This, but first I make sure the classroom recording system named for Jeremy Bentham's dystopian surveillance prison is running smoothly. bsky.app/profile/bell...

Really good article. “There are autisms, rather than just autism.” While it can be challenging, let’s try and celebrate diversity; let’s face it: it’s the thing that not only makes human culture fertile but is the root of all life on earth.

The Irish wake on #TheTraitorsIRL has to be one of the best TV moments ever.

📢 New Seminar Series! We are thrilled to be working alongside @ihr.bsky.social on a brand new seminar series titled Migration and Mobility. We are coming together for a special edition of the seminar to showcase the work of PGRs and ECRs on migration and mobility history (1/3)

Marc Bloch will be admitted to the Pantheon in Paris! The date for the "Panthéonisation" is set for 16 June 2026. Meanwhile, @sorbonneparis1.bsky.social has launched a website to keep track of the many conferences to celebrate the event. Some of them start this month. marcbloch.pantheonsorbonne.fr

Are you an early career researcher with an interest in our collection? Apply to develop an independent research project funded by AHRC. Hear more about the opportunity at a virtual town hall event on Monday 6 October: bit.ly/BL-EarlyCare...

I fucking hate writing sometimes. It's like somebody hands you a tree and an axe and says "I need a table by dinner time, and make it pretty." Like, fuck you. Who the fuck does this for a living? It's fucking stupid.

Why are the American president's claims about autism the first item on British news bulletins? He's not our president, the advice doesn't apply here and he's not presented any evidence to support his assertions. So why spread these claims? What make this the biggest story in the UK?

😄

Not going to lie #TheTraitorsIRL is giving me life this week. No spoilers, I'm only on episode 4.

Definitely my favourite post on this website, ever.

"I'm cancelling your show ... for a week!"

Participation in museums: a complex and challenging topic expertly taken up by @helengraham.bsky.social 🙌 Open access: uclpress.co.uk/book/deconst...

History curious? You don't need to be in London (or the UK) to attend many Institute of Historical Research seminars, although if you're in Bloomsbury you'll enjoy doing so. Most are hybrid (online/in person). They're free, usually fortnightly and open to the public. Starting this week:

they're not even bringing a knife to a gun fight. they're bringing one of those joke guns which fires out a hankie reading "Bang" except it doesn't read "Bang" it reads "he's right, vote for us", this metaphor doesn't work at all I know I'm just really fucking mad okay

Rich discussion about #PublicHistory in the UK. Katie Carpenter, Anna Maguire, David Geiringer, and Julia Laite in History Workshop journal academic.oup.com/hwj/advance-...

It has been a week of awful news for various people. Here are some links that might be helpful in the UK. The Samaritans are available any time with various forms of contact. Call 116123, chat online, or you can write an email and letter. More information here. www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-h...

This is not OK www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/how...

Fuck off.

The first swearing at Blackboard of academic year 2025/6 has occured. I wrote an entire seminar prompt sheet that it decided to wipe clean. Thanks. Thanks a lot.

Hear me out here: polling is bad for politics. I speak as someone who is a psephology nerd. There is no need for polling this far out of a general election. We're not supposed to be in a perpetual campaign.

This. It’s very alarming that these baseline protocols seem to have fallen away and there’s this amnesiac fumbling to re-make a basic liberal consensus from whole cloth.

My fear is that people are internalizing ChatGPT's voice as "good writing" and real humans will start writing/talking like that in real life, and then I will have no choice but to return to the sea.

BBC headline signed Chris Mason at Farage conference: “Reform conference shows party's growing ambition like never before.” Laura Kuenssberg, BBC headline for LibDem conference: “Ed Davey loves clowning around, but is it time the Lib Dems got serious?” Fuck you, BBC.

Paul Simon, George Harrison, Pink Floyd. Occasionally a little Astrud Gilberto. He was eclectic and not a music snob. In his later years he had a weird love for Madonna's Frozen album.

Historians, community leaders, activists and Philadelphians gathered Saturday at The President’s House, located at 6th and Market streets, to oppose potential changes to the historic site’s exhibit on slavery during George Washington’s presidency. whyy.org/articles/sla...

We will hear a lot this weekend (from the right but also prominent centrists) about civility. The comment below was just about the most breathtakingly disgraceful thing I have ever heard a high American official say. And most of the MSM took it in its stride. www.thedailybeast.com/jd-vance-jok...

One of my Dad's cousins has written Daniel O'Donnell's new single and I've never been more proud of my family.

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert just dropped its first response to ABC, FCC chair, and Disney firing Jimmy Kimmel. This is a must-watch. 🔥 #cdnpoli

In less jest - yes, it's good if universities can help students develop skills for the labour market. However, the pointless venom of the current government about one of the few world class sectors in the British economy is tiring, enervating and just plain sad. Get a grip lads.

This. It's this.

An actual quote from the Secretary of State for Business and Trade Too often people go to university to ‘explore research and knowledge’ Look forward to Wes S saying 'too often people go to hospital to have operations' or Heidi Alexander saying 'too often people go to the station to catch a train'

Right. My students working two part time jobs and/or having an hour and a half commute to uni because they have to live at home due to the cost of student accommodation lack drive and vigour. Sure thing, Peter. The UK Govt still haven't a clue about the realities of universities today.

End of day four of Welcome Week and I literally cannot walk anymore.

The Society's 2025 events programme continues this autumn with lectures, October-December, by Tim Grady, Daniel Finkelstein, Jane Ohlmeyer and Heather Ellis. Further details and booking for each of these lectures is now available bit.ly/4mobBGe. Events are public and all are welcome #Skystorians

New Absolute Units is live! Join special guest @katrinanavickas.bsky.social as we delve into the commons: the history of shared resources, the historical forces that encroached upon them, and the fight to get them back. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts. merl.reading.ac.uk/explore/abso...

1. Just so we’re clear, this is the clip that got Jimmy Kimmel’s show shelved by ABC. If I’m missing any other clips please let me know.

Day 1 of the visit (Weds 17th) concludes with a guest lecture, at 5.30pm, at the Linklater Rooms, University of Aberdeen, by Prof. Matthew J. Smith (UCL), Director of the Centre for the Legacies of British Slavery. Places to attend in person are available and all welcome bit.ly/3IjbMVj 2/2

We are delighted to be visiting historians at the University of Aberdeen today and tomorrow. The visit is a chance to meet RHS members from the region, to learn more about the work of historians across the university, and to discuss how the Society best supports teaching and research. 1/2

Students today thought that some digital photography in a gallery might be AI. When we told them it wasn't and pointed out people we actually know in the photographs they looked physically relieved. They didn't want it to be AI. Fascinating.

the IT dept might be the last place in the university where things actually work, people can help you, and the processes are designed to be useful

On days like today, it’s important to remember the words of the wonderful Jonathan Miller when challenging the dog-whistling of those who wish to divide us for political or financial gain.

live your life so that when you die everyone talks about how hot you were and not how you were a hateful bigot

I just heard about Robert Redford. So many amazing things and yet my greatest memory is The Hot Rock, which was the film that came free with our VCR and that my brothers can recite word for word. What an actor.

At a time when leaders arguably aren't showing much evidence of leadership on the academic research front, it's important to recognise the staff and organisations that are championing, supporting and delivering innovative, high-quality research. Kudos to @uolpress.bsky.social .

I don't think Peter Mandelson is PM's biggest problem. The biggest problem is not standing up to the literal violent racism on our streets, supercharged by the richest man in the world, and threatening the very fabric of our society. If he and so many commentators can't see this, we're truly lost.

Please God tell me that the Irish #TraitorsIRL is going to be on iPlayer. I need this so much.

The culture of overwork limits collaboration between academia and professional practice. Because academics are expected to overwork, their time becomes fungible. They expect to work evenings & weekends. Professional time is costed & limited. This makes project planning & even bidding difficult

The Call for Papers for 'Talking Records: Pollution in the Archive', a symposium at The National Archives in London, 4 December 2025, is now open! Submission deadline: Friday 19 Sept See the CFP and details about bursaries for speakers here: orlo.uk/Z8StS #envhum #envhist

I'm looking forward to my twelfth time meeting new History students at Derby tomorrow and seeing where their interests and talents take them. It really is a privilege and one I hope we can share for years to come. History matters.