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David Clover

@davidclover.bsky.social
998 followers 639 following 1.2K posts

Librarian and student services manager.

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Reposted by David Clover
Alex White @alexjwhite.bsky.social · 10h
Global historians are fascinated by mobility and exchange, with good reason - but as Joya Chatterji points out, we also need a history of the people who didn't move. I loved editing this article, which sheds fascinating light on the farmers who made botanical exchange possible.
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Piper Furiosa 🇵🇸🏴🌲🏴‍☠️ @piperfuriosa.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
With alt text for anyone who needs it:
A purple chart by the Sexual Violence Center of Cork (whose logo of a few steps leading up to a door is is in the upper right hand corner of the image, titled: "How to avoid sexual assault! :A Quick And Easy Guide*." The asterisk goes to the bottom left, where it says "*for perpetrators."

There are six numbered lighter purple boxes, stacked in 2 rows and 3 columns. The text in the boxes says the following:

1. DON'T PUT DRUGS IN PEOPLE'S
DRINKS

2. USE THE BUDDY SYSTEM!
IF YOU CAN'T STOP YOURSELF FROM SEXUALLY ASSAULTING
SOMEONE, ASK A TRUSTED FRIEND TO ACCOMPANY YOU AT
ALL TIMES TO STOP YOU.

3. WHEN YOU COME ACROSS SOMEONE WHO IS DRUNK OR
ASLEEP, THE BEST THING TO DO IS
NOT RAPE THEM. 

4. WHEN YOU SEE A WOMAN WALKING BY HERSELF, LEAVE
HER ALONE.

5. IF YOU ARE IN A LIFT AND
SOMEONE STEPS IN, REMEMBER NOT TO SEXUALLY ASSAULT THEM.

6. CARRY A WHISTLE. IF YOU THINK YOU MIGHT RAPE SOMEONE, BLOW THE WHISTLE UNTIL SOMEONE COMES TO STOP YOU.
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Paul R. Pival 🇨🇦 he/him @ppival.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
UNT Removes LGBTQ Archive Amid Lawmaker Criticism www.dailysignal.com/2026/09/25/u... What a #snowflake. Happy to see UNT didn't remove all the other LGBTQ+ content I was able to still find on their site(s)!
dailysignal.com
UNT Removes LGBTQ Archive Amid Lawmaker Criticism
The University of North Texas faces backlash after removing its LGBTQ Archive webpage following comments from state Rep. Brian Harrison.
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Reposted by David Clover
will pooley @willpooley.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
anyone know academic indexers interested in work coming up imminently (it’s a multi authored handbook style publication)? self promo welcome!
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David Clover @davidclover.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Mr15 walked out of the house at 3.45 this morning. With a bag containing clothes and one of my debit cards. All OK, he was off to be at school on time for coach to airport and science trip to Geneva, with my global money card in hand.
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Tristan Grayford @tristangrayford.scot · 05/09/2026
Dover is one of the most heavily policed places in the UK. It's a two hour's drive from London, where the Met has more significant anti-crowd capacity than any other force in the UK. Letting a group of fascists act as they see fit is a choice they have made One they don't make for peaceful protest
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Adam Golberg @cash4questions.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
British Academy Small Grants scheme is open. it has been using partial randomisation for a while. Researchers whose proposals meet the quality threshold for £££ but miss out in the draw are told this. Increasingly, I'm seeing these good-quality-bad-luck outcomes shared on LinkedIn. (1)
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Hugh Jones @hbsj.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Here's a #HigherEducationPostcard of the City part of @citystgeorges.bsky.social Known for years as the Northampton Institute, after the Marquess of Northampton, who donated the land on which it is built If you like this image, I’d really appreciate a repost - remember, BlueSky has #NoAlgorithm
An old monochrome picture postcard showing a fabulous Victorian college building with a clock, many people milling about on the street outside

Printed at the foot of the card is Northampton Institute
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Oisín McGann @oisinmcgann.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
This is set up for laughs, but it’s actually one of the best demonstrations I’ve seen of how being capable of producing convincing sounding language and understanding meaning are two completely different things. A chatbot does not understand you, it just has automated responses based on your words.
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AveTeresa @aveteresa.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Imagine if more people just said the ‘this is a non-issue’ bit, even if they didn’t make as full and accurate a statement??
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Patrick Ness @patricknessbooks.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Narrator: it has not. One anonymous gender critical “lesbian” and one gay from Reform do not a backlash make. www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
The backlash Pride faces from inside and outside the LGBT community
Big companies used to go out of their way to support Pride. Now, there's a nervousness in the air, Darren Milby writes
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Vote for hope in November! Toitū te Tiriti 🇳🇿 @mrjeffhowell.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Facebook was commandeered by overseas bad actors to convince at least 10% of adult New Zealanders that Covid vaccines killed thousands & J Ardern literally imprisoned us for years, but yeah let's ban kids from TikTok.
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Dr Jo Edge 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @hagenilda.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Probably a good time to remind #UCU members that the 'UCU Solidarity Movement' is not an official UCU body and is in fact another front for the SWP. No good can come of attending their meetings and certainly not of their appropriation of a tragedy.
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David Clover @davidclover.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Second provider closure this week...
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Patrick Ness @patricknessbooks.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
This is bracing, remarkable reading by Will Self about Jason Arday, naming names in blistering terms, including several prominent TERFs who joined the kicking of Arday. May Kathleen Stock and Sarah Ditum and everyone else involved never live this down.
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Paul Greatrix @registrarism.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Latest blog - Paying Too Much For Regulation The Office for Students is planning to modify how it charges fees to the institutions it regulates. But the real issue is that the regulation itself is excessive and costly. Much more radical change is required. wonderfulhighered.com/2026/08/01/_...
wonderfulhighered.com
Paying Too Much For Regulation
The Office for Students is planning to modify how it charges fees to the institutions it regulates. But the real issue is that the regulation itself is excessive and costly. Much more radical chang…
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David Clover @davidclover.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Stepping off the plane to a comfortable outside temperature. Welcome home.
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David Clover @davidclover.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Dear London colleagues, I understand it is currently 35 degrees there and feels like 35. Here it is 31 and feels like 34. I have just got out of the swimming pool but drying out before I return to my air-conditioned hotel room.
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👻 🎃 🦇 Bela Lughosti's Dad 🏳️‍⚧️ 🇵🇸 @belalugosisdad.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
The dialectical materialist position on disposable barbecues is that banning them is good, but *only* banning them and not investing in parks infrastructure to provide appropriate areas including free-to-use barbecue pits, picnic benches and accessible public toilets is bad.
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The London Journal @thelondonjournal.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Call for chapters: Made Municipal: the LCC through its everyday objects. All reposts much appreciated. x
Made Municipal: the LCC through its everyday objects
Background
Following on from the Sixty Years on from the London County Council: Legacy, Impact, Learning film screening and conference in spring 2025, we are keen to capture and build on some of the histories and research that were represented, which highlighted the need for further and increasingly diverse scholarship about the London County Council.
The Council is often held in a certain degree of reverence regarding the achievements delivered across - and beyond - the boundaries of London from the time of its conception in 1889, and as being emblematic of a type of governance which may no longer be possible in a contemporary context. Since the publication of Andrew Saint’s edited book, Politics and People of London: London County Council, 1889-1965 in 1989, more research has emerged on the LCC, with the increasing availability of unofficial archives and the release of previously closed records revealing more nuanced narratives that have the potential to open up more diverse, representative histories.
We appreciate that talking comprehensively about the Council’s broad and interconnected operations is a monumental task, and thus we’re keen to find innovative ways to throw light on the panorama of its work, rather than focus on discrete, dislocated entities. To do so, we were inspired by Professor Andrew Saint, whose unusual contribution to the film screening night at The London Archives was a foot-long bar of LCC-branded soap. This sparked a wide-ranging discussion spanning issues of care, industry, and education in parentis, as undertaken by the LCC, and prompted us to consider that the operation of the LCC could perhaps be best understood through its material culture and its presence in residents’ day-to-day lives.Using a lens of material culture to explore the work of the LCC allows us to break out from the thematic silos which might otherwise be imposed upon its history, crossing between departments and people - whether LCC employees or those that used its services - that will result in some fascinating and revelatory perspectives.
We are particularly interested in how this might better contextualise some of the under-represented histories of the Council, to reveal their importance within the wider spectrum of its work. Unlike histories that focus on particular departments or typologies, this enables us to shift towards traversing siloed narratives to provide a richer, more rounded perspective on the LCC, which we feel is more authentic to its operation, whilst also challenging how objects are often documented in museums and archives.Call for chapters
Using a material culture approach, the collected volume will present a history of the LCC through a significant physical manifestation of objects that denote its municipal authority across the County of London. Each chapter will start with an image of the everyday LCC object, setting the scene for a more diverse re-telling of its history. It will be edited by the organisers of the Sixty Years on from the London County Council: Legacy, Impact, Learning film screening and conference held in March 2025, Dr Ruth Lang, Dr Dawn Pereira and Dr Rosamund Lily West.
We invite 4,000-5,000-word chapters which use an everyday LCC object as a starting point. We encourage a range of methodologies for approaching how the objects will be used as catalysts for storytelling. We are particularly interested in including those covering the early LCC period (1889-1914) and the interwar period, which is often underrepresented in LCC histories. Suggestions of types of objects include:
Objects; heraldry, uniforms, school awards, furniture, cutlery
Ephemera; pamphlets, tickets, brochures, phonebooks
Documents; official publications, maps, memoranda and minutes,
We see this approach as offering a more accessible way to delve into complex discussions on topics that may, at first glance, seem less engaging, such as regulation, commissioning, deindustrialisation plans, procurement, etc. We’re also keen to identify controversial objects that open untold/silenced stories and to consider whether there are global implications for the different themes and subjects discussed.This publication would build upon Andrew Saint’s 1989 edited book, Politics and People of London: the London County Council, 1889-1965, which was the last book on the LCC to offer a broad history, so this would be a timely and much-needed re-examination of the LCC and its legacy. The book will be academic and rigorous and will include good-quality images to complement the visual, object-based approach. The aim of this book is to be an academic/trade crossover, with an audience of both specialist academics and an interested public.
Please email LCC60yearson@gmail.com with your name, a 50-word bio and a 250-word abstract by 31st October 2026.
Please include a clear indication of the object your chapter intends to focus upon (including images and potential sources/locations of the object itself where possible), along with a summary of its purpose and relevance, and the outline of your intended scope of investigation.
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David Clover @davidclover.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Some fascinating collections and lovely working areas and colleagues
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Reposted by David Clover
James Austin @jamesdaustin.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Once again, I come back to the fact these guys have created a situation where one of the UK's leading, cis female athletes is scared to go to the loo alone, and the fact that they are celebrating this as a step forward for women's rights.
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Gav Maclean @gavmaclean.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Like all great writers, it's a time to pay tribute to the words they left us with
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Patrick Ness @patricknessbooks.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Rod Liddle called his ex-wife a “slut and a slattern” in print before marrying a 22-year old Spectator receptionist who he was cautioned by the police after assaulting her when she was 20 weeks pregnant. But he was anti-trans, so these “protectors of women” overlook everything.
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Tony Bird @tonybirdlondon.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
This from @damianbarr.bsky.social is really good. It manages to raise so many important points. Especially important in the the historically transphobic Observer
observer.co.uk
Damian Barr: I can’t say if it’s safe to march at Pride. I know it’s dangerous not to
Last week’s fatal attack in Berlin is the latest in a long line of tragedies that the LGBTQ+ community has had to overcome. Speaking out and standing together is vital
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David Clover @davidclover.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Am so embarrassed by my professional association right now.
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David Clover @davidclover.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Talking about height of rugby flyhalfs, so I googled and read out first result. Mr15 responds, "that's so AI"... think we underestimate critical thinking skills in young people.
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Sassy0210 @sassy0210.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
España por siempre! 🇪🇸 🙌
A man in a red and yellow sports jersey kisses a smiling young boys cheek while others in similar jerseys stand in the background. A quote about pressure and family is written above.
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🇵🇸 Dean Tāne 🇵🇸 @dean-tane.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Wesley Streeting being Defence Secretary makes sense as he’s trained to a kill, given the number of trans kids who died under his watch as Health Secretary
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Luke Turner @luketurner.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
I hadn't realised Chris Martin was responsible for that World Cup half time horror. He should immediately have his British citizenship revoked (especially for the weird creepy Michael Jackson Earth Song vibes of the last bit), his soul has clearly become corrupted by the worst of American hubris.
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Dr Matt Lodder @mattlodder.com · 16/07/2026
Hey @theguardian.com. If you weren't transphobic I would pay you money. I can't repeat that often enough. I find myself clicking on enough Graun links that I often hit the monthly limit, but I absolutely will never give you another penny until you issue a full mea culpa for your platforming hate.
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David Clover @davidclover.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Nice view, and very well air-conditioned
View of Houses of Parliament across river Thames from 8th floor meeting room.
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
'The decision to slash funding for creative subjects comes despite the field being named as one of the UK’s “highest potential sectors” in the government’s industrial strategy.' 1/2
timeshighereducation.com
Cuts to creative courses ‘undermining government’s own strategy’
Arts institutions warn creative education is becoming increasingly hard to deliver as government slashes funding from September onwards
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Bantshire University @bantshireuni.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
We’ve unbelievably been ranked No.1 in the UK in the National Student NSS Survey 🫶 (*based on question 21, part-time female students studying Maths from Denbighshire aged 41-42 only)
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tpwrtrmnky. @tpwrtrmnky.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Personally, I prefer a work environment where sick people stay home, because of this thing known as "the germ theory of disease." It's a cutting-edge radical understanding of disease that says you catch it from microbial organisms, rather than a lack of God's favor and insufficient morals.
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Dr Charlie Gardner @charliejgardner.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Reform UK councillors have introduced a motion to rescind King's Lynn and West Norfolk's climate emergency declaration and deprioritise decarbonisation efforts The council were going to vote on it on Thursday But the meeting has been postponed due to extreme heat
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Phil Harrison @mrpmharrison.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
When I see tankie dickheads making excuses for Putin's Russia, I think of stuff like this. Ukraine is fighting this war on all of our behalfs.
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David Clover @davidclover.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
Today was largely about travelling to Twickenham and back and watching some rugby.
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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
The @esmeefairbairn.bsky.social Foundation is looking for new trustees. Apply by 20th July saxtonbampfylde.maglr.com/esmee-fairba...
saxtonbampfylde.maglr.com
Home - Esmee Fairbairn
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Kate Bevan @katebevan.com · 16/06/2026
Just thinking about the stupid, bad, something-must-be-done policy-by-vibes teen social media ban and sharing this excellent piece by @jamesrball.com again for those who missed it the other day www.jamesrball.com/p/a-teen-soc...
jamesrball.com
A teen social media ban is an admission of total and utter failure to govern online spaces
The UK government is currently calling for steps that fall short of a teen social media ban. Here's why it shouldn't take the next step.
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Mark Grimshaw @markgrimshawtism.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
At this point, I genuinely believe the entire public is being actively gaslit by both the media, and Esther Ghey herself, into forgetting that Brianna Ghey was murdered, by people she knew from school, in real life, who were partly influenced by transphobia, fuelled by the media and politicians.
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Mallory Moore @sexabolition.blog · 16/06/2026
Literally there are conversion therapy manuals that start with isolating your child from all potential sources of safeguarding and supportive information and cutting them off from unmonitored internet access so they can find the number for ChildLine while you're not watching is right up there.
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ianVisits @ianvisits.co.uk · 15/06/2026
ianvisits.co.uk
Gandhi autograph and suffragette protests among treasures in new London archive
Thousands of records, photographs, films and artefacts discovered during the restoration of Union Chapel's Sunday School building are now available online, revealing more than two centuries of London life.
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David Clover @davidclover.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
@sarahsackman.bsky.social
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David Clover @davidclover.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
On the subject of social media bans our local MP did assembly at Mr14s school. Students overwhelmingly opposed ban but tended to support limits on under 13. I asked if there was a ban would he still use social media, answered yes. Would he tell us, answered no.
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Sheryl Weikal says Prosecute ICE @leftistlawyer.com · 13/06/2026
By the way, Elon Musk didn't start Tesla. By the time he invested in Tesla, the original founders had already started building the Roadster THEY had designed. When he bought them out, he changed the history of the company to make himself a founder. I'm not joking. He's always been a fraud.
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Uni of Sheffield Special Collections, Heritage and Archives SCHA @uoscollections.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Researchers… it’s time to roll up, roll up 🎪 Join The National Fairground and Circus Archive for a one-day symposium on women in circus 🤹‍♀️ Open to the public at the University of Sheffield. Book your free place, online or in-person: tinyurl.com/WomenInCircus2026
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Alice Marples @alicemarples.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
We have two new 12-month postdoctoral fellowship opportunities at the British Library! Applications open soon to co-design projects in the following areas: - Colonial Deposit and our Newspaper Collection - Local Large Language Models and Personal Born-Digital Archives www.bl.uk/services/res...
bl.uk
The Joanna and Graham Barker Fellowship Scheme
Two funded-fellowship opportunities for early career, postdoctoral researchers.
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