Clare Downham
@downham.bsky.social
Medievalist, Liverpool. She/Her. All DMs are blocked (Bluesky ID issue)
Reposted by Clare Downham
February 10, 2026 at 10:26 PM
Reposted by Clare Downham
Are you an archaeologist or heritage professional concerned with the increasing use of pseudoarchaeology to erode faith in expert opinion, rewrite history, or prop up supremacist ideologies?
This Call for Papers is for you!
Join us at the @can-arch.bsky.social 2026 conference!
Link in the reply.
This Call for Papers is for you!
Join us at the @can-arch.bsky.social 2026 conference!
Link in the reply.
February 10, 2026 at 3:26 PM
Are you an archaeologist or heritage professional concerned with the increasing use of pseudoarchaeology to erode faith in expert opinion, rewrite history, or prop up supremacist ideologies?
This Call for Papers is for you!
Join us at the @can-arch.bsky.social 2026 conference!
Link in the reply.
This Call for Papers is for you!
Join us at the @can-arch.bsky.social 2026 conference!
Link in the reply.
Reposted by Clare Downham
Join us at Merton College on Friday at 5 pm for two engaging presentations by Dr Emma Nelson and Elliott Cobb on medieval manuscripts' donors and viewers!
Image: Dublin, National Library of Ireland, MS 700, Britain, c. 1200, f. 29r (detail).
#OMMG #medievalsky
Image: Dublin, National Library of Ireland, MS 700, Britain, c. 1200, f. 29r (detail).
#OMMG #medievalsky
February 10, 2026 at 7:36 PM
Join us at Merton College on Friday at 5 pm for two engaging presentations by Dr Emma Nelson and Elliott Cobb on medieval manuscripts' donors and viewers!
Image: Dublin, National Library of Ireland, MS 700, Britain, c. 1200, f. 29r (detail).
#OMMG #medievalsky
Image: Dublin, National Library of Ireland, MS 700, Britain, c. 1200, f. 29r (detail).
#OMMG #medievalsky
Reposted by Clare Downham
Yet another example of predators hiding in academia.
This is an excellent report by The Daily Texan and student Justin Doud.
Former professor Thomas Hubbard appears in the Epstein files asking for $10,000 to set up a conference meant to challenge the notion of consent and sexual assault.
This is an excellent report by The Daily Texan and student Justin Doud.
Former professor Thomas Hubbard appears in the Epstein files asking for $10,000 to set up a conference meant to challenge the notion of consent and sexual assault.
February 10, 2026 at 6:50 PM
Yet another example of predators hiding in academia.
This is an excellent report by The Daily Texan and student Justin Doud.
Former professor Thomas Hubbard appears in the Epstein files asking for $10,000 to set up a conference meant to challenge the notion of consent and sexual assault.
This is an excellent report by The Daily Texan and student Justin Doud.
Former professor Thomas Hubbard appears in the Epstein files asking for $10,000 to set up a conference meant to challenge the notion of consent and sexual assault.
Call for Papers ‘Norwegian and Scandinavian History and Heritage in the British Isles’ #scandinavia #medievalsky #history
February 10, 2026 at 6:18 PM
Call for Papers ‘Norwegian and Scandinavian History and Heritage in the British Isles’ #scandinavia #medievalsky #history
Reposted by Clare Downham
www.wired.com/story/ice-ex...
Documents show that more than 150 leases and office expansions have or would place new facilities in nearly every state, many of them in or just outside of the country’s largest metropolitan areas.
Documents show that more than 150 leases and office expansions have or would place new facilities in nearly every state, many of them in or just outside of the country’s largest metropolitan areas.
ICE Is Expanding Across the US at Breakneck Speed. Here’s Where It’s Going Next
ICE plans to lease offices throughout the US as part of a secret, monthslong expansion campaign. WIRED is publishing dozens of these locations.
www.wired.com
February 10, 2026 at 5:37 PM
www.wired.com/story/ice-ex...
Documents show that more than 150 leases and office expansions have or would place new facilities in nearly every state, many of them in or just outside of the country’s largest metropolitan areas.
Documents show that more than 150 leases and office expansions have or would place new facilities in nearly every state, many of them in or just outside of the country’s largest metropolitan areas.
Reposted by Clare Downham
Straw bales are a cheap building materials and they are great for insulation.
Why I’m building an office out of straw
Straw bales are a cheap building materials and they are great for insulation.
tcnv.link
February 10, 2026 at 3:47 PM
Straw bales are a cheap building materials and they are great for insulation.
Reposted by Clare Downham
Thank you, Dan Friedman and Amanda Moore, for this analysis of the WH administration's crimes against history. @motherjones.com
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Trump's war on history
As America's 250th anniversary approaches, the president wants to control the country's future by bulldozing its past.
www.motherjones.com
February 10, 2026 at 3:48 PM
Thank you, Dan Friedman and Amanda Moore, for this analysis of the WH administration's crimes against history. @motherjones.com
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Clare Downham
Reposted by Clare Downham
We heard this point made powerfully at our recent holocaust memorial event
Children need their families. Refugee children are no different.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
‘Pulling up the drawbridge’: Alf Dubs criticises Shabana Mahmood’s plans for child refugees
Exclusive: Labour peer, who came to UK as a refugee, says some ministers try to show they won’t ‘just do things because of their background’
www.theguardian.com
February 9, 2026 at 9:16 PM
We heard this point made powerfully at our recent holocaust memorial event
Reposted by Clare Downham
"We need to help students grow into the difficulty of reading. The best way to do that is not to “meet them where they are”... We have to do as Whitman says instead: Stop somewhere ahead and wait for them to catch up." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
Stop Meeting Students Where They Are
What I learned when I finally started assigning the hard reading again.
www.theatlantic.com
February 8, 2026 at 1:42 AM
"We need to help students grow into the difficulty of reading. The best way to do that is not to “meet them where they are”... We have to do as Whitman says instead: Stop somewhere ahead and wait for them to catch up." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
Reposted by Clare Downham
"Eighty-two years after his execution by the Gestapo on June 16, 1944, the Jewish historian and resistance fighter Marc Bloch will be inducted into the Pantheon on June 23... His family requested that 'the far right, in all its forms, be excluded from any participation in the ceremony.'"
Marc Bloch, historien et résistant juif, entrera au Panthéon le 23 juin
Marc Bloch, historien et résistant juif, entrera au Panthéon le 23 juin
La date du 16 juin avait été dans un premier temps pressentie pour son entrée au Panthéon, mais la cérémonie a dû être décalée de quelques jours en raison du G7 à Evian-les-Bains.
www.lemonde.fr
February 8, 2026 at 7:02 PM
"Eighty-two years after his execution by the Gestapo on June 16, 1944, the Jewish historian and resistance fighter Marc Bloch will be inducted into the Pantheon on June 23... His family requested that 'the far right, in all its forms, be excluded from any participation in the ceremony.'"
Reposted by Clare Downham
🚨 Epstein survivors release this powerful PSA in advance of the Super Bowl demanding answers from the Justice Department. This is the Super Bowl ad every American should see. Spread it everywhere.
February 8, 2026 at 5:32 PM
🚨 Epstein survivors release this powerful PSA in advance of the Super Bowl demanding answers from the Justice Department. This is the Super Bowl ad every American should see. Spread it everywhere.
Reposted by Clare Downham
"this is fine"
British Library Manuscript - royal ms 20 a ii f3r
British Library Manuscript - royal ms 20 a ii f3r
November 16, 2024 at 11:36 AM
"this is fine"
British Library Manuscript - royal ms 20 a ii f3r
British Library Manuscript - royal ms 20 a ii f3r
Reposted by Clare Downham
Ancient Slater Bridge Langdale
February 7, 2026 at 5:38 PM
Ancient Slater Bridge Langdale
Reposted by Clare Downham
The rain finally cleared for a while, leaving some lovely cloud colour. #SussexCoast
February 7, 2026 at 5:49 PM
The rain finally cleared for a while, leaving some lovely cloud colour. #SussexCoast
Reposted by Clare Downham
Our great thanks to Professor Charles West for his excellent Society lecture yesterday evening: ‘”Alike in Appearance but not in Scope”: Queens and the Making of Medieval Europe’ bit.ly/4tluezd
The recording of Charles's lecture will be available shortly.
@pseudo-isidore.bsky.social #Skystorians
The recording of Charles's lecture will be available shortly.
@pseudo-isidore.bsky.social #Skystorians
Charles West gives the Society's annual medieval lecture on European queenship - RHS
On Friday 6 February the Society hosted the first lecture in its 2026 programme. Our great thanks to Professor Charles West (University of Edinburgh) who spoke on: ‘"Alike in Appearance but not in Sco...
bit.ly
February 7, 2026 at 7:49 AM
Our great thanks to Professor Charles West for his excellent Society lecture yesterday evening: ‘”Alike in Appearance but not in Scope”: Queens and the Making of Medieval Europe’ bit.ly/4tluezd
The recording of Charles's lecture will be available shortly.
@pseudo-isidore.bsky.social #Skystorians
The recording of Charles's lecture will be available shortly.
@pseudo-isidore.bsky.social #Skystorians
Was impressed in my ten years or so living in #Scotland that people tended to stand up to bullies, like it’s part of the culture
BREAKING: Peter Mandelson just sent this secret notice to all UK media, demanding they leave him alone.
He uses IPSO clauses designed to support grieving families in a bid to stop scrutiny of his relationship with Epstein
We have published it in full.
www.thenational.scot/news/2583451...
He uses IPSO clauses designed to support grieving families in a bid to stop scrutiny of his relationship with Epstein
We have published it in full.
www.thenational.scot/news/2583451...
Peter Mandelson issues secret notice demanding press leave him alone – read in full
LATE on Friday evening, this notice was circulated from representatives of Peter Mandelson, via press regulator IPSO and the Press Association news…
www.thenational.scot
February 7, 2026 at 10:09 AM
Was impressed in my ten years or so living in #Scotland that people tended to stand up to bullies, like it’s part of the culture
Asylum Link Merseyside seeking clothes donations #liverpool #merseyside
February 6, 2026 at 6:02 PM
Asylum Link Merseyside seeking clothes donations #liverpool #merseyside
Reposted by Clare Downham
Sir Guenter Treitel came to the UK on the Kindertransport. He became the foremost authority on English contract law.
Famously, he held the Rolling Stones to their contract to play the Magdalen Ball in 1964 for £100 - they had suddenly become superstars after being booked as unknowns in 1963.
Famously, he held the Rolling Stones to their contract to play the Magdalen Ball in 1964 for £100 - they had suddenly become superstars after being booked as unknowns in 1963.
Magdalen launches Sir Guenter Treitel Scholarships.
Each year, three Sir Guenter Treitel Scholars will be provided with full funding (fees and maintenance) to study the Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL) at Magdalen College.
Read more: www.magd.ox.ac.uk/news/magdale...
Each year, three Sir Guenter Treitel Scholars will be provided with full funding (fees and maintenance) to study the Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL) at Magdalen College.
Read more: www.magd.ox.ac.uk/news/magdale...
February 6, 2026 at 3:53 PM
Sir Guenter Treitel came to the UK on the Kindertransport. He became the foremost authority on English contract law.
Famously, he held the Rolling Stones to their contract to play the Magdalen Ball in 1964 for £100 - they had suddenly become superstars after being booked as unknowns in 1963.
Famously, he held the Rolling Stones to their contract to play the Magdalen Ball in 1964 for £100 - they had suddenly become superstars after being booked as unknowns in 1963.
Reposted by Clare Downham
Spain's Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Díaz: “I have left X. That network is a place of hate.
“We are not vassals of Elon Musk or Trump.”
“We are not vassals of Elon Musk or Trump.”
February 6, 2026 at 5:06 PM
Spain's Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Díaz: “I have left X. That network is a place of hate.
“We are not vassals of Elon Musk or Trump.”
“We are not vassals of Elon Musk or Trump.”
Reposted by Clare Downham
He is correct, education, be it academic, vocational or hands-on (apprenticeships) benefits society. This country has, over the decades, placed less value on education in my opinion.
Abolish all fee paying educational institutions and fund them adequately. This is how a real meritocracy looks.
Abolish all fee paying educational institutions and fund them adequately. This is how a real meritocracy looks.
“The combined tuition fees of the entire Question Time panel would not cover my cost for 1 year of uni. Is that fair?”
Oli Dugmore
It’s absolutely NOT fair. This outrageous scandal must end
Oli Dugmore
It’s absolutely NOT fair. This outrageous scandal must end
February 6, 2026 at 8:37 AM
He is correct, education, be it academic, vocational or hands-on (apprenticeships) benefits society. This country has, over the decades, placed less value on education in my opinion.
Abolish all fee paying educational institutions and fund them adequately. This is how a real meritocracy looks.
Abolish all fee paying educational institutions and fund them adequately. This is how a real meritocracy looks.