Pauline Stafford

@pstafford.bsky.social

1.6K followers 340 following 410 posts

Historian of early Middle Ages, Grandmother, Leftwing, Labour, Leeds, British, European. Emerita Prof University of Liverpool

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Pauline Stafford is Professor Emerita of Early Medieval History at Liverpool University and a visiting professor at Leeds University in England. Dr. Stafford is a former vice-president of the Royal Historical Society. .. more

History 50%

Philosophy 24%

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Pauline Stafford @pstafford.bsky.social · 5h

A brilliant wide-ranging collection. Sculpture is one of the sources which illuminate places not covered by the survival of the written word. Excellent to see it getting more serious attention.

Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 17h

Just out!

As @sarahsemple.bsky.social says, '544 pages and 190 images of pure sculptural joy!'

A fantastic cast list and a tremendous achievement @ascorpus.bsky.social.

boydellandbrewer.com/book/early-m...

Pauline Stafford @pstafford.bsky.social · 5h

One small step - now let’s take a long walk.

Peter Jukes @peterjukes.bsky.social · 17h

The founder of an investment company who bought an £8.5 million London flat after supplying 50 million faulty PPE masks during the pandemic has had a criminal restraint order imposed on the property.

www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/art...

Financier’s £8.5m flat frozen amid tax investigation over PPE deal

Tim Horlick bought the Pimlico property shortly after his company was awarded the now-contentious £255m contract by the government

www.thetimes.com

Reposted by Pauline Stafford

Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 6h

This looks tremendous!

Agenda des médiévistes @rmblf.bsky.social · 7h

Publication – « Les lois barbares. Dire le droit et le pouvoir en Occident après la disparition de l’Empire romain », éd. Sylvie Joye

rmblf.be/2025/11/27/p...

Publication – « Les lois barbares. Dire le droit et le pouvoir en Occident après la disparition de l’Empire romain », éd. Sylvie Joye

Enfants de Rome, les royaumes dits barbares ou post-romains le sont assurément, tout comme leurs lois. Cependant, en ce qui concerne le droit comme le reste, on sut élaborer des structures et des i…

rmblf.be

Reposted by Charles West, Pauline Stafford, Aidan O’Sullivan

Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 17h

Reposted by Mary Corcoran, Pauline Stafford

Peter Jukes @peterjukes.bsky.social · 17h

Financier’s £8.5m flat frozen amid tax investigation over PPE deal

Tim Horlick bought the Pimlico property shortly after his company was awarded the now-contentious £255m contract by the government

www.thetimes.com

Reposted by Andrew Scott, Lesley A. Hall, John Hogan , and 1 more Andrew Scott, Lesley A. Hall, John Hogan, Pauline Stafford

dag @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 1d

Juries are not perfect.

Many of the worst miscarriages of justice have followed jury trials.

But the merit of juries is not so much the power they have, but the power they prevent others from having.

They mean a judge cannot just nod-along with prosecution evidence and give a guilty verdict.

Reposted by Alison Phipps, Pauline Stafford, Catherine J. Frieman , and 1 more Alison Phipps, Pauline Stafford, Catherine J. Frieman, Paul Langley

Felicity Callard @felicitycallard.bsky.social · 1d

“exiting the market”

In the next category down, where the OfS is concerned about the risk of exit within 12 months, Lapworth said there are currently seven large and 17 small institutions.
"That's us being conservative so we are on the right foot and engaging...we're not saying they are going to exit in a disorderly way," Lapworth said. "I'm confident we understand what's happening in those situations."
In a third category for providers with a two-to-three-year risk of exit, Lapworth said there are 26 institutions.
"The pattern generally is that the smaller ones are those that we're more worried about than the larger ones," Lapworth said.

Pauline Stafford @pstafford.bsky.social · 1d

Exactly what Trump hopes to achieve through his threats. He doesn’t have to follow through with legal action, the threat was enough to trigger self-censorship. And of a REITH lecturer. What would Reith have thought?

Rutger Bregman @rutgerbregman.com · 2d

I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.

They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1

Reposted by Jonathan Portes, Cas Mudde, Ben H. Ansell , and 72 more Jonathan Portes, Cas Mudde, Ben H. Ansell, Richard S.J. Tol, Dorothy Bishop, David M. Farrell, Will Jennings, Stefan Rahmstorf, David N. Thomas, Gavin A. Schmidt, Patrick A. Jansen, John Horgan, Steve Peers, Andrew Scott, Colin Murray, Mark D. White, Huw Price, Rosemary A. Joyce, Elizabeth Stokoe, Dirk Pilat, Charles West, Martijn W. Hesselink, Chris Hanretty, Simon Wren‐Lewis, Alison Phipps, Mary Corcoran, Anand Menon, Michelle Everson, Jo Barraket, Rebecca Tushnet, Ben Worthy, David R. Miller, Robert Wolfe, Gary D. Rawnsley, Aileen McHarg, Jacob T. Levy, Simon Glendinning, Scott A. Imberman, Julie Cupples, Lyndsey Stonebridge, Stephen Ryan, Samantha Brennan, Jonathan Birch, Anne Norton, Hubert Zimmermann, Leo McCann, Timothy Burke, Manuel Puppis, Graeme Warren, David Bartram, Lisa Diedrich, Brian Doucet, Ann Bartow, Stuart White, Pauline Stafford, Clayton Littlejohn, Rense Corten, Greg Linden, Jack Stilgoe, Lukas Graf, Jon Dean, Klaus Oschema, Christina Pagel, Daxton R. Stewart, Rune Møller Stahl, Olivier Mannoni, Camille Lefebvre, Aviel Roshwald, Colin Talbot, Tarik Abou‐Chadi, Nathan P. Kalmoe, Jeroen Van Bouwel, David Spurrett, François Guesnet, Speranţa Dumitru

Rutger Bregman @rutgerbregman.com · 2d

Pauline Stafford @pstafford.bsky.social · 2d

‘The progressive middle class’ - many, most? of whom are the children and grandchildren of the working class of my - and Glasman’s - childhood.

Sharon @sharonk.bsky.social · 2d

there's a lot to unpack here Lord Glasman

We return to politics. The working classes, he says, saved Britain during the Second World War, yet were repaid with contempt. “The way that my beloved working class was treated under Margaret Thatcher was cruel and deeply disrespectful, and we are still suffering the consequences,” he says. At a time when unemployment is ticking up and six million people are parked on out-of-work benefits, he wants to restore dignity in employment and see an end to the cycle of welfare dependency.

As the Conservative Party was busy selling its soul, Labour abandoned its pro-worker position. “What Thatcher mercilessly initiated, Tony Blair immaculately consummated,” he says. This was manifest in New Labour’s attitude towards higher education. In 1979, roughly 10 per cent of school leavers went to university. Then Blair set his target, encouraging school leavers to move 100 miles from home and dismiss their intergenerational bonds. And, inevitably, “this very beautiful party was colonised by the progressive middle class”.

Reposted by Will Jennings, Tim Bale, Tom Griffin , and 1 more Will Jennings, Tim Bale, Tom Griffin, Pauline Stafford

Sharon @sharonk.bsky.social · 2d

there's a lot to unpack here Lord Glasman

Reposted by Pauline Stafford

Princeton University Press @princetonupress.bsky.social · 2d

We're delighted to see @davidwoodman45.bsky.social’s The First King of England selected by @proflroach.bsky.social as a @historytoday.com Book of the Year! Learn more about this brilliant biography of Æthelstan here—

The First King of England

From one of today’s leading historians of the early medieval period, an enthralling chronicle of Æthelstan, England’s founder king whose achievements of 927 rival the Norman Conquest of 1066 in…

press.princeton.edu

Reposted by Charles West, Pauline Stafford

Caroline Dodds Pennock @carolinepennock.bsky.social · 3d

Eek! My episode doesn't technically air until 8 December, but the whole series of the new BBC Arts Civilisations series is out now on iPlayer, including this episode on the Aztecs with me and friends @amyfuller.bsky.social & @restall.bsky.social (& others not on the Sky). Airs Mondays at 9pm, BBC2.

Civilisations: Rise and Fall - Series 1: 3. Aztecs

The Aztecs battle to save their civilisation from Spanish invaders – but is the real threat from the enemy within?

www.bbc.co.uk

Reposted by Pauline Stafford

Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 3d

They remain the only government in my lifetime without a theory of how economic growth happens and a determination that it definitely not be through universities, immigration, high skilled services, tax simplification, trade relations etc

Pauline Stafford @pstafford.bsky.social · 3d

Eye-opener on the current activity of hereditaries and Tories in the Lords to thwart and frustrate government legislation. And the obvious question - why is No 10 saying so little - nothing -about ut? observer.co.uk/news/columni...

The Lords they are a-leaping to frustrate ministers | The Observer

observer.co.uk

Pauline Stafford @pstafford.bsky.social · 3d

Speaking sense as usual. @alexsobel.co.uk

Alex Sobel MP @alexsobel.co.uk · 3d

We need to detoxify the conversation on people seeking asylum in the UK.

Longer clip: https://loom.ly/ueMutoA

#AsylumReform

Reposted by Pauline Stafford

Alex Sobel MP @alexsobel.co.uk · 3d

We need to detoxify the conversation on people seeking asylum in the UK.

Longer clip: https://loom.ly/ueMutoA

#AsylumReform

Reposted by Pauline Stafford

@Boom-WhatsGoingOn.bsky.social @boom-whatsgoingon.bsky.social · 3d

Credit grabber: A common term for someone who takes credit for the work or achievements of others without acknowledgment.

Reposted by Pauline Stafford

Michael Bell @mbellcoop.bsky.social · 3d

I don't think (successive) governments who ignore the financial crisis in universities really realise what it will look like in cities, including northern cities like mine, if the higher education sector collapses. Newcastle's economy is *really fucking really* propped up by students

George Mann @sgfmann.bsky.social · 3d

i: Reeves to unveil £600m raid on foreign student
university fees #TomorrowsPapersToday

Reposted by Pauline Stafford

Rafael Behr @rafaelbehr.bsky.social · 3d

I have a limitless appetite for Beatles alt takes and outtakes anyway, but in era of AI-generated music I’m finding the new Anthology release especially poignant as reminder of how humans create things, collaboratively, iteratively, being silly, making mistakes …

Reposted by Pauline Stafford

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 4d

Severe winds blow through UK (not just English) university strategy & finances this week. No need to start a dialogue on subject provision. But starting one that's national & includes experts who shape & deliver actual teaching & research in actual subjects (all of them) would be revolutionary. 6/6

Reposted by Pauline Stafford

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 4d

According to the article, as opposed to the headline, the suspension is ‘temporary’. Quite a read.

Charles Logan @charleswlogan.bsky.social · 10d

"Powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4o model by default...tests repeatedly showed that the AI toy dropped its guardrails the longer a conversation went on, until hitting rock bottom on incredibly disturbing topics."

AI-Powered Stuffed Animal Pulled From Market After Disturbing Interactions With Children

FoloToy says it's suspended sales of its AI-powered teddy bear after researchers found it gave wildly inappropriate and dangerous answers.

futurism.com

Pauline Stafford @pstafford.bsky.social · 4d

‘AI could be for human relationships what junk food is to nourishment.’ A bleak outlook, but Bregman offers hope - pressure for regulation.

Pauline Stafford @pstafford.bsky.social · 4d

Hate to sound like a broken record, but Thatcher+Brexit again. Unfortunately the damage is not easily undone.

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 4d

'In short, Britain has built an economy reliant on too many international middlemen.'

To combat rising prices, the government’s only option is to take on the cost itself | The Observer

observer.co.uk

Pauline Stafford @pstafford.bsky.social · 4d

A sad case of the progressive impoverishment of language - we can no longer make this distinction. My grandchildren would undoubtedly have appreciated it.

Matthew Scarborough 𐃌 @mattitiahu.bsky.social · 6d

Appendix: Here are the two 'fart' roots in question (*pesd- 'leise furzen; fart quietly'; *perd- 'laut furzen; fart loudly) as given in the Lexicon der Indogermanischen Verben (2e) with their cognates.

*pesd-1 ‘(leise) furzen, fisten’ IEW 829

Präsens *pésd-e- lat. pēdō, -ere ‘furzen’
lit. bezdù, (bezdė́ti) ‘fisten’2

*p(e)sd-ei̯e- ?gr. βδέω ‘furze leise, fiste’3
[slov. (+) pəzdím, (pəzdéti) ‘fisten’4

Neubildungen: Perfekt lat. pepēdī ‘furzte’

(M. K.)

1 Einzelsprachlich in der R(z) auch assimiliert bzd- (> gr. bd-), von wo aus *b auch in die R(e) verschleppt werden kann; vgl. noch *pesd-i- in mhd. vist m. ‘Fist’ = gr. πέζις ‘Bovist’.
2 Mit b nach der R(z).
3 Allerdings spricht Aor. βδέσαι (wenn nicht sekundär) für eine (nominale?) Basis *bdes-.
4 Sekundär in die Óe/i-Klasse eingegliedert; auch mit assimiliertem b in russ. bzdet', čech. bzdíti.

*perd- ‘(laut) furzen’ IEW 819

Aorist *pérd-/pr̥d- ?[jav. pərəδən V. 3,32 ‘furzten’1
[gr. att. -έπαρδεν ‘furzte’

Präsens *pérd-e- ai. klass. (11. Jh.) pardate ‘furzt’2
gr. att. πέρδομαι ‘furze’
ahd. ferzan, [an. freta3 ‘furzen’
lett. pȩr̂du, (pir̂st); [lit. pérdžiu, (pérsti) ‘furzen’
alb. pjerdh ‘furzt’

Perfekt *pe-pórd/pr̥d- gr. att. πέπορδα ‘furze’4
[an. frat ‘furzte’

Essiv ?*pr̥d-h₁i̯é- russ. (+) peržú, (perdét') ‘furzen’

(M. K.)

1 Oder Präs., so KELLENS, Verbe 102; dann mit unklarer R(z), nur graphisch?
2 Schlecht belegt, fast nur DhP, aber vgl. hind´ (+) pOEdnOE (TURNER 7933).
3 Mit wohl tabubedingter Metathese.
4 Präsentische Funktion!

Reposted by Pauline Stafford

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 4d

'In short, Britain has built an economy reliant on too many international middlemen.'

To combat rising prices, the government’s only option is to take on the cost itself | The Observer

observer.co.uk

Pauline Stafford @pstafford.bsky.social · 4d

No time for experts. #COVID #Tories

David Osland @davidosland.bsky.social · 5d

Newmarket MP Matt Hancock gave a £37bn Covid testing contract to Jockey Club director Dido Harding, who subcontracted it to Grand National sponsor Randox, employer of Tory MP Owen Paterson, whose late wife chaired Aintree racecourse. That's how the Tories handled the pandemic.

Reposted by Tom Shakespeare, Leigh Sparks, John Foot , and 5 more Tom Shakespeare, Leigh Sparks, John Foot, Jonathan Hopkin, Michael H. Whitworth, Pauline Stafford, Christina Pagel, Michael Larkin

David Osland @davidosland.bsky.social · 5d

Reposted by Dorothy Bishop, Steve Peers, Pauline Stafford

dag @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 5d

Trump v the BBC cont'd: an odd and desperate letter from the US media regulator

Or: why you should have your evidence in place before you threaten a law suit

A new post by me:
emptycity.substack.com/p/trump-v-th...

Trump v the BBC cont'd: an odd and desperate letter from the US media regulator

Or: why you should have your evidence in place before you threaten a law suit

emptycity.substack.com

Reposted by Pauline Stafford

Friends of Friendless Churches @friendlesschurches.bsky.social · 5d

In the UK, you could demolish a church VAT-free, but if you wanted to repair that church, you would have to pay VAT.

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