Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Owen Davies @odavies9.bsky.social · 9h

Welcome on board as the West Berks boulder rep on the new committee.

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Owen Davies @odavies9.bsky.social · 9h

Will have to take up your offer - so I can form a UK Committee on Boulders, county by county.

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Owen Davies @odavies9.bsky.social · 10h

Folklore. Reading an excellent Scottish article from 1872, full of place legends:

"First Report by the Committee on Boulders"

I would like to be on a "Committee on Boulders". Offers open.

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Buckinghamshire Archives @bucksarchives.bsky.social · 15h

Here's an illustration from the Drayton Parslow Parish Register in 1780 - a skull and bones with a floral motif. A morbid doodle or a helpful way to mark a section of burials?

A black skull and crossed bones next to a floral motif, drawn in the Drayton Parslow Parish Register, 1780. Handwritten entries are above and below it showing burials, including several infants.

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Jo (unfunded hobbyist) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @hagenilda.bsky.social · 22h

I wrote something on my time on returning to Goldsmiths as an associate lecturer, 17 years after graduating with my first degree. It’s a plea to Frances Corner’s successor to learn from mistakes made over the last 6 years and change course. #UCU #UKHE

ucucommons.org/2025/10/06/c...

Cutting Corners: a message to the next Vice Chancellor at Goldsmiths

On 1 October 2025, a short announcement was put on Goldsmiths’ website to say that Vice Chancellor Frances Corner was stepping down with immediate effect. This came off the back of an announcement …

ucucommons.org

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The Secret Barrister @barristersecret.bsky.social · 1d

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Ceri Houlbrook @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social · 3d

The best kind of indie bookshop is one that stocks 8 copies of your book, has somewhere cosy for the littlun to sit while you sign them, & can involve a muddy trek through a beautiful clough to get there

P.S. there are 8 signed copies of #Folklore in Hebden Bridge's The Book Case

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Owen Davies @odavies9.bsky.social · 2d

Folklore in the landscape garden. Fancy a maypole? Researching 18th-19thC garden aesthetics. Influential Thomas Whately (1726-1772) suggested:

"if a situation can be found for a May-pole, whence it would not obtrude itself on every view, that also might not be improper"

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Jane Winters @jfwinters.bsky.social · 8d

Join us on 20 November for the Annual Digital Lecture, a partnership between The National Archives, UK and the School of Advanced Study. The wonderful @nannathylstrup.bsky.social will be speaking about ‘When saving becomes loss: archival memory in the digital age’. Free to register!

When saving becomes loss: Archival memory in the digital age

Explore archival memory, data loss, and attempts to preserve the past in the digital age at this year’s Annual Digital Lecture.

www.eventbrite.co.uk

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Owen Davies @odavies9.bsky.social · 4d

Enjoy!

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Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla.bsky.social · 5d

Thanks @pressgazette for this report on @thenerve.news first week.

We’ve blasted past through our targets. New newsletter out today so please do sign up www.thenerve.news & a huge thank you to everyone who’s supported us so far! 🙏🙏 🙏

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Owen Davies @odavies9.bsky.social · 5d

Folklore & nature. When modern understanding trumps the idea of "folk wisdom". A century ago & more, hedgehogs and grass snakes were terribly persecuted in Britain. Killed in their many thousands because they were thought to suck the milk from cows. Read more in our new book.

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Matthew Cobb @matthewcobb.bsky.social · 5d

No, @thebookseller.com this is not the full list of books used to train Anthropic’s AI. It excludes many books (including mine) that were stolen and used but which do not meet the specific criteria of the settlement. Books not copyrighted in the US are excluded, so UK editions get nothing.

Screenshot saying “Full list of books used to traunAnthropic AI model released”

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The Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) @themerl.bsky.social · 6d

New Absolute Units is live!

Join us and @katrinanavickas.bsky.social as we explore resistance to enclosure in the modern era: from riots, to raves, to Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.

Listen below, or search 'Absolute Units' wherever you get your podcasts!

merl.reading.ac.uk/explore/abso...

Absolute Units - a podcast from The Museum of English Rural Life.

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Ceri Houlbrook @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social · 7d

'as a rich and fascinating overview and introduction to British folklore this book is really essential reading for anyone interested in the subject. I know I’ll be returning to my copy again and again' - a lovely review of #Folklore on @shinynewbooks.bsky.social shinynewbooks.co.uk/folklore-a-j...

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Ceri Houlbrook @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social · 6d

Be the fairest of them all, excel at domestic chores & rely on your prince to ensure a happy ending? But folklore & fairytale give us much more than gender stereotypes. Come hear me talk on #Folklore & Women in Liverpool on 5 Nov (& Nottingham 19 Nov) www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/folklore-w...

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will o’the wisp pooley @willpooley.bsky.social · 7d

“Know how to make this work for you.”

This is the last set of posts from the French History Network ECR in 2025*

We asked what advice ECRs would give to other ECRs or PG students.

🗃️

frenchhistorysociety.co.uk/6695/

ECR in 2025: Part Three- Advice to ECRs – SSFH

frenchhistorysociety.co.uk

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Owen Davies @odavies9.bsky.social · 6d

Thanks Claire! Hope you enjoy it.

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Glen O'Hara @gsoh31.bsky.social · 8d

New from me: a *free* short version of my Political Quarterly piece on universities... The issue is settled now: the massified and accessible Higher Education system we have spent tens of billions building since the 1970s is coming to an end. (1/2)
politicalquarterly.org.uk/blog/where-n...

Where now for Britain’s Universities?

UK higher education now faces a very bleak future, retreating in the face of little public sympathy and limited political interest.

politicalquarterly.org.uk

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Glen O'Hara @gsoh31.bsky.social · 8d

For this reason, and apart from the occasional article, I won't be sounding off much more about the great university debacle. Let's see what's in the White Paper and Budget, but I've advocated enough and huge upheaval and shrinkage is now inevitable. (2/2)
politicalquarterly.org.uk/blog/where-n...

Where now for Britain’s Universities?

UK higher education now faces a very bleak future, retreating in the face of little public sympathy and limited political interest.

politicalquarterly.org.uk

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Warwick History Post-Doc Club @post-doc-club.bsky.social · 9d

Great news!
JSTOR now have a free account with an Independent Researcher category. You can access 100 documents per month

www.jstor.org/action/showL...

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Daniel Grey @djrgrey.bsky.social · 15d

Fantastic #openaccess article 📄 by @dralanagharris.bsky.social & Laura Mitchison in Transactions @royalhistsoc.org on disability, ethics, public history, photography & oral history: Essential read for any of us doing public engagement work on sensitive histories. 🌟

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Us and Them: Disability Ethics, Oral History and Inclusive Praxis in the Reuse of Asylum Photography | Transactions of the Royal Historical Society | Cambridge Core

Us and Them: Disability Ethics, Oral History and Inclusive Praxis in the Reuse of Asylum Photography

www.cambridge.org

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Owen Davies @odavies9.bsky.social · 10d

That's it! Send my thanks to your friend.

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Owen Davies @odavies9.bsky.social · 10d

Thanks Stephen. It is at Wycoller, but not that bridge!

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Owen Davies @odavies9.bsky.social · 11d

That's the card I bought that got me going on this! Thanks very much for further info on bridge. Appreciated. Will take a look tomorrow.

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