@nataliethomlinson.bsky.social
Historian of gender and feminism in modern Britain; Associate Prof at the University of Reading
Reposted
"the Student Loans Company (the taxman in plastic glasses and fake moustache)"
www.economist.com/britain/2025... new guy just dropped
December 4, 2025 at 12:48 PM
"the Student Loans Company (the taxman in plastic glasses and fake moustache)"
i do wonder how much of this supposedly counter-intuitive effect is about the social capital a lot of humanities graduates - who tend to skew very middle-class - have, though?
So kid, in your heart you want to study humanities but you worry about your job prospects? Let’s play a game.
On the latest data, who is more likely to be unemployed after 15 months after graduation. The English Lit grad or the Maths grad?
WRONG!
On the latest data, who is more likely to be unemployed after 15 months after graduation. The English Lit grad or the Maths grad?
WRONG!
December 2, 2025 at 10:53 AM
i do wonder how much of this supposedly counter-intuitive effect is about the social capital a lot of humanities graduates - who tend to skew very middle-class - have, though?
Reposted
RIP Martin Luther, you would have loved Papal Audience Black Friday deals.
November 27, 2025 at 10:08 PM
RIP Martin Luther, you would have loved Papal Audience Black Friday deals.
Reposted
As we move into “foreigners are cancelling Christmas in the name of political correctness” season it’s worth remember that Christmas was indeed once banned in England, by Christians and the man who enforced the ban has a statue in his honour outside the Houses of Parliament.
November 20, 2025 at 9:49 AM
As we move into “foreigners are cancelling Christmas in the name of political correctness” season it’s worth remember that Christmas was indeed once banned in England, by Christians and the man who enforced the ban has a statue in his honour outside the Houses of Parliament.
I really love this from Keith G (and not just because it's nice about my book!). Properly insightful in a way that alas, quite often writing on the miners' strike is not...
An excellent read; Keith Gildart’s review essay in The English Historical Review focusing on a collection of recent historical works on aspects of the 1984/5 British Miners Strike and remembering that 40years on. Incl.
@nataliethomlinson.bsky.social
FYI @ewangibbs.bsky.social @sslh.bsky.social
@nataliethomlinson.bsky.social
FYI @ewangibbs.bsky.social @sslh.bsky.social
Which Side Are You On Boys? Revisiting the History of British Coal Miners and the Strike of 1984/5
The year 2025 marks the fortieth anniversary of the end of the bitter twelve-month miners’ strike of 1984/5. The dominance of coal in British energy produc
academic.oup.com
November 11, 2025 at 7:56 PM
I really love this from Keith G (and not just because it's nice about my book!). Properly insightful in a way that alas, quite often writing on the miners' strike is not...
Reposted
Is this the result of under-awarding or over-applying? It’s both of course but it’s a particular problem that institutions require evidence of applying as part of promotions: they incentivise activity which cannot in all cases pay off, using up resources in performative performance review (1/3).
After submitting a FOIA request UKRI, I obtained success rates by three grant call scheme and I can only say that I am disheartened by the results:
- AHRC Responsive Mode 2025: 2%
- ESRC New Investigator Grant 2025: 1%
- ESRC Research Grant Round 2025: 1%
- AHRC Responsive Mode 2025: 2%
- ESRC New Investigator Grant 2025: 1%
- ESRC Research Grant Round 2025: 1%
October 23, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Is this the result of under-awarding or over-applying? It’s both of course but it’s a particular problem that institutions require evidence of applying as part of promotions: they incentivise activity which cannot in all cases pay off, using up resources in performative performance review (1/3).
Really looking forward to Scott Anthony's seminar @ihrbritainseminar.bsky.social tomorrow at 5:30 - sign up below!
‘I will take money for the arts from murderers, from rapists, from anybody’: The British state as cultural patron
This paper examines the growth of arts policy in post-war Britain.
www.history.ac.uk
October 22, 2025 at 6:16 PM
Really looking forward to Scott Anthony's seminar @ihrbritainseminar.bsky.social tomorrow at 5:30 - sign up below!
jenrick calling 80s football hooliganism 'good-natured fun' is both absolutely insane and the best #accidentalpartridge i've heard in a while
Jenrick casting 1980s British football hooliganism as something that was easily dealt with by police and not an era defining issue which we're still living with the consequences of today... He's genuinely the most unserious person in British politics rn
October 18, 2025 at 11:17 AM
jenrick calling 80s football hooliganism 'good-natured fun' is both absolutely insane and the best #accidentalpartridge i've heard in a while
ah, i'm pleased to see this - read with great curiosity the book 'we pretty pieces of flesh' that this story is from as i went to school with the author, and it was great (as well as totally surreal to read a book set in a not-really-fictionalised-at-all version of the school you went to)
Debut author Colwill Brown wins BBC short story award for ‘heartbreaking’ tale – read an extract here
Debut author Colwill Brown wins BBC short story award for ‘heartbreaking’ tale – read an extract here
Brown’s story of a teenage life ‘critically damaged in a moment’ was the ‘unanimous’ pick for the £15,000 prize
www.theguardian.com
October 1, 2025 at 7:07 AM
ah, i'm pleased to see this - read with great curiosity the book 'we pretty pieces of flesh' that this story is from as i went to school with the author, and it was great (as well as totally surreal to read a book set in a not-really-fictionalised-at-all version of the school you went to)
'They have imagined a socially authoritarian working class Labour voter who really is long gone. And as they ventriloquize through their creation, they are following their fantasy’s grievances. The Andy Capp in their head has left containment and is making increasingly incessant demands.' So good.
On the morning of Keir Starmer's conference speech here's a new post on an odd psychopathology in British politics - our main parties don't like the people who vote for them - the dreaded Professional Managerial Class. And so they are acting out like a divorced dad seeking cooler voters. 1/n
British Politics' Midlife Crisis
Why British Parties Can't Make Peace with Their Actual Voters
benansell.substack.com
September 30, 2025 at 9:05 AM
'They have imagined a socially authoritarian working class Labour voter who really is long gone. And as they ventriloquize through their creation, they are following their fantasy’s grievances. The Andy Capp in their head has left containment and is making increasingly incessant demands.' So good.
Reposted
an amazing essay from Joan Scott here
A General Air of Anxiety - Boston Review
The Red Scare targeted my father. He taught me the meaning of resistance.
www.bostonreview.net
September 14, 2025 at 10:29 AM
an amazing essay from Joan Scott here
kinda feel that Elizabeth Gilbert has seriously overestimated the relatability of 'i planned the murder of my life partner' here
Eat Pray Love author Elizabeth Gilbert on leaving her marriage for a dying friend: ‘She said, Let’s just live balls to the wall until I die!’
Eat Pray Love author Elizabeth Gilbert on leaving her marriage for a dying friend: ‘She said, Let’s just live balls to the wall until I die!’
One was a happily married and internationally famous writer, the other a cool, funny hairdresser and ex-drug addict. Then a shock diagnosis pitched them into an intense love affair ...
www.theguardian.com
August 30, 2025 at 11:52 AM
kinda feel that Elizabeth Gilbert has seriously overestimated the relatability of 'i planned the murder of my life partner' here
Reposted
🧵1/ Our branch just passed a motion condemning the stealth closure of the MA in Black British History.
We did this to demand accountability — for the future of the MA and for the College’s promises on racial justice and equality.
shorturl.at/gIUVG
We did this to demand accountability — for the future of the MA and for the College’s promises on racial justice and equality.
shorturl.at/gIUVG
Motion in support of MA Black British History - Goldsmiths University and College Union
This motion was passed at our branch meeting on 27/08/2025. Full text below: Motion in support of MA Black British History This branch notes that: b) The college continues to ...
shorturl.at
August 27, 2025 at 3:02 PM
🧵1/ Our branch just passed a motion condemning the stealth closure of the MA in Black British History.
We did this to demand accountability — for the future of the MA and for the College’s promises on racial justice and equality.
shorturl.at/gIUVG
We did this to demand accountability — for the future of the MA and for the College’s promises on racial justice and equality.
shorturl.at/gIUVG
Reposted
Maybe Eric Cantona’s trawler statement was actually an attempt to warn Man United about Grimsby
August 27, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Maybe Eric Cantona’s trawler statement was actually an attempt to warn Man United about Grimsby
holy fuck
Wow. The University of Chicago, a world-class institution whose humanities faculty in the past has included Homi Bhabha & Lauren Berlant & Ralph Ellison & Hannah freaking Arendt, is getting rid of basically every graduate department involving the acknowledgment that other cultures & languages exist.
August 14, 2025 at 5:07 PM
holy fuck
Fantastic 4 year full-time PDRA position here in the lovely School of Humanities at Reading on the UKRI-funded 'Nation of Refuge' project - please share widely.
Postdoctoral Research Associate (PDRA) at University of Reading
An academic position as a Postdoctoral Research Associate (PDRA) is being advertised on jobs.ac.uk. Click now to find more details and explore additional academic job opportunities.
www.jobs.ac.uk
August 11, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Fantastic 4 year full-time PDRA position here in the lovely School of Humanities at Reading on the UKRI-funded 'Nation of Refuge' project - please share widely.
Reposted
The University of Warwick has paid a lot of money, I'm guessing, for their internet banner ads on the Guardian and elsewhere.
But they can't spell "curiosity". This isn't a US-UK variant. They just, genuinely, have a massive spelling error in their banner ads.
But they can't spell "curiosity". This isn't a US-UK variant. They just, genuinely, have a massive spelling error in their banner ads.
August 8, 2025 at 8:22 AM
The University of Warwick has paid a lot of money, I'm guessing, for their internet banner ads on the Guardian and elsewhere.
But they can't spell "curiosity". This isn't a US-UK variant. They just, genuinely, have a massive spelling error in their banner ads.
But they can't spell "curiosity". This isn't a US-UK variant. They just, genuinely, have a massive spelling error in their banner ads.
Reposted
Can't fault the clarity of Labour's message on protest. There are BAD protesters who must be punished (Irish musicians, anti-genocide vicars) and there are GOOD protesters whose views deserve respect (masked thugs with petrol bombs trying to start a pogrom)
August 5, 2025 at 9:38 AM
Can't fault the clarity of Labour's message on protest. There are BAD protesters who must be punished (Irish musicians, anti-genocide vicars) and there are GOOD protesters whose views deserve respect (masked thugs with petrol bombs trying to start a pogrom)
because I like depressing myself, last week I was looking at UKRI data on grant success, and saw that in the November 2024 round of AHRC awards, only 1 - one ! - out of the 35 applicants was successful...
The number of grant applications assessed by UK Research and Innovation has almost doubled over the past seven years, while the award rate has almost halved, new data show.
Trends prompt warning that system is "overstretched or broken".
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...
Trends prompt warning that system is "overstretched or broken".
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...
UKRI grant applications double in seven years as award rate halves - Research Professional News
Trends across research councils prompt warning that system is “overstretched or broken”
www.researchprofessionalnews.com
August 1, 2025 at 9:17 AM
because I like depressing myself, last week I was looking at UKRI data on grant success, and saw that in the November 2024 round of AHRC awards, only 1 - one ! - out of the 35 applicants was successful...
god i am so obsessed with imagining the chain of events that led to this. the visionary who came up with it in the first place. the various senior figures who said 'looks great!' and signed it off. the comms team who wanted to tell the world. all of it. just delicious.
Self-inflicted embarrassment for the University of Warwick — first it rebrands hyper-generically, then someone totally unhinged decides the *front page of the uni website* should say ‘Learn more about our Brand’.
July 23, 2025 at 8:20 AM
god i am so obsessed with imagining the chain of events that led to this. the visionary who came up with it in the first place. the various senior figures who said 'looks great!' and signed it off. the comms team who wanted to tell the world. all of it. just delicious.
has someone worked out what michelle agyemang's goals-scored-per-minutes-played ratio is yet?! insane
July 22, 2025 at 8:58 PM
has someone worked out what michelle agyemang's goals-scored-per-minutes-played ratio is yet?! insane
God bless the Leverhulme Trust (but it's not good we have to increasingly rely on a charitable foundation to make these points and provide academics with money)
Research funding requires research capacity
The Leverhulme Trust is investing an extra £100m in supporting research next year. Anna Vignoles calls for new thinking on ways to sustain university research infrastructures
wonkhe.com
July 7, 2025 at 7:48 AM
God bless the Leverhulme Trust (but it's not good we have to increasingly rely on a charitable foundation to make these points and provide academics with money)