Updates on New Content

Every time I add something new to the site I'll write about it here, in this website diary.

Recent Additions (most recent first)

  • (April 2024 - editing site and layout)

  • (December 2023-March 2024 - research on Roman villas)

  • (June-November 2023 - working on new content including audio files of popular blog pieces on ancient history, archaeology and women’s history; general editing of site)

  • May 31st 2023 - Politics Blog - ‘Ed Balls Should Stick To Dad Dancing - Debate With Prof Stock Is Beyond Him’

  • May 28th 2023 - Archaeology Blog - ‘Musculoskeletal Disorders in Archaeologists Who Dig’

  • May 14th 2023 - Politics Blog - ‘Penny Mordaunt Seeks Out Her Prime Directive’

  • (April 2023 - site editing (Biog) and research)

  • March 2023 - work on ‘Roman Villas in Britain: New Discoveries’ page

  • March 14th 2023 - Dig Food Blog - ‘Cheapo Meals: Tinned Tomatoes on Toast’

  • February 25th 2023 - Dig Food Blog - ‘Cheapo Meals: Sardines on Toast’

  • February 24th 2023 - addition to ‘Villa Discoveries Since 1993’

  • February 6th 2023 - Dig Food Blog - ‘Cheapo Meals: Eggs on Toast’

  • (Dec 2022-Feb 2023 - research & development for website)

  • December 8th 2022 - Dig Food Blog - ‘Humble Mushrooms - Are They Worth It?’

  • November 14th 2022 - Dig Food Blog - ‘Are 30p Meals Really Possible, Including Hidden Costs? No, Not Really’

  • October 31st 2022 Home Page - temporary Hop Tu Naa (Halloween) content

  • October 30th 2022 - Politics Blog - ‘Phil Shaddock RIP - The Man Who Ate the Raffle Prize’

  • October 8th 2022 - editing and updating of page: Gazetteer of Roman Villas in Britain. Addition of new page on recent discoveries of Roman villas in Britain (under construction).

  • September 2022 - research for cost-of-living ‘Dig Food’ Archaeology Blog posts - coming soon, in October

  • August 21st 2022 - Politics Blog - ‘Penny Mordaunt - All At Sea With Liz Truss’

  • August 4th 2022 - Politics Blog - ‘The “Support of Penny Mordaunt”? I’d Rather Trust a Fifth Columnist’

  • July 18th 2022 - Politics Blog - ‘Margaret Foster, Friend of the ‘Hancock Dynasty’, and Jacqui Hancock to be Voted on as Honorary Aldermen’

  • July 13th 2022 - Politics Blog - ‘The Unease Around Penny Mordaunt: A Mumsnet Explainer’

  • (June-July 2022 General site editing and tidying)

  • June 11th 2022 - Archaeology Blog - ‘Women In Archaeology - Meeting Dr Larch Garrad, Isle of Man’

  • May 8th 2022 - Politics Blog - ‘Mike Hancock and his ‘Category X’ Parliamentary Pass - his Victim ‘Annie’ Says ‘Enough’

  • May 3rd 2022 - LONG READ in Archaeology Blog - ‘When Gertrude Met Vita: the Friendship of Gertrude Bell and Vita Sackville-West’

  • (December 2021 to April 2022 - research and editing)

  • November 14th 2021 - Archaeology Blog - ‘The Falklands Yomper - Still Betwixt Barracks and Beach’

  • November 5th 2021 - Politics Blog - ‘Fireworks Ahoy - the Questions that Still Exist for the Portsmouth Lib Dems’

  • October 31st 2021 - Archaeology Blog - ‘The Horrors of the Burning of ‘Witches’ and Heretics - Island Stories

  • October 12th 2021 - Archaeology Blog - ‘Infanticidal Women: The Strange Resurgence Of Murder Trials In A Corner Of Modern England

  • July 10th 2021 - Archaeology Blog - ‘Gertrude Bell and the Pandemic

  • April 22nd 2021 - Archaeology Blog - ‘Norton Disney Roman Villa Landscape 2021 - A New Threat

Full Archive List (oldest first)

  • September 1st 2016 - website launched

  • September 2nd and 3rd 2016 - additions to Gertrude Bell Project Page and Gertrude Bell Gallery

  • September 12th 2016 - TRAC papers added

  • October 3rd 2016 - Roman Palestine - 'Roman Landscapes of the West Bank' page - first draft

  • October 5th - 6th 2016 - general editing of Home Page, and additions to Roman Landscapes of the West Bank

  • October 7th 2016 - additions to Jerusalem Gallery. Additions to Roman Landscapes of the West Bank and Roman Israel pages

  • October 15th 2016 - general editing

  • November 15th 2016 - general editing including Home Page, and a news update about Scott Vanderbilt's work on digitising to map form the Gazetteer of Roman Villas in Britain.

  • November 16th-18th - general site editing including repairs to intra-site links, and changes to site lay-out.

  • November 30th - 10th December - changes to Main Home Page. Working on as yet unpublished blog pieces. BLOG publication dates: estimated mid-late December 2016

  • December 11th 2016 - TRAC archives page added - original delegate list from 1991 (1st conference in Newcastle) and letter.

  • December 13th - El's Politics Blog begins.

  • December 16th - new political blog post; and El's Archaeology Blog begins.

  • December 17th-19th - added Twitter. Added new TRAC 1 (Newcastle 1991) archival info.

  • December - Twitter activated.

  • January 7th 2017 - Archaeology Blog - Greenham Common Peace Camp, space and material culture, women's history, competing masculinities

  • January 14th - Political Blog - 'The Knives Are Out For You, Eleanor'.

  • January 16th - Political Blog - Hancock and the 'Independent' Blue Letter

  • January 18th - some Archaeology of Infant Death pages under review (disabled for time being)

  • January 25th - Political Blog - Why Weren't Hancock's Texts Enough?

  • February 6th - new photo added to Gertrude Bell Project page (Auguste Salzmann 1854, Damascus Gate interior) and some new text

  • February 9th 2017 - Gertrude Bell - More Than 'A Free Booting Scholar'. Archive article added

  • February 10th 2017 - Political Blog - Neil Gaiman - An Apology (piece about Lib Dem Cabinet shenanigans in Portsmouth)

  • February 12th 2017 - 'Romano-British Villas and the Social Construction of Space'. Article from Social Archaeology of Houses 1990

  • February 14th 2017 - El's Urban Garden & Food Blog begins. 'The Power of the Small Urban Garden'. Food history and food politics, set in a small urban garden in Fratton, Portsmouth UK

  • February 17th 2017 - Urban Garden & Food Blog - Growing Chillies In Britain And What To Do With Them

  • February 18th 2017 - Political Blog - From Nuttall To Hancock - The Strange Arts Of The Political CV

  • February 21st 2017 - 'Animal and Infant Burials on Romano-British Villas: a Revitalization Movement'. Article from Sacred and Profane 1991

  • February 24th 2017 - Archaeology Blog - Beadlam Roman Villa - Unpicking an Archaeological Site (Show Houses and Quantum Archaeology)

  • February 26th 2017 - Archaeology of Infant Death - 'Images and Contexts of Infants and Infant Burials: some thoughts on some cross-cultural evidence' 1990 Archaeological Review from Cambridge 11:1

  • March 1st 2017 - Archaeology Blog - 'Yomper'

  • March 2nd 2017 - Urban Garden & Food Blog - 'March in the Urban Garden'

  • March 16th 2017 - 'Wells on Villa Sites in Roman Britain'

  • March 21st 2017 - Archaeology Blog - 'Experimental Archaeology - building the first Iron Age roundhouse at Castell Henllys, Pembs, Wales, 1981'. A piece written for my daughter Maddy - from 21 to 21. Happy birthday.

  • March 28th 2017 - 'Inventing TRAC'

  • April 19th 2017 - 'The Death of Gertrude Bell'

  • April 20th 2017 - Urban Garden & Food Blog - 'April in the Urban Garden'

  • April 28th 2017 - Archaeology Blog - 'Excavation - Let's talk about the Mental and Physical Challenges'

  • May 2nd 2017 - Politics Blog - 'Tam Langley - the best Lib Dem MP this city never had'

  • May 29th 2017 - Politics Blog - 'Shaddock Vs Hunt - the Rumble in Hancock's Jungle'

  • June 13th 2017 - Urban Life Blog - 'Urban Crow Rescue - Mortimer's Story'

  • June 15th 2017 - general editing and updates to home pages; and postscript to crow story

  • June 18th 2017 - Archaeology Blog - 'Writing Roman Britain in 1,200 Words - aka Writing for Encyclopedias'

  • June 28th 2017 - 1st July 2017 - editing of format of main home page (the hub)

  • July 9th 2017 - Postscript #2 update to Mortimer's Story (rescue crow) in Urban Life Blog. Mortimer lives!

  • July 20th 2017 - Archaeology Blog - Excavation Challenges: Food, Fieldwork and Difference [now in Dig Food Blog]

  • July 22nd 2017 - Archaeology Blog - postscript to 'Yomper' - news is that statue is staying put

  • July 22nd 2017 - Urban Life Blog - 'Spring into Summer in the Urban Garden'

  • August 2nd 2017 - Archaeology Blog - 'Please Feed The Archaeologists (Recipes 4 All)' [now in Dig Food Blog]

  • August 16th 2017 - Archaeology Blog - 'Archaeological Dig Food - Vegan Special' [now in Dig Food Blog]

  • August 19th 2017 - Site Maintenance and Editing - Main Home Page And Hub split into: main home page hub; about this website; and copyright

  • August-Sept 2017 - general site editing and maintenance

  • September 23rd 2017 - Politics Blog - 'Reflections on a Resignation - Football, Politics and Chucking Women under the Bus'

  • October 9th 2017 - Archaeology Blog - 'Dig Food - Vegan, Gluten-Free and Type2-Friendly: Prep & Store Cupboard' [now in Dig Food Blog]

  • October 24th 2017 - Archaeology Blog - 'A Week Of Fieldwork Recipes - Vegan, Gluten-Free And Type2-Friendly [now in Dig Food Blog]

  • October 24th 2017 - separated out Dig Food Blog from main Archaeology Blog

  • November 8th 2017 - Archaeology Blog - 'Gertrude Bell, Photographer - from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea'

  • November 13th 2017 - Politics Blog - 'If The Lib Dems Care About Women's Well-Being, They've Got A Funny Way Of Showing It'

  • December 17th 2017 - Politics Blog - "The Best Deal We Could Get" - The Role of Alistair Carmichael MP, in a Scandal'

  • December 22nd 2017 - Archaeology Blog - 'Gertrude Bell's Christmas in Bethlehem, 1899'

  • January 20th 2018 - Archaeology Blog - 'The Intriguing Roman Villa at Norton Disney - a Conundrum under Threat'

  • January 31st 2018 - Archaeology Blog - 'Three Burials at Norton Disney - and the End of Roman Villas in Britain'

  • February 15th 2018 - Archaeology Blog - 'What is a Roman Villa?'

  • March 7th 2018 - Politics Blog - 'A History Lesson from Gertrude Bell to the Lib Dems - Hancock and Armenian Genocide Denial'

  • Mid-march till Late-april - some major surgery came calling

  • April 30th 2018 - Archaeology Blog - 'Polyandry in Late Iron Age and Roman Britain - Myth or Reality?'

  • May 1st 2018 - PhD thesis 'Aspects of the Roman Villa as a Form of British Settlement', Newcastle University 1988 - detailed contents

  • May 3rd 2018 - Politics Blog - 'The Liberal Democrat MPs, An Alleged 'Russian Spy', And Their Teeny Tiny London Flat'

  • May 16th 2018 - Politics Blog - 'Gerald Vernon-Jackson and his Hancockian Resurgence to Lead a Lib Dem Portsmouth'

  • May 19th 2018 - Politics Blog - 'Shout Out to the Lib Dems who Want to 'Just Move On' - You Are the Story Now'

  • May 22nd 2018 - Politics Blog - 'Hancock's Back'

  • May 23rd 2018 - Politics Blog - 'Hancock Calling - and He's Got Gerald's Number'

  • May 25th 2018 - Politics Blog - 'Too Unwell To Talk, Not Too Unwell To Speak - Hancock's Still Spinning'

  • June 18th 2018 - minor edits, Main Hub Page

  • June 18th 2018 - Dig Food Blog - 'Fieldwork Food and Diabetes'

  • June 24th 2018 - Urban Life Blog - 'An Urban Fledgling Blackbird - and Loss of Habitat'

  • June 26th 2018 - Urban Life Blog - 'The Urban Bat - Challenges Ahead'

  • June 29th 2018 - minor site edits

  • June 30th 2018 - Archaeology Blog - 'Rape - the Use and Misuse of Ideas about Sexual Violence'

  • June 30th 2018 - 'On the Incompleteness of Archaeological Narratives' (chapter from Invisible People and Places: writing gender and childhood into European Archaeology eds Jenny Moore and Eleanor Scott)

  • June 30th 2018 - 'Rape - the Use of Misuse of Narratives of Sexual Violence - (includes paper from Indecent Exposure: sexuality, society and the archaeological record ed Lynne Bevan)

  • July 5th 2018 - additions to Jerusalem Gallery

  • July 13th 2018 - Archaeology Blog - 'The "Gods of Old" - and the Power of Community Archaeology'

  • July 14th 2018 - updates to Biog

  • July 27th 2018 - Archaeology Blog - 'Museums, Children and Violence - Boudicca in Colchester'

  • SUMMER RECESS - working on three books for online publication (On: Gertrude Bell; Archaeology of Children; Inclusive Archaeological Practice - Food.) [edited entry]

  • October 13th 2018 - Archaeology Blog - ‘Gertrude Bell - in Search of the “Real Woman’’’

  • October 22nd 2018 - Urban Life Blog - ‘Preserving a Tomato Glut - Blanch, Peel and Freeze’

  • October 25th 2018 - Politics Blog - ‘The Politics of … Student Housing’

  • November 15th 2018 - Archaeology Blog - ‘Gertrude Bell’s WW1 - Beginnings’

  • December 22nd 2018 - Archaeology Blog - ‘Gertrude Bell 1914-15 - Christmas in France, A New Year in Purgatory’

  • January 18th 2019 - Archaeology Blog - ‘Fine Dining in the Desert with Gertrude Bell’

  • March 14th 2019 - Politics Blog - ‘Did Mumsnet Just Hand Penny Mordaunt Her Arse?’

  • March 16th 2019 - Politics Blog - ‘Did Mumsnet Catch Out Penny Mordaunt Over Turkey “Lies”’?

  • April 8th 2019 - Politica Blog - ‘Penny Mordaunt, THAT Mumsnet Webchat, And A Brewing Children’s Safeguarding Scandal’

  • May 2nd 2019 - Politics Blog - ‘Penny Mordaunt, Defence Secretary - Has Theresa May Replaced One Gaffe-Prone 'Liar' With Another?’

  • June 20th 2019 - Urban Life Blog - ‘The Crow Family at the Newcome Arms, Portsmouth’ (updated July 4th)

  • July 9th 2019 - Archaeology Blog - ‘The Prehistoric Infants of Wadi Kubbaniya – Making Young Lives Visible’ (link to guest blog on The History Girls website)

  • September 4th 2019 - Politics Blog - ‘Five Political Things I Love About Mumsnet This Week’

  • November 7th 2019 - Urban Life Blog - ‘Urban Cats - Fleas and Flea Allergy Dermatitis (FAD)’

  • November 11th 2019 - Archaeology Blog - ‘‘Our Boy’ - An Act Of Remembrance In A Landscape of the Fallen, East Jerusalem’

  • November 29th 2019 - Archaeology Blog - ‘The Last Dambuster - Landmark, Landscape And Memory At Norton Disney, Lincs

  • December 3rd 2019 - Edits to ‘About This Website’ and ‘Main Home Page and Hub’

  • January 30th 2020 - Edits to ‘Main Home Page and Hub’

  • February 3rd 2020 - Politics Blog - ‘Keir Starmer’s Mumsnet Webchat & The ‘Lost’ Inquiry into Children’s Safeguarding’

  • February 5th 2020 - Politics Blog - ‘Emily Thornberry’s Mumsnet Webchat & the Children’s Safeguarding Inquiry Not Worth a Mention

  • February 6th 2020 - Greenham Common Gallery added

  • April 22nd 2020 - Main page edit (news)

  • May 21st 2020 - Politics Blog - ‘Portsmouth’s Follies - Will imploding business plans make student sky-hutches redundant?'

  • Throughout 2020 - editing, research, article preparation, blog piece(s) preparation. Provision of assistance to researchers and other bloggers, and receipt of donations to this website

  • January 15th 2021 - site updates

  • March 15th 2021 - Politics Blog with link in Archaeology Blog - ‘From Greenham Common to Clapham Common - Two Generations of Vigil & Protest’

  • July 7th - 10th 2021 - site editing

  • July 16th 2021 - edits