Sign in

Helen Gittos

@helengittos.bsky.social
3.1K followers 585 following 1.5K posts

Associate Professor of Medieval History, University of Oxford Chair, Family Expert Reference Group, National Maternity & Neonatal Taskforce (I can't read private messages here.)

PostsRepliesMedia
Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 4h
Yet it was clear to me, whose job this is not, just from reading Board papers and talking to people. www.itv.com/news/meridia... www.hsj.co.uk/quality-and-...
hsj.co.uk
CEO ‘shocked’ by latest maternity findings
An acting chief executive has said it was "quite shocking" to find his trust had "let so many people down" on maternity care, contrary to assurances given to the board.
031
Reposted by Helen Gittos
University of Cambridge @cam.ac.uk · 12h
In the early Middle Ages, the Anglo-Saxons developed a “Little England” in Rome. New research from @rorynaismith.bsky.social @francescatinti.bsky.social @department-asnc.bsky.social suggests that early English expats avoided ‘travel money’ hassle thanks to the Pope. More: bit.ly/4hrFfKc
The image features a street scene in Rome. Superimposed is an inset of an historic illustration, depicting a seated figure in medieval attire reading a book. The text reads: "New Cambridge research: Anglo-Saxon expats received special treatment from the Pope in Rome's 'Little England.'"
02312
Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Oxford people: The Oxford Science & Ideas Festival 17 - 26 October 2026 includes 'A contemporary staging of John Ruskin's prophetic 1884 lecture on climate change & pollution' - and many other wonders! if-oxford.com/welcome-page/
021
Reposted by Helen Gittos
Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
'the little sycophantic, vile little voice of AI' shows.acast.com/the-new-soci...
shows.acast.com
Katherine Rundell: In today's world, wonder is political | The New Society | culture from the New Statesman
2195
Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
x.com/NewStatesman...
x.com
The New Statesman (@NewStatesman) on X
"Almost all of my books were stolen to teach AI how to create its voice" But what really concerns Katherine Rundell is what the proliferation of AI is going to do to children's learning. Listen to The New Society with @tanjil_rashid_ wherever you get your podcasts.
130
Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Exciting to see in the new Sutton Hoo Ship's Company newsletter quite how much progress has now been made. And that they are making plans to reconstruct the Snape ship now too! Anglo-Saxon boat races... saxonship.org/newsletter/
59622
Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Wow! Major new site discovered on Lismore, in the inner Hebrides. “The most exciting moment for me was when they were doing the post-excavation analysis and they found that they had been melting gold, copper, silver, and they were making jewellery on our little island in the seventh century.”
18521
Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Story now updated with quotes from me. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
East Kent NHS admits 'failing families' over stillbirths
An independent review ordered by the trust finds systemic issues lay at the heart of the failures.
174
Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Gut-wrenching that so many families are still suffering so much after such intense scrutiny - and support. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
East Kent NHS admits 'failing families' over stillbirths
An independent review ordered by the trust finds systemic issues lay at the heart of the failures.
023
Reposted by Helen Gittos
Shepway Vox @shepwayvox.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Four years after Kirkup, East Kent maternity is still repeating known safety failures while babies die. “Systemic weakness” is management camouflage. People made these decisions. People failed to fix them. If accountability means anything, some should no longer be in post. shorturl.at/LMEty
shorturl.at
East Kent Hospitals Maternity: Babies Are Still Dying — Four Years After Kirkup, Known Failures Remain
Babies have died. East Kent had already been warned. It had already been investigated. It had already been told what was wrong. It had already produced the plans, the committees, the pathways, the …
021
Reposted by Helen Gittos
Kate Franklin @melucene.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
a little gasp at the Sasanian (?) silk lining the back board of the Fulda Gospel-- Universitat Wurzeburg M.p.th.f.66
the end board of a medieval manuscript, lined in bright yellow silk, with a woven pattern of two facing doves
24711
Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
East Kent have received a truly damning report on maternity safety. Heartbreaking. ‘The independent review identifies significant and recurrent patient safety, quality and governance concerns across maternity services, with evidence of systemic weaknesses rather than isolated failings.’
231
Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Tealby: high on the Lincolnshire Wolds - wide views & tingling numinosity. I spent a few days there in late August & knew it was special. What I didn't know then was there's reason to think this was the base for a late Roman cavalry unit, the Equites Taifali, which seems far-fetched until ... 👇
2224
Reposted by Helen Gittos
Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
'Old age isn't calm Fires burn in bodies of old women Flutes sing in their ears and they fall in love now and then...' Poem by Sonia Saxon, printed by See Red.
082
Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
New from Ryan Lavelle: to be published in November. Bet this'll be excellent! yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300...
03410
Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I loved living in Canterbury for many reasons... but especially because of the people who were there. Very sad to learn of the death of Paul Bennett, Director of the Canterbury Archaeological Tust 1986-2020. www.canterburytrust.co.uk
190
Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
OK. I think that's all the writing time I can snatch; now for term. See you in January my precious book! I love teaching but I do wish I had more time to write.
261
Reposted by Helen Gittos
Tim Daw @timdaw.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Historic England vanishing archive - details of why it is broken : www.sarsen.org/2026/09/hist...
sarsen.org
Historic England’s Vanishing Archive
Not just the aerials. The lot. Historic England still holds the negatives, the prints and the scans. What the public lost, in early Sept...
510254
Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The walls of @newnhamcollege.bsky.social are a delight! This is from a display of posters from the See Red Womens' Workshop, 'a collective printing studio set up to promote the Womens' Liberation Moverment'.
151
Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
This is such a sorry & infuriating tale. Via @davidpetts1.bsky.social from another place. www.sarsen.org/2026/09/hist...
67736
Reposted by Helen Gittos
Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
For those not on Instagram, details of a memorial service in memory of Rosamond McKitterick: 5 p.m. on Friday 23 October 2026, at Great St Mary’s, the University Church.
screen shot from Sidney Sussex College's Instagram account.
03219
Reposted by Helen Gittos
Peter Frankopan @peterfrankopan.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
New ep of Legacy has just dropped: the awesome @SueBrunningBM curator of the #BayeuxTapestry show @britishmuseum on the embroidery, the exhibition - and how King Harold really died...https://pod.link/1711362652/episode/NmFiNGUwOTZkNGMwMmIwZTBkZjg1YmUw?view=apps&sort=popularity
041
Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Well, whatever comes from the Maternity Taskforce, at least I'll know we tried. x.com/DHSCgovuk/st...
x.com
Department of Health and Social Care (@DHSCgovuk) on X
.@YvetteCooperMP chaired the National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce for the first time last week. We set up the Taskforce to oversee the improvements which are needed in the NHS. We're working to...
030
Reposted by Helen Gittos
socmedarch.bsky.social @socmedarch.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
📢 Calling all students and early career researchers! The Call for Papers for our annual Student Colloquium is now open! If you would like to present your research in a welcoming and supportive environment, we'd love to hear from you! 🔗 Full details here: medievalarchaeology.co.uk/events/2100-2/
022
Reposted by Helen Gittos
Tyler King @tyleraking.com · 17/09/2026
“A senior executive at Microsoft said A.I. systems built on the work of others will be seen as ‘an astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions’ and possibly the greatest robbery of labor in human history, according to court documents unredacted Thursday in an ongoing Manhattan lawsuit.”
orlandosentinel.com
Docs in A.I. copyright suit reveal startling admission by Microsoft exec over ‘astonishing theft’
The admission appeared in a newly unredacted filing in the landmark copyright infringement legal battle playing out between newspapers like the Orlando Sentinel and tech companies Microsoft and OpenAI...
9555462163
Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
'Occasionally showers of dead wasps rain down from the ceiling of our asbestos lined offices... ... like many places in post-industrial Britain, York is gradually moving from being a net producer to a net consumer of history.'
051
Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
What a list! Lyndal, @lswisnom.bsky.social, @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social! So many congratulations to everyone on it.
051
Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
'What matters is that patients come first.' Reading Thirlwall before our next Maternity Taskforce meeting this afternoon... Report: thirlwall.public-inquiry.uk/the-report/#... Recommendations: thirlwall.public-inquiry.uk/wp-content/u...
300
Reposted by Helen Gittos
Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
'The goals of the AI companies and the goals of the mathematical community are severely misaligned. We see these as part of broader alignment issues impacting other scientific and creative professions, as well as the whole of society.' So. Much. This. 👇
081
Reposted by Helen Gittos
North Ages @northages.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Coming soon to British Library, London - Conquest: The Making of Norman England events.bl.uk/exhibitions/...
events.bl.uk
Conquest: The Making of Norman England | British Library
Beyond the battlefield lies a story of ambition, upheaval and reinvention. Spanning the generations before and after 1066, this exhibition traces the impac
04519
Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
'The goals of the AI companies and the goals of the mathematical community are severely misaligned. We see these as part of broader alignment issues impacting other scientific and creative professions, as well as the whole of society.' So. Much. This. 👇
081
Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
.... And sometimes our hunches prove good, and sometimes not so much. A fascinating if frustratingly futile few days... !
010
Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
A complete copy of the gospel of St John written in Coptic in 1099/1100 and found in a twelfth-century burial in Naqlun, Egypt in 2002 by the Polish Centre of Archaeology. (!!) pcma.uw.edu.pl/en/2019/02/1...
0469
Reposted by Helen Gittos
Victoria County History @vch-home.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
New *DRAFT* text from our team in #Somerset on the parish of Trull, to the south west (and now a suburb) of #Taunton. #Skystorians - please note we make this text available for researchers and residents alike. All comments/extra information/corrections gratefully recieved. #LocalHistory
history.ac.uk
Somerset vols. XIII-XV - The Hundred and Manor of Taunton Deane
The great vale of Taunton Deane fills the space between west Somerset's three ranges of hills: the Brendons in the west, the Quantocks in the east and the Blackdowns in the south.
086
Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
God, I love Corfe.
2181
Reposted by Helen Gittos
Rory Naismith @rorynaismith.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Early medievalists may be happy to know that Simon Keynes’s collection of maps of Anglo-Saxon England has now been made freely available via @trincolllibcam.bsky.social These were commissioned by Simon and drawn (by hand) by Reg Piggott between 1991 and 2012. archives.trin.cam.ac.uk/index.php/ma...
archives.trin.cam.ac.uk
Maps of Anglo-Saxon England - archives.trin.cam.ac.uk
413568
Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
30 years ago today in the Bulgarian mountains...
090
Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Now this 👇 is my idea of a commute!
081
Reposted by Helen Gittos
Nuffield Dept. of Women's & Reproductive Health @oxfordwomenshealth.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Alongside national surveillance data, the MBRRACE-UK report brings together findings from confidential enquiries into care and sets out practical recommendations for improving maternity services.  www.npeu.ox.ac.uk/mbrrace-uk/report…
011
Reposted by Helen Gittos
National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit @npeu-oxford.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
MBRRACE-UK recommendations to address the rising UK maternal death rate in the UK - which remains 20% higher than in 2009–11. Read more here: bit.ly/4iWKtQw
001
Reposted by Helen Gittos
Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
A sixth-century hanging from Egypt, perhaps once a sanctuary curtain and later a burial pall. It shows a processional or altar cross with a tang in a base block - akin to the one in the Staffordshire Hoard. That contained fragments of a silver-gilt casing interpreted as from a wooden cross base.
1153
Reposted by Helen Gittos
Archaeopress @archaeopress.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Patrick is in Winchester for the Annual Meeting of the British Archaeological Association. With a focus on Roman to Medieval Winchester, what better place to bring the Winchester Studies volumes, including the recently published 3 vol. study, The Anglo-Saxon Minsters of Winchester?
Front cover of The Anglo-Saxon Minsters of Winchester by Birthe Kjølbye-Biddle, Martin Biddle, available at https://www.archaeopress.com/Archaeopress/Products/9781805830405Winchester Studies volumes on display at the annual meeting of the BAAFull bookstall display at the annual meeting of the BAA
012
Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Another plea for @archaeopress.bsky.social to deposit print copies of their books in copyright libraries. I really want to be able to read this 👇
031
Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
There was a bear in Richmond castle in the late eleventh century 👇.
162
Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
A sixth-century hanging from Egypt, perhaps once a sanctuary curtain and later a burial pall. It shows a processional or altar cross with a tang in a base block - akin to the one in the Staffordshire Hoard. That contained fragments of a silver-gilt casing interpreted as from a wooden cross base.
1153
Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
A sixth(?)-century hanging from Egypt, perhaps once a sanctuary curtain and later a burial pall. It shows a processional or altar cross with a tang, placed in a base block. collections.artsmia.org/art/3149/cur...
040
Reposted by Helen Gittos
Jim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
As important, I think, is that we can reveal that the 15th-century Battle Cross in Aldborough is another ‘missing’ Arrow, hiding in plain sight.
A photo of the tall thin Battle Cross.
5729
Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
The complexity of the finest #lateantique art! A diagram of how this early sixth-century disc brooch is constructed. From Matthias Friedrich's 'Image & Ornament in the Early Medieval West'. Images: Archäologische Staatssammlung Munich.
2206
Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
A heart-warming thread 👇 for a grey September day!
030
Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Anglo-Saxon treasure found in Norfolk blocked from leaving UK
The item, which was due to be sold to an overseas buyer, is described as "exceptionally rare".
091