Sign in

Halbert Jones

@halbertjones.bsky.social
1.1K followers 1.6K following 415 posts

Historian of Mexico and US-Latin American relations. A North Carolinian in 🇬🇧. Following US and UK politics, academia and higher education, and UK borders and immigration.

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Halbert Jones
National Security Archive @nsarchive.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
The CIA continues to keep secret substantive portions of an internal history of its activities in Mexico, including information on covert operations targeting student groups in the days leading up to the massacre at Tlatelolco 58 years ago this week. nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-boo...
nsarchive.gwu.edu
The CIA Station in Mexico: The Last JFK Assassination Records Secrets
Washington, D.C., October 1, 2026 - The CIA continues to keep secret major substantive portions of an internal accounting of its activities in Mexico, including information on covert operations target...
175
Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Some years after my contribution to the Oxford Handbook of Mexican History was published electronically, I was pleased to receive today a copy of the just-released physical book! global.oup.com/academic/pro...
Photo of page 409 from the Oxford Handbook of Mexican History:

Chapter 24
Mexico and World War II
Halbert Jones
1100
Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
North Carolina has highwaymen now??
000
Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
First, “severe [i.e., slightly hot] weather”, now a “supermarket trolley on the track” — a tough day out there on the railways!
000
Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
A sunny 31C/88F afternoon in the south of England = “severe weather”
Train cancellation notice:

“This journey has been cancelled because of severe weather”
010
Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Oxford and Cambridge are “linked by easy bus connections”?? The direct bus is no more, and when it ran, it was an endless slog, involving many circuits of the roundabouts of Milton Keynes. (But we’ll probably have a rail link by something like 2040, restoring Victorian levels of connectivity!)
130
Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Does the UK media not have this story yet? England-Mexico apparently shifting to a reasonable time of day on Sunday (6pm GMT)?
reforma.com
Cambian el México-Inglaterra a las 12:00 por clima
El partido de México contra Inglaterra de Octavos cambió de horario a las 12:00 del día del domingo
353
Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Well, they’ll be pleased they spared themselves a longer stay in my hometown, then, by getting themselves knocked out by Paraguay.
journalnow.com
German players found Winston-Salem stay 'mind-numbingly boring,' report says
Some team members apparently found the converted mansion of former R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company CEO Bowman Gray about as snooze-worthy as their uninspired play on the pitch.
000
Reposted by Halbert Jones
Rob Rakove @robrakove.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
This essay covers some of the same (literal) terrain as Jay Sexton's terrific presidential address at #SHAFR2026 foreignpolicy.com/2026/06/23/a...
foreignpolicy.com
From Bloody Kansas to the Rebuilding of Europe
In trying to restore order after World War II, U.S. leaders drew lessons from a dark chapter in their country’s history.
022
Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Congratulations, @uhackett.bsky.social!
110
Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Hadn’t realized Raleigh was potentially in the frame for an MLB expansion team. Some great baseball history in this piece, too.
000
Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
I can’t read German, but curious this piece on my hometown (Germany’s World Cup base) focuses on Winston-Salem as a tobacco and college basketball town, with a minor league baseball team, not mentioning that Salem (founded by Moravians) was a German-speaking community for much of its first century!
021
Reposted by Halbert Jones
Bradley George @bradleygeorge.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
The German public broadcaster’s “Sportschau” has a nice piece on Winston-Salem, home base for the German team during the World Cup.
sportschau.de
DFB im Basiscamp für WM: Winston-Salem - Kleine Stadt mit großen Söhnen
Die deutsche Fußball-Nationalmannschaft kommt heute in ihrem WM-Basiscamp in Winston-Salem an. Die Stadt in North Carolina hat mehrere berühmte Söhne und eine Blaupause für das Empire State Building.
073
Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
A slight subediting oversight here!
“We end up with tourism concentrated in places like London and Edinburgh, but the rest of the economy doesn’t get the benefit of it.

“I think air passenger duty is a part of that – for a family of five coming into the country and travelling, it’s a huge penalty compared to what you pay in Europe.” EXAMPLE OF TAX RATES HERE?
0101
Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Thoroughly bizarre to see this framed as a story about an “attempt to revive” what was WH Smith, when every single detail makes it crystal clear that it’s a bunch of vulture capitalists sucking vast amounts of cash out of the company until it collapses. www.theguardian.com/business/202...
theguardian.com
How new owner became all powerful in ‘high stakes’ attempt to revive former WH Smith chain
Low-profile Modella has positioned itself as a key creditor, landlord and brand owner to struggling TG Jones as store closures and job cuts loom
020
Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
I don’t suppose there’s any point in my playing this game anymore. I’ll never do this well again! www.maptap.gg May 13 100🎯 100🎯 100🎯 100🎯 100🎯 Final score: 1000
maptap.gg
🎯MapTap Daily Geography Game
Play MapTap - the daily geography game! Find 5 world locations on a 3D globe with historical stories. Free browser-based daily game for geography lovers.
010
Reposted by Halbert Jones
Zócalo Public Square @zocalopublicsquare.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
In the 1960s, the U.S. created a migration pipeline from Mexico. In the 1970s, Mexico came up with a plan to stop the flow. The U.S. rejected long-term economic partnership in favor of unilateral punishment: zps.la/4sTACxf
zps.la
Could Mexico and the U.S. Have Solved the Migration Crisis 50 Years Ago?
We often assume that the history of Mexican migration to the United States is a simple story of a “sending state” eager to export its unemployed and a
011
Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
After all the hue & cry about dual nationals caught out by the requirement to enter the UK with a UK passport following the introduction of the electronic travel authorisation (ETA) requirement, note the same thing will happen in reverse with the launch of the EU’s ETIAS system later this year.
travel-europe.europa.eu
European Union - EES / ETIAS
123
Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
001
Reposted by Halbert Jones
Emily Wood @ebwood.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
Privitizing the postal service continues to go well for the UK, I see. ( #SaveTheUSPS )
191
Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 11/01/2026
Nice to see my former @raioxford.bsky.social colleague Jay Sexton featured here.
020
Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 10/01/2026
Sad to see this news. Dan Howe was a longtime Rhodes Professor of American History at Oxford and regularly made return visits to @raioxford.bsky.social during my time there. newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/in-m...
newsroom.ucla.edu
In memoriam: Daniel Walker Howe, 88, Pulitzer Prize–winning historian and UCLA professor
His scholarship reshaped how Americans understood the nation’s political, intellectual and religious past.
000
Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
Well, yes, who *actually* does the bulk of the teaching at a place like Harvard?
thecrimson.com
Harvard Departments Brace for Teaching Fellow Shortage After Ph.D. Cuts | News | The Harvard Crimson
Harvard’s deep cuts to PhD admissions are on track to leave undergraduate courses short of teaching fellows within two years, a looming squeeze already pushing departments to prepare contingency plans...
020
Reposted by Halbert Jones
Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
I’ve written a piece on the curious lack of media and political interest in the issues faced by our national @britishlibrary.bsky.social. This is strange given we live in a world where ideas, knowledge and research are a long-term source of innovation and insight www.cityam.com/the-british-...
cityam.com
The British library is in crisis: why does nobody care?
The widespread indifference to the British Library's crippling cyberattack demonstrates a perilous failure to value the knowledge infrastructure vital for national prosperity
341083630
Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
FRUS in the news …
washingtonpost.com
Analysis | State Department erases 15 pages of nuclear history — with no warning
Key historical records about the incident during the Reagan administration, known as the Able Archer 83 War Scare, were removed without explanation.
010
Reposted by Halbert Jones
Faine Greenwood @faineg.com · 30/10/2025
Mexico really did have the strongest WWII poster game
EN SUS PUESTOS
950446
Reposted by Halbert Jones
Faine Greenwood @faineg.com · 30/10/2025
Mexico Versus Nazis is a theme that’s really resonating with me of late
"MEXICO POR LA LIBERTAD" wwii poster
181953399
Reposted by Halbert Jones
Faine Greenwood @faineg.com · 30/10/2025
This Mexican WWII poster is some of the hardest shit ever
Mexican WWII poster
362718572
Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
Interesting about Harvard’s President visiting the UK, but the Crimson has done the weird (American?) thing of conflating the capital with the country: Though the reception with Rhodes Scholars and meetings with Oxford officials apparently took place in Oxford, it’s described as a “London trip”.
thecrimson.com
Garber Met With Oxford Counterparts, Rhodes Scholars in Unannounced London Trip | News | The Harvard Crimson
Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 traveled across the pond earlier this week for an unannounced trip to London, where he met with the University’s Rhodes Scholars and senior University of Oxford of...
100
Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
A lengthy piece in today’s FT on the Mexican political landscape on.ft.com/4okwcfV How long can Mexico’s president straddle populism and pragmatism?
on.ft.com
How long can Mexico’s president straddle populism and pragmatism?
In her first year in office, Claudia Sheinbaum has deftly managed tensions with the US and at home. But the pressure is starting to mount
020
Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
People know that buying (or winning) a house in another country doesn’t actually entitle you to move and take up residence there, right? I fear many of the Americans who might think this sounds like a good idea don’t know anything about UK immigration law.
theguardian.com
‘A safe haven’: Buckinghamshire man invites Americans to enter house raffle
Man hopes liberal Americans looking to move from Donald Trump’s America will buy tickets
392
Reposted by Halbert Jones
Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 14/09/2025
One of my occasional rants about the UK’s increasingly extortionate international postage rates: After a big hike in April — the point in the year when rate changes are usually made — Royal Mail will next month again raise the price to send a letter or postcard abroad, to £3.40. 1/X
A UK postage stamp with a value of £3.40, with the King’s profile and the hideous bar code that Royal Mail started putting on stamps a couple of years ago.
272
Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 14/09/2025
One of my occasional rants about the UK’s increasingly extortionate international postage rates: After a big hike in April — the point in the year when rate changes are usually made — Royal Mail will next month again raise the price to send a letter or postcard abroad, to £3.40. 1/X
A UK postage stamp with a value of £3.40, with the King’s profile and the hideous bar code that Royal Mail started putting on stamps a couple of years ago.
272
Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 08/09/2025
Those most inconvenienced by having to apply for a US visa in their country of nationality or residence will be those living in the US: Though the US is their country of residence, you can’t get a US visa *there*. Previously, renewals could be done in Canada or Mexico, subject to appt availability.
230
Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
An afterthought, in paragraph 16: “The Department of Defense and the secretary of defense were named through acts of Congress, so it is unclear if Mr. Trump’s order will go into effect immediately.”
nytimes.com
Trump to Sign Order Renaming the Defense Department as the Department of War
020
Reposted by Halbert Jones
Bart van Zwieten @bvzw.bsky.social · 31/08/2025
The FBI returned to Mexico a 500-year-old manuscript page signed by Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés. The manuscript was initially stored in Mexico’s national archives, but archivists microfilming the collection in 1993 found that 15 pages had gone missing. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
theguardian.com
FBI returns stolen document signed by conquistador Hernán Cortés to Mexico
US officials did not say who had the 16th-century page that was missing from Mexico’s archives for decades
095
Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
A West End/Broadway star on belonging in Britain & becoming a citizen: “[In the UK] They saw me for who I was. I didn’t have to change anything about myself; I didn’t have to be anybody else.” … Britain, she said, “was the first place I ever felt like I belonged somewhere, and they understood me.”
nytimes.com
In London, She Became Musical Theater Royalty. Now She’s Back on Broadway.
100
Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 13/07/2025
The framing here is (as so often) exasperating. The headline: “Trump threatens to strip Rosie O’Donnell of U.S. citizenship” Not until 9 paragraphs in: “Experts said the president does not have the power to take away the citizenship of a U.S.-born citizen.” www.nytimes.com/2025/07/12/u...
“Experts said the president does not have the power to take away the citizenship of a U.S.-born citizen.”
140
Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 28/06/2025
The comments on this are exactly what you would expect …
010
Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 26/06/2025
Interesting to see the US included here (and I like that Uruguay is down as ‘Uruguay’!) …
030
Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
Ah, the old hometown …
030
Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
The media is really hitting the key points in its coverage of the move to strip Harvard of its ability to enrol international students …
Headline in The Times (of London): “British students face ban from Harvard by Trump administration”CBS News headline: “Trump's Harvard international student ban could derail Belgium's Princess Elisabeth's studies”
030
Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
Hmm. I suppose knowledge of history might be a bit of ‘spoiler’ here …
BBC iPlayer promotion for “Marie Antoinette”, a “new series”, with the tagline, “Can Marie Antoinette survive her reign?”
050
Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
Spotted in the city centre today: a reminder that Oxford is home to a significant East Timorese community … and that East Timor is one of handful of countries (along with El Salvador, Panama, and Ecuador to use the US dollar as its official currency.
A signboard outside a Ryman stationers shop, with a Western Union notice giving “our exchange rate to East Timor” as £1=$1.319.
131
Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
The FT on a backlash against narcocorridos …
on.ft.com
The hit music accused of glorifying violence in Mexico
‘Narcocorridos’ that romanticise cartel figures face a ban in some parts of the country
000
Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 19/04/2025
Interesting from the FT on Sheinbaum’s quiet shift in Mexico’s security strategy. on.ft.com/42ktM95 Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum woos Donald Trump with security shake-up
on.ft.com
Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum woos Donald Trump with security shake-up
President turns US criticism into plaudits by confronting drug cartels
000
Reposted by Halbert Jones
Charlotte Lydia Riley @lottelydia.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
MAYBE it would be a good idea for our national library to actually buy hard copies of books to, you know, preserve them and make them accessible to researchers for decades to come
1432537
Reposted by Halbert Jones
Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
If you’re planning a visit to the UK within the 2 years and need the new “electronic travel authorisation” (ETA) for visa-exempt travellers, looks like the date for the ETA fee hike — from £10 to £16 — is now set to be 9th April (if I read these regs correctly), so apply now for big savings!
legislation.gov.uk
The Immigration, Nationality and Passport (Fees) (Amendment) Regulations 2025
These Regulations amend the Immigration and Nationality (Fees) Regulations 2018 (S.I. 2018/330) (“the principal Regulations”) (which set fees for the exercise of various functions in connection with i...
012
Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
UK naturalisation and passport fees increasing, as well …
000