We are at a critical moment for Britain’s landscape. The countryside faces huge challenges from climate change, Brexit and development pressures. But these challenges also provide an opportunity to rethink…Read More >
history
Curious Kids: why is February shorter than every other month?
Professor Helen Parish answers the question of why February has the least number of days as part of the Curious Kids series by The Conversation that gives children the chance to…Read More >
“My father was a wandering European”: Triple loyalties in Brexit Britain – British, Jewish, European?
As we mark Holocaust Memorial Day 2022, it is perhaps fitting to reflect on a new, bourgeoning phenomenon: the reclaiming of European citizenship by British Jews. The ‘EU Passport’ project…Read More >
Brexit fish wars: history explains why France and the UK get so angry about access to the seas
A dispute between Britain and France about fishing territories has escalated rapidly. French authorities detained a British trawler on Thursday, October 28, and Britain promptly summoned the French ambassador for…Read More >
Ghetto: A Very Short Introduction Bryan Cheyette at the Cheltenham Literature Festival
It is a rarity that an email arrives which is cause for good cheer. The invitation to speak at the Cheltenham Literature Festival—on Ghetto: A Very Short Introduction— was one…Read More >
Abdulrazak Gurnah, the 2021 Nobel Literature Prize, and a Challenge to White Fragility
NPR, the US American public radio station, was broadcasting some critical reporting on the day of the announcement of the 2021 Nobel Literature Prize, 7 October. The journalists were discussing…Read More >
How to predict the summer weather – magic, miracle and meteorology
On July 15 971, the bones of St Swithin were removed from their resting place on the order of Aethelwold, Bishop of Winchester, and placed in a shrine inside the…Read More >
Cross-disciplinary Conversations on Caring in a Crisis
In this post Amie Bolissian considers how the ‘Old Age Care in Times of Crisis’ Symposium in April 2021, highlighted the polysemic nature of old age care, the different ways…Read More >
What Can a Dog Called Margarita Teach us About Ancient Rome?
The Classics Department of Reading recently announced the release of a special video called What Can a Dog Called Margarita Teach us About Ancient Rome? In this video Prof. Peter…Read More >
Broken Futures project: podcast, walking tour and exhibition
The Broken Futures project researches local historical prosecutions of sex between men in Berkshire’s Crime and Punishment Archives, 1861 to 1967 to understand how these men were experiencing life and…Read More >