Dr Rachel Gibbons
@rachelgibbons.bsky.social
Civil servant by trade, based in Ealing, west London. Medieval historian, #EMCC coach and mentor, lecturer, francophile, cricket fan, high and low-brow culture vulture, epicurean.
Always a December joy and another piece of evidence that, the older I get, the more I enjoy the build up and anticipation than the actual Thing sometimes.
Happy Advent to you and your kin! And everyone else's kin too, come to that. As every December so far this decade, I'm going to do an Advent Calendar of beautiful and brilliant carols, with each day's added to a YouTube playlist and also to the ongoing Spotify one, now in its sixth(!) year.
👇👇👇👇👇👇👇
👇👇👇👇👇👇👇
December 2, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Always a December joy and another piece of evidence that, the older I get, the more I enjoy the build up and anticipation than the actual Thing sometimes.
Reposted by Dr Rachel Gibbons
As we hurtle towards Christmas Day, take time to remember that the end of any journey is rarely as interesting, or exciting, or as memorable as the journey itself.
Take time to enjoy December.
#WinterIsHere #TinyJoys #TimelineCleanse
Take time to enjoy December.
#WinterIsHere #TinyJoys #TimelineCleanse
December 2, 2025 at 11:00 AM
As we hurtle towards Christmas Day, take time to remember that the end of any journey is rarely as interesting, or exciting, or as memorable as the journey itself.
Take time to enjoy December.
#WinterIsHere #TinyJoys #TimelineCleanse
Take time to enjoy December.
#WinterIsHere #TinyJoys #TimelineCleanse
Reposted by Dr Rachel Gibbons
A nation remembers. Parliament's Elizabeth Tower is illuminated with poppies in front of the statue of Sir Winston Churchill. A powerful reminder of courage, sacrifice and the enduring spirit of those who served. @ukparliament.parliament.uk @houseofcommons.parliament.uk @houseoflords.parliament.uk
November 9, 2025 at 9:49 PM
A nation remembers. Parliament's Elizabeth Tower is illuminated with poppies in front of the statue of Sir Winston Churchill. A powerful reminder of courage, sacrifice and the enduring spirit of those who served. @ukparliament.parliament.uk @houseofcommons.parliament.uk @houseoflords.parliament.uk
Reposted by Dr Rachel Gibbons
4 Nov 1605: In the nighttime #otd Thomas Knyvett searches vaults under the House of Lords which results in arrest of Guido Fawkes (NT/BM)
November 4, 2025 at 8:26 PM
4 Nov 1605: In the nighttime #otd Thomas Knyvett searches vaults under the House of Lords which results in arrest of Guido Fawkes (NT/BM)
Reposted by Dr Rachel Gibbons
Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.
Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry
Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry
Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.
buff.ly
October 8, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.
In London tonight? Like history (and beer / pub snacks)? I'll be speaking tonight on #medieval #queenship at 'Curious Histories', alongside papers on the River Volga in Russian history and the early years of the 999 service on UK policing. A few tickets left www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/curious-hi...
www.eventbrite.co.uk
September 22, 2025 at 2:36 PM
In London tonight? Like history (and beer / pub snacks)? I'll be speaking tonight on #medieval #queenship at 'Curious Histories', alongside papers on the River Volga in Russian history and the early years of the 999 service on UK policing. A few tickets left www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/curious-hi...
Not wanting a commercial organisation to have rights to my name, work and even likeness, worldwide, irrevocable, for whatever purpose, I'm afraid I've deleted my account without accepting their T&Cs
If you’re on academia dot edu, let me suggest that you strongly consider deleting your account.
September 19, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Not wanting a commercial organisation to have rights to my name, work and even likeness, worldwide, irrevocable, for whatever purpose, I'm afraid I've deleted my account without accepting their T&Cs
"Flags, is it?" Typically heartwarming South Wallian response on a #Caerphilly railway bridge to recent small pockets of nonsense www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-n...
Classic Welsh response to flags appears on bridge and people are loving it
"I've been feeling so downhearted but this is glorious"
www.walesonline.co.uk
September 13, 2025 at 5:17 PM
"Flags, is it?" Typically heartwarming South Wallian response on a #Caerphilly railway bridge to recent small pockets of nonsense www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-n...
Knew it was coming but, still, 10 seconds past 3, with my phone, 2x work phones, and then the blessed Alexa joining in with the alert, stomach almost jumped up my throat!
a cat walking through a doorway next to a fan and a laundry basket
Alt: A cat walking cautiously through a doorway next to a tower fan and laundry, then, leaping on all 4 feet into the air
media.tenor.com
September 7, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Knew it was coming but, still, 10 seconds past 3, with my phone, 2x work phones, and then the blessed Alexa joining in with the alert, stomach almost jumped up my throat!
Very sad to read a topline statement that "the skills brief" will be leaving Department for Education and moving to DWP. Won't help with the equalisation of technical and academic qualifications one bit.
September 5, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Very sad to read a topline statement that "the skills brief" will be leaving Department for Education and moving to DWP. Won't help with the equalisation of technical and academic qualifications one bit.
Lovely and 100% relatable post
Introverts find joy in the simplest moments. Curling up with a good book, savoring a cup of tea, enjoying the quiet, daydreaming by the window, and peaceful walks. These little things bring peace and fulfillment. It's the beauty in the ordinary that truly matters.
September 2, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Lovely and 100% relatable post
Reposted by Dr Rachel Gibbons
#OTD 1752, Britain went to bed like usual. But when they awoke, it was ‘eleven days later’ on Thursday 14 September. Find out why...👇 @georgianlords.bsky.social
‘Time, that great discoverer of truth and falsehood’: the calendar change of 1752 and the dating of Easter - The History of Parliament
As Easter weekend - late this year - approaches, Dr Robin Eagles, Senior Research Fellow in the House of Lords 1660-1832 section, discusses the timing of
ow.ly
September 2, 2025 at 8:15 AM
#OTD 1752, Britain went to bed like usual. But when they awoke, it was ‘eleven days later’ on Thursday 14 September. Find out why...👇 @georgianlords.bsky.social
I'd already had two "podcasts" created from MY work before a kind skeet in my feed pointed me to these instructions. Absolute liberty, this whole thing!
Whoa! Thanks for the tip. For other folks wanting to do this, here are screenshots of what I just did. Start by going to you "Account Settings." Then follow the screenshots below. And yes, when given the option "Are you sure you want to proceed?," you better believe I hit that sucker!
August 31, 2025 at 3:45 PM
I'd already had two "podcasts" created from MY work before a kind skeet in my feed pointed me to these instructions. Absolute liberty, this whole thing!
It was a very strange time. I'd already been awarded a postdoc grant for study in Paris starting 1 January 1998, so had booked in my PhD viva in mid-November with, now, a hard deadline to finish writing up and was pretty well only halfway through. More than one chapter not even planned out!
Diana and Dodi Fayed, her boyfriend of just six weeks, as well as their driver, Henri Paul, died in a car crash on this day in 1997.
I was working as a teacher at a summer school in Kent, and the burly ex cop who told me the news was crying so hard that I couldn't understand a word he was saying.
I was working as a teacher at a summer school in Kent, and the burly ex cop who told me the news was crying so hard that I couldn't understand a word he was saying.
August 31, 2025 at 2:52 PM
It was a very strange time. I'd already been awarded a postdoc grant for study in Paris starting 1 January 1998, so had booked in my PhD viva in mid-November with, now, a hard deadline to finish writing up and was pretty well only halfway through. More than one chapter not even planned out!
Reposted by Dr Rachel Gibbons
Excellent post by @matthewbarnard.phd which includes this insightful point about UKHE's 'hostility towards intellectualism' 👇
Thank you for writing the piece @matthewbarnard.phd
Thank you for writing the piece @matthewbarnard.phd
August 25, 2025 at 9:19 AM
Excellent post by @matthewbarnard.phd which includes this insightful point about UKHE's 'hostility towards intellectualism' 👇
Thank you for writing the piece @matthewbarnard.phd
Thank you for writing the piece @matthewbarnard.phd
Knowing your brand and running with it. Tidy job, transport for Wales
August 18, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Knowing your brand and running with it. Tidy job, transport for Wales
Met an old friend on my way to the train ❤
August 16, 2025 at 10:25 AM
Met an old friend on my way to the train ❤
Grateful to be quitting for a few days to fresher Cymru
August 16, 2025 at 10:19 AM
Grateful to be quitting for a few days to fresher Cymru
Does it count if they don't know they're your nemesis/ likely don't know you exist? (Rivalry feeling a bit mutual). Asking for a friend....
August 13, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Does it count if they don't know they're your nemesis/ likely don't know you exist? (Rivalry feeling a bit mutual). Asking for a friend....
Reposted by Dr Rachel Gibbons
These are people who know what they're talking about, first hand. No-one should count on Putin's Russia relinquishing its grip on occupied parts of Ukraine if the West now accepts Russian conquests 'de facto but not de jure' .
Op-ed from the foreign ministers of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, arguing that any territorial swaps with Russia won’t be temporary: “To entertain the idea of trading land for a fragile truce is to repeat the mistakes of the past — and to invite history’s darkest chapters to be repeated.”
Baltic states know Russian occupation is never temporary
Land swaps and de facto annexation in Ukraine won’t bring peace and could lead to decades of brutal subjugation
www.ft.com
August 13, 2025 at 6:13 PM
These are people who know what they're talking about, first hand. No-one should count on Putin's Russia relinquishing its grip on occupied parts of Ukraine if the West now accepts Russian conquests 'de facto but not de jure' .
Went so well as a policy in the Mid 30s after all 🙄
Op-ed from the foreign ministers of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, arguing that any territorial swaps with Russia won’t be temporary: “To entertain the idea of trading land for a fragile truce is to repeat the mistakes of the past — and to invite history’s darkest chapters to be repeated.”
Baltic states know Russian occupation is never temporary
Land swaps and de facto annexation in Ukraine won’t bring peace and could lead to decades of brutal subjugation
www.ft.com
August 13, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Went so well as a policy in the Mid 30s after all 🙄
Reposted by Dr Rachel Gibbons
Mediterranean blue skies at Wapping today on the Thames Foreshore at low tide. Boats & barges have been moored here for centuries, close your eyes and you can hear the shouts & curses of dockers as goods were unloaded from lighters and winched up into wharves above. Literally a portal to the past.
August 11, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Mediterranean blue skies at Wapping today on the Thames Foreshore at low tide. Boats & barges have been moored here for centuries, close your eyes and you can hear the shouts & curses of dockers as goods were unloaded from lighters and winched up into wharves above. Literally a portal to the past.
An unexpected pleasure of Him Indoors having spent his teens/20s preoccupied wine, women and song means I get to introduce him to classic movies and TV from late 70s and 80s. Today it was "Amadeus" at BFI. Joyful!
a man in a pink wig is dancing in a theater
Alt: a young man in a pink wig and embroidered 18th century clothes conducts furiously in a theatre
media.tenor.com
August 10, 2025 at 6:22 PM
An unexpected pleasure of Him Indoors having spent his teens/20s preoccupied wine, women and song means I get to introduce him to classic movies and TV from late 70s and 80s. Today it was "Amadeus" at BFI. Joyful!