iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Andrew WM Smith @smidbob.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Looking over some archival docs while my daughter is out at swimming this morning and delighted to see this typo which conjures up not so much post-war commemoration as an alternative Planet of the Apes style world

Typed document reading: "Commander of the Gorilla forces in the Montpellier Zone"

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will pooley @willpooley.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

so sad to see our once great universities forced to such desperate measures to make money

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Andrew WM Smith @smidbob.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

I feel I need to offer some apologies for the malfeasance of my electronic namesake and also to say it's obviously nothing to do with me!

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Andrew WM Smith @smidbob.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

It looks like his Mum has called him back to the house and told him to put a coat on before he goes out to play

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Tom Hamilton @tombhamilton.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

The latest issue of French History is now online with five new research articles – from newspapers to seaweed and scouting... –, a review article on the history of sexuality in modern France, and a bundle of book reviews 💾🧐🇫🇷📸🖥️🌿👋 @frenchhistory.bsky.social

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Liesbeth Corens @onslies.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

YAY! Tickets now available! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-2026-a... Stefan Collini on '"Serious, but not narrowly professional”: the idea of a university-based general periodical in post-war Britain'. Should make for great conversation about the role of universities in 'serious' public discourse #UKHE

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Andrew WM Smith @smidbob.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

And then those who use the cloakroom... "Any food or liquids in here?" No, I swear blindly, as I hand over my rucksack filled with loose soup

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Liesbeth Corens @onslies.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

ah, this is going to be SO GOOD! And we're luring Aditya Chakrabortty to Mile End! Do join if you've got even just a passing interest in #SocialHistory, #BritishHistory, #UrbanHistory, history of photography, or a bunch of cool brains in one room. #SkyStorians

How do we write histories of small towns in the post-1945 period? Towns such as Halifax in the Calder Valley feature little in an otherwise thriving historiography of contemporary Britain. Yet for an earlier generation of social historian, most notably E. P. Thompson, who wrote The Making of the English Working Class while living there, such towns were crucial to understanding the processes of industrialisation and capitalist modernity. How can we include such places in more purposeful narratives of the more recent past? How do we write inclusive histories of belonging for the residents of these towns that do not consign them to being ‘left behind’, as though their histories are only considered to explain their ‘unmaking’ and marginalisation: towards an overdetermined present of post-Brexit Britain, flags and Reform?

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Rob Priest @rdpriest.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

_Oberammergau: The Passion Play and Its Audiences from the Enlightenment to the Nazis_ has won the German Studies Association's Barclay Book Prize for 2026. Thank you @thegsa.bsky.social and all who helped bring my book to life over many years. #überglücklich www.royalholloway.ac.uk/research-and...

royalholloway.ac.uk

Book Prize for Dr Robert Priest

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Mile End Institute @mileendinstitute.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Last night, @mileendinstitute.bsky.social co-hosted the first in a new series of lectures by @qmulsse.bsky.social's Professors of Practice. In this special event hosted by @tomchidwick.bsky.social, Lord Clement-Jones explored how universities can shape, assess and showcase graduates for the future.

Peter Downs, Jaspreet Kaur and Lord Clement-Jones, SSE's first Professors of Practice, posing together for a photograph.

Lord Clement-Jones lecturing at Queen Mary University of London on Monday 5 October 2026.

Lord Clement-Jones in conversation with Tom Chidwick at Queen Mary University of London on Monday 5 October 2026.

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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

'The University of Nottingham has confirmed that it will close its music and languages departments as it presses ahead with more than 500 job cuts despite widespread opposition from staff and students.' A blight on East Midlands and UK higher education.

timeshighereducation.com

Nottingham confirms course closures with hundreds of jobs affected

Languages and music departments to close despite strikes and protests but university insists it has addressed staff concerns in revised plans

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Royal Historical Society @royalhistsoc.org · 05/10/2026

@royalhistsoc.org looks forward to taking part at this very helpful annual event for new researchers. It's an excellent orientation to the many ways @ihr.bsky.social and other organisations can support new graduates as you begin your research #Skystorians

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David Klemperer @dmk1793.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

If you are around central London on Monday evening, I’ll be speaking at the IHR French History Seminar in Senate House about once-democratic socialists who saw progressive potential in Nazism. Do come along!

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Andrew WM Smith @smidbob.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

(Post about tech problem deleted so as not to highlight solved issue in error)

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Andrew WM Smith @smidbob.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Looking forward to welcoming @dmk1793.bsky.social to the @ihr.bsky.social Modern French History seminar this Monday 5 October at 17h30. David will be giving a paper on 'Collaborationist Socialism in Nazi-Occupied France.' Please do join us or sign up online: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/... 🗃️

history.ac.uk

Collaborationist Socialism in Nazi-Occupied France

IHR Modern French History

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Andrew WM Smith @smidbob.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Oh, as I type it has actually resolved! Seminars are now visible, thank you to behind the scenes folks

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Andrew WM Smith @smidbob.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Just got a text from the blood donation service to let me know my donation was issued to a hospital in Cambridge. It's really affirming to get to know more about how it can tangibly help people. If you are able to do so, it is painless, easy & a good thing to do www.blood.co.uk

blood.co.uk

Home

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Chris Bertram @crookedfootball.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Radical Philosophy (Spring 1984)

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Andrew WM Smith @smidbob.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

About to go live on France24 English channel to talk about the latest in the French presidential elections, including the revelations about the RN President's strongly alleged antisemitism

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Andrew WM Smith @smidbob.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Went to see de Gaulle pt2 yesterday and - yes - I cried when the Eluard poem was read

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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

'In his [Ivison's] view, the government is avoiding the bigger issues of what universities are for and who should pay for them.' It would help if universities would ask (and answer) that 1st big question in public rather than just parroting government. That's what institutional autonomy is for.

researchprofessionalnews.com

To save UK higher education, start talking about knowledge - Research Professional News

Until debate on universities foregrounds their core purposes, their woes will deepen, says Margot Finn

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Andrew WM Smith @smidbob.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Was on France24 last night talking about the youthful antisemitism revelations for the RN's President. With this many bad apples, you'd be right to worry about a bitter harvest

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Andrew WM Smith @smidbob.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I'll be on @france24.com english channel tonight around 8.30pm (London time) to talk about the latest French political polling. But first, I'm off to see part 2 of the de Gaulle film

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Andrew WM Smith @smidbob.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

I originally heard about the story around aged 10 when I was visiting up in Kintail & had a 'panoramic' camera to try & get a badge for Cubs. I took a picture of some of my uncle's sheep, then my gran told me it was Murdy Cairns' house, then proceded to tell the tale of his Dad's court case

Blurry photo of some sheep in the highlands, with a house in the background and a farming pickup truck

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Andrew WM Smith @smidbob.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Kintail crofter whose pet lamb strayed onto the estate of an American landowner Winans and led to a Court of Sessions appeal. Crofter was a Macrae and my Gran shared a desk with the crofter's son at primary school (and will be related)

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Andrew WM Smith @smidbob.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Oooh, have you come across the pet lamb case from 1885? I have a connection to some of the people involved (hint: the M middle name)

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Andrew WM Smith @smidbob.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Was booking a ticket and my wife pointed out they'd missed a trick by not having a big de Gaulle head popcorn bucket. His képi could flap back!

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Andrew WM Smith @smidbob.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

You should open a cafe in Hoxton selling this

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Andrew WM Smith @smidbob.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Discovering the Ark of the Covenant would be some impact case study

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Dave Andress @davidandress.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Well, there you are: official UK govt figures confirm it costs £3,000 a year more to teach the average undergraduate than they're willing to pay us. www.gov.uk/government/p... Now, they'll explain how that's our fault for greedily having almost no pay-rises for a decade...

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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

It was great to welcome the "Parliament Matters" podcast to "the political studies powerhouse that is Queen Mary University of London". Featuring the brilliant @ruthfox.bsky.social @darcyxtip.bsky.social @cathhaddon.bsky.social & @danielgover.bsky.social, plus me going tonto on billionaire donors.

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Andrew WM Smith @smidbob.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Always catnip to a historian when you see this kind of phrase in a preserved document in the archives

Typed letter reading "maybe I suggest that you should burn this letter after you have taken action on it?"

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Andrew WM Smith @smidbob.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

That was a protest about deprivation (especially lack of transport and schools), but was part of the bigger protests of that decade about development plans. BBC reporting at the time jokingly called him the "Ian Smith of E.14"

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Andrew WM Smith @smidbob.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Amused by this story and the echoes of when the Isle of Dogs declared UDI in March 1970. Apparently Cllr Ted Johns received a letter from Mexico addressed to 'Government House' which the Post Office redirected to his flat ("so the PO must recognise it") www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Piddington in Oxfordshire votes to leave UK over asylum plans

Piddington residents vote over proposals to house up to 1,256 male asylum seekers nearby.

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Andrew WM Smith @smidbob.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Yes, I somewhat agree, though also feel there is plenty of that line in the media & would go so far as to say that's pretty much the dominant discourse! My sense is that in chipping away at the general glazing of the far right there is perhaps some small semblance of a useful corrective

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Andrew WM Smith @smidbob.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Here's me on @en.france24.com yesterday, talking over the opinion polls on the upcoming Presidential election. I tried to talk about how political fragmentation over polarisation might tell us more about the campaign, plus the need for more participatory democracy www.france24.com/en/amid-fran...

france24.com

Amid France’s political 'fragmentation', 'a case needs to be made for participatory democracy’

Carys Garland is pleased to welcome Dr. Andrew Smith, Historian of Modern France and Lecturer in Liberal Arts at Queen Mary University of London. He argues that Marine Le Pen and the National Rally’s…

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Andrew WM Smith @smidbob.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

About to go live on @en.france24.com for the first time after the rentrée to talk about recent polling and the Presidential race for 2027 in France

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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Take History for example. (Seriously, do take History, students!). Sure you'll find St Andrews, LSE, Cambridge, Oxford and Durham in the top 10. But also in that top group is Anglia Ruskin (7th, with 96.2% satisfied with teaching) and Bangor (9th, with 97.4% satisfied with teaching).

Landscape photo of Main Arts building, University of Bangor, see from Bangor Mountain.

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School of Advanced Study, University of London @sas-news.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

The @ihr.bsky.social, @senatehouselib.bsky.social and SAS are excited to announce that bookings are now open for History Day 2026! 🥳 Save the date for Wednesday 18 November and join us in Senate House for this celebration of all things history. Book your free place: bit.ly/4yw4zWt

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Andrew WM Smith @smidbob.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Obvs I enjoyed the de G film and - in case you want my contribution to weeks old discourse - it was an awful lot better than the Odyssey (which was kinda fine & stumbled at the first hurdle by asking us to see MD as smart enough to play old sly sandles himself)

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