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Huw Bennett

@bennetthuw.bsky.social
1.7K followers 402 following 460 posts

Professor of International Relations, writing on British defence since 1945. In south Wales, an archive or a military museum. Permanently grateful to archivists and librarians.

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Reposted by Huw Bennett
(Un)Dead Carl 🎃 @deadcarl.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Posting by another means
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Mark Wallace @wallaceme.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
First time attending Surbiton Ski Sunday, where people strap blocks of ice to their feet and compete to ski down a soaped street. I love this country.
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Dean Hochlaf @dhochlaf.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Ricardo failed to consider what if you just really hated the thing you had a comparative advantage in
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Huw Bennett @bennetthuw.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Am writing
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Society for Army Historical Research @societyarmy.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
In our next online talk, at 7.00pm on 29 October, @draefox.bsky.social will be speaking on the Life and Times of Major General Guy Dawnay. Open to members and non-members alike; sign up for free at: my.demio.com/ref/ix0f7YFz...
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Huw Bennett @bennetthuw.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
PhD funding opportunities are now open with the Welsh Graduate School for the Social Sciences, including in Politics/International Relations: wgsss.ac.uk/student-led-...
wgsss.ac.uk
Student-led General Competition – Welsh Graduate School for the Social Sciences
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
'The Westminster government’s contribution to funding domestic undergraduates studying in England fell in real terms from £8.9 billion in 2012-13 to just £3.3bn in 2024-25, a drop of more than 60 per cent, an analysis has found.'
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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
The Ladybird diet, 1977 Artist: Roger Hall
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Huw Bennett @bennetthuw.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
So easily mislaid.
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Huw Bennett @bennetthuw.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Special skills, indeed.
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Huw Bennett @bennetthuw.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
No doubt Policy Exchange, the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail will now loudly condemn this vast obstruction of justice by the Ministry of Defence.
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Huw Bennett @bennetthuw.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Fair point. It’s not clear how far the Army’s leadership really supports the Strategic Defence Review’s call for a whole of society approach.
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Huw Bennett @bennetthuw.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
They seem to think demanding extra funding whilst refusing to engage with society outside their bubble is a coherent political strategy. It isn’t.
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Huw Bennett @bennetthuw.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The foreign ministry is more interested in European warfare than the defence ministry. Something not quite right there!
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Huw Bennett @bennetthuw.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The Ministry of Defence continues to demand public understanding and whole of society support for defence, yet again fails to offer any fellowships to promote academic collaboration. It’s almost as if they don’t like being critically evaluated!
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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Such a great opportunity. We are offering scholars the chance to spend a year at the Foreign Office through one of our Innovation Fellowships. The priority themes are outlined below. We offer up to £120k for the fellowship. Please help spread the word! www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/sche...
The Academy and the FCDO invite applications for Fellowships in any of the following areas:
1. Applied History
2. Critical Infrastructure and European
Warfare
3. South Asia Geopolitics and Regional
Security
4. The UK-France Relationship in 2027 and
Beyond
5. UK National Security Strategy
Scheme opens date: 22 September 2026
Application Deadline: 18 November 2026,
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Huw Bennett @bennetthuw.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Thanks John. I’m so sorry this happened. It is completely unacceptable. UKRI need to be held accountable for this process as it is their (our) money.
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Huw Bennett @bennetthuw.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Latest news in the UK universities in free-fall saga. UKRI should be ashamed of themselves; a dereliction of duty and misuse of public funds.
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Dr Dave Hitchcock @davehitchcock.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
'History is a Human Craft'. In piece about ethics, our classrooms and AI, I suppose I've put up my barricades and drawn my lines. I suggest 8 'considerations' before we do any teaching with AI. This is part of a new @royalhistsoc.org short series on 'AI and History Teaching' in Transactions.
blog.royalhistsoc.org
History is a human craft | Historical Transactions
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Huw Bennett @bennetthuw.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
British military action against Yemen always turns out so well, after all.
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Andy Brockman @andybrockman.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Three courses in the School of History, Classics and Archaeology, are among the 90 programmes to be axed as Edinburgh University seeks to save £140m at the cost of as many as 1800 jobs. Edinburgh UCU has announced a five week programme of strike action in protest. #BonfireOfTheHumanities
scotsman.com
Edinburgh University to mothball 90 courses as five weeks of strikes to start
The university said mothballing 90 courses will not detract from the institutions standing on the world stage
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Jo Wolff @jowolff.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
The fallacy that University leaders pushing AI are falling into is thinking that the point of undergraduate research is to find things out. It isn't. What students find out is typically already generally known. The point of undergraduate research is to learn how to find things out.
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Royal Historical Society @royalhistsoc.org · 11/09/2026
In fact 'As the minister for science in the newly formed Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST), McDonald has responsibility for the country’s entire research and development system, *including social sciences and the arts and the humanities*.' #Skystorians
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Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Honestly, might be better if government ministers kept their half-baked views on education to themselves
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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
The recent European Research Council grant starting grant results shows the real strength of UK social science and humanities. The UK won 18% of the SSH starting grants, compared to 8% of physical sciences and engineering and 7% of the life sciences grants erc.europa.eu/news-events/...
erc.europa.eu
ERC Starting Grants: €705 million to back Europe's next generation of researchers
The European Research Council (ERC) has today announced the winners of its latest Starting Grant competition. The funding, worth €705 million in total, will go to 421 early-career researchers across E...
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
I will give the 2026 Richard Holmes Lecture ‘Redcoats to Dusty Warriors: Britain and its Soldiers from Waterloo to Helmand’. Royal Air Force Club Tuesday 27 October 6.30, lecture starting at 7. Wine. Canapés. Tickets £45 each. Non-members welcome. Tickets- www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/richard-ho...
eventbrite.co.uk
Richard Holmes Lecture 2026
The BCMH hosts a lecture on military history in memory of Professor Richard Holmes
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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 02/09/2026
Nuclear bomb test veterans were victims of one of ‘greatest scandals in Britain’, says ex-defence minister
theguardian.com
Nuclear bomb test veterans were victims of one of ‘greatest scandals in Britain’, says ex-defence minister
Exclusive: Tobias Ellwood says he gave MPs inaccurate information in 2018 provided by his department, the MoD * I inadvertently misled parliament over a British nuclear scandal. Now I’m demanding justice A former defence minister has admitted misleading parliament over the existence of crucial medical records relating to nuclear bomb test veterans. Tobias Ellwood has said he unwittingly gave MPs incorrect information in 2018 when he told them he had been unable to locate information on veterans’ blood tests after being given incorrect information by officials at the Ministry of Defence (MoD). Continue reading...
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Huw Bennett @bennetthuw.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Congratulations and good luck! A fantastic place to work.
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Huw Bennett @bennetthuw.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
I’ve been watching Gladiator 2, which is arguably worse.
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Huw Bennett @bennetthuw.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Barry, what are you on about, editing is much the easier of the two!
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Huw Bennett @bennetthuw.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Made it to the end of one of those weeks where you just have to keep reminding yourself: “editing is easier than writing”.
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Huw Bennett @bennetthuw.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
You set this issue up as a binary: either soldiers are ordered to commit atrocities or they’re not. That’s completely misleading. Obviously both can happen and often within the same conflict and even unit. Have you examined what the My Lai soldiers were trained in?
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Huw Bennett @bennetthuw.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
You didn’t mention “comparative terms”. There are many other examples of atrocity, war crimes and genocide by order.
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Huw Bennett @bennetthuw.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Are you seriously suggesting the Einsatzgruppen would have murdered millions of people by shooting them without orders?
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Huw Bennett @bennetthuw.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Commanders frequently issue orders and write plans which refer to the laws of war. During the invasion of the USSR in 1941 the Wehrmacht explicitly discussed the ways in which the law would and would not apply, in many, many documents
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SMH Historians @smh-historians.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
The Board of Trustees of the Society for Military History has approved the following statement of protest regarding the recent closure of public access to the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC).
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Lauren Brown @laurencochrane.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
My first journal article is officially out today in @genderandhistory.bsky.social 🎉🎉🎉🎉 I discuss the visual representations of white settler women during the Kenya Emergency and their role in violence. Very pleased to see this out!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
‘Brave, Armed and Watchful’: Domestic Militarization and Contested Femininities During the Kenyan Emergency
This article examines the militarization of white settler women during the Kenya Emergency (1952–1960), analyzing how their armed participation disrupted and reconfigured colonial gender norms. Drawi...
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Huw Bennett @bennetthuw.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
North German rural creativity at its finest
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Boyd van Dijk @boydvandijk.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Really happy - I’ve just signed a contract with OUP for a Very Short Introduction on the law of war. The law is under pressure right now, which makes an accessible book on what it actually is, what its origins are, and how it’s being used (and misused) today, feel more relevant than ever. More soon.
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Huw Bennett @bennetthuw.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
On international cat day, I must acknowledge my research would not be possible without such excellent supervision.
A cat watches over a man
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Huw Bennett @bennetthuw.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Having to read General de la Billiere's "Storm Command" again, can't believe my 2002 self was so foolish as to have discarded those notes. The lesson is: never throw away notes, ever!
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David Morgan-Owen @dmorganowen.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Had some wonderful news yesterday - the WW1 Historical Association awarded Framing the First World War the Norman B. Tomlinson Prize for 2025! Very grateful to our wonderful contributors and their hard work, series editor Bill Allison and the team at @univpressofkansas.bsky.social -
Book cover for 'Framing the First World War', adapted from Christopher Nevinson painting 'Return to the Trenches'. Published by university press of Kansas
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Annette Yoshiko Reed @annetteyreed.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
August as an academic
Tabbycat in tie say he hopes he doesn’t have a lot of meetings… while in the background is a lots of meetings factory
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Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
Glad someone senior from the sector is pushing back. Labour MPs need to understand the serious real anger from graduates and the people who produce them. And the dangerous financial situation they have allowed to fester, or indeed worsened, in one of Britain’s leading sectors.
ft.com
Labour has harmed universities as much as Trump, London School of Economics head says
LSE vice-chancellor Larry Kramer points to domestic student fees freeze, international student limits and rise in employers’ national insurance
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Peter Johnston @peterajohnston.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Now open at IWM London, our brand new exhibition "Childhood in War." My colleagues have done an amazing job, and you may well start noticing some of this great marketing out and about. It's an important exhibition, it's powerful - and it's free. Do visit if and when you get the chance
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Huw Bennett @bennetthuw.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Things are going wrong in academia…
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Ed Newton-Rex @ednewtonrex.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
I've confirmed that the UK's new Sovereign AI Fund does no due diligence on whether AI companies use copyrighted work without permission before investing in them. It took me 3 Freedom of Information requests to find this out: 🧵 1/10
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Dr Laura Sangha @lsangha.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Last week, about a third of the History department were able to gather together on graduation day. Rather than lend our intellectual authority to the official procession and ceremony we invited our students to come and celebrate their achievements with us in a shady courtyard. They came. 1/
A group of world leading historians in their finery, some in gowns, stand together under a tree. Some carry signs saying 'Historian at risk', other raise a glass to the camera.
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Huw Bennett @bennetthuw.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
static.klipy.com
Viva España - Spanish Flag Animation
ALT: Viva España - Spanish Flag Animation
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Huw Bennett @bennetthuw.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
It is raining in Wales. Thank God normality has returned.
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