Catherine Baker
richmondbridge.bsky.social
Catherine Baker
@richmondbridge.bsky.social

PERFORMING QUEER NATIONS: THE EUROVISION SONG CONTEST SINCE 1990 due from Manchester University Press in 2027. She/her.

Political science 30%
Sociology 24%

Short answer - a) wanted to understand more about nationalism in Europe, b) had already heard some of the music and wanted to know what the songs meant, plus probably c) knew I lived in a different multinational country with crises and wondered how different they really were…

Reposted by Catherine Baker

"It is an act of love for Palestinians to patiently counter myths while their loved ones are being killed."

@soleilho.com went to a dinner where Palestinian food and drink makers shared their history and their grief. Then came the Q&A.
Pass the Rice, and Please Explain Your Genocide
At a thoughtfully organized dinner in Oakland, Palestinian culinary activists shared more than just food — they offered their stories, their resilience, and their patience
www.coyotemedia.org

Very proud that my #Eurovision book is under contract for this!
Our new Queer and Trans Histories series creates a home for cutting‑edge work on past and present LGBTQ+ lives.

We’re looking for proposals grounded in rich empirical work and innovative approaches to intimacy, emotion, silence, and subjectivity.

manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/series/queer...

Reposted by Catherine Baker

📣 New article online!

'Out of Bounds: Israel, European Football, and the Making of Continental Belonging', by Daniel Mahla

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Out of Bounds: Israel, European Football, and the Making of Continental Belonging | Contemporary European History | Cambridge Core
Out of Bounds: Israel, European Football, and the Making of Continental Belonging - Volume 35
www.cambridge.org
Our new Queer and Trans Histories series creates a home for cutting‑edge work on past and present LGBTQ+ lives.

We’re looking for proposals grounded in rich empirical work and innovative approaches to intimacy, emotion, silence, and subjectivity.

manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/series/queer...

It’s looking like a coronation at this point…

Um(j)etnica mora biti zdrava 👏 👏

(Wellness advertising all over the post-Yugoslav region is a whole thing…)

The Dora house band have appeared again…

And it’s been like that for years! Mexican films used to be massive in Yugoslavia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yu-Mex

(Severina’s nickname when she broke through as the next Tajči in early 90s was La Paloma Nera and that’s basically why…)
Yu-Mex - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org

It might be going that way - or ToMa sweeps in with the juries between whoever’s split the public…

Six on stage rule is a nuisance here, unless you just chuck the brass players on the LED screen…

Yes likewise, especially if the designer and I might have read the same comics which we might have done this time…

It’s seemed like they’ve wanted him to be the next Giuliano (Dora ballad fixture in late 90s) for years but this is the first time he might have pulled it off…

I’m not sure they can make the historical mythology behind it do what they think it does 😬

Though if Stela can knock her vocals out of the park, that might not matter…

Display an album that was important to you when you were nineteen.

Isn’t there a bit in an Iain Sinclair book about this?

Without the Amazon van, but then he wouldn’t exactly be surprised.
A magnificent set of choices led to this. What a time to be alive www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Amazon delivery van 'stuck on The Broomway after following GPS'
HM Coastguard Southend says the van driver had been trying to get to Foulness Island.
www.bbc.co.uk
“I keep telling young people: keep a diary, get a camera, learn to print your own photos. Don’t put it all in your phone, because everything in your phone belongs to someone else."

www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
‘Regrets? Number one: smoking. Number two: taking it up the wrong hole’: Tracey Emin on reputation, radical honesty – and Reform
She scandalised the art world in the 1990s with her unmade bed, partied hard in the 2000s – then a brush with death turned the artist’s life upside down. Now she’s as frank as ever
www.theguardian.com

The head of middle school who forced me to see a counsellor over how I was acting out sexuality and gender non-conformity would absolutely have *loved* to make me come back for a doctor’s note or be stopped from doing it as well…
Another example (just like the Essex campus closure) of how refusing to have a structured and effective HE policy destroys the rest of the government’s place-based goals www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
Shattered dreams: How the battle for Sunderland’s glass centre turned into a political flashpoint
Custodian University of Sunderland says renovation costs of £45m are too high and building must be pulled down. Not without a fight, say locals, who believe they’re being taken for fools
www.theguardian.com

‘As with Section 28, young people are presented with a choice between state-mandated abuse, or staying in the closet. The overall aim is to stop trans children from existing altogether’
New post: LABOUR'S SECTION 28 IS HERE - ACT NOW.

I explain how the Labour government's proposed revisions to the guidance on "keeping children in education" are designed to erase trans children in England. But it's not a done deal - there is plenty we can do to oppose this.
Labour’s Section 28 is here – act now
In May 1988, the Conservative government introduced Section 28. This legal measure outlawed support for “homosexuality as a pretended family relationship” across Britain, especially in …
ruthpearce.net
New post: LABOUR'S SECTION 28 IS HERE - ACT NOW.

I explain how the Labour government's proposed revisions to the guidance on "keeping children in education" are designed to erase trans children in England. But it's not a done deal - there is plenty we can do to oppose this.
Labour’s Section 28 is here – act now
In May 1988, the Conservative government introduced Section 28. This legal measure outlawed support for “homosexuality as a pretended family relationship” across Britain, especially in …
ruthpearce.net

Reposted by Catherine Baker

At least 12 WI groups are closing or considering closure after the organisation barred transgender women from membership.

Members say more groups are likely to close, and that the federation’s decision has opened up a toxic, traditionalist culture that will deter younger women from joining.
‘Carnage of concern and upset’: Women’s Institute groups close after transgender ban
Members warn NFWI decision has opened up toxic culture that deters younger women from joining
www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Catherine Baker

Some of our collective sat down and wrote letters – messages of love, solidarity and support for our trans+ family. A little reminder that behind the noise there are thousands upon thousands of women who see you, respect you and stand with you.

notinourname.org.uk/letters-of-l...
Letters of love to the trans community - Not in our name
On Valentines Day NION Women members wrote letters of love, solidarity, and support to the trans+ community as a 'Valentines Yay' boost.
notinourname.org.uk

The 10-city #Eurovision live tour for May-June 2026 is postponed:

‘We have encountered unforeseen challenges that despite the best efforts of our team, the producers, and promoters we have been unable to resolve’ www.eurovision.com/pages/tour-c...
Eurovision Song Contest Live Tour
Eurovision Song Contest Live Tour
www.eurovision.com

Reposted by Catherine Baker

IOC also ordered Ukrainian speedskater Oleh Handei to tape over a line affixed to his helmet by Ukrainian poet Lina Kostenko: “Where there is heroism, there can be no final defeat.” IOC judged quotation to be war-linked & thus in violation of 'neutrality' rules www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/f...

Reposted by Catherine Baker

The best headline I have seen on this in a major paper:

metro.co.uk/2026/02/13/t...
Trans children ‘will lose any hope of happiness’ under school gender guidance
'Trans children need to be supported and respected.'
metro.co.uk

Most of the documents from my last archival project were printed faxes from one UN peacekeeping office to another UN peacekeeping office during the Bosnian war, or draft typescripts of their letters for translation.
Right, another key thing that historians do is working with important records that have not been digitized.

And the vast majority of the world’s records *have not been digitized* and thus do not exist in any format that LLMs/AI can work with.
it's literally impossible for an LLM to do a historian's job

it's not even LLMs sucking it's that they need data input to do anything and where's that data supposed to be coming from without historians

never met a computer that can dig through a thousand year old book in a library

…knocking off Espresso Macchiato?

Oh give this the Vidbir producers… - not that Jamala would have let those vocals in…