Dan O'Neill

The most electrifying scholar working in skateboard studies today!

We asked comedian @michaelspicer.bsky.social to respond to the opinion "Working with organised crime to improve health: a modest proposal" from our #BMJChristmas Issue 2025.

Read the opinion here: www.bmj.com/content/391/...

The Wolfson History Prize - Celebrating Outstanding History The Wolfson History Prize is awarded annually to promote and recognise outstanding history written for a general audience.

Graduate of the American Studies programme that the University of Nottingham wishes to close wins 2025 Wolfson History Prize for Survivors: The Lost Stories of the Last Captives of the Atlantic Slave Trade.

History, it's a long game. Divest in haste, repent for the longue durée.

Not enough attention is being paid to the effective closure of the bulk of one of the 2 or 3 most important public archives for modern British history. A terrible own goal for the BBC as a public-service agency.

Graeme ‘Mac’ McEachran at the Kenny, 1987 © Tim Leighton-Boyce, R.a.D

Photogrammetry of the Kenny © ArtFletch

🛹 Don’t Kill Kenny!

Nearly 2,000 people have signed a petition urging Lambeth Council not to abandon the plans to restore Kennington Park’s historic skatebowl 'The Kenny' (1978), as C20 Society has backed the grassroots campaign.

✍🏼Sign and share the petition: www.change.org/p/save-kenni...

I'll be presenting at @silverstonemuseum.bsky.social on Saturday 18 October as part of their annual research forum. Hear me talk about the history of tobacco sponsorship in Formula One and the challenges this posed for public health. Info and tickets here: www.silverstonemuseum.co.uk/whats-on/eve...

📙 Bluesky is the only platform where I haven’t circulated my book, as I’d recently joined and was waiting for the physical copy. So here it is (last book post, I promise) 📙

☀️ Sunbed in Britain: Tanning Culture from Fad to Fear is free to download via: dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781...

REMINDER: Just a week left now to submit abstracts to the CfP below.

1/3 Great day at @uniofnottingham.bsky.social yesterday for the 1st Advisory Board meeting for @kthabitproject.bsky.social . This is a @wellcometrust.bsky.social funded project on the history of addictive sport sponsorship in UK 1965-2025, with strands on alcohol, tobacco, and gambling

Thank you to everyone who came to our first project Advisory Board meeting yesterday. We had some really fantastic conversations about our research, and meaningful ways of disseminating it. Really looking forward to everyone's input over the course of the project.

REMINDER: There’s just under a month left until the CfP for 'Historicising CDoH' closes. Please do share & circulate widely/consider submitting an abstract by 13 October 2025 if you’re interested.

Working on the histories of products/businesses/advertising and their impact on health? A workshop exploring these themes is happening at @lshtmhistory.bsky.social on 15 April 2026. Get involved!

Leads to lots of skateparks (in some areas), but not necessarily lots of users. A multi-use space would be interesting as an alt (climbing wall integrated into back of a ramp?) but safety might be prohibitive.

Also, my hunch is that not as many young people, generally, skate now as a few years ago.

Mega interesting discussion. In my (limited) experience, councils see a skatepark as an easy way to provide a space for young people but lack imagination to come up with alternatives. Skatepark contractors don't provide alt amenities and older, male users dominate the consultation process.

"Work in York reported that 90% of girls who liked skateboarding didn’t feel comfortable in the skate
park, while 68% of girls who responded to our own online survey said that some boys made them feel they shouldn’t be in the skate park." From MSG report, 2023: www.greenflagaward.org/media/2428/m...

Historian friends and colleagues! Please read, share and consider signing this letter from historians to UK MPs urging them to speak out in support of trans rights and avoid repeating mistakes that led to widespread discrimination and violence against LGBTQ+ people in the past. 🗃️