William Carruthers
@williamcarruthers.bsky.social
Lecturer in Heritage @phaisessex.bsky.social . ‘Flooded Pasts: UNESCO, Nubia, and the Recolonization of Archaeology’ out now with Cornell UP. Fellow, RHistS. https://williamcarruthers.co.uk // williamcarruthers.wordpress.com
Pinned
In better news my book is coming out in paperback next March (pre-orders now available)! www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...
Flooded Pasts by William Carruthers | Hardcover | Cornell University Press
Flooded Pasts examines a world famous yet critically underexamined event—UNESCO's International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia (1960–80)—to show how the project, its genealogy, and its...
www.cornellpress.cornell.edu
Going to re-post this occasionally, with added mention that I’m very happy to do more talks about it
Reposted by William Carruthers
I suspect being sued for a billion dollars by Donald Trump, who is about as popular as cholera in Britain, for saying something true about what Trump did (albeit with a bad edit) will probably do the BBC's public trust and approval ratings quite a lot of good in the end.
November 11, 2025 at 12:45 PM
I suspect being sued for a billion dollars by Donald Trump, who is about as popular as cholera in Britain, for saying something true about what Trump did (albeit with a bad edit) will probably do the BBC's public trust and approval ratings quite a lot of good in the end.
Reposted by William Carruthers
Trump is incredibly unpopular here! including amongst Tory voters. What are they doing?
Conservative Shadow Culture Secretary Nigel Huddleston tells GB News that the BBC should "grovel" to Trump.
Amazing how many British 'patriots' are spending their time telling our national broadcaster to prostrate itself before a hostile foreign leader
Amazing how many British 'patriots' are spending their time telling our national broadcaster to prostrate itself before a hostile foreign leader
November 11, 2025 at 11:22 AM
Trump is incredibly unpopular here! including amongst Tory voters. What are they doing?
Hear me out here: just don’t make another one.
“It’s impossible to reboot Bond” says production team who decided Bond first got his licence to kill in the 21st Century, as Daniel Craig, then got incredibly old within two films and was being put out to pasture, but also had Sean Connery’s 1960s car.
It’s Bond. Just do whatever the fuck you like.
It’s Bond. Just do whatever the fuck you like.
November 11, 2025 at 11:37 AM
Hear me out here: just don’t make another one.
This poor person
Could someone explain to me what is meant when a British person refers to "the middle class" ? Like, in the US, as I hear it, it basically just means a person who makes a certain amount of money, not too far below and not wildly above the median. Seems like a complex concept when UK writers use it?
November 11, 2025 at 9:51 AM
This poor person
Not convinced that everyone having podcasts and Substacks is the solution here
November 11, 2025 at 8:58 AM
Not convinced that everyone having podcasts and Substacks is the solution here
Reposted by William Carruthers
Nowhere in the hysterical pile-on against the BBC in the British press has anyone mentioned that BBC News now has 77 million viewers & listeners in the US and has established itself as the second most trusted news source there.
November 11, 2025 at 8:37 AM
Nowhere in the hysterical pile-on against the BBC in the British press has anyone mentioned that BBC News now has 77 million viewers & listeners in the US and has established itself as the second most trusted news source there.
Alternatively, you can just not read it
Remember kids - you can save a lot of time when reading the Times Higher by checking the writer bio first.
November 11, 2025 at 8:37 AM
Alternatively, you can just not read it
Reposted by William Carruthers
'people who are multilingual are half as likely to show signs of accelerated biological ageing than are those who speak just one language.'
Good thing that schools, universities and governments are so actively promoting modern languages then, isn't it? 1/2
Good thing that schools, universities and governments are so actively promoting modern languages then, isn't it? 1/2
Want a younger brain? Learn another language
A vast study suggests that being multilingual can slow down cognitive ageing.
www.nature.com
November 11, 2025 at 7:58 AM
'people who are multilingual are half as likely to show signs of accelerated biological ageing than are those who speak just one language.'
Good thing that schools, universities and governments are so actively promoting modern languages then, isn't it? 1/2
Good thing that schools, universities and governments are so actively promoting modern languages then, isn't it? 1/2
Reposted by William Carruthers
I’d like to bury these disruption labs in an ideas sandpit.
Just been invited to the launch event of a report considering the 'future of the UK's research system' where they will be considering the creation of disruption labs named after Ada Lovelace and the report will be introduced by a panel of five men
November 11, 2025 at 8:12 AM
I’d like to bury these disruption labs in an ideas sandpit.
I, a 43 year old male with two small children and no time to read, am going to read a book on a train this morning and see if anyone takes my photo and accuses me of being performative.
November 11, 2025 at 6:53 AM
I, a 43 year old male with two small children and no time to read, am going to read a book on a train this morning and see if anyone takes my photo and accuses me of being performative.
Reposted by William Carruthers
Which is a long way round of saying: a lot of the pieces I’m reading on the crucial role of the BBC massively overweight news and underplay the wider role of 50 odd radio stations, a dozen TV stations and the vast majority of its output.
November 10, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Which is a long way round of saying: a lot of the pieces I’m reading on the crucial role of the BBC massively overweight news and underplay the wider role of 50 odd radio stations, a dozen TV stations and the vast majority of its output.
Reposted by William Carruthers
Look at these performative bastards.
November 10, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Look at these performative bastards.
Oh yes, in a list you write: ‘first, secondly, thirdly…’ If you write ‘firstly’ I’m afraid I can’t speak to you.
And the footnote goes after the punctuation
Let my gravestone read "PUNCTUATION GOES INSIDE THE QUOTATION MARKS."
November 10, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Oh yes, in a list you write: ‘first, secondly, thirdly…’ If you write ‘firstly’ I’m afraid I can’t speak to you.
Reposted by William Carruthers
Happy news: My new book -- Humanitarianism: A Very Short Introduction -- now has a cover and is available for preorder! The book is a concise history of humanitarianism in an international and global perspective, from the 18th century to the present. More info here: global.oup.com/academic/pro...
November 10, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Happy news: My new book -- Humanitarianism: A Very Short Introduction -- now has a cover and is available for preorder! The book is a concise history of humanitarianism in an international and global perspective, from the 18th century to the present. More info here: global.oup.com/academic/pro...
And the footnote goes after the punctuation
Let my gravestone read "PUNCTUATION GOES INSIDE THE QUOTATION MARKS."
November 10, 2025 at 5:17 PM
And the footnote goes after the punctuation
Reposted by William Carruthers
The main hatchways on the Edmund Fitzgerald had more integrity than this Democratic Party.
November 10, 2025 at 4:48 PM
The main hatchways on the Edmund Fitzgerald had more integrity than this Democratic Party.
Reposted by William Carruthers
November 10, 2025 at 1:39 PM
Reposted by William Carruthers
I'm so old I remember PEx starting out as a Cameroon, liberal Tory, modernising think tank. It's a funny old world, as Lady Thatcher once said.
November 10, 2025 at 12:40 PM
I'm so old I remember PEx starting out as a Cameroon, liberal Tory, modernising think tank. It's a funny old world, as Lady Thatcher once said.
Reposted by William Carruthers
Let's play Bucks Name or Name Name
November 7, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Let's play Bucks Name or Name Name
Reposted by William Carruthers
"The problem isn’t that we have a deliberately biased BBC, it’s that we have a BBC that has been consciously reduced in its scope and bullied into dumbing down and retreating." @stephenkb.bsky.social's newsletter today
November 10, 2025 at 9:40 AM
"The problem isn’t that we have a deliberately biased BBC, it’s that we have a BBC that has been consciously reduced in its scope and bullied into dumbing down and retreating." @stephenkb.bsky.social's newsletter today
The public like and believe in the BBC. The public dislike Trump, Farage et al. It’s not rocket science, is it?
Here’s the results of the BBC’s public satisfaction survey that was released in October. I can’t think why they bothered to do it. www.bbc.co.uk/ourbbcourfut...
November 10, 2025 at 9:06 AM
The public like and believe in the BBC. The public dislike Trump, Farage et al. It’s not rocket science, is it?
Only 36 years ago
#otd in 1989, Günter Schabowski of the East German Socialist Unity Party (SED) held a press conference where he appeared to say that citizens could now travel more freely outside of the GDR. By the end of the day, the Berlin Wall had been opened and the stage set for the end of SED rule.
November 9, 2025 at 11:04 PM
Only 36 years ago
Reposted by William Carruthers
Losing both the director-general and the very obvious heir apparent as the result of such an orchestrated attack is truly existential stuff for the BBC.
It’s also a *massive* challenge for Lisa Nandy, who has so far failed to impress anyone as culture secretary.
It’s also a *massive* challenge for Lisa Nandy, who has so far failed to impress anyone as culture secretary.
November 9, 2025 at 7:14 PM
Losing both the director-general and the very obvious heir apparent as the result of such an orchestrated attack is truly existential stuff for the BBC.
It’s also a *massive* challenge for Lisa Nandy, who has so far failed to impress anyone as culture secretary.
It’s also a *massive* challenge for Lisa Nandy, who has so far failed to impress anyone as culture secretary.
Reposted by William Carruthers
Looking forward to the new DG, Adrian Chiles
November 9, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Looking forward to the new DG, Adrian Chiles
Finally someone puts two and two together
BBC Director General Tim Davie resigns over wrecking of the Edmund Fitzgerald fifty years ago today.
November 9, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Finally someone puts two and two together