Blog

This article details, for the first time, the number of under 5 child deaths in Pennine Lancashire in the year following the 1826 Lancashire Rising (April 1826-March 1827). The figures are based on the counting of names in 58 burial records. As well as detailing this quantitative evidence, the article also names some of the children who died at this time. Most, if not all, of these names have not been spoken for some two hundred years and have never been widely known. They are the names that did not appear in the newspapers.

Heidi is a second year PhD student at The Open University, funded by the Grand Union Doctoral Training Partnership. She is supervised by Dr Isla Masson (FASS) and Dr Francine Ryan (FBL). In this article, Heidi reflects on her experience of visiting a women's prison in Nevada. She questions what (and who) women's prisons are for and makes the case for why we should care about them.

December 2025 marks the 200th Anniversary of the 1825 Panic, often referred to as the ‘first global financial crisis’. In this short article Dr David Gordon Scott provides a brief overview of the causes and consequences of this economic collapse and how the government of the day chose to adopt a ‘law and order’ ideology as its way of policing this crisis of laissez faire capitalism.

In this article, Sharon Hartles exposes the UK’s decades-long regulatory failure surrounding Diethylstilbestrol (DES), a drug prescribed to pregnant women despite early warnings of harm. Drawing on survivor testimonies, medical evidence, media investigation and recent parliamentary action, she reveals how government inaction enabled generational damage to persist. The piece calls for recognition, accountability, and urgent reform.

On 3rd August 2025 people from Sunderland gathered to remember one of the worst instances of state violence in the history of the city. Described by local people as “Sunderland’s Peterloo”, the bicentennial commemorations were led by Dr David Scott, The Open University. This article is a brief account of the 200th Anniversary event.

In this article, Sharon Hartles exposes how the toxic legacy of the 1984 Bhopal disaster continues into 2025, as hazardous waste from the original site is being shifted to Pithampur, creating a new environmental sacrifice zone. She critiques the government’s claims of remediation, highlights community fears and activist concerns about ongoing health risks and inadequate transparency, and underscores the urgent demand for genuine accountability ahead of a crucial High Court hearing.

In this article, Sharon Hartles explores the UK’s delayed response to the Diethylstilbestrol DES drug scandal. Despite mounting evidence of harm, survivors were left without answers, support, or accountability. Sharon calls on the government to go beyond a limited investigation and urges a formal apology, a public inquiry, and the creation of a compensation scheme.

When researching the 1826 Chatterton Massacre, David Gordon Scott found in the archives an account of the North Sands Massacre, Sunderland, 3rd August 1825 . The massacre, where five workers were shot dead, has been almost entirely forgotten.  This blog provides a brief overview of the massacre and some details of the bicentennial commemorations.

In this article, Sharon Hartles marks IWMD25 by exposing how systemic violence—from workplace deaths to Grenfell—is rooted in austerity, deregulation, and profit-driven neglect. She challenges legal definitions of crime, showing how the law protects capital while ignoring preventable harms. Calling this social murder, she urges us to remember the dead and fight for the living.

In this article, David Scott and Kate Hurst name, and highlight the importance of naming, some of those who died in the 1826 ‘Lancashire Rising’.