@robertsaunders
Historian of modern Britain, singer and political nerd. Author of "Yes to Europe! The 1975 Referendum & Seventies Britain". "A jaw-dislocating page turner"(Andrew Marr). Deputy-director @mileendinstitute.bsky.social, Reader @QMHistory
Every time I try to fill in our department’s new “employability” form, the computer crashes when I select "No” for “would you like to incorporate more employability activities into your module?”
In the second half of 2025, one man accounted for almost 40% of all money donated to political parties in the UK: a crypto-billionaire who lives in Thailand.
Britain desperately needs to rewrite its party funding rules.
observer.co.uk/news/the-sen...
We then had a fascinating response by @sophgaston.bsky.social on the challenges of the UK-US relationship today, followed by some excellent questions from the floor.
If you're not on our mailing list, do sign up. We'd love to see you at our events - all of which are free.
www.qmul.ac.uk/mei/
Magnificent lecture by @patporter76.bsky.social at the @mileendinstitute.bsky.social last night, on the 80th anniversary of Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech.
It would have warmed Churchill's heart to see a speaker holding an audience rapt without notes or slides - just sheer rhetorical power!
With all the talk of "what would Churchill have done in Iran" or "who is & isn't like Churchill", it's worth noting how many different roles Churchill himself played over his life.
I discussed The Nine Lives of Winston Churchill with David Runciman in this live pod.
www.ppfideas.com/episodes/ppf...
Quietly, calmly and forensically, BBC just dismantled the Trump communications shitshow on Iran.
No hyperbole, just laying out an unprecedented military, diplomatic and reputational shambles.
Worth a watch.
(🎥 BBC News/BBC Verify)
Roger Bannister - the first man to run the four-minute mile - once misheard something I'd said and tried to find me a seat in Parliament.
"Churchill was well aware that wars and interventions could produce unintended consequences. Reflecting on his experiences as a young officer during the Boer war, he later wrote that once the signal for conflict was given, statesmen lost control of events. War became subject to “malignant Fortune, ugly surprises, awful miscalculations”. This was not the sentiment of a pacifist. But it was the observation of someone who had seen how quickly political decisions could unleash forces that no government could fully control."
"Churchill observed that war, once unleashed, rarely follows the tidy paths imagined by those who start it. That warning may be as relevant as any of his more famous phrases."
Good piece by @richardtoye.bsky.social on Churchill analogies and Trump's war on Iran.
Patrick will be exploring the 80th anniversary of the "Iron Curtain" speech at the @mileendinstitute.bsky.social tonight, 18:30. Do join us!
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/beyond-the...
"If a major burden shift is likely, Britain & its neighbours can try to negotiate a Fulton-in-reverse, receiving back the baton but in an orderly, stable & gradual way, creating a less American not a post-American Europe"
Key reading from @patporter76.bsky.social
www.newstatesman.com/ideas/2026/0...
I've not read it, I'm afraid.
The WEF identifies "analytical thinking" and "systems thinking" as "core skills", but considers "teaching and mentoring" outdated. Like Leslie, "I’m at a loss as to how we will live in a world where these skills are vital yet somehow emerge out of our very essence, without training and honing".
My excellent @qmulsse.bsky.social colleague Leslie James finds a glimmer of hope in the ashes of the AI revolution...
www.qmul.ac.uk/society-and-...
This will be brilliant
I did a podcast with the excellent @ppfideas.bsky.social on the many different lives of Winston Churchill. Available here! www.ppfideas.com/episodes/ppf...
Donald Trump says of Starmer:"This is not Winston Churchill we're dealing with".
So what happened when Churchill travelled to Fulton, Missouri in 1946 to chart a new course for the UK-US relationship? What can we learn from that today?
Join us tomorrow for an event that could hardly be more timely
On 26 March, the @mileendinstitute.bsky.social and @politicalquarterly.bsky.social will be holding a special event on "Inequality & the Future of London".
Join @rupahuq.bsky.social @mikebrewerecon.bsky.social @sachahilhorst.bsky.social and Joe Fyans. All welcome!
www.eventbrite.com/e/inequality...
I see that we're now referring to the super-rich as "trillions of dollars in elite human capital".
Yet we continue to pretend that "the elite" are immigration lawyers, graduates, Remainers and Labour MPs.
Yes, I hope we'll be able to do that. You can find most of our recent events on our @mileendinstitute.bsky.social YouTube page.
We're delighted to be joined by @matthewholehouse.bsky.social (Policy Editor, @economist.com), @emilyrobinson.bsky.social (co-author of The Politics of Feeling in Brexit Britain) and @michaelchessum.bsky.social (activist and author of This Is Only the Beginning)
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/no-second-...
Why did the People's Vote campaign fail? Could Brexit have been stopped? What lessons can be learned?
Join us on 19 March to launch @morganj0nes.bsky.social's new book: "No Second Chances: The Inside Story of the Campaign for a Second Referendum".
All welcome!
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/no-second-...
As someone who much prefers a physical newspaper, I'm always struck by the fact there is nowhere between Mile End tube station & a university of 24,000 people - or anywhere on campus - where you can buy one. It feels like in large areas (& for whole generations) print media already no longer exists.
The "nothing to see here" approach no longer works.
It doesn't win any credit with the US for refusing to criticise it.
It doesn't win any credit with voters for the fact the UK did *not* support the attacks.
It sounds dishonest.
Voters can handle complexity. Ministers should trust them more.
Listening to Darren Jones floundering on Today, I think the govt needs to talk more candidly about its differences with the US.
That can still be respectful - this isn't "Love Actually" - but when a US President is phoning the UK press to attack the PM, there's no point rolling out the usual script
It's hard to think of another prime minister who has seemed so utterly uninterested in communication, and so willing to franchise that part of the job out to other people.
Oh way worse your end, I fear.
As Alan Renwick notes in this article, there are still some important omissions in the government's Elections Bill, as well as some significant gains. Well worth a read: constitution-unit.com/2026/02/26/t...
This is very good news - a really important win for the independence of the Electoral Commission.
You cannot talk like this about any other minority in America.
And if it was any other president’s adviser who said something like this about any other minority, it’d be the instant end of their presidency.
I don't think she's dim. But she seems to have an extremely high regard for her own opinions, which makes her intellectually lazy. She is uninterested in opinions other than her own, or in testing her own ideas and assumptions against evidence.
