Katrina Navickas

Katrina Navickas

@katrinanavickas.bsky.social

Historian of protest, political movements, public space in Britain. https://reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/contested-commons https://historyofpublicspace.uk Oxford, Croydon and Rochdale @ruralmodernism on Insta. 🇱🇹🇺🇦 🏳️‍⚧️ ally. She/her

6.8K followers2.4K following8.4K posts

Katrina Navickas reposted

Margot Finn
@eicathomefinn.bsky.social

Don't forget to sign up for "The many faces of Sans Souci: Black watchmakers in the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Caribbean" if you're keen to join the friendly & welcoming London Group of Historical Geographers in person or online for this Tuesday's Institute of Historical Research seminar.

history.ac.ukThe many faces of Sans Souci: Black watchmakers in the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century CaribbeanLondon Group of Historical Geographers
Katrina Navickas
@katrinanavickas.bsky.social

Ha ha ha. It would be funny if it weren't so tragic.

Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social

Field day for #Skystorians teaching the industrial revolution this week. Have a read of the Tony Blair Institute's potted IR history, cited in its September 2026 'Hard Tech, Hard Power' paper. 'Modernity, as we currently understand it, was conceived in England in the mid-eighteenth century.'

institute.globalinstitute.global
Katrina Navickas
@katrinanavickas.bsky.social

Day 1 of winter. I hated these months last year and it was a long dark and painful stretch until the quiet brightness returning in March. The single camelia flower in a park off the Thames near Twickenham marked a new beginning.

Katrina Navickas reposted

Margot Finn
@eicathomefinn.bsky.social

Leaving aside the rampaging elephant in the room of the degradation of access to the Library's collections since the cyberattack, my main question on reading this is why historians are still posting on X, a platform that incites violence against humans of many 'sorts' and monetises misogyny.

timeshighereducation.comBritish Library to turn reading rooms into paid-for workspacesAreas dedicated to science and social science in national institution to be ‘repurposed’, sparking the ire of scholars
Katrina Navickas
@katrinanavickas.bsky.social

This looks incredible.

Katherine Mackinnon@kamack.bsky.social

They're calling it the radical academic barbenheimer: TWO long-awaited book launches in Glasgow on 29th October! @maharafiatal.bsky.social's When Companies Rule: Corporate Power from Empire to Silicon Valley and @ewangibbs.bsky.social's An Injury to All: The Unmaking of the British Working Class

Katrina Navickas
@katrinanavickas.bsky.social

A typical lesson from bluesky. Having said that, I was in Madrid when there was the Iberian wide power outage last year and it was astounding how much didn't work without power, including water systems. I wouldn't put it past something like that happening here.

Charlotte Lydia Riley@lottelydia.bsky.social

a real case of “one of the dozens of people who are in a country that is not the United States” in the responses here. I actually don’t care what the recommendations are for US states that regularly experience hurricanes.

Katrina Navickas reposted

Will Jennings
@willjennings.bsky.social

So in a few weeks, the BBC have edited out a "Protect the dolls" trans rights t-shirt and now also some simple rainbow badges. I like the BBC, I used to like it more when it did actual journalism and arts coverage, but it's really making itself hard for me to like it right now.

Leicester Gazette@leicestergazette.leicester.news

Two University of Leicester students speak out over ‘absurd’ and ‘Orwellian’ decision by the BBC and ITV Studios to edit out pride pins worn on University Challenge

leicester.newsBBC edits out pride pins on University Challenge in ‘Orwellian’ move* * * This story was published by **The Leicester Gazette** : a local, independent newspaper about Leicestershire. 1,000 people have already joined our community. Just use those buttons below to download our app and **sign up for free**. * * * Astrophysics student Samuel Carlier and History student Emmeline Hague-Wright were shocked to find that their LGBTQ+ pride pins had been edited out of their University Challenge appearance earlier this year. The episode, initially scheduled for BBC Two on 24 August, was delayed twice before airing on 7 September 2026. The pins showed the progressive LGBTQ+ pride flag, the bisexual pride flag and a rainbow feather. Speaking to the Leicester Gazette, Sam said: “Living in a liberal democracy and having the state broadcaster tell you ‘we’re editing how you look’, seems very Orwellian.” Sam described the choice to remove the pins before broadcast as “weird” and “absurd”. He said: “[Censoring] that seemed weird. If I had worn a rainbow shirt, would they have censored that? If the idea is to keep things impartial, where is that line in the sand?” A side by-side image of Sam wearing the pin and with it having been digitally removed. Photograph: supplied Sam contacted the BBC to try to understand why his pins had been edited out. He told the Gazette: “The BBC people said they’d ring me, and I chased them, they just said go to the complaints website and file a complaint there, that’s what I did.” Since then, Sam hasn’t had a response from the BBC as to why his pins were removed. After the episode had aired, Sam noted that his shirt ‘melted’ into itself occasionally, as a result of the editing. Photograph: supplied ## Students believe the decision was made following online transphobia Emmeline was also shocked when she found out that the feather pin she wore was due to be removed from the episode she was in. It was understood by Emmeline that there was online transphobia in response to previous episode of University Challenge, and she had been contacted by the BBC, anticipating support from the broadcaster. When the BBC contacted her, instead of an offer of support, she was told her pin was going to be removed. “At first it was mostly confusion,” she said. “I heard that they had received a lot of nastiness online from people and I thought they were going to call me to say ‘we have support services if needed,’ and that wasn't what I got at all.” Instead, Emmeline was notified that the episodes were going to be delayed. “It was out of left field, I was confused for a while,” she said. “This entire delay has been because of a feather and two badges on a teammate that were basically impossible [for viewers] to see.” Emmeline had expressed her frustrations with the repeated delays from the BBC, spanning from mid-July to early-September. She said: “We were announced on the website and then delayed again, and then announced on the website a second time, and delayed even further. Speaking about the removal, she said: “It takes a lot of time” she said. “Making it [the edit] look good would be even more expensive and time-consuming. It seems like drastically a lot of effort.” ## Join the conversation Our app is more than just a way to keep up – it's a gateway to award-winning journalism and the local community. __Want to support our work?__ Click here for membership__.__ ## Wider criticism on LGBTQ+ support The pins Sam wore during the episode. Photograph: supplied According to leading LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall UK, two in five LGBTQ+ students will hide their identities at university for fear of discrimination. Stonewall has reported that more than 36 per cent of trans students have received hostile conduct from university staff due to their gender identity. Reflecting on the digital removal of the pins, Sam spoke about how disheartening the choice was. He said: “There was maybe like a span of eight years where someone could be uncontroversially out in the open queer – now that’s gone again.” he said. The BBC has also been widely criticised for ‘an attack on the LGBTQ+ community’ by pulling its involvement with the popular show, RuPaul's Drag Race. The broadcaster pulled its involvement in September following “significant financial pressures” as the reason for axing their involvement. The criticism follows another recent controversial edit by the BBC. On its hit show, Strictly Come Dancing, a decision was made to edit out ‘Protect the Dolls’ from contestant Bethany Antonia’s T-shirt. It’s a slogan which has become widely used to support the rights of trans women. The BBC defended their decision, saying the changes were made to meet editorial guidelines. It comes as the LGBTQ+ community has faced challenges amid an increasingly less tolerant political climate. ## What the BBC had to say When we asked them about editing out the pins worn by Leicester’s University Challenge team, a BBC spokesperson said: “In line with our editorial guidelines, we advise that no badges, flags, and emblems or symbols are worn or visible during filming, along with clothing with obvious branding or slogans. If such items are not removed for any reason then a decision is made between the programme makers and the BBC regarding any edits to the programme.” The BBC said the delays to the episode were unrelated to the decision to edit out the pins. A spokesperson for ITV Studios said: “University Challenge is an entertainment quiz show and is made in accordance with the BBC Editorial Guidelines requirements for impartiality.” The University of Leicester refused to comment on the matter. * * * **Before you go…** We’ve recently surpassed 1,000 subscribers, which is amazing considering we’re a small team on a shoestring budget. Now, we’re ready for the next stage of the Leicester Gazette. **Download our new app and get all of our journalism anytime, anywhere.** The app connects with **Bluesky** , **Mastodon** and **Threads** , giving you access to a network of around 60 million people. It’s a safer, more meaningful alternative to mainstream social media – owned by the community. * * *

Katrina Navickas reposted

flyingrodent
@flyingrodent.bsky.social

A thing you notice if you get mobbed by terfs is: the anti trans stuff (transgender people are terrifying sex criminals scheming on ways to horrifically violate you) is just the same as the anti-migrant stuff (migrants are terrifying sex criminals scheming on ways to horrifically violate you).

Katrina Navickas
@katrinanavickas.bsky.social

I love the whole Newport Rising commemoration weekend. It's exactly what public history should be. Celebrate your radical history past. Every town has an alternative story of resistance and liberty.

Katrina Navickas reposted

Sally Watson
@salawatson.bsky.social

Replying to @katrinanavickas.bsky.social

Definietly lorries. Lots of mentions of juggernauts in Newcastle CC minutes. Was a good clip on BFI until very recently but like much of this digitised material it seems to be unavailable now. player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/wa...

player.bfi.org.ukWatch S.L.O.G.G. Send the Lorries out of Gosforth & Gateshead - BFI PlayerCaught within the obscure workings of various bureaucracies, locals of Gosforth and Gateshead campaign against relentless heavy traffic through their town centres.
Katrina Navickas
@katrinanavickas.bsky.social

Interesting. Tagging for my #bins and parking project. What did juggernauts mean in this context?

George Eaton@georgeeaton.bsky.social

The list sent by Harold Wilson to his cabinet of “little things that mean a lot”, including the protection of local breweries, concessionary fares for the elderly, empty office blocks and “the future of the pint”. Echoes of this in Burnham’s small but popular policies today.

Katrina Navickas reposted

Dr Matilda Fitzmaurice
@matildaf.bsky.social

"Shifting increasing numbers of staff to teaching-only contracts or reducing research time for staff who are not supported by specific grants risks weakening the relationship between knowledge creation and knowledge transmission" 💯 #UCU #UKHE www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/publications...

thebritishacademy.ac.uk​​Is research what makes a university a university?​Universities are under increasing pressure to change. Faced with financial shortfalls and demands to support economic growth and skills, proposals for greater institutional specialisation have become ...
Katrina Navickas
@katrinanavickas.bsky.social

🫶

Katrina Navickas@katrinanavickas.bsky.social

Absolutely incredible. You know my maxim that the best bands take their music seriously but don't take themselves too seriously. And the London crowd, normally slow to warm up, were lively from the start. Big mosh pit. Contender for gig of the year.

Katrina Navickas reposted

John C
@badsocialism.bsky.social

The correct Ali G for 2026 as the collection of comedians on Tiktok/Instagram who do skits about East London creatives and influencers who all put on fake accents to cover the fact they're from Surrey

The Author, Séamas O'Reilly@seamas.bsky.social

Really fascinating case of a thoroughly orphaned cultural object. What living person is Ali G "satirising" in 2026? Like, Harry Enfield didn't scrap Loadsamoney due to political correctness, it's cos the Thatcherist parvenu (and the anxiety its emergence triggered within society) no longer exists.