I went to check in on Gulliver’s foot and ankle this afternoon – one of the most interesting listed ruins in Edinburgh. c20society.org.uk/news/remnant...

The whole of the UK voted for Brexit. Sunderland was nowhere near the highest Brexit vote, they were just the 1st to declare.

One of the Collective's PhD students, Lily Tidman, is recruiting interviewees for her project! Lily is interested in interviewing people who volunteered in hospitals in Cumbria, Northumberland, and County Durham, 1979-1997. For more info, get in touch with Lily via email. #oralhistory

This is the south Tyneside reform rabble that were elected as councillors. A handful of women in there. 11 out of 41 reform cllrs are women.

There’s quite a collection of such photos!

All 10 of the new Reform councillors elected in North Tyneside are men. Of the other 10, there are 3 Labour women, one Green woman, and one independent woman. So 5 women, 15 men elected yesterday. Would need to check the gender balance of the whole council.

Less talked about is the number of women elected. Would be interested to know what this looks like elsewhere. Newcastle down to 20 women out of 78 councillors: Lib Dems - 6 women Greens - 6 women Reform 7 women Independent 1 woman There were previously 32 women, including 19 of Labour’s 34 seats

I'll be back at @activetravelcaf.bsky.social on Tuesday where I'm going to be talking about a burger. Well BBQ season is starting after all. Sign up here: www.activetravelcafe.org.uk

All change in Newcastle. Inner city gone Green, north Lib Dem and outer east and west Reform.

A little bump for our event PLAYING WITH HISTORY - "This event brings together scholars, educators, and practitioners interested in examining how play—across its many forms—shapes, reflects, and reimagines the past." www.northampton.ac.uk/research/res... 🗃️

📣 Calling all historians of activism and social movements! We're planning a new undergrad module on Power and Protest in 19th/20th century Britain and we would LOVE your ideas on existing and emerging research. Key questions are "what is protest?" and "who gets to protest?" and topics include...

"Many environmental organisations in Britain in the 1980s and 1990s were sponsored by companies, including oil companies." Paul Merchant uses oral history to examine the links between corporate sponsorship and environmental activism in 1980s and 1990s Britain.

You can download the report from here…https://playingout.net/take-action/nationally/a-child-lens-on-streets-and-transport-policy

NEW Streets Ahead EPISODE! 🚨 Children and streets with @aliceferguson.bsky.social and Tim Gill. The impact of cars on children amounts to a 100-year pandemic hiding in plain sight, they say, following the launch of their new report. Listen here: shows.acast.com/5e8ee3bc4fc2...

Fantastic set of perspectives here on resources, mobility, and public space, with Martin Tillman, Eunhye Enki Yoo, Levke Sönksen, and the @urbancyclinginstitute.org's @cyclingprofessor.bsky.social.

Powerful story about the experience of Somali families in Barton Hill, Bristol and the action they took to create space for children to play outdoors & its impact: “It’s like being back home. You come outside, talk to neighbours, there are people all around, children playing. It’s like the village”

Look mam I’m on the radio Thank you @leighsus.bsky.social for getting me out the house to talk about the cool things we’re up to!

On 9 June, join me & @yosra999.bsky.social for a conversation with authors @sgoodyear.bsky.social & @brooklynspoke.bsky.social about Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile. With Azbah Ansari, Sadok Damak, @reenamahajan.bsky.social, & Gabriela García Portuondo.

And now, a cyclist killed on this stretch of road, two drivers arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving. Five years ago, the council planned - and had funding for - a safe cycle path along this road. They dragged their feet, the Tories riled up opposition, and the council gave up. I'm so angry.

The Transporter Bridge has been included on this year's Top Ten Endangered Buildings List by the Victorian Society, a charity dedicated to protecting Victorian and Edwardian architecture | North East Bylines

Join us tomorrow to learn more about the St Andrews map created by the Historic Towns Trust. This talk is the finale in our 2026 webinar collaboration with the Historic Towns Trust @historictownstrust.bsky.social Find out more: www.balh.org.uk/event-balh-t... #WeAreLocalHistory

Good morning! The first version of our Route Builder is now OPEN on the link below! If you use it over the weekend please let me know what you think and let me know what you find 🍻

Read more about our new Radical Histories book series in our blog post @manchesterup.bsky.social manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/blog/2026/04...

And if you can't make this, I'm speaking the night before at @ihrlifecycles.bsky.social at 5.30pm at the Institute of Historical Research www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

London-based #skystorians (and other interested parties!). My London book launch for WE HAVE COME TO BE DESTROYED: GROWING UP IN COLD WAR BRITAIN is at Waterstones Gower St on Weds 13th May at 6.30pm, and I'd love to see you there! Book tickets here: www.waterstones.com/events/we-ha... #histchild

I'm pleased to announce I'm a founding co-editor of the new @manchesterup.bsky.social book series, Radical Histories. Do let me know if you have a proposal for a book that fits our inclusive remit on radical histories. manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/series/radic...

New: Communities face spiralling fuel prices, exacerbating transport poverty and car dependence - and many need car-free alternatives for short trips. I've spoken to successful greenway campaigners, and produced a toolkit! so others can help assemble low-carbon transport routes in their areas

"UK city doing the least to improve car dominated public space" has to be the urban planning category with the toughest competition.

For the last couple of years, I've been researching "play and hanging out" in Jarrow (South Tyneside) with a bunch of fabulous colleagues. Our final report offers a detailed account of spaces for play in Jarrow, using a "play sufficiency" lens and qualitative, observational & participatory methods:

bumping this for the #GreenSky #EnvHist #Booksky #infrastructure crowds: free e-book about wildlife conservation, coastlines, and infrastructure!! I'll put a review in the next post

🚨 Conference booking open 🚨 Blood is the price of coal: Coal communities, health and welfare in Britain from the 19th century to the present 18 June 2026, University of Warwick Booking form and additional information about the programme available at warwick.ac.uk/services/lib...

Thinking about my Iranian friends, their families and all of those who are worrying about what comes next.

Also on my North Tyneside travels - On another bit of waggonway, often flagged by concerns of “anti-social behaviour”, I spotted two goals and a swing, young people claiming this space, it seems positively. I only hope their play is tolerated (or indeed supported).

Starting a signs of play thread. We’re always hearing about how children don’t play outside anymore, but that’s not the whole story. Cycling often takes you through neighbourhoods where there is no through traffic. This is where you’re most likely to see signs of play.

I've just written up a blog post about play and Pride in Place. There's so much more to say, and likely much more to come, but I wanted to try to make an early argument for play to figure centrally in Pride in Place programmes and reflect on what's already emerging: blogs.ncl.ac.uk/alisonstenni...

My first journal article, Moral Panic in the Industrial Town, explores a very Scottish 1960s crisis. academic.oup.com/tcbh/article...

Will be interesting to see if ministers publish guidance on what new youth clubs could contain. Here’s the Ministry of Education’s guide from 1961. archive.org/details/6101... People younger than me, how does it look?

April is my favourite month. Today a cycle to the coast to see friends. I love the waggonways at this time of year.

Morning! If you’re someone who loves walking/cycling & history, I’ve built a walking planner & companion for the website. You put where you want to walk, and it will automatically pop up with historic sites from our project and of listed structures. Let me explain a bit more!

“A street car passenger requires an average of only six square feet of street space; an automobile passenger requires eight times as much.”

This is not a 'masculinity crisis', it's a misogyny crisis. This is not a problem with 'masculinity'-- millions of men model positive masculinity every day. This is a problem of male violence. Stop calling it 'masculinity'. www.theguardian.com/education/20...

As this article says, there’s nothing new about mass teenage gatherings. What’s changed is young people turning to social media to arrange meet-ups that would have happened in specific public spaces in the past. These spaces are often highly regulated now.

Longer reflection on Westminster's semi-permanent play streets here. This is a remarkable and bold scheme – all credit to the team – and demonstrates an approach that other local authorities could consider, another tool in the campaign to restore children’s freedom to play on their doorsteps.

EVENT: Voices of Experience intergenerational conversations reveal a wide scope of what is defined as architectural work, how it takes place and how this knowledge enters culture. This talk will reflect on the project's outputs. Learn more: sahgb.org.uk/whatson/inaugural-annual-conversation-2026

For our final webinar in collaboration with the Historic Towns Trust, we're looking at the St Andrews map they've created. Find out more: www.balh.org.uk/event-balh-t... #WeAreLocalHistory #LocalHistoryForAll @historictownstrust.bsky.social

Over the last century we’ve designed children out of our streets. Who is making decisions about this? It’s the adults. Children are rarely considered in transport planning and this report sets out what we need to do to change this, by offering a ‘child lens’.

May I draw attention to this (it’s also preceded by a workshop for students/ECRs organised by @thesahgb.bsky.social networks: www.sahgb.org.uk/whatson/inau...

Do you know of someone who might be interested in doing a #PhD on the urban, architectural and environmental history of the University of Liverpool? If so could you point them in my direction?

@newcastleuni.bsky.social will be hosting the British General Strike of 1926: New Directions of Research conference on 7-8 May. Tickets (no charge) for the event go live today at 9am. We have an excellent programme of speakers. Supported by @leverhulme.ac.uk @sslh.bsky.social @ialhi.bsky.social

If you happen to be going to Brussels -- new exhibtion "Designing Childhood" opens April 1 designmuseum.brussels/en/designing...