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Nicholas Guyatt

@nicholasguyatt.bsky.social
6K followers 635 following 1.2K posts

I teach American history at Cambridge. Views/opinions strictly personal. Content 40% political, 30% historical, 30% cat photos but ratio under constant review

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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
I've written about the Arday affair, racism and the unending attack on UK universities for @newstatesman1913.bsky.social www.newstatesman.com/politics/edu...
newstatesman.com
Jason Arday is Cambridge's problem
My university must explain how Arday was appointed, and reject the racist narrative that this is the tip of the iceberg
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Went on Times Radio to decry the media coverage of the Arday affair, so inevitably the youtube version has about nine hundred hostile comments. But I thought this one - a response to my nine-year-old kid's clay model of Mount Rushmore, which was behind me during the interview - took the biscuit
In conclusion: The statue behind him - the removal of the faces of US presidents (Mount Rushmore) and
their replacement with the faces of "natives" reflects more than anything a DEl activist. Sadly, academia in Britain is no longer the "crown jewel" of our society. It is more of a human sewage
suffused with racism & stupidity.
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
Can't quite believe this has finally arrived - thanks again to all the brilliant contributors, and the editorial and production folks who made it happen. Will paste the 30% off code below in case you'd like a copy
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
A sentiment I can get behind
If you want to understand the
United States, go to Cambridge
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Reposted by Nicholas Guyatt
Brent Staples @bstaples.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Thomas Jefferson envisioned America as a lily white republic that rigorously excluded Black people. Join us next week - online or in person - for a frank discussion of race and racism at the founding of The United States. events.leapevents.com/tickets/anne...
events.leapevents.com
Annette Gordon-Reed with Brent Staples: Jefferson on Race
Annette Gordon-Reed with Brent Staples: Jefferson on Race in New York - Checkout. The Pulitzer Prize–winning historian examines Thomas Jefferson’s complicated and often contradictory views on race and...
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
Filled with the spirit of America 250 I wrote about two new general histories of the United States, though I think I can only recommend one of them alas
photo of the review mentioned in post, too many characters to transcribe
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Natalia Cecire @ncecire.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Academic departments deserve to be saved, supported, resourced, allowed to grow even if they're not "best in the country," "first in the REF," "top-ranked," "at a Russell Group uni," or whatever other austerity-brained nonsense senior managers have been using to flimflam you out of solidarity
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
If you're anywhere near Cambridge on May 29th, come see Jamelle Bouie, Martha Jones, Heather Thompson & other starry speakers reflect on the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Tickets are *free* but nearly gone so hit the link below asap www.philanthropy.cam.ac.uk/story/the-un...
philanthropy.cam.ac.uk
The United States of America at 250
Reflections on the past, present, and future of independence. 29 May 2026, 12.30pm to 5.30pm, Ray Dolby Centre, Cambridge
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
It's so cold in the UK this week that it feels like February, and our supposedly left-wing government is disintegrating in slow motion, so I humbly offer this photo of my cat in a plant pot as a tiny distraction from the gloom
cat in a plant pot
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
Historians who've published in the past 2-3 years - did you get a wave of requests for 'modest contributions' from book clubs, influencers, & 'strategists' desperate to platform your "groundbreaking" book? Has never happened to me before and I fear this is yet another malign effect of Chat-GPT
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
I'm not saying this is a parody, but if it *were* a parody it would be very funny paw.princeton.edu/article/atte...
paw.princeton.edu
The Attentionauts
D. Graham Burnett ’93, Alyssa Loh ’12, and Peter Schmidt ’20 are leading a movement to resist ‘attention fracking’
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
Sending congrats to my brilliant colleagues on the new Oxford Illustrated History of the United States for their *starred review* in Library Journal, cannot wait for the book to hit the shelves next month
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
Cambridge friends who insist on working on bank holidays: Christa Dierksheide and I will be talking *today* at 4pm in the Sibilla Room at Jesus College about our new book Jefferson's Wolf! We've roped in the lovely Patrick Griffin to ask the questions and Heffers to sell some books. Come if you can!
book cover
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Plashing Vole @plashingvole.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
I got my permanent job at a university in 2008 (after 8 years hourly-paid) and now face redundancy. My salary has declined in real terms for my entire career. The graph for senior management pay in a broken sector looks very, very different. This is not an accident.
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Has there ever been a more corrupt and reviled sporting event than the 2026 World Cup? I had not imagined I’d be nostalgic for Qatar and Russia and yet…
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
Why didn’t we think of this earlier?!!
It is time for a third way. I am happy to call it the Trump Plan to Save Lebanon. Push Israel to pull entirely out of south Lebanon and have heavily armed NATO troops help take over the area in partnership with, and under the symbolic authority of the Lebanese army
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
And of course I am the voice of doom in this NYT piece about academic historians and the 250th www.nytimes.com/2026/04/21/a...
nytimes.com
America Is Anxious About Its 250th Birthday. So Are Historians.
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
If you're in Philadelphia for the OAH conference, come see the contributors to the new Oxford Illustrated History of the United States talking about the book tomorrow morning in the *coveted* 8.45am slot in the storied Salon K of the Marriott!
flyer for the new Oxford Illustrated History of the United States
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Reposted by Nicholas Guyatt
Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 17/04/2026
Return of Mandelson scandal leaves Labour MPs in despair ft.trib.al/fuCwmHN
ft.trib.al
Return of Mandelson scandal leaves Labour MPs in despair
Vetting failure highlights dysfunction in Keir Starmer’s government
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
Maybe the most British news headline I've ever seen
MANDELSON FACES £300 FINE FOR URINATING IN STREET
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Reposted by Nicholas Guyatt
Liv Mariah Yarrow (pronounced "leave") @profyarrow.bsky.social · 09/04/2026


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World-leading classicist gave female student unwanted ‘slobbery kiss’
An investigation into Simon Goldhill, 69, a professor of Greek at King’s College, Cambridge University, upheld complaints of professional and sexual misconduct
new
Professor Simon Goldhill, Professor of Greek Literature and Culture, smiling at the camera.
Simon Goldhill, who later sent apologetic but “not entirely lucid” text messages to the student
Sean O’Neill
Thursday April 09 2026, 12.20pm BST, The Times
One of the world’s leading classicists could be dismissed from Cambridge after a university inquiry found he gave a female student an unwanted “slobbery kiss” and put his tongue in her ear.
University sources said that Simon Goldhill, 69, a professor of Greek literature and culture at King’s College, has “stepped away” from teaching and lecturing after the investigation upheld complaints of professional and sexual misconduct.
Cambridge is now considering what, if any, disciplinary action it will take against the professor, who is scheduled to retire at the end of the academic year. The university declined to explain its opaque disciplinary processes.
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daviddoddington.bsky.social @daviddoddington.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
@branchuk.bsky.social announces a search for new co-editors of its journal, American 19th C History @anchistjournal.bsky.social. Apps to include c.v. and a 1-2 page cover letter, sent to ANCH co-editor, and incoming BrANCH Chair, David Doddington (doddingtond@cardiff.ac.uk) by 01.05.26. Pls share!
Job advert including details on how to apply and duties of the editor
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
The fact that staff have to be *told* not to do this is really incredible www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
White House staff warned not to place bets on prediction markets
The platforms have grown in popularity, with some users making bets on global events.
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
Have spent too long away from Bluesky but am hoping to catch up with many of you guys in Philadelphia for the OAH next week, assuming (a) I can get into the US and (b) there is any jet fuel left here in the UK
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
Friends, can I ask you to spread the word that we have a THREE-YEAR postdoc in American history at Cambridge up for grabs - ANY field, but applications are due March 1 so don't delay - apply, apply, apply! networks.h-net.org/jobs/69790/u...
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
For Americans struggling to understand how Keir Starmer is on the brink of resigning, this piece by @owenjones.bsky.social offers a concise and bleak summary of how we got here www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
The left warned that Starmerism would end like this. Now all of Britain faces the fallout | Owen Jones
Peter Mandelson helped Morgan McSweeney privilege Labour’s reactionary forces to sustain the PM, says Guardian columnist Owen Jones
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
The Times belatedly covers the huge Mandelson-Starmer scandal in the UK, but omits the crucial fact that 18 months before Starmer made Mandelson US ambassador the FT reported that he'd stayed in Epstein's NYC mansion *while Epstein was in prison for child sex abuse* www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/w...
nytimes.com
Starmer Faces Storm of Criticism Over Ties Between Ex-Ambassador and Epstein
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Saul Staniforth @saulstaniforth.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
Frost making the point that the entire cabinet backed Mandelsons appointment as ambassador Starmer is going to be the fall guy for this (& lots more), but everyone at the top of Labour is implicated, including people who might have resigned in the meantime!
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
Probably no bandwidth in the US media right now for international news, even before we factor in the mass firing of journalists, but the latest Epstein document dump really might bring down the UK prime minister before the week is out
front page on starmer's likely demise as UK PM
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
"Keir Starmer's government will last for six more weeks!"
it's a photo of a groundhog that can tell the future
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
Given Epstein's sordid relationship with Trump, it seems incredible to think that this scandal may bring down the UK government before the US government www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Dark mood among Labour MPs as Keir Starmer tries to contain Mandelson scandal
The chaos of the parliamentary debate about the former Labour minister is just one sign of how quickly the mood in the party has soured this week.
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 18/01/2026
Even in the 'unipolar' years of the 1990s, US presidents were exasperated by their inability to control the United Nations; the idea of replacing the unruly Security Council with a pliant 'Board of Peace' is really a sign of US decline in the world, not of Trump's strength
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 17/01/2026
A really excellent analysis of imperialism, gangsterism and regionalism under Trump 47 - and some sobering thoughts about the connections between violence abroad and the white nationalist agenda at home thedigradio.com/podcast/maga...
thedigradio.com
MAGA Empire w/ Aslı Bâli and Greg Grandin
Featuring Aslı Bâli and Greg Grandin on the MAGA model of US imperialism.
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
So much for the Trinity Hall reboot! www.theguardian.com/education/20...
theguardian.com
Cambridge college to target elite private schools for student recruitment
Exclusive: Trinity Hall’s new policy described as a ‘slap in the face’ for state-educated students
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
Madness for the UK government to get involved in the increasingly unhinged and dangerous foreign policy of the Trump administration, but Keir Starmer seems determined to outdo Tony Blair in becoming lickspittle-in-chief to a rogue U.S. president
The UK Ministry of Defence says it supported US efforts to seize the Russian-flagged tanker in the North Atlantic today, including with RAF
aircraft.
Here's a statement from UK Defence Secretary John Healey: "Today our UK Armed Forces showed skill and professionalism in support of a
successful U.S. interception of the vessel Bella 1 while on its way to Russia. "This action formed part of global efforts to crack down on sanctions
busting. "This ship, with a nefarious history, is part of a Russian-Iranian axis of sanctions evasion which is fuelling terrorism, conflict, and misery from the
Middle East to Ukraine. "The UK will continue to step up our action against shadow fleet activity to protect our national security, our economy, and global stability - making
Britain secure at home and strong abroad."
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
You probably don't have a lot of bandwidth for recreational reading about a divided America, but just on the off chance I have a piece on the Mason-Dixon Line in the latest edition of the New York Review of Books www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
nybooks.com
The Most Rancorous Line | Nicholas Guyatt
How did the Mason–Dixon Line—meant to resolve a longstanding colonial border dispute—come to represent the US’s foundational divide between slavery and freedom?
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
Pure cowardice on the part of every European leader who refuses to call out the Trump administration for what it is: a criminal and utterly lawless extortion racket which poses a grave danger to the security of the entire world
Stephen Miller, a top aide to President Trump, asserted on Monday that Greenland rightfully belonged to the United States and that the Trump administration could seize the semiautonomous Danish
territory if it wanted. "Nobody's going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland," Mr. Miller told Jake Tapper, the CNN host, after being asked repeatedly whether he would rule out using military
force. The remarks were part of a vocal push by Mr. Miller, long a powerful behind-the-scenes player in Trump administration policy, to justify American imperialism and a vision for a new world order in which the United States could freely overthrow national governments and take foreign territory and resources so long as it
was in the national interest. "We live in a world, in the real world, Jake, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power," he said. "These are the iron laws of the world since the beginning of
time"
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
In the upside down world of the Daily Mail, If you're opposed to the US invading another country, kidnapping its president and then telling the world of its plan to "run" that country indefinitely, you're a "Maduro apologist"
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Juan Cole @jricole.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
that is what Bush said about Iraq - $7 trillion mistake
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
A gangster regime, with cheap dialogue to match
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
So many lies in Trump's rambling speech, but his easy segue from the illegal use of the military overseas to the illegal use of the military in US cities is really chilling
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
Hard not to wonder whether Trump has been using his recent hours-long phone calls with Putin to barter over Venezuela and eastern Ukraine; would be entirely on-brand for Trump to tell the Russian president about his invasion plan long before anyone in Congress gets the memo
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
Feels as if there's a real gap in the market right now for a peace prize for people who actually promote peace
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
The media reaction to Trump's plainly illegal invasion/abduction this morning has been mostly shock, but Venezuelan opposition figures with "close ties to the US security establishment" have been boasting about this outcome for months (this from the FT in October)
Vanessa Neumann, a Venezuelan defence industry entrepreneur and former opposition envoy with close ties to the US security establishment, said: "The plan now is a capture of Nicolás Maduro. Capture-kill or capture-arrest and take him out, one way or another." Washington insiders describe a hardening of the government's position on Venezuela in recent months, with Florida hawks such as Marco Rubio, secretary of state, and Susie Wiles, Trump's chief of staff, in the ascendant. Others who negotiated with Caracas earlier this year, such as special envoy Richard Grenell, have been sidelined, at least for now.
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 01/01/2026
Happy new year, everyone! Seeing in the new year by burying our 2025 lemon pig with full honours, helluva year to be a lemon pig
January lemon pigDecember lemon pig
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
Since the "tech prosperity deal" was engineered to give Sam Altman, Satya Nadella and Jensen Huang even more encouragement to build AI data centres and produce yet more AI slop, the UK may have dodged a bullet here
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
The madness of our civilisation, in which the super-rich are throwing money at AI which the rest of us don't want, and are meeting the ridiculous power demands of data centres mostly by burning gas and cooking our planet
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
I have a perverse admiration for the way in which Gianni Infantino has made FIFA an even more despicable organisation than it was during Sepp Blatter's constantly-disgraced tenure www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...
bbc.co.uk
World Cup ticket prices: Fifa's prices a 'monumental betrayal' says Football Supporters Europe
Fans' group Football Supporters Europe says it is
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
I know I have been promising this forever but the Oxford Illustrated History of the United States will finally be out in June of next year, just in time to help unite the nation around the 250th
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Nicholas Guyatt @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
I wish the BBC would simply ask Lisa Nandy directly to confirm the widely-reported story that Keir Starmer dropped Labour's support for the crucial second phase of the Leveson enquiry into press corruption in return for Murdoch's backing in the general election
Mr McCann told the Today programme: "It's quite obvious that press barons can meet the prime minister, but the people who have suffered at the hands of
them can't."
News UK, the UK branch of News Corp, declined to comment. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told BBC Breakfast the government had "ruled
out" a second phase of the inquiry. She said the media landscape was now "very different", with most people consuming their news online. But she added: "I do recognise that action is
needed"
", and said she would meet with Mr McCann. The first part of the Leveson Inquiry was held from 2011 to 2012, in the wake
of the phone-hacking scandal. Its findings were published in 2012, and led to the creation of the industry-
funded press regulator Ipso. Mr McCann told the BBC that the inquiry's second phase had "almost certainly" not happened because he believes that politicians in the UK are
fearful of the press.
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