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Susan Major

@suemajor.bsky.social
4.4K followers 1.5K following 269 posts

Railway historian, living in York UK. susanmajorhistory.wordpress.com. Working class railway excursions mid-19c Britain, inc women's leisure mobility. Women railway workers WWII. FellowRHS. Local history for www.clementshallhistorygroup.org.uk

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Susan Major
Centre for Cities @centreforcities.bsky.social · 15h
Britain is *bad* at getting people into city centres. 🔗 buff.ly/QxcAsZo
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Burnham made Farage seem “angry, thin-skinned… absurd. What we witnessed today was a masterclass in political communication which makes Farage look like an amateur” Finally. The confidence that comes with emotional intelligence. It could make all the difference. iandunt.substack.com/p/burnham-sp...
iandunt.substack.com
Burnham speech: An astonishing moment of radicalism and commitment
It’s easy to be cynical, but it would be false. Something extraordinary is happening here.
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Best for Britain @bestforbritain.org · 26/09/2026
🚨Broadcasters are required to present news impartially, without political bias. Add your name to demand that Ofcom takes immediate action. ⬇️ bestforbritain.org/petition/farage-…
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Julia Laite @julialaite.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Old ladies immediately arrested and imprisoned for holding up signs to protest the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent civilians. Far right thug uses what looks like an illegal knife to slash a boat, endangering a life. And here I am many hours later waiting for any kind of police action.
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Susan Major @suemajor.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
My paper on Women, Railways and Leisure in Victorian Britain is in this new #VicSoc publication coming out soon. It offers glimpses of leisure activities of mid 19c ordinary #women, at a time of great change. www.victoriansociety.org.uk/national-new... @thevicsoc.bsky.social @balhnews.bsky.social
victoriansociety.org.uk
News from the Victorian Society | Victorian Railways: new Victorian Society publication explores Britain’s railway heritage
Victorian Railways is a new publication from the Victorian Society.
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Mike Galsworthy @mikegalsworthy.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
💥 On Oct 12th, Parliament will debate the UK JOINING THE EU! Use this page below to send an email to your MP. In the context of Canada-EU, 61% of the UK public for joining, and devolved leaders saying the future is the EU... ...Westminster needs to catch up. Sign and share everywhere please. 👇
europeanmovement.co.uk
Ask your MP to stand up for our future in Europe
On 12 October, Parliament will debate the UK's future relationship with Europe, after a government petition got over 100,000 signatures. Will you write to your MP to ask them to attend the debate?
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York and District Family History Society @yorkfhs.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Just reading Steve Barrett’s new article in the BALH Local History Newsletter. Join BALH now to read it and to have access to decades of Journals about local history. This one is a little known story about the brilliant engineer John Smeaton. @balhnews.bsky.social @federationfhs.bsky.social
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Gavin Esler @gavinesler.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
From France - On immigration. Worth a look.’
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Kieran Healy @kjhealy.co · 16/09/2026
They should have taken the opportunity to combine the Stanford Prison Experiment, the Stanford Marshmallow Experiment, and the Stanford Linear Accelerator into a show where people assigned as guards or prisoners are repeatedly bombarded with either one marshmallow now or two marshmallows later.
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JWexTheSpa @jwsidders.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Give this incredibly brave woman a medal. It would be great if more TV reporters did what @vicderbyshire.bsky.social does here: provide time and space for the genuinely decent and non-racist to air their views and share their experiences.
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Tanita Tikaram @tanitatikaram.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
What I love about Western democracy is you can bung a political party £ 36 million earned from criminal activity & most media will continue to point at asylum seekers & migrant care workers with families as the barbarians at the gate we need to defend ourselves from 🙄.
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Urban Truth Collective @urbantruth.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
How many more studies does your city need proving that people on bikes and on foot spend more on shopping streets than people in cars? Bike-lanes mean business. In general, and specifically more than on-street parking or another lane for cars. #UrbanTruth
Poster saying “Bike-lanes mean business!” By the Urban Truth Collective, with a photo of a central Paris bike-lane filled with people on bikes.
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Elaine Burke @elaineburke.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Forget follow the money, follow the cod. This is unbelievable.
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Paul Bernal @paulbernal.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
As I board the ferry from Tallinn to Helsinki, I’m reminded yet again of three things about the EU: 1) You don’t sacrifice any of your national identity or culture by being part of the EU. Estonia remains Estonia. Finland remains Finland 2) Schengen is great. 3) Brexit was and is shit.
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Gavin Esler @gavinesler.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Brilliant.
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Brian Groom @groomb.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Crail Harbour, Fife, Scotland, painting by Ann Spence Black, 1861-1947 (University of St Andrews).
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Brian Bilston @brianbilston.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
I’m off to Edinburgh today ahead of my seven shows at this year’s Fringe. As ever, my train ‘journey’ has got off to a spectacular start.
The Poet Now Standing at Platform 3A
 
The poet now standing at platform 3A
is the delayed 16.40 speaker for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 
calling at: Longwaite; Anguish; Bleakside;
Much Wallowing-in-the-Mire; Little Hope; 
Hangdog Manor; High Dudgeon; Irk; Fuckham; Mope; 
Doldrum Parkway; Wearyside Central; and Wits End.
                                                 
We are sorry to announce this poet is delayed 
by approximately one hour and fifteen minutes. 
Please listen for further announcements.
We apologise for the inconvenience this may cause.
 
The poet now standing at platform 3A
is the delayed 16.40 speaker for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Please note, this poet will now NOT be stopping at:
Great Ease; Serenity Junction; or Arrival-on-Time.




This poet has been delayed by approximately one hour 
and forty-eight minutes.
Customers are advised to stand well back from the poet, 
who’s on edge.
Please listen for further announcements.
We apologise for the disruption to your journey today.
 
The poet currently standing at platform 3A
is the delayed 16.40 speaker for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
This poet consists of nine elements: 
oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, tedium, delirium, 
odium, caffeine, shortbread, and despair.

A trolley service, featuring mild palpitations and a selection
of hot and cold sweats, is trundling through this poet.
This poet has been delayed by approximately two hours 
and twenty-three minutes.

Please listen for further disruptions.
We apologise for the announcements to your journey today.
There has been a platform altercation.
The agony at platform 3A does not stop here.
The 16.40 speaker for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 
has been disrupted.
Customers should not bore the poet at this time.
 
The platform now standing on poet 3A has been delayed
by approximately three hours and forty-two minutes.
We apologise for the apologies to your disruptions today.

If you hear an announcement that doesn’t sound right,
seek your stash. Or text a local dealer on 61016 
to help you through this. 
He’ll sort it. Seek it. Pay it. Snorted.

Please note that for your safety and comfort 
this station operates a no trains policy.
 



The fringe now standing at festival 16.40 is the delayed 
3A platform for the Edinburgh poet.
We are sorry to announce that this poet has been waylaid
by approximately four hours and twenty-two minutes.
Will passengers intending to travel on this service
make their way to the platform as the poet is now ready to jump.
 
Please note that longings must not be left unattended 
at this station. Any hope left unattended 
may be removed without warning, or destroyed.
 
This is a customer announcement.
The 16.40 speaker for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 
has terminated here.
A bard replacement service will be in operation.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.


Brian Bilston
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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
I think we still underplay how much this has to do with X. It remains the main platform used by politicians, commentators and journalists, it was bought by Musk precisely for this purpose, and it's worked
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Susan Major @suemajor.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
www.theguardian.com/money/2026/a...
theguardian.com
Work-life balance and Saint Monday | Brief letters
Brief letters: Changing weekends | The Sussexes’ security | Brotherly beard wars | A collective sigh | Lady Dagenham
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Susan Major @suemajor.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
A fascinating and thought-provoking article by @jonkenny.bsky.social jkcomarc.substack.com/p/what-is-co...
jkcomarc.substack.com
What is Community Archaeology?
From Training Excavations to Community-Led Research
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Susan Major @suemajor.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
I've got a talk coming up in October in our wonderful new bookshop in #York @balhnews.bsky.social @yorkfhs.bsky.social www.toppingbooks.co.uk/events/york/...
toppingbooks.co.uk
The History of York: Susan Major for Blossom Street at The Bookshop, York
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Tom Hirons @hironstom.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
🤔
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Kevin the Librarian 🇪🇺🇺🇦🇨🇦🏳️‍🌈 @the-librarian.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
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Dr Sophie Michell @sophiemhistory.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
As promised, a blog that talks about human error, children (not) being transported and why AI can't do what historians do (because it can't think) sophiemhistory.substack.com/p/historians...
sophiemhistory.substack.com
Historians and AI
Sources, methodology, and lies
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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Jenrick is an idiot sandwich. Read all about it. iandunt.substack.com/p/jenrick-is...
At any given moment you could ask yourself: What’s the most cynical, self-interested, irresponsible and yet also incredibly basic thing you could do now, and that’s precisely what he’ll do - whether it’s making anti-immigration videos or joining Reform. And yet, despite the obviousness of the action itself, he will always pursue it with this look of deep seriousness, as if he were Napoleon devising the Italian campaign.
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The Conversation UK @uk.theconversation.com · 28/07/2026
No 10 North is historic – but not unprecedented. Medieval York shows England has governed from more than one centre before.
tcnv.link
Andy Burnham’s No 10 North has a precedent – in medieval York
No 10 North is historic – but not unprecedented. Medieval York shows England has governed from more than one centre before.
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Dr. Jeroen W.P. Wijnendaele @drdragases.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Good grief, this hits home.
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John Zerafa @johnzerafa.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Data centres in the US are predicted to consume 25% of ALL US electricity by the mid 2030s. And require the water used by 10m US households each year. Utterly unsustainable.
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Gravel Influencer @gravelinfluencer.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
This is a fact I bring up often when people wield ableism in bad faith to argue against active transportation infrastructure. Creating safe and efficient mobility options for disabled nondrivers does not take away options from disabled folks who do need to drive.
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Luke Tryl @luketryl.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
A tale of two types of business in Burnham's announcement and where they fit into public opinion. Firstly it does not surprise me vape shops have been targeted - they came up repeatedly in Makerfield focus groups and our previous research found people overwhelmingly want fewer.
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Anthony Painter @anthonypainter.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Good day for Punch Tavern shareholders. The problem with cutting business rates on pubs is that it's big pubcos rather than the punter or even the landlord who benefits most. Worth looking at limiting to independents, freehouses and small chains.
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Susan Major @suemajor.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
This is being repeated on #Channel4 this Sunday, at 5.35pm, and I'll have a few things to say about #York Station.
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OldRailwayAccidents @rwldproject.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
🚨ONE WEEK TO GO!🚨 The Journal of Transport History's #Railway200 virtual collection of articles is free for all to access - until 8 July! Find out more about #RailwayHistory over the past 200 years, in global contexts:
journals.sagepub.com
Journal of Transport History 'Railway 200' collection of articles
Virtual collection of articles from the Journal of Transport History, covering 200 years of railway history.
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BBC Newsnight @bbcnewsnight.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
"We spend billions on housing benefit...How about instead of giving our money to private landlords, we invest in building some council houses?" New Statesman executive editor Oli Dugmore on Andy Burnham's offer to young people, including a focus on housing. #Newsnight
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Ian Kikuchi @curatorian.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
To me, this feels like another example of tech companies demanding access to public space to which they are not entitled, whether it's cluttering pavements with scattered bicycles or these delivery robots, which are arguably even more obnoxious.
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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 26/06/2026
Do you know anyone who knows Andy Burnham? I'm quite serious. I've written him a letter and - for the good of the British economy and his own electoral prospects - I'd really like someone close to him to read it. Please pass it on. www.freewheeling.info/blog/a-note-...
freewheeling.info
A Note To Andy Burnham — Freewheeling
A letter to the next Prime Minister about how he can use devolution to both serve the country and his own political ends. Power to the people!
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Rich Speight @footypol.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Can Sunderland’s forwards please stop letting the whole world see just how mint they are please? it’s getting worrying now. #SAFC
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Andrew Sissons @acjsissons.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
If I were in government I'd be scoping an announcement to have solar, batteries and air conditioning (heating and cooling) in every school and hospital by 2030
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Samira Shackle @samirashackle.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
I have to say, it's making me feel a little insane hearing commentators say Ed Miliband shouldn't be chancellor because of his "ideological zeal" for Net Zero, in a week where temperatures are so extreme that my kids are being sent home early every day and it's regularly 30 degrees inside my house
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Christopher Hale @christopherjhale.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
“Dear migrants, before I say any other word to you, I want to bow before your dignity. “You are not numbers or case files. “You are people — with a family and a home left behind, with dreams that no one has the right to scorn.” — Pope Leo XIV
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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
Trump. Ruins. Everything.
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Susan Major @suemajor.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
Brilliant performance from #BrianBrobbey l @safc.com
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Ian Fraser @ianfraser.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
FT exclusive Nigel Farage’s 2015-16 Brexit rallies were unlawfully funded from the EU budget. European monies paid for anti-immigrant posters during the demagogue’s ‘Say No To The EU’ tour
ft.com
Nigel Farage’s Brexit rallies were funded from the EU budget
European monies paid for anti-immigrant posters during ‘Say No to EU’ tour
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East Anglia Bylines @eastangliabylines.co.uk · 15/06/2026
A government can hit targets, cut waiting lists, raise wages and reduce migration. But if voters don’t see it, feel it, or hear about it, the politics still looks like failure. Stephen McNair writes on Starmer’s dilemma.
eastangliabylines.co.uk
Two years in, the fall of a tragic hero
Keir Starmer believes that changing things matters more than telling stories. It has been his downfall
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Alex Hall Hall @alexhh.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
This extraordinary article puts into context the obscene scale of Elon Musk’s wealth. The poverty of his soul is revealed in how he chooses to use his power - by crushing the poor, the disadvantaged and the most vulnerable. He is the poster boy for the rotten nature of our modern world.
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Trains Trams Tracks @trainstramstracks.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
“Not all of us want new cars. Some of us want trains and buses that come every 5 minutes.” - @myvoicemychoice.bsky.social
MY VOICE MY CHOICE
Not all of us want new cars. Some of us want trains and buses that come every 5 minutes.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DY7laNIgcJ8/
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Tom Roberts @tpgroberts.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
It is quite strange to listen to political coverage currently, even from mainstream sources, and remember that net migration has quartered since its peak, and is likely to fall to Cameron's tens of thousands target next year and this has made no difference to the discourse.
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Clements Hall Local History Group @clemhallhistory.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Bishy Road Street Party is coming soon! We'll be there Sun 21 June with displays, photos, books about our local area - Bishy Road, Nunnery Lane, South Bank, Clementhorpe, Bishophill, Micklegate. See us in the car park 11am-4 pm. @yorkfhs.bsky.social @balhnews.bsky.social @davidskaith.bsky.social
Poster for Bishy Road Street Party 21 June 2026
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Kurbs @kkurbs.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Please Use AI
PLEASE USE AI
Shawn Smucker
Be sure to use Al when making your next, I don't know, meal plan, for example. Definitely do not call your friend who loves to cook and ask her for her favorite recipes or tips or ways to save time making meals, because you will end
up talking for longer than you had hoped, hearing, perhaps, about her father's cancer diagnosis or how lonely she's been or even what she's planted in her spring garden and then lost with the early frost.
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