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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.

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Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
As the story notes, *one* of them is out of order. The other is working fine! Some crack journalism here …
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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...
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Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Looks like the (post-Botley Road reopening) replacement to the 14 bus as a link from the Oxford rail station to the JR Hospital will be an extended 4 route that runs from Botley to Risinghurst (via the High Street & London Road rather than N Oxford & Marston). www.oxfordbus.co.uk/service-chan...
Oxford Bus Company route map showing new 4 bus route, running from Botley in the west to Risinghurst in the east, via the Botley Road, Frideswide Square (for the rail station), the High Street, the JR, and Headington.
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Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Sure thing, Mr Hilter! Good luck in the Minehead by-election!
Screenshot from Monty Python sketch with John Cleese in a Nazi uniform, as “Mr Hilter”, running in the Minehead by-election, saying: “I am not a racialist …”Screenshot from Monty Python sketch with John Cleese in a Nazi uniform, as “Mr Hilter”, running in the Minehead by-election, saying: “… but — und this is a big ‘but’ …”
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Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
That’s assuming we can overcome our white-hot “outrage” over the weather!
Oxford Times front page: “‘Outrage’ as county gripped by drought”
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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
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Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Which would mean no direct service from the rail station to the JR (which would be mad)?
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Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
North Carolina has highwaymen now??
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Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Of course, the important overall point that an overwhelming majority of non-naturalized citizens hold their citizenship by virtue of the birthright enshrined in the 14th Amendment stands! And the stats are great for showing the breakdown of citizens from birth, naturalized citizens & non-citizens.
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Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
… while children of citizens born abroad don’t get classed as “foreign-born” (despite *being* foreign-born) because they’re citizens from birth!
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Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
And not sure where that leaves the (admittedly tiny) number of US-born children of foreign diplomats! The definition suggests they would be counted as “native-born citizens”, though they aren’t citizens. Probably they end up classed as “non-citizens”, putting them under the “foreign-born” heading?
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Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
In the stats, “native-born citizen refers to anyone born in the [US], Puerto Rico, or a [US] territory or born abroad to citizen parents”. While all so counted are citizens from birth, it’s only the US-born who are citizens by virtue of a constitutional ‘birthright’ rather than by statute, right?
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Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Interesting stats! The definitions that they use for “native-born citizen” vs “foreign-born” create a couple of ambiguities, though:
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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!
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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”
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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!)
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Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
7pm BST, it would be, if confirmed (6pm GMT was technically correct, but that’s not what everyone’s clocks are set to at the moment … but actually, in misstating the UK time, I had just forgotten that Mexico City stopped observing daylight saving time a few years back!).
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Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Newspaper and BBC websites don’t appear to have caught on yet!
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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
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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.
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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.
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Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Congratulations, @uhackett.bsky.social!
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Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
And the council has stopped posting there. www.thisisoxfordshire.co.uk/news/2579622...
thisisoxfordshire.co.uk
Oxfordshire Council and OxonTravel to stop posting on X due to 'hate speech'
Oxfordshire County Council has announced it will stop using X, which is owned by Elon Musk, which also means OxonTravel will also be scrapped.
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Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
… Sadiq Khan’s name would probably be pretty widely recognised around the UK, but I doubt many people outside the areas concerned (and not everybody in them!) would know who the mayor of the Liverpool City Region or of the West of England (around Bristol) is!
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Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
… and metro mayor roles are a relatively new innovation, with limited powers. The examples of Johnson and Burnham suggest the London and Manchester mayoralties, at least, provide a national platform, but they both had prior Westminster careers (and Johnson a big media profile) …
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Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
And to your point, agreed that there aren’t many non-MP roles that allow for a national political profile in the UK. Local government is spectacularly underpowered, the Scottish and Welsh governments are unlikely to be a springboard to U.K.-wide office (since England = ~85% of the population) …
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Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
But no, I can’t think of a past instance where it has been seriously suggested someone should be urgently elected to Parliament in order to be made Prime Minister as soon as possible!
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Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
… to the point that you could just about imagine an effort to draft him in if there had been an opening for the Tory leadership. (Of course, those were the days before leadership challenges came along every five minutes!)
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Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Indeed - there was no leadership contest into which he could have jumped in the years prior to his 2015 return as an MP, and if there had been, the fact that he wasn’t an MP would almost certainly have ruled him out, but he was a rare non-MP with a big national political profile …
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Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Not exactly the same situation, but there was once a mayor of London who was seen as a figure who might jump straight into a leadership contest. www.theguardian.com/politics/201...
theguardian.com
Boris Johnson's bid for parliamentary return in 2015 leaves Tories divided
Mayor of London's announcement fuels speculation and anxiety over leadership ambitions of party's 'star player'
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Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
When I lived in Boston 15-20 years ago, TACV had a flight to Cape Verde from Logan, but that must have stopped at some point. The new link from Providence ought to be even handier for the diaspora in RI (a big community in Pawtucket, I think) and southern MA.
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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?
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Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
Conversely, the Netherlands’ national baseball team is overwhelmingly from the Dutch Caribbean, so seems only fair! www.mlb.com/world-baseba...
mlb.com
World Baseball Classic Roster | World Baseball Classic
The official site of the World Baseball Classic.
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Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
The UK does now have its own electronic travel authorisation system, charging visa-exempt visitors £20 for an ETA valid for up to 2 years. It is touted as a border security enhancement but will also generate hundreds of millions in revenue each year. www.gov.uk/eta
gov.uk
Get an electronic travel authorisation (ETA) to visit the UK
Apply for an ETA to come to the UK if you’re a tourist, visiting family or for certain other reasons for up to 6 months. It costs £20. Find out if you need an ETA or a visa instead.
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Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
It’s clipped for me — I have to click ‘View entire message’ to see the whole thing.
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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
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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.
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Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
Five-digit zip codes were introduced in 1963, but before that, going back to the 1940s, there were two-digit postal zones in major cities. Presumably zip codes were generally laid on top of these pre-existing zones where they existed, so “New York 22” became 10022.
postalmuseum.si.edu
A Zoning System in Development
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Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
Headline writers at the Times (of London) would be shocked by the extent of the dominion of St Louis! “Inside the obscure US city with new flights from the UK”
thetimes.com
Inside the obscure US city with new flights from the UK
There’s more to St Louis, Missouri, than the big arch. Huw Oliver was on the first British Airways flight — and found history, breweries and 79 fascinating neighbourhoods
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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
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Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
Interesting that Boris Johnson only finally got around to renouncing his US citizenship (after saying for years he meant to) when he became Foreign Secretary, another office identified in the FAM as potentially problematic (though his motivation may have had more to do with tax liability).
nytimes.com
Boris Johnson, British Foreign Secretary, Drops Dual U.S. Citizenship (Published 2017)
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Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
I suspect the thought will have crossed someone’s mind there …
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Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
Per the State Dept’s Foreign Affairs Manual, questions do arise about the compatability of becoming a foreign head of state with maintaining US citizenship, but the principle remains that a potentially expatriating act only results in loss of nationality if it was carried out with that intention.
archive.org
7 FAM 1280 Loss of Nationality and taking up a Position in a Foreign Government by U.S. Department of State 9p 1.5v BGI : State Department : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
This document is part of the 12 GB State Department collection retrieved from the FOIA server, including every listed FOIA release, treaties, internal notes...
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Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
Sounds like there is an interesting question around how his status as a head of state affects his obligations to his other countries of citizenship.
ewtnvatican.com
Does Pope Leo XIV Vote in Peru or Pay U.S. Taxes?
Questions remain over whether Pope Leo XIV must vote in Peru or pay U.S. taxes despite his dual citizenship and papal status.
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Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
And is a citizen of Peru …
apnews.com
Pope Leo XIV updates his Peruvian citizen registration with his new Vatican address
Pope Leo XIV has not forgotten about his responsibilities as a Peruvian citizen. On Friday, he updated his national registration information with his new Vatican address and a headshot.
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Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
This may be an even harder one for the traveling public to get its head around, as while it makes some sense for a country to require its own citizens to use its passport to enter, this means that (e.g.) a UK-Swiss or a US-Irish citizen will have to use 1 passport rather than another to enter Spain.
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Halbert Jones @halbertjones.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
If you are a citizen of any of the European countries requiring ETIAS or Ireland, you are exempt from ETIAS regardless of any other nationality you may hold. In this case, you must travel with the passport issued by the European country requiring ETIAS or Ireland. If your passport has expired or cannot be used, you should contact the authorities of the country that issued it, as otherwise you will not be able to travel to the European countries requiring ETIAS.

Example:
Maria, a dual national of Argentina and Spain, plans to travel from Buenos Aires to Italy for a holiday. As Maria is a Spanish national, she does not need an ETIAS travel authorisation and must travel using her Spanish passport.

https://travel-europe.europa.eu/etias/ltr/about-etias/news-corner/Dual-citizenship-and-ETIAS.html
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