tagging for my History of British Politics through Bins and Parking book. Seriously. #bins

Andy Mabbett@pigsonthewing.org.uk · 10h ago

Apart from all the issues with the candidate, it is remarkable to read that Badenoch thinks councillors "only deal with things like 'parking and putting out bins'". Social care? Adoption and fostering? Homelessness? Planning?

Do try to remember that the EHRC guidance only affects service providers and not employment, so if you work somewhere where there are toilets or changing rooms for employees that aren’t open to the public then your employers are wrong if they try to stop you from using facilities for your gender

As thousands of research academics are made redundant the whole system of free/cheap peer review will collapse.

Joe's article also features in selection of recent 'Transactions' articles which consider 'The Historian's Craft and Practice: new writing on history teaching and historical research' bit.ly/4bPGJvW All 15 articles are published Open Access and free to read #Skystorians 2/2

The Historian's Craft and Practice: new writing on history teaching and historical research - RHS

The Society's academic journal, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, publishes a wide range of content from historians of all disciplinary backgrounds and career stages, worldwide. This inclu...

bit.ly

"Details, in their singularity and idiosyncrasy, point to the capaciousness of human experience." New today in the Society's journal 'Transactions': Joe Moran 'On Detail in Historical Writing': bit.ly/44UMi8C Now available OA @joemoransblog.bsky.social @massobsarchive.bsky.social #Skystorians 1/2

Cultural Appropriation week on #SewingBee

Catching up on University Challenge and feeling very old that the Guildhall team didn't recognise either DJ Shadow or the titles of Massive Attack albums

"History involves sorting and organizing hundreds of thousands of facts" I remain astounded by how loud and wrong people are about what history actually is.

#Historians, as I am without institutional library access at the moment and it is too hot to drag myself to the BL, can someone help me out with a couple of PDF downloads? 1. Hoyle and Spencer, Slaidburn poor pasture, Social Hist, 31 (2006) 2. Wells, Historical Trajectories, Southern Hist, 25 (2003)

If the topics of the current exhibition and their wider historical context are of interest, you can download the East India Company at home book in full for free from @uclpress.bsky.social or as individual chapters (no subscription needed) from JSTOR. Very much enabled by @leverhulme.ac.uk . 3/4

The East India Company at Home, 1757-1857

The East India Company at Home, 1757-1857 explores how empire in Asia shaped British country houses, their interiors and the lives of their residents. It includes chapters from researchers based in a ...

uclpress.co.uk

I've written about the formidable Ethel and her husband Gerald in our New Lives New Landscapes Revisited book on mid 20thC countryside preservation

Brynley Heaven@brynleyheaven.bsky.social · 2d ago

Ethel Haythornthwaite was unambiguous: "a general policy of road widening with the object of encouraging motor traffic would be fatal to the very object for which the Park was created .. any claim by the motorist for access to every secluded dell or remote view-point must be strenuously resisted"

Greyhounds being an ideal working from home companion since 1533.

Daniel Bellingradt@dbellingradt.bsky.social · 2d ago

Adjustable desk lamps are perfect for a proper lighting of your text work, and it increases productivity and work safety. Buy our (since the 1530s) bestselling flying lamp "the dove", and get an extra refill ink pod for free. #skystorians #writingsky

In late 2023, the Society spent a day with Hertfordshire’s historians. We saw the quality, creativity and distinctiveness of teaching, research and engagement. We were told by a (now departed) senior manager that History was ‘a portfolio the university will guard very carefully’. bit.ly/4hLediN

Glen O'Hara@gsoh31.bsky.social · 3d ago

So it's farewell to the History subject area at the University of Hertfordshire, not the first nor the last to go. One of the best departments in the country, just extinguished like a snap of the fingers. Think of the waste. (1/2)

People of Streatham, the M and S food is closing in 2 weeks' time.

We learned to touch type in years 8 and 9, as I recall. Then it was on electric typewriters. A skill for life.

Jess Calarco@jessicacalarco.com · 3d ago

So, ultimately: I'd love to see some kind of study looking at the relationship between how fast students can type on a standard keyboard and how likely they are to jump to AI when asked to type a lengthy (and grammatically correct) answer to a prompt. 11/

I'm trying to like this survey of British music "hauntology" but I'm finding it frustrating in parts. The prose tends to rely on the list ("this is influenced by that") without enough analysis or discussion of larger themes.

Thinking through the unedifying, un-evidence-based rush to an undefined, apparently unmodelled paradigm of 'specialisation, what's being lost/threatened? Herts History was an excellent example of performing to a top standard in REF, but also much more than that. Questions to think with include: 1/4

Glen O'Hara@gsoh31.bsky.social · 3d ago

So it's farewell to the History subject area at the University of Hertfordshire, not the first nor the last to go. One of the best departments in the country, just extinguished like a snap of the fingers. Think of the waste. (1/2)

Tagging for my #PedanticProtest project

Lizzie Dearden@lizziedearden.bsky.social · 3d ago

I interviewed several people who have been arrested. All said they knew the consequences of holding the signs and wanted to make a mockery of what they feel is a ridiculous and unjust law Their cases are currently in limbo pending the Supreme Court's ruling on the lawfulness of the ban

I see some people are reading this post as being about Exeter but it’s referring to the University of Hertfordshire. And that’s Owen’s point. Less coverage about the axe falling there but it’s equally sad.

Owen Davies@odavies9.bsky.social · 4d ago

So a whole lot of my talented Humanities colleagues are now unemployed as of today. A lot of understandable concern over Exeter. But for over two decades my Hums colleagues were in the top quartile for their research contribution to society. History top 10. Now gone with only a national whisper.

Not only that but *the entire Humanities offering at Hertfordshire has gone and is being taught out*

Cordelia Beattie@cordeliabeattie.bsky.social · 3d ago

I see some people are reading this post as being about Exeter but it’s referring to the University of Hertfordshire. And that’s Owen’s point. Less coverage about the axe falling there but it’s equally sad.

So the key findings of Amnesty's report was that these anti-rights groups have massive funding, that it comes largely from far-right christian groups in the US, and that they're abusing UK charity law to misrepresent themselves as pro-rights organisations.

Tickets are now available for Chartism Day 2026. The £12 ticket price includes refreshments and a light buffet lunch (plus all the Chartism you can eat). All are welcome. #C19th #History #Chartism www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/chartism-d...

Chartism Day 2026

Join us to discover the latest research on Chartism and get the chance to meet fellow Chartist scholars and enthusiasts. All welcome.

eventbrite.co.uk

Now reading. "Proto-hauntological" is a new one...

CEREMONIAL COUNTY AND ADMINISTRATIVE BOUNDARY THREAD KLAXON

Jonn Elledge@jonnelledge.bsky.social · 4d ago

it's not the expansions that bothers me, it's the fact that "riding" means "third"

I wonder if Horses is the Pope's favourite of Patti's albums. Given the cracking opening line, maybe not....

We're starting early for #YorkshireDay with a plug for our digitised archives on Yorkshire Miners, 1811-1945 A selection of branch membership records, publicity material and more all online at wdc.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/coll...

youve heard of failing upwards. well academic careers in 2026 encapsulate the reverse: succeeding downwards. so many talented, highly qualified people, being punished for their achievements

Instead of death by a thousand cuts, focused initially on Humanities but radiating out through Social Sciences to STEM and Medicine, we need a systematic conversation and assessment of what is at risk. From closed university museums and galleries to Jodrell Bank, what's at stake if we don't? 2/2

British Academy President: UK higher education crisis risks irreversible damage

As course closures, shrinking provision and widening regional inequalities threaten the future of UK higher education and research, President of the British Academy, Susan J Smith calls for an immedia...

thebritishacademy.ac.uk

And not just Exeter. At least 2 History Leicester FBAs have had to leave the University to stay in the profession due to risk of redundancy, and they won't be the only ones. The much broader issue affects thousands of excellent academics across a spectrum of disciplines (including STEM ones). 1/2

New British Academy fellows at risk in Exeter jobs cull

Being at the ‘top of your game’ no guarantee of job security, warns decorated historian now facing the chop

timeshighereducation.com

I would contribute to a widespread publicity raising campaign, handing out flyers with info on where the money goes, outside the HP shop at KX station, or outside the studio tour in Hertfordshire etc.

Sebas@ohlookbirdies.bsky.social · last wk.

Yeah, I've been trying to get through to a lot of people about that, I'm not "cancelling someone because I disagree with her opinions," I'm explaining that every time you go see the Harry Potter play or buy a pair of Hufflepuff socks, you are personally directly funding a hate campaign