Thank you, that’s so kind!

Fascinating on the ethics of historians using material collected by surveillance and ‘inauthentic actors.’

flipping through a proof of yet another book from a somewhat well known liberal voice diagnosing “where the left went wrong” and i’m struck, again, by the fact that a large part (if not most) of the liberal commentariat simply does not believe that the political right has agency.

I feel like Sun Tzu really missed out on "Invent Pete Hegseth and give him to the enemy"

Delighted to be speaking at this, and so looking forward to catching up with everyone!

The Polycrisis? Historical roots and critical perspectives in modern British studies This conference will bring together scholars to discuss the shape of modern British studies in an urgently unstable global context, termed a ‘polycrisis’ (Tooze, 2023). Featuring panels on the environ...

This conference we are supporting in Birmingham in June has an amazing mix of 40 panels - a veritable Choose your Own Adventure through modern British studies. It’s also the inaugural event of the Association of Modern British Studies! Great stuff here
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/events/briti...

The Women’s Liberation Movement and the Gendering of Undercover Police Surveillance in 1970s Britain: the Public Inquiry as (Un)Ethical archive Abstract. In the 1970s a female police officer went undercover in the feminist movement in Britain. Across two years, she shared plans, conversations, and

My article on 1970s feminists, spycops, and if feminist historians can use materials extracted by undercover police officers is out in History Workshop Journal doi.org/10.1093/hwj/...

Ah, my article on spycops, 1970s feminism, & ethics is out in History Workshop Journal! I’m obviously not going to link to it yet, because I need to spend at least 72 hours metabolising overwhelming anxiety every time something I’ve written is put out into the world

If you step back, it is truly extraordinary that so many people went to such great lengths and broke so many conventions and risked their political careers and the only outcome of all these efforts and risks was appointing a washed-up old spinner to an ambassadorial post

Oh this is exciting! I so hope you like it. Thank you for being interested!

"History has lied to you".

No it hasn't, and it's really sad that a university is using this framing.

Historians debate evidence - often, as here, quite fragmentary. They question received ideas, test new theories, correct mistakes.

That's the joy of history. But it doesn't mean others "lied". /

So, historian here looking for more freelance work over the next few months. I’m a very experienced RA and have done lots of things, including numerous oral history interviews, editing, co-authoring a book, public history journalism, archive work…

🚨 We're looking for a new Project Archivist 🚨The main objective of the project is to catalogue the papers of Harriet Harman. [Full time, 2 years fixed contract]

The deadline for applications is 3 April 2026 with interviews planning to be on the 14 April 2026
buff.ly/mhMCz8E

Time to dissolve the people and elect another.

I need to approve the proofs for my article in History Workshop Journal so of course I am doing everything but that today

I’m running a 2 hour online workshop for teachers, heritage professionals, journalists & anyone who wants to be able to discuss the British Empire and its afterlives with nuance and concision. It’s on 1st June. Do sign up if interested?

onlineshop.sussex.ac.uk/product-cata...

Ensuring that a tiny group of people are kept in profit explains many, if not most, of the problems we face as a society

'Ehrlich Speaks', The Text of Dr. Paul R. Ehrlich's Presidential Address to the Conservation Society on 14 January 1972'

Paul R. Ehrlich died yesterday. He was a biologist who influenced the western environmental movement during the 60s and 70s with deeply controversial warnings about 'overpopulation' and resource scarcity. Ehrlich thought Britain wouldn't make it to the year 2000 due to population pressures

I have a piece in the forthcoming handbook on contemporary British history edited by @sarahcrook.bsky.social and @drsarahlkenny.bsky.social about how these swelling notions of environment and 'overpopulation' intersected with British debates about social services and welfare in the 60s and 70s

I am shocked, shocked!

The Politics of Personal Experience | Writing a History of Munchausen How should a historian with personal experience of their topics write about them? Exploring the author’s own experiences with Munchausen Syndrome and Munchausen

Oh my god it is actually out - like actually now. Over a week early! They snuck it out without telling me! lol.

Well, here it is people, and you can download the whole thing for free - thanks to @wellcometrust.bsky.social

Fill your boots: www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-mon...

One of the things that made George Michael unusual as a popstar was his activism. Whether it was speaking out about apartheid, AIDS, or the Iraq War. My new book, Tonight the Music Seems So Loud: the Meaning of George Michael is published soon. sathnam.com #GeorgeMichael #Wham #TTMSSL #Iraq

6. Before Wales can fix its reading problem, it needs to fix its evidence problem.

Without data and accountability, recommendations risk being little more than guesswork.

www.itv.com/news/2026-02...

5. Wales collects no national data on how well children are learning to read at the early stages.

In that vacuum, inspection judgements carry huge weight and can rapidly shape classroom practice, despite a questionable evidence base and virtually no way of measuring progress.

4. In that vacuum, the schools watchdog Estyn’s judgements on reading are the closest thing we have to a Wales-wide picture of what’s going on.

But as I discuss in the article, what if those judgements and recommendations are themselves controversial?

3. When I first starting looking into this, I was amazed at how little data there was to tell us how well Welsh children can read.

I was criticised at the time for using "old data" because i referenced a report from 2012 which said 20% of children were functionally illiterate.

2.
Today’s report from the schools watchdog makes for grim reading. And the concerns go beyond pupils being left behind.
Shockingly, it says the literacy skills of *too many of the teachers themselves* are weak.

annual-report.estyn.gov.wales

I’ve written about reading again (sorry).

There’s another sobering report on poor literacy in Welsh schools today. But how can a country get to grips with a problem if it has no reliable data on how bad things actually are?

www.itv.com/news/2026-02...

iT'S STILL WEEK SEVEN HELEN

It’s still week 7