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Alex Wragge-Morley @wraggem.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Yes absolutely - going to to try to talk this through with my "History of the Mind" students this year.

Alex Wragge-Morley @wraggem.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

On this, I think that the retreat from the Turing Test is quite telling. We've gone from "it's intelligence if it seems like intelligence from the outside" to "it needs to meet some ineffable criterion of intelligence that only humans possess". And of course nobody really knows that that is.

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Krista Kesselring @kjkesselring.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Really pleased to see Rosamund Oates's new 'Silent Histories' out. For a taster, Rosamund is giving a talk on the work at at the IHR (hybrid) on Oct. 1, as well as a talk at the Chelsea History Festival on Oct. 2 (links with details below). #earlymodern

Image of book cover for 'Silent Histories: Defness in Early Modern England' by Rosamund Oates, showing two hands as depicted in an early modern sign language manual.

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Fabrizio Baldassarri @fabribald.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Descartes's Le Monde is a fascinating and under-studied work in its own. The articles collected in this special issue tackle several important features from an innovative perspective! here the TOC

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JW Mason @jwmason.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

This is the master key to deciphering contemporary debates about free speech. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/se...

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Ulrich Schwarz @ulrichschwarz.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Our summer academy on "Science and Histories of Fever" is in full swing at the Marsilius Kolleg, with great talks from e.g. @kakape.bsky.social, @feverprojecthd.bsky.social and @lendertgelens.bsky.social. If you are around, join us for "Marsilius Kontrovers" tonight at 7 pm: tinyurl.com/y8dkkxw4

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Adrian Currie @adrian-currie.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

The aesthetics of science is a happening place where many of the cool kids hang out and do cool kid stuff (like, uh, think about the relationship between art and science), as @milenaivanova.bsky.social, @alicemurphs.bsky.social and i explain: philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/31... #philsci

philsci-archive.pitt.edu

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Lancaster University @lancasteruni.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Don't miss our own Dr Nicholas Radburn on 'Finding Britain’s Slave Traders with David Olusoga', beginning tonight at 9pm on BBC 2 📺 Watch it on iPlayer here 👉 pulse.ly/vkjy6e3i9k 📸: BBC/Hillgate Films and Voltage TV/Stephen Robinson

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Alex Wragge-Morley @wraggem.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

There's a very good essay called "The Female Thermometer" by Terry Castle -

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Alex Wragge-Morley @wraggem.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

far right. The more they flood the zone with their content, the more they can shape the discourse - shifting the Overton Window etc - in their favour. It is a huge shame that the left and centre left have not yet learned this lesson.

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Alex Wragge-Morley @wraggem.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

It's funny isn't it. When GB News the commentariat worked double time to portray it as a failure. Now, a few years down the line, it is a powerful and dangerous presence in the media landscape, shaping discourse in the way it was intended. Look at the US. Fox News was never enough for the GOP and

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Celine Camps @celinecamps.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Friday next week ❤️ 🔩 📍Oxford For those of you who are in the vicinity and would like to join, let me know! Attendance is free, but tickets are limited.

Screenshot of a powerpoint slide from my presentation on "(Re)Assembling Arts. The Invisible Screwmaker and the Construction of Objects in the Early Modern German-Speaking Lands." The slide shows part of 16th century clock, with screw-mechanisms on both ends, under a microscope.

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Vicky MacKenzie @vickymackenzie.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

My John Ruskin novel, EACH LEAF, EACH CURVE OF STEM, is out in January next year! You can pre-order a copy if you like - including from @kirkdalebooks.bsky.social! uk.bookshop.org/p/books/each...

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Will Jennings📉🗳️ @drjennings.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Politicians on the centre-left and centre-right simply don't seem to understand they are in an existential battle for the future of British democracy.

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Will Jennings📉🗳️ @drjennings.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

That challenge comes from malign foreign interference in British politics and society, direct challenges on the street to authority of the state, and an unprecedented influx of finance that significantly erodes democratic pluralism.

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Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

This is completely on Andy Burnham Last week Labour could have stopped this. Now we have a single person giving more money than the entire general election spending limit for a political party www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/202...

telegraph.co.uk

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Alex Wragge-Morley @wraggem.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

One of my replies here went missing - it just noted that there are huge centres of TV and film production north of Watford - most notably Manchester, Cardiff (where Dr Who is Made), Belfast (Game of Thrones was shot in Northern Ireland) etc etc

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Alex Wragge-Morley @wraggem.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

There were a few words missing there. Education brings in £32 billion in overseas fees - effectively £32 bn in exports. As a whole the education sector is massive, probably 5-6% of the whole economy. But since a lot of that is public spending I wanted to separate out the export bit.

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Alex Wragge-Morley @wraggem.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

To be honest, the main thing I take from this conversation is that lots of people don't know what is going on in the economy, or the relative weights of different sectors in it. Creative industries contribute more than 5% of the whole UK economy. Education brings in £32 billion of revenue per year.

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Alex Wragge-Morley @wraggem.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

talking about skilled tradespeople (i.e. to build and maintain all the infrastructre), as well as the people who interpret culture and give it value - value that then spills over into other sectors of the economy.

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Alex Wragge-Morley @wraggem.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

And obviously the same applies to heritage and history. There are arts and heritage organisations all over the country (I am writing this in Lancaster) and they play a major role in the economy. You talk about getting jobs serving in cafés - but that's a tiny segment of the jobs on offer. We are

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Alex Wragge-Morley @wraggem.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Obviously film/tv are not a solution to all unemployment. The point is that they are valuable contributors to the economy as a whole, and they employ a very wide range of people in different sectors - from catering to carpentry, or from electricians to lighting/camera crews - not just actors etc.

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Alex Wragge-Morley @wraggem.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Again - not serious. There is a huge TV production industry in Manchester, and they need a huge range of skills and experience. There is famously a major film/tv industry in Northern Ireland, and there are also major productions studios in Scotland and Wales (Dr Who is made in Wales).

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Alex Wragge-Morley @wraggem.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

country, providing good jobs to large numbers of people - and often providing a draw to people who come in and then spend money in other business. Not to speak of all the skilled trades involved in restoring and maintaining historic buildings etc etc

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Alex Wragge-Morley @wraggem.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

This is not a serious comment - the film industry employees thousands upon thousands of people in the UK, from the carpenters who build sets to the electricians who light them and - yes - the writers who make it all possible. Likewise museums and heritage are hugely valuable across the whole of the

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Alex Wragge-Morley @wraggem.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Can somebody screenshot this for us? Not surprising he is so badly informed, given that yesterday we found out that he didn't even know he was responsible for humanities and social sciences research.

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Alex Wragge-Morley @wraggem.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

AH YES. The SEVEN STARS. Is the proprietor still known as Roxy Beaujolais??

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Alex Wragge-Morley @wraggem.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Also terrifying that he simply doesn't know his own brief.

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Alex Wragge-Morley @wraggem.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

enables other enterprises to make money. And that's important. We need to think of universities as infrastructure, not as profit/loss-making centres.

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Alex Wragge-Morley @wraggem.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Agreed. There is a revolving door between academic and the media - especially in history. Right now the media ecosystem gets a huge amount of high-quality content either a) free or b) at very low cost. It's a bit like roads and railways. Does infrastructure make money? Of course not. But it is what

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Alex Wragge-Morley @wraggem.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

the UK's success with the vaccine as evidence that there needed to be *more* funding for fundamental research. It's because we can't anticipate our future needs that we carry out fundamental research. It is, needless to say, interesting that the UK government is too shortsighted to see this.

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Alex Wragge-Morley @wraggem.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Right! The whole point of universities is to provide things that businesses don't or won't provide. One of those things is fundamental research, which often provides unforeseen benefits. A good example of this is the Oxford Covid vaccine. Interestingly, an Emirati (I think) planning committee took

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Will Tullett @willtullett.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

More positively I am really pleased that SNIFF: A HISTORY OF SMELLS is out today!! Published by @yalebooks.bsky.social and out in all good bookshops. It's a history of smell across time and space that takes in a panoply of pongs and perfume from paper and ink to stink bombs and whale oil.

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Katherine Weikert @kateweikert.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

A very quick turn around because of paperwork, but we're hiring a one year post in Modern British History! Please have a look and share widely with anyone interested! Happy to take informal queries at the email in the job posting! www.winchester.ac.uk/About-Us/Wor...

winchester.ac.uk

Work with us - University of Winchester

Explore the University of Winchester and discover your new career. We have a variety of positions in academic and professional services. Work with us.

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Will Tullett @willtullett.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

If you pick up the new issue of Tate Etc., you’ll find a piece in it by me on the smell of formaldehyde - real or imagined - that lingers around Damien Hirst’s ‘Natural Histories’ works (including, in this case, his 1994 ‘Away from the Flock’). More on formaldehyde in Sniff as well!

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ceej @ceej.online · 03/09/2026

I do think “every rich person went insane during covid because it was the first time they’ve been inconvenienced in decades” felt a little reductive at first but damn if isn’t more and more compelling as the years drag on

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Alex Wragge-Morley @wraggem.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

honestly i am trying to come up with something but the best i can do is mundane

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Bruce Buchan @brucealexb.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Why did medicine and moral philosophy in the Scottish Enlightenment give rise to a global and colonial science of race? Find out here! @lindaaburnett.bsky.social and me in History of Science, Volume 64 Issue 3, September 2026. Out now, open access: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.....

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Alex Wragge-Morley @wraggem.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

True - but we need to do something with the high streets, including a) reducing business rates so that hospitality businesses stand a chance, b) rezoning high streets so they can be used for other things, and c) changing legal structures to make creative re-use of city centre property possible.

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Alex Wragge-Morley @wraggem.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

I see what you are saying, but Burnham is making the right call politically. He understands that a lot of people gauge the state of the economy by the state of the high streets. They may be wrong about the economy, but not wrong about how they perceive the economy.

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Adam Rutherford @adamrutherford.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

I presume Steven Pinker et al. will be signing the inevitable petition to protect this academic’s freedom?

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Richard Sambrook @sambrook.eurosky.social · 16/08/2026

BBC’s coverage of Reform’s welfare plans is frankly bizarre. Headlines in Ten, leading on some radio networks. Reform are not even the official opposition and the plans have less credibility than Count Binface. Will BBC News do the same for Lib Dem and Greens policy two years out from an election?

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Liberal Currents @liberalcurrents.com · 14/08/2026

"Living through a global resurgence of fascism, the greatest difficulty has proved to be not arguing against it, but convincing non-fascists that fascism’s adherents really mean it. That they believe what they are telling us they believe—and they will act accordingly."

liberalcurrents.com

Fascists Really Believe It

Millions could die because of ideas intellectually and morally equivalent to the ‘lizard people’ conspiracy theory.

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Alex Wragge-Morley @wraggem.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

It's also worth noting that Newton was - as an academic - notoriously unsuccessful.

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Alex Wragge-Morley @wraggem.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

The outcome of this really depends on which toothbrush it is

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