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Helen McCarthy @historianhelen.bsky.social · 11h

Equalisation was a legitimate goal, & higher SPA for both sexes, maybe, given longevity gains. But how you label non-activity matters; for the individual, there’s a world of difference between claiming conditional working-age benefits and drawing your pension ‘by right’.

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Helen McCarthy @historianhelen.bsky.social · 11h

Some of it, definitely, including significant numbers of WASPI-cohort women who, before 2010, would have claimed their pensions at 60.

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Reposted by Helen McCarthy

The English Association @englishassociation.bsky.social · 5d

“Critical” skills shortages : ‘authors, writers, translators ‘ …

The Bookseller @thebookseller.com · 5d

Authors, writers and translators are expected to be protected from a crackdown on UK working visas after being identified as occupations suffering from “critical” skills shortages 👇

Authors, writers and translators 'exempt' from crackdown on working visas

ebx.sh

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Helen McCarthy @historianhelen.bsky.social · 2d

Delighted to see my article exploring how Britons planned for retirement in the mid-to-late 20th century out in the world! It tries to capture the mixed feelings prompted by ageing & retirement whilst connecting those themes to wider histories of social democracy, selfhood & financialisation.

The English Historical Review @enghistrev.bsky.social · 2d

New article (OA): Helen McCarthy @historianhelen.bsky.social on 'Planning for Retirement in Post-war Britain'

academic.oup.com/ehr/advance-...

Planning for Retirement in Post-war Britain*

Abstract. This article explores how Britons envisaged and planned for the end of working life across the second half of the twentieth century. It shows how

academic.oup.com

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Helen McCarthy @historianhelen.bsky.social · 3d

Really enjoyed talking to alumni yesterday about my not-yet-but-very-soon-to-be-written book, Living the Dream: The Rise and Fall of Retirement. As ever, the topic sparked the sharing of some fascinating personal and family stories about later life. (Am I a historian or just incredibly nosey?)

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Helen McCarthy @historianhelen.bsky.social · 4d

Peter Hennessy’s sparkling biographical essay in The Prime Minister is still a very good place to start IMHO.

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Helen McCarthy @historianhelen.bsky.social · 6d

My fifteen-year old daughter actually says to me that I’m lucky to have grown up pre-social media, and pre-ChatGPT. I think I agree with her.

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Helen McCarthy @historianhelen.bsky.social · 6d

In Ian McEwan’s new novel, set in 2119, university students are only allowed to use AI under supervised conditions and for strictly limited periods of time.

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Helen McCarthy @historianhelen.bsky.social · 7d

Wisdom, moral imagination, an enlarged sympathy for those who live or have lived differently from yourself. This is what you get from studying the Humanities. So quite important, actually.

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Helen McCarthy @historianhelen.bsky.social · 7d

Exciting CfP for historians working on motherhood, gender, work and politics in a global or transnational frame in the early 20th century:
sites.google.com/uniroma1.it/...

Motherhood Without Poverty 2026

Motherhood Without Poverty: Working-Class Women and Global Struggles for Work, Family, and Reproductive Autonomy (1918–1939) Call for papers A One-Day Hybrid Workshop at the University of Glasgow Frid...

sites.google.com

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Helen McCarthy @historianhelen.bsky.social · 7d

You can also join us remotely!

CRASSH @crasshlive.bsky.social · 7d

We are extremely pleased to be able to share the term card of 'Precarious Aging: Critical Concepts' at new Research Network at CRASSH https://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/precarious-ageing

The first seminar 'Thinking about precarity and aging' takes place on 9 Oct at the Alison Richard Building, CB3 9DP

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Helen McCarthy @historianhelen.bsky.social · 7d

Ian McEwan’s new novel will intrigue contemporary historians. It imagines what doing archival research on the 2010s will look like a hundred years hence (when rising sea levels means the Bodleian has relocated to Snowdonia & Nigeria, now a global superpower, owns the internet).

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Helen McCarthy @historianhelen.bsky.social · 9d

You were great!

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Helen McCarthy @historianhelen.bsky.social · 14d

Excited to be involved with a new research network at @crasshlive.bsky.social exploring Precarious Ageing, past, present & future. We kick off 9th Oct/2pm, hybrid and in-person, with @paulfdhiggs.bsky.social & @evemworth.bsky.social in conversation. Register here www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/47719/

Thinking about precarity and aging - CRASSH

Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities

www.crassh.cam.ac.uk

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Helen McCarthy @historianhelen.bsky.social · 15d

Very delighted to see this. Congrats!

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Reposted by Helen McCarthy

Kieran Connell @kieranconnell.bsky.social · 15d

I’m honoured that my book, MULTICULTURAL BRITAIN: A PEOPLE’S HISTORY has been shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize. Hugely grateful to the judges and the many people who have supported this work along the way

@wolfsonhistory.bsky.social

www.wolfsonhistoryprize.org.uk/2025-wolfson...

2025 Wolfson History Prize shortlist announced

The Wolfson History Prize has revealed its 2025 shortlist, with six books in contention for the UK's most prestigious history writing prize.

www.wolfsonhistoryprize.org.uk

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Reposted by Helen McCarthy

Lucy Delap @lucydelap.bsky.social · 26d

Come and work with our fab Americanists - a dynamic (and super nice!) group within @camhistory.bsky.social. We're hiring for a permanent position in twentieth century US history.

www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/assista...

Assistant Professor, History of the United States since 1920

The Faculty of History is seeking to appoint an Assistant Professor in post-1920 U.S. political history and/or the history of the United States in the World since 1920, beginning 1 October, 2026. The

www.cam.ac.uk

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Reposted by Helen McCarthy

Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 18d

Interesting snippet @historianhelen.bsky.social talking to @emmavj.bsky.social in the context of time saving technology
on.ft.com/3VDm8mg

Helen McCarthy, professor of modern history at Cambridge university, told me recently that she had been surprised when researching her book, Double Lives: A History of Working Motherhood, that labour-saving domestic appliances like the vacuum, which took off postwar, were not marketed as a life hack, a means to a more fulfilling use of time, but rather as a mark of modernity. "If you were a modern progressive woman, you would want to have one of these tools to have a higher standard" of cleanliness at home.

This casual reframing of domestic work was something that feminists pushed against, including Shirley Conran, author of the 1975 bestseller Superwoman, who wrote: "I make no secret of the fact that I would rather lie on a sofa than sweep beneath it."

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Reposted by Helen McCarthy

Voices of Motherhood @voicesofmotherhood.bsky.social · 21d

We're pleased to share this call for papers for our upcoming conference!

📍Online via Zoom
🗓️Thursday 5 - Friday 6 February 2026
⏱️Abstract deadline Saturday 1 November 2025

See our website for full details 👇

voicesofmotherhood.wp.worc.ac.uk/index.php/news-and-resources/updates-from-the-project

The Politics of Motherhood: Maternalism, Maternity and Mothering.

Thursday 5 and Friday 6 February 2026, Online Conference.

Ruth Davidson, Anna Muggeridge, Eve Pennington and Beckie Rutherford.

Keynote address by Dr Sarah Crook, Swansea University: ‘Cradles of Discontent: Motherhood as a pathway to activism in modern Britain’.

This conference is supported by a UKRI Future Leaders’ Fellowship ‘Voices of Motherhood’ Project reference MR/Y018184/1 and the University of Worcester.

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Helen McCarthy @historianhelen.bsky.social · 22d

Also you can chill at the National Archives in lovely Kew and keyword-search the hell out of FindMyPast for free, and there's good coffee there and swans. Like the man says, greatest city in the world.

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan @london.gov.uk · 22d

I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again.

Ignore the haters, London is the 🐐

Graphic with the headline “London is the greatest city in the world” set against a bright view of the River Thames with the Shard, Tower Bridge and the city skyline.

The text celebrates what makes London special: regularly voted the number one city in the world, incredible diversity with over 300 languages spoken, world-class transport, world leader in finance tech and life sciences, best museums and galleries many free to visit, world-leading nightlife, food sport and music for every taste, host to the world’s best sporting events, home to seven Premier League clubs, globally-ranked universities, a city where you can be yourself and love who you love, and a place for everyone.

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Helen McCarthy @historianhelen.bsky.social · 24d

Today, in the company of my youngest daughter, I sketched Gainsborough and Matisse at the National Gallery. I have no talent, no technique, but it was a glorious hour of quiet, self-forgetting creativity. I highly recommend it.

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Helen McCarthy @historianhelen.bsky.social · 27d

Really interesting. My take is that a lot of retirees would say that they are *already* serving their communities & younger generation through volunteering & caring for grandkids. Maybe we should reframe this using the language of civic cohesion, rather than of ‘leisure’ or privatised familial care.

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Helen McCarthy @historianhelen.bsky.social · 29d

I don’t know much about Maria Caulfield and others are better placed to judge the significance of her defection to Reform, but this statement gave me a little jolt (as I was - am? - one of those people)

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Helen McCarthy @historianhelen.bsky.social · Sep 14

Husband and self’s current bedtime reading.

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Reposted by Helen McCarthy

Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · Sep 14

As part of Open House we are opening up the home of @britishacademy.bsky.social next Sunday 21 Sept. It’s a gorgeous building with a lot of history
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/events/livin...

Open House 2025

Step inside the British Academy’s historic Grade-I listed home for Open House Festival 2025. Discover the building’s Nash-designed architecture and explore its history and art collection. Be among the...

www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk

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