Iain MacInnes
@iainmacinnesuhi.bsky.social
Academic | Historian | Associate Dean | Scottish History | Medieval History | Military History | Medievalism | Comics Studies | Stoke City
Pinned
Scotland's Second War of Independence, 1332-1357 - Boydell and Brewer
Full-length study of the warfare between England and Scotland in the mid fourteenth century.The Second Scottish War of Independence began in 1332, only four ...
boydellandbrewer.com
As I've garnered a few more followers recently, I shall follow the example of others and do some introductions. I am (normally) a medieval historian of fourteenth-century Scotland, with a focus on the Scottish Wars of Indepedence. My monograph was on the period of the second war. #medievalsky
Reposted by Iain MacInnes
'Bols and Maguire trace the current financial problems higher education institutions are facing back to the government’s decision to remove the limit on student numbers in 2015-16 and deregulate student recruitment, while maintaining caps on tuition fees, thus limiting universities’ income.' 2/3
November 28, 2025 at 7:38 AM
'Bols and Maguire trace the current financial problems higher education institutions are facing back to the government’s decision to remove the limit on student numbers in 2015-16 and deregulate student recruitment, while maintaining caps on tuition fees, thus limiting universities’ income.' 2/3
Reposted by Iain MacInnes
'The dig team at the Ness, one of the most important Neolithic sites in the British Isles, are not revealing what they believe the find to be until more work is done.
But they say it is like nothing else ever found at the site – and may not even be Neolithic.'
But they say it is like nothing else ever found at the site – and may not even be Neolithic.'
'Extraordinary discovery' at Orkney's Ness of Brodgar Neolithic site
Archaeologists are to resume digging at the site after 3D radar technology uncovered a mystery find.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 27, 2025 at 1:16 PM
'The dig team at the Ness, one of the most important Neolithic sites in the British Isles, are not revealing what they believe the find to be until more work is done.
But they say it is like nothing else ever found at the site – and may not even be Neolithic.'
But they say it is like nothing else ever found at the site – and may not even be Neolithic.'
Reposted by Iain MacInnes
Immigration is collapsing, and will continue to do so - perhaps even more quickly. We need to reverse engines and encourage it, right away.
November 27, 2025 at 9:44 AM
Immigration is collapsing, and will continue to do so - perhaps even more quickly. We need to reverse engines and encourage it, right away.
Reposted by Iain MacInnes
1/5 It was entirely predictable that The Telegraph would jump on @DavidOlusoga’s Empire series to fight its right wing culture war for control of our public history. Let’s see what they’ve done:
November 27, 2025 at 8:28 AM
1/5 It was entirely predictable that The Telegraph would jump on @DavidOlusoga’s Empire series to fight its right wing culture war for control of our public history. Let’s see what they’ve done:
Reposted by Iain MacInnes
New episode! We talk with the amazing Roland Betancourt about art, the allure of Byzantium, and the pull of teaching stuff where you live — so DISNEY
Listen here or on your favorite podcast app…
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a...
Listen here or on your favorite podcast app…
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a...
Disney and Byzantium with Roland Betancourt
Podcast Episode · American Medieval · 11/26/2025 · 1h
podcasts.apple.com
November 26, 2025 at 1:30 PM
New episode! We talk with the amazing Roland Betancourt about art, the allure of Byzantium, and the pull of teaching stuff where you live — so DISNEY
Listen here or on your favorite podcast app…
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a...
Listen here or on your favorite podcast app…
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a...
Reposted by Iain MacInnes
Glasgow Girls Club's campaign includes a huge 96-sheet billboard on Tradeston Street that reads: "It's not girls who need teaching the art of rejection".
Young women in Glasgow launch 'billboard takeover' in protest against sexism
www.glasgowlive.co.uk
November 25, 2025 at 9:41 PM
Glasgow Girls Club's campaign includes a huge 96-sheet billboard on Tradeston Street that reads: "It's not girls who need teaching the art of rejection".
Cracking sky this morning...
November 26, 2025 at 8:27 AM
Cracking sky this morning...
Reposted by Iain MacInnes
"exiting the market" is a fun euphemism for thousands of students left without a school, thousands of people put out of work, entire local economies destroyed, and priceless knowledge lost.
I never thought it would be possible to have a stupider university policy than the Tories, but Labour schooled me.
www.theguardian.com/education/20...
www.theguardian.com/education/20...
Fifty higher education providers at risk of exiting market in England, MPs told
Regulator says 24 are at more immediate risk and may have to stop degree courses within next 12 months
www.theguardian.com
November 25, 2025 at 8:09 PM
"exiting the market" is a fun euphemism for thousands of students left without a school, thousands of people put out of work, entire local economies destroyed, and priceless knowledge lost.
Reposted by Iain MacInnes
Read about our Dr Philippa Woodcock's research trip to Drum Castle for her project '"They wept together": Investigating miscarriage, taboo & support in early modern Scotland'.
Visit our website for the full piece, bit.ly/4p0DaaI
@thinkuhi.bsky.social
📷:Hugh Irvine, The Archangel Gabriel (NTS)
Visit our website for the full piece, bit.ly/4p0DaaI
@thinkuhi.bsky.social
📷:Hugh Irvine, The Archangel Gabriel (NTS)
November 25, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Read about our Dr Philippa Woodcock's research trip to Drum Castle for her project '"They wept together": Investigating miscarriage, taboo & support in early modern Scotland'.
Visit our website for the full piece, bit.ly/4p0DaaI
@thinkuhi.bsky.social
📷:Hugh Irvine, The Archangel Gabriel (NTS)
Visit our website for the full piece, bit.ly/4p0DaaI
@thinkuhi.bsky.social
📷:Hugh Irvine, The Archangel Gabriel (NTS)
So much for the government focusing on "growth". One of its most successful industries, and most economically (as well as culturally, socially, etc.) beneficial sectors, being left to burn for no apparent reason at all... #universities #highered #highereducation
"A system built on specialisation, efficiency", that right there is the death knell for the current university system in the UK, if (big if) government pushes it through. They actively don't want HE to grow, they will intervene, apparently, to help it shrink.
per this morning's education committee.
per this morning's education committee.
November 25, 2025 at 11:35 AM
So much for the government focusing on "growth". One of its most successful industries, and most economically (as well as culturally, socially, etc.) beneficial sectors, being left to burn for no apparent reason at all... #universities #highered #highereducation
Reposted by Iain MacInnes
New Tides of History: I talk with Professor Michael Livingston (@michaellivingston.com) about how the Hundred Years War actually lasted for 200 years, why we focus too much on England, and what this long medieval war tells us about our world today. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
Why the Hundred Years War Actually Lasted Two Hundred Years: Interview with Professor Michael Livingston
Podcast Episode · Tides of History · 11/20/2025 · 40m
podcasts.apple.com
November 24, 2025 at 3:16 PM
New Tides of History: I talk with Professor Michael Livingston (@michaellivingston.com) about how the Hundred Years War actually lasted for 200 years, why we focus too much on England, and what this long medieval war tells us about our world today. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
Reposted by Iain MacInnes
I'd like to see the response to this if the question added "if that that means universities have less money to spend on UK students".
With Rachel Reeves reportedly set to apply a new tax on tuition fees paid by overseas students, most Britons support such a move at the previously mooted level of 6%
Support: 57%
Oppose: 18%
yougov.co.uk/topics/socie...
Support: 57%
Oppose: 18%
yougov.co.uk/topics/socie...
November 24, 2025 at 4:41 PM
I'd like to see the response to this if the question added "if that that means universities have less money to spend on UK students".
Reposted by Iain MacInnes
Want to learn about medieval coroners, tithings & the frankpledge system, crime & punishment, peacekeeping, the hue & cry, amercements, etc? Then check out my article “The limits of strong government: attempts to control criminality in thirteenth-century England”.
academic.oup.com/histres/arti...
academic.oup.com/histres/arti...
The limits of strong government: attempts to control criminality in thirteenth-century England*
Abstract. This article examines how far centrally-directed structures of peacekeeping influenced communal reactions to criminality in thirteenth-century En
academic.oup.com
November 24, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Want to learn about medieval coroners, tithings & the frankpledge system, crime & punishment, peacekeeping, the hue & cry, amercements, etc? Then check out my article “The limits of strong government: attempts to control criminality in thirteenth-century England”.
academic.oup.com/histres/arti...
academic.oup.com/histres/arti...
Reposted by Iain MacInnes
#OTD 1542 Battle of Solway Moss, which led to the capture of c. 1200 Scots men, including several earls, many of whom were then forced to swear loyalty to Henry VIII of England. The battle was followed within a few weeks by the death of James V. bit.ly/1eGOFjT (Scotclans)
November 24, 2025 at 4:31 PM
#OTD 1542 Battle of Solway Moss, which led to the capture of c. 1200 Scots men, including several earls, many of whom were then forced to swear loyalty to Henry VIII of England. The battle was followed within a few weeks by the death of James V. bit.ly/1eGOFjT (Scotclans)
Reposted by Iain MacInnes
Join us on Wednesday for the first in a series of three online workshops on Teaching Ancient War and Peace: arts.st-andrews.ac.uk/visualising-...
November 24, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Join us on Wednesday for the first in a series of three online workshops on Teaching Ancient War and Peace: arts.st-andrews.ac.uk/visualising-...
Reposted by Iain MacInnes
We pour billions into saving an economically tiny steel industry whilst actively destroying one of our largest export industries. (Yes, higher education to overseas students who already massively subsidise UK students, are counted as exports).
i: Reeves to unveil £600m raid on foreign student
university fees #TomorrowsPapersToday
university fees #TomorrowsPapersToday
November 24, 2025 at 7:37 AM
We pour billions into saving an economically tiny steel industry whilst actively destroying one of our largest export industries. (Yes, higher education to overseas students who already massively subsidise UK students, are counted as exports).
Reposted by Iain MacInnes
"Tartu University is analysing other historic artefacts ... including an 800-year-old cross depicting genitalia that makes a sound when worn.
The metal cross has a hinged piece in the shape of a vulva that covers and knocks against an engraved penis design when moved around." #MedievalSky
The metal cross has a hinged piece in the shape of a vulva that covers and knocks against an engraved penis design when moved around." #MedievalSky
DNA reveals stone age teenager as chewer of 10,500-year-old ‘gum’
The prehistoric birch tar found in Estonia contained traces of saliva that were analysed by genetics experts
www.theguardian.com
November 24, 2025 at 9:21 AM
"Tartu University is analysing other historic artefacts ... including an 800-year-old cross depicting genitalia that makes a sound when worn.
The metal cross has a hinged piece in the shape of a vulva that covers and knocks against an engraved penis design when moved around." #MedievalSky
The metal cross has a hinged piece in the shape of a vulva that covers and knocks against an engraved penis design when moved around." #MedievalSky
Reposted by Iain MacInnes
‘Too little, too late’: damning report condemns UK’s Covid response
‘Too little, too late’: damning report condemns UK’s Covid response
Report on handling of pandemic contains stinging criticism of ‘toxic and chaotic’ culture inside Boris Johnson’s No 10
*
UK politics live –latest updates
The UK’s response to Covid was “too little, too late”, a damning official report on the handling of the pandemic has concluded, saying the introduction of a lockdown even a week earlier than happened could have saved more than 20,000 lives.
The document also has stinging criticism of a “toxic and chaotic” culture inside Boris Johnson’s Downing Street – which it said the then prime minister actively embraced – in which the loudest voices held sway and women were sidelined. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 20, 2025 at 4:16 PM
‘Too little, too late’: damning report condemns UK’s Covid response
Reposted by Iain MacInnes
What does it mean to write the history of a place as it is being destroyed before our very eyes?
Anne Irfan on the stakes of studying, researching and writing the history of Gaza.
Anne Irfan on the stakes of studying, researching and writing the history of Gaza.
Writing history in a time of genocide
Anne Irfan asks, what does it mean to write the history of a place as it is being destroyed before our very eyes?
www.historyworkshop.org.uk
November 20, 2025 at 7:24 AM
What does it mean to write the history of a place as it is being destroyed before our very eyes?
Anne Irfan on the stakes of studying, researching and writing the history of Gaza.
Anne Irfan on the stakes of studying, researching and writing the history of Gaza.
Reposted by Iain MacInnes
morning!
so, it's my birthday today and I'm now 50 (yikes) but it turns out i have a present for YOU! a new episode of @americanmedieval.bsky.social w/ the exceptional @sarahebond.bsky.social!
we talk dinosaurs & the American obsession w/ Rome (among other things...)
Listen now!
so, it's my birthday today and I'm now 50 (yikes) but it turns out i have a present for YOU! a new episode of @americanmedieval.bsky.social w/ the exceptional @sarahebond.bsky.social!
we talk dinosaurs & the American obsession w/ Rome (among other things...)
Listen now!
The “Fall of Rome” with Sarah Bond
Podcast Episode · American Medieval · 11/19/2025 · 1h 4m
podcasts.apple.com
November 19, 2025 at 1:45 PM
morning!
so, it's my birthday today and I'm now 50 (yikes) but it turns out i have a present for YOU! a new episode of @americanmedieval.bsky.social w/ the exceptional @sarahebond.bsky.social!
we talk dinosaurs & the American obsession w/ Rome (among other things...)
Listen now!
so, it's my birthday today and I'm now 50 (yikes) but it turns out i have a present for YOU! a new episode of @americanmedieval.bsky.social w/ the exceptional @sarahebond.bsky.social!
we talk dinosaurs & the American obsession w/ Rome (among other things...)
Listen now!
Reposted by Iain MacInnes
The truth politics dare not speak. Part of the reason this is unsolvable for Lab is that it isn’t a real issue - it’s a euphemism for political discontent.
They could get immigration to zero, destroying the country in the process & it wouldn’t help, cause it’s not what ppl are actually angry about
They could get immigration to zero, destroying the country in the process & it wouldn’t help, cause it’s not what ppl are actually angry about
One of the things that the “immigration debate” in the UK really reveals is how little people actually know about how other people live. So much of immigration policy fails to work, even on its own terms, because it’s trying to solve problems that mostly exist in peoples heads
November 19, 2025 at 9:23 AM
The truth politics dare not speak. Part of the reason this is unsolvable for Lab is that it isn’t a real issue - it’s a euphemism for political discontent.
They could get immigration to zero, destroying the country in the process & it wouldn’t help, cause it’s not what ppl are actually angry about
They could get immigration to zero, destroying the country in the process & it wouldn’t help, cause it’s not what ppl are actually angry about
Think I may have forgotten to post this, but the recording of my talk at the Baltic Military HIstory Confernce (on "War & the urban environment during the 2nd Scottish War of Independence) is available here: baltmilhist.eu/videostream-... (Day 2 recording, starts at 26.00) #medievalsky #skystorians
Videostream – Baltic Military History Conference
baltmilhist.eu
November 19, 2025 at 10:40 AM
Think I may have forgotten to post this, but the recording of my talk at the Baltic Military HIstory Confernce (on "War & the urban environment during the 2nd Scottish War of Independence) is available here: baltmilhist.eu/videostream-... (Day 2 recording, starts at 26.00) #medievalsky #skystorians
Reposted by Iain MacInnes
I'll be giving a talk at Aberdeen Uni next week on the 'Dane saga' of Breda - easily one of the most unique, offbeat sources of imagined viking activity from the later medieval period. Both in person and online, so do tune in to hear me wax lyrical about this text!
www.facebook.com/events/22080...
www.facebook.com/events/22080...
A Past that Never Was: Examining Vikings in the Medieval ‘Dane saga’ of Breda - Christian Cooijmans
Event in Aberdeen, United Kingdom by Scandinavian Studies at Aberdeen on Thursday, November 27 2025
www.facebook.com
November 18, 2025 at 9:35 AM
I'll be giving a talk at Aberdeen Uni next week on the 'Dane saga' of Breda - easily one of the most unique, offbeat sources of imagined viking activity from the later medieval period. Both in person and online, so do tune in to hear me wax lyrical about this text!
www.facebook.com/events/22080...
www.facebook.com/events/22080...
Mabel's first day when she's allowed out of the garden would just have to coincide with our first snow of the winter...
November 19, 2025 at 7:46 AM
Mabel's first day when she's allowed out of the garden would just have to coincide with our first snow of the winter...
I remember - 27 years ago - sitting in a friend's house, hoping for a Scotland result at France '98, and watching us get battered by Morocco. Not knowing then that it'd be our last World Cup appearance. Until next year... #Scotland ##worldcup
November 18, 2025 at 10:41 PM
I remember - 27 years ago - sitting in a friend's house, hoping for a Scotland result at France '98, and watching us get battered by Morocco. Not knowing then that it'd be our last World Cup appearance. Until next year... #Scotland ##worldcup