I’ll be in conversation with Thomas Glave about my book at Birmingham Literature Festival soon. More details about the festival, including booking links for all events, here: www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org/book-tickets/

LinkedIn is changing its T&Cs: ‘Starting November 3, 2025, we’ll use some of your LinkedIn data to improve the content-generating AI that enhances your experience’. Here’s how you can turn it off. I deleted all connections, conversations etc and then closed my account. So, I’m only here for now.

Hmmm. Maybe time to delete LinkedIn too.

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...

'A panel of five judges, chaired by O’Farrell, will assess 15,000 words of a novel in progress, and both winner and runner-up will receive not only money, but mentoring from Mantel’s literary agency, AM Heath; the publishing house John Murray; and the creative writing charity Arvon.'

I’ve been sent a photo of a young beloved posing with auntie Sadiah’s book Vanished in a bookstore. Children’s joy is a great wonder of this world.

Incredibly thankful to everyone who came and contributed to such thoughtful conversations with such generosity and intellectual curiosity about so much work across disciplines. A PhD student told me that it was the most amicable conference he’d ever attended. Right now, rest. Have a great weekend.

I haven’t read this yet, but reposting as I’m sure many will be interested.

I’m having intro chats with dissertation students this fortnight, and one of them asked which historians I’d recommend for beautiful writing they could absorb to further develop their own writing style. So, gang, which are your favourite *writers* among historians, any time, any topic, any place. 🗃️

Can you help Alice track down this book?

‘UK respondents dramatically overestimate how many immigrants there are and how many of them are Muslim. They overestimate what proportion of immigrants are from north Africa by a factor of 10, and from the Middle East by a factor of two, and underestimate how many are from North America.’

Feeding time on the River Lea. Watch as this female kingfisher down on Hackney Marshes tries to feed a fish to one of her youngsters. You can also clearly see how much brighter the plumage of the adult is. #LondonBirds #nature #wildlife #kingfisher #kingfishers #hackney #riverlea #ukbirds #birds

In order to delete your account without first agreeing to these terms you have to 1) login on desktop or desktop mode on the phone. 2) Click privacy policy (and not "agree") 3) click the profile icon and scroll down & click delete account. I had to do this cycle twice before it let me fully delete

If you’re on academia dot edu, let me suggest that you strongly consider deleting your account.

Check it out!

The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory has concluded that Israel has committed genocide. More info here. www.ohchr.org/en/press-rel... Surely, such a report should be grounds to hold an international trial to test these allegations in court.

CW: Rape Reporting this absolutely horrific story as an ‘isolated incident’ in the same week we’re seeing such extensive coverage of far-right rallies is doing far more than not connecting the dots. Meanwhile, I hope this woman finds justice and peace. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

📢 Call for Papers! 📢 We're excited to announce that in 2026 we will again be hosting an Early Career Researcher Symposium, and that this time it will be a partnership with @linneansociety.bsky.social!🙌🏻 We'd love to hear from all ECRs, so find how to submit a proposal 👇🏻 shnh.org.uk/news/cfp-ear...

Can we shift away from low-quality UUK leadership?

With the phrase “unfunded hobbyist research” the new Universities UK President continues a much longer history of contempt that UUK has shown towards the labour of all those who work in universities

Reading about the Armani brand in the FT which notes: ‘the group’s revenues struggled to grow, remaining stable at about €2.4bn last year’. It says so much about our financial systems that such huge revenues might be disappointing to some because they’re not growing even further.

If only people would reflect on the difference between individual success and *effectively* mentoring and empowering others to achieve all that they might.

Congratulations to Professor Sadiah Qureshi on receiving the @royalsociety.org's Wilkins-Bernal-Medawar Medal for her groundbreaking work on science, race, empire and extinction. A proud moment for us and a powerful reminder of how history shapes our future. www.manchester.ac.uk/about/news/h...

Impacts include marine stations, disrupting the work of 600 scientists, lost access to €30-50,000 research funding, and "Several online tools dedicated to research, expertise, libraries and collection consultation" 📜

I’ve heard much about this project as it develops, and it is amazing! A preview of the bigger story here.

So much this. People are having targets put on their backs, worrying about their own personal safety and that of their friends and family, and people who mostly can’t imagine what that’s like expect us to all just shut up so long as red team wins.

I was asked to comment on this study, as cited here. There’s much to be said about the disputed numbers, but, for me, the most important thing is to change our relationship to life from unchecked exploitative consumption to something that enables life to thrive. edition.cnn.com/2025/09/09/s...

A horrific glimpse into the profound inhumanity that is at the heart of relentless violations of humanity in the daily news.

Rewild the golf courses!

This workshop seriously launched my writing career. (The essay I wrote there turned into an op ed that turned into the first season of This Land). Deadline to apply is Sept 12! www.poynter.org/shop/writing...

Dr Whoot

The British Academy Book Prize 2025 shortlist is here! Each book offers a new perspective on issues of global importance, driven by rigorous research and an ability to tell powerful stories in an engaging and compelling way. 📖 Discover the full list here: https://bit.ly/4glo8Jo

Like me, you might not have realised Kojo Koram was on Bluesky. Worth following and reading.

Connecting services and overhauling support is essential, but students already dislike emailing services with a generic email, and are often desperate to *talk* to a real human being who *cares*. Given this, it seems dubious to assume that AI might help when it comes to welfare and wellbeing.

Something for the commute as a new academic year begins.

oh my goodness I am delighted to find that this AI-dodger actually works THANK YOU

This is fascinating: www.reddit.com/r/OpenAI/s/I... Someone “worked on a book with ChatGPT” for weeks and then sought help on Reddit when they couldn’t download the file. Redditors helped them realized ChatGPT had just been roleplaying/lying and there was no file/book…

Really enjoyed this. The discussion of Smith’s old school approach to media in a pre-internet era minded me of how I learned of his death: on a school trip to the British Transport Police HQ, via a fax read out by the officer showing us around to demonstrate how up-to-date and connected they were.

The queen was being as she was wont to be. A perfect story to indicate that species are an idea humans use to try and make sense of ways of being that we can only ever know in part. Some people find such uncertainty uncomfortable, but it can also bear fruit in unexpected wonders.

The Dennis Morris exhibition at the Photographers’ Gallery is terrific. Some of the best pictures you’ll see of Bob Marley and the Sex Pistols in particular, and incredible series from 1970s Hackney and Southall. Free on Friday eves thephotographersgallery.org.uk/whats-on/den...

Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool has become the first UK public collection to own a painting by Marie Bracquemond, one of the few women who exhibited at the original Impressionist exhibitions. It’s one of Apollo’s most important acquisitions of last month.

My heart sinks when the only vegan/veggie options eating out are fake meat. I’m pretty sure that’s the same for lots of people who don’t eat meat because veggie/vegan food is their ethical and/or taste *preference*. Of course, persuading meat eaters to eat less meat at scale is a different issue.

I would rather see so many people other than Rayner leave. What a sorry mess.

What have been the best/most effective/meaningful environmental changes in 20thC Britain, in your view? I'm writing a new unit & have lots of disasters, decline, and conflicts; but I don't think it's been all bad. Some egs. of positive changes - intro of National Parks; rise of green politics...

The “problem” with vaccines? They so effective at preventing deaths that they create generations of people that question whether disease was a problem in the first place because they have never experienced the horrors of a world without vaccines.

I am delighted to have received an ERC Starting Grant for my project Laboratories of Humanitarianism: Aid, Intervention, and the End of the Soviet Union, 1985-2000. The project will examine the transformative impact of humanitarianism on state collapse and reconstitution. I cant wait to get started!

Completely missed that the Seed Multiplication Unit of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) was destroyed in July. Despite reports it was the last Palestinian seed bank, it seems to have gained little attention from seed banks, besides Exeter. www.exeterseedbank.co.uk/projects/sta...

Fabulous to see Wake by @wakerevolt.bsky.social featured in this pick of the best paperbacks of the month. Congratulations! www.theguardian.com/books/ng-int...

I'm reading poetry at TOAST, Reading Room, Sunday 7th September from 10.30am to 3.30pm, with three readings of around 30mins each across the day. Catch me if you can. My books will be available too, here's link, it looks like I will part of an amazing weekend... www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/toast-pres...

Awful news getting worse by the day.