Prof Ben Pohl
@benpohl.bsky.social
Professor of Medieval History, University of Bristol 📚 w/ Oxford Univ Press, Cambridge Univ Press, Boydell & Brewer, Schnell & Steiner, ARC Humanities Press; now writing ‘The Medieval Library: Using and Abusing Books in the Middle Ages’ for Reaktion Books
Pinned
Prof Ben Pohl
@benpohl.bsky.social
· Dec 11
Very happy to have signed the contract for my next book with @reaktionbooks.bsky.social! ✍️
Unsurprisingly, agriculture is identified as one of the main drivers of global water wastage and pollution; what is surprising, however, is that water-guzzling AI supercomputers and data centres get no mention whatsoever…
Era of ‘global water bankruptcy’ is here, UN report says
Overuse and pollution must end urgently as no one knows when whole system might collapse, says expert
www.theguardian.com
January 20, 2026 at 6:47 PM
Unsurprisingly, agriculture is identified as one of the main drivers of global water wastage and pollution; what is surprising, however, is that water-guzzling AI supercomputers and data centres get no mention whatsoever…
*chef’s kiss*
A joke for the history buffs:
Germany’s satirical newspaper @der-postillon.com titles: “Vienna Academy of the Arts offers Trump admission as a student — They don’t want to get blamed again“
Germany’s satirical newspaper @der-postillon.com titles: “Vienna Academy of the Arts offers Trump admission as a student — They don’t want to get blamed again“
January 18, 2026 at 7:39 PM
*chef’s kiss*
Reposted by Prof Ben Pohl
January 14, 2026 at 4:28 PM
Ein kolossales Armutszeugnis der deutschen Wissenschaftsfinanzierung. Peinlich.
Also nochmal zum mitschreiben:
Ich kann jetzt bei einem der wichtigsten Geldgeber in der deutschen Wissenschaft mit Hilfe von KI geschriebene Anträge einreichen die dann mit ebenfalls mit KI begutachtet werden. Einzige Voraussetzung ist dass es transparent gemacht wird. Was für eine Farce.
Ich kann jetzt bei einem der wichtigsten Geldgeber in der deutschen Wissenschaft mit Hilfe von KI geschriebene Anträge einreichen die dann mit ebenfalls mit KI begutachtet werden. Einzige Voraussetzung ist dass es transparent gemacht wird. Was für eine Farce.
Die DFG will künftig die Nutzung von Künstlicher Intelligenz #KI in der #Begutachtung ermöglichen. Der Einsatz darf allerdings nur unter klar definierten Bedingungen erfolgen. Eine Leitlinie dazu soll im ersten Quartal 2026 veröffentlicht werden. Mehr zu den Prinzipien:
www.dfg.de/de/aktuelles...
www.dfg.de/de/aktuelles...
January 13, 2026 at 12:21 PM
Ein kolossales Armutszeugnis der deutschen Wissenschaftsfinanzierung. Peinlich.
Reposted by Prof Ben Pohl
We are really excited to announce the second of our fantastic keynote speakers: author, literary historian, Middle English and Biblical poetry expert... our very own Dr Cathy Hume (@cathyhume.bluesky.social)! 🎉🎊🎉
January 13, 2026 at 10:39 AM
We are really excited to announce the second of our fantastic keynote speakers: author, literary historian, Middle English and Biblical poetry expert... our very own Dr Cathy Hume (@cathyhume.bluesky.social)! 🎉🎊🎉
Reposted by Prof Ben Pohl
become ungovernable
January 11, 2026 at 12:53 PM
become ungovernable
Reposted by Prof Ben Pohl
Brexit war noch nie so eine schlechte Idee wie heute.
Breaking News: The EU agreed to a sweeping trade pact with four South American countries that would create one of the largest free-trade zones in the world.
European Union Agrees to Landmark Free-Trade Deal With South America
The agreement with Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay represents a push for deeper global cooperation, in contrast to the United States turning to coercion in its dealings with other countries.
nyti.ms
January 9, 2026 at 1:45 PM
Brexit war noch nie so eine schlechte Idee wie heute.
Reposted by Prof Ben Pohl
@damedianajohnson.bsky.social
I don't just want the return of Freedom of Movement: I want the return of the European citizenship & identity that were stolen from me agst my will 10 yrs ago by criminals & fools.
I don't just want the return of Freedom of Movement: I want the return of the European citizenship & identity that were stolen from me agst my will 10 yrs ago by criminals & fools.
Starmer once again says there will be no return to free movement of people
Please repost if you demand the restoration of the Freedom of Movement that was robbed from us by foreign interference and the worst abuses of democracy in modern British history.
Please repost if you demand the restoration of the Freedom of Movement that was robbed from us by foreign interference and the worst abuses of democracy in modern British history.
January 4, 2026 at 10:22 PM
@damedianajohnson.bsky.social
I don't just want the return of Freedom of Movement: I want the return of the European citizenship & identity that were stolen from me agst my will 10 yrs ago by criminals & fools.
I don't just want the return of Freedom of Movement: I want the return of the European citizenship & identity that were stolen from me agst my will 10 yrs ago by criminals & fools.
Reposted by Prof Ben Pohl
Starmer is writing in the Times again where he compares calls to leave the ECHR with calls to tax billionaires.
Both are 'wrong and dangerous'.
I don't think anyone is saying 'tax billionaires and that will fix everything' but it will certainly go a long way to helping fix things.
Both are 'wrong and dangerous'.
I don't think anyone is saying 'tax billionaires and that will fix everything' but it will certainly go a long way to helping fix things.
January 4, 2026 at 8:35 AM
Starmer is writing in the Times again where he compares calls to leave the ECHR with calls to tax billionaires.
Both are 'wrong and dangerous'.
I don't think anyone is saying 'tax billionaires and that will fix everything' but it will certainly go a long way to helping fix things.
Both are 'wrong and dangerous'.
I don't think anyone is saying 'tax billionaires and that will fix everything' but it will certainly go a long way to helping fix things.
Reposted by Prof Ben Pohl
BREAKING: Ed Davey’s response to Keir Starmer’s statement
January 3, 2026 at 9:22 PM
BREAKING: Ed Davey’s response to Keir Starmer’s statement
Reposted by Prof Ben Pohl
Benachrichtigung: Friedrich Merz hat seinen Beziehungsstatus zum Völkerrecht auf "it's complicated" geändert.
January 3, 2026 at 9:50 PM
Benachrichtigung: Friedrich Merz hat seinen Beziehungsstatus zum Völkerrecht auf "it's complicated" geändert.
Great to see my new study of the Bayeux Tapestry getting some traction across the Channel! If you’re interested in my argument—namely that the embroidery was designed as mealtime reading in a monastic refectory—you can read the article for free here: academic.oup.com/histres/arti...
January 3, 2026 at 8:16 AM
Great to see my new study of the Bayeux Tapestry getting some traction across the Channel! If you’re interested in my argument—namely that the embroidery was designed as mealtime reading in a monastic refectory—you can read the article for free here: academic.oup.com/histres/arti...
There are worse ways to start the New Year than with this review of our ‘Bristol Merlin’ in Speculum, calling it ‘a methodological model for twenty-first-century fragmentology … successfully bridging the gap between rigorous scholarship and accessibility.‘ – www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Leah Tether, Laura Chuhan Campbell, and Benjamin Pohl, The Bristol “Merlin”: Revealing the Secrets of a Medieval Fragment, with the assistance of Michael Richardson. (Medieval Media and Culture.) Leed...
www.journals.uchicago.edu
January 2, 2026 at 8:48 PM
There are worse ways to start the New Year than with this review of our ‘Bristol Merlin’ in Speculum, calling it ‘a methodological model for twenty-first-century fragmentology … successfully bridging the gap between rigorous scholarship and accessibility.‘ – www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Indeed. I work in a department that teaches/researches history from c.1000 to the present, and medievalists, whilst covering about 50% of that period, currently only account for c.10% of colleagues, my humble self included.
Excessive modernism - departments unbalanced towards the study of modern history - is the crop-blight of history departments and has long been so.
Modern history and modernists are valuable and important, of course, but the ratios have long since skewed absurdly in favor of modern history.
Modern history and modernists are valuable and important, of course, but the ratios have long since skewed absurdly in favor of modern history.
YES! I have been banging this drum constantly for years now, mostly at my prior institution. Premodernity is marginalized even in history departments, which should absolutely know better.
December 31, 2025 at 8:12 AM
Indeed. I work in a department that teaches/researches history from c.1000 to the present, and medievalists, whilst covering about 50% of that period, currently only account for c.10% of colleagues, my humble self included.
Is there anything more satisfying than working with highly-skilled, professional craftspeople and their tools!? No. There is not.
December 30, 2025 at 10:56 AM
Is there anything more satisfying than working with highly-skilled, professional craftspeople and their tools!? No. There is not.
The German equivalent of the 2nd amendment: resisting the 130km/h Tempolimit on the Autobahn and happily spending a month’s wages on fireworks for NYE. Pure idiocy.
Dieser Tage gedenken wir aller Freiheitskämpfer™, die im entscheidenden Moment deutscher Geschichte den Mut hatten, menschliche Größe und gesellschaftliches Gespür zu zeigen!
December 30, 2025 at 9:51 AM
The German equivalent of the 2nd amendment: resisting the 130km/h Tempolimit on the Autobahn and happily spending a month’s wages on fireworks for NYE. Pure idiocy.
At first glance, I thought this was a new meta history of St Anselm… 😉
A new compass for global reading: looking at the world from the far southern latitudes.
Southern Imagining by @ellekeboehmer.bsky.social is now available in the UK/Europe! Order yours today: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
Available in North America on February 10.
#Literature #ReadUP
Southern Imagining by @ellekeboehmer.bsky.social is now available in the UK/Europe! Order yours today: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
Available in North America on February 10.
#Literature #ReadUP
December 30, 2025 at 9:06 AM
At first glance, I thought this was a new meta history of St Anselm… 😉
Reposted in the hope that someone on here may be able to venture a guess re. the artefact’s likely date of production…
A little challenge for my fellow #skystorians (esp. art historians): we found this rather lovely piece of devotional art w/ Cyrillic(?) letters in a late relative’s house. Origin/provenance and date unknown. Any suggestions?
December 30, 2025 at 7:20 AM
Reposted in the hope that someone on here may be able to venture a guess re. the artefact’s likely date of production…
A little challenge for my fellow #skystorians (esp. art historians): we found this rather lovely piece of devotional art w/ Cyrillic(?) letters in a late relative’s house. Origin/provenance and date unknown. Any suggestions?
December 28, 2025 at 1:03 PM
A little challenge for my fellow #skystorians (esp. art historians): we found this rather lovely piece of devotional art w/ Cyrillic(?) letters in a late relative’s house. Origin/provenance and date unknown. Any suggestions?
Home sweet home ❄️🌞
December 25, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Home sweet home ❄️🌞
Civilisation = Deutsche Bahn ICE Bordbistro!
December 23, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Civilisation = Deutsche Bahn ICE Bordbistro!
That’s it, folks—see you in 2026! Look after yourselves, and after one another!
December 22, 2025 at 5:35 PM
That’s it, folks—see you in 2026! Look after yourselves, and after one another!
This ain't no upwardly mobile freeway, oh no, this is the road to hell. (Drive safely, Chris!) #rip 😢 www.theguardian.com/music/2025/d...
Chris Rea, rock and blues singer-songwriter, dies aged 74
Middlesbrough-born musician had hits with Driving Home for Christmas, On the Beach and The Road to Hell
www.theguardian.com
December 22, 2025 at 3:22 PM
This ain't no upwardly mobile freeway, oh no, this is the road to hell. (Drive safely, Chris!) #rip 😢 www.theguardian.com/music/2025/d...
Aaaaaaand breathe…. 😌 Anyone who dares to email me before the New Year shall be cursed—anathema maranatha!
December 22, 2025 at 10:22 AM
Aaaaaaand breathe…. 😌 Anyone who dares to email me before the New Year shall be cursed—anathema maranatha!
Reposted by Prof Ben Pohl
"AI is the asbestos in the walls of our technological society, stuffed there with wild abandon by a finance sector and tech monopolists run amok. We will be excavating it for a generation or more."
This piece on AI by Cory Doctorow is spectactular.
pluralistic.net/2025/12/05/p...
This piece on AI by Cory Doctorow is spectactular.
pluralistic.net/2025/12/05/p...
December 9, 2025 at 2:58 PM
"AI is the asbestos in the walls of our technological society, stuffed there with wild abandon by a finance sector and tech monopolists run amok. We will be excavating it for a generation or more."
This piece on AI by Cory Doctorow is spectactular.
pluralistic.net/2025/12/05/p...
This piece on AI by Cory Doctorow is spectactular.
pluralistic.net/2025/12/05/p...