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Mark Williams

@mrfw17thc.bsky.social
4.8K followers 2.5K following 2.1K posts

Reader in Early Modern History. Currently writing a cultural history of the English East India Company. He/Him. Immigrant. Academic. Father. All opinions my own.

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Reposted by Mark Williams
Emily Wood @ebwood.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Every story about a NASA-run project: the project was supposed to work for 5 years and it’s still going strong 25 years later. Every story about SpaceX: it cost *so much* money, didn’t do close to everything it was supposed to, and then blew up.
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👻 🎃 🦇 Bela Lughosti's Dad 🏳️‍⚧️ 🇵🇸 @belalugosisdad.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
This is why I've always disagreed with the idea that "art" is purely subjectively defined. Art is a communication. The listener/viewer completes that communication in recieving it, but it is the intentionality of the creator that makes it art. "AI music" is no more music than traffic noise is.
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Times this morning. Me in December last year. It was pretty damn obvious this would happen to anyone who did the maths. samf.substack.com/p/the-oversh...
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Really reading the room here.
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
To understand and counter disinformation, language skills, area studies expertise, historical knowledge and a wide range of arts, humanities & social science disciplines are requisite. SHAPE subjects are strategically vital for national interests. Is it strategic to let 'the market' shrink them?
thebritishacademy.ac.uk
Mapping SHAPE provision in UK higher education
This new project from the British Academy maps changing provision of SHAPE subjects in UK higher education institutions. It uses data to visually depict contractions and expansions in provision by a v...
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Michael E. Carter @deckofcarterhist.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
This is your general reminder that the technology behind this bullshit homunculus is what the worst among the elites and most zealous people on the planet want to filter your medical records, tax records, all entertainment, social media, and your children's education through.
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Shirley @ztarfizh.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
‘If you’re taking money from a company what are they getting out of it? At least print the contract. Tell us what you are being employed for” Ian Hislop, Committee on Standards 2022. Tom Watson is not being paid for his wisdom or insight. He has sold his House of Lords vote to #Palantir
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Comfortably Numb @numb.comfortab.ly · 18/09/2026
Post from Amy @lolennui.bsky.social

So cool that whenever someone asks the president, "did you eat the Lindbergh baby" he's like, "no but I'd be allowed to, I have the right to, I might do it later"
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Bex Luther @superbreeze.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
BREAKING: Ed Sheeran to represent Piddington at Eurovision
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Pete Fraser @petefrasermusic.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
In the movie version of this, after Piddington runs out of food water and money as a result of leaving the UK, the residents apply for asylum and end up housed in a military base, with HILARIOUS consequences. www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
Piddington in Oxfordshire votes to leave UK over asylum plans
Piddington residents voted over proposals to house up to 1,256 male asylum seekers nearby
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Helene von Bismarck @helenebismarck.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Bravery.
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Society for Renaissance Studies @srsrensoc.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Join us on 18th September 2026 for our #SRSlyGood Festival! There are two sessions, The first, at 16:00 BST where our postdoctoral fellows will discuss their latest research and the second, at 17.00BST where the 2026 article prize and book prize will be announced! rensoc.org.uk/announcement...
SRS logo on burgundy background. 'Festival 2026. 18th September 2026, 8.00PDT/11.00EDT/16.00BST/17.00CEST. Register: https://crowdcast.io/c/festival2026'

The image is from a detail of a piece of sixteenth-century needlework depicting a pastoral landscape with cottages, a river, tress, people dancing, and general merriment.
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
'Reading for pleasure – from tucking into a Jane Austen classic to devouring a Heartstopper graphic novel – is linked to better mental health, greater empathy and a lower risk of dementia, say researchers.' Just make sure it's not reading English (instead of science) at university, say ministers.
eurekalert.org
Reading for pleasure has benefits at all ages – from improving health and wellbeing to staving off dementia – say scientists
Reading for pleasure – from tucking into a Jane Austen classic to devouring a Heartstopper graphic novel – is linked to better mental health, greater empathy and a lower risk of dementia, ...
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Mark Williams @mrfw17thc.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" is really about an as-yet-unsuccessful archive trip, right? #skystorians
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William Carruthers @williamcarruthers.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Kathleen Stock says the quiet part out loud, apparently
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Matt Bors @mattbors.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
It was exactly ten years ago today, on my 33rd birthday, that I posted this comic online.
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Rose Schmits @roseschmits.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
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Farrukh @implausibleblog.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
£3 - the annual Labour affiliation fee per affiliated union member. £36,000,000 - how much each of two billionaires donated to Reform UK. One billionaire donated the equivalent of 12 million union members’ annual affiliation fees. The two are not the same.
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
'Enslaved African people were seared with hot metal brands bearing the royal crown, according to research by historians who have documented the monarchy’s centuries-long involvement in Britain’s slave trade.' #Skystorians
theguardian.com
The royal crown branded on enslaved Africans: Britain’s monarchy and the slave trade
From Elizabeth I’s backing of early voyages to royal investment in trafficking companies, generations of monarchs were central to Britain’s slave trade
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Mark Williams @mrfw17thc.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Book Proposal Juxtapositions. Blossoms. #skystorians #earlymodern
Two poems by Matsuo Basho ('Cherry Blossoms in Full Bloom', 1681), and  John Donne ('The Blossom', 1633). They are positioned on opposing margins.
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
If you saw this happening in another country, what would you call it?
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Erika Gaffney @erikagaffney.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Job posting - tenure-track assistant professor position The Dept of the History of Art & Architecture at Brown Univ seeks applicants whose scholarship focuses on histories of early modern (ca. 1400s-1700s) European art & architecture in the world. More info: apply.interfolio.com/191701
A detail of the still life flower painting by Ambrosius Bosschaert (the elder), Still-Life of Flowers, 1614; J. Paul Getty Museum. The job title for which applicants are sought is in yellow text at the top.
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Mark Williams @mrfw17thc.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Fascists don't understand art and can't engage with it. That is a simple and straightforward maxim for the age.
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Erika Hanna @erikahanna.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/events/lectu...
thebritishacademy.ac.uk
Living with Rainfall: Fogs, Mists, Vapours in Irish History, 1800 – present
In the towns and cities of western seaboard of Ireland, it rains more than 250 days a year, a notable wetness of the air which shifts from swirling moisture to pounding rain as weather systems roll in...
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Mark Williams @mrfw17thc.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Book Proposal Juxtapositions. Blossoms. #skystorians #earlymodern
Two poems by Matsuo Basho ('Cherry Blossoms in Full Bloom', 1681), and  John Donne ('The Blossom', 1633). They are positioned on opposing margins.
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Labour: don’t worry. We have a plan to make sure the train these guys want to put you on is severely delayed.
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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Leading a gang of masked men in black to intimidate the media is wrong, whether it's the Daily Mail or the parish magazine. And posting "There will be no threats. There will be no intimidation" is just nonsense when you're bringing a masked gang with you.
Picture (from the Daily Mail) of Daniel Thomas with his masked blackshorts, and the caption "Balaclava-clad anti-migrant activists led by convicted criminal "Danny Tommo" stage latest protest outside Daily Mail office".
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Nick Pettigrew @nick-pettigrew.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
I just think the point at which somebody turns up with a private army of masked paramilitary goons to intimidate the press - yes, even if it *is* The Mail - is the point at which you can safely call it terrorism and start, I dunno, making a few arrests?
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Giles Wilkes @gilesyb.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
It's always the way, isn't it giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
Graph shows far right support higher where the number of foreign nationals is lowest
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Mark Williams @mrfw17thc.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
When your institution links to 'Guidance on Using AI' but adds to a series of waffling non-positions 'student' statements hyping what GENAI can do for you. Just a total abdication of critical responsibility. Universities have to do better.
Sample text from a 'student' noting 'The emergence of Open AI and its ease of access to it [sic] for students like myself, dramatically changed how I accessed information and engaged with learning. It was exciting to provide the AI Source with prompts, suggestions and ideas and develop them into something tangible that could develop research ideas, and support with assignments.'
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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
⏱️ www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Police launch criminal investigation into Reform UK donations
The investigation, which follows a broadcast by Channel 4 News, is being folded into the inquiry that has been underway into other donations.
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Mark Williams @mrfw17thc.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Get on it #skystorians - really good department with lovely people.
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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
A suggested statement for Andy Burnham.
‘The British public decided in the 1930s that they would not tolerate black-shirted militias marching through their streets. They would cherish robust political argument; they would not accept thuggery and intimidation. When Oswald Mosley led his Blackshirts to Cable Street, local people turned them back. A new law – introduced by a Liberal, backed by Labour and carried by a Conservative majority – banned private militias, political uniforms and ‘the use or display of physical force in promoting any political object’. The British people are as determined today as in the 1930s that they will not accept the methods of Mussolini and the Munich Beer Hall. This government will uphold the law and defend the traditions of British democracy’.
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Nadia Whittome MP @nadiawhittomemp.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
When blackshirts are marching through the streets of Dover and Portsmouth, the focus shouldn’t be on the disruption they cause, but on their fascist ideology and deliberate intimidation of migrants and people of colour. [1/2]
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Naomi Klein @naomiaklein.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
In our new essay for the @financialtimes.com (you read that right), @astra.bsky.social and I link the extreme weather events we have all been living through to the rise of a new iteration of futureless fascism, wherein the rich and powerful plan for their bunkered survival behind fortressed borders.
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The Onion @theonion.com · 04/09/2026
Historians Politely Remind Nation To Check What's Happened In Past Before Making Any Big Decisions theonion.com/historians-politely-re…
Historians Politely Remind Nation To Check What's Happened In Past Before Making Any Big Decisions
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Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
maybe it’s part of the problem that the only two acceptable ways to explain complicated things in modern public discourse are war and sports metaphors, which are simplistic and interchangeable
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Leigh Jones @leighsus.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
OK, when is James Orr going to leave his role with Cambridge University? Are we still doing that?
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Waitman Wade Beorn, PhD, FRHistS @waitmanwbeorn.com · 03/09/2026
Condolences to all the lazy people who will now have burned out their brains on the chatbot and will now have to navigate basic human tasks all on their own.
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will pooley @willpooley.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
“there is no honour for the humanities in regaining their standing through the attention of AI companies, if they engage only on the technology industry’s terms. In that case, they will have become important in exactly the wrong way.” www.ft.com/content/bdb3...
ft.com
Why this philosopher turned down Anthropic
The AI industry is courting the humanities — but it is asking the wrong questions
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
'It is understood that senior museum leaders were warned about the possible public perception of special treatment for someone with connections to Jeffrey Epstein, and whose public software company, Palantir, plays a controversial role in the British state.' 'the possible public perception'
theguardian.com
British Museum hosted Palantir founder Peter Thiel in private viewing of Bayeux tapestry
Concern among staff that fragile artwork’s scarce ‘light hours’ given to someone with no known interest in museum
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
An own goal that degrades staffing and the quality/availability of tuition for UK students while reducing the available funding to cross-subsidise university-based research.
ft.com
Mainland Europe seizes edge in global student race
Continental universities gain ground as immigration restrictions and high fees deter students from the UK and the US
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Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
we have a lot of books that talk about what fascism is, but I don't know whether any of them explains that it can still be fascism even if you can walk your dog and go to the gym
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
'Do we have too many universities, or have we failed to decide clearly what universities are for.' 'Universities are among humanity’s oldest institutions. They have existed longer than the nation state'. Good reading. 1/2
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Mark Williams @mrfw17thc.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Today in 'This Is Not What Universities Are For' ...
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Mark Williams @mrfw17thc.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
It's real, and due out in March! 'Imaginative Pasts', which has been a joy to edit with Tracey Loughran, aims to reckon - and play - with the role of the imagination in historical research and writing. #skystorians #earlymodern manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526187154/
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Society for Renaissance Studies @srsrensoc.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Congratulations to our #SRSlyGood Book Prize 2026 shortlist: @jwscolley.bsky.social, Colby Gordon, Chloe Ireton, Jack Hartnell, & Tiffany Jo Werth! 🎊🎊🎊💫💫💫👏👏👏💫💫💫 🥳🥳🥳💫💫💫👏👏👏💫💫💫🎊🎊🎊 #Skystorians #EarlyModern rensoc.org.uk/srs-book-pri...
A Banner of BEAUTIFUL BOOK Covers, detailing all the shortlisted books:

John Colley, Humanism, English Literature and the Translation of Greek, 1430-1560, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2025)

Colby Gordon, Glorious Bodies: Trans Theology and Renaissance Literature (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2024)

Jack Hartnell, Wound Man: The Many Lives of a Surgical Image (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press,2025)

Chloe L. Ireton, Slavery and Freedom in Black Thought in the Early Spanish Alantic (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2025)

Tiffany Jo Werth, The Lithic Imagination from More to Milton (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2024)
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Esther Wright @enwright.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
You should read this 👇
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Matt Gabriele @profgabriele.com · 21/08/2026
They’re doing the meme
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Meanwhile...
theguardian.com
Why is Anthropic destroying books? | Kathryn James
The AI company apparently found destructively scanning ‘all the books in the world’ easier than dealing with copyright in its quest for training data
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