Laura Tisdall
@lauratisdall.bsky.social
Senior lecturer in modern British history at Newcastle University. C20th/C21st British childhood, adulthood & age. Writes & reviews fiction: loves the speculative, sapphic and uncanny. Lesbian. 🌈 https://drlauratisdall.wordpress.com
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Laura Tisdall
@lauratisdall.bsky.social
· Sep 16
Cover reveal for my forthcoming book, WE HAVE COME TO BE DESTROYED: GROWING UP IN COLD WAR BRITAIN which tells the history of Cold War Britain (c.1956-89) through the eyes of children & young people! Out with @yalebooks.bsky.social 28 April 2026 #booksky #skystorians yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300...
My one #SciFiMonth post this year, featuring a feminist utopian classic, plus short reviews of two others drlauratisdall.wordpress.com/2025/11/26/s... @scifimonth.bsky.social #booksky #sff
#SciFiMonth: Liminal spaces
I wanted to read so much more for #SciFiMonth – but here’s what I got round to. Marge Piercy’s Woman on the Edge of Time, from my 2025 reading list, is another feminist utopian cl…
drlauratisdall.wordpress.com
November 26, 2025 at 8:27 AM
My one #SciFiMonth post this year, featuring a feminist utopian classic, plus short reviews of two others drlauratisdall.wordpress.com/2025/11/26/s... @scifimonth.bsky.social #booksky #sff
Reposted by Laura Tisdall
Word. Bourdieu said youth is a category created by struggle for power between adults and young people. The point of defining adulthood ever is to define the relative distribution of power between one person and another. Hand power to 9 year olds and you've got my attention
Maybe the term 'adulthood' is, in fact, not incredibly useful if we keep redefining it to mean a shorter & shorter section of our lifespans (without even getting into the problems with assuming changes in the brain map onto social roles...) www.theguardian.com/science/2025... #histchild #skystorians
Brain has five ‘eras’, scientists say – with adult mode not starting until early 30s
Study suggests brain development has four pivotal ‘turning points’ at around the ages of nine, 32, 66 and 83
www.theguardian.com
November 25, 2025 at 11:22 AM
Word. Bourdieu said youth is a category created by struggle for power between adults and young people. The point of defining adulthood ever is to define the relative distribution of power between one person and another. Hand power to 9 year olds and you've got my attention
Maybe the term 'adulthood' is, in fact, not incredibly useful if we keep redefining it to mean a shorter & shorter section of our lifespans (without even getting into the problems with assuming changes in the brain map onto social roles...) www.theguardian.com/science/2025... #histchild #skystorians
Brain has five ‘eras’, scientists say – with adult mode not starting until early 30s
Study suggests brain development has four pivotal ‘turning points’ at around the ages of nine, 32, 66 and 83
www.theguardian.com
November 25, 2025 at 10:41 AM
Maybe the term 'adulthood' is, in fact, not incredibly useful if we keep redefining it to mean a shorter & shorter section of our lifespans (without even getting into the problems with assuming changes in the brain map onto social roles...) www.theguardian.com/science/2025... #histchild #skystorians
Reposted by Laura Tisdall
I haven't got much to add to the general horror at Labour's migration plans, but the bizarre focus on ebikes as assets seems to serve - intentionally perhaps - to increase the stigmatisation of ebike riders (read: delivery drivers) still further and undermine migrants' everyday mobilities.
November 17, 2025 at 10:34 AM
I haven't got much to add to the general horror at Labour's migration plans, but the bizarre focus on ebikes as assets seems to serve - intentionally perhaps - to increase the stigmatisation of ebike riders (read: delivery drivers) still further and undermine migrants' everyday mobilities.
Reposted by Laura Tisdall
bookjotter.com/2025/11/15/winding-up-the-week-447/ #AmReading #Books #BookReview #DoorstoppersInDecember @lauratisdall.bsky.social @roughghosts.bsky.social
Winding Up the Week #447
This week, I look at books read and reviewed, discover some of the best writing about literature on the blogosphere, announce Doorstoppers in December, keep up with a variety of literary anniversar…
bookjotter.com
November 15, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Reposted by Laura Tisdall
"What is certain, and felt instinctively by almost everybody, is that things cannot go on in their present way" – The Times, May 1975
“It is difficult to imagine a previous period when such an all-pervasive hopelessness was exhibited at all levels of British life” – Professor Stephen Haseler, 1975
“It is difficult to imagine a previous period when such an all-pervasive hopelessness was exhibited at all levels of British life” – Professor Stephen Haseler, 1975
November 14, 2025 at 9:13 AM
"What is certain, and felt instinctively by almost everybody, is that things cannot go on in their present way" – The Times, May 1975
“It is difficult to imagine a previous period when such an all-pervasive hopelessness was exhibited at all levels of British life” – Professor Stephen Haseler, 1975
“It is difficult to imagine a previous period when such an all-pervasive hopelessness was exhibited at all levels of British life” – Professor Stephen Haseler, 1975
Reposted by Laura Tisdall
For colleagues in the UK: Yale UP is running a 50% discount through November, using the promo code FIFTY. Lots of books at much better prices, including my own: yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300...
Novels, Needleworks, and Empire - Yale University Press London
The first sustained study of the vibrant links between domestic craft and British colonialism Finalist, Susanne M. Glasscock Book Prize In the e...
yalebooks.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 10:01 AM
For colleagues in the UK: Yale UP is running a 50% discount through November, using the promo code FIFTY. Lots of books at much better prices, including my own: yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300...
Making plans for Doorstoppers in December! Book bloggers & others, do feel free to join in drlauratisdall.wordpress.com/2025/11/10/d... #doorstoppersindecember #booksky
Doorstoppers in December!
It’s almost time for Doorstoppers in December! A reminder of this challenge and why it came about: I made this extremely sophisticated graphic which you can use or ignore as you see fit. I lo…
drlauratisdall.wordpress.com
November 10, 2025 at 8:22 AM
Making plans for Doorstoppers in December! Book bloggers & others, do feel free to join in drlauratisdall.wordpress.com/2025/11/10/d... #doorstoppersindecember #booksky
Reposted by Laura Tisdall
I read the Booker Prize shortlist (again). Rum do, this year - but not uninterestingly.
On the bourgeois novel:
On the bourgeois novel:
The Booker Prize 2025
Many awards shortlists make a statement. Whether by accident or design, the clutch of books from which a given work is granted a particular gong are to one extent clear about – or at least re…
thestoryandthetruth.wordpress.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:31 PM
I read the Booker Prize shortlist (again). Rum do, this year - but not uninterestingly.
On the bourgeois novel:
On the bourgeois novel:
Did you take part in a mock election at your UK school or college between 1983 and 2001?
Share your memories for a research project on young people and democracy in modern Britain!
Write to us about your experiences here: forms.office.com/e/FNAwjfFR7f
Share your memories for a research project on young people and democracy in modern Britain!
Write to us about your experiences here: forms.office.com/e/FNAwjfFR7f
November 7, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Reposted by Laura Tisdall
I'm still looking for participants to interview about Reclaim the Night, squatting/housing co-ops and feminist architecture! Please share 💗
October 31, 2025 at 11:56 AM
I'm still looking for participants to interview about Reclaim the Night, squatting/housing co-ops and feminist architecture! Please share 💗
Reposted by Laura Tisdall
Had to share this from twitter just because
November 5, 2025 at 2:35 AM
Had to share this from twitter just because
Reposted by Laura Tisdall
this is looking significantly worse for the gop than 2021 was for Ds.
will pundits treat it as a sweeping rebuke of Trump? or are they not allowed to put that in the papers now?
will pundits treat it as a sweeping rebuke of Trump? or are they not allowed to put that in the papers now?
November 5, 2025 at 1:37 AM
this is looking significantly worse for the gop than 2021 was for Ds.
will pundits treat it as a sweeping rebuke of Trump? or are they not allowed to put that in the papers now?
will pundits treat it as a sweeping rebuke of Trump? or are they not allowed to put that in the papers now?
Reposted by Laura Tisdall
Bonfire night prep in Elswick, Newcastle, photo by Tish Murtha (1956-2013).
November 4, 2025 at 8:24 AM
Bonfire night prep in Elswick, Newcastle, photo by Tish Murtha (1956-2013).
A few final spooky reads for the season! drlauratisdall.wordpress.com/2025/10/31/r... #ripxx #booksky
RIP XX: Final Days
Josh Malerman, Incidents Around The House. A very simple but enormously effective horror novel, Incidents Around The House uses its young narrator to truly recapture the terrors of childhood and th…
drlauratisdall.wordpress.com
October 31, 2025 at 8:49 AM
A few final spooky reads for the season! drlauratisdall.wordpress.com/2025/10/31/r... #ripxx #booksky
Reposted by Laura Tisdall
There is no ceasefire.
There never was.
There never was.
October 29, 2025 at 7:21 AM
There is no ceasefire.
There never was.
There never was.
Reposted by Laura Tisdall
"These proposals would mean deporting greater numbers and a greater proportion of the population than former Ugandan President Idi Amin's deportation of Ugandan Asians."
Stephen Bush on the extraordinary draft legislation which Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp, Matt Vickers, Katie Lam and backbench colleagues have proposed in parliament
It is a proposal that would seek to deport around 5% of the resident population, including over a quarter of a million with ILR
It is a proposal that would seek to deport around 5% of the resident population, including over a quarter of a million with ILR
October 23, 2025 at 12:23 PM
"These proposals would mean deporting greater numbers and a greater proportion of the population than former Ugandan President Idi Amin's deportation of Ugandan Asians."
As I tell my students, historically speaking, the % of British women who never have children has been remarkably stable for the last 100 years in the face of huge demographic shifts. Women having kids later gets confused with a significant rise in childlessness that's not yet happening #skystorians
You've probably heard that US fertility is "below replacement level." But what does that actually mean???
Demographers @lesja.bsky.social & others explain the link between birth rates & population growth in this new @ccfamilies.bsky.social brief. contemporaryfamilies.utah.edu/publications...
Demographers @lesja.bsky.social & others explain the link between birth rates & population growth in this new @ccfamilies.bsky.social brief. contemporaryfamilies.utah.edu/publications...
October 22, 2025 at 1:37 PM
As I tell my students, historically speaking, the % of British women who never have children has been remarkably stable for the last 100 years in the face of huge demographic shifts. Women having kids later gets confused with a significant rise in childlessness that's not yet happening #skystorians
Reposted by Laura Tisdall
We're excited to announce the call for papers for #MBS26, the next Modern British Studies conference, at Birmingham in June 2026. We'll be launching the #MBS Association at this event, to support further regular conferences in Modern British Studies.
www.birmingham.ac.uk/events/moder...
www.birmingham.ac.uk/events/moder...
Modern British Studies Conference 2026 - University of Birmingham
Conference information
www.birmingham.ac.uk
October 16, 2025 at 8:47 PM
We're excited to announce the call for papers for #MBS26, the next Modern British Studies conference, at Birmingham in June 2026. We'll be launching the #MBS Association at this event, to support further regular conferences in Modern British Studies.
www.birmingham.ac.uk/events/moder...
www.birmingham.ac.uk/events/moder...
Last day! If you want to know why so many teenage girls in the 1950s killed off their imaginary husbands, why Cold War science fiction suddenly became obsessed with uncanny children, & what child-led organisation infuriated both Thatcher and British communists, look no further... #skystorians
Hello all! You can get 25% off the already surprisingly reasonable price of WE HAVE COME TO BE DESTROYED if you pre-order at @waterstones.bsky.social between 14th and 17th October using the discount code OCTOBER25! Pls share. Link here: www.waterstones.com/book/we-have... #skystorians #histchild 🗃
October 17, 2025 at 7:43 AM
Last day! If you want to know why so many teenage girls in the 1950s killed off their imaginary husbands, why Cold War science fiction suddenly became obsessed with uncanny children, & what child-led organisation infuriated both Thatcher and British communists, look no further... #skystorians
Reposted by Laura Tisdall
Hello all! You can get 25% off the already surprisingly reasonable price of WE HAVE COME TO BE DESTROYED if you pre-order at @waterstones.bsky.social between 14th and 17th October using the discount code OCTOBER25! Pls share. Link here: www.waterstones.com/book/we-have... #skystorians #histchild 🗃
October 14, 2025 at 7:43 AM
Hello all! You can get 25% off the already surprisingly reasonable price of WE HAVE COME TO BE DESTROYED if you pre-order at @waterstones.bsky.social between 14th and 17th October using the discount code OCTOBER25! Pls share. Link here: www.waterstones.com/book/we-have... #skystorians #histchild 🗃
Hello all! You can get 25% off the already surprisingly reasonable price of WE HAVE COME TO BE DESTROYED if you pre-order at @waterstones.bsky.social between 14th and 17th October using the discount code OCTOBER25! Pls share. Link here: www.waterstones.com/book/we-have... #skystorians #histchild 🗃
October 14, 2025 at 7:43 AM
Hello all! You can get 25% off the already surprisingly reasonable price of WE HAVE COME TO BE DESTROYED if you pre-order at @waterstones.bsky.social between 14th and 17th October using the discount code OCTOBER25! Pls share. Link here: www.waterstones.com/book/we-have... #skystorians #histchild 🗃
Short thoughts on what I've been reading recently: drlauratisdall.wordpress.com/2025/10/10/f... #ripxx #booksky
Five 60-Second Reviews, Some Of Which Are #RIPXX
Work is very busy at the moment, so I decided to do some quick-fire reviews: Kate Folk, Sky Daddy. Yep, it’s the novel about the woman who is sexually attracted to planes! I was a big fan of …
drlauratisdall.wordpress.com
October 10, 2025 at 7:35 AM
Short thoughts on what I've been reading recently: drlauratisdall.wordpress.com/2025/10/10/f... #ripxx #booksky
The call for papers for the @histchild.bsky.social 2026 conference at the University of Sheffield, 1-3 July, is now up on our website! Deadline 14 December www.histchild.org/pages/sheffi... #histchild #skystorians #histyouth
Fifth Biennial Conference | Children's History Society
University of Sheffield, 1-3 July 2026
www.histchild.org
October 7, 2025 at 7:45 AM
The call for papers for the @histchild.bsky.social 2026 conference at the University of Sheffield, 1-3 July, is now up on our website! Deadline 14 December www.histchild.org/pages/sheffi... #histchild #skystorians #histyouth