William Carruthers
@williamcarruthers.bsky.social
Lecturer in Heritage at a university near Colchester. ‘Flooded Pasts: UNESCO, Nubia, and the Recolonization of Archaeology’ out now with Cornell UP. Fellow, RHistS. https://williamcarruthers.co.uk // williamcarruthers.wordpress.com
Pinned
The first paperback copy of my book Flooded Pasts: UNESCO, Nubia, and the Recolonization of Archaeology just arrived! Available on the 15th March from @cornellupress.bsky.social: www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...
1/ I’m going to do a thread of the promotional writing and interviews I’ve done for my book starting with…
There is something very blandly religious about it all: but religious in a way where the specifics are bland, too, and you couldn’t pin it down to which one. Religion as lifestyle?
starting to feel like there's a direct relationship between the growing obsession with lifestyle hygeine (no drinking, no caffeine, no sex, obsessive working out and looksmaxxing) and the inability to meaningful moral stands on issues of actual import
Cafes across the U.S. are embracing the low- and no-caffeine lifestyle, with options that are a far cry from dusty tea bags and rewarmed decaf. nyti.ms/3XKlqoj
February 10, 2026 at 6:38 AM
There is something very blandly religious about it all: but religious in a way where the specifics are bland, too, and you couldn’t pin it down to which one. Religion as lifestyle?
Reposted by William Carruthers
NEW on Wonkhe: Jim Dickinson reviews a Welsh HE system too concentrated geographically, too thin in subject breadth, and too dependent on English demand to serve the students it's supposed to be for buff.ly/nfYFMCm
February 10, 2026 at 6:15 AM
NEW on Wonkhe: Jim Dickinson reviews a Welsh HE system too concentrated geographically, too thin in subject breadth, and too dependent on English demand to serve the students it's supposed to be for buff.ly/nfYFMCm
Reposting, because this is still glorious—Brits abroad in 1987 (some better at skiing than others)
I saw this a very, very long time ago, and it is *glorious*: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZldY...
1987: On The Piste for a Ski Holiday | Niche Sports | Classic Documentary | BBC Archive
YouTube video by BBC Archive
www.youtube.com
February 10, 2026 at 6:11 AM
Reposting, because this is still glorious—Brits abroad in 1987 (some better at skiing than others)
Has no one in the White House watched Dad’s Army and do they not know what’s coming etc. etc.
February 9, 2026 at 11:14 PM
Has no one in the White House watched Dad’s Army and do they not know what’s coming etc. etc.
I saw this a very, very long time ago, and it is *glorious*: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZldY...
1987: On The Piste for a Ski Holiday | Niche Sports | Classic Documentary | BBC Archive
YouTube video by BBC Archive
www.youtube.com
February 9, 2026 at 10:08 PM
I saw this a very, very long time ago, and it is *glorious*: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZldY...
I once walked past Mandelson in the BA lounge at Gatwick…
I'm not in the Epstein files and I never met Peter Mandelson
I feel like my life is a failure
I feel like my life is a failure
February 9, 2026 at 7:00 PM
I once walked past Mandelson in the BA lounge at Gatwick…
The long 2016 continues
February 9, 2026 at 6:45 PM
The long 2016 continues
Reposted by William Carruthers
One example I will give is that almost everyone I know who did one of the "in my shoes" unconscious bias trainings in 2020 actually found it really interesting and valuable.
This comes up a lot in other fields. Large corporate HR getting extremely strict on workplace relationships and also going very woke in 2015-2020 period seems to be something where there is just a big gap between corporate types and journalist/politician/think tank people.
February 9, 2026 at 6:14 PM
One example I will give is that almost everyone I know who did one of the "in my shoes" unconscious bias trainings in 2020 actually found it really interesting and valuable.
Reposted by William Carruthers
Not quite the faithful Wes.
:: suggested govt had "no growth strategy at all" after Mandelson complained about econ philosophy.
:: agreed with M’s comment that “govt problems do not stem from comms”, inferring PM was issue.
:: said Israel was "committing war crimes before our eyes" & UK needed to recognise Palestinian state
:: agreed with M’s comment that “govt problems do not stem from comms”, inferring PM was issue.
:: said Israel was "committing war crimes before our eyes" & UK needed to recognise Palestinian state
February 9, 2026 at 6:20 PM
Not quite the faithful Wes.
Reposted by William Carruthers
if Ed Miliband gets this he'll be the first British Prime Minister to have tried to listen to me drunkenly tell an anecdote and got so bored by it that he walked out of the conversation halfway through a sentence
February 9, 2026 at 2:53 PM
if Ed Miliband gets this he'll be the first British Prime Minister to have tried to listen to me drunkenly tell an anecdote and got so bored by it that he walked out of the conversation halfway through a sentence
I’m starting a class in 15 minutes and I’m not sure Starmer will still be PM when it finishes.
February 9, 2026 at 2:46 PM
I’m starting a class in 15 minutes and I’m not sure Starmer will still be PM when it finishes.
Reposted by William Carruthers
The genius who actually won Labour its landslide majority is currently selling her services as a batshit conspiracy theorist on the American podcast circuit
February 9, 2026 at 1:02 PM
The genius who actually won Labour its landslide majority is currently selling her services as a batshit conspiracy theorist on the American podcast circuit
Just saw an advert for a first-time buyer mortgage with Lloyds that pets people borrow up to 5.5 x their income. Surely a recipe for disaster?
February 9, 2026 at 8:48 AM
Just saw an advert for a first-time buyer mortgage with Lloyds that pets people borrow up to 5.5 x their income. Surely a recipe for disaster?
On the growing MRes problem, among other things
"Cash-strapped universities accused of risking UK reputation"
Cash-strapped universities accused of risking UK reputation
Cash-strapped university bosses have been accused of risking the UK’s international reputation after one university confirmed that its new city cent...
bit.ly
February 9, 2026 at 7:53 AM
On the growing MRes problem, among other things
The dominance of, um, one country on this website is pretty noticeable, huh?
February 9, 2026 at 7:28 AM
The dominance of, um, one country on this website is pretty noticeable, huh?
There are days I think most people in the US act like Puritans whether they know it or not
February 9, 2026 at 6:50 AM
There are days I think most people in the US act like Puritans whether they know it or not
This is good on where things are, but I’m not sure that in lots of cases higher ed has ever really been about the ‘transmission of knowledge’: how many humanities undergrads who go off into work really retain the subject-level knowledge? Thinking and writing have always been more important.
NEW on Wonkhe: Jim Dickinson explores the growing evidence that AI isn't just changing what students produce – it's changing what their brains are ready to do, and asks whether HE can redesign itself around a question it has been avoiding for decades buff.ly/uHtisNU
February 9, 2026 at 6:18 AM
This is good on where things are, but I’m not sure that in lots of cases higher ed has ever really been about the ‘transmission of knowledge’: how many humanities undergrads who go off into work really retain the subject-level knowledge? Thinking and writing have always been more important.
Reposted by William Carruthers
Indeed - as @orarunswild.bsky.social rightly points out, there used to be an Olympic Art competiton alongside the sport. Check out this @sportinhistory.bsky.social article to learn more! #olympics #sporthistory #skystorians 🗃️
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
February 8, 2026 at 10:24 PM
Indeed - as @orarunswild.bsky.social rightly points out, there used to be an Olympic Art competiton alongside the sport. Check out this @sportinhistory.bsky.social article to learn more! #olympics #sporthistory #skystorians 🗃️
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by William Carruthers
So glad we got to commission this new book for the Palgrave series. Explores how #colonial exploitation of natural resources came to #fashion female bodies. Thanks to editors Audrey Murfin, Victoria Pettersen Lantz & Sibyl Buchell for a fascinating book on #materials #ecologies #specimens
February 6, 2026 at 11:22 AM
So glad we got to commission this new book for the Palgrave series. Explores how #colonial exploitation of natural resources came to #fashion female bodies. Thanks to editors Audrey Murfin, Victoria Pettersen Lantz & Sibyl Buchell for a fascinating book on #materials #ecologies #specimens
Reposted by William Carruthers
There's a t shirt, yes? Surely someone's made a t shirt??
"Full speed ahead to uber-woke, net-zeroist rejoinerism" is the funniest thing a Labour MP has said for some time I'll give it that. It's like a Jordan Peterson quote about Elmo.
Yes, god help we risk a floundering government that feels like no one is in charge.
February 8, 2026 at 7:54 PM
There's a t shirt, yes? Surely someone's made a t shirt??
If this is right then Starmer only has a few weeks to save his leadership, really.
“The pescatarian forced to eat dog meat” - why Morgan McSweeney’s real fault was to force Keir Starmer to be something he is not - my piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/politic...
‘A pescatarian forced to eat dog meat’: the Starmer-McSwe...
Starmer's former aide Morgan McSweeney saw the prime minister as his creation. Now that McSweeney is gone, so too has the imbalanced relationship between chief of staff and PM
observer.co.uk
February 8, 2026 at 6:37 PM
If this is right then Starmer only has a few weeks to save his leadership, really.
Reposted by William Carruthers
If you are using the phrase "full speed ahead to uber-woke, net-zeroist, rejoinerism", especially if you are of the left, a loved one should take your phone off you and send you to Baden-Baden or somewhere for a month.
Yes, god help we risk a floundering government that feels like no one is in charge.
February 8, 2026 at 5:44 PM
If you are using the phrase "full speed ahead to uber-woke, net-zeroist, rejoinerism", especially if you are of the left, a loved one should take your phone off you and send you to Baden-Baden or somewhere for a month.
Reposted by William Carruthers
The wild thing is that poor old Anne wrote HER book about the precarious position of governesses FIRST. www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uYZ...
Anne Bronte's book signing is a disaster
YouTube video by Eleanor Morton
www.youtube.com
February 8, 2026 at 1:59 PM
The wild thing is that poor old Anne wrote HER book about the precarious position of governesses FIRST. www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uYZ...
As far as I can see this is now actually shipping via Cornell...
The first paperback copy of my book Flooded Pasts: UNESCO, Nubia, and the Recolonization of Archaeology just arrived! Available on the 15th March from @cornellupress.bsky.social: www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...
February 8, 2026 at 11:29 AM
As far as I can see this is now actually shipping via Cornell...