Matt Houlbrook
@tricksterprince.bsky.social
History, Britain, culture, cities, selfhood, sexuality, gender, #20s30s. Now - The Institute: The untold story of Pelmanism and its followers Just out - Songs of Seven Dials: An intimate history of 1920s and 1930s London (MUP) He / him
Super proud of this and working with @tricksterprince.bsky.social and the rest of the team.
Matt Houlbrook@tricksterprince.bsky.social · last mo.Very proud of this one: Incarcerated: Contemporary Photography from the Victorian Prison It's been a delight to work with @andyaitchison.bsky.social, Dominique Moran, Yvonne Jewkes, & Jennifer Turner. Seeing Andy's wonderful work in print is quite something. insidetime.org/newsround/in...
Cool. So Burnham's plan is to use the entire state for crackdowns and racism, not just the parts explicitly designed to do crackdowns and racism. Fuck him.
Adam Bienkov@adambienkov.bsky.social · 3w agoThe Times reporting that Andy Burnham succeeded in persuading Shabana Mahmood to become Chancellor because it would give her more control over cutting immigration
🔔 UNTIL SUNDAY! 🔔 You can pre-order my first book for £16.50! Less than the price of a train from London to Reading
Max Long@maxlong.bsky.social · 3w ago⏰ LIMITED OFFER: If you're based outside of North America, you can purchase it with a 50% discount using the code 27SUMMER at checkout - just £16.50! Only available until 19th July: www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10....
#onthisday on 17 July 1936 the rebel military rose against ths Spanish Republic in colonial Morocco unleashing a murderous war causing incalculable pain+suffering, which still casts its shadow. Image: the Gracia family, like 100,000s, escaping into a very uncertain French exile, Jan 1939. Bastards
Murder is bad, m’kay? And the Brexiteer nationalist hard-right is single-handedly responsible for introducing a real language of violent response to ”betrayal” and “treason” over the last decade. Nigel Farage literally (if preposterously) threatened armed insurrection if he didn’t get “his” Brexit.
Ann Widdecombe’s death should make Britain ask itself: what sort of political culture do we want? | Gaby Hinsliff
Dehumanising politicians is the first step towards justifying their elimination. It matters more than ever to keep putting the person back into the picture, says Guardian columnist Gaby Hinsliff
theguardian.com
Rubbish bins and rodents have long plagued the streets of Selly Oak during the summer months. Is the community loosing its spirit as a result? www.birminghamdispatch.co.uk/who-cares-ab...
Who cares about Selly Oak?
To-let boards, rubbish, and rodents: for some, the South Brum neighbourhood has lost its soul
birminghamdispatch.co.uk
Every time I turn on the News, someone is discussing who *might* be Chancellor and what that *might* mean. These are good and important questions, but they are not "News". We need to find a way to shift the dial back to reporting on what *has* happened, rather than speculating on what *might*.
'A government that says it wants innovation while pursuing a policy of often malign neglect when it comes to universities’ funding model and international students is not being tough-minded. It is simply incoherent.' @jdportes.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Burnham must learn from Starmer’s mistakes: Labour was elected to transform the economy, not just stabilise it | Jonathan Portes
Devolution, tax, the EU and immigration: these are all opportunities for growth if Burnham abandons the excessive caution of the past few years, says economist Jonathan Portes
theguardian.com
'Ray addresses a meeting': my post about how the author and campaigner Ray Strachey (1887–1940) first became a suffragist as a student at Newnham College Cambridge in 1905, then took to the roads in a campaigning caravan in the summer of 1908.
Ray Strachey, Cambridge suffragist
‘If we get the vote now, it will be entirely due to her'
open.substack.com
If you can sit in a meeting and cry about what you're being told to do to a child, you can also refuse to do it.
Cal Horton (they/them)@fiercemum.bsky.social · 3w agoJust had meeting with kiddo's school. She has been fully supported, treated with full equality & dignity for years. All of that changes from September. Full segregation & humiliation across the board. The school staff cried in the meeting. This will absolutely lead to children's deaths 1/2
Congratulations to the government on saving 2700 jobs by nationalising British Steel. Now, about the 18,000 university jobs lost in the last 18 months, with more coming…
Another excellent example of just how incurious and limited the UK press has been about this crisis. Not one mention of the cuts to humanities that Bristol’s own VC is trying to push through at the moment in this article about her position on the cuts 🤔🙄. www.theguardian.com/education/20...
Florence Welch’s mother says cuts to arts and humanities ‘absolutely tragic’
Exclusive: Prof Evelyn Welch, vice-chancellor of Bristol University, believes her daughter’s success shows value of arts education
theguardian.com
Still find it fascinating the complete mess of the city she represents isn't seen as a negative thing. It's almost as if the ongoing bin strike (and lack of household recycling for over a year) doesn't get any attention. Just imagine if what is happening in Birmingham was in London.
Financial Times@financialtimes.com · 3w agoShabana Mahmood set to be named UK chancellor by Andy Burnham ft.trib.al/B8BshzA
🚨📘 Book Alert! 📘🚨 My first monograph, 'A Science for Everyday Life' is now available for pre-order! Published by @upittpress.bsky.social & released mid-December 2026. US/North America: upittpress.org/books/978082... UK/Europe: www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10....
Event alert! I’ve co-organised this free one-day sumposium that explores the figure of the architect-planner - 4.9.26 - book here: www.sahgb.org.uk/whatson/arch...
Architect-Planners: Transnational and global perspectives - SAHGB
External Event supported by SAHGB. Exploring the architect-planner across global contexts, this symposium examines the intersections of architecture, planning and urban change.
sahgb.org.uk
I know people who clung onto the Labour Party in the slim chance that after Keir Starmer things might have been different. Labour consistently revealing there's absolutely no plan for change. The puurpose is to maintain power & wealth for the super rich. Join.greenparty.org.uk
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Financial Times@financialtimes.com · 3w agoShabana Mahmood set to be named UK chancellor by Andy Burnham ft.trib.al/B8BshzA
I’m really going to have to backtrack on my long-held position that the idea of a ‘crisis of masculinity’ is bollocks.
Matthew Gault@mjgault.bsky.social · 3w agoHegseth announced they're gonna start screening for T and administering testosterone treatment for warriors found wanting
At which point are journalists allowed to say "nope, that's not an answer. You're failing in your duties by repeating this very obvious deflection for two years in a row. You need to give an actual response now."? Or else publish just "the DfE said the same thing they did for 24 months".
Hetan Shah@hetanshah.bsky.social · 3w ago‘Thousands of university job cuts in humanities and social sciences are creating widespread cold spots for languages, classics and theology degrees, the British Academy has warned’ www.theguardian.com/education/20...
Do non-migrants have any idea how *utterly terrifying* it is for those who have IDL in the UK; have built a life here, have British kids & forged a sense of love & belonging to be bombarded with news that a sizeable % of the population & government want to be able to take that away & deport us?
Imagine complaining that a work place is committed to equality. This is where we are in the UK in 2026. Heartbreaking to watch a society voluntarily roll back decades of progress.
Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 3w ago'The Alumni for Free Speech (AFFS) group said it had identified “very risky” practices across a significant number of institutions in the sector, having studied the recruitment criteria of 162 institutions.' No astroturf to see here, no doubt. 1/3
The truth is that, by European standards, the UK is not a good place for kids. A big factor is the cost of living. Labour’s expansion of childcare has been something, but tackling an extractive rentier economy is much more difficult. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
UK children will be one of unhealthiest generations in decades, doctors say
Analysis of 12 indicators including asthma, obesity and vaccination finds child health is ‘national embarrassment’
theguardian.com
Telling your followers to burn down hotels with asylum seekers in them is "hurty words". But Dan Hodges doing a few tweets is grounds to call the police.
Adam Bienkov@adambienkov.bsky.social · 3w agoReform and their supporters now trying to reframe all journalistic scrutiny of them as being dangerous political attacks, bordering on terrorism. A preview of what we could expect from a Reform government
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing half the population that the "manly" way to get around is on a giant rolling couch controlled by gently depressing your toe.
My new article in @modamhist.bsky.social is out now in first view and open access and is a preview of chapter 6 of the 'The World Awheel' (@columbiaup.bsky.social). It's a story of American mobility, femininity, and power in the spaces of European empires. doi.org/10.1017/mah....
My bedroom painted by Muriel Lewis c.1967 in the art therapy studio at Netherne Hospital, where she was compelled to live. Many of her works depict scenes from her materially affluent home life, often devoid of people, with eeriness & emptiness troubling under the surface of comfortable surroundings
Rose Ruane@regretteruane.bsky.social · last yr.Home, painting created by Muriel Lewis, c.1967, in the art therapy studio at Netherne Hospital, where she was compelled to live. Her surviving works depict autobiographical incidents from her life in & outside of hospital, often featuring faceless figures & referencing home & scenes of 1960s Surrey
