Reminder: the first vaccine mandate in the history of what can be called the American armed forces was handed down by George Washington during the Revolutionary War.
Because Washington wasn't a goddamned idiot.
The cyberattack on The British Library in October 2023 knocked out ebooks and almost ever other computer thing there for years.
Ebooks just came back. They were knocked out everywhere using the BL’s license (legal deposit libraries I think? More libraries?)
Distributed physical copies matter.
I think it's both possible that 1) a significant portion of the population are more concerned with fixating on the 'We Ended It' aspect of the Atlantic slave trade than on the centuries prior to that, while 2) many of those are also just not wanting to engage with British History that's not 'proud'.
This is worrying.
We would not only lose the great work being done but any further progress
Currently Museums Wales do little/nothing to commemorate Welsh Romani history/culture or Welsh Kale Romanies - but they are at least open to talking about it
I fear that won't be the case if Reform win
"A spokesperson for Reform added: "Too often some public spaces are presenting divisive views of history that are designed to make people feel guilty."
On this point, too:
The past doesn't owe you comfort, and it doesn't owe you a life without reflection.
The past doesn't owe you anything.
This is a free speech issue, unlike most of what Reform talks about. If you actually value free speech, this should concern you
The same, somehow!
A spokesperson for Reform added: "Too often some public spaces are presenting divisive views of history that are designed to make people feel guilty."
which "divisive views" goose dot jpg
Fascists and Nazis hate history, and historians; but understand the power of history. Thats why, across the world, they work so hard to control HOW we tell stories about the past, to drive out diverse critical voices and perspectives, to ensure a narrative that makes them look good.
Shockingly, the only major party who didn't send a representative to a debate around issues affecting women and girls that I attended last night was...
This is, of course, straight out of the Trump playbook.
Tell only one story, tell it so often that enough people believe it to be true.
"Reform's manifesto for the Senedd election says the party will tell museums how to display history if it wins, saying they will present events in chronological order and "in context"."
So, History Reclaimed but in government.
History without rigour, compassion, or reflection.
#skystorians
Seems unlikely here ...
Fascism ALWAYS requires a public enemy.
Republicans in Congress will expand their list of targets - little by little, hoping you do not notice - until their is no one left to stand against their agenda.
Very much not.
Yeah or the Eva Green films? I don't know.
Oooh need to listen to this.
Also ... what new Musketeers?!
what more can be said
Yesterday, the BBC covered 600 people crossing the channel in small boats on Saturday, noting it was the 2nd highest in a day so far this year. What they'd didn't add was that even including the 600 people, crossings are down 35% compared with the same time last year.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
![Biographical information from Wikipedia of Senedd candidate Mark Reckless (Reform UK). It reads:
Born in London, Reckless is a grandson of Henry McDevitt, who served as a Fianna Fáil TD for Donegal East in Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas (the Irish parliament), from 1938 until 1943.[4] His mother emigrated to Great Britain when she was 17 to train as a nurse; however, Reckless has said that he does not see his mother as an "immigrant" and stated "I don't consider myself to have an immigrant background".[5]
Reckless was educated at Marlborough College before attending Christ Church, Oxford,[6] where he read philosophy, politics and economics. He then pursued postgraduate studies at Columbia Business School in the United States, receiving an MBA. At Columbia he studied alongside writer Jacob Appel, and is the subject of several thinly veiled anecdotes in Appel's satire The Man Who Wouldn't Stand Up.[7] After university, he trained as a barrister at the College of Law, gaining an LLB, and was called to the Bar in 2007.
In the mid-1990s, Reckless worked for UBS Warburg.[8] In the late 1990s, he worked as a strategy consultant and associate in Financial Services Group at Booz Allen Hamilton.[9] Until his election in May 2010, Reckless had been a solicitor at Herbert Smith[10] and had worked on legal matters that had had dealings with private investigators.[11] He was a member of the Kent Police Authority from 2007 to 2011.
He married Catriona Brown at Westminster Cathedral on 1 October 2011; the reception was held in the Palace of Westminster.[12] His best man was Daniel Hannan MEP.[13] Reckless had been the best man at Hannan's wedding.[14] In May 2015 Catriona Brown-Reckless was elected as a UKIP Councillor for Strood South in Medway. She resigned in September 2016.[15] In May 2022 she was elected as a Welsh Conservative Councillor for the ward of Pentyrch and St Fagans in Cardiff.[16]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:h2bvg3nkxrszfh5me3w4qq3j/bafkreihew2xbx3bwyvl77loflbkhob35o2bcjpmdm3razjalkls26kp2fa)
Biographical information from Wikipedia of Senedd candidate Mark Reckless (Reform UK). It reads: Born in London, Reckless is a grandson of Henry McDevitt, who served as a Fianna Fáil TD for Donegal East in Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas (the Irish parliament), from 1938 until 1943.[4] His mother emigrated to Great Britain when she was 17 to train as a nurse; however, Reckless has said that he does not see his mother as an "immigrant" and stated "I don't consider myself to have an immigrant background".[5] Reckless was educated at Marlborough College before attending Christ Church, Oxford,[6] where he read philosophy, politics and economics. He then pursued postgraduate studies at Columbia Business School in the United States, receiving an MBA. At Columbia he studied alongside writer Jacob Appel, and is the subject of several thinly veiled anecdotes in Appel's satire The Man Who Wouldn't Stand Up.[7] After university, he trained as a barrister at the College of Law, gaining an LLB, and was called to the Bar in 2007. In the mid-1990s, Reckless worked for UBS Warburg.[8] In the late 1990s, he worked as a strategy consultant and associate in Financial Services Group at Booz Allen Hamilton.[9] Until his election in May 2010, Reckless had been a solicitor at Herbert Smith[10] and had worked on legal matters that had had dealings with private investigators.[11] He was a member of the Kent Police Authority from 2007 to 2011. He married Catriona Brown at Westminster Cathedral on 1 October 2011; the reception was held in the Palace of Westminster.[12] His best man was Daniel Hannan MEP.[13] Reckless had been the best man at Hannan's wedding.[14] In May 2015 Catriona Brown-Reckless was elected as a UKIP Councillor for Strood South in Medway. She resigned in September 2016.[15] In May 2022 she was elected as a Welsh Conservative Councillor for the ward of Pentyrch and St Fagans in Cardiff.[16]
So good to see a real Man of the People standing for Senedd here in Wales. What a refreshing change this will be when Reform UK gains those seats.
Bernard Capp publishing on Early Modern Hats in the HJ.
Good to see nominative determinism does eventually win out in the end.
(Unsurprisingly, a great article)
Makes me think about those *hypothetical* institutions treating Heterodox Academy - shadowy funding & political affiliations and all - as a 'community of choice' to promote through all-staff emails.
While at the same time clamping down on any hint of pro-Palestine / anti-genocide speech & action.
Reform UK: deport 400,000 asylum seekers. No plan. No legal routes. No costings. Just 'invasion' rhetoric and big numbers. Zia Yusuf on #BBCBreakfast couldn't name a single safe country to deport to. That's not a policy. That's a pantomime.
NEW PODCAST! Ian Patterson in conversation with Ali Smith about his latest work BOOKS: A MANIFESTO.
Listen here: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/i...
Dream positions: 3 (!!) PhD placements at the Prize Papers with emphasis on finding students with the following language skills: French, Spanish, Dutch, and Scandinavian languages. (Of course, I emphasize the Dutch language!)
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/professional...
'We're in reasonably-well-known territory here.'
July 21 1935: The Führer orders a new reception hall and ballroom to "entertain foreign diplomats" at the Chancellery. Underneath the dance floor is an air raid shelter. A 2nd deeper bunker is built next to this in 1944, where he would spend his last days as the Reich collapsed.
Reform’s local elections campaign in Bradford is off to a terrible start ❌
hopenothate.org.uk/2026/04/16/r...
Trump just posted a letter from Franklin Graham saying he doesn’t believe Trump would knowingly share an image depicting himself as Jesus, claiming Trump thought it was a doctor helping someone and that critics are just trying to make him look bad.
