Honestly, not sure 'distinctly British wit' is going to win it for us, but worth a try.

Friends, can I ask you to spread the word that we have a THREE-YEAR postdoc in American history at Cambridge up for grabs - ANY field, but applications are due March 1 so don't delay - apply, apply, apply! networks.h-net.org/jobs/69790/u...

For all my tech-themed plaints, there is something tender and wonderful about sitting at my desk at home, watching three beloved dots (2 x daughter, 1 x husband) on a map on my phone screen gradually converging as they make their way back to me.

Was planning to give this a miss but Carry On Heathcliff actually sounds like a lot of fun. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Please do share this doctoral opportunity with MA/MSt students - four years of AHRC funding to work on the history of children's play in Wales, supervised by me and the lovely and brilliant Dr Jacky Tyrie. Any questions get in touch! www.swansea.ac.uk/postgraduate...

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...

Recalling how Mandelson visited QMUL in 2011 to unveil the charming statue of Clement Attlee that stands in Library Square (one of the very few political statues I would regret to see torn down) and a group of spirited students heckled him. How right they were. www.qmul.ac.uk/media/news/2...

Three scholarships for PhD in Arthur Scargill Archive - quite the opportunity. Believe me when I say that I am sure that some of the stuff in here will be quite the eye-opener! (if the good stuff hasn't been already shredded or slapped with an embargo)

Job opportunity: 18 month fellowship in British Studies working @ihr.bsky.social to undertake own research and prep for NACBS2027 @thenacbs.bsky.social www.jobs.london.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...

Interested in writing as a way of 'doing' politics? Then read this new collection of essays, Writing Politics in Modern Britain, edited by @richardtoye.bsky.social & @garylove.bsky.social www.cambridge.org/core/books/w...

Very cool talk on Vivienne Westwood and Britishness by Margot Rashba on Feb 11th. Corsets and safety-pins optional. www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

The dynamic between the host and visiting games teachers at a school sports fixture intrigues me. A simmering mix of professional amity, tribal rivalry, status anxiety and occasional sexual tension.

Save the date! Join us for an online archival workshop with @gpadmoreinstitute.bsky.social and @irrnews.bsky.social to explore the materials and histories of Black activist publishing in the UK from the 1970s: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/archival-w...

Let's talk about the Aylesbury tunnels.

Interesting discussion in this thread.

Ah, the presale is on Monday. That was quick. Well, I will enjoy my power for another three days.

We're hosting a very special roundtable in Cambridge and online on Friday 6th Feb featuring Alissa Klots, Christina von Hodenberg, Catriona Kelly & myself in conversation about work, gender & ageing in post-war Europe. To attend in person or via Zoom register here: www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/49412/

The imminent return of Harry Styles has placed in my hands the ultimate parental leverage - at least for the coming months. 'Do this or I won't buy you Harry Styles tickets.' It's a powerful tool.

Following some recent high-profile political defections, @alfiesteer.bsky.social and Dr @emmapeplow.bsky.social have delved into the History of Parliament's #OralHistory archive to explore some historical cases of MPs who 'crossed the floor' and changed their party affiliation.

For a fortifying shot in the arm of sharp historical thinking about neoliberalism, read this (and get your students to read it) from @quinnslobodian.com @tsasson.bsky.social Priya Lal & Gary Gerstle www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Interested in the intersection between policymaking, especially in the UK, and academic research? Come work with us! The @mileendinstitute.bsky.social at @qmulsse.bsky.social is advertising for a new Policy Partnerships Officer. Details and application here: qmul-jobs.tal.net/vx/mobile-0/...

We’ve got a stellar lineup for this term’s Modern British History Seminar in Oxford. Do come along if you’re around! talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/series...

Sincerely experiencing all the adjectives - thrilled, delighted, humbled, honoured, psyched - when I see my name on this list. I have so many colleagues to thank for helping me to sharpen my thinking about ageing, retirement and social change. Excited (another adjective) to get this book written!

If you are in Oxford next Tuesday and histories of ageing, work, race and migration are your thing, do come to my paper: Grey Escape: Britons Retiring Overseas, c. 1980-2010. It may make you think twice about chasing the sun in your sixties... Details here: talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/90a...

This was the actual weather off the north coast of Cornwall on Friday. Quite a stunner.

My New Year's Gift to you all is news that the brilliant, provocative, stays-with-you-long-after-the-curtain-falls JOHN PROCTOR IS THE VILLAIN is coming to the UK with a short run at London's Royal Court in March/April. Book your tickets now (I already have). royalcourttheatre.com/events/john-...

Christmas Eve at the Bodleian ✨ "The rooms were very still while the pages were softly turned and the winter sunshine crept in to touch the bright heads and serious faces with a Christmas greeting." 📚 | Louisa May Alcott, Little Women

Please, TV Gods, I NEED this to be good and not a terrible disappointment.

Close enough.

Don't steal pies this Christmas.

Respect to Phyllis, interviewed by researchers in 1986, who was doing part-time nursing into her late sixties in order to say, 'quite truthfully', when invited to social events by her retired friends, 'sorry I can't come.'

In the aftermath of the office Christmas lunch, we're taking festive hat inspiration from the archives This collection of unposed looking seasonal revellers featured as part of the Brewers' Society's long running 'Beer is best' ad campaign #ArchiveAdventCalendar #FestiveClothes

If you're a university-based historian needing advice and inspiration on how to tackle that tricky second book project, this event is for you www.history-uk.ac.uk/2025/12/08/h...

If anyone remembers that list which said historians were second in line to be replaced by AI, I've had some thoughts about it... and how it relates to some aspects of public history and the current climate facing historians. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Winter bugs season has arrived and it feels like my head is 80% phlegm right now.

So many of the postwar retirees I am writing about are fixated on their gardens. I’ve never had the faintest interest in this activity but I need to understand its vegetal pleasures. I’ve read Olivia Laing’s Garden Against Time, which has opened the gate a little, but what/whom else should I read?

We are pleased to launch today a new programme for early career researchers with @ihr.bsky.social & @chalkefestival.bsky.social 'Pitch my Project' is an opportunity for early career historians to present their research at the Chalke History Festival in 2026 bit.ly/44kfUMM Applications now invited.

Colourful paintball splurges on the building by Kew Bridge from which the owner removed Banksy’s goat silhouette during renovations (rumoured to have been sold for ££££ to a US collector). The work of a disgruntled local art lover or has the reclusive artist struck again?

Colourful paintball splurges on the building by Kew Bridge from which the owner removed Banksy’s goat silhouette during renovations (rumoured to have been sold for ££££ to a US collector). The work of a disgruntled local art lover or has the reclusive artist struck again?

This is good, but a superior formulation is: 'We've met, haven't we?' (Delivered with a warm, disarming smile.) Then onus is on interlocutor to confirm or deny. You're welcome.

Agree this is a must-read. It also clarifies what I find so distressing about AI-generated writing: call me pretentious, but I take joy and care in choosing my words. If you receive an email from me, please know that I have crafted and selected these sentences, however banal, especially for you.

If you are a historian with policy-facing interests who has recently submitted their PhD (or will do so imminently), this fantastic new London-based postdoc fellowship in Applied History could be for you. www.history.ac.uk/fellowships/...

Has anyone In Real Life ever done that thing in films where you switch place-settings at a wedding/formal dinner in order to sit next to a more desirable companion/target subject?

If it were steel works we would have a government bailout plan, yet losing thousands of jobs at unis is met with a shrug. & unlike steelworks universities were profitable when they had foreign students. You are killing the golden goose… one of our best exports… HOW IS THIS HELPING GROWTH?!

No one will never out-Christmas Nancy.

The winner of the #WolfsonHistoryPrize 2025 is… Hannah Durkin for 'Survivors: The Lost Stories of the Last Captives of the Atlantic Slave Trade'. @wmcollinsbooks.bsky.social A big congratulations to Hannah!

This evening, the winner of the #WolfsonHistoryPrize 2025 will be announced live! Join us in celebrating outstanding history. We will be posting live from the winner ceremony, so make sure you're following @wolfsonhistory.bsky.social and #WolfsonHistoryPrize for live updates throughout the night.

Neuroscience news story today claims that our intellect and personality ‘plateaus’ between ages of 32 & 66, and all I can say is that there have been a hell of lot of potholes and hidden dips in my plateau.

Have been devouring the brilliant Girlbands Forever series on iPlayer & my God, All Saints’ Melanie Blatt is just so achingly cool. Watch it for her deadpan use of the c-word alone. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Spend time with some of the nicest people in Cambridge (and their archives)👇