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Dr Jo Kershaw

@mthrjo.bsky.social

Priest, mediaevalist, geek, Scot. All views personal. She/ her

7,318 Followers  |  992 Following  |  22,280 Posts  |  Joined: 01.07.2023
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Posts by Dr Jo Kershaw (@mthrjo.bsky.social)

I’ve always been struck by that bit in one of the Jack Aubrey novels and the sinking of the Waakzamheid. “‘My God, oh my God,' he said. 'Six hundred men.'”

04.03.2026 19:28 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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#March into #Spring 🌷

03.03.2026 19:22 — 👍 58    🔁 26    💬 3    📌 0

True, it’s an ill wind… good news for the red kites, if they have any, too.

04.03.2026 16:42 — 👍 3    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

🤢

04.03.2026 16:40 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

I think I would have trouble claiming it was a cultural weapon, though. Well not my culture, anyway!

04.03.2026 16:39 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

I mean it’s not as bad as the Thing With The Hagfish in California, but that’s going to be nasty. At least it’s not summer?

04.03.2026 16:37 — 👍 12    🔁 2    💬 4    📌 0

But if it was deliberate (presumably they could have requested tighter pants), well done for actually getting it!

04.03.2026 16:25 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

The most actually 90s callback (probably accidentally) I’ve seen this year was whichever team it was in the Olympic free skiing who had taped up their overly baggy ski pants for increased aerodynamic efficiency.

04.03.2026 16:07 — 👍 7    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

Can we stop comparing *any* UK leaders with Churchill please? Thatcher wasn’t Churchill, Boris bloody Johnson wasn’t Churchill, and Keir Starmer wasn’t Churchill.

Even Churchill wasn’t the Churchill everyone imagines.

Just shut up about Churchill.

04.03.2026 14:00 — 👍 746    🔁 110    💬 56    📌 13

The total as of Monday night from the Iranian Red Crescent Society stood at around 550.

04.03.2026 14:41 — 👍 3    🔁 3    💬 1    📌 0

I’ve never understood that.

04.03.2026 15:42 — 👍 3    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

It’s a promise to pay a sum of money *if they accept your offer*

04.03.2026 15:10 — 👍 3    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

There’s a story there, but probably not a fun one.

04.03.2026 15:07 — 👍 4    🔁 0    💬 2    📌 0

On this theme, something that is happening on the AI adoption curve is that a lot of people who are at the age to naturally be suspicious of new technology

- by the way, I have bad news for you, median user of Bluesky -

are also being impacted by other people's bad use of AI / LLMs.

04.03.2026 13:15 — 👍 68    🔁 7    💬 5    📌 0
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Years ago I found a note in the parish register of Glenfield in Leicestershire which instantly became one of my favourite Civil War commentaries:

'Churchwardens, not any; because
distractions many; & distructions mightie'.

I've returned to that document, explored other pages nearby, and found...

04.03.2026 09:41 — 👍 68    🔁 22    💬 3    📌 0

So much will be said about all this in the coming days, but IMO the biggest takeaway is that James Watt and Martin Dickie each pocketed more than the price BrewDog was eventually sold for, while 500 hardworking staff are now out of a job & 220k equity punks don't get a dime.

Absolute charlatans.

02.03.2026 17:02 — 👍 315    🔁 154    💬 15    📌 18

okay, Ill bite.
What do you think the point of reading for and writing a literature review is? The process of reading and writing is crucial for THINKING. Your ideas are shaped by all of this, offloading it to gAI, no matter how "good" you think gAI is at it defeats the purpose entirely.

03.03.2026 19:01 — 👍 1210    🔁 260    💬 45    📌 29

It’s a strong look

04.03.2026 11:57 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

That’s not a counter argument, that was the original argument! And it’s still setting a bad precedent IMO

04.03.2026 11:18 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

Rochdale Herald “reports” that Sam Allerdyce has been named interim Ayatollah and I’m afraid that did make me laugh…

04.03.2026 11:15 — 👍 24    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 0
Screen shoot from page 167 specifying the undress for the Consular Service which “in times of danger” may permit the wearing of swords:

https://archive.org/details/dressinsigniawor00greauoft/page/n243/mode/2up

Screen shoot from page 167 specifying the undress for the Consular Service which “in times of danger” may permit the wearing of swords: https://archive.org/details/dressinsigniawor00greauoft/page/n243/mode/2up

Let us return to invitations specifying “Undress but with swords, on account of the Revolution.”

04.03.2026 10:49 — 👍 7    🔁 4    💬 0    📌 0
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1908: the Lancet, one of the most respected scientific journals, calls for 18 age limit on reading in bed amidst a moral panic surrounding children becoming "addicted" to novels, which were "designed to keep kids hooked" and destroy their attention/mental health

03.03.2026 17:13 — 👍 2296    🔁 833    💬 3    📌 140

Ah, phew!

04.03.2026 10:46 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
The “we’re all going to die” joke, only in French.

The “we’re all going to die” joke, only in French.

Bof!

04.03.2026 09:17 — 👍 76    🔁 12    💬 2    📌 4

Oh, blast, not Weihstephaner. Thanks for the heads up.

04.03.2026 10:26 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 2    📌 0

This has been part of the trans-kids moral panic for years, gay adults going "If I grew up now, they'd convince me I'm trans."

If your movement had real evidence, you wouldn't be pointing to alternative-universe hypotheticals! Child psychologists know the difference between gay kids and trans kids

03.03.2026 21:13 — 👍 2314    🔁 217    💬 24    📌 22

And I bet it would cost more to administer than it saved.

04.03.2026 10:13 — 👍 16    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

These ones are more helpfully specific than that!

04.03.2026 10:13 — 👍 5    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Yes.

04.03.2026 10:11 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

I expect that’s true but I still think taxing overseas residents is a bad idea.

04.03.2026 10:10 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0