Here is an official post of my recent podcast on York Merchant Adventurers and their petitions of 1468 & 1478. Enjoy!

York's Merchant Adventurers and the Petition of 1478 - with Diana Wallis

My first podcast as a historian! open.spotify.com/show/1AErB13...

Lyndal Roper: ‘Drastic’ cuts to UK humanities risk brain drain Newly crowned winner of Holberg Prize raises alarm over job losses and shuttering of courses across UK

"I’m very worried about what is being destroyed. We’re all extremely worried, because what we’re seeing is the ad hoc closure and drastic cutting of many, many departments across the country."

Historian Lyndal Roper in today's THE: bit.ly/4sqsfJ2 #Skystorians 1/2

New Disinfo Update

- Europe is in the accountability phase, but gaps remain
- Civil society evidence is central, yet funding is still missing.
- AI-driven disinfo is becoming structural

🎙️ Webinars
📚 Readings | Events | Jobs
🧡 Community & Member States highlights
🔗 www.disinfo.eu/disinfo-upda...

Labour has a green problem

When I said we weren't here to be disappointed with Labour but to replace them. I meant it.

Join.greenparty.org.uk

So here we go in Ljubljana!

#Disinfo2025 is officially here! 🎉 We're kicking things off with an incredible lineup of panels and presentations you won't want to miss. 𝑳𝒆𝒕'𝒔 𝒈𝒐! 🙌✨

Thx so much to the Elizabeth Salter Fund, this was a hugely positive experience!

Pics from exhibition launch yesterday evening historia.europa.eu/en/exhibitio...

Presence of the Past – a European Album The first photographic exhibition organised by the House of European History reveals how Europeans engage with the past in their everyday lives. What are we searching for when we connect with history?...

Back in Brussels yesterday evening to open this interesting and thought-provoking exhibition

historia.europa.eu/en/exhibitio...

Not bad if I say so myself - happy Birthday!

The Unbelievable Scale of AI’s Pirated-Books Problem Meta pirated millions of books to train its AI. Search through them here.

What a depressing irony that my #Burningthebooks & seven of my scholarly articles have been pirated by Meta for LibGen. We are experimenting with AI @bodleianlibraries.bsky.social using only public-domain materials. This industry needs to be regulated! www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

Please use the link in the post for a link to the full text shown in this image

My statement on being denied tenure at the Medill School of Journalism drive.google.com/file/d/1BBBI...

Green Party Leader endorses local mayoral candidate, Kerry Harrison - Hull and East Riding Green Party Green Party Co-leader Adrian Ramsay has endorsed his party’s local Mayoral candidate, Kerry Harrison. Kerry will be standing for the Green Party in the Mayoral election for the new combined authority ...

hullandeastriding.greenparty.org.uk/2025/02/20/g...

The ABA supports the rule of law It has been three weeks since Inauguration Day. Most Americans recognize that newly elected leaders bring change. That is expected. But most Americans also expect that changes will take place in accor...

“We urge every attorney to join us and insist that our government, a government of the people, follow the law. It is part of the oath we took when we became lawyers… Americans expect no less.”

Never in its history has the ABA had to issue such a statement.

www.americanbar.org/news/abanews...

At least somewhere is going in the right direction.

Excellent news!

St. Oswald’s Church Lythe, just up the coast from Whitby, has an incredible location. And it has a pretty nifty exhibition of the Anglo-Norse grave markers (hogbacks) too. (h/t Mrs A for the pix)

Sure is!

1st Dec. So it begins - discovering old treasure

Excited to have abstract accepted to participate in conference on ‘Reading Early Visual Devices’ in Turku, Finland next May, I shall be examining the Heptarchy diagrams of Matthew Paris

Across the rooftops the ‘other’ Yorkshire Minster - quite splendid!

The scissor arches at Wells Cathedral are mid-blowing when you consider they were built in the 14th Century.

Welcome!

This is so important, this is our national cultural heritage, both its conservation & our access to it are paramount.

Early morning dog walk.

Hull’s most senior judge sentences rioters Justice is being carried out quickly and efficiently in Hull, but the deeper wounds caused by racial hatred will take much longer to heal

From Angus Young, a journalist of 40+ years (who likes writing for us as a volunteer!):

“The offences which took place in [Hull], proudly twinned with Freetown in Sierra Leone, were effectively 12 hours of racist hate-fuelled mob violence.” John Thackray KC

yorkshirebylines.co.uk/region/hulls...

3 of Jane Austen’s 6 brothers engaged in antislavery activism − new research offers more clues about her own views The author of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and other classic novels used the words ‘slave’ and ‘slavery’ nearly a dozen times in her books.

Interesting article piece on Jane Austin and anti-slavery. I started following this after reading the superb ‘The Garden against Time by Olivia Lang’ which drew me in turn to read Mansfield Park then this popped up theconversation.com/3-of-jane-au....

Really cool!

Yorkshire’s answer to the Hanse! Going to try to tweet more about it, seems a more appropriate here.