The Office for Students was only ever the "I want to be wildly offensive and not face any consequences for my bigotry" office (cf: Toby Young being handpicked to lead it) but, dear god, @bphillipsonmp.bsky.social, you don't have better things to do?
Multiple universities on the verge of collapse.
bookjotter.com/2026/04/18/winding-up-the-week-467/ #Booklovers #AmReading #Books #BookReview #Reading #bookbloggers @buriedinprint.bsky.social @lauratisdall.bsky.social
London-based #skystorians (and other interested parties!). My London book launch for WE HAVE COME TO BE DESTROYED: GROWING UP IN COLD WAR BRITAIN is at Waterstones Gower St on Weds 13th May at 6.30pm, and I'd love to see you there! Book tickets here: www.waterstones.com/events/we-ha... #histchild
And if you can't make this, I'm speaking the night before at @ihrlifecycles.bsky.social at 5.30pm at the Institute of Historical Research www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
London-based #skystorians (and other interested parties!). My London book launch for WE HAVE COME TO BE DESTROYED: GROWING UP IN COLD WAR BRITAIN is at Waterstones Gower St on Weds 13th May at 6.30pm, and I'd love to see you there! Book tickets here: www.waterstones.com/events/we-ha... #histchild
New blog post! I review three books about tricky relationships between women: drlauratisdall.wordpress.com/2026/04/13/w... #booksky
Exactly! Shane & Ilya get to navigate their rel on equal terms. And actually I did think the HR TV series was a good example of romance too (I tend to avoid romance, queer or straight, because I think it's enormously hard to do well and is usually done badly... not because I inherently hate it).
Absolutely fair! I tend to get round this by reading books with as few men in them as possible, although v male-centric books like PHM can also be a refreshing way of avoiding thinking about gender dynamics (I think this is one reason why so many women love queer male romance as well)
PROJECT HAIL MARY is obviously a very silly book & film but I absolutely loved the total lack of romance (though reflecting that if Ryland Grace was a woman, he'd definitely be framed as socially stunted & immature rather than as a hero)
Also the assumption that all female readers want romance 🙁
While killing dozens of people in Lebanon (MOPH says 112, civil defense counts 250+, until now), Israel still found time to kill another one of our colleagues in Gaza.
I am pointing at copies of my book on a bookshelf.
Copies of my book, We Have Come To Be Destroyed: Growing Up In Cold War Britain, on a bookshelf.
Delighted to spot my book in the wild at Collected Books Durham, where I'm doing an event on 7th May! #booksky #histchild
Academics, is there an article or paper that you've published that you feel has slipped under the radar?
Reply or quote this post with your overlooked piece!
Here's mine...
www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1...
'The number of English language and literature academics fell by 8 per cent to 4,680 – among the largest decrease of all disciplines.
And the number employed in modern languages dropped 7 per cent to 4,890. This is 17 per cent below peak levels in 2015-16.' 1/3
I liked the first half a lot! But I found the romance unconvincing, so it went off piste for me after that, and I wanted more astronaut material
Lots and lots of thoughts about Eliana Ramage's debut TO THE MOON AND BACK, but although I had Things To Say, this is definitely a better lesbian/aunt/astronaut novel than ATMOSPHERE drlauratisdall.wordpress.com/2026/04/06/p... #booksky
'Gender pay gap' agenda a pointless contrivance that ignores the reality of women like me
Steen has managed in this article to mis analyse the gender pay gap- it’s not only the care issue, it’s a systemic gendered hierarchy which has existed forever.Even women without children are paid less than their male colleagues! Do better Ms Steen it’s just not about you,it’s the patriarchal system
INCREDIBLY EXCITING BUT ALSO TERRIFYING NEWS. this series is my heart, don't mess it up www.avclub.com/animorphs-tv... #booksky #90skid #animorphs
I finally return to my neglected blog, with reviews of some recent reading plus updates on my own forthcoming book drlauratisdall.wordpress.com/2026/04/01/i... #booksky #amreading
Publishing today! A beautifully illustrated compendium of LGBTIQ+ life.
'A queer scrapbook' is a rich archive of histories from across Britain & Ireland. Featuring interviews, photographs & flyers, it captures the diversity of queer & trans lives since WW2.
Out now. #booksky
If the estimates were right, there were about 9 million people at No Kings rallies today.
That would mean this protest was THIRTY TIMES AS LARGE AS THE TEA PARTY PROTEST which we were told, over and over again, was a massively important sign that US politics had shifted dramatically to the right
Framing here in relation to MS is bizarre but at the same time not unexpected from this government.
MS has no cure. RRMS can be treated *to some extent* with DMTs but this is highly individual.
Progressive MS is, by definition, progressive.
It's *lifelong* /1
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
📣 Call for papers: Caring Communities: Rethinking Histories of Care, Class, and Kinship, 1800-present
Newcastle University, Thursday 3 - Friday 4 September 2026.
Deadine for submissions: Friday 24 April 2026.
caringcommunities.co.uk/conference/
Conference Poster: https://www.ticketsource.com/null/t-yzzmpzr
@newcastleuni.bsky.social will be hosting the British General Strike of 1926: New Directions of Research conference on 7-8 May. Tickets (no charge) for the event go live today at 9am. We have an excellent programme of speakers.
Supported by @leverhulme.ac.uk
@sslh.bsky.social
@ialhi.bsky.social
Every time I make the (correct) statement that social media use is not universally bad for teenagers, or state that the best consensus is that it's beneficial-to-neutral for many and any negative effects are a small subset of teenagers, people demand citations (and then refuse to believe them, sigh)
On Tuesday, MPs voted 379 - 137 to decriminalise women accused of ending their own pregnancies.
This is a landmark moment for women’s rights and the most significant change to our abortion law since the 1967 Abortion Act was passed.
Thank you to all who worked with us on this essential change.
Not at the moment but I will be doing two 'in conversation' events in the NE - one at the Lit & Phil on 30th April and one at Collected Books (Durham) on 7th May!
Thanks so much! Yes, these kind of stories come up a lot when I talk about the book. (I had similar fears in the early 00s despite the Cold War being well over...)
