Kate Bradley

@katebradleyhistory.bsky.social

2K followers 920 following 490 posts

Reader in social history & social policy at the Uni of Kent - Councillor of the Royal Historical Society. 20th & 21st justice, welfare, technology, crime. Views mine. She/her.

Videos

Political science 34%

History 32%

Posts Replies Media Videos

Reposted by Lesley A. Hall, Alan Lester, Pauline Stafford , and 1 more Lesley A. Hall, Alan Lester, Pauline Stafford, Kate Bradley

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 5d

Looking for a New Year's resolution that is good for your mind and (relatively) easy to keep? Check out the Institute of Historical Research seminars for January 2026. Fourteen seminars in week 1 alone. Free, broad-ranging, open to the public and usually available both in person and online.

Events

Stay up to date with the upcoming events organised or hosted by the Institute of Historical Research

www.history.ac.uk

Kate Bradley @katebradleyhistory.bsky.social · 9d

It’s so grim. A considerable amount of Chad Varah’s Befriending… is given over to this very question.

Reposted by Lesley A. Hall, Margot C. Finn, Steven Fielding , and 1 more Lesley A. Hall, Margot C. Finn, Steven Fielding, Kate Bradley

History Workshop @historyworkshop.org.uk · 10d

Today we are launching a new series of articles and podcasts to mark the 100th issue of History Workshop Journal 🎉✊🗃️

In this introductory article, Barbara Taylor reflects on a picnic she shared with other editors in 1984, and what it meant to be part of the HWJ collective.

An Editors' Picnic

Barbara Taylor introduces our new series with her memories of a picnic she enjoyed with other History Workshop Journal editors in 1984.

www.historyworkshop.org.uk

Kate Bradley @katebradleyhistory.bsky.social · 10d

I’m so sorry - sending solidarity.

Kate Bradley @katebradleyhistory.bsky.social · 11d

No, it’s 15 years, surely??!

Reposted by Joanna Bourke, Kate Bradley

Daniel Grey @djrgrey.bsky.social · 11d

At the National Library of Lithuania today and tomorrow to discuss imperial family violence in 19th & 20th centuries with @mmuravyeva.bsky.social @joannabourke.bsky.social and other colleagues and friends 📃https://blogs.helsinki.fi/fourepochsofviolence/program/

Program – 'Till Death Do Us Part': Four Epochs of Violence in Every Family in Russia – what makes it Russian? (FEVER)

blogs.helsinki.fi

Reposted by Catherine Baker, Lesley A. Hall, Lucy Delap , and 1 more Catherine Baker, Lesley A. Hall, Lucy Delap, Kate Bradley

Sarah Wride @srwride.bsky.social · 14d

If you’re a #Humanities #ECR & in/willing to travel to York on 17 December, join me & the @historylabplus.bsky.social team for our 2025 ‘Christmas Connections’ event, a FREE & informal opportunity to support each other, build professional connections, & sample the city’s heritage & eatables. 👇&🧵

Kate Bradley @katebradleyhistory.bsky.social · 14d

I am so very sorry, Lucy - this is such awful news.

Reposted by Charles West, Catherine J. Frieman, Katrina Navickas , and 3 more Charles West, Catherine J. Frieman, Katrina Navickas, Kathleen Kennedy, Pascale Aebischer, Kate Bradley

lucynoakes1.bsky.social @lucynoakes1.bsky.social · 14d

For avoidance of confusion, that’s just about all academic staff, excluding Heads of Dept and- of course - Senior Management Team.

lucynoakes1.bsky.social @lucynoakes1.bsky.social · 15d

Ongoing decimation of British universities part 252:

Apx. 1000 academic staff at University of Essex just received formal ‘risk of redundancy’ letters via email.

Please share @ucuessex.bsky.social @ucu.org.uk

Reposted by Mary Bosworth, Richard S.J. Tol, Howard Williams , and 35 more Mary Bosworth, Richard S.J. Tol, Howard Williams, Dave O’Brien, Jonathan Wolff, Joanna Bourke, Elizabeth Stokoe, Martin Paul Eve, Charles West, Helen King, Lynn Abrams, Malcolm MacLean, John Foot, Jonathan Hopkin, Mike Rowe, Ben Worthy, Duncan Bell, Holger Nehring, Keith Lilley, Tom Griffin, Matthew Kelly, Adrian Vickers, Margot C. Finn, Michael H. Whitworth, Jonathan Birch, Laura Kelly, Pratik Chakrabarti, Stuart White, Katrina Navickas, Kathleen Kennedy, Mary Burke, Hayley Bennett, Pascale Aebischer, Kate Bradley, Stijn Smismans, Renaud Morieux, François Guesnet, Andrew Perchard

lucynoakes1.bsky.social @lucynoakes1.bsky.social · 15d

Reposted by Kate Bradley

Jim Waterson @jim.londoncentric.media · 15d

Ooooh, this is an interesting bit of breaking London news! The Met police, as of today, will require all officers to declare if they're a member of the freemasons.

Reposted by Charles West, Lesley A. Hall, Rory Naismith , and 5 more Charles West, Lesley A. Hall, Rory Naismith, Keith Lilley, Pauline Stafford, Catriona Seth, Judith Jesch, Kate Bradley

Robert Gallagher @hwaetspur.bsky.social · 15d

The ad for the second postdoctoral position on our @leverhulme.ac.uk Britain’s Early Medieval Letters project is now live. We’re looking for an Old English specialist (who also works with Latin). 32-month FT post. Deadline for apps is 16 Jan 🙂 jobs.kent.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...

Job Opportunity at the University of Kent: Postdoctoral Research Associate

Are you passionate about early medieval Britain? Do you have advanced knowledge of Old English and proficiency in Medieval Latin? If yes, then you may be interested in this fixed term full time post...

jobs.kent.ac.uk

Kate Bradley @katebradleyhistory.bsky.social · 15d

Agreed - this is a brilliant lecture on a fab, important issue.

(Though it has surfaced memories of school meal horrors I had helpfully forgotten)

Dr Dave Hitchcock @davehitchcock.bsky.social · 15d

This evenings @royalhistsoc.org lecture is a tour de force on the history of free school meals, by Heather Ellis. What an incredible way to unpack emotion, education, poverty, and the purposes of the welfare state.

Image of slides showing schoolchildren (1944 or so) with full glasses of milk, smiling.

Reposted by Kate Bradley

Dr Dave Hitchcock @davehitchcock.bsky.social · 15d

Reposted by Steven French, Dave O’Brien, Martin Paul Eve , and 10 more Steven French, Dave O’Brien, Martin Paul Eve, Lesley A. Hall, Adrian Vickers, Margot C. Finn, Jason Dittmer, Michael H. Whitworth, Catherine J. Frieman, Kathleen Kennedy, Valentina Bold, Constance Bantman, Kate Bradley

Anna Aslanyan @anna-aslanyan.bsky.social · 16d

British Library staff asked for a decent pay. Instead they got ‘a few money-saving present ideas’, such as ‘consider not giving presents this holiday season’. They are on strike this week. I wrote about it for @lrb.co.uk. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/de...

Anna Aslanyan | On the Picket Line

On Monday morning, more than a hundred people formed a picket line outside one of the entrances to the British Library...

www.lrb.co.uk

Reposted by Kate Bradley

Royal Historical Society @royalhistsoc.org · 16d

- Within SPRE: Institutional statements will count for 60% of the mark, with 40% at Unit level
- Limited portability of longform / long-process works allowed for 5 yrs
- Maximum outputs recapped at 5 per person with no minimum
- Small units with <4.99 FTEs can be submitted

#Skystorians 3/3

Reposted by Kate Bradley

Royal Historical Society @royalhistsoc.org · 16d

This morning Research England announced the end of its pause to REF2029 bit.ly/4oHh9wJ. The announcement includes changes to earlier plans and resumption of criteria setting by subject panels.

There's much to digest and we'll review and update with reference to the discipline of history 1/3

REF 2029 publishes updates and resumes criteria setting following pause – REF 2029

bit.ly

Reposted by Lesley A. Hall, Margot C. Finn, Aileen Fyfe , and 2 more Lesley A. Hall, Margot C. Finn, Aileen Fyfe, Catriona Seth, Kate Bradley

Royal Historical Society @royalhistsoc.org · 16d

We are pleased to launch today a new programme for early career researchers with @ihr.bsky.social & @chalkefestival.bsky.social

'Pitch my Project' is an opportunity for early career historians to present their research at the Chalke History Festival in 2026 bit.ly/44kfUMM Applications now invited.

Pitch my Project: an opportunity for early career historians to present their work at the Chalke History Festival 2026 - RHS

Have you ever wanted to share your research with a wide audience? Would you like to gain experience in public speaking, and be supported to develop imaginative ways to communicate your research to the...

bit.ly

Reposted by Heather Ellis, Kate Bradley

Royal Historical Society @royalhistsoc.org · 17d

Tomorrow's visit includes a public lecture, by @heatherlwellis.bsky.social (School of Education, University of Sheffield), on: 'Hunger, Health and Hope: A History of School Meals in Britain' bit.ly/3K8Utrd

Booking to attend the lecture online remains open: 6pm Wednesday 10 Dec #Skystorians 2/2

Hunger, Health and Hope: A History of School Meals in Britain, ONLINE

Royal Historical Society public lecture at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and UCL Institute of Education

bit.ly

Reposted by Lesley A. Hall, Heather Ellis, Kate Bradley

Royal Historical Society @royalhistsoc.org · 17d

Tomorrow we make our final Visit of 2025: to historians
@lshtm.bsky.social and @ioe.bsky.social.

Our focus is on working as a historian outside 'traditional' history departments - something that's increasingly common. The RHS welcomes historians to join us, wherever they work bit.ly/3KBcnTy 1/2

Slide inviting historians to Join the Royal Historical Society, with the closing dates 15 December 2025 and 9 March 2026.

Kate Bradley @katebradleyhistory.bsky.social · 19d

I’d photograph the Rubella Credit Card as it’s handy to have if your GP surgery has any questions about whether you need an MMR as an adult! They have been doing various sweeps to find people who need the shots…

Kate Bradley @katebradleyhistory.bsky.social · 21d

The journey takes about 4.5 to 5 hours on the road each way, not counting breaks, and Metallica was 4 of those 9-10 hours. It definitely felt like 4 hours at the time…

Kate Bradley @katebradleyhistory.bsky.social · 21d

You can see previous years, too… in Oct 2024, I listened to 246 minutes of Metallica, which is explained by my son repeatedly playing the same four songs (Sandman, Master of Puppets, Lux Æterna & For Whom the Bell Tolls) on our 600 mile round trip to my folks in Pembrokeshire that half term

Screenshot of the 246 minutes of Metallica on Apple Music.

Kate Bradley @katebradleyhistory.bsky.social · 21d

Rounding off 2025 with the achievement of being in the top 500 listeners to Altern 8 on Apple Music. Didn’t think I’d spent *that* much time listening to anyone, but hours out marathon running will do that…

Top one, nice one, get sorted etc

Screenshot of Apple Music stating I am a top 500 listener to Altern-8.

Reposted by Martin Paul Eve, Fabián Muniesa, George McKay , and 5 more Martin Paul Eve, Fabián Muniesa, George McKay, Alan Richardson, Mike Rowe, Mark Rice, Jon Dean, Kate Bradley

UCU Essex @ucuessex.bsky.social · 24d

It's official: 400 redundancies and a campus closure. At-risk staff will get a letter next week. Absolutely no serious consideration of any of the union's counterproposals.

Please share widely.

Kate Bradley @katebradleyhistory.bsky.social · 26d

Same here - I studied Jumpers for A-level, and it was a genuine pleasure! Lines from it still live rent-free in my head nearly 30 years on…

Reposted by John R. Hutchinson, Patricia Aufderheide, Bessma Momani , and 1 more John R. Hutchinson, Patricia Aufderheide, Bessma Momani, Kate Bradley

Debjit Dutta @debjitduttaart.bsky.social · 28d

What a great headline

Reposted by Lesley A. Hall, Kate Bradley

The London Journal @thelondonjournal.bsky.social · Nov 20

Call for papers for our new special issue on 'Nocturnal London', edited by Maurizio Cinquegrani, Yihong Zhu, and @mcmccluskey.bsky.social. Abstracts due in by 31 March 2026.

All submissions and reposts much appreciated.

Nocturnal London: From Torches to Neon Signs in a City After Dark
Edited by Maurizio Cinquegrani, Yihong Zhu and Michael McCluskey

The editors of this special issue, Maurizio Cinquegrani, Yihong Zhu and Michael McCluskey invite submissions on the theme of London nights. This volume of the London Journal will examine the histories of the city after dark, from its origins in Roman London to the present. Often overlooked, night has long been an essential dimension of urban life: as the city’s appearance change in the lightening of torches, oil lamps, gaslight, incendiary bombs and neon signs, nocturnal imagery, sounds, smells and professions – legal and not legal – emerge from the darkness. For Londoners, the night was never simply the absence of day; it was a time of danger, sociability, and creativity; a theatre of crime and vice, but also of performance, work, and pleasure.

The special issue will place particular emphasis on moments when the character of London’s nights was especially contested, including – but not limited to – the Elizabethan, the eighteenth century, the Victorian, the wartime and the postwar city. The Elizabethan period witnessed the emergence of the city’s playhouses, taverns, and nocturnal entertainments, alongside concerns about disorder and moral decline. Eighteenth-century coffee-houses and club meetings reflected the nocturnal city’s uneasy mix of polite sociability and transgressive undercurrents, while pleasure gardens flourished as spaces of spectacle, employment, cross-class mingling, and erotic charge

under cover of darkness. In the Victorian era, the introduction of gaslight transformed both the material and imaginative experience of the night, making the city’s streets newly navigable while also exposing poverty, vice, and vulnerability to the gaze of reformers, police, photographers, and journalists. Wartime London, by contrast, was marked by darkness and silence imposed from above: the blackout and the Blitz remade the urban night as a zone of danger, solidarity, and belonging. The postwar decades, and especially the 1960s, brought the era of Swinging London, in which nightlife became emblematic of youth, fashion, music, and cultural revolution.

Equally important are the particular districts that have defined London’s reputation after dark, including – but again not limited to – the West End and the East End. The East End has been imagined as a zone of poverty, danger, and cultural resilience, alive with street-level economies that flourished under cover of night. The West End has long been associated with theatres, clubs, and the rituals of fashionable display. Soho, especially in the twentieth century, became a microcosm of cosmopolitanism, transgression, and reinvention, providing a home for migrants, artists, musicians, and London’s gay community, who together redefined the possibilities of nocturnal sociability.

Beyond districts and periods, we also invite reflections on the people who navigated, transformed, and reimagined the nocturnal city. The editors are especially keen to foreground questions of diversity and difference. How have London’s nights been inhabited, shaped,

and contested by women, by queer citizens, by migrants and racialised communities, and by those whose working lives were tied to the hours of darkness? How was night both policed and celebrated? How did nocturnal spaces serve as arenas of negotiation between surveillance and resistance, authority and anonymity, privilege and precarity? How have representations in literature, theatre, music, art, and film contributed to the cultural meanings of the nocturnal city? We welcome submissions from across the disciplines, including history, literary and cultural studies, art history, archaeology, urban geography, sociology, performance and media studies, as well as ecology, environmental humanities, and architecture and urbanism. Interdisciplinary approaches are encouraged, as are contributions that combine archival research with theoretical or methodological innovation.

Abstracts of 300–400 words, accompanied by a short biographical statement, should be submitted by 31 March 2026. Full-length articles will be in the range of 6,000–8,000 words and are due by 31 March 2027. Please send proposals and queries to Maurizio Cinquegrani, Yihong Zhu, and Michael McCluskey (m.cinquegrani@kent.ac.uk, scarlett.zhu24@gmail.com, and m.mccluskey@northeastern.edu) with the subject line Nocturnal London Special Issue.

Reposted by Lesley A. Hall, Kate Bradley

Caitríona Beaumont @caitbeaumont.bsky.social · Nov 16

I always relish opportunities to speak about the amazing life-long feminist activist HHH or H3 as her friends called her, so great to do so at #nacbs2025 on #1970sWomen roundtable yesterday & if your interest is piqued you can read all about her in this @womenshistoryrev.bsky.social OA article 😊.

The ‘silver thread’: Hazel Hunkins-Hallinan (1890–1982), the Six Point Group, and new understandings of intergenerational female activism in England, 1960s to 1980

Focussing on the life-long activism of former suffragette and feminist Hazel Hunkins-Hallinan this article presents an innovative re-appraisal of histories of the women’s movement in England during...

www.tandfonline.com

Kate Bradley @katebradleyhistory.bsky.social · Nov 14

If this was a run and this was my watch, you best believe I’d be scampering around the car park to complete that mile and a bit more…

A car dashboard with the mileage displayed as 30249.9 miles.

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