“it is illegal for you not to like me”

Still full of bad, bad, bad Covid and craving Jewish chicken soup but unable to cook so comfort watching videos of other people making it and my god no you cannot use a rotisserie chicken and stock cubes, have some respect

ICE detain father shopping on Christmas Eve—then steal his family's groceries. Then 3 agents divvy up his paid for food—taking what they want for themselves. "Can I just get the wife's number to call and let her know?" woman asks. "No, guess he should've complied," agent says. Yakima, Washington

Fifteen of those twenty years were spent writing unsuccessful grant applications.

No worries, just me crying my eyes out for Christmas. What a truly wonderful story. Not about charity or pity but about truly seeing another person as a fellow human being.

Extremely funny to call the pope “holier-than-thou”

The open letter is here and still open, but use the email at the top to do so. tinyurl.com/bbcwaccampaign

The best Christmas present for my book crazy little three: a new library right in the city centre

PhD Funding! University of Leeds The School of History invites applicants from Black, Asian and other minoritised ethnic groups who wish to study for a PhD commencing in the academic year 2026/27 to apply for the School of History Access to Research Scholarship. phd.leeds.ac.uk/funding/387-...

When your surgeon's absolutely buzzing to be in a Santa suit. Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, 1913

14 two-year postdocs for academics of any nationality who cannot continue their research due to US politics. Do share if you know of such.

We have responded to the OfS consultation on quality regulation. We welcome some proposals, including the expansion of TEF to all providers. Yet we are concerned about proposals to transform the TEF’s core aims and raise the stakes of TEF performance. Here are our key takeaways:

Me, an academic: standardised tests are extremely problematic and biased and flawed Me, a parent: SOMEONE ASK ME ABOUT MY OLDEST’S YEAR 2 NATIONAL STANDARD TEST SCORES

-- historians of death and dying -- I'm looking for any studies of men dying from illness/old age as opposed to '''exceptional''' circs i.e., war, execution

A nice surprise this morning: my article on prison reform from below is out! I believe it’s open access but let me know if you can’t get a copy and would like one. academic.oup.com/histres/adva...

📣You have just under a month to send in your proposal for our 2026 Social History Society Conference - where we will be celebrating out 50th anniversary! 👉Find out more here: socialhistory.org.uk/conference/s...

Swansea council has just opened a new, gorgeous, huge library and community hub on the city’s main shopping street, in the old BHS building. And this is what happens with a (Welsh) Labour govt & a Labour council: massive investment in stories & local people & place. Bravo @prifweinidog.gov.wales

"Should we worrry more about the far right or [meaningless threat the far right made up?"

Christmas cheer from the back of a van! Members of the Women's Land Army receiving festive gifts 🎁 during the Second World War, in this seasonal view from the Young Women's Christian Association archives (more info at mrc-describe.epexio.com/records/YWC/...) #ArchiveAdventCalendar #WrappingPaper

We are delighted to share the programme for our upcoming conference! We will be running fourteen panels across two days in early February - all online and open to everyone 😊 please see our website for more details on speakers, panels and how to book.

We are very lucky to have the brilliant @sarahcrook.bsky.social as our keynote speaker for this conference. The title of Sarah's paper is "Cradles of Discontent: Motherhood as a Pathway to Activism in Modern Britain".

NEW | Civil servants face various challenges when working to compressed timeframes. Our report, Rapid policy making, sets out practical recommendations for how they can be better supported to deliver robust advice at pace www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...

Ongoing decimation of British universities part 252: Apx. 1000 academic staff at University of Essex just received formal ‘risk of redundancy’ letters via email. Please share @ucuessex.bsky.social @ucu.org.uk

As a review is announced into who counts as disabled, I offer some reflections on disability and UK employment policies over the twentieth century historyandpolicy.org/policy-paper...

immigrants score the lowest on tests, but they also take all our jobs, while at the same time taking all the welfare and buying all the homes

How many times do we need to point this out? By appeasing the far right, you do not weaken it. You strengthen it. While weakening your own position. There's a vast amount of academic research showing this. But Labour will not listen. www.theguardian.com/law/2025/dec...

So farewell ‘People, Culture & Environment’… And hello ‘Strategy, People & Research Environment’, or SPRE to her friends. 25% more words; 5% less weight… #REF2029

‘No one seems to care’: scholars decry plight of British Library Historian Peter Mandler said it was “a sorry state when a major piece of public infrastructure like this is hit so badly and no one in authority even seems to notice, much less care”. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-c...

We have now announced TWO full PhD studentships at Bristol's Hong Kong History Centre @uobrishistory.bsky.social @uobartsmatter.bsky.social! Please spread the word to anyone you know who are working towards/have a Master's degree, and are interested in pursuing further research in HK history.

If you teach histories of British slavery, don't miss this Thursday's book launch and talk: Teaching Slavery: New Approaches to Britain's Colonial Past, IHR, London 11 December & on Zoom. 5:30pm. Registration details are below and a link to the open access book in post 2/2. This post is 1/2.

London (population 9 million) has had fewer murders year-to-date[1] than Birmingham, Alabama (population 200k)[2] [1]: www.london.gov.uk/london-recor... [2]: www.bhamwiki.com/w/2025_Birmi...

Welcome to Britain, a country so short of dentists that an MP's 87-year-old mum pulled her teeth out with pliers. Also a country with thousands of foreign-qualified dentists who can’t work until they pass an exam so oversubscribed it’s like trying to book Glasto tickets. www.ft.com/content/f4e5...

Delighted to have just been elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Can't wait to contribute to its worthy aims, and to insist everyone appends FRHistS to my name for a wee bit, even in the most casual of contexts

I’ve written the @resprofnews.bsky.social Sunday Read this week. I’ve looked at the value and importance of the arts, humanities and social sciences and what policymakers might do to support them at a time we are seeing major cutbacks in universities www.researchprofessional.com/news-article...

Britain has lost over 75% of its informal meeting spaces since 1980, pushing people into isolation, more time spent online, and towards the far right. Can new policy 'Pride In Place' turn it around? politicalquarterly.org.uk/blog/what-is... By Sam Taylor Hill

DEADLINE APPROACHING The first position with the Centre for Advanced Social Science Methods at the University of Oxford has a deadline this Friday at noon UK time. Come be the first member of the team who are going to revolutionise methods training at Oxford! www.politics.ox.ac.uk/opportunity/...

This is the point where the anti-Reeves stories tip into madness. Criticise her performance all you like but what the hell is this?

Great culture can save lives. Literally. Amazing letter in today’s @thetimes.com about Tom Stoppard

Ok, so we’ve come to the end of the first season of The Diplomat and it’s… variable. But I’ve heard it gets great! When does that happen?

This is somewhat nerdy/technical but reveals utterly woeful practices at the OBR – where they relied on free Wordpress plugins to protect some of the most sensitive economic data the UK publishes. Absolutely dismal stuff, and not just one junior staffer screwing up.

Any author with a first degree is eligible (exceptions below); submitted essay must be unpublished and not under consideration elsewhere. Not open to current employees or Fellows of the British Academy, employees of CUP, or current editors/staff staff of the British Journal of Political Science

In the year of 2025 I really should not be joining meetings on Zoom only to realise that my laptop is fully muted and turn myself up without clocking that everyone in the meeting will be blasted with 10 seconds of late-2000s indie rock as I've merrily left Spotify blasting in the background

🚨 JOB ALERT 🚨 We’re looking for a brilliant producer to lead my @LBC Sunday show Come and help make news, provide the best insight, digital content and prove Sunday political shows aren’t boring Link below. Any Qs get in touch 👇 careers.global.com/jobs/R0009023

This is very clear on the UK's growth strategy. Explaining how it fits together and what they are doing and why. All seems very sensible to me.

In a museum and my oldest has found a documentary about women in politics and my youngest is watching a video about the history of unions and friendly societies. I’ve peaked!

“I was just following otters.”

The late 1950s through children's imagination - pop culture, aspirations, tea and sudden death The 'Lollard Children's Magazine', linked with the Lollard Street adventure playground, gave Lambeth kids a space to express themselves on the page #HistChild mrc-describe.epexio.com/records/LAH/...

It's such a bizarre framing. Labour MPs think taking 450k kids out of poverty is putting the country first! That's why they wanted it to happen! It's not because they personally benefit.

Honestly, the press framing of tax is just so gross. These headlines could be: thousands of kids lifted out of poverty; £2m houses taxed more fairly; taxes raised to support hospitals and schools and other good things