Grammarly's AI-fueled edits -- using my name - suggested making up sources and writing vague insinuations. In my latest for @nytopinion.nytimes.com (gift link) I describe Grammarly's terrible edits in my name -- and call for a federal right of publicity. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/13/o...

Last summer I had a good time working with Mirong Chen from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences on an interview about history and AI. It has now been published in Chinese, and just in case it is of interests I have posted the English text here: historyonics.blogspot.com/2026/03/hist...

Dear everyone, As per the post from the Bodleian librarian below, AI bots and scrapers are putting just about every website under great pressure, British History Online included. A lot of excellent tech staff are working hard to keep everything working, but outages and siruptions are inevitable.

Very much enjoying Imogen Peck's paper on family archives. Thanks to Warwick for hosting @long18thsem.bsky.social @ihrlibrary.bsky.social

Augustin-Jean Fresnel, French civil engineer, physicist, (1788-1827), whose optics research led to acceptance of wave light theory; his rotating Fresnel lens revolutionised lighthouse technology, projecting beams at greater distance (first used Phare de Cordouan 1823). Musée National de la Marine

This is one of my favourite facts and I really want to know what it's like to be a mantis shrimp. Sometimes I wonder how you would respond to, or describe, a new colour you have no reference for because it's not like, or a variation of, any of the colours you've ever seen and then I lie down.

Very much looking forward to Imogen Peck talking about Family Archives on Wednesday @long18thsem.bsky.social @ihrlibrary.bsky.social This is a special session at Warwick. All welcome, either in person or online, but please register. www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

NEH's budget is tiny—not just compared to NSF/NIH, but compared to humanities funding in every other wealthy nation. What little was there was largely rescinded and several programs were cut in full last year. It decimated not merely individual projects but whole corners of the humanities in the US.

Francesco Algarotti (1712-1764), Venetian polymath, champion of Newtonianism; friend of Voltaire & Émilie du Châtelet, patron of Tiepolo, commissioned Panini’s View of Pantheon c 1734, & owned Liotard’s La belle Chocolatière c 1744. NGADC |Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister | Liotard portrait Rijksmuseum

Really pleased to see the recording of Phillippa Hellawell (TNA) & Liberty Paterson (TNA)'s seminar on The Ship Bedford and the slave trade @long18thsem.bsky.social @ihrlibrary.bsky.social www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

Gender critical folks also don't believe us when we tell them "sex-based rights" is an idea they themselves made up in just the last handful of years.

Raises some important issues but also ignores the fact that many Humanities staff outside the magic circle are facing redundancy. They are naturally willing, indeed desperate, to apply for entry-level Oxbridge posts. The situation is grim. 1/2

I think about this Tony Benn speech much more than I used to

JOB ALERT 📜📚 Librarian & executive director of Yale’s Lewis Walpole Library (Farmington, CT) •Research center for 18th-century Britain •You’d report to the fabulous Michelle Light careers.yale.edu/us/en/job/13...

Croatia 🇭🇷 declared free of landmines after 31 years glashrvatske.hrt.hr/... ⚓️ [Land Mine action Ukraine 🇺🇦](demine.gov.ua/en)

Hot off the press and available open access. #Skystorians

Great to see @polly-lowe.bsky.social 's article on 'The body as property' available on open access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0144039X.2025.2570609#abstract A really smart analysis of Harris's List of Covent Garden Ladies and 18th c. attitudes to commercial sex.

Very much looking forward to @brendantam.bsky.social speaking about political friendship in the late 18thc. @long18thsem.bsky.social next Wed. @ihrlibrary.bsky.social All welcome either in person or online, but please register www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

CFP: Race, Law and Empire

The pancake bakery, 1560, Northern Mannerist work by Dutch artist Pieter Aertsen. Known as ‘the Dutch Peiraikos’, he created monumental genre, with sturdy figures in domestic scenes of intense realism, often of religious significance. #shrovetuesday @boijmans.nl

18TH CENTURY BRITISH HISTORY PHD LIGHTNING TALKS CFP Are you at the start of your PhD? Want to tell an eager and engaged audience about it in 5 mins? We want to hear the best PGR research about 18th Britain at our #LightningTalks event 29 April 2026. Please see the poster for further information!

A great talk by Philippa Hellawell and Liberty Paterso on ship biography and the 18th c. slave trade @long18thsem.bsky.social @ihrlibrary.bsky.social

Bill Turkel and I have just published an article in DHQ. It is about the emergence of Manslaughter as a charge at the Old Bailey, and the working methods we used to analyse the data. dhq.digitalhumanities.org/vol/19/4/000... Thanks to Gabor Toth for shepherding it through peer review.

Very much looking forward to @pbhellawell.bsky.social & @libertypaterson.bsky.social talking about The Ship Bedford and the Atlantic Slave Trade next Wed. @long18thsem.bsky.social @ihrlibrary.bsky.social All welcome, either online or in person, but please register www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

For anyone interested in our 18-month post in British Studies please follow the link below. @ihr.bsky.social www.jobs.london.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...

A new role at the IHR, supporting the 2027 NACBS conference to be held in Senate House. It looks like a great position. www.jobs.london.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...

Very much looking forward to celebrating Penny Corfield's history writing on Wednesday www.history.ac.uk/news-events/... @long18thsem.bsky.social @ihrlibrary.bsky.social All welcome both online and in person, but please register.

In February 2026 @senatehouselib.bsky.social is seeking to appoint a Printer in Residence. This is to be an important part of the public engagement programme for the upcoming exhibition ‘The English Print Revolution: Caxton and Beyond’, and to provide a contemporary response to it in print. 1/3

Very generous prize for an essay of up to 8,000 words

Here are 8 successful *proposals* for academic books/monographs. I am hoping that these help someone who is starting out trying to write one and wants to see what worked for me. They are provided as examples, rather than exemplars. A lot of it was just finding my own way eve.gd/2026/01/16/s...

Looking for examples of pedantry and "actually I think you'll find that..." in the history of protest and political movements, especially when activists are challenging authorities. All contributions welcome.

The call for the @londontopsoc.bsky.social Ann Saunders prize is now open. londontopsoc.org/about-us/ann...

@kategibson.bsky.social giving a great paper on fostering in the 18th century to @long18thsem.bsky.social @ihrlibrary.bsky.social

The Milkman, Cornelis Dusart, c. 1675-1685. A calm little snapshot of the past for this less calm present. (British Museum)

Very much looking forward to @kategibson.bsky.social speaking about 'Fostering in 18th Century Britain' to @long18thsem.bsky.social @ihrlibrary.bsky.social on Wednesday. All welcome either online or in person, but please register www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

'Khan said addressing the causes of serious violent crime, such as the effects of poverty and lack of opportunities, had been key, as had the work of the Violence Reduction Unit covering London that was set up in 2019, which took a longer term approach.'

'Ofcom has made "urgent contact" with Elon Musk's company xAI following reports its AI tool Grok can be used to make "sexualised images of children" and undress women.' The slumbering regulatory giant wakes?

I'm looking for scholars of Ottoman Turkish, Albanian, Bulgarian, Greek and Armenian to comment on and to test my approach, as well as generalist historians wanting to explore new content and archives @timhitchcock.bsky.social @tedunderwood.com #history #ottoman #turkey

amazing how the entire machine can pivot within 24 hours. no need to slowly upsell the argument; just issue new marching orders

For New Year’s Day 2026, a hellenistic glass vase shaped like a pomegranate. 2nd century BC - 1st century AD. A symbol of abundance and good luck for the year ahead! 📷 Phoenix Art phoenixancientart.com/work-of-art/... #Archaeology

I've published my Pavia University digital mapping lecture slides and workshop notes on my website: historyofpublicspace.uk/political-me...

Hooray! The British Library has just released a beta version of its rebuilt Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue: searcharchives.bl.uk 2,619 hits for 'petition' in Western Manuscripts, texts in English, in case you're curious. 🗃️

WINTER Term Card: We are excited to share our seminar schedule for next term! Our slate of speakers cover a range of #18thc British history topics. Registrations are now open (with paper abstracts) at the link below 👎 @ihr.bsky.social @ihrlibrary.bsky.social www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

So I am confused. The US is replacing a Dutch font with a British one. Can't they come up with anything of their own?

Great to see the programme for the @long18thsem.bsky.social for next term @ihrlibrary.bsky.social . You can register to attend either in person or online here: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

Beyond the slaughter, the #Genocide seeks to erase existence. DESTROYING COUNTLESS PALESTINIAN #archives & #documents is #IdentityTheft ON A MASSIVE SCALE. The IOF is trying to make Palestinian history, identity and claim to the land impossible to prove... 1/2 #CulturalCleansing #HistoryCleansing

I think before that there needs to be many more conversations about what that might look like and how to address IP and copyright (my personal view would be OA and non commercial). Also, funding!

More importantly, there needs to be infrastructure to support collaborative digital projects like this.

100% talk to folk at your national libraries and archives about what they're doing, and find communities of folk like #AI4LAM collaborating to find the best methods for different materials! (she said, knowing that she got an email from Colin Greenstreet this morning!)

Great to see Helen Wilson's talk on Black participation in Georgain politics available online (it starts 30 seconds in - my fault) @long18thsem.bsky.social @ihrlibrary.bsky.social : www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...