Pauline Stafford

@pstafford.bsky.social

1.6K followers 350 following 450 posts

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

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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

Pauline Stafford @pstafford.bsky.social · 6h

Fascinating and compelling argument from @caitlinrgreen.bsky.social on King Alfred's embassy to India.

Rory Naismith @rorynaismith.bsky.social · 8h

The wonderful @caitlinrgreen.bsky.social has a hugely interesting new article just out in Early Medieval England & its Neighbours, all about Alfred the Great's embassy to India - free to read here #India #AlfredtheGreat #medieval www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

King Alfred and India: an Anglo-Saxon Embassy to Southern India in the Ninth Century | Early Medieval England and its Neighbours | Cambridge Core

King Alfred and India: an Anglo-Saxon Embassy to Southern India in the Ninth Century - Volume 52

www.cambridge.org

Reposted by Charles West, Pauline Stafford

Rory Naismith @rorynaismith.bsky.social · 8h

King Alfred and India: an Anglo-Saxon Embassy to Southern India in the Ninth Century | Early Medieval England and its Neighbours | Cambridge Core

King Alfred and India: an Anglo-Saxon Embassy to Southern India in the Ninth Century - Volume 52

www.cambridge.org

Reposted by Leslie Mabon, Pauline Stafford

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 10h

'hollowing out...the humanities is no longer a theoretical threat: it is an active, policy-driven dismantling, creating vast regional “cold spots”....we are burning humanity’s maps just as we enter the least charted psychological & philosophical territory in our history: artificial intelligence.' 1/

Humanities cuts leave us defenceless in the age of AI

It is vital to examine what chatbots’ behaviour reveals about their underlying structures – and human responses to them, says Agnieszka Piotrowska

www.timeshighereducation.com

Reposted by Pauline Stafford

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 11h

Another straw in the wind suggesting that employers may increasingly value 'liberal arts' (Humanities) graduates' skills in the context of the increased need critically to navigate the AI landscape. With a sharing link for 3 non-subscribers.

McKinsey challenges graduates to use AI chatbot in recruitment overhaul

Candidates in pilot assessed on how they prompted consulting firm’s AI assistant and ability to adapt responses

giftarticle.ft.com

Reposted by Pauline Stafford

Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 11h

"The forthcoming Elections Bill is the perfect opportunity for the government to introduce such a a measure." @electoralreform.bsky.social

British public strongly back caps on donations to political parties

Polling published in the last few weeks reveals that the British public are worried about the influence of money in politics, with a majority wanting to see the introduction of caps

electoral-reform.org.uk

Reposted by Jacob T. Levy, Pauline Stafford

Ambassador Ken Fairfax (ret) @portlandken.bsky.social · 21h

The good news is that SIX seasoned federal prosecutors in Minnesota have resigned rather than engage in a bogus 'investigation' of Renee Good and her wife rather than investigating Good's killer.

The bad news is that there are now six fewer honest, dedicated federal prosecutors with DOJ.

Six Prosecutors Quit Over Push to Investigate ICE Shooting Victim’s Widow

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Ben H. Ansell, Pauline Stafford

Guy Shrubsole @guyshrubsole.bsky.social · 22h

Plaid Cymru and the Greens are surging in Wales, according to this latest poll.

Where’s the media narrative around this? Where are the stories saying Farage is failing? When will Labour try to regain ground by appealing to Plaid & Green voters, not just copy Reform?

www.itv.com/news/wales/2...

Reposted by Pauline Stafford

Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 1d

A study of Hungarian charters from the eleventh century by Pavol Hudáček (sharing link)...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/AVIGDI...

Hungarian pro anima donations from the eleventh century

You have to enable JavaScript in your browser's settings in order to use the eReader.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Reposted by Pauline Stafford

Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 1d

A study of the calligraphy of early Christian epigraphy in Rome, by Julia Borczyńska...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/SJSXXE... (sharing link)

The Roman presbyters and la bella scrittura Filocaliana

The long-standing collaboration between Bishop Damasus of Rome and Furius Dionysius Filocalus has prompted extensive scholarly research over the years, thereby forging a lasting and inseparable link ...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Reposted by Pauline Stafford

Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 1d

A re-dating of the Astronomer's Life of Louis the Pious, by Simon MacLean (open access)... 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 Pauline Stafford

Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 1d

Topics include the archaeology of English lordly centres in the tenth century, by Duncan Wright et al. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... (open access)....

The power of the past: materializing collective memory at early medieval lordly centres

The repurposing of earlier sites and monuments is an enduringly popular theme in early medieval archaeology, but in England it has attracted little interest among Late Saxon and early post-Conquest s...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Pauline Stafford @pstafford.bsky.social · 1d

My grandma

Pauline Stafford @pstafford.bsky.social · 1d

‘make choices based on a new value system, even if all this means at first is encouraging manufacturers to make a washing machine that again lasts 20 years. Catch-as-catch-can, a new order might well emerge.’ Would need lot of thought about how wd work in v different UK culture but v interesting.

Steven Fielding @polprofsteve2024.bsky.social · 1d

Put aside their peculiar American obsessions & these Blue Dog Democrats basically echo what some non-racists initially associated with Blue Labour were also trying to highlight & which Starmer’s technocratic pursuit of growth largely overlooks. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/o...

Opinion | This Rural Congresswoman Thinks Democrats Have Lost Their Minds. She Has a Point.

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Pauline Stafford

Steven Fielding @polprofsteve2024.bsky.social · 1d

Opinion | This Rural Congresswoman Thinks Democrats Have Lost Their Minds. She Has a Point.

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Pauline Stafford

Alex Sobel MP @alexsobel.co.uk · 1d

Foreign financial interference is not the only threat to our electoral resilience: misinformation and disinformation are all flaws in the system. We need to address these in the upcoming elections and democracy Bill that is coming this year.

Full clip: https://loom.ly/3eME_z8

Reposted by Pauline Stafford

Jan Rosenow @janrosenow.bsky.social · 1d

China is now the leading clean energy powerhouse with the West falling behind.

The transition is inevitable; the key question is where and how fast it happens.

I look forward to discussing this in Davos next week at the World Economic Forum, facilitating a live-streamed session on electrostates.

Reposted by Elizabeth Stokoe, Pauline Stafford

Ian McMillan @imcmillan.bsky.social · 1d

Early stroll. The sky has a flannel over its face. A blackbird’s alarm call rattles the morning. That upside down yogurt pot looks like an alien spacecraft. A bloke and I exchange raised thumbs. I blow my nose like the foghorn of a ship passing Girvan.

Reposted by Dorothy Bishop, Maria Abreu, Pauline Stafford , and 2 more Dorothy Bishop, Maria Abreu, Pauline Stafford, David Stott, Jeremy Lindsell

Katie Fuller @katiefullerart.bsky.social · 1d

✂️ Yesterday I finally responded to @agakowalska.bsky.social’s challenge to make a collage from a single piece of packaging. I present to you a green (tea) woodpecker, made from a big Yorkshire Tea box. It was fun and I’ll be rooting through our recycling bin for more materials later on ♻️

Green woodpecker collage, made from a Yorkshire Tea cardboard box.

Collage assembly in progress - scissors used to dismantle box and cut pieces to form woodpecker shapes, and Pritt-stick used to fix pieces to paper

Reposted by Charles West

Pauline Stafford @pstafford.bsky.social · 2d

Some good reading here . .

Dr Elena (Ellie) Woodacre @ewoodacre.bsky.social · 2d

The happiest days are when new books arrive… #queenship

Reposted by Pauline Stafford

Dr Elena (Ellie) Woodacre @ewoodacre.bsky.social · 2d

The happiest days are when new books arrive… #queenship

Reposted by Pauline Stafford

Charlie Rozier @rozierhistorian.bsky.social · 2d

@memsunikent.bsky.social term card until March, featuring yours truly on Wednesday 14 January.

For more details links to online access for each paper, see here:

research.kent.ac.uk/medieval-ear...

Pauline Stafford @pstafford.bsky.social · 2d

Helen Barnard is Director of Policy at Trussell Trust and a serious voice on questions of poverty. We should be hearing much more about the policies she highlights here. Labour really does have a story to tell on tackling poverty. labourlist.org/2026/01/labo...

‘Labour has a strong story to tell about its progress on tackling hunger & hardship’ - LabourList

Labour’s early reforms on social security, work, housing and energy show a credible path to tackling hunger and hardship in the UK.

labourlist.org

Reposted by Pauline Stafford, Aidan O’Sullivan

Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 2d

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Princely burial with horse unearthed at Sizewell C excavation - BBC News

The discovery of a horse buried with two people is of national importance, say experts.

www.bbc.co.uk

Reposted by Pauline Stafford

Ralph Berry @rdrberry.bsky.social · 2d

You can't support restrictions on social media in schools and jump to defend X at the same time ..
#Toryincoherence

Reposted by Stephan Lewandowsky, Tim Bale, Pauline Stafford

Russ Jones @russincheshire.bsky.social · 2d

"Disappointing Number Of Deaths in the Deadliest Place On Earth", writes the Telegraph

London's homicide rate drops to lowest in more than a decade

Reposted by Anna O. Law, Alan Richardson, Aaron Sojourner , and 2 more Anna O. Law, Alan Richardson, Aaron Sojourner, David Murakami Wood, Pauline Stafford

The Associated Press @apnews.com · 2d

Malaysia and Indonesia become the first countries to block Grok, the artificial intelligence chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s xAI, after authorities said it was being misused to generate sexually explicit and non-consensual images.

Malaysia, Indonesia become first to block Musk’s Grok over AI deepfakes

Malaysia and Indonesia have blocked access to Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok due to its misuse in generating explicit images.

bit.ly

Reposted by Pauline Stafford, Nick Fisher

Ian McMillan @imcmillan.bsky.social · 2d

Early stroll. I imagine I am walking vertically, not horizontally. A half-eaten apple next to a fallen leaf. The breeze wrestles with the still air. A man carries a tray of loaves from a van. An empty settee in a bright room.