Mark Crail

@markcrail.bsky.social

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Chartism and other #C19th stuff. Chartist Ancestors website, author of Tracing Your Labour Movement Ancestors (Pen & Sword books), web editor Society for the Study of Labour History. Science fiction reader. https://linktr.ee/markcrail

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From equal pay to the Beeching cuts, Labour’s record in office has been distinctly mixed. In his new book, Richard Temple draws on a century-long record of government highs and lows sslh.org.uk/2024/07/17/t...

Taken as Red: Highs and Lows of the Labour Party, 1924-2019sslh.org.uk From equal pay to the Beeching cuts, Labour's record in office has been distinctly mixed. Here, Richard Temple introduces his new book, drawing on a century-long record of government to provide a bala...

What would Harold do? Lessons for Keir Starmer from Labour’s history sslh.org.uk/2024/07/15/l...

Clangers, soup dragon, just saying… www.theguardian.com/science/arti...

Underground cave found on moon could be ideal base for explorerswww.theguardian.com Researchers find evidence for cave accessible from surface – which could shelter humans from harsh lunar environment

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"There is a significant problem with calming the rhetoric against Trump. The problem is that he is a threat to democracy. He is a threat to European security and freedom against Russian imperialism. And these things do not cease to be true because some nutter tried to kill him."---Ian Dunt

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Labour historians look to the past in search of lessons for the Starmer government. Fascinating report from the Labour History Research Unit sslh.org.uk/2024/07/15/l...

Labour historians look to the past in search of lessons for the Starmer governmentsslh.org.uk What lessons should a Labour Cabinet which numbers five history graduates in its ranks* take from the experience of previous Labour governments? And how might the party’s past be used to help shape it...

#18th #C19th #History Thomas Spence everywhere at the minute. Wonder what that means. Worth ploughing through the intro to this for the extract from Niall Kishtainy‘s The Infinite City: Utopian Dreams on the Streets of London londonist.substack.com/p/the-utopia...

The Utopian Coin Vandal Of Holbornlondonist.substack.com The remarkable life of Thomas Spence.

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I used to keep a list, History Retweeted, back at the bad old site to collect these kinds of sites. I'm curious how many have made the transition or started up here.

#C19th This is rather nice. A year’s diary entries (posted daily) of the English working-class poet John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social

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#ChartismDay2024 Have you booked your place yet? www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/chartism-d...

#C19th This is rather nice. A year’s diary entries (posted daily) of the English working-class poet John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social

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Latest issue of Labour History Review arriving in the post today 📕 * William Sharman Crawford and the politics of suffrage * Peterborough Labour Party - boundaries and identity, 1918-1939 * British trade unions and Zionism, 1936-1967 * Book reviews sslh.org.uk/2024/07/12/l...

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Who were the women in white bonnets on the platform; what about the coal-whippers or dustmen in their distinctive headgear? Professor Fabrice Bensimon looks into the crowd shown in the famous daguerreotypes of the April 1848 Chartist monster meeting. chartist-ancestors.blogspot.com/2024/07/kenn...

Kennington 1848: the women in white bonnets, the man in the dustman's hat and the coachmanchartist-ancestors.blogspot.com The daguerreotype images of the famous Chartist Kennington Common meeting on 10 April 1848 have fascinated historians since they first came ...

Having done a little court reporting in my time, I found this fascinating (and it brought back a few memories). If this lot give up, then effectively justice goes behind closed doors. Bad news. www.theguardian.com/news/article...

Chortle chortle, scribble scribble: inside the Old Bailey with Britain’s last court reporterswww.theguardian.com The long read: The cases heard at the Old Bailey offer a vivid, often grim portrait of England and Wales today. What happens when there is no one left to tell these stories?

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Our Victorian Commons blog is 12 today! We have well over 300 posts to read on 19thC British political history, looking at elections, MPs, Parliament and lots more: victoriancommons.wordpress.com

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The Labour History Research Unit at Anglia Ruskin have put out the results of a survey of historians asking the question 'How Should Labour Govern?' Since I was one of them and I'm quoted at the start, I thought I'd put it up here for you all to take a look... www.aru.ac.uk/arts-humanit...

It was perfectly legitimate to raise doubts about Reform candidates, not limited to this individual. There were clearly grounds for suspicion. If those doubts prove to be incorrect, fair enough - but that doesn’t make them a conspiracy theory. apple.news/A1uIV16W6RXq...

Reform fake candidates conspiracy theories debunkedapple.news How an airbrushed photo led to claims Nigel Farage's party was fielding fictional election candidates.

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In the 1830s and 1840s, Chartists fought for the right to vote in order to make a real difference to people’s lives. Find out more at #ChartismDay2024 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/chartism-d...

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Norfolk socialist societies, 1897-1916 sslh.org.uk/2024/07/09/n...

Norfolk socialist societies, 1897-1916sslh.org.uk The minutes of a succession of socialist societies in West Norfolk between 1897 and 1916 have been published.

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Look how Reform voters’ views are far away from everyone else. Lib Dem and Labour virtually the same.

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JUST IN: Polls closed in France. Exit polls show surprise: —Left coalition (New Popular Front) projected first. (!) —Far-right (RN) has lost its bid to take power. Anti-RN front appears to have worked very well. —No bloc close to majority. Follow this 🧵 for results and more:

Question raised by @bylinetimes.bsky.social over whether some Reform candidates really exist is more than just about the contempt the party has for voters. The number of votes a party gets nationally affects the amount of taxpayer cash it gets. bylinetimes.com/2024/07/03/r...

Reform UK's Invisible Candidates: Who Are They Hiding?bylinetimes.com Absent from hustings, media interviews, and social media, why are Nigel Farage's Reform champions quite so elusive?

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🗃️ #C19th #Chartism Chartist Ancestors has had a minor makeover. The Wordpress theme (design template) it used had a ‘known vulnerability’, so I’ve changed it. Shouldn’t look very different - and definitely shouldn’t work differently. More 👉 chartist-ancestors.blogspot.com/2024/07/a-sl...

As Clement Attlee told Harold Laski, ‘I can assure you there is widespread resentment in the party at your activities and a period of silence on your part would be welcome.’

Pre-ordered. Though it’s so far into the future that I know I’ll be clicking links from now till February and being surprised to discover that I’ve already bought it!

My forthcoming novel FUTURE'S EDGE features the end of the world, an alien parasite, weaponised archeologists, and a bizarre love triangle between two humans and a sentient starship. And it's now available to preorder from all good book vendors. Links: www.garethlpowell.com/futures-edge/

Very much enjoyed this book. Funny and dark in equal measure, and one of Adrian Tchakovsky’s best (which is saying something).

Excellent SF exploring the robot awaits in Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky www.runalongtheshelves.net/blog/2024/7/...

Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky — Runalong The Shelveswww.runalongtheshelves.net

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#OnThisDay 1848 the Commons voted against the ‘Little Charter’ of electoral reforms (household franchise, the ballot, triennial Parliaments & more equal distribution of seats) proposed by Joseph Hume, rejecting it by 351 votes to 84: api.parliament.uk/historic-han... #19thC

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How the Daily Herald’s front page reported the first Labour government (and the death of Lenin) sslh.org.uk/2021/08/23/d...

Daily Herald’s front page reports the first Labour government and the death of Leninsslh.org.uk What a day to be a headline writer on a Labour newspaper. On 23 January 1924, the TUC-owned Daily Herald led its news coverage with the formation of the first ever Labour government. But big as it was...

What a total waste of money this has been, what an absolute shitload of squalid bigotry and fear this has unleashed on people. What a joy it is to see it binned on day one.

The speed with which new ministers are being wheeled into Downing Street, I fully expect some sort of mix-up resulting in an Amazon delivery driver being made Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.