Ran the Rutland Spring Half Marathon this morning. Been having some niggling issues with my knee, so super happy with the time. Weather conditions were amazing, and Rutland Water (as always) was beautiful.

Ran 9km in honour of the victims of Soviet aggression against Lithuania (and in solidarity with the victims of continued Russian aggression against Ukraine) yesterday.

Managed to sneak another parkrun in Leicestershire (in -4°C) before returning to London this afternoon. Doing the ‘Road of Life and Death’ tribute run at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park tomorrow morning (www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/tribute-ru...)

Parkrun this morning. Still recovering from December, but had the bonus of beating my brother (I’ll be back in London next week, so it was my last chance). Made some sourdough crumpets topped with thermidor sauce and lobster as a reward.

At Auckland International Airport. Off to London. I have two carry-on bags (one of which is an @incsa.bsky.social tote bag) filled with papers and books. Had to check-in an extra bag (filled with papers) and pay for excess weight. Is this what being a historian is? Maybe I'm just an inept traveller.

A professor at the university and his wife ran together, and finished together. I told my girlfriend we could do that when I'm back in London. She scoffed and said she'll happily stand on the side and throw stones at people ahead of me... two very different—but very valid—manifestations of love 😂

As The New European points out, the Daily Mail ignored most of what Bailey said.

www.theneweuropean.co.uk/the-mail-and...

Outside of all that formal academic stuff, I like to run. I bake a little. I love love theatre (working to turn my PhD dissertation into a series of four historical plays). Set myself the challenge of reading at least one major work by every Nobel Prize in Literature Laureate by 2023. (3/3)

Previously completed an LLM (intersection of international arbitration and EU constitutional law) and an MA (construction of pan-European narrative identities in the 19thC). Translated some of Kiarostami’s poems into Latin a few years ago, which got published. That was nifty. (2/3)

Today’s Parkrun. I usually manage to avoid the photos, and I look terrible—but I'm happy with my time.

Badenoch’s ’Conservatism in Crisis’ is largely pseudoacademic claptrap, but gets some things right. Too many universities in Britain behave like exploitative businesses, then refuse any risk. Any university apportioning more of its budget to management roles than academics should lose govt. funding.

When essay prizes become so competitive that you literally have to invent time travel just to enter...

The aftermath of a PhD... Over the last few months, as I was going through the whole thesis, everything piled up on my desk at the university. Been bringing it all back to my room to organise. Decided to create a catalogue of all the articles, books and primary sources I have now amassed.

Submitted my PhD on 1820s balance of power today. Walked to Auckland War Memorial Museum (which I've written much of my thesis in the shadow of). Sat in the Hall of Memories, but it was actually the whimsical nature of how wars begin (depicted on an Ancient Greek hydria) that spoke to my research.

Any candidate calling to leave the ECHR cares more about Reform voters than what their own members want. Spoke to a former minister after the last election. They narrowly retained a safe seat (Reform vote increased, but threat was mainly from Labour due to demographic changes). I later emailed them:

To talk about Labour lying, working for themselves or "putting political cronies in power” is staggeringly tone deaf! We need to: 1) reform the party to prevent another Johnson/Truss; 2) replenish grassroots with young, moderate and well-educated Tories; 3) oppose Labour’s constitutional reforms.