social

CALLING ALL ARCHITECTS- does anyone know what the perforations at the bottom of the parapet, just above the cornice are? Have you seen them before and do have an inkling on what purpose might they have? The picture is of a bungalow from the 1860-70s in Bangalore, India!

Boxing Day morning coffee and new books. This edited by Simon Gunn @petermandler.bsky.social @osaumarezsmith.bsky.social is a real treat. Highly recommend.

A lovely article about Mike Mould and the Bruvvers theatre company who were a central part of the cultural life of Byker and beyond from the 1970s.

Government's proposed new National River Walk a damp squib says @openspacessociety.bsky.social -it's not new, but on existing rights of way. Priority should be green paper on access to nature, and new legislation. www.oss.org.uk/new-national... @ramblers.org.uk @naturalengland.bsky.social

Backed this book on Margaret Calvert, “Woman at Work”, months ago; by sheer coincidence it arrived just before Christmas. One for fans of wayfinding, graphic design and typography. @thebeautyoftransport.com @themodernist.bsky.social @marktewdwr-jones.bsky.social

🐝The TCPA Archive now includes The Bulletin of Environmental Education (BEE), which was beloved by teachers & students. This blog revisits ‘Wildlands for Children’ by Roger Hart (The BEE, Feb 1983) which discusses the value of wild greenspaces as play areas. archive.tcpa.org.uk/posts/news/2...

I’ve been to two of these conferences and they’re very lovely! They’re also super welcoming to children’s literature so if you don’t think of yourself as a historian don’t automatically count yourself out!

Come to Bristol on 12th March! A day-conference bringing together people from across this wide and diverse movement for children's freedom and right to play out near home. Great speakers, lots of discussion. Low-cost and free ticket options! Don't miss it. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/celebratin...

‘A DfT spokesperson said: “We have committed £616m to Active Travel England up to 2030’ - a pretty paltry sum. www.the guardian.com/politics/2025/dec/07/active-travel-groups-call-for-clear-targets-on-walking-and-cycling-in-england

I couldn’t fit this in the review, but it was a joy to have a strange augmented experience reading this with google street view and the NLS historic maps layers open, it brought the pages to life in a really marvellous way maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/...

In The Observer, I’ve reviewed Songs Of Seven Dials: @tricksterprince.bsky.social’s fascinating, detailed history of the changing streets of Covent Garden through the early c20th. From race to jingoistic media to gentrification, a book full of resonances today observer.co.uk/culture/book...

Day 6 of #sketchpadvent shows a Basil Spence illustration of Coventry Cathedral from his 1962 book Phoenix at Coventry

Tomorrow I'll be talking through the political process we went through on Wirral to get outdoor play on our council Work Programme. Join the latest @playingout.bsky.social webinar if you can! Lots of other good stuff on the agenda as well 😎😀 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/restoring-...