Pauline Stafford
LightNews LightNews
banner
pstafford.bsky.social
Pauline Stafford
@pstafford.bsky.social
1.6K followers 350 following 420 posts

Historian of early Middle Ages, Grandmother, Leftwing, Labour, Leeds, British, European. Emerita Prof University of Liverpool

Videos

Pauline Stafford is Professor Emerita of Early Medieval History at Liverpool University and a visiting professor at Leeds University in England. Dr. Stafford is a former vice-president of the Royal Historical Society. .. more

History 50%
Philosophy 24%
Posts Replies Media Videos

pstafford.bsky.social
Pauline Stafford @pstafford.bsky.social · 12h
Check out the table of contents. This is an important collection in honour of a scholar who has done so much for our understanding of the early Medieval English peasantry. www.herts.ac.uk/uhpress/book...

Reposted by Pauline Stafford

polprofsteve2024.bsky.social
Steven Fielding @polprofsteve2024.bsky.social · 1d
So far as Labour members are concerned Rayner is like a chippy tea after studies show it’s actually good for you whereas Streeting is like boiled kale after scientists have proved that it’s toxic.
polprofsteve2024.bsky.social Steven Fielding @polprofsteve2024.bsky.social · 1d
And I suspect she’d win. I think many members would like a leader who reflects who they are & not one that makes them embarrassed.
pronouncedalva.bsky.social Ailbhe Rea @pronouncedalva.bsky.social · 1d
Angela Rayner and the soft left do not like the idea of a Wes Streeting coronation

Rayner has told friends she would stand in a leadership contest to stop him

This week's New Statesman column 👇🏻 www.newstatesman.com/politics/lab...

Reposted by Pauline Stafford

labourlist.bsky.social
LabourList @labourlist.bsky.social · 1d
For a fair system where politicians are accountable to the public, not just those who bankroll them we need limits on political donations.
‘Fair politics needs fair limits’ – LabourList
What’s the most valuable thing money can buy? Increasingly, people in Britain fear the answer might be democracy itself. For a government elected on a…
labourlist.org

Reposted by Scott L. Greer, Paul Davies, Stacy D. VanDeveer , and 10 more

briantylercohen.bsky.social
Brian Tyler Cohen @briantylercohen.bsky.social · 1d
Donald Trump just removed Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth from the list of free entry days at national parks.

They are being replaced with Trump’s birthday.

Reposted by Rory Naismith, Pauline Stafford

pseudo-isidore.bsky.social
Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 2d
Enmeshed in marking, but just thought I'd point out that this article is now out, open access: Simon MacLean, arguing that the Astronomer's Life of Louis the Pious could be rather later than historians have assumed: might 'the Astronomer' be Jonas of Orleans?
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
The date and context of the Astronomer's Life of Louis the Pious
The Astronomer's Life of the emperor Louis the Pious (814–40) is a canonical source for scholars of Frankish history. It sits at the centre of recent debates about the nature and tone of Carolingian ....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Reposted by Charles West, Pauline Stafford, Julia Hillner

francescatinti.bsky.social
Francesca Tinti @francescatinti.bsky.social · 2d
Looking forward to giving a paper next week in Rome with the archaeologists who excavated parts of the Schola Saxonum, just opposite the church built over Sancta Maria scola Anglorum, as Archbishop Sigeric called it. Lots of interesting 10th-cent evidence attesting to life in the English quarter

Reposted by Judith Jesch

pstafford.bsky.social
Pauline Stafford @pstafford.bsky.social · 2d
I know the feeling.
timbale.bsky.social Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 2d
😱 "For example, the release of The Beatles’ first UK number one, Love Me Do, is closer to the reign of Queen Victoria than it is to the present day." @jackkessler.bsky.social
Time catches up with us all
When your memories become someone else’s history
www.linestotake.com

Reposted by Stephen Jones, Pauline Stafford, Judith Jesch

timbale.bsky.social
Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 2d
😱 "For example, the release of The Beatles’ first UK number one, Love Me Do, is closer to the reign of Queen Victoria than it is to the present day." @jackkessler.bsky.social
Time catches up with us all
When your memories become someone else’s history
www.linestotake.com

Reposted by Tim Bale, Tom Griffin, Stacy D. VanDeveer , and 2 more

petergeoghegan.bsky.social
Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 2d
🔴 Nigel Farage’s Reform is more reliant on super-rich backers than any major party in modern British political history

75% of *all* Reform donations *ever* have come from just three rich men

Is this what democracy looks like?

New on Democracy for Sale
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/75-of-refo...
75% of Reform UK’s donations have come from just three rich men
Calls grow for donation caps as Democracy for Sale research reveals that three-quarters of Reform’s funding comes from a trio of wealthy donors
democracyforsale.substack.com

Reposted by Margot C. Finn, Pauline Stafford, Lisa Colton

royalhistsoc.org
Royal Historical Society @royalhistsoc.org · 2d
"Of the 991 history exam questions set in 2023, 357 featured a named individual, but only 31 were women – and nine of those were references to Elizabeth I or her reign."

Dr Natasha R. Hodgson of Nottingham Trent University writes this week in The Conversation bit.ly/49ZqTiq
Women are still absent from how history is taught and assessed in England
Over a third of GCSE, AS and A-level exam papers in 2023 made no mention of women at all.
bit.ly

pstafford.bsky.social
Pauline Stafford @pstafford.bsky.social · 3d
The Overton window is moving very quickly.
sundersays.bsky.social Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 4d
GB News now broadcasting calls to remove the ethnic minority MPs from parliament

pstafford.bsky.social
Pauline Stafford @pstafford.bsky.social · 3d
You may have missed this on the news . . .
chriswardmp.bsky.social Chris Ward MP @chriswardmp.bsky.social · 3d
🚀 Big win for local businesses

In my Cabinet Office role, I’m proud to be driving through changes that could unlock £1bn a year for SMEs and local firms.

More public contracts for local firms👇

✅ More local jobs
✅ Less red tape
✅ More public money staying in our communities

Reposted by Pauline Stafford

chriswardmp.bsky.social
Chris Ward MP @chriswardmp.bsky.social · 3d
🚀 Big win for local businesses

In my Cabinet Office role, I’m proud to be driving through changes that could unlock £1bn a year for SMEs and local firms.

More public contracts for local firms👇

✅ More local jobs
✅ Less red tape
✅ More public money staying in our communities

Reposted by Anne Applebaum, Pauline Stafford

just-jack-1.bsky.social
Just Jack @just-jack-1.bsky.social · 3d
Trump has issued 1500+ pardons and counting…a who’s who of drug kingpins, crypto scammers, violent insurrectionists, terrorism financiers & corrupt politicians.

In Trump’s oligarchy, the rich and powerful can pay their way to reside above the law.

Reposted by Pauline Stafford, Jack Stilgoe

benansell.bsky.social
Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 4d
The UK is in a dark place right now, where anti-asylum attitudes have spilled over into racism from the 1970s or earlier. These types of comments are not 'the result of' higher migration. They are the personal responsibility of the person who wrote them.
Who Counts?
The increasing extremism in British commentary about race
benansell.substack.com

Reposted by Jonathan Portes, Ben H. Ansell, Will Jennings , and 15 more

sundersays.bsky.social
Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 4d
GB News now broadcasting calls to remove the ethnic minority MPs from parliament

Reposted by Philip Cowley, Mark Robinson, Pauline Stafford

roberthutton.co.uk
Robert Hutton @roberthutton.co.uk · 4d
I do sometimes wonder if I'm losing my mind. thecritic.co.uk/full...
But one of the many fascinating things about Badenoch is that she seems unable to accept “incompetence” as the answer to the question “why did the government do that thing?” This refusal is all the more surprising when you remember that she was a minister in Boris Johnson’s government. She has seen incompetence up close. Perhaps that’s the problem: when you’ve lived through the technicolour widescreen shambles that was the last Conservative administration, Starmer’s dreary disasters simply can’t compare.

Reposted by Pauline Stafford

pseudo-isidore.bsky.social
Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 4d
Does the concept of a 'shatter zone' help us understand 11th-c. Normandy? Looking forward to reading this by @ralphtorta.bsky.social direct.mit.edu/jinh/article...
Carolingian Normandies: Shatter Zones, Small Polities, and Continuity in Maritime Neustria (c. 800–1050)
Abstract. The “continuity” of the eleventh-century duchy of Normandy with the ninth-century Frankish world is examined through the concept of a “shatter zone,” as developed in Southeast Asian anthropo...
direct.mit.edu

Reposted by Melissa Terras, Helen King, Lesley A. Hall , and 9 more

eicathomefinn.bsky.social
Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 4d
Graduate of the American Studies programme that the University of Nottingham wishes to close wins 2025 Wolfson History Prize for Survivors: The Lost Stories of the Last Captives of the Atlantic Slave Trade.

History, it's a long game. Divest in haste, repent for the longue durée.
The Wolfson History Prize - Celebrating Outstanding History
The Wolfson History Prize is awarded annually to promote and recognise outstanding history written for a general audience.
www.wolfsonhistoryprize.org.uk

pstafford.bsky.social
Pauline Stafford @pstafford.bsky.social · 4d
A depressing thread. Do the irresponsible right-wing media, rubbishing everything the government do, realise what they’re contributing to?
helenebismarck.bsky.social Helene von Bismarck @helenebismarck.bsky.social · 5d
Also, in the long run, who will even go into politics in such a reality?
If
a) you feel you can‘t change much and
b) everyone will likely hate you very soon?

Not to be alarmist, but this trend is cause for concern

Reposted by Diane Coyle, Steve Peers, Leigh Sparks , and 8 more

andywestwood.bsky.social
Andy Westwood @andywestwood.bsky.social · 4d
Every sympathy for University of Essex (and pressures facing them) but this is very bad news for Southend.

giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... Essex university to cut 400 jobs as overseas student numbers plummet
Essex university to cut 400 jobs as overseas student numbers plummet
Roles to be lost are part of wave of redundancy programmes across UK’s higher education sector
giftarticle.ft.com

Reposted by Pauline Stafford

martinbarrow.bsky.social
martinbarrow.bsky.social @martinbarrow.bsky.social · 4d
Privatisation lobbyist defends the market in children in care. Who knew?

www.cypnow.co.uk/content/comm...
Children’s homes: rhetoric, responsibility and the risk of missing the real problem - CYP Now
A "serious national plan" not "political soundbites" is needed to tackle deep-rooted problems in the children's residential care system, says Mark Kerr from the Children's Homes Association (CHA).
www.cypnow.co.uk

Reposted by Pauline Stafford

timbale.bsky.social
Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 4d
Why anyone's surprised by this, I've no idea. One thing many of us sad enough to study British Politics for a living agree on is that, for all the fragmentation, voters are sorting themselves into two blocs. In that context, 'unite the right' makes sense, especially if the left doesn't follow suit.
Farage tells donors he expects Reform UK will do an election deal with Tories
Rightwing populist party could pursue a merger or pact with the Conservatives
www.ft.com

Reposted by Pauline Stafford

helenebismarck.bsky.social
Helene von Bismarck @helenebismarck.bsky.social · 5d
Also, in the long run, who will even go into politics in such a reality?
If
a) you feel you can‘t change much and
b) everyone will likely hate you very soon?

Not to be alarmist, but this trend is cause for concern

Reposted by Pauline Stafford

eicathomefinn.bsky.social
Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 5d
'Low research intensity institutions are most exposed, with 95 per cent in deficit or reduced surplus, while high research intensity universities fare slightly better at 79 per cent. Arts and music colleges also show significant vulnerability, with nearly nine in ten reporting financial strain.' 1/4
Counting the cost of financial challenges in English higher education
Stephen Roper and Tim Vorley present new survey findings showing how financial sustainability concerns are reshaping university behaviour Stephen Roper and Tim Vorley present new survey findings showi...
wonkhe.com

Reposted by Will Jennings, Steve Peers, Albert Weale , and 5 more

iandunt.bsky.social
Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 6d
Watched BBC 6 o clock news. Just a completely unserious broadcast. Chris Mason, acting like a children's entertainer, giving a prolonged impenetrable editorial. Not a whiff of informative content about the Budget or what it means for the country. Just playschool blah blah bollocks.

Reposted by Will Jennings, Charlie Beckett, Pauline Stafford

stephenkb.bsky.social
Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 6d
Think this is exactly right - political journalism that is completely abstracted from policy, which was not the norm before 2017, has become the default. Impossible to have a serious attempt to either shrink what the state does or widen the tax base (have to do at least one) on that basis.
profjanegreen.bsky.social Jane Green @profjanegreen.bsky.social · 6d
All this budget news, claims, counter claims is confusing, but two things of consequence.

1. We're all talking about that, not any financial benefits (or losses) of the budget.

2. Yet more focus on the very weird few weeks and politics of it all. Starting to feel dangerously like a norm.

Reposted by Will Jennings, Pauline Stafford

profjanegreen.bsky.social
Jane Green @profjanegreen.bsky.social · 6d
All this budget news, claims, counter claims is confusing, but two things of consequence.

1. We're all talking about that, not any financial benefits (or losses) of the budget.

2. Yet more focus on the very weird few weeks and politics of it all. Starting to feel dangerously like a norm.

Reposted by Pauline Stafford

eicathomefinn.bsky.social
Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 6d
'Some of the blame for this can be laid at the door of successive governments [for failing to support music in schools]....But universities, equally, have hardly been putting in much effort to make a positive case to the wider world about the intrinsic value of arts and humanities programmes.' 3/3

Reposted by Pauline Stafford

redpeter99.bsky.social
Peter Smith @redpeter99.bsky.social · 6d
It's the lack of courage of the Labour government that's most disappointing.
Get on the front foot and defend tax rises, immigration etc. Stop following polls and focus groups.