Paul Seaward
@pseaward.bsky.social
History of Parliament, parliamentarism and politics in Britain and Europe from the middle ages to now; C17th English political thought and political history; Clarendon, Hobbes. A parliamentary miscellany at https://historyofparliamentblog.wordpress.com
And for many years people said 'flooding suggests rivers need to be straightened.' Now we are realising the opposite is necessary. Strange how short-term solutions often turn out to be a bit shit. Even stranger how foreign-owned 'newspapers' love a good populist headline.
Jason Scott-Warren@jes1003.bsky.social · 3d agoRewilding causes wildfires! Sign/share petition.parliament.uk/petitions/76... Visit mediasovereignty.org
Wrote about the deafening silence on our summer of climate impacts from Labour, the Lib Dems, the Greens, business leaders, and even some campaign groups. The dominant climate discourse from the past week has been from those who want to ditch net zero targets and trash decarbonisation policies.
Jessica Elgot@jessicaelgot.bsky.social · 2d agoWe are in the third drought in five years. We have the National Trust and NFU - those radical types - sounding the alarm on unprecedented temperatures. But so little from any single figure in politics talking about the climate crisis.
I was struck by a piece on Radio 4 the other day, asking whether Burnham would be more "pragmatic" - meaning "positive" - about drilling in the North Sea. It was simply taken for granted that drilling was the "pragmatic" option, while opposing it was dogmatic or ideological.
James Murray@james-bg.bsky.social · 2d agoWrote about the deafening silence on our summer of climate impacts from Labour, the Lib Dems, the Greens, business leaders, and even some campaign groups. The dominant climate discourse from the past week has been from those who want to ditch net zero targets and trash decarbonisation policies.
Thoughts on wildfires, floods, food supply and rewilding.
Yesterday revisited the wonderful Kedermister Library, founded in the 1630s by Sir John Kedermister (seen here in his memorial) in St Mary’s, Langley Marish (Berkshire). Last time I was there must have been 15 years ago with @katiedflanagan.bsky.social! Also rang on their lovely bells 🔔
File under "Still don't like the look of this" (Posted one week on) climatereanalyzer.org/clim/sst_dai...
Oliver Morton, Eater of Sun@eaterofsun.bsky.social · last wk.File under "Really quite disturbing" If the preliminary data for the past few weeks are confirmed, we are now very close to a new world record, and seeing an alarming rate of change climatereanalyzer.org/clim/sst_dai...
I have stumbled on the largest surviving set of medieval parish glass in England. Stand by!
Significant new report from @dianecoyle1859.bsky.social & colleagues makes the case that the UK has a mismatch between highly centralised institutions of spending control and increasingly fragmented systems of public service delivery (more so if devolution) www.nuffieldfoundation.org/news/opinion...
The myth of Treasury control: What’s wrong with the UK’s public spending system and how to fix it - Nuffield Foundation
The long-standing model of centralised Treasury control over public spending has inadequately adapted to the realities of public service delivery.
nuffieldfoundation.org
Not so much the elephant in the room, as the brontosaurus I have yet to hear the new PM mention the word climate, or even comment on the raging fires across the channel www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Ella Baron on Andy Burnham’s plans for youth employment – cartoon
The PM says he is committed to diversifying Britain’s higher education offers with industrial training – ‘hard hats rather than graduation caps’
theguardian.com
Mégafeux : « A moins d’un an de l’élection présidentielle, nous avons l’obligation de ne pas laisser la sidération l’emporter et d’apporter des réponses politiques » www.lemonde.fr/idees/articl...
Mégafeux : « A moins d’un an de l’élection présidentielle, nous avons l’obligation de ne pas laisser la sidération l’emporter et d’apporter des réponses politiques »
TRIBUNE. Pourquoi les catastrophes, comme les inondations ou les incendies, ne déclenchent-elles pas de sursaut écologique ? L’oubli des causes climatiques et la récupération des colères par les force...
lemonde.fr
In July 1625 Parliament was adjourned away from a plague-ridden London. Dr Paul Hunneyball explores the crisis facing Charles I that prolonged Parliament's deliberations, necessitating a safer meeting place at Oxford University.
Legislature meets library: Parliament at Oxford in 1625 - The History of Parliament
As part of our Parliament away from Westminster series, Dr Paul Hunneyball of our Lords 1558-1603 section explores the factors which led to England’s oldest
historyofparliament.com
🚨New Article🚨 In the mid-17th century, aristocratic obsessions with family honour meant that Peers often worried about their sons failing to live up to their expectations. Dr Alex Beeton has explored the case of 1st earl of Bollingbroke and his particularly wayward son.
A Disappointed Father: The 1st Earl of Bolingbroke and His Son - The History of Parliament
One such example was Oliver St John, 1st earl of Bolingbroke. A major landowner in Bedfordshire and neighbouring Huntingdonshire, Bolingbroke was strongly
historyofparliament.com
🚨New Substack🚨 As former Mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham, prepares to become Prime Minister, @jhdavey.bsky.social has been thinking about other moments in Britain’s past when Manchester — and the surrounding area — played a pivotal role in shaping the political agenda.
Manchester and the Politics of Victorian Britain
In recent weeks, domestic politics has been dominated by a politician from Manchester, which got me thinking about other moments in Britain’s past when Manchester — and the surrounding area — played a...
historyofparliament.substack.com
🚨 New Article🚨 Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hundson, was Elizabeth I's closest living male relative. But as Dr Andrew Thrush has explored, there are some who claimed he may even have been Elizabeth I's half-brother, with a plausible claim to the throne.
Elizabeth I’s half-brother? Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon - The History of Parliament
It has long been known that Henry Carey, 1st Lord Hunsdon, was Elizabeth I’s closest living male relative. However, it is less widely known that he may also
historyofparliament.com
Stanley Jackson played in 20 cricket Test matches for England, captaining them in 5 (pictured here to the right of W G Grace in 1899). He became Conservative MP for Howdenshire in a 1915 by-election, remaining until appointed Governor of Bengal in 1926. In India he survived an assassination attempt.
I wrote about the Nolan Odyssey for the LRB. I'll summarize some of my main points below, in case you don't feel like reading all that. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Emily Wilson · An Uncomplicated Man
As they say at the awards shows, I was humbled to learn that Christopher Nolan has read at least the first line of my...
lrb.co.uk
Excellent and forensic @victoriancommons.bsky.social blog on the Speakership election of 1835 victoriancommons.wordpress.com/2026/07/29/s...
The Speakership election of 1835
In this article Dr Kathryn Rix and Dr Martin Spychal discuss a pivotal vote in the early nineteenth-century Commons – the selection of the Speaker in February 1835. They explore popular reaction to…
victoriancommons.wordpress.com
archival photo of the Synagogue in Checiny, Poland, made 1638, paintings possibly from 1905
I love those moments in bookshops when you encounter a Special Interest you had never even imagined before.
A deserved tribute to George Howarth. Small thing, but I recall as a young campaigner accidentally emailing George instead of (Conservative MP) Gerald Howarth. He passed it on and wrote to let me know that he’d done so (and hadn’t read it as a point of honour) www.politicshome.com/opinion/arti...
'A straight-talking man of principle': Tribute to George Howarth – by Roger Gale
A Labour MP for nearly 40 years, George Howarth was firm, fair with a self-deprecating Merseyside wit. A veteran of his party’s battles with Milita...
politicshome.com
Chief Whip sets out that the PPS role is being reshaped, to have a higher profile, with more emphasis on parliamentary engagement on policy, and some media/public engagement too. x.com/labourwhips/...
The House of Lords Constitution Committee is starting a wide-ranging inquiry into strengthening our constitutional safeguards - as proposed by (Lord) Peter Hennessy. Look East, look West, and see the urgency. Written evidence requested by 28th of September. committees.parliament.uk/committee/17...
The UK’s constitutional safeguards inquiry launched by Lords Constitution Committee - Committees - UK Parliament
The House of Lords Constitution Committee has today published a call for evidence for its inquiry into the UK’s constitutional safeguards. It is inviting interested individuals and organisations...
committees.parliament.uk
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Meet the man whose groundbreaking book is being devoured by the left
Anton Jäger has been lauded for his exceptional ability to make sense of these strange political times – and he’s only 32. The writer and academic explains why we’re living in an age of hyperpolitics
theguardian.com
“The gap between the talk and action [on nature preservation] is so cavernous that if it was a geological feature it would surely qualify as a protected area” ✍🏼 Tim Smedley:
Britain deserves better than this botched plan for nature
Protecting land for wildlife requires investment that the government seems sadly unwilling to commit
prospectmagazine.co.uk
The Storia Mediterranea website is a very useful resource for the late medieval and early modern Mediterranean. First, there are digitized versions for all issues of the "Mediterranea ricerche storiche" journal published from 2004 to the present. #medievalsky #earlymodern www.storiamediterranea.it
home - Storia Mediterranea
Che cosa è il Mediterraneo? Mille cose insieme. Non un paesaggio, ma innumerevoli paesaggi. Non un mare, ma un susseguirsi di mari. Non una civiltà, ma una serie di civiltà accatastate le une sulle al...
storiamediterranea.it
🧵The House of Commons administration plans to abolish its world leading parliamentary outreach team. @aileenwalker.bsky.social & @estrangeirada.bsky.social explain why cutting in person public engagement across the UK in favour of digital only engagement is a mistake. Blog 🔗⬇️
Utterly extraordinary that Government makes not a single mention of water in its policy for delivering AI growth zones. Threats to our water security are the focus of Episode 3 of my @therestpolitics.bsky.social mini series, When Nature Becomes a Security Threat - out soon!
Not enough water for UK’s datacentre plans, trade body says
Industry says government’s failure to address cooling demands means AI growth plans are ‘fatally flawed’
theguardian.com
The original 1950-1975 incarnation of council housing was not needs based and charged above market rents. The idea was to use the money collected to build more creating a self stabilising system where rising rents brought a wave of building.
Neil Goodrich@ngoodrichhsg.bsky.social · 3w agoDid this in the form of fixed term tenancies & introductory tenancies in the 2010s, was a mess and a logistical nightmare. Best way to make housing more affordable is to build more of it. Also need to reverse the view of social housing as a tenancy of last resort, that wasn't its original purpose.
