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Andrew Hobbs

@drewhobbs.bsky.social
1K followers 1.5K following 391 posts

Historian of the provincial press,looking at how 19C local papers and 20C county magazines express our sense of place. Despairing socialist. scholar.google.co.uk/citations?hl=e…

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Reposted by Andrew Hobbs
Hugo Rifkind @hugorifkind.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I cannot think of one good reason they could have for doing this. Nor even a bad one. They should fix it.
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Des @desdelboy.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Painting by Jen Orpin. ‘Safe Passage’ Sandbach Services Size 30 x 40 cm Oil on panel. the-modernist.org/products/arc...
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I Am Incorrigible @imincorrigible.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Simon Clarke MP was born on 28 September 1984. That's all you need to know. #r4today
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Dr Jen Baker @jendeavour.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
#Solidarity with colleagues at Nottingham💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Super-rich UK energy/food magnates’ wealth skyrockets amid global crises Working-class face soaring prices, worsening climate impacts. Billionaires owning food/energy companies profit from hardship The same class funds political parties, uses tax havens, preaches low wages to workers.
theguardian.com
Super-rich UK energy and food magnates’ wealth skyrockets amid global crises
Analysis has shown the costs of daily essentials soaring in recent years, thanks in part to climate shocks, wars and geopolitical tensions
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University and College Union (UCU) @ucu.org.uk · 30/09/2026
Our members at Nottingham University commence strike action today over threats to hundreds of jobs and course closures. Please show them solidarity as they head onto picket lines this morning.
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Andy Burnham announces end of triple-lock on the state pension from 2030. It will be replaced by double-lock, slower growth in state pension. Full state pension is already less than 50%of the minimum wage. Poverty awaits future retirees. £500bn of taxes not collected by HMRC since 2010.
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BladeoftheSun @bladeofthes.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
In Luxembourg the average state pension for 40 years of contributions is nearly 4x higher than in the U.K. Far from being unaffordable the UK State pension is a joke, what is unaffordable is the tax evasion which leaves us with so little money to spend.
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Scott Banville @sbanville.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
“The jury found over 43 million violations of state consumer protection law”; so yeah I don’t think they are going to be able to self-regulate when it comes to AI.
pbs.org
New Mexico jury finds Facebook liable of deceiving users about privacy protections
The trial centered on accusations that Facebook deceived users about a data breach stemming from a third-party personality quiz that harvested data from roughly 87 million profiles and sold it to a po...
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Place and the Periodical @placeperiodical.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Free online round table, 16 Oct Off Centre: A Preview of the Edinburgh Companion to the Regional Magazine (2028) Hear one of the co-editors and 3 contributors discuss this major forthcoming survey of the regional magazine as an international genre. Register here: rs4vp.org/preview-edin...
rs4vp.org
Off Centre: A Preview of the Edinburgh Companion to the Regional Magazine (2028) – RSVP
Join us on 16 October for a sneak peak of the Edinburgh Companion to the Regional Magazine (forthcoming for Edinburgh UP, 2028)!
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nick @unionnick.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
On the *same day* the Cornell Seven drugged and raped Jane Doe, Cornell banned four students (including the President of Cornell JVP) from campus for three years for nonviolent, pro-Palestine protests. The same Cornell officials let the rapists off with apology essays.
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Blog Preston @blogpreston.co.uk · 28/09/2026
A search is underway for a 14-year-old girl who is missing from home.
blogpreston.co.uk
Missing girl, 14-year-old Jade, was walking down North Road at 2am this morning – Blog Preston
<p>Police ask that you call 999 if you see her. </p>
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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Analysis of 200,000 films released between 1994 and 2023 found that on average, films written and directed by women make higher profits, even though their male counterparts are routinely awarded bigger production budgets www.thetimes.com/article/64f9...
thetimes.com
Show me the money? Films directed by women make the most profit
But research also finds every movie of the past 30 years with the biggest production budget was directed by a man, leading to renewed allegations of misogyny
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Steven Fielding @polprofsteve2024.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I’ve never been convinced by the cuddly Rory Stewart persona. He’s only looked good because other Conservatives are even nastier.
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Business groups urge John Healey to show restraint on raising UK’s minimum wage. They claim lifting people out of poverty is inflationary. Can't recall millionaires restraining on profiteering, exec pay, dividends, share buybacks. Have they tried living on minimum wage? archive.ph/h0pVc
ft.com
Business groups urge John Healey to show restraint on raising UK’s minimum wage
Companies warn that a steep rise in labour costs will fuel inflation and cut jobs for young people
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Pam Keith @pamkeithdc.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Cornell expelled students who were protesting genocide in Gaza, but made five of seven guys who gang raped a drugged girl for seven hours write essays. That tells you EVERYTHING you need to know about the morals of that institution.
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Mani Isna La 🇨🇺 🇵🇸 🇬🇱🕊️ 🪶 #IndigenousLivesMatter @maniisnala.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
British Jews are being made less safe by chief rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, not Ed Miliband jonathancook.substack.com/p/british-je...
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Alona Ferber @aloner.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
And we have another one. The WSJ reports that Egypt's intel chief, Abbas Kamel, called Netanyahu with a warning days before 7th October. The Atlantic has reported that Kamel visited Israel to warn that Gaza would "blow up in everyone's faces" www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
haaretz.com
Egypt warned Netanyahu of Hamas attack days before October 7, report says
Yashar party chairman Gadi Eisenkot said the warnings left 'no room for doubt' that Netanyahu led Israel into the 'greatest disaster in its history.' The prime minister has blamed security chiefs for ...
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Jenny Andrew @drandrewv2.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
There are too many red flags in this piece (starting with the loathsome title) to address them one by one, so suffice it to say that the person who tells you you don’t need a union is the reason YOU DO need a union.
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University and College Union (UCU) @ucu.org.uk · 28/09/2026
Our members at Edinburgh University commence a 5 week strike today over crippling job cuts. Please show them solidarity as they head onto picket lines this morning.
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Athena Kugblenu @athenakugblenu.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Our government thinks you're a terrorist if you protest this.
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BladeoftheSun @bladeofthes.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Jewish MP Gerald Kaufmann in Parliament in 2009. "My Grandmother was ill in bed when the Nazis came to her town, a German soldier shot her dead." "My Grandmother did not die to provide cover for Israel to murder Palestinian Grandmothers in Gaza."
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Sarah Elizabeth Cox @oispooky.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
2yrs after I finished my MA History at Goldsmiths, my research rights were bought and I was hired to work as historical consultant on this TV show. It's had BAFTA and International Emmy nominations. I got a book deal, too. Goldsmiths: "No point in MA History, let's fire everyone and delete it."
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Seth Abramson @sethabramson.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
PLEASE SHARE
youtu.be
Musk | Official Trailer | Bleecker Street
YouTube video by Musk
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John @notheotherjohn.bsky.social · 26/09/2023
Dance like no one is watching. Like no one came to your dance recital. Your dad? He completely forgot. How do you feel? No, don't tell me. Show me.
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Sustained economic growth can’t be achieved without a major boost to the purchasing power of the bottom 50% of the UK population. The govt can do so immediately by increasing income tax-free personal allowance by £3,000. All it needs to do is to end subsidies to commercial banks.
leftfootforward.org
This is how the Chancellor can increase the personal allowance and lift millions out of hardship
Sustained economic growth can’t be achieved without a major boost to the purchasing power of the bottom 50% of the population
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Declassified journalists banned from Labour conference – again. A Trumpian policy started by Keir Starmer. Burnham can't make a fresh start without getting rid of the previous advisers. Democracy means accepting scrutiny, even when it is uncomfortable.
declassifieduk.org
Declassified journalists banned from Labour conference - again
Labour MPs have condemned the ‘Trump-like’ decision, saying party is ‘bang out of order’
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
'Staff at the University of Essex are set to strike next week over cuts to 400 full-time jobs. The union, Unison, said admissions advisors, IT technicians, admin workers and other professional services staff would walk out on Monday over the proposals.'
bbc.co.uk
Essex University staff to strike over plans to cut 400 jobs
Staff will walk out over a plan to cut 400 jobs, which the university says will protect its future
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Françoise Baillet @fbaillet.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Both amazing papers on transnational exchanges and the fight for free speech, from the Weimar Republic to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) and New York.
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Marie Léger-St-Jean @marielsj.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Sabina Fazli is part of the project "Self-Formation and Categorical Concept Entrepreneurs in Zine Media": - led by Oliver Scheiding, who presented after her at #ESPRit2026 - hosted by the collaborative research centre @sortingpeople.bsky.social based at @unimainz.bsky.social @ieg-mainz.bsky.social
humandifferenzierung.uni-mainz.de
Self-Formation and Categorical Concept Entrepreneurs in Zine Media
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Abbie Coughman @thelexingtonkid.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
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Tim Harford @timharford.ft.com · 13/09/2026
I've been checking the source of quotes for my forthcoming book, and the performance of Gemini is extraordinary. I paste the quote into Google, and Gemini will barge in with the wrong answer over and over again. It's not an occasional thing - it's reliably wrong. Very odd.
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Jonathan Coe @jonathancoe.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Issue One (Autumn 1991) of The Modern Review is now online, with more to follow, if anyone fancies a glimpse into a bygone cultural era.
modernreview.substack.com
ISSUE ONE
AUTUMN 1991 VOL 1 ISSUE 1
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Karen Averby 🌊 @karenaverby.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
🎶Tomorrow, tomorrow...only a day away...🎵 Freelance/ independent historians/ built heritage/ historical archaeologists, researchers,etc Independent Historians Network social meetup TOMORROW, BIRMINGHAM 6pm. Pls message @indyhistnetwork.bsky.social or contact via independenthistorians.org/contact/
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Marie Léger-St-Jean @marielsj.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Had a 💥 at #ESPRit2026! Thanks to Julien Schuh, I met Bianca da Luz, who told me the *Deutsche Zeitungsportal* is where the digitized German newspapers live Why wasn't I able to find that using Google? Now—in the interest of closing tabs—I'll finish 2 threads for which I still have links to share😛
deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de
Making sure you're not a bot!
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Marie Léger-St-Jean @marielsj.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
The flagship periodical was *Scottish International Review* (1968-1974)... Its records are held at the @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social Library Heritage Collections #ESPRit2026
archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk
Records of Scottish International Review - Archives Hub
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Marie Léger-St-Jean @marielsj.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Sabina Fazli then introduced us to much more contemporary independent publishing! She emphasized that it goes beyond material products to include spaces where people meet in person. Indiecon 2026—combining a 2-day conference w/ an overlaping 2-day fair—had just taken place in Hamburg. #ESPRit2026
indiecon-festival.com
Indiecon 2026
Indiecon is a three-day publishing festival based in Hamburg, Germany. A joint effort of independent magazine, book, art print, zine, newsletter, podcast and website publishers from all over the world...
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Marie Léger-St-Jean @marielsj.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
magCulture combines a brick-and-mortar magazine shop in Clerkenwell, London (est. 2015) with a freely available online journal about the independent magazine industry. #ESPRit2026
magculture.com
About
Overview magCulture is a major resource about magazines and magazine-making. The name first appeared in 2003 as the title of a book by Jeremy Leslie. The book noted the rise of a new generation of ind...
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Marie Léger-St-Jean @marielsj.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Issues is another brick-and-mortar magazine shop, this time in Toronto, Canada... Their "About" page doesn't say it's been open for how long, but it does credit magCulture for helping them set up the shop. #ESPRit2026
issuesmagshop.com
About
Shop Issues is a clubhouse, a gathering place for magazine lovers, and what we hope will be a catalyst for innovation, collaboration, and a new generation of independent media in Canada. Our physical ...
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Marie Léger-St-Jean @marielsj.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Sabina Fazli then presented a sequence of 4 magazines that resonates w/ the theme of #ESPRit2026 I was amazed by the Italian *Sirene*'s commitment to environmental protection. Thematically focused on the ocean, it uses paper "made from algae, to make use of excess algal blooms from lagoons at risk"
sirenejournal.com
www.sirenejournal.com
Sirene is a new magazine tailored for those who feel close to the sea even when they are far away from it. Large algae paper pages, rough and porous as only salt water stains can be, large white space...
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Marie Léger-St-Jean @marielsj.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
*Weird Walk* arose from the pandemic during which people where wandering differently through their cities to fight off the feeling of being cooped up Its subtitle is "A journal of wanderings and wonderings from the British Isles" It also proposes playlists, a podcast, a book & events #ESPRit2026
weirdwalk.co.uk
Weird Walk
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Marie Léger-St-Jean @marielsj.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Each issue of Berlin-based *Flaneur* (which looks weird to me without the "accent circonflexe"—flâneur) focuses on a specific street: the latest issue is about the boulevard Périphérique in Paris. The magazine also organized a festival in 2019 and is available for talks and workshops. #ESPRit2026
flaneur-magazine.com
FLANEUR
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Marie Léger-St-Jean @marielsj.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Finally, the British *Paperboy Magazine* delivers only good news, according to its "About" page—forgot what Sabina said about it ❤️ the warning on the top of the home page: "Orders from outside the UK please go to: antennebooks.com or magculture.com. Sorry we didn’t vote for Brexit :(" #ESPRit2026
paperboymagazine.com
Paperboy
PAPERBOY is a bi-annual magazine created by David McKendrick
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Daniel C. Blight @danielcblight.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
***URGENT PLEASE SHARE*** University of Brighton management have announced today that they ‘give notice of termination of all collective agreements’. This is a fundamental erasure of workers' rights. Management have announced the termination of all contractual documents, which includes:
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David Simon @audacityofdespair.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
For those of you still waiting for this administration's release of the full Epstein files and the prosecution of those involved in child sexual abuse, consider this moment something of a tell:
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Daniel Bellingradt @dbellingradt.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
The press as a showman, showing off. A timeless statement of media impact on human life. The Gutenberg Galaxy's main technology, the printing press, is half-man, half-machine! Goosebumps, dear #skystorians, goosebumps.
A wood engraving of early 19th century showing a printing press (called PRESS) with an ink pot as a hat, half human and half printing press. Source: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1871-0429-668
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We Own It @weownit.org.uk · 14/09/2026
Thames Water is a zombie company, kept alive by debt. Take it into Special Administration. That way cash from customer bills can go straight into sewage and water infrastructure rather than servicing the debt. Then take it into public ownership. We can't afford privatisation.
Screenshot of Financial Times article from 12 September 2026: "Thames Water hit by £2bn bill for finance costs and advisers’ fees". The lede says "Embattled UK utility faces mounting costs as government debates moving ahead with temporary nationalisation".
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Nick Lloyd @spaincivilwartours.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Newsagent's in Glasgow, early-mid June 1937. Ominous news headlines: Mussolini refusing to stop aiding Franco and "Bilbao's Heroic Stand". The Basque city fell to Francoist troops on 19 June 1937. More: www.theglasgowstory.com/image/?inum=...
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Marie Léger-St-Jean @marielsj.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
💥 Blast from the past! 💥 Gary Kelly is closing the panel by talking about George Berger (1796-1868)! My bibliographic database of penny weekly numbers *Price One Penny* contains 6 works that he published. #ESPRit2026
priceonepenny.info
Publisher Information in Price One Penny - Cheap Literature 1837-1860
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