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Helen Gittos

@helengittos

Associate Professor of Medieval History; parent involved in the Independent Inquiry into Maternity Services at East Kent. (I'm no longer able to read private messages here.)

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Latest posts by Helen Gittos @helengittos

I'm not organizing it I'm afraid so don't know. I don't think they usually are but I'm sure there'll be other chances to hear Emily talk about this.

10.03.2026 23:03 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Sign the Petition Save the Ultimate Picture Palace

Save the Ultimate Picture Palace
The future of Oxford's much loved independent cinema, the UPP, is at great risk. Our landlord, Oriel College won't commit to a new lease because our building is in the footprint of their plans for a 'Fifth Quad'
Read on, sign & share www.change.org/p/save-the-u...

10.03.2026 22:08 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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How about this for a seminar poster! @oxmedstud.bsky.social

10.03.2026 21:15 πŸ‘ 11 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0
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A baptismal jug!? πŸ˜€
Aspersional baptism in the Antifonario de Leon...

10.03.2026 20:28 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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The next History of Liturgy Seminar is in London @ihr.bsky.social on Monday 16 March 17.30. Come hear Melanie Shaffer @bristolcms.bsky.social & @carrielarocco.bsky.social. In-person (chat! drinks! people!) or online. #medievalsky
www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

10.03.2026 20:00 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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A portal to a longed-for world.

10.03.2026 18:21 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Donna Ockenden made Leeds Hospitals Trust maternity inquiry chair Donna Ockenden is appointed to lead the maternity services inquiry at Leeds hospitals.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

10.03.2026 14:29 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Alfred the Great’s Indian Embassy

'Alfred the Great’s Indian Embassy:
How likely is it that Alfred the Great sent two emissaries to India in the ninth century?' - an article by me in History Today: www.historytoday.com/archive/hist...

10.03.2026 13:47 πŸ‘ 12 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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... and her most recent book too.

10.03.2026 11:58 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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This by @magicnotwitches.bsky.social looks fab - one for the things-I-wish-I-had-an-excuse-to-read-now pile, not least because it includes a map of the location of historical & ficitonal magicians in late medieval & early modern London.

10.03.2026 11:56 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

When social media and church monuments really don't mix! @churchmonuments.bsky.social

10.03.2026 11:23 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Animals and well-being, 500–1100 | Podcast Episode on RSS.com In our latest podcast, Sam talks to Holly Miller and Christina Lee, joint authors of 'Animals and multi-species considerations of well-being 500–1100', about the intersection between animals and medic...

The latest "Early Medieval Europe" podcast is out now! Catch @samottewillsoulsby.bsky.social talking to Holly Miller and Christina Lee about their new article on animals and early medieval medicine: rss.com/podcasts/ear...

09.03.2026 08:14 πŸ‘ 20 πŸ” 10 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 2
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BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs, Jessie Buckley, actor Jessie Buckley, actor and singer, shares the soundtrack of her life with Lauren Laverne.

... but the film does, even if it diverges in the aftermath of Hamnet's death, and at that moment doesn't capture what moved me so very much about the book.
This is such a warm-hearted Desert Island Discs.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

08.03.2026 11:00 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

β€œThe duty of candour is one of the fundamental standards below which care should never fall. It did with Laura" - This comment in a letter from the coroner to CQC has sparked a raft of new actions by regulators years after the family first raised concerns.

08.03.2026 10:15 πŸ‘ 18 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

... and because there's only two weeks before the school holidays & then, gulp, one week before it all begins again.

08.03.2026 09:47 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

One oddly counter-intuitive thing I've learnt to do is not to try to rest at the end of a bone-achingly exahusting term, but to use some of that momentum to dive straight back in... esp. as it's not easy even to remember where I left my notes, let alone my thoughts.

08.03.2026 09:38 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

... after almost six months away from research, I'm eager (if daunted) to get back to it... & that time is surely now just about within touching distance!

08.03.2026 09:37 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

'Unproductive stuckness tends to involve a more diffuse anxiety, a sense that everything is impossible rather than that this particular passage is difficult... in the latter state, the solution is rarely to push harder. It is more often to step back... Give the unconscious mind the room it needs.'

08.03.2026 09:37 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

'... to develop the kind of relationship with uncertainty that allows us to keep working in spite of it, & often because of it.'

'Productive discomfort usually involves a sense... you are close to something & that the problem you cannot quite solve is a real problem worth solving.'

08.03.2026 09:37 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Yes! This captures a lot with elegance & economy.

'... to notice the difference between productive discomfort & unproductive stuckness.

'The discomfort is the thinking. Suppressing it is often the same as stopping thinking.'

One for the Course Handbooks: thanks @patthomson.bsky.social.

08.03.2026 09:37 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0
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Diamond Terrace, Greenwich, London, SE10 8QN | Property for sale | Savills Property details for Diamond Terrace. One of many properties for sale in Greenwich, London, SE10 8QN from Savills, world leading estate agents.

This is a really remarkable house:

search.savills.com/property-det...

07.03.2026 13:07 πŸ‘ 70 πŸ” 8 πŸ’¬ 14 πŸ“Œ 9

That looks very enviable as I sit here spending yet another weekend working, looking out on a very dank Oxfordshire day...!

07.03.2026 13:29 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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The destruction of of Kent's cultural heritage by successive councils in recent years is hard to bear.
George Newson, Man of Kent I

02.03.2026 10:08 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Chris Shore, The Red Carpet

02.03.2026 10:08 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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The Black Line Around England by Benito Beamand...

02.03.2026 10:08 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

... including Via Appia by Alan Sorrell.

02.03.2026 10:08 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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What's the word for the joyful pride of a mamma listening to her teenage son, cans on, singing the songs that were once new to us: Here we are now, entertain us... πŸ’–

01.03.2026 20:23 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Oxfordshire’s maternity care Many Clarion readers will have passed through the maternity ward of the John Radcliffe Hospital, whether as an infant or a parent. It is a place with which Oxfordshire, literally, has a familial bond....

🚨Long read klaxon🚨
Last week, Baroness Amos published her interim report into maternity & neonatal care in England. Vocal campaigners have catapulted Oxford University Hospitals Trust to the top of the investigation's agenda. We took a look at Oxfordshire's maternity care, the data, and the claims.

01.03.2026 09:27 πŸ‘ 19 πŸ” 8 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 3
A small square book with pink binding that says Saints and The National Gallery on the cover.

A small square book with pink binding that says Saints and The National Gallery on the cover.

The title page, with my name

The title page, with my name

πŸ“£ New Book Day! πŸ“£

Delighted to share a sneak peek at Saints, my new picture book for grown ups. She’s a beauty, written with everyone whoβ€˜s ever wandered round the NG with me in mind

Coming this June to the NG shop and online, but available for preorder now:

yalebooks.co.uk/book/9781857...

03.02.2026 11:47 πŸ‘ 19 πŸ” 10 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Memorial Service for Prof Stephen Baxter | St Peter's College Oxford

There will be a memorial service for Prof. Stephen Baxter @oxhistoryfaculty.bsky.social on Saturday 13 June, 2.30pm in St Peter's College chapel. www.spc.ox.ac.uk/events/memor...

28.02.2026 18:44 πŸ‘ 10 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0