Linsey Hunter

US government to fund Maga-aligned think-tanks and charities in Europe State department grants to spread ‘American values’ are part of Washington’s 250th anniversary celebrations

This is MAGA ideological imperialism.

It's disguised as a "free speech" crusade. In reality, the Trump admin seeks to coerce Europe into deregulating digital environments to enable unimpeded extremist content that radicalises voters into supporting far-right populists.

www.ft.com/content/f869...

I don't mean to seem alarmed, but it appears Google's book search function is, just...gone.

In a sane country it would be a huge deal, front page news, that a privately owned utility that millions researches, from journalists to scholars, rely on every day to advance knowledge can just disappear.

The gravity of this is really hitting me.
I rely on Google Books to do record linkage on minor 19th and early 20thC people, companies, places, who pop up in trade journals, random books and periodically I would never think of searching individually.

Quite extraordinary how little discussion of risks universities are engaging in before they sign all their staff and students up for new AI tools, at extraordinary cost, Given universities' known deficits and repeated claims of financial exigency, this is surely problematic.

Ok, let’s do this🙄

We’ll start with an explainer covering:

🕒What is a 15-minute city
🏫What on Earth is going on with Oxford
👽Where the conspiracy theories have come from

And then we’ll look at the Telegraph article

🧵
1/25

Academics vying for a spot in Epstein‘s world. There are so many. I feel the need to make a thread, so I don’t keep confusing them. 1/

This is core to a PGT assessment set by my colleague in a module we team teach. I will dig out anything I can find but on leave till about the 4th.

Not going to miss Researchfish - obvs for the vampiric business model, but also their deal with UKRI that allowed them to threaten anyone criticising them online with being reported to funders for ‘abuse’, with the obvious implication it would impact on the critic’s prospects for future funding.

YES THAT'S WHAT MANY OF US HAVE BEEN SAYING FOR YEARS
AND THATS WHY WE DON'T USE IT
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Likewise! :-)

:-) No excuse to come back between then and now.

Thank you!

Thank you! The last time I remember being in the IHR one of the Batman films was being filmed there!

It’s time we had a proper debate about funding university education Changes to student loans have, in effect, privatised undergraduate teaching in England

'Everyone involved needs to face up to the reality of the current funding model.'

Too true, but we can't 'face up to the reality of the current funding model' if we hive off undergraduates and taught PG students from universities' other core functions and their financial challenges, e.g. research.

A foster kitten visiting the amazing “Paws on Parchment” exhibition which tracks how cats were depicted in the Middle Ages through texts and artworks from around the world
www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a...
#medievalsky

Life ambition fulfilled! Gave a paper at the IHR! Thanks to the Medievalism seminar series organisers and attendees, especially Simon Trafford. What a beauty of a building!

True - and not only of science.

In case we thought that ecological disasters were a special talent of modernity, let’s talk about how the 13th-century peat trade of Norfolk made it permanently vulnerable to flooding, including 3 catastrophic floods just since 2013.

#medievalstorytime

Facsimile narratives: Researching the past in the age of digital reproduction Abstract. Taking a cue from the reflections and contributions made by manuscript, archival and historical studies, this paper proposes a new approach to th

"Data in itself is not knowledge. Even the greatest concentration of data will not on its own bring us closer to getting to know the past. Concentrating data does not write history." I wrote this five years ago and it is more relevant then ever in the age of AI.

academic.oup.com/dsh/article-...

U.S. government has lost more than 10,000 STEM Ph.D.s since Trump took office A Science analysis reveals how many were fired, retired, or quit across 14 agencies

Wow. This is devastating.

www.science.org/content/arti...

Just say no, kids. AI is addictive and dangerous.

Reform UK's guide to the history of Britain The generations of leftist schoolteachers using subversive techniques like source criticism and analytical thinking have been brainwashing British youngsters to hate their country. As part of…

The generations of leftist schoolteachers using subversive techniques like source criticism and analytical thinking have been brainwashing British youngsters to hate their country

✏️ @mrhenrymorris.substack.com

Death Squads Execute Second Dissident Or what the US press would say if this was happening on the streets of a "shithole" country overseas

NEW: this is how the US press would report on this if it was happening in a ‘shithole country’. It’s an execution. But it also reveals how weak Trump really is
open.substack.com/pub/broligar...

Same. I found this interesting:
bsky.app/profile/nbed...

lol no burn it all fucking down

AI boom could falter without wider adoption, Microsoft chief Satya Nadella warns Big tech boss tells delegates at Davos that broader global use is essential if technology is to deliver lasting growth

The party line has gone from "women have to start using genAI or they'll be left behind" to "everyone has to start using genAI or they'll be left behind" to "everyone has to start using genAI or genAI will be left behind."

A rural scene with a road heading into the distance. A sign points to 'Castleton of Kincardine', with a small group of trees covering earthworks - the remains of a castle - next to the road.

Our first seminar of 2026 is coming soon! On Fri 28/01 @linseyhunter.bsky.social will be speaking on 'Landscapes and Location in the Retellings of the Legend of Finella, Lady of the Mearns, c.1900-c.1960' 17.30 UTC in person at the IHR or online. Abstract & details: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

And the ethics?

(I am not a no genai ever, but it is so toxic that it destroys me to see smart people using it for frivolous things. It costs so much water and energy alone, we should use it sparingly for things humans can’t do. Just my opinion)

I understand the lure of saving time but I recommend looking into how wasteful it is in environmental contexts and how ethically bankrupt the GenAI models are.