Sign in

Niall Oddy

@nialloddy.bsky.social
971 followers 571 following 198 posts

Early modernist at the Open University, interested in mobility and language. Book on ideas of Europe in c.16 France: tinyurl.com/5n6kvbun. May post cat pics

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Niall Oddy
Annalisa Nicholson @apuddleofmuddle.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
✏️ Mark your diaries! Next month @cemskcl.bsky.social, Kerry Apps, Hannah Dawson, Catharine MacLeod, & ME will be talking about Restoration women, their libertinism, their consumerism, & their contact with the expanding world. Book here & spread the word 🌍 kingsearlymodern.co.uk/events/world...
kingsearlymodern.co.uk
Worldly Women at the Court of Charles II: Exile, Excess, and the Expanding World — CEMS KCL Blog
Join CEMS for a conversion on women and the Restoration, featuring Dr. Annalisa Nicholson, Dr. Kerry Apps, Dr. Hannah Dawson, and Catherine MacLeod.
33522
Reposted by Niall Oddy
Liesbeth Corens @onslies.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
THEY GOT TO 2000 SUPPORTERS! Now in need of 3000 more in just under a year. LETS GO! #earlymodern #bookhistory #skystorians
14624
Reposted by Niall Oddy
derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
I dislike the gendering of cat ownership not only because it means fewer cats get adopted, but also because it makes it harder to find cat-themed menswear. Below are some I've come across over the years. Brands and descriptions are in the alt text. Also a mug at the end that I like.
541932148
Reposted by Niall Oddy
elia ayoub @ayoub.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Friend shared this video of a man unveiling the library he hid when he fled Damascus in 2011. It’s incredible
25150243940
Reposted by Niall Oddy
Laprofmme @laprofmme.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
🚨🚨 Job Klaxon 🚨🚨 Early modern Frenchies!! UVA French is hiring an asst prof of French and francophone global literature and culture 1500-1700!! We’d love someone historically minded :). 🗃️🇫🇷 apply.interfolio.com/192507
apply.interfolio.com
Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
036
Reposted by Niall Oddy
Jasmin Mujanović @jasminmuj.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
A brand new video episode of BALKANOMNICON is now playing on the @odgovor.bsky.social YT channel. This week I discuss with Kenan Efendic the upcoming BiH elxns, the death of genocidaire Mladic and what it reveals about Serb(ian) ethnic politics in the region. youtu.be/xwlyLe3RJf0?...
youtu.be
E14 Kenan Efendić: Anticipating Bosnia's 2026 Elections
YouTube video by Portal !Odgovor
341
Reposted by Niall Oddy
London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 04/09/2026
‘In 2006, a man jumped into an enclosure at Beijing Zoo and tried to hug Gu Gu, a six-year-old male panda. Gu Gu responded by sinking his canines into the man’s leg and refusing to let go, even after the man tried in desperation to bite him back.’ Liam Shaw on pandas: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
lrb.co.uk
Liam Shaw · I just wanted to touch it: To Catch a Panda
Pandas have good PR, but they’re not as cuddly as people think. They have powerful teeth that can chew things a lot...
162
Reposted by Niall Oddy
History Today @historytoday.com · 30/08/2026
Since it became its first imperial possession in the 18th century, #Russia has denied #Ukraine’s national existence, while seeing it as an exotic threat. ⌛️ Last chance to read this article for free buff.ly/vrMOCe0
buff.ly
Ukraine in the Russian Imperial Imagination
Since it became its first imperial possession in the 18th century, Russia has denied Ukraine’s national existence, while seeing it as an exotic threat.
112
Reposted by Niall Oddy
Matthew Holehouse @matthewholehouse.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Very clever polling on the consequences of believing - or repeatedly being told - that you are the silent majority
1120777
Reposted by Niall Oddy
The Warburg Institute @warburginstitute.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
How did Turkish rice pudding become ‘riso turchesco’ (rice pudding)? In her new blog for the #Warburg, Lavinia Gambini explores how a dish (allegedly) from the Islamic world could be integrated into Christian #food consumption and #culture. Learn more now ➡️ warburg.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...
Image: 'fa mangnar bianco’ (‘[he] makes blancmange’), detail from: Bartolomeo Scappi, Opera [...] (Venice, 1570), The Warburg Institute, University of London. Credit: Courtesy of the Warburg Photographic Collection. Image: 'fa mangnar bianco’ (‘[he] makes blancmange’), detail from: Bartolomeo Scappi, Opera [...] (Venice, 1570), The Warburg Institute, University of London. Credit: Courtesy of the Warburg Photographic Collection.
072
Reposted by Niall Oddy
Katherine Ibbett @eparpillee.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Historian-as-investigator: here's @arthurasseraf.bsky.social on the problem of couscous in London and, beautifully, on the toxic sauces of nostalgia. An essay that makes you want to eat, read, gather. www.vittlesmagazine.com/p/the-curiou...
vittlesmagazine.com
The curious case of the missing couscous
Why, in a city that has everything from tacos to tteokbokki, is it hard to find couscous? Arthur Asseraf investigates. Illustration by Sing Yun Lee.
1199
Reposted by Niall Oddy
Kathleen Commons @kabcommons.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Migration & Mobility x HistoryLab new research showcase 06/10/25 5.30pm (hybrid). Papers: Indian Muslims in Victorian London; migrant lodgers in Antwerp 1850-1900; convict letters from HMS Calcutta, 1803; experiences of working-class Anglo-Chinese couples, 1906-39. Sign up: forms.gle/tUCt9uWatCYK...
forms.gle
History Lab/Migration and Mobility Seminar
Sign up form
088
Reposted by Niall Oddy
History Today @historytoday.com · 24/08/2026
#Ukraine declared independence 35 years ago #OnThisDay Since it became its first imperial possession in the #18thcentury, Russia has denied Ukraine’s national existence, while seeing it as an exotic threat. 🔓 This article is free for 7 days buff.ly/vrMOCe0
buff.ly
Ukraine in the Russian Imperial Imagination
Since it became its first imperial possession in the 18th century, Russia has denied Ukraine’s national existence, while seeing it as an exotic threat.
041
Reposted by Niall Oddy
Lort Burn Specials @lortburnspecials.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Lort Burn Specials merchandise is of the highest quality. Come get your supplies in this Thursday at the Old Coal Yard www.eventbrite.com/e/lort-burn-...
012
Reposted by Niall Oddy
Gregory Norminton @gregorynorminton.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Petition calling on the government to make climate resilience a national mission. Why has this only chalked up 24k signatures? You know what to do.
campaigns.nationaltrust.org.uk
I've signed. Will you? Add your name to help make wildfire prevention and climate resilience a national priority, and stand with the communities affected by wildfires.
23534
Reposted by Niall Oddy
Anna Cusack @annacusack.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
If anyone needs an early modernist for lecturing, consultation, copy editing, or freelance work. I have a lot of experience and would appreciate any work sent my way for the next academic year! #EarlyModern Things are looking a little grim!
16160
Reposted by Niall Oddy
Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Look at what reservoir capacity we used to add, and what we’ve added since the early 90s… From @hannahritchie.bsky.social’s excellent substack hannahritchie.substack.com/p/uk-reservo...
UK Reservoir Capacity Added, by Year
12920
Reposted by Niall Oddy
Dr Dave Hitchcock @davehitchcock.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
I'm writing a thing about history education and "AI". Myself and another came up with some 'considerations' and I was wondering what people make of them in their current form. All critique appreciated, I'm trying to get to durable and defensible positions.
"Considerations for Large Language Models and the Teaching of History
1.	Education is a process, not an event. And a history education is an active process through which we seek to understand our pasts and presents. We encounter history experientially through our senses and by using our memories, and we learn to do history iteratively, through the process of producing it ourselves in various formats.
2.	Generative AI models cannot ‘replace’ historical thinking so much as generate a simulacrum of thought. Their use seems to offer shortcuts to a particular outcome. These shortcuts risk the acquisition of historical skills, because they subvert or replace the core processes of ‘doing history’.
3.	LLMs potentially save users time by undertaking tasks like tabulating large datasets, surfacing patterns, and computing information, so long as results are carefully checked. But such tasks are to historical research like calculations are to accounting: they might support the practice but cannot inspire critical insight or reflective thought, which are the primary aims of historical scholarship. 
4.	Therefore, classrooms should first train history students to locate, identify, and describe sources of information and only then to learn the skills to reflect on the selection, organisation, and mining of datasets used by LLMs. ""5.	History teaching should privilege the value of quoting accurately, citing work correctly, paraphrasing sources honestly, and marshalling arguments carefully and specifically. LLM prompt responses do not yet reliably do these things, and may never do so.
6.	Unless history students can assess the selection, organisation, and algorithms that power a given LLM, they should treat its outputs as sources of uncertain provenance.
7.	Use of LLMs in a history classroom should always be subject to ethical and critical scrutiny, just as with any other source of information.
8.	Most widely available large-language models are commercial systems, and administrator control of their parameters, tone, capabilities, acceptable answers, and programming resides with commercial firms. Their use entails significant energy expenditure and environmental degradation. These facts place significant limits on their use and on our ability to undertake the required ethical scrutiny."
267032
Reposted by Niall Oddy
Naomi Kritzer @naomikritzer.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
If you followed or signal-boosted the claims a few weeks back by the historian who said the graphic novelist had done an unauthorized adaptation of her work on Charity & Sylvia, a lesbian couple from 19th c Vermont, please read this essay from someone who fact-checked these claims in detail.
5326168
Niall Oddy @nialloddy.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Admittedly, I don’t work at Cambridge, but I have managed to hold down a job despite not having ‘a veiled but also irrepressible drive toward acquiring power’.
010
Niall Oddy @nialloddy.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
I‘m currently working on the book collection of John Cosin, a 17th century cleric, who had 4,000 books but almost never annotated themselves. It’s very frustrating! I want to know his thoughts!!!
030
Reposted by Niall Oddy
Amanda Madden @amandamadden.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
There is absolutely no substitute for being in the archive if you are a historian even if your material has been digitized and without being in the archive you cannot create good data. And creating good data requires time and expertise AI cannot acquire. This is my hill to die on, I guess. (12/13)
18110
Reposted by Niall Oddy
EUvsDisinfo @euvsdisinfo.eu · 12/08/2026
Except political opposition, free and fair elections, unrestricted social media, public protest, an independent Ukraine, sitting at a table less than 20 metres away from another person and, more recently, Yabloko.
37519
Reposted by Niall Oddy
Mark Empey @memps2.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
This is a fantastic blog that examines how we should think about #earlymodern marginalia & #bookhistory. Of the examples provided there are also two by women who owned works by Shakespeare #herbook. Paging @martinevanelk.bsky.social @rossmith.bsky.social @franceswolfreston.bsky.social
1219
Reposted by Niall Oddy
Jasmin Mujanović @jasminmuj.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Amid ongoing regime attacks on the Srebrenica Memorial Center and Bosniak residents in the area, a Bosnian Premier League match in Banja Luka was just called off after local fans repeatedly chanted the name of convicted gencoidaire Ratko Mladic. www.klix.ba/sport/nogome...
klix.ba
Prekinuta utakmica Borac - Velež u Banjoj Luci zbog skandiranja "Ratko Mladić"
Sudija Admir Musić iz Sarajeva je prekinuo utakmicu između Borca i Veleža u 60. minuti susreta.
0122
Reposted by Niall Oddy
Lort Burn Specials @lortburnspecials.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Lort Burn Specials is BACK www.eventbrite.com/e/lort-burn-...
eventbrite.com
Lort Burn Specials: Kojo Koram + support
Newcastle's greatest radical culture night returns with Kojo Koram, Yara Rodrigues Fowler, Malya Bhattacharya, Sam Telford and more
162
Reposted by Niall Oddy
George Melashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦 @mel.ge · 07/08/2026
🧵 Russia initiated 2008 war with Georgia. Here's how events unfolded step-by-step, highlighting Russia's premeditation and escalation: 1️⃣ July 29, 2008: South Ossetian forces, backed by RU, fired upon OSCE observers and GE peacekeepers with artillery prohibited in the conflict zone since 2004. [1/10]
22611
Reposted by Niall Oddy
Turing Police Andúnië Branch 🇺🇦🇱🇹🇵🇸🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @dov.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
One reason why I fundamentally do not relate to this fear in any country is because at core I think that if your national identity is so thin, so weak, that it can be undone by the colour of the skin of the people who carry its banner, then you fundamentally have no faith in your culture.
735784
Reposted by Niall Oddy
Emilie K. M. Murphy @emiliekmmurphy.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
And yet the Cambridge #earlymodern historian William O'Reilly, proven without doubt to have plagiarised an undergraduate student's essays in published academic work, remains in post. Go figure eh.
68817
Reposted by Niall Oddy
Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
'Puzzles: A Seminar on the ‘Benefit of Christ’ has just been published in English. Its authors are Adriano Prosperi and the...much lamented Carlo Ginzburg, truly one of the greatest historians of our time. It is a testament to a time but it is also about the nature of historical research.' 1/3
anatomiesofpower.wordpress.com
Clio reads a book.
We are in early 16th century Italy.  The Council of Trent is yet to come and the anguish of the Reformation awaits, but the debates that will occupy theologians are already wracking the brains…
122
Reposted by Niall Oddy
Caroline Dodds Pennock @carolinepennock.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
This is an extraordinary story, centred on a group of remarkable women, but it just makes me mourn for the millions of women and girls trapped in Afghanistan, denied not only the freedom to play sports, but to speak, learn and live as they choose. We must not forget them.
bbc.co.uk
Banned from football at home, Afghan women's team reunite 8,000 miles away
Women in the team, which is recognised by Fifa, say football has given them freedom and independence.
9362681406
Reposted by Niall Oddy
Josephine Quinn @josephinequinn.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
This really matters for context - Arday's resignation was right, of course, but shouldn't the same principle apply in parallel cases?
0114
Reposted by Niall Oddy
David Turner @profdavidturner.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
'Disability history largely remains a missing part of the UK's story. Understanding it helps explain why contemporary debates often feel so fraught' New article by me in The Conversation theconversation.com/todays-argum...
theconversation.com
Today’s arguments about disability benefits have been raging for 500 years
From Tudor welfare claims to modern PIP assessments, disabled people have long faced suspicion and bureaucracy.
13722
Reposted by Niall Oddy
will pooley @willpooley.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
it doesn’t feel like this is increasing humanity’s collective store of knowledge as much as lining the pockets of the worst people in the world so that no one reads the original journal articles anyway. (3/3, reposted because of stupid typo in the first one)
3211
Reposted by Niall Oddy
Peter Mitchell @pdkmitchell.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
Once again I am doing the Great North Run for @actionfdn.bsky.social, a fine organisation who give essnetial support to refugees and asylum seekers in the North East. Give us your money! ajbellgreatnorthrun2026.enthuse.com/pf/peter-mit...
ajbellgreatnorthrun2026.enthuse.com
Pete is doing the Great North Run for Action Foundation
Any one of us can be displaced. Give me money to displace my terrible old body around the 13.1 miles of the Great North Run so I can then donate that money to Action Foundation and they can turn it in
01613
Reposted by Niall Oddy
Newcastle Amnesty UK @newcastleaiuk.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
'End this nightmare': Wife of ailing Briton jailed in #SaudiArabia appeals for release buff.ly/lr6CZ7k
buff.ly
'End this nightmare': Wife of ailing Briton jailed in Saudi Arabia appeals for release
Ahmed al-Doush has been in jail in Saudi Arabia since 2024, apparently over a handful of social media posts dating back several years.
011
Reposted by Niall Oddy
jessamyn @librarian.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
I work at a public library. People who want to use AI seem to have no trouble doing so. People who don't want to use AI have a harder time. I crowdsourced and then finalized this document "How to disable or avoid intrusive AI" and then gave it a short URL: notoai.org Please pass along if it's useful
An aircraft passenger oxygen mask: a drop down passenger mask with air bag and yellow plastic mouth and nose cover, oxygen tube has been cut; Demonstration model used by flight attendant crew for passenger instruction. Has text on the side indicating that it's non-functional.
193126047998
Reposted by Niall Oddy
👻 Jack Djinn Wail 🧞 @jacktindale.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Aleksander Čeferin has been elected Leader of the Avignon FIFA and taken the regnal name Clement VII.
13564153
Reposted by Niall Oddy
Gavan Reilly @gavreilly.com · 26/07/2026
“The famine is over! The curse be damned!! Hit the nuclear button! Mayo have won the All-Ireland!!” An all-time great sports commentary moment from Stephen Grealis and Martin McHugh on Mayo’s Midwest Radio. #gaa
571526394
Reposted by Niall Oddy
Conor Malone @conorbmalone.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
It's like something from dystopian sci-fi: droughts, wars, forest fires, Mayo winning the all Ireland. Chilling stuff
0285
Reposted by Niall Oddy
Simon Evans @drsimevans.carbonbrief.org · 24/07/2026
Renewables are now the world's largest source of electricity – and the main source of new supplies
20078572052
Reposted by Niall Oddy
Annalisa Nicholson @apuddleofmuddle.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
✨ KCL is offering a fully-funded MPhil/PhD in French via the Sévigné Scholarship 🖋️. Details here: www.kcl.ac.uk/study/postgr...
kcl.ac.uk
French Research | King's College London
MPhil/PhD Research in French at King's College London.
01220
Reposted by Niall Oddy
Hannah Murphy @hsmurphy.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Please share! A rare PhD studentship @kingshistory.bsky.social *fully* funded by @slaveryinwar.bsky.social to work with myself and Maeve Ryan, supported by a broader community of experts in Caribbean history, transatlantic slavery, and the history of war. www.kcl.ac.uk/study/fundin... 🗃️
kcl.ac.uk
AHRC Studentship: Slavery and the Seven Years’ War within and across the Caribbean Archipelago | King's College London
The Leverhulme Centre for Research on Slavery in War (CRSW) is pleased to announce the availability of a fully funded AHRC doctoral studentship, to be jointly supervised across History and War Studies
0196243
Reposted by Niall Oddy
Dr Laura Sangha @lsangha.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
'As your studies have shown, being a historian is not merely learning 'what happened'. It is a way of thinking. It’s about critically assessing claims, and demanding to see evidence to support them. In this world of fake news, fake images, and outright lies, these are life-long critical skills'. 4/
People in summery outfits, and some people gowns mingle and chat to each other. One person has their back to the camera and sign on their back reads 'Historian at risk'.
110415
Reposted by Niall Oddy
The Conversation UK @uk.theconversation.com · 23/07/2026
Monks wrote chronicles about the devastating heat of the 13th century, and detail what happened.
tcnv.link
Drought, water shortages and crop failures: how does the medieval warm period compare with today?
Monks wrote chronicles about the devastating heat of the 13th century, and detail what happened.
02714
Reposted by Niall Oddy
Eurozine @eurozine.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
How do you write the history of a displaced society when sites of memory have been destroyed, libraries looted, and archives made inaccessible? Tracing the evolution of Palestinian historiography is to analyse responses to this enduring challenge. By Jihane Sfeir www.eurozine.com/fighting-era...
eurozine.com
Fighting erasure
How do you write the history of a displaced society when sites of memory have been destroyed, libraries looted, and archives made inaccessible? Tracing the evolution of Palestinian historiography is t...
002
Reposted by Niall Oddy
Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
The frequency of attacks on mosques - over one a week - is somewhat under the media radar. New funding to protect faith/community spaces, but some process barriers re demostrating the threat/risk. A sustained strategy on the causes of hostiliy & hate is essential www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
One UK mosque attacked ‘every five days’, says British Muslim Trust
More than 70 attacks have been recorded over past year, including acts of violence, property damage and vandalism
413985
Reposted by Niall Oddy
Jakub Jaraczewski @jakubjaraczewski.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
🇬🇧🇺🇦Fun fact: Maks Klymenko, seen here laddering the Prime Minister, is Ukrainian and famously funded all-inclusive abortion trips for 100 UA refugee women in Poland who were victims of sexual assault by Russian soldiers. He did so after he found out how hard it is to get a legal abortion in Poland.
17525
Reposted by Niall Oddy
David Klemperer @dmk1793.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
We must remember the Utøya massacre, and remember it for what it was: a far-right attack specifically targeted against democratic socialist activists. Today, the ideologies of its perpetrator are openly espoused by a global network of nationalist oligarchs as they wage war on democratic societies.
71543602