Margot C. Finn | Lightnews

Margot Finn

@eicathomefinn.bsky.social

16K followers 4.3K following 9.2K posts

Historian of Britain and colonialism, material culture, the EIC. Also works on equalities, museums, open access & research policy. Download the EIC @ Home open access volume here: https://www.uclpress.co.uk/products/88277 (or individual chapters via JSTOR) .. more

Videos

Margot C. Finn is a British historian and academic who specialises in Britain and the British colonial world during the long nineteenth century. She has been Professor of Modern British History at the University College, London (UCL) since 2012. Finn was previously the President of the Royal Historical Society and a trustee of the Victoria & Albert Museum. .. more

Political science 31%

Economics 26%

Posts Replies Media Videos

Reposted by Margot C. Finn

Laura Stevens @lauramstevens.bsky.social · 4h

Happy New Year, everyone. Here's a plug for a dear friend's publication. Hilary Wyss's Cambridge Element on the London Foundling Hospital is just out, and you can download a copy for free until Jan. 15, here: doi.org/10.1017/9781.... It's fantastic work!

The London Foundling Hospital and Eighteenth-Century Objects of Charity

Cambridge Core - Evolutionary Biology - The London Foundling Hospital and Eighteenth-Century Objects of Charity

doi.org

Reposted by Margot C. Finn

Moritz Mihatsch @mihatsch.bsky.social · 4h

🇸🇩 70 years ago today Sudan gained its independence from Britain and Egypt. May the coming years be characterised by the hope the Sudanese originally had for their independence in 1956.
www.britishpathe.com/asset/60301

www.britishpathe.com

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 5h

'According to Lucy Lethbridge and Tim Wales...Smith [1548-1626] was a “prickly and controlling type”....contemporaries seem to have had little love for him, as he grew his fortune rapidly accumulating land by buying foreclosed mortgages.'

Great stuff for #Skystorians

Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 10h

The world of philanthropy and foundations is (in my view) not covered enough in the media given they have significant effects on society. So this is good stuff by @jim.londoncentric.media @pollysmythe.bsky.social on the origins of the Henry Smith Foundation
www.londoncentric.media/p/henry-smit...

A Tale Of One City And Two Henry Smiths

These two London landlords are separated by four centuries — but joined by a common name and business interests.

www.londoncentric.media

Reposted by Peter Holmes, Margot C. Finn

Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 8h

Grok + X now seems to be awash with images undressing women, without consent. It is an issue with the potential for a very very broad coalition - across political divides - to insist the Musk platform gets back within the law, on all fronts, not just this example.
www.cnbctv18.com/technology/g...

Global outrage as X’s Grok morphs photos of women, children into explicit content - CNBC TV18

X is facing backlash after users exploited its Grok AI to morph photos of women and children into explicit images, sparking global concern over AI-driven sexual abuse and platform safety.

www.cnbctv18.com

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 8h

This will be an extraordinary research and teaching resource for #Skystorians .

Includes the Schools' Collection, 'a collection of folklore compiled by schoolchildren in Ireland in the 1930s'.

Circa 3,280 images for (for example) 'butter and churns'. @cheeseandpeople.bsky.social

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 9h

Truss on "the blob": 'This blobbiness is typical of a panchreston, an idea both so vague and so all-encompassing that it can be used to explain anything and everything and so lends itself to conspiracy theories.'

Also loving the phrase 'In one gabble, she says...' Well worth reading for 2026.

William Cullerne Bown @williamcb.bsky.social · 9h

From me today: The descent of Liz Truss and into full-on totalitarianism.

The Blob vs The Cathedral vs 1984

Liz Truss vs Curtis Yarvin vs George Orwell

williamcullernebown.substack.com

Reposted by Jonathan Portes, Margot C. Finn

William Cullerne Bown @williamcb.bsky.social · 9h

From me today: The descent of Liz Truss and into full-on totalitarianism.

The Blob vs The Cathedral vs 1984

Liz Truss vs Curtis Yarvin vs George Orwell

williamcullernebown.substack.com

Reposted by Jonathan Portes, Will Jennings, Steve Peers , and 3 more Jonathan Portes, Will Jennings, Steve Peers, Tim Bale, Margot C. Finn, Emma L. Tompkins

Annette Dittert @annettedittert.bsky.social · 9h

What the war against London really is about. V good by @robertshrimsley.bsky.social #Giftlink

And on a different note: A v Happy New Year to everyone!

The plot against London

Distorted attacks by the populist right are really about demography

giftarticle.ft.com

Reposted by Margot C. Finn

Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 10h

A Tale Of One City And Two Henry Smiths

These two London landlords are separated by four centuries — but joined by a common name and business interests.

www.londoncentric.media

Reposted by Margot C. Finn

Katrina Navickas @katrinanavickas.bsky.social · 10h

If Santa brought you some book tokens, do consider my book as an option. I chart the history of protest in public spaces in England over the last 150 years.

Event at Housmans bookshop on 21st January housmans.com/events/

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 10h

'The team have been scratching their heads trying to work out who these women were.'

Highly unlikely to have been their methodology.

Intriguing finds could solve mystery of women in medieval cemetery

There is growing evidence that the women were part of an early female religious community.

www.bbc.co.uk

Reposted by Margot C. Finn

Ticia Verveer @ticiaverveer.bsky.social · 10h

Some of the large Roman shoes, dug up at the Magna Roman Fort in Northumberland in 2025, will be exhibited at the Roman Army Museum in Brampton, Cumbria, from 7 February.
Eight of the shoes were at least 30cm long, the equivalent of a UK size 13 to 14.

Northumberland fort's large Roman shoes to go on display

Eight of the Roman shoes are at least 30cm (11.8in) long - the equivalent of a UK size 13 to 14.

www.bbc.com

Reposted by Margot C. Finn

BeardedGenius @beardedgenius.bsky.social · 10h

So we just accept this then? This is a legitimate use of technology going forward? This vile individual's account is just prompt after prompt asking Al to alter real-life images of women. The law needs to catch up with technology now - because we can't trust these tech companies to police themselves

Reposted by Kris Inwood, Margot C. Finn, Dolly Jørgensen

JonSam @jonsam1961b.bsky.social · 15h

I thought you might like this:

Large Irish Folklore Collection

National Folklore Collection UCD Digitization Project
765,821 manuscript pages, 13,899 photographs and 329 hours of audio are available here

www.duchas.ie/en

dúchas.ie

A project to digitize the Irish National Folklore Collection, one of the largest folklore collections in the world

www.duchas.ie

Reposted by Valerie P. Hans, Margot C. Finn

The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 1d

“The biggest disappointment of 2025 may well have been not what Trump did but how so many let it happen.” @sbg1.bsky.social reviews the year in politics.
newyorkermag.visitlink.me/7co9Uv

Reposted by Michael E. Mann, Joanna Bryson, Kim L. Scheppele , and 10 more Michael E. Mann, Joanna Bryson, Kim L. Scheppele, Steven French, Michael A. Clemens, American Library Association, Juan Cole, Daniel W. Drezner, David R. Miller, Julia Lynch, Margot C. Finn, Suzanne Conklin Akbari, Charles T. Mathewes

Brooke Harrington @ebharrington.bsky.social · 1d

They're going to *throw out* one-of-a-kind NASA archives?!

Not even a year since the Inauguration & we're already at the 2nd-time-as-farce version of the burning of the Library of Alexandria.

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 1d

Bit like Brigitte Bardot and her kindness to kittens that.

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 1d

Rather a lot of ‘shared ancestry’ between Britons and West Africans since the 17th century, as anyone with a modicum of knowledge of British history knows. Ditto British and South Asian shared ancestry, from the 17th century through the East India Company.

Reposted by Margot C. Finn

Neville Morley @nevillemorley.bsky.social · 1d

August on The Sphinx: finally a professional historical organisation issues guidance on the use of GenAI.

thesphinxblog.com/2025/08/06/a...

American Idiot

“Generative AI tools offer significant opportunities to improve teaching and student learning.” Uh huh. The key question about the new American Historical Association guiding principles on th…

thesphinxblog.com

Reposted by Karen Benjamin Guzzo, Margot C. Finn

Karl Appuhn @appuhn.bsky.social · 1d

Ed Muir told all of his graduate students that our job was to tell him and his generation why they were wrong. A field in which younger scholars aren't doing that is no longer a field. It's just a museum of itself.

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 1d

If you're a UK Arts, Humanities or Social Science postdoc (or equivalent) within 10 years (excluding career breaks) of the PhD, you're eligible to join. You don't need to be employed, employed in academia, or currently research active to apply. Your skills are valuable & valued by the BA's ECRN. 3/3

portal.thebritishacademy.ac.uk

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 1d

The ECRN operates from 9 regional clusters across the 4 UK nations. Membership is free. It includes travel costs to in-person events and access to funding.

The ECRN is researcher-led and taps into a wealth of human and institutional resources. Now generously @wellcometrust.bsky.social funded. 2/3

Early Career Researcher Network Regional Clusters

The network has six clusters so far – the Midlands and Mid Wales, North East and Northern Ireland, North West and North Wales, South West and South Wales, Scotland and London. More clusters will be la...

www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk

Reposted by Lesley A. Hall, Greg Walker, Lucy Barnes , and 2 more Lesley A. Hall, Greg Walker, Lucy Barnes, Judith Jesch, Annette Yoshiko Reed

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 1d

2025 has been a rotten year for most early career postdoctoral researchers, especially in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.

For a better 2026, check out (or repost) this short thread on a free resource for UK-based SHAPE PhDs within 10 years (excluding career breaks) of the doctorate. 1/3

Early Career Researcher Network

An inclusive, researcher-led network for UK-based early career researchers working in the humanities and social sciences

www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 1d

Not the most capacious definition of 'science', but likewise not as narrow a definition as pervades much public discourse.

Nine books to help shape your science career in 2026

If you’ve hatched a New Year plan to move abroad, improve your presentations or chase happiness as a 20-something researcher, you’ll find advice aplenty in these books.

www.nature.com

Reposted by Margot C. Finn

Dr Nazlin Bhimani @nazlinbhimani.bsky.social · 1d

#Hope at the end of a difficult year. In a trial mirroring a Canadian study, one recipient said: 'When I was awarded this money...I bought a phone, laptop and printer so I can do a college course [in] civil law [to]advocate for people who are homeless'. www.bigissue.com/news/housing... #homelessness

Homeless people were given free money, no strings attached. Here's what happened

A new trial gave homeless people £2,000 to spend however they choose. What they spent the money on may surprise you.

www.bigissue.com

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 1d

The article would have been much stronger with a paragraph that fully spelled the impacts out: it is unhelpfully coy on that front.

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 1d

'[Mike] Pratt says he and colleagues had something of an epiphany when they went to the Netherlands and saw what could be achieved by connecting big areas of land across whole landscapes. The goal is nature recovery and the solution is “ecological connectivity on a big scale”.' 3/3

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 1d

'The hope is that it will be the “beating heart” of a 40-mile nature corridor from the coast at Druridge Bay to the Scottish-English border at Kielderhead and Whitelee national nature reserves.' 2/3

Reposted by Lesley A. Hall

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 1d

'The trust wants to buy the Rothbury estate, put up for sale by the Duke of Northumberland’s youngest son, Max Percy. At more than 3,800 hectares (nearly 15 sq miles), the Rothbury estate is the largest piece of land in single ownership to come up for sale in England for more than 30 years.' 1/3