1. Dad was one of the first patients in the new Southern. He caught C-Diff on ward. You can still smell C-Diff poop in a lot of the toilets. The hospital is beside a sewage works... Six key takeaways from the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry - BBC News share.google/oWwzXIUYBWNP...

The C13th chapel (with roots reaching back to the C6th) sits cockled onto the rocks of St. Govan's Head, Pembrokeshire in Wales - a beacon of continuity amidst centuries of shifting tides.

My Early Medieval history hat has noticed that even with modern tech, it was easier in the winter to go to Burghead from Iceland than to sail to the East Coast of Canada/US. 1.2 John Swinney 'deeply concerned' seized tanker is in Moray Firth - BBC News share.google/ye6mZYp8YGx7...

Thought for today: I still don't understand why Andie went for Blane and not Duckie. Any man who lip-syncs to Otis for you is a winner.

thought for today- when creating the new disability payment system for Scotland, Holyrood heard people saying how bad the DWP system was but about the only thing they changed was the colour of the envelopes cos folk said they were "scared of opening brown envelopes in case it's from DWP"

for history/archaeology folk- Prof Steve is chatting about hus work on my pal's radio show tonight. There's usually a recorded catch up too www.facebook.com/share/1awPMw...

Stupendous stuff from @samleggs22.bsky.social - meta analysis of human strontium and oxygen stable isotope data from southern Britain in 2nd half of 1st Millennium AD. Too rich to summarise but if your are into complex early medieval mobility, this one’s for you. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

cant be arsed this Hogmanay (have serious "why havent I been to space/got a jetpack?" misery). I made chicken noodle soup (with precooked chicken & noodles) in 20mins... it's the best soup I've ever made. There's a lesson there somewhere for the coming year? (Do less, enjoy more?)

good wee thread about why we eat steak pie at this time of year. threadinburgh.scot/2024/01/02/t...

jeezo- let's make it clear again- seeing as it's in my bio - I WILL BLOCK RANDOMS! Havent had a chance to properly check my followers but I only let people that I know through interests or who I know IRL follow me.

so proud to know Tressa. She does so much to promote the needs and wellbeing of disabled people. Disabled charity chief condemns UK government as she rejects MBE - BBC News share.google/N5JC8DZ9IVXS...

having one of those days where the idea of going up the top of a hill and just screaming seems like a plan... but I now use a granny walker and have laryngitis 🧟‍♀️☠️

Today was not my xmas delivery. Today 2 older guys who havent delivered to my house for over 6 months turned up. (it's usually a one man job) They do this every year cos I usually give a tip at xmas. Not today lads. Happy to wait until the Hogmanay delivery to give my usual young guy the money 😉

Another possible better illustration - the male teachers who proliferate misogyny. (I think most Maws have a list of who you could include?)

As a former Erasmus student, I'm delighted this valuable opportunity is being reopened. I think it should be compulsory for all 16-25yr olds who can travel EU’s Erasmus scheme to reopen to UK students for first time since Brexit at cost of £570m | Students | The Guardian share.google/5KGLh7Hpz7cn...

one of my favourite things is when archeologists find things which make myths sound a lot more like legends. Like discovering iron age Scandinavian fabric is heavy on weld & all the "celtic" myth cycles refer to strangers wearing yellow clothes.

aw Queen of the Dames "away up a ky" Millions of Scots weans watched Stanley in elaborate frocks every Xmas.

Oh look, writing, in the North of the island of Britain, before Columba...😉 yet again absence of evidence was not evidence of absence. RESULTS: The First Scot......Scotland's Oldest Writing! share.google/5Q4i1Luc8JcS...

Top tip for folk who get the rage at disabled folk getting priority boarding- if we are alone, we get to pick someone from the queue to help us put away overhead luggage - so be nice, dont moan, & we'll pick you!

Beginning to think that "it was used as a footbridge across a stream" is the Early Medieval carved stone equivalent of "there's a secret tunnel connecting the castle to an abbey/church?" So many 18th/19th sources say the same thing but not all the stones show signs of erosion by water/feet?

Glasgow has many pupils in Gàidhlig Medium Education. (4 primaries 1 secondary) Even if English is their 1st language, they are taught in Gàidhlig as their 1st language. This is why so many pupils are counted as being "bilingual" This has been my TED talk on why "that fkn man" is manipulating stats

when you are watching a crime drama & a 21st c person says their "great great grandmother saw the last wolf killed in Scotland" but you've studied history 🙄 there's no escape, once you know about the past, tv & films are just constantly annoying. 😁

I love things like this, wee objects that shouldn't have survived, but which give insight into how ordinary people made useful things.

today in politics- leader of party who put a policy in place, criticises government for keeping that policy 🙄 again!

Happy "new saint imposed upon areas of Scotia as part of consolidating a dynasty, & survived as a concept as seen vaguely acceptable by 19th century nation building protestants cos he's a disciple in the Bible" day if you are into that sort of thing? 😀

Dont have a motability car cos my disability means I cant drive. But my mobility aids dont fit in the boot of new, hybrid cheaper cars. Wheelchairs dont fit either How Motability cuts went from a rightwing online campaign to Rachel Reeves’s budget | The Guardian share.google/ZmrkpIKJO01B...

12yrs ago I was raging that I couldn't go to a gig cos ma Da was discharged from hospital early. 12yrs on & still thinking about everyone affected by the Clutha disaster. I was in the right place by accident that night, others weren't. The grief & guilt just dont go away.

worth a look for Govan Old fans- some similarities with the causeway and path layouts linking ting site with chapel/lordship's hall site. hopefully the lecture will be on YouTube

Finlaggan-fest @socantscot.bsky.social just wrapped - what a fantastic talk from David Caldwell covering over 1000 years of #archaeology & #history, & decades of digging & analyses 🏰 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 ⚔️ grab a copy of the monograph if you haven’t already! 📖 #Finlaggan #Islay #Scotland #medievalsky #skystorians

I have never seen nor knowingly heard Wicked (I know, it's a weird one) but a flying monkey (nightmare before) Xmas tree decoration? shut up & take my money! 😁

as usual at this time of year I'm feeling a bit of a dick because I'm having to tell people "I love you to bits & want to see you, but I still hate Xmas & wont be attending your themed event cos I dont want to waste my limited energy doing something that I intensely dislike"

🧵 1. so here's the thing- the 2 kid benefit cap was always going to be lifted this year or after cos this is when the last generation of the noughties baby boom turns 18 & no longer qualifies for children's benefits. Child benefit is now for a generation where folk had less kids cos of the cap...

history hive mind-how can the Treaty of Perpetual Alliance between England & Portugal 1387 be "the only medieval treaty which still exists in law" when England has ceased to be an independent nation state since the formation of the legal entity of "Great Britain?" It's making my Scottish brain itch

I am struggling with this, firstly it reads like "asked for comment then badly edited." Sir Tom is well aware of the nuances of the political impacts of campaigns in Ireland etc. 2. yes, the swords got removed in the 20th c. For safety and political reasons... www.thetimes.com/article/657e...

And then we've got the keynote from our James Hogg conference talking about the demonic in Early Modern Scotland! (This is usually unlisted, so only available with this direct link!) youtu.be/XCnChRNRTsU

Well, we had a whole conference celebrating James Hogg! Here is one of our 'every week' talks on the demonic in the Scottish Gothic youtu.be/siB7TnR227Q

This annoyed me more than it should- no doubts being a woman in power brings aw the misogynists to yer yard, but that's no excuse to ignore all criticism of shit policies? Rachel Reeves sick of people ‘mansplaining’ how to be chancellor | Rachel Reeves | The Guardian share.google/YIOdlIE244gc...

absolutely gutted to find out that folk arent sharing clips of Mani cos it was his birthday recently but because he's passed away. RIP

A good intro/summary of a lot of ideas about the discussed EM Irish Primary Sources. I still have 1 question, if current copies are 12thc onwards, did the murder of Thomas Beket influence the promotion of the cleric sapiens in the choice of works which were copied/preserved?

New article by Liverpool PhD Dr Eddie Meehan "Identity, exemplarity and the ideal king in early medieval Ireland" open access academic.oup.com/histres/adva... #history #leadership #ireland #medievalsky

On advance access: "Economic Change, Silver, and the Plague of 664-687 in England" by @rorynaismith.bsky.social (University of Cambridge) #OpenAccess doi.org/10.1093/past...

Knew something was being hidden by the latest flurry of scandal & found this- going by Scotland's experience, these companies wont let any Govt make changes either Private care providers in three English regions make £250m in three years | Social care | The Guardian share.google/yZiFHQh8NPgF...

history bluesky- would you class 1590 as Renaissance or Early Modern period? (I'm thinking peak James VI means start Early Modern, but understand that England may have a different date window? Or does it vary according to topic ie music, literature, architecture?

In other news I have just spent my Sunday morning explaining to a very bemused Youngster why we are keeping the All Hallows decorations up today, because the spirit of Mamie has fkd me over quite enough in October, thanks, & I am not taking any risks. 👻🧟‍♀️😱

I ❤️ the old U shaped bars, with a snug cordoned off for the ladies. A pure scandal when the Halt Bar was ripped out. Needs to be better protection of buildings which mean something to the local community? A trad pub means as much to local history/community as a church.

Just heard that Elspeth King has died. Her work revived my childhood interest in history/archaeology which had been quashed by school's focus on recent wars. Without her so much of Glasgow's history would have remained hidden. Thank you Elspeth.

best costumes tonight? joint first = the game Operation, & Whack-a-Mole (complete with prize tickets) 3rd. The wee kid who came to show me their Zero the ghost dog costume cos I had one in my window all week ❤️👻🐶

It's started! Got Guisers already cos we live in Halloween Town! 👻🧙🪄☠️👹👿🕷️🧟‍♂️🧛‍♀️

Finally got my ADP review decision. As usual it's not the "relief" folk might expect. It's not "done" there's things which show the assessor didnt even look at my medical notes. The psychological damage & anxiety caused wont end, particularly because there's so many errors in the assessment.

usual semantics nonsense from SSS, doesn't matter what you call it, still has same points system as DWP PIP. You still have to answer the same questions. People on disability benefits in Scotland will no longer get an assessment at review - Daily Record share.google/N5BsNoP6qzkc...