Lola Dickinson

🚨 Academic Conference Alert! 🚨

Keynote title for our Opposition to Thatcher conference by the amazing Dr Amy Edwards: 'Begrudging bedfellows and oppositional allies: Thatcherism and the limits of Popular Capitalism'

It will be great. See all speakers & sign up 👇 forms.cloud.microsoft/e/WFugaYiSyh

Photograph of two British women police officers from the 1950s wearing masks to protect themselves from the smog

Congratulations 🎊 to @rebeccawynter.bsky.social and @janetweston.bsky.social for a brilliant conference! 👏🏻 Lots of amazing papers including @historywill.bsky.social @sophiemhistory.bsky.social @stephemmabrown.bsky.social @henryyeomans.bsky.social 🌟 Looking forward to next steps 😀

The UK's #HIV response is failing women.

In 2023, new cases increased the most in heterosexual women, but they are less likely to be offered or to take a test. Too many are diagnosed with HIV late, when it is more likely to have affected their health.

The violent political policing of picketing at Orgreave coking works in June 1984 was the single worst abuse of state power during the miners’ strike. Miners and their supporters have been campaigning for an inquiry for 40 years. Congratulations to @orgreavejustice.bsky.social.

Parliament and Hansard have removed “We are all Palestine Action” from my speech on Wednesday 2 July 2025 — despite me saying it.

This is a blatant attempt to censor me and rewrite the record.

This is not how a democracy behaves.

We will not be silenced.

What can historians bring to policy work on drug use?

In this new post for the RHS blog bit.ly/4lBdak9, Virginia Berridge ‪@lshtm.bsky.social‬ describes her experience as deputy chair of the London Drugs Commission.

The commission's report, 'The Cannabis Conundrum', appeared in May #Skystorians

My article exploring US immigration policy & family separation in the 1930s is out. It uses deportation files of the 'immoral classes' to show the ways that the deportation was structured around denying women's citizenship and separating mothers from children. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Our @jhistsex.bsky.social special issue on transnational histories of European HIV/AIDS activism is now out! Some wonderful new research coedited by me and @npapadogian.bsky.social.

Shout out to our brilliant contributors and journal editors!

@camhistory.bsky.social

muse.jhu.edu/issue/55146

Really happy to see that this special issue on transnational histories of HIV/AIDS activism is out in the world. Thanks so much to @npapadogian.bsky.social and @somakbiswas.bsky.social for all their hard work bringing it together! #histmed [1/2]

muse.jhu.edu/issue/55146

Hungary banned anything that “promotes homosexuality,” which means Pride.

However, today over 500,000 people in Budapest told the government to fuck off. 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

EVERY. WORD. OF. THIS.

@graceblakeley.substack.com
Author of Vulture Capitalism: How to Survive in an Age of Corporate Greed

#MomSky
#Pinks
#BuildCommunity
#PopularPower

Standardizing Sex A history of trans medicine that uses Scandinavian sources to tell a global story.  Standardizing Sex traces the emergence of trans medicine in Scandinavia in the twentieth century, exploring the cons...

My book now has a cover! "Standardizing Sex" is the first book to trace the emergence of trans medicine in Scandinavia from the 1920s onwards. It explores the construction and negotiation of medical expertise among medical professionals, patients, and activists in

press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

LAPD when they think no one’s looking

Labour, Immigration and the Far Right Keir Starmer’s “island of strangers” speech follows a well-trodden path for Labour leaders. Far-right rhetoric on immigration has long been mainstreamed in British politics, writes Kieran Connell.

I have a piece on the History Workshop blog historicising Labour’s awful, but all too predictable Immigration White Paper

www.historyworkshop.org.uk/migration/la...

@historyworkshop.org.uk

A political failure in his own words, albeit from a past self. He won’t suffer the worst consequences of his failures even if he loses the leadership and next election. Instead, migrants, or anyone assumed not to belong, will suffer even more. An abject political failure growing worse every day.

📣Registration is still open for ‘Sexual Health: Past, Present and Future’. Check out our exciting programme below! Join us in person or online. Registration is FREE but essential.
⏰2-3 July 2025
🏛️University of Birmingham / online
👉Register here by Monday 2nd June: forms.office.com/e/mQHq8NgSmQ

An important reminder as the Supreme Court makes its judgement - not a single trans person was heard from at any point during this case before them, even a trans judge who applied was refused.

This is, as usual, the British state acting as cis people to impose their will on trans people.

See the latest additions to our Modern History list ⬇️

From youth culture in post-war Britain and sex in England 1950-80, to Smallpox and Nepal - new titles out now!

@drsarahlkenny.bsky.social
@hannahcharnock.bsky.social
@historicalmeredith.bsky.social

#ModernHistory #NewinHistory #MUP

Queer Methodologies in Medical Humanities This week we welcomed 21 PhD students from around the world to our Queer Methodologies in Medical Humanities PhD School.

🎬 And it's a wrap! Over three days of masterclasses, creative workshops, reading groups and film screenings, we've explored how queer theory and praxis can shape health research at our Queer Methodologies in Medical Humanities #PhDSchool.

Very niche publication celebration from my partner! (Placard decorated banoffee pie) 🎉

And thanks as always to my brilliant supervisor @julialaite.bsky.social for her support and to @jossmorfitt.bsky.social for all his invaluable guidance!

Vice versa: sex work and drug use during the HIV epidemic in Thatcher’s Britain Abstract. This article traces the origins of the present-day association of prostitution and drug addiction in Britain. Through an examination of a variety

Adding some joy to the timeline!

I’m pleased to announce my first publication, exploring how associations between sex work and drug use deepened in 1980s Britain in the context of the AIDS epidemic.

Read it here in Modern British History’s latest issue:
academic.oup.com/tcbh/article...

Today marks 22 years since the US & UK illegally invaded Iraq, costing hundreds of thousands of lives.

The current Labour Government repeats history by
arming Israel and increasing military spending.

But we need a Labour Party that will promote peace & solidarity instead.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS
Conference | 6 – 7 June 2025 | University College London

Legacies of Section 28: a two-day event exploring the history and legacy of Section 28 of the Local Government Act, 1988.

DEADLINE EXTENDED to the end of February

royalhistsoc.org/calendar/leg...

Queer and HIV+ in Gaza: A Young Man’s “Race Against Time” We speak with journalists Steven Thrasher and Afeef Nessouli about their new report for The Intercept, which examines how queer, HIV-positive Palestinians are struggling to survive in Gaza with limited...

Queer and HIV+ in Gaza: A Young Man's "Race Against Time" as Israel Blocks Medication

Queer, HIV-Positive, and Running Out of Medication in Gaza A year in Palestine, living in fear of not just genocide — but AIDS.

JUST PUBLISHED: It has been the honor of my career to co-author "Queer, HIV+ and Running Out of Medication in Gaza" with Afeef Nessouli @theintercept.com —a story about Palestine, AIDS, genocide, and an extraordinary survivor named E.S. Please read & share. theintercept.com/2025/01/13/i...

A black and white photograph of Mr Netley Lucas, which forms the frontispiece of his book Criminal Paris (1925). Lucas gazes enigmatically at the camera, smartly dressed and sitting in a leather armchair.

Just reminded of this short essay I wrote for Modernism / Modernity - on the queerness of history, the queerness of the past, and British culture in the 1920s and 1930s.

And also about a charming gentlemanly trickster with whom I happened to be infatuated.

modernismmodernity.org/forums/posts...

Wes Streetings decision to ban puberty blockers should be called out for what it is.

He's playing culture wars where trans & non binary youth are collateral damage & Labour dance to Reforms tune.

An attack on trans people is an attack on our LGBTQ+ community. We must say no.