Peter Gatrell
@pwgatrell.bsky.social
Historian - mainly researching refugee history in the 20c. … but it’s not just about refugees… oh, and still learning about what’s at stake then and now. Funded generously in the past by AHRC and Leverhulme Trust and enabled by UNHCR Records and Archives
Reposted by Peter Gatrell
'Exiting the market' is such a crap euphemism. It's not like the 'university' will then go and apply all its assets to another market. Those assets (human and non-human) will be dispersed, wasted, destroyed. Un-creative destruction. Which we can't afford as a society.
Chief exec of OfS 'said the OfS believes there are 24 institutions at risk of exiting the market in the next 12 months, seven of which are large providers with more than 3,000 students. There are another 25 or so institutions of various sizes at risk over a two- to three-year period, she added.'
Seven ‘large providers’ at risk of going under in the next year
Skills minister says no higher education institutions are at imminent risk of collapse this year but OfS confirms more than 20 providers are being closely monitored
www.timeshighereducation.com
November 26, 2025 at 9:54 AM
'Exiting the market' is such a crap euphemism. It's not like the 'university' will then go and apply all its assets to another market. Those assets (human and non-human) will be dispersed, wasted, destroyed. Un-creative destruction. Which we can't afford as a society.
Reposted by Peter Gatrell
Word of the day is ‘quockerwodger’ (19th century): a puppet politician whose strings are pulled entirely by someone else.
November 21, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Word of the day is ‘quockerwodger’ (19th century): a puppet politician whose strings are pulled entirely by someone else.
Reposted by Peter Gatrell
Ok but this is totally something Charlotte Church would do
Just realised this is referring to a church in North Carolina and not the Welsh singer
November 20, 2025 at 9:15 PM
Ok but this is totally something Charlotte Church would do
Reposted by Peter Gatrell
"Palestinians experience the displacement of the 2020s genocide not as a singular event, but as part of a repeated cycle."
Anne Irfan on the importance of writing Gaza's history.
Anne Irfan on the importance of writing Gaza's history.
Writing history in a time of genocide
Anne Irfan asks, what does it mean to write the history of a place as it is being destroyed before our very eyes?
www.historyworkshop.org.uk
November 20, 2025 at 12:05 PM
"Palestinians experience the displacement of the 2020s genocide not as a singular event, but as part of a repeated cycle."
Anne Irfan on the importance of writing Gaza's history.
Anne Irfan on the importance of writing Gaza's history.
Reposted by Peter Gatrell
"It was scandalous to me that [the NYT] was resurrecting this dividing line between the Indigenous and the non-Indigenous, that could only be crossed through miscegenation. The Times was so narrowly preoccupied with marginalizing one candidate that it seemed to have forgotten everything else."
Mahmood Mamdani on Zohran, Uganda and forced expulsion: ‘Who is part of the nation and who is not?’
After being expelled from his homeland in 1972, the academic has grappled with questions of political belonging – a major theme of his son’s mayoral campaign
www.theguardian.com
November 18, 2025 at 6:55 PM
"It was scandalous to me that [the NYT] was resurrecting this dividing line between the Indigenous and the non-Indigenous, that could only be crossed through miscegenation. The Times was so narrowly preoccupied with marginalizing one candidate that it seemed to have forgotten everything else."
Reposted by Peter Gatrell
Good to see the problems facing our colleagues @britishlibrary.bsky.social being raised here by @hetanshah.bsky.social (of @britishacademy.bsky.social). If this had happened in France it would be considered a national problem to be urgently addressed! www.cityam.com/the-british-...
The British library is in crisis: why does nobody care?
The widespread indifference to the British Library's crippling cyberattack demonstrates a perilous failure to value the knowledge infrastructure vital for national prosperity
www.cityam.com
November 18, 2025 at 7:58 AM
Good to see the problems facing our colleagues @britishlibrary.bsky.social being raised here by @hetanshah.bsky.social (of @britishacademy.bsky.social). If this had happened in France it would be considered a national problem to be urgently addressed! www.cityam.com/the-british-...
Reposted by Peter Gatrell
Among the many things wrong with Labour’s immigration strategy, this stands out: to “fight” a few thousand so-called illegal migrants, Shabana Mahmood is willing to make life hell for hundreds of thousands of people who are legally in the UK.
🔗 theconversation.com/labours-plan...
🔗 theconversation.com/labours-plan...
Labour’s plan for migrants to ‘earn’ permanent residency turns belonging into an endless exam
In this hierarchical system, migrants are kept on extended probation and judged by standards never applied to British nationals.
theconversation.com
November 16, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Among the many things wrong with Labour’s immigration strategy, this stands out: to “fight” a few thousand so-called illegal migrants, Shabana Mahmood is willing to make life hell for hundreds of thousands of people who are legally in the UK.
🔗 theconversation.com/labours-plan...
🔗 theconversation.com/labours-plan...
Reposted by Peter Gatrell
To suggest that having lived a life so grim that even an English tribunal will grant you asylum, and to have somehow managed to get here at great risk to life, is a "golden ticket" is absolutely fucking contemptible. Shame on this so-called Labour Party.
November 15, 2025 at 11:47 PM
To suggest that having lived a life so grim that even an English tribunal will grant you asylum, and to have somehow managed to get here at great risk to life, is a "golden ticket" is absolutely fucking contemptible. Shame on this so-called Labour Party.
Reposted by Peter Gatrell
📢 We are thrilled to announce the #CfP for the Sixth International Seminar in Historical #Refugee Studies, which will be held at the University of Vienna, Sept 28-Oct 1, 2026! Deadline is December 20, 2026. For more information, see rhs.hypotheses.org and CfP below:
November 11, 2025 at 5:50 PM
📢 We are thrilled to announce the #CfP for the Sixth International Seminar in Historical #Refugee Studies, which will be held at the University of Vienna, Sept 28-Oct 1, 2026! Deadline is December 20, 2026. For more information, see rhs.hypotheses.org and CfP below:
Spread the word - I’m biased but this is such a great initiative with a friendly and supportive atmosphere!
November 11, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Spread the word - I’m biased but this is such a great initiative with a friendly and supportive atmosphere!
Reposted by Peter Gatrell
I’ve written to Keir Starmer, Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage urging them to condemn Donald Trump’s attack on the BBC.
The BBC belongs to Britain, not Trump. We must defend it together.
The BBC belongs to Britain, not Trump. We must defend it together.
November 10, 2025 at 11:29 AM
I’ve written to Keir Starmer, Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage urging them to condemn Donald Trump’s attack on the BBC.
The BBC belongs to Britain, not Trump. We must defend it together.
The BBC belongs to Britain, not Trump. We must defend it together.
Hi Cath - I missed this first time round and I’m so pleased you reposted it. I have a friend who will also want to read it but who doesn’t do social media! Among your own striking way with words I also love the quote from Alison Light. Take care. Peter
For Remembrance Sunday, a short reflection on the life and death of my great grandfather in the twenty years after his return. botheringmiancestors.substack.com/p/the-trench...
The Trenches, the Tram and the Trolley Bus
A twentieth-century story
botheringmiancestors.substack.com
November 9, 2025 at 11:32 AM
Hi Cath - I missed this first time round and I’m so pleased you reposted it. I have a friend who will also want to read it but who doesn’t do social media! Among your own striking way with words I also love the quote from Alison Light. Take care. Peter
I can relate to this!
Trying a new mantra as I edit down another 14000 word draft article:
Every article doesn’t need to include every archival nugget you have discovered on the topic
Every article doesn’t need to include every archival nugget you have discovered on the topic
Every article doesn’t need to include…
Every article doesn’t need to include every archival nugget you have discovered on the topic
Every article doesn’t need to include every archival nugget you have discovered on the topic
Every article doesn’t need to include…
November 5, 2025 at 10:48 AM
I can relate to this!
Reposted by Peter Gatrell
Government has published one of those quiet but important documents that might get overlooked as it is not 'newsy'. The headline finding is that £1 of public R&D investment generates £8 in net economic benefits for the UK over the long term
www.gov.uk/government/p...
www.gov.uk/government/p...
The value of public R&D
www.gov.uk
October 30, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Government has published one of those quiet but important documents that might get overlooked as it is not 'newsy'. The headline finding is that £1 of public R&D investment generates £8 in net economic benefits for the UK over the long term
www.gov.uk/government/p...
www.gov.uk/government/p...
Reposted by Peter Gatrell
Some of my reflections on and from Lampedusa
Lampedusa's ghosts: A political choice, not a crisis of numbers
Europe's decades-old policies have transformed the Italian island's irregular migration role into an invisible haunting.
www.aretenews.com
October 30, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Some of my reflections on and from Lampedusa
Reposted by Peter Gatrell
Anand Menon has a rare gift: making the hardest political questions feel answerable.
As professor at King’s & director of UK in a Changing Europe, he’s done more than almost anyone to make British-EU relations intelligible.
👉🏽 catherineeunicedevries.substack.com/p/etched-in-...
🧵
As professor at King’s & director of UK in a Changing Europe, he’s done more than almost anyone to make British-EU relations intelligible.
👉🏽 catherineeunicedevries.substack.com/p/etched-in-...
🧵
Etched in Marble: Anand Menon on Clear Thinking, Public Writing, and the Joy of Being Useful
Writers on the Forces That Shape Us and the Writing That Endures
catherineeunicedevries.substack.com
October 30, 2025 at 8:14 AM
Anand Menon has a rare gift: making the hardest political questions feel answerable.
As professor at King’s & director of UK in a Changing Europe, he’s done more than almost anyone to make British-EU relations intelligible.
👉🏽 catherineeunicedevries.substack.com/p/etched-in-...
🧵
As professor at King’s & director of UK in a Changing Europe, he’s done more than almost anyone to make British-EU relations intelligible.
👉🏽 catherineeunicedevries.substack.com/p/etched-in-...
🧵
Reposted by Peter Gatrell
📣 Call for participants 📣
Have you ever used any History Workshop Journal articles in your teaching practice?
We’d love to hear from you for the 100th issue of HWJ!
Please let us know by sending an email or feel free to DM.
Have you ever used any History Workshop Journal articles in your teaching practice?
We’d love to hear from you for the 100th issue of HWJ!
Please let us know by sending an email or feel free to DM.
October 17, 2025 at 4:21 PM
📣 Call for participants 📣
Have you ever used any History Workshop Journal articles in your teaching practice?
We’d love to hear from you for the 100th issue of HWJ!
Please let us know by sending an email or feel free to DM.
Have you ever used any History Workshop Journal articles in your teaching practice?
We’d love to hear from you for the 100th issue of HWJ!
Please let us know by sending an email or feel free to DM.
Reposted by Peter Gatrell
Call for Application: Full Professor of Modern and Contemporary History @unibayreuth.bsky.social
October 17, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Call for Application: Full Professor of Modern and Contemporary History @unibayreuth.bsky.social
Reposted by Peter Gatrell
For reasons, it would be v. helpful to have information from a broad range of academic and non-academic (incl. GLAM) users of the BBC Written Archives OTHER THAN historians, briefly on: 1) What you've used it for and 2) How the proposed changes would impact on your research.
Reposts welcomed.
Reposts welcomed.
Historians dismayed by ‘scandal’ of BBC cutting access to...
Critics say new limit to trove of information sounds knell for independent research
observer.co.uk
October 14, 2025 at 9:09 AM
For reasons, it would be v. helpful to have information from a broad range of academic and non-academic (incl. GLAM) users of the BBC Written Archives OTHER THAN historians, briefly on: 1) What you've used it for and 2) How the proposed changes would impact on your research.
Reposts welcomed.
Reposts welcomed.
Reposted by Peter Gatrell
Brown University rejects invite to join federal compact
October 15, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Brown University rejects invite to join federal compact
Great stuff but how about some history? Just for starters … Becky Taylor, Louise London, Tony Kushner and Katharine Knox, etc. etc.
Books I read while writing mine. If you're interested in small boats, migration, refugees, UK immigration and asylum, I'd recommend all of these. Anything to add?
September 21, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Great stuff but how about some history? Just for starters … Becky Taylor, Louise London, Tony Kushner and Katharine Knox, etc. etc.
Reposted by Peter Gatrell
We bring together contributions on the European civil wars by Kimberly A. Lowe, @nathan-rousselot.bsky.social, Lia Brazil, Anna Lively, Alba Martínez, Mercedes Yusta, @panoskaragkounis.bsky.social, @elisabeth-piller.bsky.social @pwgatrell.bsky.social and John Horne. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Humanitarianism in an Age of Civil Wars: Europe, 1917-1949
Welcome to Cambridge Core
www.cambridge.org
September 16, 2025 at 3:35 PM
We bring together contributions on the European civil wars by Kimberly A. Lowe, @nathan-rousselot.bsky.social, Lia Brazil, Anna Lively, Alba Martínez, Mercedes Yusta, @panoskaragkounis.bsky.social, @elisabeth-piller.bsky.social @pwgatrell.bsky.social and John Horne. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Just catching up with his reminiscences from March 2024 on YouTube - then still going strong at the age of 92. A scholar of enormous range. I’ll always be indebted to Al for his advice and support.
RIP Al Rieber, professor and teacher extraordinaire at many places but latest at CEU. His biography is worthy of a book. His reputation as an Mensch is legendary among students and colleagues. He will be missed, not least because he represented a time when Russian history was a happier place.
September 15, 2025 at 6:51 PM
Just catching up with his reminiscences from March 2024 on YouTube - then still going strong at the age of 92. A scholar of enormous range. I’ll always be indebted to Al for his advice and support.
Joan Wallach Scott saying what needs to be said
Over the last year, I had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with Joan Scott. It was clear how much the experience of her father -- victim of McCarthyism -- shaped her as a scholar and person. This essay is a powerful testament to that.
www.bostonreview.net/articles/a-g...
www.bostonreview.net/articles/a-g...
A General Air of Anxiety - Boston Review
The Red Scare targeted my father. He taught me the meaning of resistance.
www.bostonreview.net
September 14, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Joan Wallach Scott saying what needs to be said
Great topic, great scholar too!
📢New ESRC project
HCRI's Dr Antoine Burgard will lead “Who is a child? Determining age in British & French border policing, 1918–present” (2025–28).
The project explores how age shapes migration laws, policies & experiences.
HCRI's Dr Antoine Burgard will lead “Who is a child? Determining age in British & French border policing, 1918–present” (2025–28).
The project explores how age shapes migration laws, policies & experiences.
Who is a child? Determining age in British and French border policing, 1918 to the present | Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute | The University of Manchester
www.hcri.manchester.ac.uk
September 12, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Great topic, great scholar too!