Matthew Kelly
@matthewjkelly.bsky.social
Historian of Britain & Ireland at Northumbria University. Beginning new work on the history of ornithology in twentieth-century Britain.
Pinned
Matthew Kelly
@matthewjkelly.bsky.social
· Dec 23
We can all identify with this harassed fella. ‘The Minor Official’ from George Birmingham’s ‘Irishmen All’ (1913). Illustration by Jack B. Yeats.
Pioneering dissection of how environmental politics can play out in post-conflict societies, in this case Northern Ireland and the Lough Neagh crisis in the context of competing ‘ethno-nationalist … segmented’ electoral blocks.
@marcmulholland.bsky.social.
@marcmulholland.bsky.social.
This article is now out in @bjpir.bsky.social! In it, we explain why government action to tackle the ecological crisis at Lough Neagh has lagged behind the apparent rhetorical consensus about its importance. Has Muir been set up to fail? #LoughNeagh #openaccess journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
The environment as a second policy dimension in a deeply divided society: The politics of Northern Ireland’s Lough Neagh crisis - Timofey Agarin, Laurence Cooley, Elliott Hill, 2025
Environmental concerns are often marginalised in post-conflict societies. Especially under power-sharing, political parties tend to prioritise their ethno-natio...
journals.sagepub.com
November 25, 2025 at 9:06 AM
Pioneering dissection of how environmental politics can play out in post-conflict societies, in this case Northern Ireland and the Lough Neagh crisis in the context of competing ‘ethno-nationalist … segmented’ electoral blocks.
@marcmulholland.bsky.social.
@marcmulholland.bsky.social.
Stone Roses - Waterfall 2013 Made of Stone HD
YouTube video by ManicStreet69
youtu.be
November 20, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Reposted by Matthew Kelly
Easy to overdo the historical comparison, but pope as a national figure & counterweight to political regime recalls JP II and Poland under communism.
In new remarks, Pope Leo XIV denounced the Trump-Vance immigration raids as a moral failure, warning of “violence” against longtime residents living peaceful lives.
November 19, 2025 at 8:51 AM
Easy to overdo the historical comparison, but pope as a national figure & counterweight to political regime recalls JP II and Poland under communism.
Reposted by Matthew Kelly
"I thought of how, as a child, I’d used pylons to calculate distance & time, and how they seemed to anchor space. I thought of how the turbines resisted this, how unmeasurable they seemed, in a nightscape with few visual referents."
'Landscapes of Power'
longbarrowpress.substack.com/p/landscapes...
'Landscapes of Power'
longbarrowpress.substack.com/p/landscapes...
November 17, 2025 at 8:58 PM
"I thought of how, as a child, I’d used pylons to calculate distance & time, and how they seemed to anchor space. I thought of how the turbines resisted this, how unmeasurable they seemed, in a nightscape with few visual referents."
'Landscapes of Power'
longbarrowpress.substack.com/p/landscapes...
'Landscapes of Power'
longbarrowpress.substack.com/p/landscapes...
Reposted by Matthew Kelly
Inside the Roman Catholic chapel at Biddlestone in Northumberland is an intriguing remnant from life on the home front during the Second World War.
1/6
1/6
November 11, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Inside the Roman Catholic chapel at Biddlestone in Northumberland is an intriguing remnant from life on the home front during the Second World War.
1/6
1/6
Reposted by Matthew Kelly
Thought Anna Funder’s Wifedom brilliant. Perhaps the most effective dissection of patriarchy I’ve read. Here’s some reasons why I liked it as a historian.
November 11, 2025 at 8:17 AM
Thought Anna Funder’s Wifedom brilliant. Perhaps the most effective dissection of patriarchy I’ve read. Here’s some reasons why I liked it as a historian.
Thought Anna Funder’s Wifedom brilliant. Perhaps the most effective dissection of patriarchy I’ve read. Here’s some reasons why I liked it as a historian.
November 11, 2025 at 8:17 AM
Thought Anna Funder’s Wifedom brilliant. Perhaps the most effective dissection of patriarchy I’ve read. Here’s some reasons why I liked it as a historian.
Reposted by Matthew Kelly
Breaking the tax pledge is the right call...and politically sulphurous. Reeves must argue, far more forcefully, that taxes are *the* essential downpayment we all pay for a fairer society.
Patrick Diamond and I wrote for @renewaljournal.bsky.social. Key points in 🧵 👇
renewal.org.uk/blog/if-labo...
Patrick Diamond and I wrote for @renewaljournal.bsky.social. Key points in 🧵 👇
renewal.org.uk/blog/if-labo...
If Labour want a fairer society, they must argue for it
Labour must make the political argument: taxes are the critical downpayment we all pay to live in a fairer society.
It now seems all but certain that direct taxes will rise in the forthcoming Budget...
renewal.org.uk
November 10, 2025 at 7:34 AM
Breaking the tax pledge is the right call...and politically sulphurous. Reeves must argue, far more forcefully, that taxes are *the* essential downpayment we all pay for a fairer society.
Patrick Diamond and I wrote for @renewaljournal.bsky.social. Key points in 🧵 👇
renewal.org.uk/blog/if-labo...
Patrick Diamond and I wrote for @renewaljournal.bsky.social. Key points in 🧵 👇
renewal.org.uk/blog/if-labo...
Reposted by Matthew Kelly
What's the German word for the joy one feels when a friend publishes a book?
November 5, 2025 at 1:28 PM
What's the German word for the joy one feels when a friend publishes a book?
Reposted by Matthew Kelly
Labour needs to stop fooling itself and lean in to the political logic of its choices. It is a high taxing, high spending government. www.ft.com/content/00a5...
November 6, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Labour needs to stop fooling itself and lean in to the political logic of its choices. It is a high taxing, high spending government. www.ft.com/content/00a5...
Lost as Labour candidate in 92 to mate pretending to be a Liberal Democrat who promised to ban IT coursework.
No amount of pontificating about the degradations of Thatcherism was going to beat that.
No amount of pontificating about the degradations of Thatcherism was going to beat that.
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 6:12 PM
Lost as Labour candidate in 92 to mate pretending to be a Liberal Democrat who promised to ban IT coursework.
No amount of pontificating about the degradations of Thatcherism was going to beat that.
No amount of pontificating about the degradations of Thatcherism was going to beat that.
Reposted by Matthew Kelly
I'm sure if any serious attempt was made to do this there would be heads on spikes. It's quite hard to transition to a higher tax and lower consumption economic model, but the current one is clearly creating lots of problems we're no longer able to grow our way out of
November 3, 2025 at 1:32 PM
I'm sure if any serious attempt was made to do this there would be heads on spikes. It's quite hard to transition to a higher tax and lower consumption economic model, but the current one is clearly creating lots of problems we're no longer able to grow our way out of
Mad but fascinating.
Prob reveals legislation partly drafted based on maps rather than on-site checks, meaning Bowood ‘Lane’ effectively misclassified, creating an obligation. Can leg be amended to avoid?
Parody of a planning dispute, when local amenity society wins ‘modification’ to proposals.
Prob reveals legislation partly drafted based on maps rather than on-site checks, meaning Bowood ‘Lane’ effectively misclassified, creating an obligation. Can leg be amended to avoid?
Parody of a planning dispute, when local amenity society wins ‘modification’ to proposals.
My latest: Move over bat tunnel, here’s the wild story of how HS2 were forced to build a multi-million pound bridge for a road that… doesn’t actually exist.
How HS2 built a bridge to nowhere
A state-of-the-art road bridge has been built deep in the heart of rural Buckinghamshire. Designed to carry traffic over the HS2 railway, there's just one tiny problem - there's no actual road.
martinrobbins.substack.com
November 3, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Mad but fascinating.
Prob reveals legislation partly drafted based on maps rather than on-site checks, meaning Bowood ‘Lane’ effectively misclassified, creating an obligation. Can leg be amended to avoid?
Parody of a planning dispute, when local amenity society wins ‘modification’ to proposals.
Prob reveals legislation partly drafted based on maps rather than on-site checks, meaning Bowood ‘Lane’ effectively misclassified, creating an obligation. Can leg be amended to avoid?
Parody of a planning dispute, when local amenity society wins ‘modification’ to proposals.
Reposted by Matthew Kelly
Great trespass along the River Dart today to kick off @righttoroam.bsky.social's 9 river trespasses in November - protesting the inadequacy & unworkability of the Govt's 9 river walks pledge
We trespassed in an estate owned in the Cayman Islands & later met up with kayakers from Friends of the Dart
We trespassed in an estate owned in the Cayman Islands & later met up with kayakers from Friends of the Dart
November 2, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Great trespass along the River Dart today to kick off @righttoroam.bsky.social's 9 river trespasses in November - protesting the inadequacy & unworkability of the Govt's 9 river walks pledge
We trespassed in an estate owned in the Cayman Islands & later met up with kayakers from Friends of the Dart
We trespassed in an estate owned in the Cayman Islands & later met up with kayakers from Friends of the Dart
Reposted by Matthew Kelly
Published today: 'Atlantic Isles: Travel and Identity in the British and Irish West, 1880–1940', by Gareth Roddy bit.ly/4nwj9Y2
Gareth's book is the latest title in the Society's New Historical Perspectives series @uolpress.bsky.social. Available Open Access and in paperback print #Skystorians 1/2
Gareth's book is the latest title in the Society's New Historical Perspectives series @uolpress.bsky.social. Available Open Access and in paperback print #Skystorians 1/2
October 30, 2025 at 8:38 AM
Published today: 'Atlantic Isles: Travel and Identity in the British and Irish West, 1880–1940', by Gareth Roddy bit.ly/4nwj9Y2
Gareth's book is the latest title in the Society's New Historical Perspectives series @uolpress.bsky.social. Available Open Access and in paperback print #Skystorians 1/2
Gareth's book is the latest title in the Society's New Historical Perspectives series @uolpress.bsky.social. Available Open Access and in paperback print #Skystorians 1/2
Reposted by Matthew Kelly
We need a critique of AI in academic publishing. Following my decision not to sign an AI addendum to my contract with Cambridge University Press, I wrote this short essay which is now out in the Dublin Review of Books.
👇
drb.ie/move-over-fo...
👇
drb.ie/move-over-fo...
Move over for AI - DRB
Katja Bruisch writes: I recently completed a scholarly monograph – an environmental, economic and energy history of peat in imperial and Soviet Russia. After years of thinking and writing, I approache...
drb.ie
October 30, 2025 at 11:01 AM
We need a critique of AI in academic publishing. Following my decision not to sign an AI addendum to my contract with Cambridge University Press, I wrote this short essay which is now out in the Dublin Review of Books.
👇
drb.ie/move-over-fo...
👇
drb.ie/move-over-fo...
Reposted by Matthew Kelly
Great to see @kbruisch.bsky.social’s superb essay on AI and Academic publishing and its extractive dimensions up on the DRB. @historytcd.bsky.social drb.ie/move-over-fo...
Move over for AI - DRB
Katja Bruisch writes: I recently completed a scholarly monograph – an environmental, economic and energy history of peat in imperial and Soviet Russia. After years of thinking and writing, I approache...
drb.ie
October 30, 2025 at 9:56 AM
Great to see @kbruisch.bsky.social’s superb essay on AI and Academic publishing and its extractive dimensions up on the DRB. @historytcd.bsky.social drb.ie/move-over-fo...
Reposted by Matthew Kelly
This is great news - delighted that Sunil will be our visiting Wiles Lecturer in History at QUB next May. The book is outstanding.
October 26, 2025 at 8:44 AM
This is great news - delighted that Sunil will be our visiting Wiles Lecturer in History at QUB next May. The book is outstanding.
Reposted by Matthew Kelly
It's here!
Get your copy at reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/contest...
Get your copy at reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/contest...
October 25, 2025 at 1:31 PM
It's here!
Get your copy at reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/contest...
Get your copy at reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/contest...
Reposted by Matthew Kelly
I have taken the difficult decision this morning to rain on @plaidcymru.bsky.social's parade.
"Plaid Cymru's Nature Blind Spot"
nation.cymru/opinion/the-...
"Plaid Cymru's Nature Blind Spot"
nation.cymru/opinion/the-...
The Missing Agenda: Plaid Cymru’s Nature Blind Spot
Eben Myrddin Muse This weekend Welsh politics is comprehending a new political reality, confirmed by Caerphilly’s electorate – Plaid Cymru are the rising force in Welsh politics, the presumptive gover...
nation.cymru
October 25, 2025 at 8:45 AM
I have taken the difficult decision this morning to rain on @plaidcymru.bsky.social's parade.
"Plaid Cymru's Nature Blind Spot"
nation.cymru/opinion/the-...
"Plaid Cymru's Nature Blind Spot"
nation.cymru/opinion/the-...
A major intervention on a highly sensitive issue, the politics of rape in apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa.
On advance access: "(Un)Remembering Sexual Violence in South African History"
by Emily Bridger (@uoearchhist.bsky.social)
#OpenAccess
doi.org/10.1093/past...
by Emily Bridger (@uoearchhist.bsky.social)
#OpenAccess
doi.org/10.1093/past...
(Un)Remembering Sexual Violence in South African History*
Abstract. South Africa is a country known for its high rates of gender-based and sexual violence. Historical research demonstrates that such issues are not
doi.org
October 24, 2025 at 9:48 AM
A major intervention on a highly sensitive issue, the politics of rape in apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa.
Reposted by Matthew Kelly
This is interesting: the idea of the "post-industrial" or "deindustrialised" region is really pervasive, when in fact there's a lot of historical specificity that's missed out. The trajectory and technology of mining, diversification of industry, local/national tensions eg motor industry...
Why do rustbelts vote radical right? Studying the German Ruhr area, @nilsblossey.bsky.social, @lstoetze.bsky.social and I show: it’s not just about deindustrialization, but also about the original industrialization. Where coal is buried deeper and mining started later, the AfD is stronger today 1/12
October 20, 2025 at 9:44 AM
This is interesting: the idea of the "post-industrial" or "deindustrialised" region is really pervasive, when in fact there's a lot of historical specificity that's missed out. The trajectory and technology of mining, diversification of industry, local/national tensions eg motor industry...
@marcmulholland.bsky.social is providing virtuoso threads on Irish history atm. Check out his feed.
October 19, 2025 at 9:40 AM
@marcmulholland.bsky.social is providing virtuoso threads on Irish history atm. Check out his feed.
Wonderful piece by Roy Foster on writing his landmark text Modern Ireland in the 1980s.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Might have been subtitled ‘The Strange Death of a Redmondite’.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Might have been subtitled ‘The Strange Death of a Redmondite’.
October 18, 2025 at 10:42 AM
Wonderful piece by Roy Foster on writing his landmark text Modern Ireland in the 1980s.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Might have been subtitled ‘The Strange Death of a Redmondite’.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Might have been subtitled ‘The Strange Death of a Redmondite’.