The state of higher education in the UK, in a photo

📣Out now on #firstview Kathleen Commons @kabcommons.bsky.social @sheffielduni.bsky.social on 'Discovering ‘Immigration Control’ in England, c. 1540 – c. 1640' #Migration #History #EarlyModern #England #Immigration 📜 16thc 17thc 👉Read open access here: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Everything about the way the White House is messaging about this war seems perfectly designed to feed the ZOG conspiracists out there.

FinTwitter@fintwitter.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Trump tells Times of Israel: The decision to end the war with Iran will be a joint decision in consultation with Netanyahu.

UC Berkeley Professor Darlène Dubuisson found ‘liberation’ in reading. It led her to study how Black people imagine better futures. news.berkeley.edu/2026/02/27/u...

UC Berkeley Professor Darlène Dubuisson found ‘liberation’ in reading. It led her to study how Black people imagine better futures - Berkeley News

Dubuisson, the newest faculty member in the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies, recounts her unconventional academic path.

news.berkeley.edu

Tolkien (pathetic naïve rube) writing prequels: And so Melkor who was called Morgoth tainted all creation and Arda Marred shall suffer under the shadow of his evil until the end of days George RR Martin (edgy, dark, and modern) writing prequels: INTRODUCING THE ADVENTURES OF LARGE LAD AND BALD BOY

I don’t know who needs to hear Jesse Jackson leading the kids on Sesame Street in this beautiful call-and-response reminding them that every child is somebody, but here it is

I sort of love this. www.ft.com/content/c30d...

People often mock left-wing protesters for trying to shoehorn their particular niche cause into any given protest, but you'll never see anything as mad as this...

General Boles@generalboles.bsky.social · 6mo ago

The Texas / 2nd Amendment flag is a particularly unhinged touch seeing as the protest was in Poole

Not only is the World Service something to, completely unironically, feel deeply proud of, it's also got to be one of the most cost-effective tools of overseas influence that Britain possesses. This would be catastrophic.

Melissa Chemam@melissaontheroad.bsky.social · 6mo ago

And another bites the dust? The BBC World Service will run out of funding in just seven weeks. Its funding arrangement with the Foreign Office finishes at the end of March. There is no plan for what happens next. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

just remembered that recently out of the blue my 7-year-old asked “dad, what was the collapse of the soviet union?”

Labour source: "It seems bizarre Morgan has gone just for giving advice. There are plenty of other people still around Keir who have hidden behind Morgan and tried to pretend they weren’t pushing for this appointment. They will no longer be able to." www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/morgan...

Morgan McSweeney Quits As Starmer's Chief Of Staff Over Mandelson Scandal

The key No.10 adviser has fallen on his sword.

huffingtonpost.co.uk

If you missed this week's seminar by Ciara McAllister on 'A class apart: Representing the ‘Troubles’ and the working class', a recording is now available at www.youtube.com/watch?v=8o1J...

Irish Studies Seminar: Ciara McAllister 2.2.26

YouTube video by QUB Irish Studies

youtube.com

a man sitting at a desk with the word this on the bottom right

ALT: a man sitting at a desk with the word this on the bottom right

media.tenor.com

Kevin Schofield@kevinschofied.bsky.social · 6mo ago

No10 says “the government stands ready to provide whatever support and assistance the police need”. With a crucial by-election looming and the locals on May 7, this scandal is the last thing Labour needs. www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/peter-...

My new article, 'Selling Education in England, 1650-1715' is now out (open access) in the English Historical Review! academic.oup.com/ehr/advance-...

Selling Education in England, 1650–1715*

Abstract. In the period 1650–1715, a growing consensus emerged that educational culture in England did not meet the needs of the population, and that chang

academic.oup.com

CHOTINER: That's very interesting. It reminds me of this rope I have here. The rope is tied into a noose. Would you like to try it on? It might look good on you. INTERVIEWEE: yes, I think that would suit me very well. Let me see how it fits around my neck.

Breaking: Matt Goodwin says his internal polling has him up by 814%.

If you missed Connal Parr's talk this week on 'No borders: The Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement and its legacies', a recording is now available at www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OLY...

Irish Studies Seminar: Connal Parr 26.1.26

YouTube video by QUB Irish Studies

youtube.com

On Monday 2 Feb. Ciara McAllister will be speaking about ‘A class apart: Representing the “Troubles” and the working class’ - all welcome in-person or online www.qub.ac.uk/schools/Iris...

How is the concept of culture wars rooted in the social and political struggles of nineteenth-century Germany? Robert D. Priest explores these little-known origins.

The Origins of Culture Wars

How is the concept of culture wars rooted in the social and political struggles of nineteenth century Germany? Robert D. Priest explores.

historyworkshop.org.uk

I am very happy my article on the secret training facilities of the British Army of the Rhine for postings in Northern Ireland during the Troubles has now been published! Thank you @ghilondon.bsky.social for the excellent cooperation. www.ghil.ac.uk/publications...

I just thought everyone should see this

Highlight from last semester!

Patrick WJ Thompson@patrickwjthompson.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Had a brilliant time sharing my work at the @ihrbritainseminar.bsky.social seminar last week at @ihr.bsky.social. Really great discussion as well, facilitated by @colmpm.bsky.social, with lots of interesting questions. Thanks for having me!

Now that the paperwork is done and my flights are booked, I’m excited to share that I’ll be spending a month from mid-February in California as a Visiting Postgraduate Researcher at the @ucberkeleyies.bsky.social, as part of the IES-QUB HAPP Exchange Scheme!

We can either live in a world made by 14-year-old boys who never grew up, for 14-year-old boys who never grew up, or maybe OFCOM could finally act like an actual regulator?

Eliot Higgins@eliothiggins.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Two UK Cabinet ministers ‘stripped to a bikini’ by Grok AI metro.co.uk/2026/01/06/t...

Uncivil War, my book about the British Army and the Troubles in the early 1970s, is out in paperback on 15 January. Come and hear me talk about it at the National Army Museum on 13 February: www.nam.ac.uk/whats-on/unc...

Uncivil War: The British Army and the Troubles, 1966-75

Join historian Huw Bennett as he examines the interactions between the British Army and paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland during the most violent phase of the Troubles.

nam.ac.uk

Strathclyde seeks 'to save £35m over the next two years.' 'Details of which jobs may be at risk have not been made public by the university. It is thought they could include roles at Strathclyde Business School and the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland.' Industrial policy anyone?

University of Strathclyde announces plans to cut 70 jobs

The university says it needs to save £35m but a union is calling for no compulsory redundancies.

bbc.co.uk

"Each socio-economic group – and viewers from any other category – could adopt Parr as their own, the chronicler of an inherently ridiculous people: that is, not them." Michael Prodger is so brilliant on Martin Parr:

Goodbye Martin Parr

Serious photographs, disguised as entertainment

newstatesman.com

Glad to learn that tomorrow is 100 years since one of the finest bits of inter-government-relations-handling ever, when the UK, NI and Free State governments got together and said ‘We all hate this Boundary Commission report, albeit for completely different reasons. Let’s suppress it!’

Second Reading@commonslibrary.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Settling the United Kingdom border https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/settling-the-united-kingdom-border/