One week from today, join me & @yosra999.bsky.social for a conversation with @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.

Hello London! This Thursday (4 June, 5.30pm) I'll be talking at the @ihr.bsky.social North American History Seminar about "Liberty, Dissent, and the Internal Enemy in Britain's American Revolution" www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

Periodic reminder from ex-journal editor that if we all turn down peer review requests, nothing will be reviewed and things grind to a halt. Clear that job losses, workload in the sector are having a pinching effect. Any room for (£££) publishers to hire human reviewers to help?

Is the UK's science base being eroded by policy, or by sleepwalking? As Britons head to the polls, it's timely to recall the hustings at the Royal Society before the last GE. All 3 parties there pledged to support science, & confirmed that included SHAPE disciplines. 1/9

A century and a half of history encased in more than 1,500 archive boxes After three years, conservation and cataloguing of the archives of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has been completed...

Two big events are happening in the School of History & Cultures at Birmingham next week (plus some lovely smaller ones). Links, dates, times, and registration below. 1. Tara Hamling's inaugural lecture: www.birmingham.ac.uk/events/re-vi.... Expect lots of lovely visuals there!

Reposting - registration details for the return to Birmingham of big Modern British Studies conversations.

Registration details for this summer's Modern British Studies Conference. Looking forward to seeing people on Birmingham's green and pleasant campus! www.birmingham.ac.uk/events/moder...

My article on 1970s feminists, spycops, and if feminist historians can use materials extracted by undercover police officers is out in History Workshop Journal doi.org/10.1093/hwj/...

Registration details for this summer's Modern British Studies Conference. Looking forward to seeing people on Birmingham's green and pleasant campus! www.birmingham.ac.uk/events/moder...

It's a month until the 2026 Midland Viking Symposium on 15 May. Sign up here! This year it's free, it's online and it's on a Friday. Please share. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sagas-the-...

A good day for people to (re)read my brilliant colleague @momoulton.bsky.social's HWJ article: academic.oup.com/hwj/article/...

Reviewed Tehila Sasson's book and solipsistically my own hopeless approach to personal financing in the AHR. academic.oup.com/ahr/article-...

Register for the Birmingham Research Institute for History and Cultures Big Annual Event here - should be a good one: www.birmingham.ac.uk/events/every...

Lovely evening spent at @lselibrary.bsky.social #womenslibrary in great company with @gillianmurphy.bsky.social to celebrate 💯 years of this fantastic archival resource + a great exhibition curated by fantastic historians of women. @womenshistnet.bsky.social

Just me that thinks the permission structure test allowing the non-consensual imposition of AI on all our lives was U2 installing Songs of Innocence on everyone's ITunes in 2014? Team, I've found a way to blame it all Bono. @spinal-bap.bsky.social - grounds for your Bononaissance critique?

I also refuse to use Royal Mail. Bring back Consignia.

Wonder if anyone is having a little think about the need for historians to credentialize themselves via the crown today?

The book is out! Race on Screen: Audience Racism in Twentieth Century Britain is on the shelves. Get yourself a 20% discount and use code GRANDY26 at www.cambridge.org/9781009650939

Today is the publication date for Matthew Hilton's Charity After Empire: www.qmul.ac.uk/media/news/2...

Publication day! My book Keeping Hold: A Cultural and Social History of Possession in Eighteenth-Century Britain is out now. 20% discount code KEHO2026. www.cambridge.org/core/books/k...

My brilliant friend and colleague @kateesthersmith.bsky.social s book is out on Thursday. Read and become wiser! www.cambridge.org/gb/universit...

Why did charity become the outlet for global compassion? Join us for the launch of 'Charity After Empire' by Matthew Hilton 24/3/26, QMUL, London E1 Book here eventbrite.co.uk/e/book-launch-charity-after-empire-tickets-1981162909594 @qmul.bsky.social

Uni VLE's increasingly in partnership with businesses like OpenAI. It's easy to see what is provided (AI chat features, design assistants, etc.. ) but does anyone know what is extracted? I am thinking stuff like class exercises, readings, Uni IP, the academic labour etc.. that goes into these?

Very excited to announce this workshop on environmental approaches to modern British History taking place this September at @lincoln.ox.ac.uk. Please share!

18 month postdoc at the lovely IHR in London, $41,740. Deadline 7 March. 'The Fellow will play a key role within the IHR team responsible for hosting the 2027 North American Conference in British Studies (NACBS)' in London 2027. Repost to spread the word. #Skystorians

Today! If you are in or near Oxford, please come along www.ccw.ox.ac.uk/events

Wonderful news from Birkbeck's School of Historical Studies. We're hiring not one but TWO open-ended, full-time roles: Medieval Studies, and History of Art! cis7.bbk.ac.uk/home.html#fi...

Published a book on transnational women's or gender history 2020-25? 🚨Submissions to the Ida Blom-Karen Offen Book Prize in Transnational Women's & Gender History now open🚨You can see the full details on our website: www.ifrwh.com Closing date is 28 February 2026! #WomensHist #GenderHist

Once again, M*tt G**dwin owes me/ghosted me on a book review from c. 2011 (fully appreciate everyone misses these/they get put to one side given all our priorities) but, you know, I was sending him grumpy emails before you knew he existed.

Looking forward to @sethrockman.bsky.social public lecture on Plantation Goods tomorrow. 6pm at BRIG cafe. @johnmunro.bsky.social www.birmingham.ac.uk/events/publi...

Outgoing academic journal editor here. I know everyone is busy AND over-worked AND its unclear who profits from the work being done AND there are fewer of us than previously, BUT if everyone's New Year resolution is to say 'no' to peer review requests things might grind a bit to a halt.

We are delighted to be co-sponsoring this event alongside @ihr.bsky.social and @royalhistsoc.org. Details and sign-up information is below!

@sethrockman.bsky.social @apeikeumolu.bsky.social @aishadjelid.bsky.social and @sallytuckett.bsky.social are coming to Birmingham next Friday to discuss Plantation Goods: A Material History of Slavery - everyone welcome! www.birmingham.ac.uk/events/round...

Applications now open. Find out more at birmingham.ac.uk/gender-ma

Free public lecture by @sethrockman.bsky.social on slavery, capitalism, and his award winning new book. 6 PM, Friday, 16 January. BRIG Cafe @inthewarehouse.bsky.social Introduced by Gabrielle Hemmings (@unibirmingham.bsky.social) See you there!

Had a very good time talking about stomach aches, pain, and conservatism at #nacbs in Montreal while also representing @mbsbirmingham.bsky.social

From what I've seen, I'd say coursework and online exams have made ChatGPT look pointless. It's basically shit at these things.

Feels like a timely moment to be thinking about 'economic nationalism' (again), so I am looking forward to my splendid colleague Klaus Richter's lecture next week: www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/hist... I imagine registration is still open!

Cant help but think four films on Yoko, Linda, Mo, and Pattie would be way more interesting than the Beatles films. Ideally, keep Sofia Coppola away.

Some madness well updates. Seeing as I know some of my department enjoyed seeing these.

Tomorrow, Wednesday 7th May 2025, Unison and UCU will be hosting a Solidarity Picnic for Trans Rights on the Green Heart outside the Main Library from 12:30–2pm. Please come along, bringing your own lunch, to this relaxed and casual event to show solidarity and allyship to trans+ staff and students.

My town is having it's annual 'normal one' and I'm absolutely into it.

This is worth reflecting on for anyone less directly impacted by the supreme court verdict last week. It's already clear that harm is being done here.

Triple book launch for myself, @drsarahlkenny.bsky.social, and @hannahcharnock.bsky.social! Thanks to @lauratisdall.bsky.social for chairing. Please do join if you're interested in social and cultural approaches to young people's lives and leisure spaces. 12 June, 12-1, tinyurl.com/mryazrew

One more round. Despite the various responses the CCCS feels really significant in terms of books. I'd add bham centres more generally feel distinct. Been thinking about John Stewarts work on local govt as a non glamorous massive contribution from bham www.theguardian.com/society/2023...

There's lots of events around my University's 125 anniversary. I was chatting with a colleague about the most well-known books written at/within the University. What would folk suggest? We started with the following (which reflected our own areas of research as much as anything):

Reposting this in case anyone has other suggestions. Economics? Sciences?