Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 21hIncluding also my review of ‘Napoleon and his Marshals’ by Andrew Roberts 240
Reposted by Jonathan BoffAlan Allport @alanallport.bsky.social · 22h“For twenty years, these men marched and fought, plundered and shagged their way across Europe.” The ever droll @jfb1066.bsky.social on Andrew Roberts on Napoleon’s marshals in October’s Literary Review. 2203
Reposted by Jonathan BoffRichard Dunley @redunley.bsky.social · 30/09/2026My new book now has a cover - and I love it! 1308
Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Great piece. Has me fundamentally rethinking the value of all those ‘we need to have a conversation about defence to make people realise the risks and costs’ conversations 020
Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 29/09/2026‘We want you to give us $1 trn to make something that could kill us all’ is one of the silliest pitches ever. Best case: frame it as ‘someone is going to make this stuff and you want it to be us not the other guys’. Then it goes from investment pitch to blackmail. Either way: shut them down 382
Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 28/09/2026I would say ‘fly-tipping’ but they can’t have been because in that case the police could not have caught them 040
Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 28/09/2026Me to IT: ‘I can’t turn my PC on.’ IT: ‘please give us the computer’s ID number. You can find it by clicking on ‘About this PC’ in the Start menu.’ Some days, you’re the lamppost. Today is one of those days 070
Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 28/09/2026Origins of the First World War lecture to 2nd year undergrads today. Every year I wonder if my joke about the heir to the Habsburg throne and a Glasgow rock band will meet mass incomprehension from students who were not born when ‘Take me Out’ was released. So far, so good, but: is this the year? 6443
Reposted by Jonathan BoffMatt Houlbrook @tricksterprince.bsky.social · 26/09/2026The Bournville Lantern Lectures - Disrupted. Immersive history coming to south Birmingham. Saturday 17 October. sellymanormuseum.org.uk/events/2026-...sellymanormuseum.org.ukBournville Lantern Lectures... Disrupted!An immersive, family friendly production of an original Bournville Lecture, brought to life by The Rep. 072
Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 26/09/2026I’m delighted - but rather embarrassed - to hear that this is Sold Out. If you are trying to get tickets but can’t, please let me know: we may explore moving to a larger venue. If you have been kind enough to buy a ticket already: thank you. I look forward to seeing you. 0170
Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 25/09/2026Saw the headline about Trump and Xi going to the National Archives and briefly imagined them sittting with their knees around their ears on the bus down Fentanyl Avenue out to College Park 000
Reposted by Jonathan BoffVanda Wilcox @vandawilcox.bsky.social · 25/09/2026please share with anyone who might be interested! 069
Reposted by Jonathan BoffFirst World War Studies @fwwsjournal.bsky.social · 25/09/2026We are now recruiting two Book Review Editors! Together they will oversee the publication of circa 90 reviews each year, covering multiple languages, to ensure that First World War Studies keeps its readers up to date on all the important international scholarship 164
Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Every minute spent arguing about where exactly the boundaries of concepts like Britishness and Englishness is time not spent defending the principle that everyone should feel free to define their own identity as they choose - no-one else - and so doing the haters’ work for them 4358
Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Long and frustrating day trying to get AI to summarise some of the hundreds of photos of archival documents I have. Tried a few different models but tbh none of them are where I need them to be yet. I’ll be interested to see if our Research Data Support Team have good ideas. 341
Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Getting officers to think tactically is easy. Platoon or company command is their mother’s milk comfort zone, what they were trained for, where the problems are, if not easy, at least straightforward. The real challenge is to help leaders think strategically. That’s the hard part 162
Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 22/09/2026I should say thank you to Earl Spencer. He is one of the reasons I decided to become a military historian. I read his book on the battle of Blenheim and thought ‘even I could do better than that.’ 1242
Reposted by Jonathan BoffRebecca Wynter @rebeccawynter.bsky.social · 22/09/2026These plans impact everyone, not only Dutch folks. #Skystorians, spare a minute, take a read and sign if you might ever use the Dutch National Archives. 072
Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 22/09/2026My (+ve) review of @mark4harrison.bsky.social latest co-edited book ‘Economic Warfare and Sanctions since 1688’ is here. Free eprints: www.tandfonline.com/eprint/JZV4S...tandfonline.comEconomic warfare and sanctions since 1688Published in Journal of Strategic Studies (Ahead of Print, 2026) 120
Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 22/09/2026Never hiring a car from Hertz again. RIP-off merchants 010
Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 22/09/2026Two hours spent doing self-checkout at the supermarket*. An experienced cashier could have knocked it off in ten minutes. *I wasn’t at the supermarket and I don’t mean cashier. #productivitygains #butwhoseproductivity 041
Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 21/09/2026Imagine you were worried about stress in your workforce. Might you: a) try to improve working conditions? b) open cut-price yoga classes and hang wind chimes around campus? OR c) introduce _mandatory_ stress management training online? Yes, you guessed it….😂 7443
Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 21/09/2026With thudding predictability, HR are chasing me for the yearly review paperwork from last year for a colleague who left in April. 240
Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 14/09/2026Irish chums: im looking forward to speaking to the Centre for War Studies at UCD on 24 September. Do come along www.ucd.ie/warstudies/s...ucd.ieOur Next Seminar - UCD Centre for War Studies 010
Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 13/09/2026I have the great honour of delivering this. Please do come. www.bcmh.org.uk/richard-holm...bcmh.org.ukRichard Holmes Lecture 2026 | British Commission for Military History 1135
Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 13/09/2026Excellent article mickryan.substack.com/p/ukraine-bu...mickryan.substack.comUkraine Builds New Forms of Offensive ManoeuvreWhat Ukraine’s recent counteroffensives in the south and east tell us about the status of the war on the ground, and what they might mean for the trajectory of the conflict in 2026 and 2027. 063
Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 12/09/2026Almost always over 80%, and mostly over 90%, of students declare themselves ‘satisfied with teaching’ year in, year out, in the NSS. So why do politicians and the media keep criticising universities? If it ain’t broke…. Name me another industry with consistently 90+% consumer satisfaction… 44618
Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 11/09/2026Yeah. No thanks www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-...bbc.co.ukSix Nations: World Rugby offers to help switch fixture to USAWorld Rugby would help any nation which wants to switch a Six Nations match to the United States as it continues its drive to spread the game stateside. 270
Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 10/09/2026Has there ever been a less useful industry body than Universities UK? 260
Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 09/09/2026I have spent over 20 years avoiding Deleuze and Guattari - and intend to carry on doing so - but now find myself wondering whether I need to read De Landa. Any views? 000
Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 09/09/2026If you are going to try and scam me, at least put some effort into it. Don’t just send me a recorded message offering a part-time job opportunity and asking me to add you on WhatsApp. That is just lazy as well as stupid 120
Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 09/09/2026An unnecessarily complex solution to a non-problem. 000
Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 09/09/2026King Henry VIII’s wine cellar from the old Whitehall Palace, now underneath the Ministry of Defence 1161
Reposted by Jonathan BoffInternational Society for First World War Studies @fwwsoc.bsky.social · 08/09/2026New bibliography entry: The Age of Mammon and Mars: Money and War in the 20th Century ift.tt/pgXKlDO #FWWstudiesift.ttZotero | Your personal research assistant 022
Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 08/09/2026Reviewing the copy-edits for my new book (out in March 2027) global.oup.com/academic/pro... 13712
Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 08/09/20263 months of complaining about the heat and wishing for water for the garden. It started raining at 0500. By lunchtime, we will be fed up with ‘all this rain’ ☔️ 190
Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 07/09/2026Exciting news. Out March 2027 global.oup.com/academic/pro...global.oup.com 084
Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 06/09/2026Which is the greater danger to our Democracy; Reform with Farage? Or without 210
Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 06/09/2026I want to read this book on the Japanese army by Michelin but I worry it might be tyring lnkd.in/p/eifUvfuxlnkd.inAcheté à l'instant. A voir ce que ça vaut à la lecture, mais cela semble très prometteur. Une armée qui mérite très clairement d'être étudiée plus avant : ses victoires de 1895, de 1904-1905,...Acheté à l'instant. A voir ce que ça vaut à la lecture, mais cela semble très prometteur. Une armée qui mérite très clairement d'être étudiée plus avant : ses victoires de 1895, de 1904-1905, ses suc... 010