I have to say, it's making me feel a little insane hearing commentators say Ed Miliband shouldn't be chancellor because of his "ideological zeal" for Net Zero, in a week where temperatures are so extreme that my kids are being sent home early every day and it's regularly 30 degrees inside my house

Ten years on from the Brexit vote: a new @yougov.co.uk poll finds that 77% of the British public have trust in the expertise of historians bit.ly/49I9NV7 It's heartening to hear that so many value, and certainly haven't had enough of, the historian as expert. #Skystorians 1/4

Struggled through Ford Maddox Ford's The Good Soldier earlier this year. Not worth your time www.theguardian.com/books/ng-int...

The 100 best novels of all time

The top 100 novels of all time published in English, as voted for by authors, critics and academics worldwide. How many have you read?

theguardian.com

7 hours into exam invigilation and I’ve plumbed new inner depths of my being. Trying to imagine I’m at one of those silent Buddhist retreats stressed out middle class people go on

Political violence at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, by Jem Bartholomew. www.cjr.org/the_media_to...

A reflection of what it is we do.

Political violence at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.

cjr.org

Genuine job interview feedback I've just had after being rejected in the third round: 'you don't seem motivated enough by money'

EU: The European Union will require sale of mobile phones with “user-replaceable and longer-lasting batteries” starting in 2027. The regulation demands “availability of spare parts and manuals for 10 years to curb planned obsolescence”.

It's six years today since Britain left the EU. I wrote this on Brexit day in 2020, about the strategic dilemmas to which European membership had once been the answer and that would now reopen once Britain left. I'd stand by most of it today. gladstonediaries.blogspot.com/2020/01/brex...

Brexit in Historical Perspective: The Age of Britain in Europe

When the bell tolls at eleven o’clock tonight, ringing out Britain’s membership of the EU, an entire phase of British history will ...

gladstonediaries.blogspot.com

I left university in 2019 with £49,600 of debt. A few months later, I became an MP and have since received a salary that puts me in the top 5% in the country. 6 years on, the repayments from my salary have brought this total to down to £48,600 - just £1,000 less.

I'm very proud of this book: it has a wonderful array of work by many of my favourite historians, which cumulatively makes the pitch for understanding modern British History through the lens of the urban. Lund Humphries have done a wonderful production job, & it is a big beautiful book. Buy it now!

Lund Humphries@lhartbooks.bsky.social · 8mo ago

OUT NOW! The Modern British City 1945-2000, ed. by Simon Gunn, Peter Mandler and Otto Saumarez Smith, brings together architectural, urban and social historians, to chart the extraordinary changes that took place in British cities between the end of the Second World War and the early 21st century.

Last month, El Fasher, in Sudan’s Darfur region, fell to rebel forces. “The world hasn’t caught up to what a big deal El Fasher is,” a humanitarian researcher at Yale said. “We are talking tens upon tens of thousands of potential dead in five days.” https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/ePchw0

Rebels Post Videos of Mass Killings in Darfur as the World Watches

After the fall of El Fasher to the R.S.F., observers fear for the next target in the war.

newyorkermag.visitlink.me

Yesterday Nigel Farage argued that the UK has failed to grasp Brexit opportunities to deregulate, which his 'pro-business' government would deliver. I've got a piece in the Independent arguing why that is a misreading both of Brexit history and economics. www.independent.co.uk/voices/brexi...

After teaching today one of my students said they'd found a meme which summarised our lesson. I don't know if this is the point I was trying to make about epistemology but it made me laugh

if you’ve ever watched the apprentice, that’s the world without arts or humanities degrees

Had a wonderful time in Albania but rather disappointed they no longer offer a free haircut and shave at the border - I would certainly have been eligible

From the archive: a letter from Farage to an elderly Enoch Powell asking him to come and give the electorate 'another jog' in 1994

After finishing the latest Adam Curtis, I'm convinced it would be improved with all captions and narration removed, leaving the viewer with a pure stream of clips between which we are left to free-associate the historical meaning

Exactly. Brexit may have been sold as anti-elitist, but it was always the result of a very particular elite project. An ‘elite populism’ runs through the history of Euroscepticism in which manifestly elite figures mobilise ‘the people’ against a malign and illegitimate pro-European establishment.

Glen O'Hara@gsoh31.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Brexit was supposed to draw the sting of discontent with technocracy, globalisation and distant 'elites'. At this remove we can see it didn't, it made things worse. Same with every populist outburst. They thrive on the chaos.

You can get 25% off my book UP IN THE AIR: A HISTORY OF HIGH-RISE BRITAIN at Waterstones, with the code SUMMER25 until Thursday 31 #WPreorder

Last week, I passed my PhD viva with no corrections. I’m so grateful to everyone who supported me during this research. If you are interested in reading my take on the transformation of conservative attitudes to European integration after 1975 please feel free to DM me. Now for some rest! 😮‍💨

Stevens knocking it out of the park

OMG, the @ihr.bsky.social has uploaded a bunch of old interviews with historians on their youtube channel and I'm now deeply invested. Summer treat for #SkyStorians! Look at this interview with E.P. Thompson by an embryonic Penelope Corfield!

INTERVIEWS WITH HISTORIANS - E. P. THOMPSON

YouTube video by Institute of Historical Research

youtube.com

I'm thrilled to have been published in Past & Present. Diving into the fractious politics of rich-country macroeconomics after 1973, I use the neglected case of protectionist Keynesians to rethink what happened, and why. I highlight statecraft, geopolitics, and Maier's 'territoriality'. (1/2)

Past and Present@pastpresentsoc.bsky.social · last yr.

New on advance access "The Political Crisis of British Keynesianism, 1973–1983" by @colmpm.bsky.social (‪@qmpoliticsir.bsky.social‬) #OpenAccess doi.org/10.1093/past...

Final round table on the purpose of British history writing in today’s political, cultural, and higher education landscape #QMCBS

Historians of bsky!! the lineup for this conference looks fantastic with 24 brilliant panels of experts running over two days. Register here 📌

QMCBS@qmcbs.bsky.social · last yr.

Places for British History Today are filling up. Please do register - especially if you are on the programme! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/british-hi...

There is an excellent article by @davidlawton.bsky.social on William Rees-Mogg's attempt to judicially review the Maastricht Treaty, challenging the right of the executive to do this without Parliament. (Quite a contrast to his son in 2016-19...) journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

journals.sagepub.com

From the creation of lectureships to the closure of programmes, the last five years represent a tumultuous period within the study of #BlackBritishHistory Join us for a roundtable: Black British History in 2025 🗓️ 6th March ⏰ 17:30 📍 IHR Wolfson Room NB01 www.history.ac.uk/events/black...

Just putting finishing touches to British History Today programme at Queen Mary, 1-2 May. Thanks to all who submitted. And apologies to all those we couldn’t fit in. Details should appear soon at: projects.history.qmul.ac.uk/qmcbs/

Thanks to all who submitted proposals for British History Today: projects.history.qmul.ac.uk/qmcbs/. We have been overwhelmed with panel and paper suggestions. You should hear back from us in the next day or two