I know the King never misses but I feel this is, for obvious reasons, especially excellent. The last paragraph is the exact experience I have had when I have discussed smell on the radio. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

On the new #WutheringHeights film. I've co-curated an exhibition (Bronte Parsonage Museum) showing what the Bronte children read & wrote (they invented their own colonies) & how Wuthering Heights was inspired by their colonial reading material. www.bronte.org.uk/news/new-exh...

@zackpolanski.bsky.social, the only party leader actually leading. At last politics thats on our side and not the side of corporations and foreign interference

There's a one hour special on Nigel Farage and Reform UK, and whether they are ready to lead, on BBC2 Presumably, there will be a similar one hour special on Zack Polanski, and whether The Greens are ready to lead, as well?

Lets also talk about Nigel Farage appearing in the Epstein Files 43 times, lets do that too.

That's why I teach 18th century food riots. The newspaper reports use exactly the same language of "the mob" and "idle youths". Introduce good old George Rudé's arguments about "faces in the crowd" and EP Thompson on the ordered decision making behind the "moral economy."

Locals want a local candidate Labour: Fuck what locals want Great strategy

He's not wrong. Too bad something like four multibillionaires, own all of the paper and TV news and are in his pocket. #trump #fucktrump #rape #sexualassault #potus #president #epstein

One of the most fun days leafleting and canvassing today. Most people were undecided and didn’t know there was an election coming. But most gave us the time of day, and had a chat. Lovely to see Green Party posters going up down Stockport Road, slowly turning the community green.

12 killed, 6 of them children. This will not even register with most people www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

Staff cuts. Students in debt yet Vice-chancellor pay keeps soaring. The mystery of Higher Education in the UK that no one seems to have the answer to. www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/01...

Classic reporting here with only one party getting a mention as opposing Labour. You can guess which one. Residents have their say on Andy Burnham's blocking - BBC News share.google/K0WECExhw74A...

'Analysis of almost 5,000 prison learners who took part in OU higher education programmes between 1986 and 2023 found that those who engaged with the programmes were 22 per cent less likely to reoffend within a year of release than similar prisoners who did not.' 2/2

Absolute ghoul. You know who can help you with this? People. Teachers. Tutors. Not slop machines that will rob children of knowledge, opportunity, empathy and humanity. Education is a fundamentally human endeavour. If the education secretary doesn’t understand this then we are all truly fucked.

Please spread this far and wide, as stories don't get much bigger than this. When the government blocks even the intelligence services from telling us we're heading for environmental catastrophe, you know we have a problem. A very big problem. Thank you. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Seems to have slipped under the radar with the Andy Burnham stitch-up & paramilitary executions in the US, but authoritarianism in the UK just took a massive leap forward, with police forces falling under direct political control. Worth noting that this is Labour implementing Reform UK policy.

Reminds me of "Mother and Child", Maurice Lambert, 1959. Stands in Basildon town centre, another new town.

🎢Very sad news just announced, that the historic Scenic Railway at Dreamland Margate is to permanently close. Built 1920, the Grade II* listed timber ride is of international importance as the oldest surviving rollercoaster in Britain, second oldest in Europe and among the five oldest in the world.

It tells you everything you need to know that Reform are parachuting in a rent-an-extremist - this isn't about representing the people of Gorton and Denton, it's about using this place as a platform for their careers. Manchester will show him the door.

Material culture of the street

Help us make hope normal again. Join the Green Party now.

Brilliant new article by @malcolmrussell73.bsky.social on glue-sniffing panics, youth boredom and deindustrialising towns c. 1970s-80s, published in @mbhjournal.bsky.social This began life as an exceptional MA dissertation at @uclhistory.bsky.social Congrats Malcolm! doi.org/10.1093/tcbh...

Zack Polanski has said that Britain should expel US forces from the UK if the country seizes Greenland - a proposal 55% of Britons support Support: 55% Oppose: 22% yougov.co.uk/topics/trave...

Palantir is a huge security risk for the UK and is used by ICE for surveillance purposes.

Important event in Westminster today with UCU Union: A 25% cut in FE salaries since 2009 -this cannot go on: we need a new deal for FE

Short-termism kills knowledge. It's government that provides the incentives for this drive to cut into a university's key resource, whatever the long-term harm. We need an overhaul of the financial & governance system of #UKHE.

Our AGM will be on 29 of January. This is open to all Members of LVC. The meeting will start at 7.30pm and is via Zoom. Not sure if you are member? Then send us a message and we'll check the book! If you would like to become a member for just £1 go to vaughan.coop/leicester-va...

Hurrah!!! The brilliant Sumita Mukherjee has a new book out about the lives of South Asian children in Modern Britain in just a few weeks. I love the cover photo! A must read so now would be a great time to preorder and commission reviews. www.hurstpublishers.com/book/imperia...

If you have tried and failed to get a ticket for our January Forum today, we've now added more tickets! www.tickettailor.com/events/leice...

☀️ A bright and sunny start to the working year for most of the country. How’s this for a blue sky moment? The sculptural sea horses (by J R Murray) of Newcastle’s coat of arms atop the carillon tower of the majestic Grade II* listed Civic Centre (1956-67) © Michael Bailey Photography

Gee whizz, why aren’t these people popular

Our next Forum will be on January 15. Sophie Michell - @sophiemhistory.bsky.social - will be talking about nineteenth-century coroners inquests, using some case studies from Leicester. Join us online at 6.15pm. vaughan.coop/course/janua...

I haven’t written it yet, but expect AT LEAST ONE MURDER

Fascinating

Entirely unrelated (obvs): here’s a book about universities, the way they’re managed, and the state they’re in. Give it a read. www.collectiveinkbooks.com/zer0-books/o...

A wonderful collection of historic films on London - personal favourites on Thamesmead and The Changing Face of Camberwell (good on the Sceaux Gardens estate) ... alondoninheritance.com/london-histo...

Massive workloads causing workplace stress and illness in UK universities??? Shocked!! 😱 www.timeshighereducation.com/news/birming...

Closing out my year with a journal editor shocker 🧵 Checking new manuscripts today I reviewed a paper attributing 2 papers to me I did not write. A daft thing for an author to do of course. But intrigued I web searched up one of the titles and that's when it got real weird...

Here, for @historyworkshop.org.uk I discuss the history of a refuge for trans women. I show women’s shared experiences of violence across the spectrum of cis and trans. I highlight histories of solidarity against male violence by feminists and trans women. academic.oup.com/hwj/advance-...

Awesome from the chemistry department students at @sheffielduni.bsky.social in support of @sheffielducu.bsky.social 👌 youtu.be/TxdDV0G9Ys0?...

Ongoing decimation of British universities part 252: Apx. 1000 academic staff at University of Essex just received formal ‘risk of redundancy’ letters via email. Please share @ucuessex.bsky.social @ucu.org.uk

Really excited to share that the first episode of my podcast with @universityofleeds.bsky.social Cultural Collections is now live! 🎧 Based on my 2024 Bedford Fellowship research into emotion in advertising. This episode looks at fairy lights — a Christmassy listen ✨

It’s arrived!

New Episode! "Recovering Black Mariners in the Atlantic World with Mary Hicks" Check out my conversation with Dr. Hicks about the stories she tells in Captive Cosmopolitans Black Mariners and the World of South Atlantic Slavery @uncpress.bsky.social podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/r...

Last week, staff at the University of Derby were out on strike over more than 250 planned redundancies. Yesterday’s Canary piece digs into what happened on the picket lines, from student support to staff anger at the chaotic, unclear process from management. www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/...

Let's do as the bees. Bumble bees can catch good moods from each other share.google/lujx0KHv85Ha...

Randalls Department Store, Uxbridge 1938 William L. Eves www.modernism-in-metroland.co.uk/randalls.html

NEW: Strike ballot opens Monday at Northumbria Uni Management is forcing staff out of the industry standard Teachers' Pension Scheme through the threat of a pay freeze. Our members say no! @ucunorthumbria.bsky.social www.ucu.org.uk/article/1428...

My employer, Dartmouth College, today boasts it's 1st Ivy "to launch AI at an institutional scale." It is doing this by partnering--"more than a collaboration"--with Anthropic, a company that stole the books of many faculty, me included, which many of us are suing.

Zack P: When are we going to have a cost of living special...? Fiona Bruce: ...we talk about cost living every week..not sure why we need a special programme for it. You talk about immigration every week. Yet, here we are, with a question time special on...immigration. Not sure that logic follows.