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Julia Laite

@julialaite.bsky.social

6.7K followers 2.6K following 1.8K posts

Teller of small stories. Professor of history at Birkbeck. Rider of bikes, grower of vegetables, Brook custodian & friend to five ducks. Townie Cantabrigian. Eternally homesick Newfoundlander; researching the island's history & the legacies of empire.

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Julia Laite @julialaite.bsky.social · Jun 27

Hello new followers! If you like small histories of women surviving against the patriarchal odds, are interested in the history of trafficking, and are a nerd for historical details, then my book might be for you!
blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/pro...

The Disappearance of Lydia Harvey

Lydia Harvey was meant to disappear. She was young and working class; she'd walked the streets, worked in brothels, and had no money of her own. In 1910, politi

blackwells.co.uk

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Julia Laite @julialaite.bsky.social · 3h

I'm laughing but now every time I eat a potato--and I eat a lotta potatoes--I'm going to think 'Europe's favourite since 1536'.

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Julia Laite @julialaite.bsky.social · 4h

Potato History Reclaimed.

Des Fitzgerald @desfitzgerald.bsky.social · 5d

So there's an EU-funded campaign to get millenials to eat potatoes and - I swear to Jesus I'm not making this up - it's slogan is: "Europe's favourite since 1536."

A screenshot of a website that says "DISCOVER THE TASTY VERSATILITY OF POTATOES! Europe's favourite since 1536." banner ads say "funded by the european union" and "enjoy - it's from europe."

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Julia Laite @julialaite.bsky.social · 1d

This looks fabulous, but there was no 1885 Criminal Justice Act... It was the 1885 Criminal Law Amendment Act. Sorry for being a pedant.

Julia Laite @julialaite.bsky.social · 1d

Cultures will always blend & morph & change. That's a fundamental truth of human history. States should help minorities integrate: ie. with support for ESL, funding for community centres, festivals, events & schools. But that doesn't mean communities of people shouldn't live nearby each other!

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Julia Laite @julialaite.bsky.social · 1d

I feel the need to state an obvious & humane point this morning. Communities of people cluster together because that's what humans do. It's wonderful to be surrounded by people with whom you share a background. If there was a Newfoundland Town in my city, I'd probably be living there.

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Julia Laite @julialaite.bsky.social · 1d

And at the borderlands of these community clusters both large and small--at the scale of continents or counties or neighbourhoods--cultures change and integrate and blend in a thousand ways and that's how, like, history unfolds and how we as people have always been.

Julia Laite @julialaite.bsky.social · 1d

100% to all of this. And just to add: communities of people also cluster together because that's what humans do. It's wonderful to be surrounded by people with whom you share a background. If there was a Newfoundland Town in the UK, I'd probably be living there. Or at least visit frequently.

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Julia Laite @julialaite.bsky.social · 1d

This is excellent news from the Dakota Nation, for whom the 49th parallel has only ever been a colonialist fiction.

Deva Woodly @devawo.bsky.social · 1d

“We’re operationalizing our old corridors—taking ancient trade routes our elders told us about and articulating them in a modern context,” said Solomon Cyr, spokesperson for Standing Buffalo Dakota Nation.” — Love it when people take advantage of political opportunities.

Indigenous Nations Plan Tariff-Free Trade Corridor Across US-Canada border

“We’re not begging for crumbs anymore. We’re demanding what’s rightly ours."

www.motherjones.com

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Julia Laite @julialaite.bsky.social · 2d

All I hear when I see this is Matt Berry saying 'Grayyyyt Brittian'.

Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 2d

It helps to be able to spell the country you say only you are competent enough to run.

Goody-bag merch from Tory Conference branded "When Labour negotiates Britian loses" and signed "Kemi Badenoch".

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Reposted by Julia Laite

Alex von Tunzelmann @alexvont.bsky.social · 3d

I’ve just added my voice to this consultation saying I don’t want a situation in which staff and fellow swimmers might scrutinise or judge my body, or anyone else’s, when I use the ponds. The current policy of trans inclusion works perfectly well. You can fill out the consultation linked below.

Bat Krown 🦇 @katbrownwrites.com · 4d

Those tedious and mysteriously funded transphobes want to limit access to the Ponds so I’ve had a pleasant 10 mins filling this out on why seeing a variety of women is magic and judging by what people look like or can do is very slippery territory hampstead-heath-bathing-ponds.commonplace.isn

Future access to the Hampstead Heath Bathing Ponds

Inviting feedback from pond users, the local community, and stakeholders on how the Kenwood Ladies’, and Highgate Men’s ponds should operate in the future.

hampstead-heath-bathing-ponds.commonplace.is

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Julia Laite @julialaite.bsky.social · 5d

This is an incredibly important point to remember.

Brandon Friedman @brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 5d

I would just remind folks that Elon Musk is neither a rocket scientist, nor an automotive engineer. Sam Altman is not a computer scientist. Elizabeth Holmes is not a doctor. David Shor is not a data scientist. And Ezra Klein is not a trained public policy analyst.

So this absolutely tracks.

Ida Bae Wells @nhannahjones.bsky.social · 5d

In case it wasn’t clear, the anti-DEI crusade has never been about merit. Zero news experience. Never been a reporter. Elevated to Editor in Chief of CBS News, one of the most storied news institutions in the nation. www.mediaite.com/media/news/p...

Julia Laite @julialaite.bsky.social · 6d

This poem, written by Joseph Fasano (who was also born with a heart condition), has hit me directly in the heart like an arrow today, as I watch our world's mess unfold while waiting for Kid the Younger's annual cardiology check up. We cannot save each other now. We can.

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Julia Laite @julialaite.bsky.social · 6d

My heart goes out to British Jews marking Yom Kippur today in the shadow of a violent attack on their community. Conflating the behaviour of the Israeli state with the Jewish faith or culture is fundamentally Antisemitic & I condemn the targeting of civilians by warmongers & terrorists alike.

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Julia Laite @julialaite.bsky.social · 6d

people are not naturally exclusionary or racist. I believe they are taught to be that way & are given false information. I'm not saying they're stupid, I'm saying there is an enormous misinformation campaign being run by the billionaires who own our tech. I choose to believe this can change.

Julia Laite @julialaite.bsky.social · 6d

But I will ask you again. What direct harm have these supposedly deeply caring people experienced, that they are protesting? Or have they been told by vested interest that the immigrants are stealing their shit when really it is an increasingly powerful oligarchy of billionaires? I believe that...

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Julia Laite @julialaite.bsky.social · 6d

A million people expressing what they care about can absolutely be far right...if what they care about is a far right political issue? You aren't making any sense. I'm going to bow out of this discussion now, because you haven't addressed any of my previous points.

Julia Laite @julialaite.bsky.social · 6d

I was there that day and peace was not apparent. And yes, things can be threatening and scary without anyone getting arrested. I personally witnessed so much harassment. The speakers there were expressing extremely racist views. And it was not a million people? where in the world did you see that.

Julia Laite @julialaite.bsky.social · 6d

I'm sorry, where in my text did I ask you to be ashamed? I said the migration flows were caused by imperial conquest and exploitation, just like those empires you mention above experienced. It's a fact of history, not some kind of moral crusade. It's interesting that you went right to shame there.

Julia Laite @julialaite.bsky.social · 6d

I don't speak chimp, but that sounds about right!

Julia Laite @julialaite.bsky.social · 6d

I heard her speak once in Cambridge and she opened her talk- as I'm sure she did many talks- with a chimpanzee call.

And I know that she's taught so many people so much but on that day, she taught me there was more than one way to be an academic.

www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

Jane Goodall, world-renowned primatologist, dies aged 91

Jane Goodall Institute says ‘tireless advocate’ for natural world died in California during US speaking tour

www.theguardian.com

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Julia Laite @julialaite.bsky.social · 6d

Absolutely exquisite.

Robbie @londonmikmaq.bsky.social · 6d

A portfolio or envelope case made of birchbark and dyed porcupine quills by a talented Mi’kmaw artist around c.1910 and featuring the traditional 8-pointed star— I love this object. Relatedly, it‘s Mi’kmaq Treaty Day!

A portfolio case with an ornate design made of porcupine quills, including the traditional Mi’kmaw star design.

Reposted by Julia Laite

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 6d

Change is possible, in a good way.

Kudos to the Mayor of London, who had a plan, implemented it and stuck to it.

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan @london.gov.uk · 6d

For the first time ever, London has met legal limits for nitrogen dioxide.

When I became Mayor, we were told it would take 193 years. We did it 184 years earlier than expected.

Cleaner air means a healthier city and big savings for the NHS.

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Julia Laite @julialaite.bsky.social · 6d

Reform voters by getting tough on migration. We will embolden them to gain the very power that you & I seem to be mutually afraid of. We will concede powers to the state that will be abused. Look at ICE in the US right now. Yes we have to talk about migration, but not to concede to reform's point.

Julia Laite @julialaite.bsky.social · 6d

Manual work, care work. Our predicament is global. These flows of people today are rooted in Britain relentlessly taking from other parts of the world for centuries. We need to change the narrative to one where the people really doing the damage are held to account. We are not going to assauage...

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Julia Laite @julialaite.bsky.social · 6d

Concede that other people do not deserve to bring family, that other people whose homes have already been destroyed by climate change and war, should be made into the problem. We do need workers to rebuild those flooded homes. We will need the kind of labours that immigrants tend to fill...

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