Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 6hClassic British question here, is this the Royal Family or the high street clothes shop? 0270
Reposted by Catherine FletcherFininho @fino76.bsky.social · 9hwww.theguardian.com/commentisfre...theguardian.comHow a great English city sold itself to Abu Dhabi’s elite – and not even for a good price | Aditya ChakraborttyManchester’s Labour council let Sheikh Mansour buy up acres of public land for seemingly a fraction of its worth, says Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty 065
Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 12hI mean is anyone surprised when academics are constantly being told that we need to bring in research money, commercialise this, internationalise that?bbc.co.ukUK research funded by China front company being sent to Beijing's spies, MI5 warnsBritish universities are being urged to sever ties with China General Technology Research Institute which is linked to the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS). 1195
Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 29/09/2026writing an article that I have mentally titled 'Why Renaissance Men Should Be Cancelled' 1190
Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 28/09/2026Went to get a copy of the 1503 Cantino map and fell down a rabbit hole trying to read its caption for the Strait of Hormuz. I'm pretty sure you can get figs, almonds, alum and horses there, plus some other things I can't make out. Close-up at the link: medea.fc.ul.pt/view/chart/1... 090
Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 28/09/2026I'm seeing some of this trend in public history as traditional writing and media opportunities get squeezed. The big Fane events but also a lot of mid-list live events and classes. 070
Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 28/09/2026Screenshot from J-Stor. The publisher in question is Sage, which has risen in my estimation this morning. 0357
Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 28/09/2026My plan to retire to London looking ever more feasibleft.comHow London became the property market’s black sheepCapital’s once-relentless property boom has gone into reverse 2290
Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 27/09/2026Some cheery news amid the general gloom of university life: I’m delighted to be speaking at the Hay Festival, Arequipa, in November www.hayfestival.com/arequipa/home 2191
Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 26/09/2026AfD and CDU councillors in actionbbc.co.ukGerman town bans stumbling stone memorials to Nazi victimsGermany's education minister has branded the ban on the small brass memorial plaques a "scandal". 54618
Reposted by Catherine FletcherJohn Bull @garius.bsky.social · 25/09/2026my legit goal with the Untitled History Podcast is to replicate what I had as a kid the first time I discovered In Our Time on the radio. I want people to listen WITHOUT caring about what the topic is. To feel that magic, and thrill, of just trusting it will be interesting. And learning cool stuff. 1012612
Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 25/09/2026In case you're looking for a good time, it's Verona with the Catullus airport 3185
Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 25/09/2026I had fun consulting on this new card game - out this week. Play as a historic royal court - but don't lose your head. 1294
Reposted by Catherine FletcherHugh Brechin @hughrbrechin.bsky.social · 25/09/2026we've got to stop Liz Truss from finding out about this at all costs 1413922
Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 25/09/2026Had some fun writing this - lots of thoughts on how the Spanish royal experience set them up to respond particularly badly to Henry's reasons for his divorce from Catherine of Aragon 193
Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 25/09/2026to be fair, certain authors should be fired from the literary cannon 2508
Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 25/09/2026Flights from Manchester almost never connect through Heathrow anyway 142
Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 24/09/2026tfw you're sitting for the family portrait and trying not to roll your eyes 38110
Reposted by Catherine FletcherDr Ben Wilkinson-Turnbull (He/They) 🏳️🌈 @benwt.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Call for papers! “Reading Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century Religion and Politics: Marginalia and Manuscripts” @rorymaclellan.bsky.social and I are putting together a panel for next year’s SRS conference in London. Deadline for 200 word abstracts is tomorrow Please get in touch and repost! 11918
Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 24/09/2026Listening to the reports on this on #wato now and it really is jaw-dropping 051
Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 24/09/2026Microsoft Outlook has started launching with a Copilot panel that asks me if I need help reading my emails and I have to resist yelling at it that I am a University Professor who has Written Several Books and Do I Look Like I'm Semi-Literate? 3560
Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 23/09/2026no-one was in to sign for them so they just left them on the doorstep 0100
Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 23/09/2026Go to Google, search vam.ac.uk battle of muhlberg plate, get a confident AI declaration that I want the Wallace Collection instead and no, AI, I do not, the plate is online here. Grrrcollections.vam.ac.ukDish | Unknown | V&A Explore The CollectionsDish depicting the battle of Mühlberg (1547), made in Urbino, Italy, about 1555-60, tin-glazed earthenware. 1122
Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 23/09/2026Postdoc role with my philosophy colleagues: full-time, 27 months (to March 2029), on the project 'Contragestive Time: Pregnant Uncertainties in Fertility Control'manmetjobs.mmu.ac.ukSenior Research Assistant (History and/or Philosophy of Science) - (9194) | Manchester Metropolitan University CareersAll about Manchester Metropolitan - an exciting, modern university in the heart of one of the UK's great student cities. 010
Reposted by Catherine FletcherMedievalist.net @medievalists.bsky.social · 22/09/2026Korea’s Oldest Firearm Discovered During Landmine Search www.medievalists.net/2026/09/kore... #militaryhistory #Koreamedievalists.netKorea’s Oldest Firearm Discovered During Landmine Search - Medievalists.netA small bronze firearm discovered during a landmine search in South Korea has been identified as the country’s oldest surviving gunpowder weapon. 0155
Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 23/09/2026Someone should do a long read on the politics of migrant boats in Italy because a lot of what we’re seeing in the UK echoes what‘s gone on there for years. This was over twenty years ago (and the successors of this guy are still in government): www.aljazeera.com/news/2003/6/... 2196
Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 21/09/2026I'm entertained that there's a Cardinal Allen school involved in this because the actual Cardinal Allen did, in effect, set up a multi-academy chain (it didn't make him popular either)bbc.co.ukMore schools shut for strikes over Catholic academy plansSchools in Lancashire and Merseyside will strike this week over Catholic academy plans. 052
Reposted by Catherine FletcherKatherine Weikert @kateweikert.bsky.social · 21/09/2026The Hole Roman Empire: same or different to the Holy Roman Empire? Wrong answers only. 761
Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 20/09/2026I will happily be filmed walking round Renaissance period heritage sites complaining about the interpretation and telling you all how it should be done 3601
Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 20/09/2026Lovely to be in the company of @rhigarthjones.bsky.social at the Villa Giulia/Etruscan Museum shop 1312
Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 18/09/2026If I was paying over £9k a year plus interest to be taught by world-leading researchers and then found those researchers were delivering generic courses rather than discussing their world-leading research, I might well wonder why 1407
Reposted by Catherine FletcherDavid Hewson @davidhewson.com · 17/09/2026And joining Suzy - @catherinefletcher.info 163
Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 17/09/2026Fortunately I only have a very small pension with this company because this does not give me confidence 040
Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 17/09/2026Good to see @historytoday.com making the case for history in universities.historytoday.comWhy Does Academic History Matter?The study of history at UK universities appears to be under existential threat. Should anyone care? 02613
Reposted by Catherine FletcherBenjamin Thomas White @btwhite.bsky.social · 17/09/2026No change, however, at the #WolfsonHistoryPrize. My annual thread returns ⬇️ 2136
Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 16/09/2026Wandering through the Castel Sant'Angelo and mentally composing the queer history tour 180
Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 15/09/2026if teenagers still went to bars they’d be getting Claude to code a fake version of this app 170
Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 14/09/2026So, as we're talking about middle-class kids going into vocational jobs, a shout-out for the sixteenth-century family who hired an Abruzzese street bandit to get their sons in shape for military service 48515
Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 14/09/2026In the library this morning working on an article about interpersonal violence and I've found that rare thing (at least for my period) - threatening letters from the perpetrator. 2371
Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 13/09/2026Spent today in Orvieto, where underneath the famous frescoes I saw the basement where they dump bits that have fallen off the cathedral. Thread: 27414
Reposted by Catherine FletcherTudor Times @thetudortimes.bsky.social · 13/09/2026The first presentation in the Tudor Times Summit Henry VIII and his In-laws bit.ly/4wOdTnn will be with @melitat.bsky.social She will be talking about the importance of family networks at the Tudor court. @catherinefletcher.info @enortonhistory.bsky.social @drlindaporter.bsky.socialbit.ly10-11 October Online Summit: Henry VIII and his in-laws – Tudor TimesJoin Tudor Times for two consecutive afternoons of talks on Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th October 2026 4pm London time from six experts discussing Henry VIII and his in-laws with an introductory talk ... 043
Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 13/09/2026due to budget constraints, they’re relying on a new 007.ai 161
Reposted by Catherine FletcherTerence Tao @teorth.bsky.social · 11/09/2026A group of 25 Fields Medalists, including myself, have made a joint declaration on Math and AI: mathandai.org . We welcome additional signatories. See also this article in the Economist announcing the declaration: www.economist.com/science-and-...mathandai.orgDeclaration — Math and AIRead the declaration and add your name. 422052926
Reposted by Catherine FletcherWilliam Carruthers @williamcarruthers.bsky.social · 11/09/2026I think the essential point here is right: people who have lost communities don’t know why they’re doing the job anymore 24416
Reposted by Catherine FletcherVincenzo DM @vincenzodm.bsky.social · 10/09/2026Remarkable: due to the fires in the High Fens in Belgium, a road, probably built between the late 6th c. and early 8th c., that connected Liège with Aachen has resurfaced. Photo: HBVL 311922
Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 09/09/2026tfw you’d like to put together a conference panel or two but a bunch of the most relevant contributors have no access to university funding to support their participation 2160
Reposted by Catherine FletcherColin Rose @crosehistorian.bsky.social · 08/09/2026If you were to scroll through there you'd see my buried lede: my project, "Mapping Crime and Conflict in #earlymodern Italy" was awarded 5 years of pretty good funding to create and analyze spatial datasets of Florentine and Bolognese archival materials. I am excited and terrified. 2/4 3174
Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 08/09/2026So tempted to write back to everyone* emailing about my latest book to ask what impact it has had on them. * every AI 141