A photo of a parish register with the following text over the top: 'An Introduction to Parish Registers 10:30am, Saturday 2nd of May, Buckinghamshire Archives'

We've got plenty of parish registers in our collection, but how can you use them in your research?

Come along to this free talk and learn how to get started in using this fantastic resource!

Spaces are limited, so make sure you email us to secure your spot at archives@buckinghamshire.gov.uk

Not what the fossil fuel oligarchs had in mind, exactly. But very, very nice.

AI doom warnings are getting louder. Are they realistic? Researchers are increasingly sounding the alarm that artificial intelligence could end humanity. But such doomsday warnings carry their own risks.

Researchers are increasingly sounding the alarm that artificial intelligence could end humanity. But such doomsday warnings carry their own risks

go.nature.com/4vGQxkj

Medieval Jewish London History Day | Barbican This one-day history festival brings London’s medieval Jewish community back to life, just steps away from the City’s original Jewish quarter.

On 10 May I'll be one of the speakers at this event at the Barbican, talking about the persecution of London's medieval Jews and their defence of the Tower of London from siege in 1267: www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/202... #medievalsky

'Reform's manifesto says the party would "restore evidence-led history".

It pledges that: "Publicly funded museums, heritage bodies, and interpretation sites will present history chronologically and in context, with clarity about cause and consequence".

Bizarre, in that this is so-called 'woke'.

How to US-ify your museum sector and your public engagement with the past.

Not so much a whiff as a pong.

Philippa Islington-Smythe - aka my cat Roscoe - hanging out on her favourite armchair, but mentally trapped in a reverie about the summer of 1995.

THREAD. In her exclusive interview in today's Daily Telegraph Magazine, the actor, influencer and designer Philippa Islington-Smythe (pictured) discusses the price of fame, her controversial new perfume, working with Margot Robbie and how becoming a parent changed her perspective on the world...

Get your skates onto your book (or its publisher): the submissions window for entries closes this month.

Professor Gary Younge (University of Manchester, Sociology) chairs this year's panel.

Lecture: Child Soldiers: Coming of Age in Atrocity

If you're in Belfast at 5pm today, pop over to the Lanyon Building at QUB for Mark Drumbl's British Academy lecture on Child Soldiers: Coming of Age in Atrocity. Free and open to the public. #Skystorians

Perhaps it's very different in the subjects on offer here, but the idea of Masters-level academic instructors 'standing at the front of lecture theatres' to teach is already a real howler. Have they not heard of that 19th-century invention, the seminar?

Not diminishing the horrid academic situation but History lives in many mansions.

British Academy Book Prize The British Academy Book Prize rewards outstanding books in the humanities and social sciences that combine original thinking, high-quality research and exceptional storytelling.

The British Academy Book Prize rewards outstanding books in the humanities and social sciences that combine original thinking, high-quality research and exceptional storytelling.

Discover more about our upcoming prize through the link below 👇

www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/british-acad...

BBC Proms 2026 presents 86 concerts over eight weeks with every note broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Sounds, and 24 Proms programmes on BBC TV and iPlayer The BBC Proms 2026 run from Friday 17 July to Saturday 12 September at London’s Royal Albert Hall and venues across the UK with more than 70,000 tickets at £8

Only the #BBC does this. “The programme for the world’s biggest classical music festival has been announced — and it is spectacular.” So says Ivan Hewett in today’s Telegraph I’m thrilled to share our ambitious plans for the #bbcproms 2026:

The article also reveals an 'interesting' prioritisation: a person marks formative work, AI marks summative work on the programme.

We need to go through it all afterwards and figure out how much QR funding for research "excellence" was awarded to institutions that closed down departments/centres and fired "excellent" researchers. Because it will be a lot. Especially following the decoupling of outputs.

'The clearest illustration of this is the split in responsibility for universities between the science and education departments in the government.' 2/2

'Costigan said structures have developed that mean research and higher education are funded separately, despite universities having to deliver both, and the overlap between them “isn’t properly accommodated within the system”.'

SUCH an important point. 1/2

F1000Research Article: The costs and benefits of research grant funding peer review. Read the latest article version by Alexandra Pollitt, Clare Taylor, Niall Sreenan, Jonathan Grant, at F1000Research.

'A new report out in pre-print – The costs and benefits of research grant peer review – may have some of the answers.' 2/2 f1000research.com/articles/15-...

Expensive, time consuming, and unpopular – why is it so hard to end grant funding peer review? Peer review of grant funding is time consuming, expensive, inefficient and yet seemingly invulnerable. James Coe looks to a new report for a door out of the gilded cage

'It is useful to think of peer review of grant funding as two interlocking markets with different kinds of inefficiencies.' 1/2

'At the end of each module, students will engage in a “Socratic dialogue” with their AI tutor about the content to answer questions and reflect on their learning.'

On the one hand, studying Classics is passée, on the other hand, 'Socratic dialogue' is how you market AI tuition models. Hmmm. 3/3

'Content will be delivered through an online learning system that the university built from scratch. Students can choose to have content delivered in a written format or presented to them by an AI avatar.' 2/3

Virtual lecturers to be overseen by academics at AI university New model that will see students taught by AI tutors set to launch in June after being given stamp of approval by regulator

'The London School of Innovation...a postgraduate institution offering courses in machine learning, digital innovation, entrepreneurship and business transformation, was formally granted degree-awarding powers by the Office for Students in March and plans to welcome its first students in June' 1/3

‘Will they kill us too?’ Murder of leading feminist has chilling effect on Iraq’s activists Yanar Mohammed’s assassination comes amid a number of killings, as fellow campaigners warn women’s rights are going backwards

'Speaking to the Guardian and Jummar Media, women in Iraq say the murders have had a chilling effect on their ability to speak out at a time when women’s rights and freedoms in the country are going backwards.'

Not just in Iraq, the 'going backwards'.

'“Some cultures have produced vital advances; others remain dysfunctional and regressive,” wrote [Alex Karp's] Palantir in a 22-point post on X over the weekend, which also called for an end to the “postwar neutering” of Germany and Japan.' 2/2

Palantir manifesto described as ‘ramblings of a supervillain’ amid UK contract fears Alarm caused by posts of Alex Carp, tech firm’s CEO, championing US military dominance and of AI weapons

'The US spy tech company Palantir published a manifesto extolling the benefits of American power and implying some cultures are inferior to others – in what MPs have called “a parody of a RoboCop film” and “the ramblings of a supervillain”.' 1/2

Useful for academic journal editors grappling with AI and peer review.

If London South Bank is doing this from financial distress then it should have notified OfS that there’s a serious danger of bankruptcy so students can be protected.

If it’s not, then this is simple asset-sweating cartoon capitalist evil and their leaders need to be sacked. Like mine.

University staff to strike after vote against vice-chancellor Frustrated staff at the University of Essex have declared a day of strike action and a rally in Southend after a vote of no confidence was held

www.echo-news.co.uk/news/2603540...

Trump’s presidency is what evil looks like: absurd, frightening, cruel | Nesrine Malik Commentators have said that the US president’s clownishness and lack of ideology somehow make him less dangerous. They’re wrong, says Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...