Why does trial by jury matter? In the light of the recent government announcement my first blogpost of 2026 reflects on what C17th and C18th reformers had to say about trial by jury. www.rachelhammersley.com/new-blog/2025/12/31/trial-by-jury

What would eighteenth-century thinkers have made of the recent budget? This month's blogpost offers some answers. www.rachelhammersley.com/new-blog/2025/11/25/lessons-on-inequality-from-the-eighteenth-century

The notion of an ailing body politic feels sadly relevant today. My November blogpost reflects on a workshop held in September that explored how the notion of the body politic was deployed by republican writers in the C17 and C18.
www.rachelhammersley.com/new-blog/2025/10/28/republican-bodies

With the new academic year just having begun it seems like a good time for a blogpost on travel, books and translation. I may not be travelling for a while, but at least I'll be reading and writing. www.rachelhammersley.com/new-blog/2025/9/29/migration-mobility-and-translation-in-europe

As I prepare a conference paper on Thomas Hollis's donations to the Library at Bern, this month's blogpost offers a vignette on Hollis's hand of friendship to Rousseau - and its consequences. www.rachelhammersley.com/new-blog/2025/8/28/thomas-hollis-and-jean-jacques-rousseau

Workshop: Translating Cultures: Migration, Mobility and Translation in Europe, c1600-1850, 3/4 September 2025, Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel. With @rhammersley99.bsky.social @ebuchetmann.bsky.social @earlymodernjohn.bsky.social et al. The programme is now online @ www.hab.de/event/transl...

This year the town in which I live is 800! In celebration this month’s blog reflects on the role of the North East - and particularly the river Tyne - during the mid-seventeenth century Revolution. @englishheritage.bsky.social www.rachelhammersley.com/new-blog/2025/7/30/north-shields-800

There is a current emphasis on developing oracy (speaking & listening) alongside reading & writing to improve academic attainment & citizenship. These concerns are not new. They were shared by the stars of June's post Thomas Hollis & Thomas Spence. tinyurl.com/4snh2fv9

The first ever collection on Sidney. Chapters in French & English. Merci beaucoup: François Quastana, Jamie Wheeler Cessna, Alberto de Barros, Luís Falcão, Cesare Cuttica, @rhammersley99.bsky.social, Jean Terrel, Myriam-Isabelle Ducrocq, @thehistorywoman.bsky.social, & my co-ed. Christopher Hamel.

At a time when education seems to be under threat from all directions, this month’s post focuses on the activities of two men who were committed to spreading political knowledge & ideas for the good of society. www.rachelhammersley.com/new-blog/2025/5/27/june-blogpost-a-tale-of-two-thomases-part-1

In this month's blogpost I travel from Oxford to Switzerland in the company of the eighteenth-century eccentric Thomas Hollis. www.rachelhammersley.com/new-blog/2025/4/29/thomas-hollis

A quick advert for April's blogpost, which reflects on a recent symposium celebrating the publication of Quentin Skinner's latest book Liberty as Independence. www.rachelhammersley.com/new-blog/202...

What did the Greeks do for us? March’s blogpost reflects on 20 years since the publication of ‘The Greek Tradition in Republican Thought’. www.rachelhammersley.com/new-blog/2025/2/28/the-greek-tradition-in-republican-thought @threadofariane.bsky.social @standrewshist.bsky.social

Great piece using C18 ideas to reflect on the value of political podcasts by my colleague Katie East. theconversation.com/podcasts-are...

This month’s blogpost claims that Thomas Spence’s methods of disseminating political information are still being used today. rachelhammersley.com/new-blog/202...