My home town has gone full Magdalen College this fine May morning.

Last chance to register for tomorrow's History & Policy Institute of Historical Research trades union forum online seminar on the international history of trades unionism with speakers including Paul Nowak Simon Dubbins Rebecca Gumbrell-McCormick Birkbeck, University of London & Jim Moher. history.ac.uk/events/trade-u…

Simon Knott MarkKeith I am very interested in the Selby tombs in Hull Minster. Mayor Robert Selby & wife Emma. They are made from alabaster . He has a wool prod attached to his belt for checking that the bales of wool her traded weren't full of stones. They have a sheep and a dog at their feet.

We’ve got a tremendous line up this Thursday, 2 May, including Paul Nowak & Simon Dubbins for our online workshop History & Policy Institute of Historical Research on the international history of trades unionism. Register here: history.ac.uk/events/trade-u…

Our current Longwall Library exhibition focuses on Historians A.J.P. Taylor and K.B. McFarlane who were contemporaries at Magdalen. Though they retained a professional relationship as colleagues, here we can see what they really thought of each other- & it wasn't favourable! 1/2

We’ve got a tremendous line up this Thursday, 2 May, including Paul Nowak & Simon Dubbins for our online workshop History & Policy Institute of Historical Research on the international history of trades unionism. Register here: history.ac.uk/events/trade-u…

Had time to visit the wonderful Irish National Gallery & portrait collection this afternoon before heading out to the airport.

I keep promising myself that I’ll cancel my online subscription to the Telegraph. But I genuinely think I’d miss that daily rush of horrified fascination as I cast my eye over the latest opinion columns.

Scenario:
Sufficient Tory MPs submit letters to force a no confidence vote.
Sunak threatens a snap general Election.
This would face the Palace with a quandary: is it obliged to agree to a dissolution given a) an alternative gov is possible BUT b) it’s over 4 years since last GE?

Thanks to the efforts of a group of volunteers, Kilkenny erected this memorial in 2018 to the city’s 800 World War I dead. Many Murphys there. My Dublin-born grandfather and great-uncle also fought and the latter was killed in action.

Last evening in Kilkenny. It’s been a lovely trip.

There are clearly still perks to belonging to Kilkenny’s centuries-old brewing dynasty.

Interesting. But a) no smoking gun and b) how credible is it that the Soviet leadership would have sabotaged an attack in Sept 1944 that could have brought a speedy end to the war against Hitler simply because they wanted to get to Berlin before the Anglo-American forces?

Near Kilkenny railway station, on the site of the old workhouse, there’s a very moving monument to the victims of the Irish famine. The remains of nearly 1000 famine victims were unearthed here during excavations in 2005. They were reinterred on the site in a ceremony in 2010.

Morning in Kilkenny: Rothe House, built in 1594. Thomas MacDonagh taught Irish history here at the turn of the C20 when it served as a base for the Gaelic League. And Matt the Millers pub in a former C19 flour mill.

Just been on a tour of the old Smithwick brewery in Kilkenny. A great mix of state-of-the-art technology and an excellent guide - Adam.

Kilkenny Castle this morning.

Genuinely, the stuff of nightmares.

Ended the day in Waterford.

Made it to the top of the round tower of St Canice Cathedral, Kilkenny this afternoon. A bit of a fitness test (I just about passed) but worth it for the views.