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Matt Houlbrook

@tricksterprince.bsky.social

3.8K followers 1.3K following 1.9K posts

Cultural history, Britain, cities, sexuality & gender, #20s30s. Now - Songs of Seven Dials: An intimate history of 1920s and 1930s London (MUP) Next - The Self-Improvers: The people who remade themselves and made the modern world

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Matt Houlbrook @tricksterprince.bsky.social · 26d

The launch of my new @manchesterup.bsky.social book Songs of Seven Dials will be at 6pm, Tues 21 Oct, at Waterstones Covent Garden. I'll be in conversation with the wonderful @julialaite.bsky.social.

Please do come along. Free tickets, but register in advance

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/songs-of-s...

An advertising banner for Matt Houlbrook's book Songs of Seven Dials: An Intimate History of 1920s and 1930s London. The banner includes an image of the front cover of the book (a blue map on a pink background) and a blurb from the historian Julia Laite, which describes Songs of Seven Dials as 'a poetic exploration of London's most iconic neighbourhoods'.

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Matt Houlbrook @tricksterprince.bsky.social · 1h

@emilyrobinson.bsky.social @clairelanghamer.bsky.social

Reposted by Matt Houlbrook

OldRailwayAccidents @rwldproject.bsky.social · 2h

"it's great we've got this national nature reserve, but if we're not careful we'll forget about the social history"

Significant point about peopling landscapes - & training, too!

Crowle Peatland Railway: Little trains in land of the Tiddy Mun - BBC News share.google/nUAx5Bz6A6rw...

Crowle Peatland Railway: Little trains in land of the Tiddy Mun - BBC News

Once a vast complex of peat works, this Isle of Axholme landscape is home to legendary bog spirits.

share.google

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George Ferguson WWI @georgeferguson.bsky.social · 10d

@britwarmemorial.bsky.social St Lawrence Church, Bradwell. Although the nearby Memorial Hall list is online, I think this one may not be.

A dark wooden frame has 'St Lawrence Roll of Honour' carved on it. A hand-lettered text places '1914 to 1918' within a cross and goes on 'In memory of the men of Bradwell who fell in the war 1914–1918.' Eleven men are named. Beneath their names it says 'Greater love hath no man'. It goes on 'and in honour of those who also served'. The 60 or so names that follow are written in smaller script. The roll is decorated with poppies.

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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 12h

“I’m old enough to remember when mainstream British politicians, who should know better, stirred up racial hatred as a path to power. You’re old enough to remember too because it was last Tuesday. And it was Robert Jenrick”

Cathartic anger at flag-flying racism.

www.thenerve.news/p/stewart-le...

Stewart Lee: The thugs have taken my flag. So I’ve taken theirs

What do you do with a lot of cheap banners hanging from motorway bridges once you’ve torn them down?

www.thenerve.news

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Kieran Connell @kieranconnell.bsky.social · 13h

Handsworth legend Apache Indian is everything Robert Jenrick claims to want — he’s a symbol of the diversity of modern Britain.

But instead of celebrating voices like his, our leaders cling to Union Jacks like toddlers at a funfair.
My piece in today’s Observer👇

observer.co.uk/news/opinion...

Apache Indian could teach Jenrick a thing or two about in...

Growing up in diverse Birmingham defined my world view. What other city could have inspired Apache Indian’s mash-up?

observer.co.uk

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The Wynter in Black 🎃🐈‍⬛ @rebeccawynter.bsky.social · 12h

These Brummies are working to challenge the likes of Jenrick and Yaxley-Lennon. They've a fundraiser - consider donating if you haven't already gofund.me/f5ccdf61e

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UK HE News @ukhenews.bsky.social · 12h

The idea of defunding universities on the basis of the sector's set of joke 'metrics' for success is the logical conclusion of the perverse consumer model of UK HE that UUK wanted.

Uni senior managers created this to justify their own salaries.

Now the entire sector will go down.

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Matthew Kelly @matthewjkelly.bsky.social · 12h

Fascinating. For me, particularly struck by material on how promoted healthy working environment: light & fresh air. Factory floor as permeable rather than sealed off from the outside. Not really thought about Port Sunlight as a title before… Congratulations!

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William Carruthers @williamcarruthers.bsky.social · 12h

Going to re-post this occasionally, with added mention that I’m very happy to do more talks about it

William Carruthers @williamcarruthers.bsky.social · 20d

In better news my book is coming out in paperback next March (pre-orders now available)! www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...

Flooded Pasts by William Carruthers | Hardcover | Cornell University Press

Flooded Pasts examines a world famous yet critically underexamined event—UNESCO's International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia (1960–80)—to show how the project, its genealogy, and its...

www.cornellpress.cornell.edu

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Matt Houlbrook @tricksterprince.bsky.social · 13h

This looks great - congratulations Richard!

Matt Houlbrook @tricksterprince.bsky.social · 13h

#20s30s

Richard Hornsey @hornseyhq.bsky.social · 14h

Just out: Factory tourism in inter-war Britain: the spectacular construction of social-democratic mass production: academic.oup.com/tcbh/article...

Factory tourism in inter-war Britain: the spectacular construction of social-democratic mass production

Abstract. In the 1920s and 1930s, British mass-manufacturers opened their factories to hundreds of thousands of ordinary consumers. As the market for brand

academic.oup.com

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Matt Houlbrook @tricksterprince.bsky.social · 13h

Welcome to Birmingham, England.

Brynley Heaven @brynleyheaven.bsky.social · 13h

Ozzy Ozbourne would have recognised every blade of grass

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Slurmsadako MacKenzie @slurmsmackenzie.bsky.social · 14h

GenAI truly was the worst technology to come along at this moment.

An energy and water guzzler when we most urgently need to take climate action.

A disinformation machine as our journalism fails.

A bias machine as fascism takes root.

A job killer in a cost of living crisis.

Bria "tries to write a book" Horses @thevoidencore.bsky.social · 5d

The "cognitive decline and brain damage from repeat COVID infections" and "easy to use robot that makes slop and melts your critical thinking skills" is a hell of a combo in a post-fact media ecosystem

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Jeannine Baker @nenieb.bsky.social · 16h

Fantastic piece by Kate Murphy responding to the devastating change of policy at the @BBC Written Archives Centre, which will make it impossible to undertake new independent research using the collection. cstonline.net/defending-th... #mediahistory

DEFENDING THE WAC: RECOVERING THE INVISIBLE WOMEN OF THE BBC by Kate Murphy

My first visit to the BBC’s Written Archives Centre was in 2002. I was working as a producer on Woman’s Hourand had applied for a three-month attachment to what was then the Diversity Centre…

cstonline.net

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Ben Miller @benwritesthings.bsky.social · 1d

“boys have pee pee, girls have bagina,” intoned the leading media of the husk of a fallen empire as its population fell into poverty, its once-leading universities lost their relevance and reputations, and its industries lost all competitiveness

Ben Miller @benwritesthings.bsky.social · 1d

there are no words sufficient for the british press

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Charlie Lynch @charlielynch.bsky.social · 1d

The prequel, of sorts: academic.oup.com/tcbh/article...

Moral Panic in the Industrial Town: Teenage ‘Deviancy’ and Religious Crisis in Central Scotland c. 1968–9

Abstract. This article argues that Falkirk—a medium-sized industrial town in Central Scotland—became the scene of a localized, yet typical moral panic abou

academic.oup.com

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Matt Houlbrook @tricksterprince.bsky.social · 1d

Happy #BookshopDay to all who celebrate!

And let’s be honest - everybody should: books and bookshops are great.

Matt Houlbrook @tricksterprince.bsky.social · Aug 13

A few (belated) photographs of a great day with
‪@manchesterup.bsky.social‬ delivering proofs of Songs of Seven Dials: An intimate history of 1920s and 1930s London to assorted London bookshops a couple of weeks ago.

#sevendials #history

A middle aged man with a white beard wearing a white t-shirt and jeans looks awkward holding a copy of his book Songs of Seven Dials: An intimate history of 1920s and 1930s London in a bookshop in London.

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Matt Houlbrook @tricksterprince.bsky.social · 1d

Happy bookshop day to @stanfordstravel.bsky.social! I’m excited to be doing some walking tours of #20s30s seven dials with them in November. Watch this space!

Stanfords Travel @stanfordstravel.bsky.social · 1d

Happy Bookshop Day ♥️

#bookshopday

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Matthew Whitfield @matthewwhitfield.bsky.social · 1d

if we lived in a halfway normal country this wouldn’t make anyone nervous, it would simply form part of what we all collectively agreed was real life

The i Paper @theipaper.com · 1d

Rachel Reeves's Budget is expected to contain multiple tax rises, which is making many with large assets nervous

trib.al/Kwo4w6a

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Jo Kershaw @mthrjo.bsky.social · 1d

I have a feeling this isn’t going to end well.

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 1d

'prime minister Keir Starmer...confirmed that the University of Lancaster and the University of Surrey had been given approval to open new campuses in India while on a trade mission to Mumbai, joining six more institutions already in the country.' (Lancaster is mooting 20% academic redundancy) 1/3

Research Professional News @resprofnews.bsky.social · 2d

Expansion of UK universities in India ‘like California gold rush’.

University leaders embrace transnational education but warn it will not be a “replacement income stream”.

www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...

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Dave Andress @davidandress.bsky.social · 1d

Especially when you remember that Dubai, like all its neighbours, is an undemocratic, authoritarian state with a well-documented economic base of forced labour.

It’s as if rich rightwing people are telling us who they really are.

Katie Martin @katie0martin.ft.com · 1d

Some people don't super love Dubai but they get offered good money for a good job and they go for a couple of years. Wouldn't be my choice but I get it.
But a lot of people have made "slagging off the UK and going on about Dubai" their entire personality and it's quite dull

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QM_UCU @qmucu.bsky.social · 1d

*FIFTEEN THOUSAND JOBS LOST*.
If this were in a sector in which the PM could go and do a photoshoot looking like One Of The People, we’d have had a government intervention by now.

LopaLeach @lopa.bsky.social · 2d

Cuts equivalent to 15,000 jobs planned at UK universities – UCU www.timeshighereducation.com/news/cuts-eq...

Cuts equivalent to 15,000 jobs planned at UK universities – UCU

Proposed job losses almost triple since March as unions prepare to vote on nationwide industrial action

www.timeshighereducation.com

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Matt Houlbrook @tricksterprince.bsky.social · 1d

Happy bookshop day to @stanfordstravel.bsky.social! I’m excited to be doing some walking tours of #20s30s seven dials with them in November. Watch this space!

Stanfords Travel @stanfordstravel.bsky.social · 1d

Happy Bookshop Day ♥️

#bookshopday

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Stanfords Travel @stanfordstravel.bsky.social · 1d

Happy Bookshop Day ♥️

#bookshopday

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Matt Houlbrook @tricksterprince.bsky.social · 1d

Oh god those awful plastic cut outs that are spreading like a rash these days...