Dr Aidan Norrie 🦄

labour are as far right as the bnp were 15 years ago and ppl like @stellacreasy.bsky.social, @nadiawhittomemp.bsky.social, and @labourlewis.bsky.social think it can be saved by writing a column or a couple of letters.

the bnp deal was actually better. think about that.

labour is dead. vote green.

I am sick of us being the ones who have to compromise. Just let them leave!

A reminder that we are still look for a joint book reviews editor, covering books on modern London. Could that be you? Let us know! Expressions of interest due by 24 March.

Abstract In early modern London, violence against religious dissenters took various forms: the pillory, flogging, branding, ear cropping, and executions. These punishments served as a warning not only to the victim but also to the crowds that often gathered in various spaces in London to witness them. Growing opposition to this violence, often ordered by the monarchy, was one of the factors that led to the outbreak of the Civil War in 1642. When parliament returned in 1640, control of London was progressively wrested away from those who supported Charles I. Such forms of violence subsequently disappeared from London. Public displays of violence remained, however, in symbolic form, as the executioner’s presence became common in various public spaces. Previously under the monarch’s control, parliament regularly ordered the hangman to publicise its orthodox ‘brand’ by publicly burning the doctrines of various religious and political sects, as part of London’s ‘Further Reformation’.

New article: 'Symbolic Violence and ‘Branding’ in the Puritan Reformation of London, 1634–1660', by Paul Barrett: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.....

Could you imagine?! But also, who wants to hear me say noawrrrrrrrrrrr 🤣

Humans are not uniform! I don’t understand how huge swathes of the population have forgotten this rather important detail…

I’m taking this as a personal hate crime.

If you were writing a biography on Starmer, you wouldn’t use Trump and Putin as sources for his character… 🙃🙃

I know it’s basically pointless, but I cannot understand how, in 2026, an academic can describe the latter part of bae’s reign as “a time when polemicists were describing the aged female sovereign as ‘unnatural’”.
It’s 👏 not 👏 true 👏
The rants of *Catholic* polemicists are not evidence of this!

So, this is an interesting one. Obviously, we should be a republic, but we’re called citizens in all the places where Brits are called subjects, so it can be done!
It’s also insane I had to swear allegiance to the same head of state I always had to become a British citizen 🙃

(In)human Capital: London and the Legacies of Transatlantic Slavery London played a key role in the history of transatlantic slavery: it was an important port in the Atlantic trade, a hub of commercial organisation, a market for slave-produced commodities, and a co...

Time for another 🧵 on one of the articles from our 50th-anniversary special issue, 'London's Past Today'!

The article we're highlighting today is Katie Donnington's '(In)human Capital: London and the Legacies of Transatlantic Slavery'.

So, three answers to this:

Joy (2015) is the only film I wanted to walk out of (couldn’t because of husband).

Rise of Skywalker (2019) was such a missed/wasted opportunity.

The Marvels (2023) is the only film I regret seeing in the cinema, which breaks my heart given my love of Captain Marvel.

I was disappointed to learn he’s not family.

Entering my 2nd month of unemployment (10/10 do not recommend losing your job the week before Christmas) & my gay audacity wants to pursue my dream of starting a bespoke, humanities academic publisher. I love editing, & I want to bring the human back to publishing. Anyone interested in joining me?

Excellent ☺️☺️

Goals!

😘😘

It’s too long! He usually sticks to the sweet spot of 90/95 minutes, and I don’t know why he changed his mind for this

On interesting! I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed Darjeeling, and I wonder if watching it after Life Aquatic inflated my opinion of it.
I’m going to rewatch them in order of release in a few months’ time… it’ll be interesting to see if anything changes!

So lovely to see you again! I hope you did manage to hear that Father Figure was playing in the pub, which is what I was excited about 🤣
I look forward to your submission in due course ☺️☺️

And here I was thinking you had superior taste… 🤣🙈

I really wanted to like Life Aquatic, but it was trying too hard to be clever…

Thanks for joining us! I’m very excited to receive your submission in due course ☺️☺️

It was so great having you! I look forward to your submission ☺️☺️

I said what I said.

My immediate thought was, that’s someone who 100% says multiple times a day, “do you know who my father is?” 🤣

8. Rushmore
9. Fantastic Mr Fox
10. The Royal Tenenbaums
11. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
12. Bottle Rocket

There are definitely some ties (eg, Asteroid City & Darjeeling are probably joint 3rd), but I think it’s solid. Biggest disappointment was Royal Tenenbaums: cannot understand the hype.

I’ve just finished (re)watching Wes Anderson’s 12 feature films in preparation for my book on TGBH, so I present to you my official™ ranking:

1. The Grand Budapest Hotel
2. The Phoenician Scheme
3. Asteroid City
4. The Darjeeling Limited
5. The French Dispatch
6. Moonrise Kingdom
7. Isle of Dogs

We are looking for a new Joint Book Reviews Editor to join our editorial board. They would cover the period from 1800, working alongside Kirstin Barnard, who covers the medieval/early modern period.

You can check out the full Call for Expressions of Interest here; and please do also share widely.