Dr Michelle Walker (/Moffat)

@moffski.bsky.social

824 Followers 550 Following

Historian of war & society in WWII Scotland (+UK), veteran disability. Proud NZer 🇳🇿 Researcher @Manchester Met Uni FRHistS https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-scottish-society-in-the-second-world-war.html

Image of cream, square plate with rounded corners. At north, south, east and west are Union Jack flags and maybe the Red Ensign flag (red with union jack in corner - it says Crown D. underneath). In the centre is a young Queen Elizabeth II with various flags to either side. Text banner says A Souvenir of the Royal Visit to New Zealand 1953-54.
Cream plate with a very dour Charles and Diana looking towards the viewer.
Newspaper clipping entitled Airmen's pin-up girl is 40, does not like men'. Article actually explains that the very popular photo was taken when the model was 27, and that she "hated men in general".
Me beside a very visible bright orange sign saying 'voting', directing voters to a polling station
Me, sitting on a chaise longue in the sun, holding aloft a nosing glass of Glenglassaugh whisky. Salted caramel chocolate just out of view.
Pretty peach rose, from my Dunedin NZ garden
6 jars of freshly made apricot jam
Sensory gardens, featuring lavender and lots of pretty colour flowers. Image shows a path between lavender bushes, with sand and water of Morecambe Bay in the distance
Photo of a bookcase brimming with military history books
Image of pretty floral fabric with a pattern piece laid on top, held down by fabric weights that look like doughnuts with icing and sprinkles
Me, sitting on my couch with a book by Adam Buxton, in the background is a vinyl record player with Hozier's Unreal Unearth album playing
Me, looking excited to be going home but sad to be leaving London
Picture of the postmodern red brick British Library, juxtaposed with the Gothic St Pancras in the background. Straight, clean lines against arches and pointy towers.
Image of archived file of strikes in the week to 10 May 1941. States under subject of strike "two men dismissed for fighting during work hours"
Met Office screenshot showing current temperature of 29 degrees Celsius and similar over the next few days
Photo of me sweltering in my NZ Cricket black hoodie with New Zealand written across the front
Snippet from a letter dated 6 Jan 1944, re a review in the Journal of the American Medical Association on absenteeism among women. Snippet says Dear Schilling. I wonder if you have seen the enclosed editorial on 'Absenteeism among women'. The general tone of the article is decidedly hostile and unpleasant and mainly interesting as an example of prejudice, stupidity, and ignorance.
Complex of brutalist buildings, concrete and glass, with lake in front. Blue sky above.
Gas man texting me to say I was so attractive he couldn't do his job properly. Pig.
University of Otago campus, 4 March 2026. Features blue sky, white rose bushes in foreground, Leith River in the distance, grassy banks, and lots of trees and greenery.
Photo of me standing on a rock with Banks Peninsula and lyttleton Harbour in the background. Sky is blue, one big, long white cloud in the sky, sun is shining.
Me wearing mint green with white polka dot wrap dress, holding an elderflower cocktail
Two red squirrels eat from feeding boxes in the forest.
Loch Katrine. Autumnal yellow trees and brown scrub surround a lake that is hardly visible due to big trees. White ferry is departing in the foreground.
Image is a promotional flyer singing the virtues of my book,and pointing you to edinburghuniversitypress.com Also featuring my beautiful cover image of shipyard welder Mary McLeod of the Isle of Lewis.
Memorial at Holyhead with RIP Burns graffiti on the side
Image advertising conference, beside photo of man in service uniform holding civilian clothes, taken in 1944 on his demobilisation. Text available via the website links above.
Four cold-looking orchestra members on a Royal Navy vessel at Scapa Flow, with Fleet Recreation Officer in the centre. Part of the CEMA tour (Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts). ?1944
Ordnance map of Offerton (Stockport), published 1910. Shows farms, houses, and mills (among other things).
Newspaper article from Glasgow Herald 23 December 1944 p3. '250,000 more fighting men for the army'. The article states that 10 Downing St has released an announcement saying more civilian men will be called up "to sustain and nourish our armies in the line.". It notes that this is not due to worsening news on the Western front.
List of my most listened songs and artists on Spotify. Top songs are Sunburn(1), Muscle Museum (3), New Born (4) and Map of the Problematique (5) by Muse, and No You Girls (2) by Franz Ferdinand. Top artists are Muse, Norah Jones, Franz Ferdinand, The Cardigans, and The Killers.
View out my window, showing a dusting of snow on my front yard and neighbours' houses
My garden, with a light dusting of snow. In the background, a frosty, pinkish morning sky.
Document outlining call for papers: Demobbed: The social, cultural, political and economic legacies of military service, to be held 30-31 May 2025 at Manchester Metropolitan University. Looking for proposals examining social aspects of veterancy, economic, health and wellbeing, identity and transition, and political activism (among other things). Key note speakers: Simon Wessely - King's Centre for Military Health Research; Angela Wanhalla - University of Otago, New Zealand. Paper proposals must include a title, 300-word abstract, one page academic CV. Please email to m.moffat@mmu.ac.uk