‘Great Inventions, 1961’ Jodrell Bank Radio Telescope Artist: Robert Ayton
Mark Liebenrood
@markliebenrood.bsky.social
Historian, mostly museums. Postdoctoral researcher at Birkbeck 2023-2025 (https://mapping-museums.bbk.ac.uk/museum-closure-in-the-uk-2000-2025/). Personal website: https://markliebenrood.com/
Get to see museums from a new angle, learning about the contribution of art dealers to the development of their collections! Bookings are open for our event ‘In Conversation‘, with Prof Mark Westgarth and Dr Caroline Cornish. Join us online on 6 August!
Museums and Galleries History Group (MGHG)@mghg.bsky.social · last mo.Join us on 6 August for the fourth in our series of online ‘In Conversation’ events! Prof. Mark Westgarth and Dr Caroline Cornish will talk about the latest chapter in the project ‘Year of the Dealer‘, developed in collaboration with five major museums. Bookings: www.mghg.info/forthcoming-...
The Odyssey is certainly spectacular but I didn’t enjoy it that much. This review sums up a lot of my reservations. time.com/article/2026...
'The Odyssey' Is Just Another Reason for Despair
Christopher Nolan's latest is a testament to the filmmaker’s solemn dedication to the hallowed tradition of filmmaking, but a movie still needs to add up to something you actually want to watch.
time.com
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Universities are independent from government and are responsible for managing their own finances, but we are committed to policies that make their lives impossible” www.theguardian.com/education/20...
Humanities among degrees being ‘extinguished’ by hard-up universities
Exclusive: Experts fear rise in education ‘cold spots’ and social immobility as 4,000 academic posts lost in one year
theguardian.com
An ECIU study has found that three quarters of media coverage of the June heatwave did not mention climate change - our recent poll found 71% of Britons think climate change was a likely cause of the high temperatures yougov.com/en-gb/articl...
Your view may well be that of Brenda from Bristol but there's a frisson of excitement here at VCH. MPs - possibly, or not - leaving parliament means (an all too brief), focus on Manorial and Hundredal Offices. Yes, it's time for the #ChilternHundreds and the manor of #Northstead. Read on...
Brenda From Bristol: Not Another One! (Brexit)
ALT: Brenda From Bristol: Not Another One! (Brexit)
static.klipy.com
Please sign this petition - now over 9k sigs - to stop the philistinic slashing of Humanities and Social Sciences staff at Exeter. #UCU #UKHE All solidarity with my brilliant friends and colleagues at @exeterucu.bsky.social
UCU Commons@ucucommons.org · last mo.PETITION: www.change.org/p/stop-redun...
"So ... so I said ... why not sign your treaty here, at Versailles?"
Sad to hear this. I felt so fortunate to hear him lecture in London some years ago and his writings were a big influence on my PhD work. www.repubblica.it/cultura/2026...
Carlo Ginzburg è morto, addio al grande storico italiano
Aveva 87 anni. Era famoso in tutto il mondo per le sue ricerche sulla stregoneria e le credenze popolari
repubblica.it
I wonder how many of the 100 best novels are featured? www.theguardian.com/books/2026/m...
‘I laughed out loud dozens of times’: authors choose books to make you fall back in love with reading
From a darkly comic new novel to a gripping 1950s memoir – Katherine Rundell, Malala Yousafzai, Matt Haig and others appearing at Hay festival pick titles to tempt you
theguardian.com
In little over 24 hours, the petition for government to stage a UK-wide briefing on the climate & nature crisis has passed the 10,000 milestone. Please help us get this to 100,000 to secure a parliamentary debate - by sharing widely. #NationalEmergencyBriefing #TimeToStepUp
Petition: Hold a UK-wide briefing on climate and nature risks
The UK faces growing risks from climate and nature breakdown - from extreme weather to economic disruption and national security threats. Yet the public has never been given a clear national briefing ...
petition.parliament.uk
This matters. Please co-sign. Managers like to pretend that petitions don't move them, but in reality cannot but answer questions about the numbers, and suddenly things that were deemed inevitable appear to be more-evitably-than-previously-declared.
Sign the Petition
Save the Humanities at the University of Hertfordshire
change.org
Yesterday Kier Starmer announced Labour will nationalise British Steel, and save 2700 jobs. Today, the Uni of Nottingham put 2700 staff at risk of redundancy. This is just one university. Across the UK 15,000 higher education jobs need saving. Where is the rescue package for our universities?
Design legend Margaret Calvert is 90 today. Look at that cake! If you've ever admired a road, rail or metro sign in Britain it's likely she had something to do with it. One of Britain's design heroes - happy birthday to her. Photo by: @oshgallerylondon (IG) Cake by: mybaker.co
This was fun and I did better than expected. 🗳️ ConstituencyClick 424/650 — Shadow Cabinet 🟥🟨🟨🟥🟩🟨🟩🟨🟩🟥 play.jmoxley.co.uk
ConstituencyClick
Can you find ten UK parliamentary constituencies on a map? Click inside for full marks.
play.jmoxley.co.uk
On protecting what matters. @ihr.bsky.social @royalhistsoc.org @histassoc.bsky.social History UK www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
Protecting What Matters: A joint statement by the Historical Association, History UK, Royal Historical Society and the IHR
Protecting what matters: A joint statement by the Historical Association, History UK, Royal Historical Society and the IHR
history.ac.uk
New article! Chains of closure: how collections move and change when museums close www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10..... Why did the Commonwealth Institute and the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum (and several others) close, and what happened to their collections after closure?
Chains of closure: how collections move and change when museums close
Hundreds of museums have closed in the UK since 2000. Some closures have led to the transfer of part or all of the collection to another museum which has later also closed, causing collections to m...
tandfonline.com
I’ve seen so much of this when researching recent museum history. Anecdotally, local news websites are especially bad in this regard, but it’s a widespread problem for researchers using online sources. The Wayback Machine has been invaluable.
Internet Archive@archive.org · 3mo ago🧵 The web is disappearing 🕳️ From Pew: 26% of pages from 2013-2023 are ☠️ A new study in VANISHING CULTURE gives hope: 16% have been restored through the Wayback Machine. 56% are preserved before they disappear. 📚 Read VANISHING CULTURE free from Internet Archive: archive.org/details/vani... ⬇️
New article! Chains of closure: how collections move and change when museums close www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10..... Why did the Commonwealth Institute and the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum (and several others) close, and what happened to their collections after closure?
Chains of closure: how collections move and change when museums close
Hundreds of museums have closed in the UK since 2000. Some closures have led to the transfer of part or all of the collection to another museum which has later also closed, causing collections to m...
tandfonline.com
This is annoyingly addictive. 19 my best score so far. edjefferson.com/playyourtube...
Play Your Tubes Right
Which London Underground journey is faster? Test your tube knowledge!
edjefferson.com
New article! The Mapping Museums Lab looked at how museums behaved during the pandemic, once they were allowed to reopen. And why did so few museums shut down? onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Unrealized Fears: Monitoring Museum Closure and Reopening in the United Kingdom During the COVID‐19 Pandemic
Fears of widespread permanent closures of museums expressed at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic prompted our research to monitor closures and other museum behavior in 2021–2022. We wanted to unders....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
New article! The Mapping Museums Lab looked at how museums behaved during the pandemic, once they were allowed to reopen. And why did so few museums shut down? onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Unrealized Fears: Monitoring Museum Closure and Reopening in the United Kingdom During the COVID‐19 Pandemic
Fears of widespread permanent closures of museums expressed at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic prompted our research to monitor closures and other museum behavior in 2021–2022. We wanted to unders....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
On a @gwr.com train. Forty minutes late and counting, crawling towards its final stop with no explanation for the continuing delay. The wifi barely works and there’s no sign of the catering that was promised when I was waiting to catch it. Shambolic.
Plenty of cash for capital projects at the National Gallery, but not enough for running costs. How are they going to cope with the extra overheads of a new wing? www.theartnewspaper.com/2026/02/13/l...
London’s National Gallery to cut staff as it faces £8.2m deficit
The institution is offering a “voluntary exit scheme” for all employees and will be reducing its activities
theartnewspaper.com
£42k for a lead (I.e. extensive experience) curatorial post - with management responsibilities - at a national library in one of the most expensive cities in the world? no wonder they’ve been on strike!
Alice Marples@alicemarples.bsky.social · 6mo agoJOB ALERT: Lead Curator, Modern Archives & Manuscripts (1601-1800) at The British Library - closing date: 18th Feb www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQH179/l...