iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Shirin Hirsch @shirinhirsch.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

1 July 1959, Daily News (London newspaper) on the British colony of Bermuda. How quickly things fall apart.

031

Shirin Hirsch @shirinhirsch.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Didn’t know you were writing this. Exciting!

000

Reposted by Shirin Hirsch

Nick Gould @profng.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

The VC of the Uni of Greater Manchester has just been sacked for misuse of over £1m of university funds. Hardly a mention in the media. Not black so not newsworthy.

2393148

Shirin Hirsch @shirinhirsch.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Unbearably sad news of Prof Arday’s death. I am thinking of him and everyone close to him. I hope all those who took part in the hunt are ashamed. A broken and heartless media and academic system.

0123

Shirin Hirsch @shirinhirsch.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Sorry and solidarity hope they back off x

050

Shirin Hirsch @shirinhirsch.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

My new project was inspired by my brilliant PhD supervisor Kevin Morgan who kindly read a draft of my article on Len Johnson and the breaking of a pub colour bar - in the section I wrote a broader history of Britain’s colour bar he commented in red pen ‘a potted history from a few random reports?’ 😝

021

Reposted by Shirin Hirsch

Tom Scriven @pigsmeat.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

I'm looking for some extra work this summer so if anyone has anything - e.g. remote research (especially London archives or Cambridge area), transcription, editing, proofing, etc, or knows of anyone looking, then feel free to let me know!

01323

Reposted by Shirin Hirsch

Tom Scriven @pigsmeat.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Also working-class autodidacts didn't just read alone - they read in groups, set up libraries and reading rooms, and battled for Mechanics' Institutes (many long ago merged into unis) to teach music, history, and politics. They built the public adult education infrastructure that's being destroyed

6312136

Shirin Hirsch @shirinhirsch.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

15 billion just pulled out of thin air for ‘defence’ suddenly. No votes, no debate, just a speech made by a resigned PM. 15 billion.

050

Reposted by Shirin Hirsch

David Wearing @davidwearing.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

For those of us who see Palestinians as human beings, this was Starmer's defining moment. It is not sustainable to behave in this way while leading the nominally progressive party in a two party system. Starmer's unpopularity is not one of life's great mysteries. www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8_s...

youtube.com

Keir Starmer denies saying Israel 'has the right' to withhold water and power from citizens in Gaza

YouTube video by LBC

7599215

Shirin Hirsch @shirinhirsch.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

Kenneth Goodman was a African American 'distinguished organist' who comes up a lot in the newspapers in the 1950s as he tours Europe to great acclaim including huge shows in Birmingham in 1954. But I can't find any recordings of him online - any ideas?

100

Reposted by Shirin Hirsch

Wolfson History Prize @wolfsonhistory.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

WIN! This month we're giving you the chance to win a copy of 'Multicultural Britain: A People’s History' by @kieranconnell.bsky.social! 📚 To enter: Follow us Like and reshare this post Entries close 11/06/2026 10AM GMT. UK only.

01715

Shirin Hirsch @shirinhirsch.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

Love the photo! I recognise it from Gorman's book of working class photography - do you know any more about it?

100

Reposted by Shirin Hirsch

Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick @mrcwarwick.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

New 1926 General Strike map online! Using early 20th century Ordnance Survey maps, the online resource shows strike events (through archive sources) in their contemporary landscape. Explore the map, digitised sources and more at warwick.ac.uk/services/lib...

Map of Britain made from early 20th century Ordnance Survey maps. It includes pins which link to digitised documents and links to a timeline.

414382

Reposted by Shirin Hirsch

Joe Redmayne @joeredmayne.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

@newcastleuni.bsky.social will be hosting the British General Strike of 1926: New Directions of Research conference on 7-8 May. Tickets (no charge) for the event go live today at 9am. We have an excellent programme of speakers. Supported by @leverhulme.ac.uk @sslh.bsky.social @ialhi.bsky.social

Conference Poster: https://www.ticketsource.com/null/t-yzzmpzr

11513

Shirin Hirsch @shirinhirsch.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

Ameen Hadi is a brilliant youth worker, anti racist and trade unionist. He was defending newly elected MP Hannah Spencer from violent far right transphobes and for that he has been suspended from Salford Council. Please sign and share the petition here actionnetwork.org/petitions/de...

02212

Reposted by Shirin Hirsch

Diarmaid Kelliher @diarmaidkelliher.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

New article in English Historical Review (@enghistrev.bsky.social) on 'Thatcherism & the Picket Line'. Looks at relationship between picketing & Conservatives esp. in 1980s, but also the legacy into the 1990s. Of relevance, I think, to upcoming Orgreave inquiry. academic.oup.com/ehr/advance-...

Image of article abstract. Title: Thatcherism and the picket line.

Abstract:

This article explores the relationship between Thatcherism and the picket line. The picket line in late twentieth-century Britain was a space in which ideologies were directly contested, and the power of law, police, courts and trade unionism came into conflict. Reshaping picketing was essential to Thatcherism’s broader goal to restructure industrial relations. The paper first considers the new picketing regulations of the 1980s, focusing on how these directly responded to the often effective strike tactics of the 1970s. The new rules, however, were ignored in several major industrial disputes. The second part of the article shows how the picketing regulations were reinforced in the face of this challenge by intensive state, court and employer action, resistance to which was weakened by the labour movement’s internal divisions. As a result, the third section demonstrates how the new industrial relations regime came to be largely internalised by trade unions and their members in the 1990s. By the end of this period, the picket line had been transformed profoundly, becoming typically smaller, less mobile and more orderly. The history of picketing centres Thatcherism as a political project that used state power to reconfigure industrial relations in Britain, transforming the legal landscape within which trade unions operated and the broader cultural norms in which the power of picket lines was ultimately rooted. It emphasises that the weakening of workers as collective agents was a central, broadly coherent and, in many ways, successful feature of Thatcherism.

2143

Shirin Hirsch @shirinhirsch.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

Any recommendations for a general and good introduction to the origins and early history of Apartheid in South Africa?

000

Shirin Hirsch @shirinhirsch.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

Congratulations, it looks brilliant!

110

Shirin Hirsch @shirinhirsch.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

Also shout out to the comrades who have made his writing accessible for future generations www.marxists.org/archive/padm...

marxists.org

Writers Archive: George Padmore

000

Shirin Hirsch @shirinhirsch.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

Reading the work of George Padmore for the first time. What searing, powerful and relentless writing exposing the horrors of colonialism and still so relevant today.

Photograph of George Padmore reading a newspaper

131

Shirin Hirsch @shirinhirsch.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

Simon Guttmann was mentor to many photographers, but my favourite story is Guttmann in 1932 sending a young Hungarian photographer Endre Ernö Friedmann to Copenahgen to photograph Trotsky in exile. Four years later he would be famous under the name Robert Capa jacobslibris.uk/2024/12/10/w...

010

Shirin Hirsch @shirinhirsch.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

Fam shared photo of German Jewish great aunt Lotte (Lucie) Guttmann. Ancestry dig we find her son Wilhelm Simon Guttmann revolutionary, friend of Walter Benjamin,early visitor to Soviet Russia,pioneer of photojournalism. Escaping Germany,he settled in UK worked on Picture Post before founding Report

Photograph of woman sitting on chair and text under reads 'Tante Lotte, 1955'

Photograph of Guttmann holding a series of photographs

150

Reposted by Shirin Hirsch

Royal College of Nursing @rcn.org.uk · 27/01/2026

We send our support to Alex Pretti's family and loved ones, and the global nursing community which has lost a devoted member. No matter where they are in the world, they - and the people they serve - deserve to be safe, both at work and in their communities.

Quote from Professor Nicola Ranger, RCN General Secretary & Chief Executive, that says: "Nursing is a global family, and Alex Pretti’s death in such violent circumstances will be felt deeply. Those who join our profession do so because they are compassionate, and driven by an unrivalled commitment to public service."

46833

Reposted by Shirin Hirsch

University and College Union (UCU) @ucu.org.uk · 26/01/2026

400 jobs at risk. A campus set to close. This film explains what’s happening at the University of Essex and why staff, students and the local community are organising to stop it. 📍 Southend rally | 5 February

05758

Shirin Hirsch @shirinhirsch.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

Jimmy Cliff was touring the clubs of Wolverhampton in the year Enoch Powell made his Rivers of Blood speech. 50 years later artists Anand Chhabra, Jagdish Patel and Vanley Burke responded with the exhibition Many Rivers to Cross, the title of Cliff's 1969 track. RIP www.youtube.com/watch?v=-y9Q...

youtube.com

Many rivers to cross - Jimmy Cliff

YouTube video by TheSunAnge

2268

Shirin Hirsch @shirinhirsch.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

I was reading about Elspeth King in Alasdair Gray's Poor Things - she features in the introduction. What a wonderful life www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

theguardian.com

Elspeth King obituary

Museum director and curator of the People’s Palace in Glasgow who reshaped it into a living record of the city’s social history

000

Shirin Hirsch @shirinhirsch.bsky.social · 02/11/2025

Our two year old twin just said ‘he misses his mummy’ and the other explained ‘but he has balloon’ 🥹🥹🥹

120

Shirin Hirsch @shirinhirsch.bsky.social · 02/11/2025

Sunday afternoon watching Up - what a great film 🎈 ❤️

130

Shirin Hirsch @shirinhirsch.bsky.social · 02/11/2025

I’m in this piece talking about the Manchester links with the fifth Pan African Congress…

032

Shirin Hirsch @shirinhirsch.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

Last few tickets for this, next Friday!

012

Shirin Hirsch @shirinhirsch.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

‘Would you let your daughter marry Enoch Powell?’ 😝 🥰

030

Shirin Hirsch @shirinhirsch.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

Beforehand there will also be a range of Manchester archives showcasing material documenting the Pan African Congress - free event but book tickets here phm.org.uk/events_new/a...

phm.org.uk

Archives in Solidarity - People's History Museum

031

Shirin Hirsch @shirinhirsch.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

This should be a great lecture @phm.org.uk to mark the 80th anniversary of the Fifth Pan African Congress with the wonderful Gary Younge. Tickets going fast here phm.org.uk/events_new/w...

phm.org.uk

What Peace? Whose Freedom? with Gary Younge - People's History Museum

173

Shirin Hirsch @shirinhirsch.bsky.social · 14/09/2025

A brilliant first published journal article by Mohammed Khan, on an Indian Seamen’s Home in 1940s Liverpool - well worth a read! www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1...

tandfonline.com

0107

Shirin Hirsch @shirinhirsch.bsky.social · 14/09/2025

A ‘wake up call’ seems right way of putting it for our side. Majority in London surely horrified at what just took place.

010

Shirin Hirsch @shirinhirsch.bsky.social · 14/09/2025

On the Tommy Robinson march… On the tram today and a man flicking through his Fb turns to his partner says ‘look Steve was on the march for common sense’, the tram passenger clicks ‘like’ and scrolls on. Huge potential for fascists to broaden and deepen their base further after yesterday

120

Shirin Hirsch @shirinhirsch.bsky.social · 08/09/2025

Ten to one on Burnham as next Labour leader, pretty good odds right now...

040