Iain MacInnes
@iainmacinnesuhi.bsky.social
Academic | Historian | Associate Dean | Scottish History | Medieval History | Military History | Medievalism | Comics Studies | Stoke City
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Scotland's Second War of Independence, 1332-1357 - Boydell and Brewer
Full-length study of the warfare between England and Scotland in the mid fourteenth century.The Second Scottish War of Independence began in 1332, only four ...
boydellandbrewer.com
As I've garnered a few more followers recently, I shall follow the example of others and do some introductions. I am (normally) a medieval historian of fourteenth-century Scotland, with a focus on the Scottish Wars of Indepedence. My monograph was on the period of the second war. #medievalsky
Reposted by Iain MacInnes
‘Too little, too late’: damning report condemns UK’s Covid response
‘Too little, too late’: damning report condemns UK’s Covid response
Report on handling of pandemic contains stinging criticism of ‘toxic and chaotic’ culture inside Boris Johnson’s No 10
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UK politics live –latest updates
The UK’s response to Covid was “too little, too late”, a damning official report on the handling of the pandemic has concluded, saying the introduction of a lockdown even a week earlier than happened could have saved more than 20,000 lives.
The document also has stinging criticism of a “toxic and chaotic” culture inside Boris Johnson’s Downing Street – which it said the then prime minister actively embraced – in which the loudest voices held sway and women were sidelined. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 20, 2025 at 4:16 PM
‘Too little, too late’: damning report condemns UK’s Covid response
Reposted by Iain MacInnes
What does it mean to write the history of a place as it is being destroyed before our very eyes?
Anne Irfan on the stakes of studying, researching and writing the history of Gaza.
Anne Irfan on the stakes of studying, researching and writing the history of Gaza.
Writing history in a time of genocide
Anne Irfan asks, what does it mean to write the history of a place as it is being destroyed before our very eyes?
www.historyworkshop.org.uk
November 20, 2025 at 7:24 AM
What does it mean to write the history of a place as it is being destroyed before our very eyes?
Anne Irfan on the stakes of studying, researching and writing the history of Gaza.
Anne Irfan on the stakes of studying, researching and writing the history of Gaza.
Reposted by Iain MacInnes
morning!
so, it's my birthday today and I'm now 50 (yikes) but it turns out i have a present for YOU! a new episode of @americanmedieval.bsky.social w/ the exceptional @sarahebond.bsky.social!
we talk dinosaurs & the American obsession w/ Rome (among other things...)
Listen now!
so, it's my birthday today and I'm now 50 (yikes) but it turns out i have a present for YOU! a new episode of @americanmedieval.bsky.social w/ the exceptional @sarahebond.bsky.social!
we talk dinosaurs & the American obsession w/ Rome (among other things...)
Listen now!
The “Fall of Rome” with Sarah Bond
Podcast Episode · American Medieval · 11/19/2025 · 1h 4m
podcasts.apple.com
November 19, 2025 at 1:45 PM
morning!
so, it's my birthday today and I'm now 50 (yikes) but it turns out i have a present for YOU! a new episode of @americanmedieval.bsky.social w/ the exceptional @sarahebond.bsky.social!
we talk dinosaurs & the American obsession w/ Rome (among other things...)
Listen now!
so, it's my birthday today and I'm now 50 (yikes) but it turns out i have a present for YOU! a new episode of @americanmedieval.bsky.social w/ the exceptional @sarahebond.bsky.social!
we talk dinosaurs & the American obsession w/ Rome (among other things...)
Listen now!
Reposted by Iain MacInnes
The truth politics dare not speak. Part of the reason this is unsolvable for Lab is that it isn’t a real issue - it’s a euphemism for political discontent.
They could get immigration to zero, destroying the country in the process & it wouldn’t help, cause it’s not what ppl are actually angry about
They could get immigration to zero, destroying the country in the process & it wouldn’t help, cause it’s not what ppl are actually angry about
One of the things that the “immigration debate” in the UK really reveals is how little people actually know about how other people live. So much of immigration policy fails to work, even on its own terms, because it’s trying to solve problems that mostly exist in peoples heads
November 19, 2025 at 9:23 AM
The truth politics dare not speak. Part of the reason this is unsolvable for Lab is that it isn’t a real issue - it’s a euphemism for political discontent.
They could get immigration to zero, destroying the country in the process & it wouldn’t help, cause it’s not what ppl are actually angry about
They could get immigration to zero, destroying the country in the process & it wouldn’t help, cause it’s not what ppl are actually angry about
Think I may have forgotten to post this, but the recording of my talk at the Baltic Military HIstory Confernce (on "War & the urban environment during the 2nd Scottish War of Independence) is available here: baltmilhist.eu/videostream-... (Day 2 recording, starts at 26.00) #medievalsky #skystorians
Videostream – Baltic Military History Conference
baltmilhist.eu
November 19, 2025 at 10:40 AM
Think I may have forgotten to post this, but the recording of my talk at the Baltic Military HIstory Confernce (on "War & the urban environment during the 2nd Scottish War of Independence) is available here: baltmilhist.eu/videostream-... (Day 2 recording, starts at 26.00) #medievalsky #skystorians
Reposted by Iain MacInnes
I'll be giving a talk at Aberdeen Uni next week on the 'Dane saga' of Breda - easily one of the most unique, offbeat sources of imagined viking activity from the later medieval period. Both in person and online, so do tune in to hear me wax lyrical about this text!
www.facebook.com/events/22080...
www.facebook.com/events/22080...
A Past that Never Was: Examining Vikings in the Medieval ‘Dane saga’ of Breda - Christian Cooijmans
Event in Aberdeen, United Kingdom by Scandinavian Studies at Aberdeen on Thursday, November 27 2025
www.facebook.com
November 18, 2025 at 9:35 AM
I'll be giving a talk at Aberdeen Uni next week on the 'Dane saga' of Breda - easily one of the most unique, offbeat sources of imagined viking activity from the later medieval period. Both in person and online, so do tune in to hear me wax lyrical about this text!
www.facebook.com/events/22080...
www.facebook.com/events/22080...
Mabel's first day when she's allowed out of the garden would just have to coincide with our first snow of the winter...
November 19, 2025 at 7:46 AM
Mabel's first day when she's allowed out of the garden would just have to coincide with our first snow of the winter...
I remember - 27 years ago - sitting in a friend's house, hoping for a Scotland result at France '98, and watching us get battered by Morocco. Not knowing then that it'd be our last World Cup appearance. Until next year... #Scotland ##worldcup
November 18, 2025 at 10:41 PM
I remember - 27 years ago - sitting in a friend's house, hoping for a Scotland result at France '98, and watching us get battered by Morocco. Not knowing then that it'd be our last World Cup appearance. Until next year... #Scotland ##worldcup
November 18, 2025 at 10:07 PM
Reposted by Iain MacInnes
I’ve written a piece on the curious lack of media and political interest in the issues faced by our national @britishlibrary.bsky.social. This is strange given we live in a world where ideas, knowledge and research are a long-term source of innovation and insight
www.cityam.com/the-british-...
www.cityam.com/the-british-...
The British library is in crisis: why does nobody care?
The widespread indifference to the British Library's crippling cyberattack demonstrates a perilous failure to value the knowledge infrastructure vital for national prosperity
www.cityam.com
November 18, 2025 at 6:27 AM
I’ve written a piece on the curious lack of media and political interest in the issues faced by our national @britishlibrary.bsky.social. This is strange given we live in a world where ideas, knowledge and research are a long-term source of innovation and insight
www.cityam.com/the-british-...
www.cityam.com/the-british-...
Reposted by Iain MacInnes
Have been thinking about “immigration has been tearing this country apart.” Surely I’m not the only person to think that it isn’t true, but inflamed rhetoric about immigration by politicians is what is tearing this country apart and so statements like that only makes it worse.
November 18, 2025 at 6:37 AM
Have been thinking about “immigration has been tearing this country apart.” Surely I’m not the only person to think that it isn’t true, but inflamed rhetoric about immigration by politicians is what is tearing this country apart and so statements like that only makes it worse.
Reposted by Iain MacInnes
Very proud of my former PhD student, Dan Booker, whose important study on women and the law of the exchequer has just been published by @ihrlibrary.bsky.social: academic.oup.com/histres/adva...
Women and the law of the exchequer in the early thirteenth century*
Abstract. This article explores the status and treatment of women under the law of the exchequer in the early thirteenth century and more specifically duri
academic.oup.com
November 12, 2025 at 8:51 AM
Very proud of my former PhD student, Dan Booker, whose important study on women and the law of the exchequer has just been published by @ihrlibrary.bsky.social: academic.oup.com/histres/adva...
Reposted by Iain MacInnes
The Home Secretary says "we have become the destination of choice in Europe, clearly visible to every people smuggler and would-be illegal migrant across the world"
That is a factually untrue claim: the Home Office shows that the UK is fifth, getting 1/10 claims, while Germany gets 1/5 claims
That is a factually untrue claim: the Home Office shows that the UK is fifth, getting 1/10 claims, while Germany gets 1/5 claims
November 17, 2025 at 3:51 PM
The Home Secretary says "we have become the destination of choice in Europe, clearly visible to every people smuggler and would-be illegal migrant across the world"
That is a factually untrue claim: the Home Office shows that the UK is fifth, getting 1/10 claims, while Germany gets 1/5 claims
That is a factually untrue claim: the Home Office shows that the UK is fifth, getting 1/10 claims, while Germany gets 1/5 claims
Reposted by Iain MacInnes
Founded in the 15th century, Perth’s Carthusian priory is one of Scotland’s least understood but most historically significant medieval monastic sites ⛪
On Thursday, uncover new insights arising from documentary evidence and Ground-Penetrating Radar scanning: www.digitscotland.com/events/illum...
On Thursday, uncover new insights arising from documentary evidence and Ground-Penetrating Radar scanning: www.digitscotland.com/events/illum...
November 17, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Founded in the 15th century, Perth’s Carthusian priory is one of Scotland’s least understood but most historically significant medieval monastic sites ⛪
On Thursday, uncover new insights arising from documentary evidence and Ground-Penetrating Radar scanning: www.digitscotland.com/events/illum...
On Thursday, uncover new insights arising from documentary evidence and Ground-Penetrating Radar scanning: www.digitscotland.com/events/illum...
JFC. Who'd be a Scotland fan...?
November 15, 2025 at 9:53 PM
JFC. Who'd be a Scotland fan...?
Reposted by Iain MacInnes
New article by Liverpool PhD Dr Eddie Meehan "Identity, exemplarity and the ideal king in early medieval Ireland" open access academic.oup.com/histres/adva... #history #leadership #ireland #medievalsky
Identity, exemplarity and the ideal king in early medieval Ireland*
Abstract. This article examines some early medieval Insular texts on the ideal king: three examples of Old Irish tecosca (wisdom) texts and the ninth secti
academic.oup.com
November 14, 2025 at 9:06 PM
New article by Liverpool PhD Dr Eddie Meehan "Identity, exemplarity and the ideal king in early medieval Ireland" open access academic.oup.com/histres/adva... #history #leadership #ireland #medievalsky
FYI. The recording of my talk last night is available below. Come for the discussion of sources and medieval Scotland, stay for the images of heads on sticks... "The Death of David Strathbogie, earl of Atholl, in 1335: What was going on?" www.youtube.com/watch?v=StHs... #medievalsky #skystorians
"The Death of David Strathbogie, earl of Atholl, in 1335: What was going on?" By Dr Iain MacInnes
YouTube video by Society of Highland & Island Historical Research
www.youtube.com
November 14, 2025 at 5:16 PM
FYI. The recording of my talk last night is available below. Come for the discussion of sources and medieval Scotland, stay for the images of heads on sticks... "The Death of David Strathbogie, earl of Atholl, in 1335: What was going on?" www.youtube.com/watch?v=StHs... #medievalsky #skystorians
"The Death of David Strathbogie, earl of Atholl, in 1335: What was going on?" By Dr Iain MacInnes
YouTube video by Society of Highland & Island Historical Research
www.youtube.com
November 14, 2025 at 9:52 AM
FYI. The recording of my talk last night is available below. Come for the discussion of sources and medieval Scotland, stay for the images of heads on sticks... "The Death of David Strathbogie, earl of Atholl, in 1335: What was going on?" www.youtube.com/watch?v=StHs... #medievalsky #skystorians
Reposted by Iain MacInnes
Call for Papers! Fissures: Gender and Political Crisis #medievalsky #Fissures2026
November 11, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Call for Papers! Fissures: Gender and Political Crisis #medievalsky #Fissures2026
Reposted by Iain MacInnes
The British Academy invite applications for the Neil Ker Memorial Fund 2026. The scheme aims to promote the study of Western medieval manuscripts, particularly those of British interest: https://bit.ly/4hO0Oo1
November 12, 2025 at 3:52 PM
The British Academy invite applications for the Neil Ker Memorial Fund 2026. The scheme aims to promote the study of Western medieval manuscripts, particularly those of British interest: https://bit.ly/4hO0Oo1
Reposted by Iain MacInnes
The Picts were always more than their blue-painted, bloodthirsty depictions. Carved in Stone, a new setting guide from @stoutstoat.co.uk and archaeologist Heather Christie, invites players to explore their incomplete but beautiful history.
Carved in Stone is both a history book and an eye-catching RPG
Publisher Brian Tyrrell and archeologist Heather Christie paint a pretty Pict-ure.
www.rascal.news
November 12, 2025 at 3:20 PM
The Picts were always more than their blue-painted, bloodthirsty depictions. Carved in Stone, a new setting guide from @stoutstoat.co.uk and archaeologist Heather Christie, invites players to explore their incomplete but beautiful history.
Reposted by Iain MacInnes
Are you a scholar of the fifteenth century and have an interest in the British Isles and its wider connections? If so, then you will want to know that @memsunikent.bsky.social will be hosting the 2026 Fifteenth Century Conference in Canterbury and the CfP is now open: www.kent.ac.uk/medieval-ear...
MEMS to Host the Fifteenth Century Conference 2026
www.kent.ac.uk
November 13, 2025 at 9:39 AM
Are you a scholar of the fifteenth century and have an interest in the British Isles and its wider connections? If so, then you will want to know that @memsunikent.bsky.social will be hosting the 2026 Fifteenth Century Conference in Canterbury and the CfP is now open: www.kent.ac.uk/medieval-ear...
Forgot to advertise this in advance but looking forward to giving this lecture this evening on "The Death of David Strathbogie, earl of Atholl, in 1335: What was going on?" (borrowing shamelessly from Sandy Grant re. the title...) www.highlandhistoricalresearch.com/event/lectur... #medievalsky
30. The Death of David Strathbogie, earl of Atholl, in 1335: What was going on? – Society of Highland & Island Historical Research
www.highlandhistoricalresearch.com
November 13, 2025 at 10:06 AM
Forgot to advertise this in advance but looking forward to giving this lecture this evening on "The Death of David Strathbogie, earl of Atholl, in 1335: What was going on?" (borrowing shamelessly from Sandy Grant re. the title...) www.highlandhistoricalresearch.com/event/lectur... #medievalsky
Reposted by Iain MacInnes
How do Lenny Henry’s arguments for reparations for trans-Atlantic slavery stand up to Lord Biggar’s arguments against them? Head-to-head review here:
November 12, 2025 at 8:13 AM
How do Lenny Henry’s arguments for reparations for trans-Atlantic slavery stand up to Lord Biggar’s arguments against them? Head-to-head review here: