Matt Houlbrook
@tricksterprince.bsky.social
Cultural history, Britain, cities, sexuality & gender, #20s30s.
Now - Songs of Seven Dials: An intimate history of 1920s and 1930s London (MUP)
Next - The Self-Improvers: The people who remade themselves and made the modern world
Now - Songs of Seven Dials: An intimate history of 1920s and 1930s London (MUP)
Next - The Self-Improvers: The people who remade themselves and made the modern world
Pinned
If you're after a festive gift or want to treat yourself @manchesterup.bsky.social are offering a 40% discount on Songs of Seven Dials at the moment.
A new history of London and the 1920s and 1930s for the knockdown price of £12: what's not to like?
manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526181954/
A new history of London and the 1920s and 1930s for the knockdown price of £12: what's not to like?
manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526181954/
Reposted by Matt Houlbrook
Labour Party might want to look into a name change
December 6, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Labour Party might want to look into a name change
Reposted by Matt Houlbrook
A day and a bit left, would be lovely to raise as much as possible for this wonderful cause, one very close to my heart
Bidding is now open on my fuzzy felt Mari Lwyd, along with so many other wonderful works of art.
All funds go to domestic violence charities, please do bid if you can afford to and feel able, it would be great to raise as much money as possible🐴💀👻
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/15748996...
All funds go to domestic violence charities, please do bid if you can afford to and feel able, it would be great to raise as much money as possible🐴💀👻
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/15748996...
December 6, 2025 at 3:21 PM
A day and a bit left, would be lovely to raise as much as possible for this wonderful cause, one very close to my heart
Reposted by Matt Houlbrook
2026 World Cup = 1936 Olympics. No excuse for participation
December 5, 2025 at 6:07 PM
2026 World Cup = 1936 Olympics. No excuse for participation
This is a photograph of John Williamson in around 1930, standing outside Greaves' shop. We think the image was taken in Dronfield. John lost both his legs when he fell under a train.
#DisabilityHistoryMonth #1930s
#DisabilityHistoryMonth #1930s
December 5, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Reposted by Matt Houlbrook
Avoid Amazon. Shop Small!
Tomorrow is Small Business Saturday. We hope you can get down to a brilliant local indie bookshop. If not, snap up a book and support indie booksellers with us - and you're in with the chance of winning a £250 Bookshop.org gift card.
Support bookshops, not billionaires.
Tomorrow is Small Business Saturday. We hope you can get down to a brilliant local indie bookshop. If not, snap up a book and support indie booksellers with us - and you're in with the chance of winning a £250 Bookshop.org gift card.
Support bookshops, not billionaires.
December 5, 2025 at 9:47 AM
Avoid Amazon. Shop Small!
Tomorrow is Small Business Saturday. We hope you can get down to a brilliant local indie bookshop. If not, snap up a book and support indie booksellers with us - and you're in with the chance of winning a £250 Bookshop.org gift card.
Support bookshops, not billionaires.
Tomorrow is Small Business Saturday. We hope you can get down to a brilliant local indie bookshop. If not, snap up a book and support indie booksellers with us - and you're in with the chance of winning a £250 Bookshop.org gift card.
Support bookshops, not billionaires.
Reposted by Matt Houlbrook
Think much of the over-parenting we despise stems from the early on fear of the driver.
If parents weren't terrified of our streets kids would have so much more freedom and independence which might get them comfortable with their children's ability to navigate the world without them.
If parents weren't terrified of our streets kids would have so much more freedom and independence which might get them comfortable with their children's ability to navigate the world without them.
December 5, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Think much of the over-parenting we despise stems from the early on fear of the driver.
If parents weren't terrified of our streets kids would have so much more freedom and independence which might get them comfortable with their children's ability to navigate the world without them.
If parents weren't terrified of our streets kids would have so much more freedom and independence which might get them comfortable with their children's ability to navigate the world without them.
Reposted by Matt Houlbrook
Everyone’s talking about whether Farage was racist to schoolchildren as a boy when he was racist to schoolchildren THIS WEEK. All the kids who are of reading age can read what he says about them.
John Swinney has responded to Nigel Farage's attack on Glasgow schoolchildren, calling it 'quite simply racist'
John Swinney responds to Nigel Farage's 'racist' attack on Glasgow schoolchildren
www.thenational.scot
December 5, 2025 at 8:28 AM
Everyone’s talking about whether Farage was racist to schoolchildren as a boy when he was racist to schoolchildren THIS WEEK. All the kids who are of reading age can read what he says about them.
Reposted by Matt Houlbrook
Some of the photos and stories from my recent visit to the tent encampment behind the Adelphi building, a luxury office complex occupied by billionaire-owned businesses. Two contrasting faces of England in 2025.
https://www.bigissue.com/news/housing/tent-village-london-strand-homeless-encampment/
https://www.bigissue.com/news/housing/tent-village-london-strand-homeless-encampment/
What a row over a tent village in London says about the homelessness crisis
A homeless tent village on London's Strand is to be demolished. Photographer Marc Davenant captured the stories of the people who live there.
www.bigissue.com
December 5, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Some of the photos and stories from my recent visit to the tent encampment behind the Adelphi building, a luxury office complex occupied by billionaire-owned businesses. Two contrasting faces of England in 2025.
https://www.bigissue.com/news/housing/tent-village-london-strand-homeless-encampment/
https://www.bigissue.com/news/housing/tent-village-london-strand-homeless-encampment/
Reposted by Matt Houlbrook
Our promotion of 40% off on all orders for greeting cards & prints has got just four days to run until 23.59 on 08/12/25, so, time is running out! Simply enter the coupon code of either: CardFriday or PrintFriday at the checkout when prompted here: eastlondongroup.co.uk Enjoy! #EastLondonGroup
East London Group | Explore and Discover Art Today
Explore the history, artwork, and exhibits of the East London Group, including artist biographies, prints, and books. Discover more about this historic art collective today.
eastlondongroup.co.uk
December 5, 2025 at 9:36 AM
Our promotion of 40% off on all orders for greeting cards & prints has got just four days to run until 23.59 on 08/12/25, so, time is running out! Simply enter the coupon code of either: CardFriday or PrintFriday at the checkout when prompted here: eastlondongroup.co.uk Enjoy! #EastLondonGroup
A wee trailer for the about-to-be-released interactive 3D model of the Empire Exhibition of 1938. The original modelling of all these pavilions was done in 2007. This new app incorporates archival materials and quotes from contemporary Glaswegians.
#Glasgow #history #research #playfulLearning #3D
#Glasgow #history #research #playfulLearning #3D
December 5, 2025 at 9:23 AM
Reposted by Matt Houlbrook
It's #sketchpadvent – celebrating amazing modernist concept drawings and models. December 1: Milton Keynes from 1981
December 1, 2025 at 10:39 AM
It's #sketchpadvent – celebrating amazing modernist concept drawings and models. December 1: Milton Keynes from 1981
Reposted by Matt Houlbrook
If you're after a festive gift or want to treat yourself @manchesterup.bsky.social are offering a 40% discount on Songs of Seven Dials at the moment.
A new history of London and the 1920s and 1930s for the knockdown price of £12: what's not to like?
manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526181954/
A new history of London and the 1920s and 1930s for the knockdown price of £12: what's not to like?
manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526181954/
December 4, 2025 at 9:46 AM
If you're after a festive gift or want to treat yourself @manchesterup.bsky.social are offering a 40% discount on Songs of Seven Dials at the moment.
A new history of London and the 1920s and 1930s for the knockdown price of £12: what's not to like?
manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526181954/
A new history of London and the 1920s and 1930s for the knockdown price of £12: what's not to like?
manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526181954/
Reposted by Matt Houlbrook
Thinking about this a lot today - 'Live, Love and Laugh' meant nearly two years of hard labour, but the queans who organised and celebrated together would not be stopped.
More work at the National Archives today, and this advert for a 1930s queer/trans dance is making me want both to cry and laugh at my desk. 'Live, Laugh, Love' London Quean-style, in a beautiful private mansion in bougie Kensington. 'Lady Austin' and 33 of her 'camp boys' were put on trial for this.
December 4, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Thinking about this a lot today - 'Live, Love and Laugh' meant nearly two years of hard labour, but the queans who organised and celebrated together would not be stopped.
Reposted by Matt Houlbrook
A statement from Woodcraft Folk re: the ban on trans girls from Girl Guiding.
Trans girls deserve to belong everywhere. But when bigots win the day (not for long I hope), at least there remain places where trans girls and everyone else can belong.
woodcraft.org.uk/woodcraft-fo...
Trans girls deserve to belong everywhere. But when bigots win the day (not for long I hope), at least there remain places where trans girls and everyone else can belong.
woodcraft.org.uk/woodcraft-fo...
Woodcraft Folk statement on the exclusion of trans children from Girlguiding - Woodcraft Folk
Woodcraft Folk stands in solidarity with every trans child, young person and volunteer who faces exclusion from Girlguiding UK following the announcement on Trans inclusion. We recognise that Girlgui...
woodcraft.org.uk
December 4, 2025 at 4:37 PM
A statement from Woodcraft Folk re: the ban on trans girls from Girl Guiding.
Trans girls deserve to belong everywhere. But when bigots win the day (not for long I hope), at least there remain places where trans girls and everyone else can belong.
woodcraft.org.uk/woodcraft-fo...
Trans girls deserve to belong everywhere. But when bigots win the day (not for long I hope), at least there remain places where trans girls and everyone else can belong.
woodcraft.org.uk/woodcraft-fo...
This is an absolute brilliant song - getting me through a dismal Thursday afternoon in south Birmingham.
open.spotify.com/track/4uYeKl...
open.spotify.com/track/4uYeKl...
You On My Mind
open.spotify.com
December 4, 2025 at 2:56 PM
This is an absolute brilliant song - getting me through a dismal Thursday afternoon in south Birmingham.
open.spotify.com/track/4uYeKl...
open.spotify.com/track/4uYeKl...
Reposted by Matt Houlbrook
This is the first I’ve heard of this and it’s astonishing - a group of white, PR-backed business owners suing a Pakistani-Iranian woman for calling her book a common word from her own language. Delighted that it’s over for her, but astonishing that someone had the brass neck.
An excellent piece by Yasmin Khan in @theguardian.com – and I’m very relieved the preposterous case against her has been dropped. www.theguardian.com/food/comment...
I called my recipe book Sabzi – vegetables. But the name was trademarked. And my legal ordeal began
The granting of patents and trademarks to foods and words from the global south is part of a long colonial grab. It’s time to realise we share what we cook, and what we call it
www.theguardian.com
December 4, 2025 at 1:12 PM
This is the first I’ve heard of this and it’s astonishing - a group of white, PR-backed business owners suing a Pakistani-Iranian woman for calling her book a common word from her own language. Delighted that it’s over for her, but astonishing that someone had the brass neck.
Reposted by Matt Houlbrook
1. Historically, eugenics was not a pseudoscience. It was *science* Almost every scientist, social scientist, academic, etc. believed in the validity of eugenics. You would have to search far & wide to find a scientist that didn't believe in some form of it. They taught it in college!
December 4, 2025 at 12:44 PM
1. Historically, eugenics was not a pseudoscience. It was *science* Almost every scientist, social scientist, academic, etc. believed in the validity of eugenics. You would have to search far & wide to find a scientist that didn't believe in some form of it. They taught it in college!
Reposted by Matt Houlbrook
It's pretty damning that the Adelphi was well-known as a place for people to sleep rough from at least a century ago.
A homeless tent village on London's Strand is to be demolished. Photographer Marc Davenant captured the stories of the people who live there.
What a row over a tent village in London says about the homelessness crisis
www.bigissue.com
December 4, 2025 at 9:30 AM
It's pretty damning that the Adelphi was well-known as a place for people to sleep rough from at least a century ago.
Reposted by Matt Houlbrook
This is the disability angle to go with.
Have seen the idea that the UK is *causing* mental health and developmental conditions because it's so shit, and that's not the progressive take the people making it think it is.
Have seen the idea that the UK is *causing* mental health and developmental conditions because it's so shit, and that's not the progressive take the people making it think it is.
This just seems like the wrong end of the telescope to me. Review should be into barriers to employment, not diagnosis.
I really *do* have a fine motor condition, but in the 21st century this poses absolutely no barrier to me working in 90 per cent of jobs in the UK.
I really *do* have a fine motor condition, but in the 21st century this poses absolutely no barrier to me working in 90 per cent of jobs in the UK.
Wes Streeting orders review of mental health diagnoses as benefit claims soar
December 4, 2025 at 10:46 AM
This is the disability angle to go with.
Have seen the idea that the UK is *causing* mental health and developmental conditions because it's so shit, and that's not the progressive take the people making it think it is.
Have seen the idea that the UK is *causing* mental health and developmental conditions because it's so shit, and that's not the progressive take the people making it think it is.
Reposted by Matt Houlbrook
Note how these awful people are getting exactly the exclusions of children that they demanded and *that still isn’t enough for them*: they demand everyone be delighted about it and kiss their arses for being brilliant.
December 4, 2025 at 7:33 AM
Note how these awful people are getting exactly the exclusions of children that they demanded and *that still isn’t enough for them*: they demand everyone be delighted about it and kiss their arses for being brilliant.
Reposted by Matt Houlbrook
Familiar! Treadwell's is just one street from the great monolithic building that is Senate House. Among our bookshop customers are many of the staff and students of the libraries and institutes therein.
December 4, 2025 at 10:18 AM
Familiar! Treadwell's is just one street from the great monolithic building that is Senate House. Among our bookshop customers are many of the staff and students of the libraries and institutes therein.
The new Uxbridge underground station was opened OTD in 1938, replacing the 1904 Met Railway station on the outskirts of the town. Designed by Charles Holden, with Bucknell & Ellis, the station has a curved facade, concrete train shed and stained glass www.modernism-in-metroland.co.uk/uxbridge.html
December 4, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Reposted by Matt Houlbrook
GB News now broadcasting calls to remove the ethnic minority MPs from parliament
December 3, 2025 at 7:07 PM
GB News now broadcasting calls to remove the ethnic minority MPs from parliament
If you're after a festive gift or want to treat yourself @manchesterup.bsky.social are offering a 40% discount on Songs of Seven Dials at the moment.
A new history of London and the 1920s and 1930s for the knockdown price of £12: what's not to like?
manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526181954/
A new history of London and the 1920s and 1930s for the knockdown price of £12: what's not to like?
manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526181954/
December 4, 2025 at 9:46 AM
If you're after a festive gift or want to treat yourself @manchesterup.bsky.social are offering a 40% discount on Songs of Seven Dials at the moment.
A new history of London and the 1920s and 1930s for the knockdown price of £12: what's not to like?
manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526181954/
A new history of London and the 1920s and 1930s for the knockdown price of £12: what's not to like?
manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526181954/
Reposted by Matt Houlbrook
‘In 1904, in one twelve-hour period, observers recorded 2582 omnibuses, 1285 hansom cabs, 790 trade vehicles, 286 four-wheelers, 228 bicycles, 112 carriages and 93 barrows passing along the Strand.’
Ysenda Maxtone Graham on a history of the London street.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Ysenda Maxtone Graham on a history of the London street.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Ysenda Maxtone Graham · Busiest Thoroughfare of the Metropolis of the World: The Strand
After reading Geoff Browell and Eileen Chanin’s concise history of the Strand, you will never walk down that street...
www.lrb.co.uk
December 4, 2025 at 9:30 AM
‘In 1904, in one twelve-hour period, observers recorded 2582 omnibuses, 1285 hansom cabs, 790 trade vehicles, 286 four-wheelers, 228 bicycles, 112 carriages and 93 barrows passing along the Strand.’
Ysenda Maxtone Graham on a history of the London street.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Ysenda Maxtone Graham on a history of the London street.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...