Shocking news about redundancies in the Humanities at the University of Hertfordshire, despite their exceptional research activities. I have signed the petition against these actions: it would be great if you would as well: c.org/kDQynZV7J4 @bbkhistorical.bsky.social @bisa-bkk.bsky.social

Sign the Petition

Save the Humanities at the University of Hertfordshire

c.org

👍“The British electorate are now overwhelmingly pro-remain. And yet the europhobes still argue the votes of the dead count for more than the views of the young…the combined impact of demographics and changed minds is…an 8.1 million majority for rejoining…” #JoinEU archive.ph/2025.12.09-1...

one of the funny traits of the Heterodox Thinkers is they're mostly exactly the same as they were when I was a teenager

Chad Loder@chadloder.dev · last mo.

Oh now Thiel is talking about the "reproducibility crisis" in science, amazing Wait these guys are all myna birds, aren't they. They hear a few words said by someone else and they just grab them and repeat them without understanding. Now I see why they love LLMs so much.

Letter in today's Times by climate scientist Sir Brian Hoskins: "The discourse around net-zero is increasingly decoupled from…science and our changing weather. "Net-zero is not an arbitrary slogan, rather it is dictated by the laws of physics."

President Emmanuel Macron of France on Tuesday is set to elevate Marc Bloch, a pioneering French historian and Jewish World War II resistance fighter who was executed by the Gestapo in 1944, to the Panthéon.

Soldier, Scholar and Symbol: Marc Bloch Is Elevated to France’s Panthéon

French politicians, including those on the far right, are embracing a Jewish Resistance fighter murdered by the Gestapo in 1944.

nyti.ms

A shot in the dark, but is anyone out there working on early medieval Brittany?

For historians who are endlessly organising workshops on the "material turn" - please remember that archaeology is an entire discipline predicated on material culture and we might just have something to contribute #disciplinarymyopia

started reading this and was like, 'why are the left against this! it sounds great!' and then I continued and was like, ah yes ok, never mind as you were www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

France's 'patriotic' banquets rile hard left

The feasting phenomenon run by Le Canon Français has become a hot political issue.

bbc.co.uk

Les sanglots longs Des violons De l'automne Blessent mon cœur D'une langueur Monotone 6/6/44

There's strong competition, but Jenkins is a very strong front-runner for the award "Biggest C*nt at the Grauniad". Obviously, he's VERY posh, so listen up, peasants, Sir Simon is talking and he knows more about everything than you.

New rare discoveries at Kirkby Thore are transforming our understanding of early medieval Cumbria Read Our Latest Blog: 👉🔗 tr.ee/EyFFnP These discoveries represent some of the first evidence of post-Roman life — the so called 'Dark-Ages' in Cumbrian history.

Stripping back Early Medieval Cumbria

OCA archaeologists are once again stripping back the landscape. Building on discoveries first made in Autumn 2025, the latest work aims to expand our understanding of a site that has already begun to…

tr.ee

I've been really impressed by the team dismantling the organ at our local church - they've really pulled out all the stops.

Can someone explain to Trump how caps-lock works?!

I thought a blockade meant that you *stopped* ships going through the Straits. They should set up a web-cam so people can watch Trump be humiliated in real time

Does anyone really think that Trump has a scooby who Neville Chamberlain was?

Just sent my paper on early medieval sculpture in Brittany off to the editors. Curious - is anyone else working on early medieval archaeology in Brittany - particularly ecclesiastical stuff?

Working with my colleague Alexander Jansen to record the eroding gravestones at the abandoned Jewish cemetery at Ayres Quay, Sunderland

The opinion I have held since I first heard anything about Bob Dylan, which is that Bob Dylan is a wanker, remains unchallenged

Consequence@consequence.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Bob Dylan has quietly launched a new Patreon project, Lectures from the Grave, featuring AI-generated monologues, fictional letters, and short stories attributed to historical figures—raising big questions about creativity, authenticity, and the role of artists in an AI-driven future.

We have a PhD studentship available in History or Archaeology at CCCU www.canterbury.ac.uk/study-here/f... - deadline 22 May. #skystorians 1/

Great to see @davidpetts1.bsky.social will be giving the next Deerhurst Lecture.

OTD in 2020, the UK's first COVID-19 lockdown began. In this article from the archives, Jesse Olszynko-Gryn and caitjan.bsky.social explore how familiar debates about the use of face masks shaped responses to the Influenza Pandemic of 1918.

Mask Ambivalence in the 1918 Influenza Pandemic

To mask, or not to mask, that is the question. Jesse Olszynko-Gryn and Caitjan Gainty explore the instructive history of an embattled technology.

historyworkshop.org.uk

Has anyone done any research on ADHD and the ability to engage/read Ebooks?

I know enough lawyers to understand that this ruling is lawyer-speak for “you absolute bunch of fucking clowns”

Mrs. Detective Pikajew, Esq.@clapifyoulikeme.favrd.social · 5mo ago

Everyone stfu the Sixth Circuit issued *gigantic* AI sanctions storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Job losses at UK research-intensive universities double in two years. Exclusive: Scale of redundancies branded a “disaster”. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...

Job losses at research-intensive universities double in two years - Research Professional News

Exclusive: Scale of redundancies revealed branded a “disaster” for UK research capacity

researchprofessionalnews.com

Come along to our next IAS lecture on 5 Feb, 6pm in the Saltwell Building. Ben Raffield (Uppsala) rethinks Viking Age warfare, revealing complex warrior identities and a more human, realistic picture of conflict in the early medieval North @arcdurham.bsky.social @davidpetts1.bsky.social

I am really disappointed that the new version of EThOS at the British Library (the service for getting PhD theses) will be metadata-only. I really think we should use such resources, even if they are not books. They are still contributions to knowledge. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/give-ph...

‘Give PhD archive attention it deserves,’ British Library urged

Scholars criticise lack of progress on restoring repository of 600,000 PhD theses more than two years after it was felled by cyberattack

timeshighereducation.com

Mongooses or Mongeese?

@paulcornell.bsky.social @nicholaspegg.bsky.social @davidpetts1.bsky.social @williampurkis.bsky.social @quiteamess.bsky.social Hi all! I know there's a LOT of Doctor Who podcasts out there, but what's one more eh? 😉 Please do listen, like, follow and share if you fancy 🙂

David Evans-Powell@davidep82.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Just what everyone was after... another Dr Who podcast! 😉 Join @sarahhamstera.bsky.social and me, a newbie and a fan, rambling through Dr Who. First episodes now live! Links below: shorturl.at/fiwfU #drwho #doctorwho #podcast #ramblingthrougheternity

Here comes the video analysis: - Pretti was shot 10 times after they took his gun - He never "brandished" the gun, assaulted an agent - They repeatedly pepper sprayed him at point blank range and beat him when he was down - He was attempting to help a woman who an agent threw to the ground (battery)

CoffeeMonstress@apersoninnyc.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Here is a gift link to the New York Times’ take: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/24/u...