I've lived in Birmingham six years. In that time, so far two cyclists have been killed directly along my short commute.

Here's wishing big lawsuits on the people who have the power to prevent these results but prefer car owner convenience instead.

Thanks Saima! There's a strong Bristol angle too so I'm hoping to do an event there some time!

Oh, and I think British readers can put your pre-orders in for the book already, too, if you want! www.waterstones.com/book/empire-...

If you want to read more about Aitken and his world, about the multiple crises of the age of revolution, and sometimes about the crises of our own time too, I'm starting a free newsletter (ok, it's a blog) and I'd love you to sign up: buttondown.com/cutterham

Next year will be the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. There'll be a lot published about the American Revolution. But most of it probably won't centre the perspectives of working people on both sides of the Atlantic, including the British workers who embraced the American cause.

In 1776, a Scottish housepainter called James Aitken set out on a secret mission to destroy the British navy and win the War of Independence for the United States. His story is the core of my book, EMPIRE ABLAZE: The American Revolution and the Atlantic Working Class, out next summer with Verso!

(By the way, nobody knows more about this than @hannahforsyth.bsky.social and you should subscribe to her blog right now! hannahforsyth.substack.com)

UCU hasn't focused on university governance, but it should. Like their Australian counterparts, British universities are "profoundly undemocratic." @markpendleton.bsky.social is right we should learn from those in Australia who are taking the fight forward on this! ucucommons.org/2025/10/03/s...

Meanwhile people are out here writing books in stolen moments, between meetings about steering and assessment, 200 words at a time

Terminal manager-brain, I'm afraid. What's seen as important is not research but the apparatus around research. Partnerships! Capacity-building for these partnerships that you just forced these institutions to form! Assessing and steering!

Tory conference has "8.45am session on the last day of your discipline's big annual meeting" vibes.

📢Call for papers!

Benjamin Franklin House is hosting a conference, “Remember the ladies”: Women and Revolution, in London in May 2026!

Details are available here: benjaminfranklinhouse.org/event/spring...

If you have any questions, please email me at [email protected].

Let's make hope normal again.

youtu.be/qxt4HCjd7VA?...

Low speeds save lives; asking for higher speeds is a pro-death position, especially for your children and elderly family.

You better get those reviews in mainstream outlets now! 😁

Also, enjoying the rather eighteenth century capitalisation going on here. I did not write that copy!

Oh shit, the catalogue's out? Now I have to get on and do some actual promotion! 😬

We are building an eco socialist Green Party and we need your help to do that.

Still think the party isn’t perfect?
Well come help us make it perfect.
@frankadlingtons.bsky.social

I'd love to know if the managers of my USS pension are among those now whining for a blank cheque to pollute the country's waterways. Anyone know who's actually part of "London and Valley Water"? www.theguardian.com/business/202...

St John's church, Glastonbury peering out of the mist. Photograph taken this morning from Glastonbury Tor on Michaelmas day.

Every time I open an ebook via the university library I (and therefore presumably my students) get a handy "would you like an AI summary of this chapter?" popup.

Kinder Institute assistant prof, constitutional and legal history, 1750-1860!