Peter Gatrell
@pwgatrell.bsky.social
Historian - mainly researching refugee history in the 20c. … but it’s not just about refugees… oh, and still learning about what’s at stake then and now. Funded generously in the past by AHRC and Leverhulme Trust and enabled by UNHCR Records and Archives
A marvellous book that will stand the test of time. Mixed emotions on seeing it in print but not being able to congratulate Philippa in person.
Alex Drace-Francis@alexdrace.bsky.social · 6d ago"Circulating Subjects: Sex Work and Migration in Russia, 1885–1935" - great (and sadly posthumous) book by our inspirational and much-missed colleague Philippa Hetherington @cornellupress.bsky.social cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...
"Circulating Subjects: Sex Work and Migration in Russia, 1885–1935" - great (and sadly posthumous) book by our inspirational and much-missed colleague Philippa Hetherington @cornellupress.bsky.social cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...
Circulating Subjects by Philippa Hetherington | Hardcover | Cornell University Press
Circulating Subjects investigates the migration of women abroad for sex work from the 1880s through the 1930s, which Russian feminists, liberal jurists, and imperial bureaucrats worked together to def...
cornellpress.cornell.edu
Today we’re seeing a variety of these tawdry attempts to blame only Cambridge for Arday’s death, by putting a target on his back. As if those who chose to aim at that target - to destroy a black autistic man so they could win an EDI argument - are blameless. www.thetimes.com/article/jaso...
Jason Arday, former Cambridge University professor, found dead
Academic at centre of plagiarism row was found unresponsive in Battersea. Police said his death was not believed to be suspicious
thetimes.com
The UNHCR archives in Geneva are at risk; reading room already closed - and there's a much broader 'humanitarian archive emergency' ongoing with aid budget cuts. www.aretenews.com/unhcr-refuge...
As aid funds shrink, archivists warn of risks to the humanitarian record
UNHCR's archives are a test case for humanitarians struggling to preserve institutional memory in an era of retrenchment.
aretenews.com
The fallout began when “U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Barham Salih chose [US career diplomat] Finerty over Simon Hankinson, a U.S.-backed candidate and former foreign service officer who has accused the UNHCR of pursuing “a mass migration agenda."“
EXCLUSIVE: Diplomatic efforts seek to avert Trump split with UN refugee agency, sources say
The Trump administration has in recent weeks weighed cutting ties with the U.N. refugee agency, prompting a campaign by diplomats and U.N. officials to persuade the United States to maintain support...
reuters.com
It would be quite nice and quite collegial and quite effective (not to mention very good indeed for the UK) to join these arguments up with the evidenced-based arguments of (for example) the British Academy.
The Royal Society@royalsociety.org · last mo."It is essential that science is in no way a junior partner." Paul Nurse PRS has responded to changes including the merger of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology into a new Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade: royalsociety.org/news/2026/07...
On our blog, Peter Gatrell discusses what refugees around the world from the end of the First World War to the mid-1970s said of their experiences and considers the power of archives and refugees’ agency and creativity. https://www.rsc.ox.ac.uk/blog/refugee-voices-in-modern-global-history
The irony of this man talking about his safety being under threat by investigative journalism when he actively stokes race riots.
"The variety of historical evidence is nearly infinite. Everything that man says or writes ... can and ought to teach us about him. It is curious to note how many people, unacquainted with our work, underestimate the true extent of its possibilities." 'The Historian's Craft' (1949, trans 1954).
Royal Historical Society@royalhistsoc.org · 2mo agoOn Tuesday, historian Marc Bloch (1886-1944) was inducted into the Panthéon with his wife Simonne Vidal (1894-1944). A medieval scholar and co-founder of the Annales School, Bloch served in the First World War and in the resistance before his murder by the Nazis in 1944 bit.ly/4eyAq1O #Skystorians
But remind me about that whole "two tier" policing bit where white supremacists actively engaged in an attempted pogrom to cause terror and achieve political ends were either ignored or charged with domestic criminal offences. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
Pro-Palestine activists sentenced as terrorists over damage at Israeli arms factory in UK
Four found guilty will face tougher conditions as judge says actions were ‘designed to intimidate the UK government and a section of the public’
theguardian.com
They were all sentenced with terrorism connection, disapplying early release provisions. Charlotte Head 6 years Eleona Kamino 6 years Fatema Zainab Rajwani 5 years 8 months Samuel Corner 8 yrs 8 months They were not charged or convicted of a terrorism offence. Saving Lives Is Not Terrorism.
It’s a stupidly high bar but I believe this to be Craig Brown’s finest work
More than twenty interviews with some of the leading figures in economic history in the last century are now available to watch on our website & YouTube channel. Interview with Dr Joan Thirsk: ehs.org.uk/multimedia/i... www.youtube.com/@EconomicHis...
Interview with Dr Joan Thirsk - Economic History Society
ehs.org.uk
I have a prize lecture about extinction this Thursday evening at the Royal Society. I’ll also receive a medal. Tickets are free and it will also be steamed on YouTube. Booking and watching details here: royalsociety.org/science-even...
Wilkins-Bernal-Medawar prize lecture: Hope in the shadow of unnatural extinctions | Royal Society
Join us for the Royal Society Wilkins-Bernal-Medawar Medal and Lecture delivered by 2025 winner Professor Sadiah Qureshi.
royalsociety.org
Also published today in Transactions: Peter Gatrell's article 'The "RefugeeWorld": A Twentieth-Century Retrospective' bit.ly/49nWmtg This is an article version of Peter's 2025 Prothero Lecture given in July last year. Now available free Open Access 1/2 #Skystorians
Important intervention by the @royalhistsoc.org, @ihr.bsky.social, History UK, and the Historical Association. I hope politicians will take note.
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
I’ve been hearing so much anger and disappointment from frontline workers about the BBC investigation into fraudulent asylum claims. One of the most damning responses has come from one of the experts they interviewed, solicitor Ana Gonzalez. It’s really worth reading her response in full:
Officer I have a different way of calculating blood alcohol percentage
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 4mo agoRFK Jr: "President Trump has a different way of calculating percentages. If you have a $600 drug and you reduce it to $10, that's a 600% reduction."
I had the opportunity to confront Pete Hegseth's bigoted spiritual mentor, Pastor Doug Wilson, and call him out on his history of hate, his misreading of the Bible, his hijacking of Jesus, and his cosplay Crusading. It was worth it.
Hungary: Orban loses historic election The new Private Eye is out now.
Today in Russia (so far): ▪️Russian human rights group Memorial designated an "extremist" movement; ▪️FSB says former Russian freelancer for RFE/RL detained, accused of treason; ▪️Masked security officers searching Moscow office of Novaya Gazeta newspaper.
As we mourn the great Averil Cameron, I point you to her autobiographical talk from 2017: on being working class and female in Ancient History wcc-uk.blogs.sas.ac.uk/2017/05/22/s...
Starting out in the 1960s, working class and female - WCC-UK
We are delighted that Professor Dame Averil Cameron has shared the text of the keynote speech that she gave at our 2017 AGM with us for publication on the blog. Her experience resonated with many in t...
wcc-uk.blogs.sas.ac.uk
Lovely review of the book in which I had a hand … I hope it will finds its way into university and college libraries 🤞🤞
Stacy Fahrenthold@sfahrenthold.bsky.social · 5mo agoHow do historians center refugee voices within institutional archives? I recently read Refugee Voices in Modern Global History, a new book that untangles the power structures of 20th century refugeedom. A vital contribution for grad seminars & anyone in the field. www.tandfonline.com/eprint/ZPANP...
I think everyone would agree that the police and MPs shouldn’t be shoplifting.
The Times and Sunday Times@thetimes.com · 5mo agoMarks & Spencer is right — police and politicians must stop shoplifting
Francesca Rolandi’s article, “Between Blocs: Socialist Yugoslavia as a Pragmatic Player in the International Refugee Regime,” is now available: 👇 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... @tandfonline.bsky.social
Between Blocs: Socialist Yugoslavia as a Pragmatic Player in the International Refugee Regime
This essay analyses how Yugoslavia’s unique geopolitical position between the blocs, after its 1948 split with Moscow, played out in its refugee policies. First, it investigates the way in which Yu...
tandfonline.com
Can anyone explain to me what the Blue Labour justification for this is? Who out there will vote Labour because Mahmood prevented a Sudanese Chevening Scholar? And to be honest, why won’t the PM simply overrule her?
Nobody has ever been so lyrically yet thoroughly excoriated as in this piece. And yet, few people have ever deserved such a complete dismantling as the Prince formerly known as Andrew www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Andrew O’Hagan · Stay Classy: Mummy’s Favourite
The late queen can be held responsible for much, but nobody could accuse her of seeming to enjoy her role. For the...
lrb.co.uk
