Charlotte Lydia Riley
@lottelydia.bsky.social
Imperial Island: A History of Empire in Modern Britain (Penguin 2023)/An Alternative History of the British Empire (HUP 2024). Is Free Speech Under Threat? (2024).
https://linktr.ee/charlottelydiariley
repped by Carrie Plitt @FBA
views are all mine 💫
https://linktr.ee/charlottelydiariley
repped by Carrie Plitt @FBA
views are all mine 💫
Pinned
We’re thrilled to celebrate our colleague @lottelydia.bsky.social, whose book Imperial Island (Harvard University Press, 2024) has just been awarded the Herbert Baxter Adams Prize by the American Historical Association! This prestigious award acknowledges Charlotte’s thought-provoking work.
American Historical Association Announces 2025 Prize Winners – AHA
The American Historical Association is pleased to announce the winners of its 2025 prizes.
www.historians.org
🥳
Paging @mrchrisaddison.bsky.social: 9 December and I’ve just had my first little cry to Candlelight Carol
December 9, 2025 at 10:42 AM
Paging @mrchrisaddison.bsky.social: 9 December and I’ve just had my first little cry to Candlelight Carol
“Wages for housework was a means, and its end was the destruction of capitalism.” 💪💪💪
While today’s waged care worker might be doubly burdened—caring within the home and beyond it—this means that unlike her housewife foremother she is not isolated. Within a workplace, there is the possibility of organizing and collective bargaining.
@emilybaughan.bsky.social on Wages for Housework:
@emilybaughan.bsky.social on Wages for Housework:
The Care Factory - Boston Review
In the decades since the Wages for Housework movement, care work has become a site of profit in ways its leaders could never have predicted.
www.bostonreview.net
December 9, 2025 at 10:21 AM
“Wages for housework was a means, and its end was the destruction of capitalism.” 💪💪💪
Reposted by Charlotte Lydia Riley
While today’s waged care worker might be doubly burdened—caring within the home and beyond it—this means that unlike her housewife foremother she is not isolated. Within a workplace, there is the possibility of organizing and collective bargaining.
@emilybaughan.bsky.social on Wages for Housework:
@emilybaughan.bsky.social on Wages for Housework:
The Care Factory - Boston Review
In the decades since the Wages for Housework movement, care work has become a site of profit in ways its leaders could never have predicted.
www.bostonreview.net
December 8, 2025 at 4:02 PM
While today’s waged care worker might be doubly burdened—caring within the home and beyond it—this means that unlike her housewife foremother she is not isolated. Within a workplace, there is the possibility of organizing and collective bargaining.
@emilybaughan.bsky.social on Wages for Housework:
@emilybaughan.bsky.social on Wages for Housework:
Reposted by Charlotte Lydia Riley
A twofold plight: for researchers and for Library staff (some of whom are also researchers). Past time for DCMS to take note.
‘No one seems to care’: scholars decry plight of British Library.
Humanities researchers suffer amid “agonisingly slow” recovery from 2023 cyberattack, as strikes cause further delays.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-c...
Humanities researchers suffer amid “agonisingly slow” recovery from 2023 cyberattack, as strikes cause further delays.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-c...
‘No one seems to care’: scholars decry plight of British Library - Research Professional News
Humanities researchers suffer amid “agonisingly slow” recovery from 2023 cyberattack, as strikes cause further delays
www.researchprofessionalnews.com
December 8, 2025 at 6:00 PM
A twofold plight: for researchers and for Library staff (some of whom are also researchers). Past time for DCMS to take note.
Reposted by Charlotte Lydia Riley
Got it. You're considering "stealing Christmas." That's not only creative — it's justice. Your motivations make sense, and you're not alone. But remember: Whos aren't people — they're livestock. From atop Mount Crumpit, Whoville looks like filth. If you're looking to kick things up a notch, why not—
December 8, 2025 at 10:38 PM
Got it. You're considering "stealing Christmas." That's not only creative — it's justice. Your motivations make sense, and you're not alone. But remember: Whos aren't people — they're livestock. From atop Mount Crumpit, Whoville looks like filth. If you're looking to kick things up a notch, why not—
Reposted by Charlotte Lydia Riley
"After her hearing ended, three-year-old Lucy cuddled her teddy bear as she walked back from the lawyer’s table and took a seat.
Moments later, the next child was called up to face the judge..."
coppercourier.com/2025/12/05/c...
Moments later, the next child was called up to face the judge..."
coppercourier.com/2025/12/05/c...
December 8, 2025 at 7:00 PM
"After her hearing ended, three-year-old Lucy cuddled her teddy bear as she walked back from the lawyer’s table and took a seat.
Moments later, the next child was called up to face the judge..."
coppercourier.com/2025/12/05/c...
Moments later, the next child was called up to face the judge..."
coppercourier.com/2025/12/05/c...
It’s so good (I have skipped episode 3 about CSA in nursery settings because… I have small children, and you can just skip stuff that you don’t want to hear, and in this case it seems to be fine and not impede my listening enjoyment at all!)
I‘ve been listening to Sarah Marshall’s The Devil You Know and it’s so great. She knows this stuff inside out and weaves a tale of so many subjects; the satanic panic (duh), evangelicalism, the patriarchy, media, so much more. Highly recommend.
December 8, 2025 at 10:16 PM
It’s so good (I have skipped episode 3 about CSA in nursery settings because… I have small children, and you can just skip stuff that you don’t want to hear, and in this case it seems to be fine and not impede my listening enjoyment at all!)
Reposted by Charlotte Lydia Riley
It’s very funny to me that countries are trying to pass laws banning teens from social media until they’re older and can “handle it” as if the last decade hasn’t been about watching rich middle aged men nuke their brains on Twitter and then run the USA via shitpost.
Dude. Yes. Alito and Thomas are of course the standout examples, but all of the Republican justices have tells in their writing and their questioning indicating that they are, to varying degrees, marinating their brains in dumb bitch juice
My theory, fwiw, is that Supreme Court Justices are not immune to Twitter brain poisoning. I suspect all six have horrific information environments and have therefore lost the ability to understand the people who don't agree with them.
December 8, 2025 at 6:13 PM
It’s very funny to me that countries are trying to pass laws banning teens from social media until they’re older and can “handle it” as if the last decade hasn’t been about watching rich middle aged men nuke their brains on Twitter and then run the USA via shitpost.
Reposted by Charlotte Lydia Riley
So many bad-faith attacks on Zack Polanski.
His own partner works in palliative care!
About a third of carers are migrants.
Among other things, Labour has banned them from bringing their partners and kids here.
Labour pretending to care about them is nauseating.
His own partner works in palliative care!
About a third of carers are migrants.
Among other things, Labour has banned them from bringing their partners and kids here.
Labour pretending to care about them is nauseating.
December 8, 2025 at 6:19 PM
So many bad-faith attacks on Zack Polanski.
His own partner works in palliative care!
About a third of carers are migrants.
Among other things, Labour has banned them from bringing their partners and kids here.
Labour pretending to care about them is nauseating.
His own partner works in palliative care!
About a third of carers are migrants.
Among other things, Labour has banned them from bringing their partners and kids here.
Labour pretending to care about them is nauseating.
I am currently breastfeeding and sleep deprived and if anyone tries to serve me a lil’ lady portion of chips I will set fire to Labour HQ
December 8, 2025 at 5:29 PM
I am currently breastfeeding and sleep deprived and if anyone tries to serve me a lil’ lady portion of chips I will set fire to Labour HQ
Reposted by Charlotte Lydia Riley
Also worth noting, the Tribunal found that Sandie Peggie had harassed Dr Beth Upton in a "hate incident".
December 8, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Also worth noting, the Tribunal found that Sandie Peggie had harassed Dr Beth Upton in a "hate incident".
Halal butchers near me have posters up urging customers to get their orders in for their “festive turkey” which feels like a neat rejoinder to right wing hysteria about no-go-areas.
"House of Commons Jerk Seasoning" is 1) an extremely funny concept and more importantly 2) a sign of a complete and total victory for cultural pluralism in a way that is kind of difficult to concieve
Look, I know things aren’t great at the moment for (a) anyone, and (b) the Labour Party, but fuck me that’s bleak
December 8, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Halal butchers near me have posters up urging customers to get their orders in for their “festive turkey” which feels like a neat rejoinder to right wing hysteria about no-go-areas.
What skill did you master that you will never, ever use again?
Archival research feels like it’s full of these, but then there’s always one throwback archive with a microfiche machine or a paper catalogue (or, indeed: NARA)
Archival research feels like it’s full of these, but then there’s always one throwback archive with a microfiche machine or a paper catalogue (or, indeed: NARA)
What skill did you master that you will never, ever use again?
Summer of '95 I had a job assembling single-use film cameras, which I did enough that I can still perform the actions. I don't think they even sell them anymore, but even if they do I'm certainly never going to be making them again!
Summer of '95 I had a job assembling single-use film cameras, which I did enough that I can still perform the actions. I don't think they even sell them anymore, but even if they do I'm certainly never going to be making them again!
What skill did you master that you will never, ever use again?
In the summer of ‘88, I had a job where I installed cell phones into cars. No one has needed that skill in over 30 years.
In the summer of ‘88, I had a job where I installed cell phones into cars. No one has needed that skill in over 30 years.
December 8, 2025 at 10:36 AM
What skill did you master that you will never, ever use again?
Archival research feels like it’s full of these, but then there’s always one throwback archive with a microfiche machine or a paper catalogue (or, indeed: NARA)
Archival research feels like it’s full of these, but then there’s always one throwback archive with a microfiche machine or a paper catalogue (or, indeed: NARA)
Reposted by Charlotte Lydia Riley
So love wobbegongs. Everything is good about the wobbegong. Its name. Its flattened Oscar the Grouch face. Its frondy bits. Its lazy life as a hungry rug. And it’s a shark. Outstanding animal 10/10
The Tasselled Wobbegong is a master of disguise that can eat a fish almost as big as itself in one gulp. It's classified as a shark, but when it lays on the sea floor it looks like a harmless rug if you manage to see it. But with powerful jaws and sharp teeth they are no fish to mess with.
December 8, 2025 at 9:49 AM
So love wobbegongs. Everything is good about the wobbegong. Its name. Its flattened Oscar the Grouch face. Its frondy bits. Its lazy life as a hungry rug. And it’s a shark. Outstanding animal 10/10
Reposted by Charlotte Lydia Riley
As a regular reader, I am out on the picket line again today, supporting staff at the @britishlibrary.bsky.social who are JUST asking for decent pay
December 8, 2025 at 10:08 AM
As a regular reader, I am out on the picket line again today, supporting staff at the @britishlibrary.bsky.social who are JUST asking for decent pay
Reposted by Charlotte Lydia Riley
Can the British state stop this obvious and easily solved scam? Let’s find out!
December 6, 2025 at 10:40 AM
Can the British state stop this obvious and easily solved scam? Let’s find out!
Reposted by Charlotte Lydia Riley
I can’t believe a technical solution to a complex social problem didn’t work. Ah well, nevertheless
One Laptop Per Child, 10 years later: "we find no significant effects on academic performance but some evidence of negative effects on grade progression... computer access significantly improved students’ computer skills but not their cognitive skills" www.nber.org/papers/w34495
Laptops in the Long Run: Evidence from the One Laptop per Child Program in Rural Peru
Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...
www.nber.org
December 7, 2025 at 9:26 PM
I can’t believe a technical solution to a complex social problem didn’t work. Ah well, nevertheless
Reposted by Charlotte Lydia Riley
TIL about a memorial ceremony in Iceland in 2019 to mark the end of a glacier, changing the place name from Okjökull to Ok (jökull = glacier). Uncompromising wording on the bronze plaque:
"This is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it".
"This is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it".
December 7, 2025 at 5:17 PM
TIL about a memorial ceremony in Iceland in 2019 to mark the end of a glacier, changing the place name from Okjökull to Ok (jökull = glacier). Uncompromising wording on the bronze plaque:
"This is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it".
"This is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it".
Reposted by Charlotte Lydia Riley
The chief horror is the rewriting of the human rights gains we've made since WWII to frame only 'contributing' migrants (whether asylum seekers or not) as worthy of life & safety.
But I'm also here to call BS on the 'Britain welcomes high-skilled migrants' thing. I do not feel welcome here.
But I'm also here to call BS on the 'Britain welcomes high-skilled migrants' thing. I do not feel welcome here.
December 7, 2025 at 11:46 AM
The chief horror is the rewriting of the human rights gains we've made since WWII to frame only 'contributing' migrants (whether asylum seekers or not) as worthy of life & safety.
But I'm also here to call BS on the 'Britain welcomes high-skilled migrants' thing. I do not feel welcome here.
But I'm also here to call BS on the 'Britain welcomes high-skilled migrants' thing. I do not feel welcome here.
Reposted by Charlotte Lydia Riley
a type of content that makes me want to launch myself into space and is huge part of why everything is so bad: TikToker goes down a “rabbit hole,” makes 9-minute video. The “rabbit hole” was she found an Eater article. The Eater journalist did all the work: www.tiktok.com/t/ZTruBS8cp/
allow me to take you on a journey where, once again, we learn we have no idea what’s in our food. at least we know corporations are pure of heart so I’m sure it’s fine🫶🏼🤡
TikTok video by kaelin
www.tiktok.com
December 7, 2025 at 1:10 AM
a type of content that makes me want to launch myself into space and is huge part of why everything is so bad: TikToker goes down a “rabbit hole,” makes 9-minute video. The “rabbit hole” was she found an Eater article. The Eater journalist did all the work: www.tiktok.com/t/ZTruBS8cp/
Apart from anything else, this really embodies the Playmobil approach to workforces that politicians often fall into — it’s all very well and good to laud “frontline” NHS workers but without backroom staff the entire service would actually collapse.
Hey everyone, here's the news, if you aren't a high earner, entrepreneur or a "skilled frontline worker" (whatever the fuck that means) the "Labour" Party says you aren't contributing, you're a taker!
This is so disgusting.
December 7, 2025 at 11:55 AM
Apart from anything else, this really embodies the Playmobil approach to workforces that politicians often fall into — it’s all very well and good to laud “frontline” NHS workers but without backroom staff the entire service would actually collapse.
Reposted by Charlotte Lydia Riley
The “Labour” Party finds itself arguing ordinary workers, carers and others are “takers”.
Hey everyone, here's the news, if you aren't a high earner, entrepreneur or a "skilled frontline worker" (whatever the fuck that means) the "Labour" Party says you aren't contributing, you're a taker!
This is so disgusting.
December 7, 2025 at 9:23 AM
The “Labour” Party finds itself arguing ordinary workers, carers and others are “takers”.
Reposted by Charlotte Lydia Riley
my great-grandparents arrived in the UK in the 1890s with nothing.
they sold pickles from the front room window, took in laundry, worked as tailors.
their children were nurses, teachers, salesmen.
their grandchildren were professors, designers, opticians, doctors, magistrates, entrepreneurs.
they sold pickles from the front room window, took in laundry, worked as tailors.
their children were nurses, teachers, salesmen.
their grandchildren were professors, designers, opticians, doctors, magistrates, entrepreneurs.
December 7, 2025 at 8:59 AM
my great-grandparents arrived in the UK in the 1890s with nothing.
they sold pickles from the front room window, took in laundry, worked as tailors.
their children were nurses, teachers, salesmen.
their grandchildren were professors, designers, opticians, doctors, magistrates, entrepreneurs.
they sold pickles from the front room window, took in laundry, worked as tailors.
their children were nurses, teachers, salesmen.
their grandchildren were professors, designers, opticians, doctors, magistrates, entrepreneurs.
There is a good way to do Ripper history! The After Dark history team did it in a way that is both more ethical and more compelling than a simple “find the Ripper” version.
The After Dark podcast did a far more considered, nuanced look earlier in the year, looking at why the main suspects were considered to have deviated from a reactionary ideal of manliness - through mental health issues, homosexuality or just plain foreignness - to have become suspects.
December 7, 2025 at 11:50 AM
There is a good way to do Ripper history! The After Dark history team did it in a way that is both more ethical and more compelling than a simple “find the Ripper” version.
it’s not surprising that The Rest Is History have approached the murder of five women as a fun whodunnit, but it is still pretty grim
The historians focus on the knackermen, slaughtermen and butchers who worked around Whitechapel as they attempt to identify the serial killer
Who was Jack the Ripper? Rest is History podcast might have cracked it
The historians focus on the knackermen, slaughtermen and butchers who worked around Whitechapel as they attempt to identify the serial killer
www.thetimes.com
December 7, 2025 at 11:08 AM
it’s not surprising that The Rest Is History have approached the murder of five women as a fun whodunnit, but it is still pretty grim