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Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat)

@moffski.bsky.social
877 followers 577 following 385 posts

Historian of war & society in WWII UK, veteran disability. Proud NZer 🇳🇿 Researcher @Manchester Met Uni FRHistS www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.108…

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Reposted by Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat)
🐶🐙Dr. Caffiend☕️😷 @captcaffiend.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
If you or people you know aren't sure who to vote for in the upcoming NZ election, this handy resource has been created by some awesome people I know. www.onthefence.co.nz
onthefence.co.nz
On the Fence 2026
On The Fence helps Kiwis get started on their political journey. Answer a series of questions on the issues that matter most to you, and we'll show you which political parties share your values.
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Reposted by Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat)
The Spinoff @thespinoff.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
The New Zealand bush is the real star of Brad Pitt’s new movie
thespinoff.co.nz
The New Zealand bush is the real star of Brad Pitt’s new movie
The Hollywood star takes one hell of beating in the South Island-shot Heart of the Beast.
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Reposted by Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat)
John Stott @jpsastro.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Had a UKRI funded grant proposal rejected at the "AI triage stage". "This AI-based triage was used only to identify approximately 50% of the strongest proposals to take forward to full human review." 🧪 #academicsky
I am writing to let you know that, unfortunately, your application was not successful.

Review process

As part of the initial triage of the 179 proposals submitted to this call, each was assessed using an AI-based review. Every proposal was read independently by several different AI models against the same seven criteria used to shape this call (including cyber security relevance, research quality and novelty, importance of the problem addressed, feasibility of the project plan, likely outputs and impact, value for money, and responsible research practice), with each model asked to give a score and a written justification with supporting quotations from the text. To guard against any one model's idiosyncrasies, we also ran a second, independent process in which different AI models debated the merits and weaknesses of each proposal before reaching a judgement, again against the same criteria. Scores from both processes were combined to produce an overall ranking. 

This AI-based triage was used only to identify approximately 50% of the strongest proposals to take forward to full human review.  Projects selected for funding were drawn from those that progressed to the full human review stage. We recognise that AI-assisted assessment is a new and evolving part of the review process, and we are continuing to evaluate how well it aligns with the judgements of human reviewers on this call. We will soon produce a document detailing our method, so that others can build upon it and improve it.

Feedback on your application

Your application was not selected to progress beyond the AI triage stage.  To provide transparency on the outcome of this assessment, we are sharing below the scores (out of 5) from each of the two AI review processes described above, together with the mean score across the two processes.
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Reposted by Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat)
Raf Nicholson @rafnicholson.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Please do come along to this webinar - we'd love to share our research into Scottish women's cricket with you. Registration link in the post below.
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Reposted by Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat)
Nicola Kelly @nicolakellywrites.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
I have spent weeks shadowing the RNLI and I can tell you, they do it out of nothing more than compassion. Wrote about the heroes I've met over the years in this free-to-read post. nicolakelly.substack.com/p/the-rnli-a...
nicolakelly.substack.com
The RNLI aren't traitors; they're heroes
I have spent weeks shadowing lifeboat crews. Here's what they do and what it's like.
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Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat) @moffski.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Can anyone explain to me why I have to pay GST (=VAT) on things purchased online from Australia, and then pay VAT when it enters the UK? Just been charged £44 for a parcel worth £137 😭😭😭
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Reposted by Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat)
Jason Kint @kint.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Washington Post just moved an especially good report on the developments today. Highly recommend. /13 www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
washingtonpost.com
Microsoft exec called AI the ‘largest theft of labor’ in history, court records show
The quote headlined an unsealed document in the New York Times’s copyright case against Microsoft and OpenAI.
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Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat) @moffski.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
"LLMs are a product that destroys its supply chain"
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Reposted by Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat)
Independent Historians Network (UK) @indyhistnetwork.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
TODAY, TODAY, TODAY! If you are at a loose end in B'ham this evening, come along to Bacchus for drinks and historical chat! We will be there from 6pm.
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Reposted by Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat)
666 @numberofthebeast.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
It's in her genes www.politico.eu/article/hidd...
politico.eu
The hidden Nazi heritage of Germany’s far-right leader
Alice Weidel’s grandfather was a military judge in Hitler’s regime.
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Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat) @moffski.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
I had a reply to my terse response - our authors have been asking for it. So whoever these authors are, 🖕
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Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat) @moffski.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Insightful piece here, exposing the limp and disappointing response of police to what is clearly disruptive, illegal and abusive behaviour. Love the words of residents - referring to RTC as trying to mark their territory on lampposts like dogs oxfordclarion.uk/raise-the-co...
oxfordclarion.uk
The dark side of Raise the Colours
Early on Tuesday evening, amid rush-hour traffic, a ‘Highway Maintenance’-branded van was openly stationed on Abingdon Road affixing St George’s flags to lamp-posts. We ask who is behind it – and why ...
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Reposted by Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat)
HOPE not hate @hopenothate.org.uk · 08/09/2026
Tomorrow night, Channel 4 Dispatches airs the findings of a year-long investigation into Tommy Robinson’s finances. Watch it. Then come back here. We’ve got more to show you.
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Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat) @moffski.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
My publisher has written: our books will be included in AI licensing contracts unless we reply and opt out. What is the point of academia any more? Students use AI to do their work; our work is sold to AI (and we make no profit from it anyway); our jobs are on the line. The whole thing is toxic 😖
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Reposted by Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat)
David Mohring @nzheretic.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
"An earlier version of this story featured a picture of a kea wearing love heart sunglasses. There is no suggestion that kea were involved in kākāpo fuck season. The Spinoff apologises to any kea who were offended by our error. A full investigation of our bird identification processes is underway."🦜
thespinoff.co.nz
Update: This was the best kākāpō fuck season ever
The world may be burning but at least the world’s fattest parrot has been boning.
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Reposted by Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat)
Joe Mulhall @joemulhall.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
My latest for @theguardian.com about Patriot Platform, the worrying events in Dover and Portsmouth and the police failings. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Dover and Portsmouth showed us a new kind of far right – and the authorities were caught out | Joe Mulhall
This is a new and dangerous development: a network of vigilantes who have mobilised as politicians and police have failed to act, says Joe Mulhall of Hope Not Hate
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Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat) @moffski.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Burninating the countryside, burninating the peasants! TROGDOR!! 🔥 🔥 🐉 💪 Homestarrunner 25th anniversary 🎉
Me wearing Trogdor the burninator t-shirt.
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Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat) @moffski.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
As someone who studies official responses to dissent and subversive activity, what's fascinating to me about the situation at Portsmouth is that the authorities don't seem to be responding at all?! Masked thugs en masse but no clear police or government action. 🤔
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Reposted by Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat)
Daniel F Gosling @thegozfather.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Remember remember the 4th November 2026, when I'll be giving an online talk for The National Archives all about the original records relating to the discovery, trial, and punishment of the Gunpowder Plotters. www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/whats-on/eve...
nationalarchives.gov.uk
Gunpowder Plot – punishing the plotters
What happened after Guy Fawkes was captured?
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Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat) @moffski.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Two more lovely sewing projects complete! Now onto some skirts... Alt text for more project info 😊 #amsewing #handmade #memade #sewingbee
Me in a sleeveless blouse, high neck with a central and two side pleats at the neck. I'm smiling as this blouse looks really pretty and I'd definitely use the pattern again. 
I have a store-bought blouse almost the same as this and managed to hunt down this pattern so I could make something similar. This fabric was left over from another make a few weeks ago. Picture of me wearing a floaty, pink, sleeveless top with buttons down the front and rouching. I've had this fabric for 7 years, partially made into a dress but decided that was never going to happen... Feels great to finally use it!
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Reposted by Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat)
Duncan Weldon @duncanweldon.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Really interesting read. www.ft.com/content/7dbc... Norway vs the world’s favourite chicken
ft.com
Norway vs the world’s favourite chicken
Billions of meals each year are made from the fast-growing Ross 308 genetic strain of birds. But a backlash is gathering pace
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Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat) @moffski.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
(1) When a male official at the Ministry of Supply asked why the Women's Voluntary Services could not provide women to shop for those busy working in UK munitions factories, he got more than he bargained for...
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Reposted by Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat)
Charlie Lynch @charlielynch.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Kissing with the weight of history: Prof Katie Barclay’s new popular history of representations and emotions, charting 1000 years of kissing in European cultural history. Feature article with bonus 1950s Scotland content, via the Dunoon Observer… www.thenational.scot/news/2649113...
thenational.scot
The history of kissing is more complex than you might think
Kissing is a serious business for Professor Katie Barclay, a native of Lanarkshire working in Australia
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Reposted by Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat)
History Lab Plus @historylabplus.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Final call for today’s fantastic panel discussing post-PhD careers beyond the PhD, including politics, research, administration, and the private sector. Join us on Teams at 5:30. Sign up and more info here: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/... @royalhistsoc.org @ihr.bsky.social
history.ac.uk
Finding a Role: Using History PhD Skills Beyond HE
History Lab+ Training
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Reposted by Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat)
Mark M. Turner @markturner25.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Sharing some of my research titled "Native American and Native Hawaiian Depictions in U.S. Military Aviation, 1941-1945." Captain Joshua Sanford (Winnebago) served with the 75th Fighter Squadron, USAAF, in WWII. He was inducted into the WI Aviation Hall of Fame in 2018: www.wahf.org/hall-of-fame...
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Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat) @moffski.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Spotted in the wild 😎😎 Thanks @serenitybookshop.bsky.social 😍
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Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat) @moffski.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
"Shame, shame on all of you." Let's cultivate a bit more compassion in our journalism. The subjects of stories are still people 🌷 bylinetimes.com/2026/08/19/j...
bylinetimes.com
Jason Arday: We Must Rage – Rage Against the Journalism of Cruelty
The death of the academic shows the casual conversion of humiliation into entertainment by a media running on monetised hate and cruelty
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Reposted by Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat)
Clodagh Tait @clodaghtait.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
If anyone's in Limerick tomorrow I'll be talking about hairy folklore at the Hunt Museum at 7! Come along to hear about hairy poets, mermaids and remedies for baldness. www.limerick.ie/discover/wha...
limerick.ie
Hairy Stories: Hair Traditions in Irish Folklore
Hunt Museum Nights programme is a series of evening events that invite audiences to engage with the museum’s collections through conversation, creativity and shared social experiences.
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Reposted by Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat)
The Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) @themerl.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
So, we found a live bat in our galleries. 🦇 a thread🦇
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Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat) @moffski.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Wednesday morning boogie with the birthday vinyl that just arrived 😍 🎶 🎸 #music #vinyl #NBT #happiness
Nothing But Thieves album "Dead Club City" beside my record player
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Reposted by Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat)
Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
NEW: It was a digital lynching. And the media is never going to hold itself to account for the role it played in Jason Arday’s death. But there are things we can do. This is a practical guide based on my own experience. broligarchy.substack.com/p/a-digital-...
broligarchy.substack.com
A Digital Lynching
A practical guide for individuals and organisations when the mobs gather
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Reposted by Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat)
kilkenny.bsky.social @kilkenny.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Headline of the Year 🏆 www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3610...
stuff.co.nz
Woman dies, comes back to life, gets parking ticket
The 54-year-old received an $80 parking fine a few days after her resurrection thanks to the “truly remarkable” actions of a stranger.
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Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat) @moffski.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Saturday afternoon vibes 😍 📚 ☀️
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Reposted by Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat)
Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Which museums are collaborating?: the Food Museum, the Baltic, the Museum of Free Derry, Glasgow Life Museums and Hastings Museum & Art Gallery. The Migration Museum: All Our Stories (and not just in London). No prior curatorial experience required: www.migrationmuseum.org/join-the-mig...
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Reposted by Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat)
Charlie Lynch @charlielynch.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Historian looking for freelance work. I’m a very experienced RA, I’m looking for anything really that might help me pay my bills, because in general my profession does not, and no one will let me try doing anything else…
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Reposted by Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat)
National Trust @nationaltrust.org.uk · 13/08/2026
🧵 Wildfires have burned across the UK, drought has been declared across the whole of Wales and two-thirds of England, while rivers continue to run low...
An image from above, the charred landscape where heathland once stood
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Reposted by Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat)
James Dyke @jamesgdyke.info · 13/08/2026
It's just been announced that the University of Exeter is scrapping BA/BSc Geography, including BA History & Geography, and BA Politics & Geography programmes and their variants in Penryn campus in Cornwall. There will be no new students starting in September 2026. 1/5
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Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat) @moffski.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
It's 33 degrees outside, 28 degrees inside... Manchester was not made for this 🥵❤️‍🔥
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Reposted by Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat)
Phil Plait @philplait.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Don't forget that the Perseid meteor shower peaks tonight! It's one of the best of the year, with maybe 50 per hour visible. I wrote all about how to watch it for the 2023 shower; the basics still all apply. www.scientificamerican.com/article/pers...
scientificamerican.com
Perseid Meteor Shower Peaks This Weekend in a Stargazing Must-See
All you need to see one of the year’s best meteor showers is a clear, dark sky—and patience
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Reposted by Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat)
Buckinghamshire Archives @bucksarchives.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
slow day in the office so we're starting beef with archaeologists
One of those 'STOP DOING X' memes, ripping into archaeology. It has images of soil stratum, a trowel, and a flint shard. The text mocks archaeologists for digging for pottery sherds and saying everything has a 'ritual purpose'.
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Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat) @moffski.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Sewing project #1 is complete! #handmade #sewing
Pretty, sleeveless summer top with little heart buttons down the front. I am standing outside, in front of my lawn and shrubs, sunset in background. Me in my sewing room / office, showing the full sleeveless blouse tucked into my handmade long denim skirt. I am smiling because I am happy with the result and am planning another, which will be project 8 on the list!
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Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat) @moffski.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Think positive, everyone: this will be the coldest summer of the rest of your life... ☀️
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Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat) @moffski.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Sewing project weekend here at my place, though the sunshine outside is calling me.. 😊☀️ 🪡 🧵 #amsewing #handmade #summer
Purple fabric with white polka dots beside tin of pins and sewing machine. Litte heart buttons are laid out on the fabricFabric that will be the bodice front and that which will be the strap. Pins and scissors beside on the sewing table.
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Reposted by Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat)
James Taub @taubhistory.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
A little bit of an odd request. Does anyone know any textile history experts with knowledge on the linen trade in Brittany, Normandy, or Flanders during the 18th century? Trying to identify a marking on an object in our collection!
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Reposted by Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat)
Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Behind the bewildering transformation of British universities, are management consultants being paid millions Really proud to have this vital piece on our unis are being gutted from the inside by @jheathershaw.bsky.social on Democracy for Sale. Do read democracyforsale.substack.com/p/inside-bri...
democracyforsale.substack.com
Inside Britain's university crisis
As teaching staff face job loss, their bosses have netted pay rises and bought advice from a “vampiric” management consultancy, writes Prof. John Heathershaw of the University of Exeter
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Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat) @moffski.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Anyone want to buy a Charles and Diana 1-yr Anniversary commemorative teaspoon? 😂
Silver teaspoon in display case with photo of the happy couple in profile, staring into each other's eyes.
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Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat) @moffski.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Oh joy... The Manchester mayoral by-election is a tie between candidates from Labour and Reform, now going to second choice votes. And voter turnout was something like 25%. This is democracy manifest!
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Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat) @moffski.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Well! How's that for a headline?! 😂 From 'Air Force News', no. 100, 27 March 1945
Newspaper clipping entitled Airmen's pin-up girl is 40, does not like men'.
Article actually explains that the very popular photo was taken when the model was 27, and that she "hated men in general".
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Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat) @moffski.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Voting in NZ vs voting in England 😂 You can't possibly miss a bright orange sign for a polling station! Also, get out and vote for your mayor, Mancunians! #vote2026 #manchester #mayor
Me beside a very visible bright orange sign saying 'voting', directing voters to a polling stationEmpty road with church hall on left. 'polling station' banner obscured and half falling down off wall.
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Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat) @moffski.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Book, chocolate, whisky and sunshine.. What more could I want?! 😍 #amreading #thriller #whisky #summer
Me, sitting on a chaise longue in the sun, holding aloft a nosing glass of Glenglassaugh whisky. Salted caramel chocolate just out of view.
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