Matthew Symonds
@mattsymonds.bsky.social
Reposted by Matthew Symonds
*small embarrassed voice*
A little plug for my article on Devon book sales c. 1700, which has gone online open access. tl;dr book auctions weren't just a London/Oxbridge thing: a flourishing second-hand book market centred on Exeter included auctions from the 1680s.
doi.org/10.1093/libr...
A little plug for my article on Devon book sales c. 1700, which has gone online open access. tl;dr book auctions weren't just a London/Oxbridge thing: a flourishing second-hand book market centred on Exeter included auctions from the 1680s.
doi.org/10.1093/libr...
A Provincial Market in Second-Hand Books: Book Sales in Devon, 1688–1725
Abstract. Comparatively little is known about England’s early book-auction trade outside of London and the university towns, with few catalogues surviving
doi.org
November 27, 2025 at 9:31 AM
*small embarrassed voice*
A little plug for my article on Devon book sales c. 1700, which has gone online open access. tl;dr book auctions weren't just a London/Oxbridge thing: a flourishing second-hand book market centred on Exeter included auctions from the 1680s.
doi.org/10.1093/libr...
A little plug for my article on Devon book sales c. 1700, which has gone online open access. tl;dr book auctions weren't just a London/Oxbridge thing: a flourishing second-hand book market centred on Exeter included auctions from the 1680s.
doi.org/10.1093/libr...
Reposted by Matthew Symonds
Alan Turing Institute staff decry ‘unjustified’ cuts to research
Internal documents detail extent of changes to projects and personnel at national AI institute
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-c...
Internal documents detail extent of changes to projects and personnel at national AI institute
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-c...
Alan Turing Institute staff decry ‘unjustified’ cuts to research - Research Professional News
Internal documents detail extent of changes to projects and personnel at national AI institute
www.researchprofessionalnews.com
November 26, 2025 at 8:38 AM
Alan Turing Institute staff decry ‘unjustified’ cuts to research
Internal documents detail extent of changes to projects and personnel at national AI institute
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-c...
Internal documents detail extent of changes to projects and personnel at national AI institute
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-c...
Reposted by Matthew Symonds
Budget day at last.
November 26, 2025 at 8:31 AM
Budget day at last.
The guy here who starts by saying “a budget that’s good for the gilt market isn’t necessarily one that’s good for the UK economy” should be marched into the BBC newsroom and asked to repeat himself every time a political correspondent says “yield”.
on.ft.com/4irx6Ww
on.ft.com/4irx6Ww
What big bond investors want from the UK Budget
Gilt market players call on government to cut spending and steer clear of inflationary tax rises
on.ft.com
November 24, 2025 at 2:21 PM
The guy here who starts by saying “a budget that’s good for the gilt market isn’t necessarily one that’s good for the UK economy” should be marched into the BBC newsroom and asked to repeat himself every time a political correspondent says “yield”.
on.ft.com/4irx6Ww
on.ft.com/4irx6Ww
one aspect of the "Great Wealth Transfer" is that a lot of what passes for the middle classes' financial planning is an ever-expanding terra incognita marked "here be inheritance" and that's where the real bubble is
I don't think this was actually deliberately published as ragebait, but the entitlement contained within is remarkable and a classic example of the sort of sentiment governments sometimes just have to face down inews.co.uk/inews-lifest...?
We were hit with a £148k inheritance tax bill when mum died at 97 - it's disgusting
Jill Lemon has labelled inheritance tax as 'cruel', 'horrible' and 'unfair'
inews.co.uk
November 24, 2025 at 10:41 AM
one aspect of the "Great Wealth Transfer" is that a lot of what passes for the middle classes' financial planning is an ever-expanding terra incognita marked "here be inheritance" and that's where the real bubble is
Reposted by Matthew Symonds
📣 Really proud to announce the publication of Reframing Failure in Digital Scholarship, an #OpenAccess collection of essays co-edited with @amsichani.bsky.social and published by @uolpress.bsky.social that examines the role of failure in #DH and research more broadly
@sas-news.bsky.social
@sas-news.bsky.social
Reframing Failure in Digital Scholarship - University of London Press
Failure is ordinary. From technological failures and computational obsolescence to rejected applications and challenging collaborations, failure is an unavoidable part of any scholarly endeavour. This...
uolpress.co.uk
November 20, 2025 at 9:26 AM
📣 Really proud to announce the publication of Reframing Failure in Digital Scholarship, an #OpenAccess collection of essays co-edited with @amsichani.bsky.social and published by @uolpress.bsky.social that examines the role of failure in #DH and research more broadly
@sas-news.bsky.social
@sas-news.bsky.social
Reposted by Matthew Symonds
The UK's Supreme Court has ruled that the Christian religious education taught in schools in the North is unlawful.
It added that to teach pupils to 'accept a set of beliefs without critical analysis amounts to evangelism, proselytising, and indoctrination'.
jrnl.ie/6879415
It added that to teach pupils to 'accept a set of beliefs without critical analysis amounts to evangelism, proselytising, and indoctrination'.
jrnl.ie/6879415
Christian religious education taught in schools in Northern Ireland unlawful, says UK Supreme Court
It had been argued that the right to withdraw from religious education prevented any breach to religious freedom protections under the European Convention on Human Rights.
jrnl.ie
November 19, 2025 at 12:49 PM
The UK's Supreme Court has ruled that the Christian religious education taught in schools in the North is unlawful.
It added that to teach pupils to 'accept a set of beliefs without critical analysis amounts to evangelism, proselytising, and indoctrination'.
jrnl.ie/6879415
It added that to teach pupils to 'accept a set of beliefs without critical analysis amounts to evangelism, proselytising, and indoctrination'.
jrnl.ie/6879415
Reposted by Matthew Symonds
Happy 60th birthday to Peter Kember and Jason Pierce who were both born in the same hospital on this day in 1965. Here they are together in Spacemen 3 performing Revolution
youtu.be/qdQn7c62zHM
youtu.be/qdQn7c62zHM
Spacemen 3 - 'Revolution'
YouTube video by rocketgirlrecords
youtu.be
November 19, 2025 at 6:58 AM
Happy 60th birthday to Peter Kember and Jason Pierce who were both born in the same hospital on this day in 1965. Here they are together in Spacemen 3 performing Revolution
youtu.be/qdQn7c62zHM
youtu.be/qdQn7c62zHM
Reposted by Matthew Symonds
Hope the "thank goodness the Premier League is back!!" takes are kept to a minimum this week – the past few days has been football at its best & purest.
November 18, 2025 at 9:49 PM
Hope the "thank goodness the Premier League is back!!" takes are kept to a minimum this week – the past few days has been football at its best & purest.
love to turn a distributed network into an oligopoly
is uh cloudflare all right
November 18, 2025 at 11:53 AM
love to turn a distributed network into an oligopoly
is uh cloudflare all right
November 18, 2025 at 11:48 AM
is uh cloudflare all right
Reposted by Matthew Symonds
Here is a very cool object: a volume with stacked paper boards that have come apart, revealing a manuscript fragment between the print waste! (Rare Books PA2317 .E7 1546). The manuscript leaf is from a psalter 🌟
#midwestmss #medievalsky #medievalmss #manuscripts
#midwestmss #medievalsky #medievalmss #manuscripts
November 17, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Here is a very cool object: a volume with stacked paper boards that have come apart, revealing a manuscript fragment between the print waste! (Rare Books PA2317 .E7 1546). The manuscript leaf is from a psalter 🌟
#midwestmss #medievalsky #medievalmss #manuscripts
#midwestmss #medievalsky #medievalmss #manuscripts
Reposted by Matthew Symonds
One way to take some of the heat out of politics, which is within the BBC's control, is to drop phone-ins and vox pops.
November 17, 2025 at 11:03 AM
One way to take some of the heat out of politics, which is within the BBC's control, is to drop phone-ins and vox pops.
Reposted by Matthew Symonds
At the risk of talking shop: there are just under 50 Government Bills before Parliament (including Employment Rights, English Devolution, Great British Energy) which aren’t getting the media attention that Coalition Bills at a similar point did. We’re missing proper scrutiny outside of Parliament.
This whole Streeting vs Starmer story is such a Westminster bubble inanity from a bored media class that has gotten addicted to toppling governments and abdicated any responsibility for what they're actually meant to be doing in a healthy society
November 12, 2025 at 1:55 PM
At the risk of talking shop: there are just under 50 Government Bills before Parliament (including Employment Rights, English Devolution, Great British Energy) which aren’t getting the media attention that Coalition Bills at a similar point did. We’re missing proper scrutiny outside of Parliament.
Reposted by Matthew Symonds
honestly every time i read this i break again
Happy to be of service. I once got into a taxi in Dublin wearing a cool new outfit. I was nervous about deviating from the norm but did it anyway.
The taxi driver was on the phone when I got in. First thing he did was finish his phone call saying "I have to go, this fella's wearing dungarees"
The taxi driver was on the phone when I got in. First thing he did was finish his phone call saying "I have to go, this fella's wearing dungarees"
November 12, 2025 at 1:52 PM
honestly every time i read this i break again
Reposted by Matthew Symonds
Of course I don’t post selfies. Like normal people my age I grew up hating the way I looked
November 6, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Of course I don’t post selfies. Like normal people my age I grew up hating the way I looked
bless
Senior Orange Order figures have written to Britain’s King Charles to “reflect on his coronation oath” over his praying with Pope Leo last month.
www.thejournal.ie/orange-order...
www.thejournal.ie/orange-order...
Orange Order leaders wrote to Britain's King Charles over his meeting with Pope Leo
The Pope’s historic meeting with Charles has come in for criticism from unionist figures in the North and elsewhere over recent weeks.
www.thejournal.ie
November 6, 2025 at 11:22 AM
bless
Reposted by Matthew Symonds
I've written a new audio adaptation of one of Dickens' other Christmas books, The Cricket On The Hearth, and it's available now to buy as a bundle with The Haunted Man scripted by @jonnymorris.bsky.social. Mine stars Graham Fellows, his stars Paterson Joseph! averageromp.com/the-cricket-...
The Cricket in the Hearth & The Haunted Man – Average Romp
averageromp.com
November 6, 2025 at 8:44 AM
I've written a new audio adaptation of one of Dickens' other Christmas books, The Cricket On The Hearth, and it's available now to buy as a bundle with The Haunted Man scripted by @jonnymorris.bsky.social. Mine stars Graham Fellows, his stars Paterson Joseph! averageromp.com/the-cricket-...
but it did mean I stopped by this lunchtime and I bought this excellent book by the excellent Brooke Palmieri, so hurrah
November 4, 2025 at 1:41 PM
but it did mean I stopped by this lunchtime and I bought this excellent book by the excellent Brooke Palmieri, so hurrah
Reposted by Matthew Symonds
If there's anything more exciting than seeing a book you work on in an exhibition, it's surely being invited to talk about it. Very excited for this event next month!
📷 Lancelot Browne's annotated copy of Avicenna in Arabic at the @rcpmuseum.bsky.social exhibition, 'A body of knowledge'.
📷 Lancelot Browne's annotated copy of Avicenna in Arabic at the @rcpmuseum.bsky.social exhibition, 'A body of knowledge'.
November 4, 2025 at 12:12 PM
If there's anything more exciting than seeing a book you work on in an exhibition, it's surely being invited to talk about it. Very excited for this event next month!
📷 Lancelot Browne's annotated copy of Avicenna in Arabic at the @rcpmuseum.bsky.social exhibition, 'A body of knowledge'.
📷 Lancelot Browne's annotated copy of Avicenna in Arabic at the @rcpmuseum.bsky.social exhibition, 'A body of knowledge'.
Reposted by Matthew Symonds
Mega excited that @awickenden.bsky.social and @samuscript.bsky.social are speaking on 9 December for @rcpmuseum.bsky.social winter lectures. Online, 6pm GMT, £5, book now: history.rcp.ac.uk/event/body-k... #LibraryHistory #GLAM📚
history.rcp.ac.uk
November 4, 2025 at 11:17 AM
Mega excited that @awickenden.bsky.social and @samuscript.bsky.social are speaking on 9 December for @rcpmuseum.bsky.social winter lectures. Online, 6pm GMT, £5, book now: history.rcp.ac.uk/event/body-k... #LibraryHistory #GLAM📚
Reposted by Matthew Symonds
Born #OnThisDay 1650 King William III. He celebrated his 38th birthday (1688) by invading England and driving his father-in-law, James II, from the throne.
100 years on, politicians were convinced the event should be marked but couldn't agree how: for which, see our new blog this Thursday!
#HistParl
100 years on, politicians were convinced the event should be marked but couldn't agree how: for which, see our new blog this Thursday!
#HistParl
November 4, 2025 at 8:36 AM
Born #OnThisDay 1650 King William III. He celebrated his 38th birthday (1688) by invading England and driving his father-in-law, James II, from the throne.
100 years on, politicians were convinced the event should be marked but couldn't agree how: for which, see our new blog this Thursday!
#HistParl
100 years on, politicians were convinced the event should be marked but couldn't agree how: for which, see our new blog this Thursday!
#HistParl
Reposted by Matthew Symonds
Queer and Trans Pre-Modern Reading Group - Session 11
11 Nov 2-3:30pm with @ctlnkane.bsky.social
The Queer and Trans Pre-Modern Reading Group is an informal discussion group exploring queer and trans themes in medieval and early modern texts.
www.ucl.ac.uk/institute-of...
11 Nov 2-3:30pm with @ctlnkane.bsky.social
The Queer and Trans Pre-Modern Reading Group is an informal discussion group exploring queer and trans themes in medieval and early modern texts.
www.ucl.ac.uk/institute-of...
Queer and Trans Pre-Modern Reading Group - Session 11
The Queer and Trans Pre-Modern Reading Group is an informal discussion group exploring queer and trans themes in medieval and early modern texts.
www.ucl.ac.uk
October 31, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Queer and Trans Pre-Modern Reading Group - Session 11
11 Nov 2-3:30pm with @ctlnkane.bsky.social
The Queer and Trans Pre-Modern Reading Group is an informal discussion group exploring queer and trans themes in medieval and early modern texts.
www.ucl.ac.uk/institute-of...
11 Nov 2-3:30pm with @ctlnkane.bsky.social
The Queer and Trans Pre-Modern Reading Group is an informal discussion group exploring queer and trans themes in medieval and early modern texts.
www.ucl.ac.uk/institute-of...
Reposted by Matthew Symonds
ARCHIVAL FUNDING: Ann Ball Bodley Visiting Fellowship in Women’s History, to use Bodleian Libraries collections to advance scholarship in women’s history, of any geographical area and historical period. Deadline 28th Nov. www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/csb/fellowsh...
Bodleian Visiting Fellowships in Special Collections
www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk
October 28, 2025 at 3:36 PM
ARCHIVAL FUNDING: Ann Ball Bodley Visiting Fellowship in Women’s History, to use Bodleian Libraries collections to advance scholarship in women’s history, of any geographical area and historical period. Deadline 28th Nov. www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/csb/fellowsh...