Professor @richardtoye.bsky.social spoke to @uk.theconversation.com about #CountBinface and "joke" candidates in British elections who highlight serious issues🗳️ theconversation.com/from-count-b...

From Count Binface to AI Steve: why are we voting for joke candidates?

While their antics might make us pay attention to election campaigns, how did we end up with joke candidates as part of our political culture?

theconversation.com

"The history of British democracy is also the history of the losers, loners and long-shots whose campaigns reveal what voters find funny, what they find unacceptable, and what they are, in the end, prepared to take seriously" - @richardtoye.bsky.social theconversation.com/count-binfac...

Count Binface: why Britain’s ‘joke’ election candidates deserve to be taken seriously

Satirical candidates are part of a longstanding tradition in British politics.

theconversation.com

The Archive but it's a videogame from 1998.

The legacy of a decade of British #nuclearweapons testing in its vast central deserts has forced Australia into an uncomfortable reckoning with its nuclear past. 🔓 Jessica Urwin’s new Behind the Times is free for 7 days buff.ly/FciHgsk

The British Bombs Down Under

The legacy of a decade of British weapons testing in its vast central deserts has forced Australia into an uncomfortable reckoning with its nuclear past.

buff.ly

Watch the talk my editorial colleagues Charles Fair and @parhistory.bsky.social and I gave on our latest publication looking at the London TF in the Great War at @nationalarmymuseum.bsky.social Museum in June. Watch here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhxR....

EThOS platform restored! 'Following restoration work, all metadata records previously available on EThOS have now been restored, along with an additional 14,000 records added since the service was taken offline' - more to come https://www.bl.uk/stories/news/ethos-records-restored

EThOS records restored

We are pleased to share that EThOS (E-Theses Online Service) is now available again following restoration work after the cyber-attack.

bl.uk

What happens when a classic Agatha Christie story is reimagined with the memory of war? This month we are joined by Kemper Donovan, author and host of All About Agatha, to discuss Agatha Christie’s The Seven Dials Mystery and its recent Netflix adaptation ohwhatalovelypodcast.co.uk/podcast/agat...

Agatha Christie & The Seven Dials Mystery

What happens when a classic Agatha Christie story is reimagined with the memory of war lingering behind it? In the latest episode of Oh! What a Lovely Podcast, Jessica, Chris and Angus a...

ohwhatalovelypodcast.co.uk

Can a crime novel help us understand the long shadow cast by the #FWW? This month we explore Christina Koning’s 'Blind Detective' novel. It follows Frederick Rowlands, a veteran who lost his sight at Ypres but must investigate a suspicious murder. 🗃️ ohwhatalovelypodcast.co.uk/podcast/the-...

The Blind Detective

Can a crime novel help us understand the long shadow cast by the First World War? In this episode of Oh! What a Lovely Podcast, we explore Christina Koning's acclaimed Blind Detective se...

ohwhatalovelypodcast.co.uk

My book For King and Country - The Role of #Patriotism in #Mobilisation in the #FirstWorldWar is now on #SpecialOffer with 25% off the RRP via @penandswordbooks.bsky.social www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/For-King-and...

For King and Country

This book is an original interpretation of domestic patriotism and the limitations of wartime mobilisation in rural and urban communities of the British Home Front…

pen-and-sword.co.uk

🚨Conference: Disastrous Pasts and Sustainable Futures. Urban #disasters and #resilience in historical and social scientific perspectives. University of Warwick, 29-30 June 2026 🗃️ warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/his...

The value of the humanities is more than just what people are willing to pay for it — it can’t just be a business decision. The arts and humanities are fundamental to the flourishing of our society; knowledge gathering, critical thinking, and creativity should be defended as sacred things

The crisis in UK higher education is worsening week by week — Exeter University is one of the best in the UK, with superb lecturers (and several You’re Dead To Me guests), but it’s planning massive job cuts in History, Archaeology, Classics — see the petition below to lend your voice in support

Dr Susan Greaney@suegreaney.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Petition against the job losses here: c.org/ddjtYXzdQQ

Thanks to all sending messages of support as me and my colleagues in Humanities and Social Sciences at Exeter face being made redundant in September. I'll be back here once it's less hot & I can think. Please consider signing & sharing this petition: www.change.org/p/stop-redun... #EarlyModern 🗃️

Sign the Petition

Stop Redundancies at the University of Exeter

change.org

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 · 2mo ago

PETITION: www.change.org/p/stop-redun...

📣Out now on #firstview! Kit Kowol @kitkowol.bsky.social and Richard Toye @richardtoye.bsky.social on 'The Management of British MPs’ Postbags and Politician-Voter Relations in the Democratic Age' #Politics #Letters #Communication 20thc 🗃️ 👉Read open access: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Happy to announce that I have a new article published on #FWW #poetry. Thanks to @juliarsct.bsky.social for her insightful response, as well as to Ann-Marie Einhaus, Susan Grayzel, and Catriona Pennel for editing the issue. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

The Verse-Atility of First World War Poetry in the Classroom – A Reflection and Response

Once one moves beyond the canonical authors and texts, the diversity of First World War poetry makes it an ideal choice of source material for anyone wishing to teach a broad range of perspectives ...

tandfonline.com

Our piece is in a special issue of @fwwsjournal.bsky.social focused on 'Teaching the First World War for the Twenty-First Century' and it was expertly edited by @teachlearnwar.bsky.social, Ann-Marie Einhaus, and Susan Grayzel. I recommend you all take a look! 🗃️ www.tandfonline.com/toc/rfww20/1...

First World War Studies

Teaching the First World War for the Twenty-First Century – Pedagogies in Dialogue; Guest editors: Ann-Marie Einhaus, Susan R. Grayzel and Catriona Pennell. Volume 17, Issue 1-2 of First World War Studies

tandfonline.com

The final academic article that I've contributed to has just been published in @fwwsjournal.bsky.social! I'm delighted to have acted as a respondent to @bertalg.bsky.social in this piece. She's a wonderful historian and it was an honour to work with her. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

From Satirical Cartoons to Memes: Teaching the First World War in a Visual Society – A Reflection and Response

This article reflects on the different ways of approaching cartoons in today’s history classrooms, using the links drawn between other forms of graphic humour familiar to students, such as memes. W...

tandfonline.com

In June 1348, the first recorded death from the Black Death occurred in England. The disease entered England through the port in Weymouth. Over the next year, between one third and half of the population of England died of the disease

'What’s the value of a History PhD? A view from business' bit.ly/4elv1cW In this new post, Richard Marks charts the skills gained from completing a doctorate. From project design & management to data retrieval & analysis, History PhDs bring capacity and experience that are in demand #Skystorians

My 500 year history of disabled people's political activism is out now! Thanks to The Independent for making it their non-fiction book of the month! www.penguin.co.uk/books/455782... #disabilityhistory

Disability

A ground-breaking history of modern Britain that puts the experiences of disabled people to the fore for the first time. Despite there being more than 16 million disabled people in the UK today, disa...

penguin.co.uk

this is a cracking read. Really enjoying it and would recommend it to anyone interested in the messy truths about the British ‘home front’ in WW1

Richard Batten@richardbatten.bsky.social · 2y ago

I am pleased to announce that my next book “For King and Country: The Role of Patriotism in Mobilisation in the First World War” will be published by Pen and Sword History @penandswordbooks.bsky.social and released on 31 January 2025. www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/For-King-and...

The Society's President and Council have released the following statement on the proposed closure of undergraduate degrees at the University of Hertfordshire, in #History and the wider humanities bit.ly/4dmV5oO This comes at a time of further bad news from Essex and Nottingham #Skystorians

History and the humanities at the University of Hertfordshire – a statement from the Royal Historical Society - RHS

Even for those familiar with bleak times, this has been a particularly bad few weeks in UK higher education. Confirmed job losses at the University of Essex were followed by further bad news from Hert...

bit.ly

The National WW1 Museum and Memorial's - The Beautiful Game Exhibition is now on. If you are in Kansas City during the World Cup, then why not pay a visit! More information @ www.theworldwar.org/exhibitions/...

The Beautiful Game

Open April 2, 2026: Journey through the story of football's impact on WWI and explore the poignant influence of “the beautiful game” on people living during wartime.

theworldwar.org

Join me on 18th May at 7.30pm where I will be giving a talk on #Zoom to the @devonfhs.bsky.social about #Patriotism & #Conscription in #Devon during the #FirstWorldWar #HomeFront #ww1 www.devonfhs.org.uk/event/virtua...

Episode 2 of Churchill and the General Strike is now available. We explore how Churchill framed the strike not simply as an industrial dispute, but as a challenge to the state itself — and how that interpretation shaped both public debate and his own image. open.spotify.com/episode/2I2H...

Series 6: Churchill and the General Strike Episode 2

open.spotify.com

It was great to be on the @owalpodcast.bsky.social with @chriskempshall.bsky.social @thehistorygirl1.bsky.social & @anguswallace.bsky.social to talk about my latest book: For King & Country. You can watch it online: youtu.be/pC-1BnQwcmw Or listen to it: ohwhatalovelypodcast.co.uk/podcast/for-...

68 - For King and Country

YouTube video by Oh! What a lovely podcast

youtu.be

We have returned! This month @richardbatten.bsky.social talks to us about his latest book, 'For King and Coutnry'!

Oh! What a Lovely Podcast@owalpodcast.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Was patriotism in the #FWW really shared by all? This month we speak with @richardbatten.bsky.social about his book 'For King and Country', an examination of patriotism in Devon during the First World War. ohwhatalovelypodcast.co.uk/podcast/for-...

Was patriotism in the #FWW really shared by all? This month we speak with @richardbatten.bsky.social about his book 'For King and Country', an examination of patriotism in Devon during the First World War. ohwhatalovelypodcast.co.uk/podcast/for-...

For King and Country

Was patriotism in the First World War really shared by all, or was it shaped and enforced from above? In the latest episode of Oh What a Lovely Podcast, we speak with Richard Batten abou...

ohwhatalovelypodcast.co.uk

Brand new episode! May 1926. The General Strike is underway and dividing the nation. Dr. Warren Dockter and I deliver the inside story in this episode, 'The Red Menace and the Blue Pencil'. open.spotify.com/episode/2I2H...

Series 6: Churchill and the General Strike Episode 2

open.spotify.com