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Nick Halliday

@hallidaynick.bsky.social
256 followers 265 following 1.5K posts

🏉 🏃‍♂️; ⛵ 🎹 🇫🇷 💪 Ex NAO, GDS, Defra, DWP, ECGD.

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Reposted by Nick Halliday
Working Class History @workingclasshistory.com · 20/08/2026
#OtD 20 Aug 1976 the Grunwick strike began when Devshi Bhudia was dismissed for working too slowly and three colleagues walked out in support. Three days later pickets began in this iconic dispute of Asian women workers. Learn more in our podcast: workingclasshistory.com/podcast/grun...
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Reposted by Nick Halliday
Working Class History @workingclasshistory.com · 20/08/2026
#OtD 20 Aug 1968 the Red Army entered Prague ending the ‘Prague Spring' which had seen the local Party leadership attempt to liberalise aspects of the system. Workers and civilians resisted the invasion but their nonviolence was easily overcome stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/9249...
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Auschwitz Memorial @auschwitzmemorial.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
20 August 1903 | A Pole, Józef Gociek, was born in Wędrynia. A Catholic priest, Augustinian OSA. In #Auschwitz from 4 November 1941. No. 22402 He perished in the camp on 16 November 1941 after receiving 125 blows with a stick.
A mugshot registration photograph from Auschwitz. A man with a shaved head wearing a striped uniform photographed in three positions (profile and front with bare head and a photo with a slightly turned head with a hat on). The prisoner number is visible on a marking board on the left.
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Lou Downe @loudowne.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Risk aversion is increasing your risk of delivering a bad service Doing nothing is riskier than trying something We've written about risk and bad services good.services/writing/why-risk-aversion-is-increasing-your-risk-of-delivering-a-bad-service
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Reposted by Nick Halliday
Dr Jennifer Howes @jhowesuk.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Publication day for my article on contested statues of Robert Clive in London & Calcutta, Co-written with Jayanta Sengupta. This pic shows a plywood mock-up of the London statue, 1916. www.bloomsbury.com/uk/contested...
Plywood cut-out of a statue, 1916. The tall plinth it stands on is made of wood and canvas. Photo from British Library, Curzon Manuscripts.
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Nick Halliday @hallidaynick.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Interesting stuff. Been taking electrolytes (SIS Hydro) the same as Heidi after running during heatwaves and the are good generally when a hot day and its hard to drink enough water. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/articl...
bbc.co.uk
Supplements: what do athletes take and why?
There is a long list of supplements taken by elite athletes in the pursuit of marginal gains - what do they take and why?
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Nick Halliday @hallidaynick.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Apparently they are having a whale of a time. BBC News - Giant whales move into Greenland waters as ice disappears www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
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Nick Halliday @hallidaynick.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Well we do know George in Seinfeld was obsessed with getting paid the same as him.
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Nick Halliday @hallidaynick.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
I found this useful in the past: Homer by Barker and Christensen. It is in a series called a Beginners Guides a title which underplays its depth. grokipedia.com/page/homer_a...
grokipedia.com
Homer: A Beginner's Guide (book) — Grokipedia
Homer: A Beginner's Guide is a 2013 introduction to the ancient Greek poet Homer and his two foundational epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, written by Elton T. E. Barker and Joel P. Christensen a
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Nick Halliday @hallidaynick.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
This is very handy overview of different translations of the Odyssey. I need to get a copy for someone who saw the film yesterday at the IMAX and enjoyed it. I have Lattimore's Illiad but must have lost his Odyssey at some point in my wanderings... www.jsusannewilson.com/post/best-od...
jsusannewilson.com
The Best Odyssey Translations Compared: Wilson, Fagles, Lattimore & More
Choosing a translation of Homer’s Odyssey is not like choosing between editions of the same novel. Every translator reshapes the poem in subtle but significant ways: its rhythm, tone, morality, and ev...
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Reposted by Nick Halliday
The British Academy @britishacademy.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Applications for the Postdoctoral Fellowships are still open. The scheme gives researchers in the humanities and social sciences the opportunity to strengthen their experience of research and teaching in an academic environment. Find out more: bit.ly/4xWduAS
A colour block banner promoting Postdoctoral Fellowships funding. Deadline: Wednesday 30 September 2026
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Reposted by Nick Halliday
Bumblebee Conservation Trust @bumblebeetrust.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
📣 Calling all photographers 📸 Share your bumblebee photos for a chance to feature in our 2027 Bumblebee Calendar! 📅 Submit your best bumblebee photos on our website by midnight 31 August: ow.ly/Jp4U50ZAVOI #WorldPhotographyDay
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Nick Halliday @hallidaynick.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Sounds like Tolkien country.
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Reposted by Nick Halliday
John Grindrod @grindrod.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
A good home needed urgently for one of the most significant libraries of housing and planning in the country (via @municipaldreams.bsky.social) substack.com/inbox/post/2...
substack.com
A Good Home Needed Urgently for One of the Most Significant Libraries of Housing and Planning in the Country
The trustees of the Octavia Hill Birthplace Museum are disposing of its Harry Simpson Memorial Library in September, next month.
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Nick Halliday @hallidaynick.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Fabulous talk on how ancient stonemasons build Medieval cathedrals plus other ancient wonders such as Ankor Wat and Zimbabwe (city of stone). It's a bucket list of places to visit. pca.st/episode/d12b...
pca.st
Great Buildings of the Middle Ages
How did medieval builders create monuments that still leave us awestruck? How were vast cathedrals, temples and cities constructed and embellished?From Canterbury Cathedral and the palaces of Great…
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Sarah E. Bond @sarahebond.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
August 18 is the feast day of Saint Helena, former stabularia (often an enslaved stablekeeper) & mother of Constantine. She is the patron saint of archaeologists for sending a brigade to excavate the True Cross but as @writinghelena.bsky.social shows: she was much more global.oup.com/academic/pro...
A fresco from Trier, Germany, possibly depicting Helena, c. 310
Marco Prins
CC0 via wikimedia
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Reposted by Nick Halliday
ianVisits @ianvisits.co.uk · 18/08/2026
A tip for people showering with a bucket in the bath and using the grey water for their plants -- over the next day or two, water the grass verges, etc. The soil is so baked dry that damping the soil with grey water now helps it absorb rain when it arrives.
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Reposted by Nick Halliday
Full Fact @fullfact.org · 18/08/2026
We’re grateful to the Telegraph for amending their 2024 article about a study that inaccurately suggested Covid-19 vaccines might be behind a rise in excess deaths. That study was recently retracted, which we flagged to the paper last week.
fullfact.org
Telegraph updates Covid vaccines article following study retraction – Full Fact
An article reporting research that wrongly suggested Covid-19 vaccines might be fuelling a rise in excess deaths has now been amended.
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Reposted by Nick Halliday
Mark O’Neill 🐻 @radiobeartime.com · 18/08/2026
A reminder that no UK government CISO should allow Copilot on departmental machines and if Ministers/SpAds insist then get them to put it in writing.
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Nick Halliday @hallidaynick.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Very rounded view of enslaved people in the Roman Empire. You might stop calling them slaves... pca.st/episode/4076...
pca.st
How Slavery Built the Roman Empire
Was the Roman Empire really made by conquest? Or was it powered by something much darker?For centuries, millions of enslaved people sacrificed their lives and their labour on the altar of Roman…
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Reposted by Nick Halliday
ianVisits @ianvisits.co.uk · 17/08/2026
I'm not totally certain, but I might have just photographed evidence of a really rare weather phenomenon. If you look at the roof of the car, what looks like water droplets could be proof of something the scientists call... rain.
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Nick Halliday @hallidaynick.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
BBC News - Sainsbury's pauses AI cameras after shopper ousted www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Sainsbury's pauses London store's AI cameras after man ousted
Matt Arnold says he was asked to leave the store after being wrongly flagged as a shoplifter.
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Nick Halliday @hallidaynick.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
At the time I thought 'this isn't going to end well', but it did.
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Reposted by Nick Halliday
Antiquity Journal @antiquity.ac.uk · 14/08/2026
King Duncan I of Scotland was killed by his first cousin and rival #Macbeth in battle #OnThisDay in AD 1040. Not in his sleep like in Shakespeare's famous play 1/2 📷 History Things / CC BY-SA 4.0 🏺 #Archaeology
Engraving of Macbeth (Macbethad mac Findláech) from c. 1750-70, depicting a bearded man with wavy hair wearing armour.
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Nick Halliday @hallidaynick.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Don't worry they will only link them up with the 'pilot' live video surveillance cameras.
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Reposted by Nick Halliday
Met Office - weather and climate @metoffice.gov.uk · 13/08/2026
⚠️⚠️ Amber weather warning updated ⚠️⚠️ Extreme heat across England Valid until 2359 on Thursday Latest info 👉 bit.ly/WxWarning Stay #WeatherAware ⚠️
A map of the UK showing an amber extreme heat warning across much of central and southern England.
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Nick Halliday @hallidaynick.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Well that's a phrase 'The nerd Reich' rule by tech billionaires. www.npr.org/2026/08/10/n...
npr.org
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Reposted by Nick Halliday
National Trust @nationaltrust.org.uk · 13/08/2026
Meet Shugborough's newest conservation team members 🐷 Tamworth pigs Honeysuckle, Rosehip and Primrose have moved into the South Walled Garden. By rooting through the soil, they improve soil health, boost biodiversity, and support habitat restoration, all while reducing the need for machinery!
A sweet brown pig facing the camera with a bit of mud on its nose and face, standing in muddy earth and grassTwo furry brown pigs, one covered in mud climbing out of a muddy patch of earth, the other on dry grass nudging a red ball
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Reposted by Nick Halliday
Dave Andress @davidandress.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Always an interesting marker of historical time for me. Throughout my 70s & 80s childhood, this just was reality, apparently permanent. Checkpoint Charlie, the whole shebang. And now it’s been gone much longer than it existed.
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Nick Halliday @hallidaynick.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Why not jump in canals and lakes? Because people might have dumped bikes or supermarket trolleys that are not visible. Just heard a policeman say that...
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Nick Halliday @hallidaynick.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Oh 'Runaway Jury'
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Reposted by Nick Halliday
Jay Roszman @jayroszman.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
1/5 📣 An article I've written about the Queen's University in Ireland, its constituent colleges, and their relationship to the British Empire has been published with @jbritishstudies.bsky.social. The article makes the case for rethinking about the Queen's University's purpose in Ireland. 🗃️
cambridge.org
Institutions of Empire? The Foundation of the Queen’s Colleges and British Imperial Service, 1845–85 | Journal of British Studies | Cambridge Core
Institutions of Empire? The Foundation of the Queen’s Colleges and British Imperial Service, 1845–85 - Volume 65
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Reposted by Nick Halliday
Vincent van Gogh @vangogh.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Sketch of a Hen - 1890 botfrens.com/collections/46/content…
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Nick Halliday @hallidaynick.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
When UK people move in future will they be checking out the likelihood of forest fires, how much shade there is, the temperature rating of the borough and water table levels?
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Reposted by Nick Halliday
Albert Pinto @70sbachchan.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
You can't predict the turns this sentence takes. Extreme heat is threatening Italy’s “cheese banks,” where hundreds of thousands of Parmigiano-Reggiano wheels are stored as loan collateral. fortune.com/2026/08/10/i...
fortune.com
Italy's $4.7 billion cheese economy is feeling the heat as climate change threatens its cheese banks that hold Parmigiano wheels as loan collateral | Fortune
Extreme heat is straining the vaults that hold Parmigiano wheels as loan collateral, and economists say the damage runs wider than the vault
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Reposted by Nick Halliday
Dr Anna Clark @drannaclark.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Hunters in the Snow, Northern Renaissance masterpiece, oil on panel, 1565, by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c 1525-1569), artist active in Antwerp, patronised by humanists Plantin & Ortelius. A bitter, winter scene of hunters & dogs returning home, under overcast sky. ALT Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien
Originally part of a cycle of months, where it portrayed December/January, the painting has come to epitomise the season of Winter. The harshness of winters in small villages, at the start of ‘The little Ice Age’ in 1565, is captured in the scene. The unsuccessful hunters and gaunt dogs in the foreground trudging through the snow, symbolise the threat of starvation to the busy small village in the valley, while ill-omened rooks and magpie hover overhead.
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Working Class History @workingclasshistory.com · 11/08/2026
#OtD 11 Aug 1965 after an altercation between a Black family and Los Angeles police officers, the Watts neighbourhood exploded into six days of rioting with mass looting and anti-police violence in a turning point in the civil rights movement stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8274...
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Jonty Wareing @jonty.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
I always suspected a UK government would eventually reverse course on "coding in public". So I've been backing up all government code. For six years. Today I finally generated a report on what has been deleted. Its much worse than I realised. github.com/uk-gov-mirro...
Deleted UK Government code repositories

Total deleted repositories: 1526
Organisations affected: 56

See RECENTLY_DELETED.md for the most recently deleted repositories.

Organisation	Deleted Repos	% Deleted
hmrc	195	9.8%
nhsdigital	169	33.8%
SkillsFundingAgency	154	22.7%
informatics-lab	154	100.0%
UKHomeOffice	101	7.5%
ministryofjustice	74	2.8%
ONSdigital	66	4.3%
moj-analytical-services	65	75.6%
ukwa	47	46.1%
dwp	46	6.7%
UKGovernmentBEIS	43	27.4%
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Reposted by Nick Halliday
Jerry Fishenden @ntouk.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
The Economist’s “revelation” that AI assisted complaints and appeals are overwhelming the public sector isn’t exactly news. The NAO already warned that “Organisations may ... see significant increases in workload arising from AI-driven external activity (such as automated ... online submissions)"
nao.org.uk
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Reposted by Nick Halliday
Institute of Historical Research @ihr.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Are you studying, researching or teaching indigenous histories? Try using the Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH). It contains 670,000+ resources from 55 BCE to today! Find out how to use BBIH buff.ly/yD11954 @brepols.net
history.ac.uk
Using BBIH online: a help pack for students and lecturers
For the academic year, we've a help pack offering guides to BBIH in undergraduate and graduate teaching and research. With embeddable content for VLEs.
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Nick Halliday @hallidaynick.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Anyone mentioned 'The Big Short', or 'The Smartest Guys In The Room' yet?
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Great British Eclipse drops, evening of 12 August. It's at its Great British Best between 19:02 BST and 19:16 BST, depending on where you are in Great Britain.
bbc.co.uk
How and when to see the solar eclipse - BBC News
What you need to know about the UK and Europe's best eclipse in 27 years
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Trees for Life @treesforlife.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
5 reasons to join a Rewilding Week this autumn 😍 Be part of Scotland’s #rewilding journey. Book your place this autumn 👉https://treesforlife.org.uk/support/volunteer/rewilding-weeks/ 📷 Thanks to our #volunteers and guides for the photos
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Nick Halliday @hallidaynick.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Is this the most obscure crossword answer ever? Ogam. Not even the main word it's a variant of Ogham, - early Irish Medieval alphabet. Funnily enough I did not get it. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogham
en.wikipedia.org
Ogham - Wikipedia
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Reuters @reuters.com · 10/08/2026
Tiny legs, big personalities and a competitive streak drew crowds to the Yolo County Fair in Woodland, California, where dozens of corgis raced for glory at the Corgi Nationals Super Sprint Series.
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black-stardust.bsky.social @black-stardust.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
There is also a whole Reddit community dedicated to removing Google from your life and devices, where people share tips, recommendations, and show off their degoogled phones:
reddit.com
DeGoogle - expel Google from your life
Welcome to r/degoogle! Where you can find all the resources you need to expel Google from your life.
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The Associated Press @apnews.com · 10/08/2026
After winning the Women's Tour de France for the second time Demi Vollering tried hard to hold back tears while the Dutch national anthem played.
bit.ly
Tears of joy for Demi Vollering after winning the Women's Tour de France for the second time
After winning the Women’s Tour de France for the second time Demi Vollering tried hard to hold back tears while the Dutch national anthem played.
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Reposted by Nick Halliday
Working Class History @workingclasshistory.com · 10/08/2026
#OtD 10 Aug 1889 Polish WWII resistance activist Zofia Kossak-Szczucka was born. During Nazi occupation she founded a group to help save Jewish people. She was sent to Auschwitz but got out, joined the Warsaw uprising and survived the war stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8173...
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UHI Archaeology Institute @uhiarchaeology.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Eleven funded PhD projects are now available as part of the  North Sea Heritage in Transitions (NHT), which launched last month.
archaeologyorkney.com
Two Orkney-led PhDs available as part of North Sea Heritage project
Eleven funded PhD projects are now available as part of the  North Sea Heritage in Transitions (NHT), which launched last month.
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Nick Halliday @hallidaynick.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
BBC News - Tech leaders say AI means less work - their staff say they work up to 90 hours a week. 'At OpenAI and Anthropic, for instance, sprints can stretch on for many weeks and top 90 hours of work in a seven-day period' www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Tech leaders say AI means less work - their staff say they work up to 90 hours a week
Tech companies are not modelling their own claims of the technology giving people more free time.
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