Gordon McKelvie
@gordonmckelvie.bsky.social
Medieval Historian and UCU branch officer. Senior lecturer at Winchester University. Research on popular protest, political culture, warfare, rumour/conspiracy theories in England and Scotland, c.1300-1600. Views also on union stuff and politics
We are at the point when increasing welfare spending (ie two child cap) is the difficult political decision. Constant cuts has become the easy option since Osborne’s time
November 26, 2025 at 4:49 PM
We are at the point when increasing welfare spending (ie two child cap) is the difficult political decision. Constant cuts has become the easy option since Osborne’s time
Reposted by Gordon McKelvie
Never underestimate the hypocrisy of the Greens
November 25, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Never underestimate the hypocrisy of the Greens
The man clearly dislikes most Labour Party members and voters, so why on earth is he still a member?
November 25, 2025 at 6:40 PM
The man clearly dislikes most Labour Party members and voters, so why on earth is he still a member?
Reposted by Gordon McKelvie
He’s a year older than me, also born and raised in London. He went to the same university but was a year above and went on to do graduate work at EUI. He then became an academic - I suspect his conception of the industrial working class was gained from TV and history books - and studying in Florence
November 25, 2025 at 10:17 AM
He’s a year older than me, also born and raised in London. He went to the same university but was a year above and went on to do graduate work at EUI. He then became an academic - I suspect his conception of the industrial working class was gained from TV and history books - and studying in Florence
Reposted by Gordon McKelvie
one of the coolest things about ChatGPT is how you can actually just never use it. you can fill your whole entire life with simply not once using it. it's incredible.
November 25, 2025 at 4:15 PM
one of the coolest things about ChatGPT is how you can actually just never use it. you can fill your whole entire life with simply not once using it. it's incredible.
Reposted by Gordon McKelvie
"My beloved working class" - i.e. the one that exists in his head, but in real life has always rejected this particularly ugly strain of 'you don't deserve commercial television, nice holidays or little luxuries' whenever Labour have taken it to the public.
November 24, 2025 at 11:44 PM
"My beloved working class" - i.e. the one that exists in his head, but in real life has always rejected this particularly ugly strain of 'you don't deserve commercial television, nice holidays or little luxuries' whenever Labour have taken it to the public.
Reposted by Gordon McKelvie
"The SNP position has usually been that if England is doing something then Scotland damn well won’t. This has been self-defeating in a number of areas."
🖊️ @chrisdeerin.bsky.social
🖊️ @chrisdeerin.bsky.social
Scotland must learn from English schools
Scottish manifestos need to prioritise education
www.newstatesman.com
November 22, 2025 at 11:02 AM
"The SNP position has usually been that if England is doing something then Scotland damn well won’t. This has been self-defeating in a number of areas."
🖊️ @chrisdeerin.bsky.social
🖊️ @chrisdeerin.bsky.social
Reposted by Gordon McKelvie
Lancaster University UCU members have beaten back compulsory redundancies.
After weeks of pressure management has agreed to halt all forced job cuts until July 2026.
This is a victory for jobs and every branch fighting cuts across the sector. We are the university.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
After weeks of pressure management has agreed to halt all forced job cuts until July 2026.
This is a victory for jobs and every branch fighting cuts across the sector. We are the university.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Strikes suspended in Lancaster University staff job cuts row - BBC News
The university is trying to save £30m amid rising costs and a fall in international student numbers.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 21, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Lancaster University UCU members have beaten back compulsory redundancies.
After weeks of pressure management has agreed to halt all forced job cuts until July 2026.
This is a victory for jobs and every branch fighting cuts across the sector. We are the university.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
After weeks of pressure management has agreed to halt all forced job cuts until July 2026.
This is a victory for jobs and every branch fighting cuts across the sector. We are the university.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Ally's Tartan Army - Scotland 1978
YouTube video by worldcupgillingham
youtu.be
November 18, 2025 at 9:54 PM
Reposted by Gordon McKelvie
Here at Exeter we are offering three fully funded AHRC PhD places in humanities subjects. Please get in touch if you are keen to come and do research with us! Closing date 23 February 2026: www.exeter.ac.uk/study/fundin...
PhD: AHRC Studentship | University of Exeter
Project descriptionThe University of Exeter is offering up to three fully funded AHRC doctoral studentships and training and development opportunities across a range of the AHRC’s disciplines for cand...
www.exeter.ac.uk
November 18, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Here at Exeter we are offering three fully funded AHRC PhD places in humanities subjects. Please get in touch if you are keen to come and do research with us! Closing date 23 February 2026: www.exeter.ac.uk/study/fundin...
Reposted by Gordon McKelvie
This is the nonsense you get when the party topping the polls doesn't actually have any coherent policies, but people are happy to go with the vibe that, if they just hate the right people hard enough, everything will be fine.
November 18, 2025 at 8:47 AM
This is the nonsense you get when the party topping the polls doesn't actually have any coherent policies, but people are happy to go with the vibe that, if they just hate the right people hard enough, everything will be fine.
Reposted by Gordon McKelvie
Are you a scholar of the fifteenth century and have an interest in the British Isles and its wider connections? If so, then you will want to know that @memsunikent.bsky.social will be hosting the 2026 Fifteenth Century Conference in Canterbury and the CfP is now open: www.kent.ac.uk/medieval-ear...
MEMS to Host the Fifteenth Century Conference 2026
www.kent.ac.uk
November 13, 2025 at 9:39 AM
Are you a scholar of the fifteenth century and have an interest in the British Isles and its wider connections? If so, then you will want to know that @memsunikent.bsky.social will be hosting the 2026 Fifteenth Century Conference in Canterbury and the CfP is now open: www.kent.ac.uk/medieval-ear...
Reposted by Gordon McKelvie
This is worth reading closely. The piece makes a very strong case for being very careful when embracing AI for historical research.
"Historical analysis is fundamentally different and more complex than producing a mass of visualizations and statistics that are the lifeblood of many A.I. programmes."
Gordon McKelvie @gordonmckelvie.bsky.social on the problematic use of A.I. within historical research.
Gordon McKelvie @gordonmckelvie.bsky.social on the problematic use of A.I. within historical research.
Artificial Intelligence: A Warning for History
Does A.I. have the potential to simplify, and ultimately impoverish, our study of the past? Gordon McKelvie considers the recent explosion in A.I. and what it means for historians facing the current H...
www.historyworkshop.org.uk
November 12, 2025 at 12:58 PM
This is worth reading closely. The piece makes a very strong case for being very careful when embracing AI for historical research.
Reposted by Gordon McKelvie
That renowned and respected lover of truth and journalistic integrity.... THE KREMLIN.... has stepped up to defend Trump in his battle against the BBC.
SO that's Farage, Netanyahu, Putin, and Boris Johnson...
SO that's Farage, Netanyahu, Putin, and Boris Johnson...
November 11, 2025 at 7:33 PM
That renowned and respected lover of truth and journalistic integrity.... THE KREMLIN.... has stepped up to defend Trump in his battle against the BBC.
SO that's Farage, Netanyahu, Putin, and Boris Johnson...
SO that's Farage, Netanyahu, Putin, and Boris Johnson...
Reposted by Gordon McKelvie
Does Britain value culture any more? Ask the striking workers at the British Library | Zadie Smith www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Does Britain value culture any more? Ask the striking workers at the British Library | Zadie Smith
The dispute over pay at this great national institution gets to the heart of our misplaced priorities, says novelist Zadie Smith
www.theguardian.com
November 11, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Does Britain value culture any more? Ask the striking workers at the British Library | Zadie Smith www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Gordon McKelvie
We're so glad you like them! We've been lucky to work with some very talented illustrators throughout our History and the Crisis in Higher Education series
History and the Crisis in Higher Education
What are the causes and consequences of cuts and closures in History and higher education at large? This series explores the impact of this trajectory on the wider landscape of research, methodologies...
www.historyworkshop.org.uk
November 11, 2025 at 4:32 PM
We're so glad you like them! We've been lucky to work with some very talented illustrators throughout our History and the Crisis in Higher Education series
Was really impressed with these illustrations when I saw them - captures what I’m trying it say about A.I
This article was illustrated by Jas Martin, a student at Nottingham Trent University.
You can find more of her brilliant work here: jasminemartinillustration.weebly.com
You can find more of her brilliant work here: jasminemartinillustration.weebly.com
November 11, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Was really impressed with these illustrations when I saw them - captures what I’m trying it say about A.I
Reposted by Gordon McKelvie
"Historical analysis is fundamentally different and more complex than producing a mass of visualizations and statistics that are the lifeblood of many A.I. programmes."
Gordon McKelvie @gordonmckelvie.bsky.social on the problematic use of A.I. within historical research.
Gordon McKelvie @gordonmckelvie.bsky.social on the problematic use of A.I. within historical research.
Artificial Intelligence: A Warning for History
Does A.I. have the potential to simplify, and ultimately impoverish, our study of the past? Gordon McKelvie considers the recent explosion in A.I. and what it means for historians facing the current H...
www.historyworkshop.org.uk
November 11, 2025 at 12:45 PM
"Historical analysis is fundamentally different and more complex than producing a mass of visualizations and statistics that are the lifeblood of many A.I. programmes."
Gordon McKelvie @gordonmckelvie.bsky.social on the problematic use of A.I. within historical research.
Gordon McKelvie @gordonmckelvie.bsky.social on the problematic use of A.I. within historical research.
Reposted by Gordon McKelvie
Nowhere in the hysterical pile-on against the BBC in the British press has anyone mentioned that BBC News now has 77 million viewers & listeners in the US and has established itself as the second most trusted news source there.
November 11, 2025 at 8:37 AM
Nowhere in the hysterical pile-on against the BBC in the British press has anyone mentioned that BBC News now has 77 million viewers & listeners in the US and has established itself as the second most trusted news source there.
Something from me on the dangers of A.I for historians and the neverending cycle of job cuts www.historyworkshop.org.uk/practice-his...
Artificial Intelligence: A Warning for History
Does Artificial Intelligence have the potential to simplify, and ultimately impoverish, our study of the past? Gordon McKelvie considers the recent explosion in A.I. and what it might mean for the his...
www.historyworkshop.org.uk
November 11, 2025 at 8:04 AM
Something from me on the dangers of A.I for historians and the neverending cycle of job cuts www.historyworkshop.org.uk/practice-his...
Reposted by Gordon McKelvie
@bjennings90.bsky.social absolutely nails it. (www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...)
November 11, 2025 at 6:58 AM
@bjennings90.bsky.social absolutely nails it. (www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...)
Reposted by Gordon McKelvie
Which one is more English?
November 6, 2025 at 11:58 AM
Which one is more English?
Reposted by Gordon McKelvie
Osborne deserves a lot more condemnation, for not just doing austerity but doing it so cackhandedly:
1. Not borrowing to invest when borrowing costs were at essentially zero
2. Cutting spending by salami slicing every part of the public sector with no real analysis of where could take it
1. Not borrowing to invest when borrowing costs were at essentially zero
2. Cutting spending by salami slicing every part of the public sector with no real analysis of where could take it
Late period Osborne: interest rates at zero and 50-80bn of headroom: and his priority was “don’t invest”.
November 4, 2025 at 9:11 AM
Osborne deserves a lot more condemnation, for not just doing austerity but doing it so cackhandedly:
1. Not borrowing to invest when borrowing costs were at essentially zero
2. Cutting spending by salami slicing every part of the public sector with no real analysis of where could take it
1. Not borrowing to invest when borrowing costs were at essentially zero
2. Cutting spending by salami slicing every part of the public sector with no real analysis of where could take it
Though on an unrelated note - there probably is a comedy to be written about monotheisms being the result of external consultants suggesting streamlining. ‘Rather than an infinite number of combinations of Gods to worship, just focus on one which gives a very clear message to the customers’
Worth a read, particular for a hardline non-believer like myself who nevertheless hates bad history.
New on History for Atheists: my long awaited and rather long critical review of Alice Roberts' new book *Domination*:
historyforatheists.com/2025/10/revi...
historyforatheists.com/2025/10/revi...
November 2, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Though on an unrelated note - there probably is a comedy to be written about monotheisms being the result of external consultants suggesting streamlining. ‘Rather than an infinite number of combinations of Gods to worship, just focus on one which gives a very clear message to the customers’
Worth a read, particular for a hardline non-believer like myself who nevertheless hates bad history.
New on History for Atheists: my long awaited and rather long critical review of Alice Roberts' new book *Domination*:
historyforatheists.com/2025/10/revi...
historyforatheists.com/2025/10/revi...
November 1, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Worth a read, particular for a hardline non-believer like myself who nevertheless hates bad history.