Very proud of (nearly) Dr Alex Worsfold who passed his viva today! Well done @alexworsfold.bsky.social

Britain’s EU point man says reset deal can be done by summer Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds tells POLITICO that rows over youth mobility and tuition fees won’t snag EU-U.K. deal — and

Good news 👏

In the face of global uncertainty, progress on rebuilding UK–EU ties can’t come soon enough. The faster, the better.

www.politico.eu/article/nick-thomas-symo...

Book Output Topped Four Million in 2025 The total number of books published in the U.S. in 2025 jumped 32.5% over 2024, according to statistics compiled by Bowker, led by a boom in self-published titles. The number of traditionally publishe...

More than 4 million books published in the US alone in 2025. I wonder how many get read www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...

Gordon Forster Essay Prize 2026

Deadline: 1 May 2026

Open to postgraduate students and ECRs, the winner receives £200 and their essay will be considered for publication. Essays should fit within the journal’s aims & scope, and be between 7000-10000 words (inc. footnotes).

Please repost.

The Age of Academic Slop is Upon Us what happens when AI automates "normal science"?

I just finished a three-year term as an editor at an international relations journal. I began at the start of the LLM era but ended right in the middle of it. Our volume of submissions tripled and our desk reject rate rose to 75%. I have some thoughts.
open.substack.com/pub/hegemon/...

Paperback copy of the book The Dead Sea: A 10,000 Year History with the Dead Sea shore in the background.

Happy new year everyone! If you are looking for something to read in 2026, The Dead Sea: A 10,000 Year History is now available in paperback. @yalebooks.bsky.social ‬

How an international security force in post-war Gaza could work - Academia - The Jakarta Post An international stabilization force is a central plank in the plans for post-war Gaza that have been put forward by US president Donald Trump.

One potential contributing country for an International Security Force for #Gaza is #Indonesia - which is why I'm particularly excited to see an article I co-wrote with @nirarielli.bsky.social on it will take to succeed published by the Jakarta Post!

www.thejakartapost.com/opinion/2025...

How an international security force in post-war Gaza could work Weeks after the war began, we collaborated on a proposal for a multinational peacekeeping force in Gaza. Many of our recommendations remain relevant.

@jacobstoil.bsky.social, Mary Elizabeth Walters and I wrote about deploying a multinational peacekeeping force to #Gaza long before it was cool. Now that such a force is being assembled (haphazardly), we revisit some of the ideas we put forward in 2023 share.google/Zm2MEI5kNdIF...

Diaries out - here's what we have in store for you at ILF this week and weekend! 🗓️ 📚

Tickets available at ilkleylitfest.org.uk or call the box office on 01943 816714 🎟️

This is the best plan available out of this nightmare. Netanyahu will try his best to torpedo it. I hope it'll be implemented nonetheless. @jacobstoil.bsky.social

Armed Internationalists Cambridge Core - Global History - Armed Internationalists

I recommend this book wholeheartedly. Not only because it was written by my friends @enacciai.bsky.social, Morten Heiberg, and Carl-Henrik Bjerström, but also because it is innovative and fascinating. @universitypress.cambridge.org www.cambridge.org/core/books/a...

The Starmer Declaration

@jacobstoil.bsky.social - does some of this look familiar to you?

Diminish a book

The Not So Lively Sea

Do you prefer to listen to books rather than read them? Good news, in that case - the audiobook version of The Dead Sea: A 10,000 Year History is now available. Many thanks to @tantoraudio.bsky.social & @nigelpatterson.bsky.social tantor.com/the-dead-sea...

Saving the Dead Sea As the Dead Sea shrinks at an alarming pace, environmental experts from the Middle East and UK are calling on regional policymakers to take urgent action.

It was an honour and a privilege to work with experts from Jordan, Israel and Palestine, developing ideas to alleviate the environmental crisis in the #DeadSea. Good to be reminded that there are plenty of kind and forward-facing people in the region. www.leeds.ac.uk/news/article...

Every Scientific Empire Comes to an End America’s run as the premier techno-superpower may be over.

www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...

לפני שמקימים "עיר הומניטרית" בעזה, ראוי לזכור את לקחי ההיסטוריה - וואלה חדשות התוכנית להקים עיר הומניטרית בדרום עזה מזכירה יוזמות דומות מהעבר. לפני שמדברים על מחנות ריכוז ומשווים לשואה, מספיק להיזכר בהיסטוריה של איטליה הפשיסטית בלוב, ולראות כיצד מחנות ריכוז "הומניטריים" הפכו לכ...

Some thoughts on one of the latest elements in this project: news.walla.co.il/item/3765878

History Books of the Year . . . so far! - Yale University Press London This reading list brings you our History books of the year so far, as chosen by critics. You can shop this selection with a 30% discount.

Our History books of the year so far, as chosen by the critics.

Includes books by @tlgrady68.bsky.social, @hdiamond.bsky.social, @nirarielli.bsky.social and many more!

You can shop this selection with a 30% discount and free UK postage here:
yalebooks.co.uk/history-book...

#skystorians

Want to retain anything from your studies? Try writing your own essays rather than relying on #AI www.media.mit.edu/publications...

Thank you for initiating the letter. It's good to see the British government and other countries targeting two individuals who have a lot to answer for.

Global shortage of popcorn looming

My former padawan Jacopo Pili is co-organizing the conference "Pius XII and Decolonization: Catholicism in North Africa and the Levant, 1939-1958", which will be held in Cairo in November 2025. If your research relates to the topic, check out the call for papers. networks.h-net.org/group/announ...

For once, we must agree to disagree.

Very sad to learn that historian Motti Golani, an expert on the British Mandate in Palestine, passed away unexpectedly.

The Dead Sea - Nir Arielli YouTube video by YaleBooks

youtube.com/watch?v=OQ0a...

Nir Arielli, author of The Dead Sea, was interviewed on American Purpose's podcast, Bookstack @nirarielli.bsky.social @americanpurpose.bsky.social www.persuasion.community/p/episode-160-nir-ariell...

Truly beautiful

Prophecy can never be delivered because when it is, the entire faith/cult/movement ceases to have purpose. So much politics is just a giant pyramid scheme.

This reminds me of Netanyahu who is constantly on the verge of delivering 'total victory' but is, at the same time, prevented from doing so by a changing cast of domestic obstructions.