2023
May
10
thoughts in progress
2023
May
6
right to stand on the pavement
2023
Apr
21
New Lives New Landscapes Revisited: Rural Modernity in Britain
Our Rural Modernism network has a new book out soon! New Lives New Landscapes Revisited: Rural Modernity in Britain is an edited collection of essays from a range of contributors. It returns to Nan Fairbrother’s classic 1970 text and considers the longer
2023
Mar
2
select bibliography on new social movements, urban commons, and anti-globalisation protest
Urban commons Anti-globalisation/environmental/anti-war protests Sources Operation Solstice documentary: https://youtu.be/rdztgEB5SlI Reclaim the Streets film: https://archive.org/details/ngv_lo_en_20041101_reclaim_the_streets_the_film Do or Die magazine issues 1-10: https://archive.org/details/DoOrDie08/Do%20Or%20Die%2001/ Sparrows Nest archive: https://archive.org/details/sparrowsnestlibrary?tab=collection Left.overs archive (incl May Day Rooms, Sparrows Nest): https://archive.leftove.rs/
2022
Oct
13
rhododendrons
I’ve been working on the idea of the park as an enclosed space, and had an idle thought about the introduction of rhododendrons to the UK in the 19th century. How does such a ubiquitous plant, which I always associate with Victorian
2022
Oct
5
BBC Radio 4 Analysis, ‘what’s the point of street protest?’
I was interviewed by Prof James Tilley for BBC Radio 4 Analysis programme, ‘What’s the point of street protest?’ on Monday 4 October. You can listen again here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001cpkk
2022
Aug
26
East London primary sources
Courtesy of Prof Laura Vaughan of UCL, with my own additions: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10056449/2/Mapping-Society.pdf https://alondoninheritance.com/?s=limehouse Goad Fire Insurance Plans for the area – try https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Insurance_Plan_of_London_East_Vol._G;_sheet_2_(BL_152677).tiff, or one of the adjacent ones (see https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?search=goad+fire+insurance+plans+of+london+east&title=Special:MediaSearch&go=Go&type=image) Old maps portal: https://www.oldmapsonline.org/en/Tower_Hamlets#bbox=-0.03921728991699221,51.5091398980077,-0.02888728991699216,51.51579463880361&q=&date_from=0&date_to=9999&scale_from=&scale_to= Layers of London – Tower Hamlets collection: https://www.layersoflondon.org/map/overlays/tower-hamlets?overlayGroups=eyJlbmFibGVkIjpbInRvd2VyLWhhbWxldHMiXX0%3D O’Day, R. and
2022
Aug
2
The Cuckoo Cage at Womad 2022
This year at Womad festival, I was privileged to chair a panel of authors from Comma Press’s collection, The Cuckoo Cage. Courttia Newland, Bidisha and Irfan Master read from their short stories about contemporary protest drawn from historical “proto-heroes”: Captain Pouch and
2022
Jul
28
MERL OSS lantern slide exhibition now online
The online exhibition that I’ve done showcasing my favourite Open Spaces Society lantern slides at The Museum of English Rural Life is now online: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/explore/online-exhibitions/lantern-slides-of-the-open-spaces-society/
2022
May
30
Frow lecture at the WCML: trespass and enclosure
As part of the Working Class Movement Library’s series of events commemorating the Mass Trespass of 1932, I gave the annual Frow lecture. My topic was ‘trespass before Mass Trespass’, and I outlined my definitions of enclosure and trespass. Thanks to Belinda,