Claire Cock-Starkey

Blackthorn covered in white blossom

Blossom! #spring

Almost 10,000 authors have come together to publish an empty book protesting the theft of books by tech companies to train AI models.

Titled Don’t Steal This Book, it is empty of text except the names of the authors involved.. 🧵

Large tortoiseshell butterfly confirmed no longer extinct in UK Early spring sightings show colourful insect is a resident species for first time in decades, says conservation charity

Some nice news for once.

NEXT SUNDAY! All Remembered Mothers' names to me please by 10p.m Saturday 14th. Reposts appreciated.

Crude oil prices, showing a very sharp increase in the last day, from around 65 to 101 dollars per barrel..

Oil prices wouldn't be all over the news today if more of our economy was powered by local, secure renewable energy.

This isn't an "energy crisis". It's a fossil fuel crisis.

44% of UK electricity came from renewables in 2025. More of that plus an electrified economy => no more oil shocks.

COVER REVEAL. Really excited to show off the fantastic cover for my new book Sniff from @yalebooks.bsky.social. It’s a history of smells across time and space and hits the shelves on the 8th September. Pre-order from Yale, your local bookshop, or the usual suspects! yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300...

Random question ... do I have any followers who live in or near PEWSEY and fancy a little field trip?!

love how we killed the old, frail anti-nuke ayatollah just to have him replaced with his young, healthy son who wants nukes and who just had his father, mother, wife, and child murdered on the same day by his mortal enemy. surely this will bring peace to the region

Okay, so I am definitely going to have to go freelance, at least for a while. So, if anyone has any advice on actually building up and finding freelance policy and comms works, including providing media and advocacy training, campaign planning and strategy please let me know.

A vegetable looking like a person walking

YOU CAN TELL BY THE WAY I WALK
I'M A WOMAN'S MAN; NO TIME TO TALK

This argues that we should not give away our creative industries' output to US tech companies.

It seems obvious when you say it, doesn't it.

The Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, at Birkbeck, University of London, is looking for a talented researcher to join a project focused on expanding our understanding of non elite writers and writing in seventeenth century England. As Postdoctoral Research Associate you will join 'Written Worlds in Seventeenth-Century England', an exciting Leverhulme Trust–funded project. The role is offered on a 13 month, part time (17.5 hours a week) contract with a salary of £22,124 rising to £25,189 per annum (pro-rated £44,247 to £50,379 per annum). In this role, you will carry out dedicated research on non elite textual production, working closely with the Principal Investigator, Professor Sue Wiseman, and the Co Investigator, Dr Brodie Waddell. You will have the opportunity to work extensively with manuscripts and printed sources, visit archives, investigate datasets, develop the project database, and contribute to shaping the project’s scholarly outputs - and you may also be involved in textual editing. As Research Associate, you will focus on one of two thematic strands: 1. Non elite writing produced in the provinces, or 2. Writing produced by non elite women. Further details via link

We are hiring postdoc researchers to join our #WrittenWorlds project at Birkbeck, with Sue Wiseman, @mdpowelldavies.bsky.social, @richardjansell.bsky.social and I.

0.5FTE, 13 months, focus on women's or provincial non-elite writing #EarlyModern 🗃️
cis7.bbk.ac.uk/vacancy/post...

Brown spaniel on a woodland path with sunshine streaming behind him

Lupin had a model moment on this morning's glorious spring walk!

Nineteenth-centuryists (#C19th) - I'm looking for novels in the first half of the century where the rural English poor are racialized as "savage", "dark" etc. I know English rural examples from journalism/non-fiction, and fiction about the urban and "Celtic" poor, but fictional examples useful!

🚨 It looks like the UK government is gearing up to upend copyright law in favour of AI companies, legalising the theft of their work.

This is despite creatives' huge protests, and despite previous proposals being roundly rejected by the public.

Please spread the word.

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CALL FOR PAPERS

Friendly reminder that the abstract deadline for this year's York Magic and Witchcraft conference is 14th March 📜 the theme is NATURE AND THE SUPERNATURAL, broadly defined 🌦️🌛🌍

Please send your abstracts to magicwitchcraft2024@gmail.com !
@drdebsmoretti.bsky.social

BAVS Rosemary Mitchell Prize now open for submissions!

The spring issue of the BAVS Newsletter will be published on 20th March. Please let us know if you have any work/projects/CfPs to include. You can email the newsletter editors at: bavsnews@gmail.com

Line of blooming daffodils edging an allotment plot

Close up of blooming daffodils

Me and Andy with our allotment plot in the background

Spring has reached the allotment! While the beds might be mostly empty, reams of daffodils are blooming. (I take no credit they were planted by previous custodian of the plot).

When will the UK government wake up to the wholesale destruction of HE that's happening?
This affects towns and cites across the UK, our businesses, the NHS, schools, young people, our global standing, everything! Higher Education, Universities, contribute over £265 BILLION to the economy.

Congratulations 👏

Regret to announce that we’ve reached Wrong Coat season. Every coat you wear from now til mid April will be The Wrong Coat for the weather

Call for applications!

We are looking for a small press to take up a temporary residency at UCL!

£5,000 to spend flexibly, an opportunity to work with outstanding collections & collaborate with brilliant students and staff!

blogs.ucl.ac.uk/special-coll...

IHR Internships IHR Internships support new researchers to develop their skills and broaden their experience within and beyond the historical research community.

We have just launched our IHR 2026 internship with the Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH), focusing on environmental histories. For more information and to apply visit: buff.ly/Vzpz6G3 (application deadline 15 April 2026, 11:59 pm BST).

A ballock dagger handle, missing the tang-attached blade. For those who want to complain about the spelling we use, both this and the one you use are correct, but spelling it with an 'a' avoids issues with filters...

Victorian antiquarians called this type of dagger, of which 65 were found on the Mary Rose, a 'kidney dagger', as the lobes on the handle apparently resemble a pair of kidneys.

The Tudors called it a ballock dagger, after a different body part, but we don’t see it ourselves...

Congratulations!

Plenty of watery ditches but not certain any nearby ponds. I'll just keep hoping a frog hops by soon!

You're so lucky! We're on year two of our pond and have yet to attract a single frog 😔

Just listen to what Andrew’s nickname was amongst royal protection officers.

🚨 Urgent Casting: 🚢⚓️
We need a speaker for Saga’s Spirit of Adventure on short notice!
🗓️ Feb 28 (Funchal) – March 5 (Portsmouth)
💰 Paid Engagement
Looking for fresh topics (NO Royals, TV, or Nature).
Interested? Email casting@pastpreservers.com
#PublicSpeaking #CruiseJobs