Callan Davies
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callanjd.bsky.social
Callan Davies
@callanjd.bsky.social
early modern leisure, play/s, culture | books: "What is a Playhouse?"+"Strangeness" + new intro to Shakespeare’s Merry Wives | MCFC⚽️| FSA, FRHistS | he/him | Lecturer at Uni of Southampton
Pinned
I'm delighted, grateful, and a little dazed to be among this year's Philip Leverhulme Prize winners @leverhulme.ac.uk, and among such excellent company.
A little more on my research hopes at the @unisouthampton.bsky.social press release: www.southampton.ac.uk/humanities/n...
Pickled quinces (from my mum’s garden) to be ready for the Christmas table
November 19, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Reposted by Callan Davies
I mean, it takes a pack of utterly stupid people to see a truly massive export industry that is so world class that hundreds of thousands of people are willing to pay tens of thousands to have it, and then to destroy that industry because there people are "forriners".
November 17, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Reposted by Callan Davies
Six weeks since the PM said Britain faced a choice between decency or division and our bad, obviously, for not understanding that he was in fact Team Division
November 17, 2025 at 8:42 AM
Reposted by Callan Davies
Depressing as a historian to learn about Labour's dystopian new immigration policy. This morning I'm reading about Norwich's emergence as prosperous city in late C16th thanks to refugee population fleeing war in Flanders, transforming cloth industry. By 1580s 4,000 or 1/3 of residents were 'alien'.
November 17, 2025 at 10:43 AM
Reposted by Callan Davies
Just wilful performative cruelty that is entirely out of step with the majority of British people.

How many Labour MPs got into politics in order to vote for stealing jewellery off of people seeking refuge from war and persecution?
November 17, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Reposted by Callan Davies
Okay, I can't let this one go. I live in Ireland, not the UK, but the use of this image by a supposedly socialist party is so stupid and offensive, I'm going to get stuck in.

Let me explain to you why any experienced illustrator/designer could have stopped you making so many miserable mistakes. 1/
November 15, 2025 at 12:26 PM
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Please read this: it’s a joy
November 15, 2025 at 9:00 PM
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'After vigorous and partially successful attempts to save modern languages degrees at Cardiff...and the University of Aberdeen in the past two years, linguists are now called upon to point out the equally obvious folly of cutting modern languages at the universities of Nottingham and Leicester.' 1/3
The latest threat to UK modern languages is yet another faux pas
Nottingham and Leicester are taking a swing at language departments. But those proposing closures have taken their eye off the ball, say four linguists
www.timeshighereducation.com
November 15, 2025 at 8:06 AM
Reposted by Callan Davies
A wonderfully elaborate binding for Mrs Elizabeth Colles, from the early seventeenth century. It contains three linguistic works, including Thomas Thomas’s Dictionary (Cambridge, 1610). @theulspeccoll.bsky.social Rel.d.61.2. #herbook
November 14, 2025 at 12:58 PM
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Just TEN DAYS LEFT to submit your abstracts for @emjlynajsh.bsky.social's and my conference on EM practical texts @sheffieldcems.bsky.social. The conference has hybrid capability, and we have six self-funded student/non-waged ECR travel bursaries of £75 each.

sites.google.com/sheffield.ac...
Sheffield Centre for Early Modern Studies - CFP: Reading the Practical in Early Modern Literature
CFP: Reading the Practical in Early Modern Literature
sites.google.com
November 14, 2025 at 9:19 AM
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This is why we should protect the BBC.
November 14, 2025 at 11:43 AM
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“We’re not increasing your tax rate, we’re just increasing the amount of tax you pay” is a proper “playing all the right notes, just not necessarily in the right order” moment.
November 13, 2025 at 10:37 PM
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Are you a scholar of the fifteenth century and have an interest in the British Isles and its wider connections? If so, then you will want to know that @memsunikent.bsky.social will be hosting the 2026 Fifteenth Century Conference in Canterbury and the CfP is now open: www.kent.ac.uk/medieval-ear...
MEMS to Host the Fifteenth Century Conference 2026
www.kent.ac.uk
November 13, 2025 at 9:39 AM
Reposted by Callan Davies
Look what arrived in the post! Now out in paperback so much more affordable, and still looking pretty good, though I say it myself

www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10....
November 12, 2025 at 1:56 PM
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A truly excellent book, highly recommended
thonyc.wordpress.com/2023/09/20/s...
November 13, 2025 at 7:07 AM
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Now open to PhD students and ECR folk outside the UK too ⬇️
Applications are now open for the Curriers Prize, awarded by the Worshipful Company of Curriers in association with ourselves and the @ihr.bsky.social for the best entered essay on any aspect of London's history from Roman times to the present.
The Curriers’ Prize
The Worshipful Company of Curriers, has established an essay prize on the history of London, in association with The London Journal Trust and the IHR.
www.history.ac.uk
November 12, 2025 at 1:39 PM
Reposted by Callan Davies
Applications are now open for the Curriers Prize, awarded by the Worshipful Company of Curriers in association with ourselves and the @ihr.bsky.social for the best entered essay on any aspect of London's history from Roman times to the present.
The Curriers’ Prize
The Worshipful Company of Curriers, has established an essay prize on the history of London, in association with The London Journal Trust and the IHR.
www.history.ac.uk
November 12, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Report shows some successes to champion: “Irish gov [has] series of National Access Plans. Funds for widening participation [include] financial support for the most disadvantaged groups … study bursaries … funds for providers to recruit underrepresented students and design inclusive curricula”
'While universities have expanded and more disadvantaged students gained degrees in the last decade, the link between higher education and higher earnings has weakened for those from less-advantaged backgrounds.'
New report reveals social mobility is flatlining across wealthier countries - The Sutton Trust
Exploring the relationship between higher education and social mobility in 20 OECD countries.
www.suttontrust.com
November 13, 2025 at 6:58 AM
Reposted by Callan Davies
Breaking the myth of the all-male stage, Engendering the Stage in the Age of Shakespeare and Beyond spotlights feminist, queer, & trans voices to uncover the rich complexities of gendered performance—past & present.

Read more: bit.ly/3XkfnGC

#Theatre #GenderStudies @melindajgough.bsky.social
November 12, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Reposted by Callan Davies
Nowhere in the hysterical pile-on against the BBC in the British press has anyone mentioned that BBC News now has 77 million viewers & listeners in the US and has established itself as the second most trusted news source there.
November 11, 2025 at 8:37 AM
Reposted by Callan Davies
A reminder that a subscription service would be the end of the BBC universality, which makes the BBC the BBC
BBC licence fee edging towards Netflix-style subcription model

➡️ Read more: trib.al/Ogn8y1i
November 10, 2025 at 6:37 PM
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Let's play Bucks Name or Name Name
November 7, 2025 at 1:01 PM
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Devastated to share the news that was broken to colleagues in Music (and other departments) at the University of Nottingham yesterday. This is obviously a very difficult time for us and our students.

Please contact us on [email protected] if you would like to be involved.
November 6, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Just dire. Solidarity with colleagues there.
'Music and modern foreign languages degrees are among courses being suspended at the University of Nottingham, with the institution saying it “cannot rely on additional income” from the coming tuition fee rises.' 1/3
Nottingham suspends music, language and nursing courses
University says financial uncertainties continue as government’s proposed student levy will ‘wipe out any benefits’ from rising tuition fees
www.timeshighereducation.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:48 AM
Reposted by Callan Davies
And Music, Theology. It's just devastating. Especially with the Leicester context too, this is going to land an almighty blow for the region.
November 6, 2025 at 2:04 PM