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Dr Patrick Thompson

@patrickwjthompson.bsky.social
116 followers 183 following 27 posts

Researcher | Interested in civil rights, social movements, Irish-British relations | All views my own etc.

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Reposted by Dr Patrick Thompson
Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 24/09/2026
Just when I think I can’t hate OpenAI and Sam Altman any more, new details come out about how ChatGPT helped a shooter plan one of the worst mass shootings in Canadian history in Tumbler Ridge, BC. OpenAI made an explicit decision not to report the user to authorities.
motherjones.com
ChatGPT helped the Tumbler Ridge school shooter focus on guns, tactics, and terror, our investigation reveals
OpenAI’s chatbot fed the shooter’s violent fantasies and planning up to the massacre.
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BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
I think it's key to understanding their worldview that they imagine a world not *without* immigrants, but one in which immigrants' inferiority is permanently asserted and they become a subservient caste. All these people worship the Gulf States.
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David Veevers @davidveevers.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Most Universities are being just ghastly with their cuts, but Exeter seem to be particularly despicable at the moment. For executives who only care about the ‘product’, they seem to be weirdly immune to worrying about reputational damage.
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Edward @fornbirkibeinn.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
The tactic of sharing a list of houses is straight out of the NI paramilitaries handbook and its spread to England is troubling. The police should really be looking to prosecute anybody sharing it with all the conspiracy and aiding and abetting charges they can think of.
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hanna @happiestfunrock.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
ross douthat looking at starmer's government and seeing "maxxing out on social liberalism and illegal immigration" is an impressive demonstration of how little american political narratives require contact with reality
After 2020 we tried putting this establishment back in charge, but the Biden era just gave us a more left-wing version of meritocratic hubris, replacing experts with interest groups, maxxing out on social liberalism and illegal immigration and then unraveling completely in the end. Something similar could be said about the Keir Starmer experiment in Britain.
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Simeon Shtebunaev @shtebunaev.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
The state of higher education in the UK, in a photo
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The Historical Journal @historicaljnl.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
📣Out now on #firstview Kathleen Commons @kabcommons.bsky.social @sheffielduni.bsky.social on 'Discovering ‘Immigration Control’ in England, c. 1540 – c. 1640' #Migration #History #EarlyModern #England #Immigration 📜 16thc 17thc 👉Read open access here: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Migration history is a growing field – yet the legal status of migrants in early modern England has not yet been investigated in detail. Reconstructing the legal system that governed migrants in early modern England does not just add significant depth and nuance to histories of migration and migrants, but also provides fresh insight into the status of English subjects. Furthermore, it enables historians to trace longer histories of the exclusion of migrants from rights in England and Britain. This article reconstructs the common law governance of migrants between c. 1540 and c. 1640, showing how common law principles and practices excluded migrants from the rights-bearing status of English subjects. Rather than being governed by the law, migrants were substantively governed under prerogative, a form of governance repeatedly resisted by English subjects. Although some migrants could access (unstable) liberties granted under prerogative, for the most part migrants were also subject to discriminatory local byelaws and licences and commissions granted by the crown for their exploitation. The repeated ‘molestation’ of migrants by informers for working contrary to statute, and petitions against this harassment from migrants suggest this early modern system of immigration control was relatively well understood by both subjects and migrants.
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Joel S. @joelhs.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
Everything about the way the White House is messaging about this war seems perfectly designed to feed the ZOG conspiracists out there.
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UC Berkeley @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
UC Berkeley Professor Darlène Dubuisson found ‘liberation’ in reading. It led her to study how Black people imagine better futures. news.berkeley.edu/2026/02/27/u...
news.berkeley.edu
UC Berkeley Professor Darlène Dubuisson found ‘liberation’ in reading. It led her to study how Black people imagine better futures - Berkeley News
Dubuisson, the newest faculty member in the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies, recounts her unconventional academic path.
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Starfire’s Deranged Neocon Foreign Policy Podcast @irhottakes.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
Tolkien (pathetic naïve rube) writing prequels: And so Melkor who was called Morgoth tainted all creation and Arda Marred shall suffer under the shadow of his evil until the end of days George RR Martin (edgy, dark, and modern) writing prequels: INTRODUCING THE ADVENTURES OF LARGE LAD AND BALD BOY
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Ben Phillips @benphillips76.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
I don’t know who needs to hear Jesse Jackson leading the kids on Sesame Street in this beautiful call-and-response reminding them that every child is somebody, but here it is
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Duncan Weldon @duncanweldon.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
I sort of love this. www.ft.com/content/c30d...
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Dr Patrick Thompson @patrickwjthompson.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
People often mock left-wing protesters for trying to shoehorn their particular niche cause into any given protest, but you'll never see anything as mad as this...
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Dr Patrick Thompson @patrickwjthompson.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
Not only is the World Service something to, completely unironically, feel deeply proud of, it's also got to be one of the most cost-effective tools of overseas influence that Britain possesses. This would be catastrophic.
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 13/02/2026
just remembered that recently out of the blue my 7-year-old asked “dad, what was the collapse of the soviet union?”
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Kevin Schofield @kevinschofied.bsky.social · 08/02/2026
Labour source: "It seems bizarre Morgan has gone just for giving advice. There are plenty of other people still around Keir who have hidden behind Morgan and tried to pretend they weren’t pushing for this appointment. They will no longer be able to." www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/morgan...
huffingtonpost.co.uk
Morgan McSweeney Quits As Starmer's Chief Of Staff Over Mandelson Scandal
The key No.10 adviser has fallen on his sword.
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Irish Studies at QUB @irishstudiesqub.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
If you missed this week's seminar by Ciara McAllister on 'A class apart: Representing the ‘Troubles’ and the working class', a recording is now available at www.youtube.com/watch?v=8o1J...
youtube.com
Irish Studies Seminar: Ciara McAllister 2.2.26
YouTube video by QUB Irish Studies
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Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
media.tenor.com
a man sitting at a desk with the word this on the bottom right
ALT: a man sitting at a desk with the word this on the bottom right
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Marie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 03/02/2026
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John Gallagher @earlymodernjohn.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
My new article, 'Selling Education in England, 1650-1715' is now out (open access) in the English Historical Review! academic.oup.com/ehr/advance-...
academic.oup.com
Selling Education in England, 1650–1715*
Abstract. In the period 1650–1715, a growing consensus emerged that educational culture in England did not meet the needs of the population, and that chang
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Jacob T. Levy @jacobtlevy.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
CHOTINER: That's very interesting. It reminds me of this rope I have here. The rope is tied into a noose. Would you like to try it on? It might look good on you. INTERVIEWEE: yes, I think that would suit me very well. Let me see how it fits around my neck.
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Dr Patrick Thompson @patrickwjthompson.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
Also, the NI state already viewed the Catholic minority with suspicion. The CRM was seen as a front for militant nationalism. The presence, even with initially peaceful intentions, of Republican groups in the movement supercharged this.
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Dr Patrick Thompson @patrickwjthompson.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
Republicans had been involved in CR agitation since the early 60s, but it was initially seen as a purely political goal. However, because the tradition of armed struggle had been maintained, however weakly, when protests were repressed & later troops had to be deployed, escalation was quite easy.
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Dr Patrick Thompson @patrickwjthompson.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
The CRM here was never that united politically. But during '69, both Irish Republican and Ulster Loyalist paramilitaries started using civil unrest as cover for recruitment & reorganisation, which both stoked communal tensions and created, shall we say, challenges for the state in making reform work
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Dr Patrick Thompson @patrickwjthompson.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
It's also a theory that falls apart a little when confronted with the realities of the CRM here in Ireland... Even accounting for unique sectarian issues, the presence of armed groups in the wings did not, in fact, help.
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Dmitry Grozoubinski @explaintrade.com · 27/01/2026
Breaking: Matt Goodwin says his internal polling has him up by 814%.
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Irish Studies at QUB @irishstudiesqub.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
If you missed Connal Parr's talk this week on 'No borders: The Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement and its legacies', a recording is now available at www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OLY...
youtube.com
Irish Studies Seminar: Connal Parr 26.1.26
YouTube video by QUB Irish Studies
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Irish Studies at QUB @irishstudiesqub.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
On Monday 2 Feb. Ciara McAllister will be speaking about ‘A class apart: Representing the “Troubles” and the working class’ - all welcome in-person or online www.qub.ac.uk/schools/Iris...
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History Workshop @historyworkshop.org.uk · 27/01/2026
How is the concept of culture wars rooted in the social and political struggles of nineteenth-century Germany? Robert D. Priest explores these little-known origins.
historyworkshop.org.uk
The Origins of Culture Wars
How is the concept of culture wars rooted in the social and political struggles of nineteenth century Germany? Robert D. Priest explores.
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Juliane Röleke @jroeleke.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
I am very happy my article on the secret training facilities of the British Army of the Rhine for postings in Northern Ireland during the Troubles has now been published! Thank you @ghilondon.bsky.social for the excellent cooperation. www.ghil.ac.uk/publications...
ghil.ac.uk
GHIL Bulletin 47 (2025), No. 2
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
You can rewrite DNA on the fly, and you’re using it to turn people into dinosaurs? But with tech like that, you could cure cancer!
But I don’t want to cure cancer. I want to turn people into dinosaurs.
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Sam “The Great Pumpkin” Thielman @samthielman.com · 22/01/2026
I just thought everyone should see this
Dr Kareem Carr
man: i wish to publish
@kareem_carr
Jan 21
reviewer 2: your paper is no good
man: i'll do anything to improve
reviewer 2: it's simple. you must read the work of the great scientist Pagliarini
man: *bursts into tears* but i am Pagliarini
Andre Pagliarini
@apagliar
Jan 21
a first: in rejecting an article I submitted to a journal, reviewer 2 noted I failed to engage the work of one Andre Pagliarini
Jan 21, 2026 • 3:47 PM UTC
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IHR Britain @ Home and Abroad seminar @ihrbritainseminar.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
Highlight from last semester!
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Dr Patrick Thompson @patrickwjthompson.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
I’m looking forward to exploring some archives, meeting new colleagues and working on the final write-up of my thesis while I’m there. It will also be my first time in the States, so any tips for a bewildered Englishman abroad are greatly appreciated!
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Dr Patrick Thompson @patrickwjthompson.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
Now that the paperwork is done and my flights are booked, I’m excited to share that I’ll be spending a month from mid-February in California as a Visiting Postgraduate Researcher at the @ucberkeleyies.bsky.social, as part of the IES-QUB HAPP Exchange Scheme!
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Gaby Hinsliff @gabyhinsliff.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
We can either live in a world made by 14-year-old boys who never grew up, for 14-year-old boys who never grew up, or maybe OFCOM could finally act like an actual regulator?
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Huw Bennett @bennetthuw.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
Uncivil War, my book about the British Army and the Troubles in the early 1970s, is out in paperback on 15 January. Come and hear me talk about it at the National Army Museum on 13 February: www.nam.ac.uk/whats-on/unc...
nam.ac.uk
Uncivil War: The British Army and the Troubles, 1966-75
Join historian Huw Bennett as he examines the interactions between the British Army and paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland during the most violent phase of the Troubles.
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
Strathclyde seeks 'to save £35m over the next two years.' 'Details of which jobs may be at risk have not been made public by the university. It is thought they could include roles at Strathclyde Business School and the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland.' Industrial policy anyone?
bbc.co.uk
University of Strathclyde announces plans to cut 70 jobs
The university says it needs to save £35m but a union is calling for no compulsory redundancies.
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Anoosh Chakelian @anooshc.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
"Each socio-economic group – and viewers from any other category – could adopt Parr as their own, the chronicler of an inherently ridiculous people: that is, not them." Michael Prodger is so brilliant on Martin Parr:
newstatesman.com
Goodbye Martin Parr
Serious photographs, disguised as entertainment
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Jo Kibble (Political Animal) @politicanimal.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
Glad to learn that tomorrow is 100 years since one of the finest bits of inter-government-relations-handling ever, when the UK, NI and Free State governments got together and said ‘We all hate this Boundary Commission report, albeit for completely different reasons. Let’s suppress it!’
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Political Studies @polstudies.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
How do democracies respond to extremist attacks? Selen A Ercan, Jordan McSwiney, Emily Beausoleil, Claire Fitzpatrick & @andreafelicetti.bsky.social explore 2 approaches to resilience- ‘bouncing back’ & deepening democracy. Read OPEN ACCESS: buff.ly/ituNUoP @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social @sagepub.com
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Alex @m-ttpa.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
Wrote my take on the retreat on day one rights against unfair dismissal, for Renewal. Basically Labour made a promise it turned out it couldn't deliver, a small group of serious trade unions then decided to try to salvage this, but this isn't without severe trade offs renewal.org.uk/blog/pragmat...
renewal.org.uk
Pragmatism’s limits?
Following secret negotiations between business confederations and GMB, CWU, Prospect, Unite, USDAW, UNISON, and the TUC, the government has U-turned on its manifesto commitment to introduce day-one ri...
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Evan @evansmithhist.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
PROMOTE YOUR BOOKS! EVERYONE WANTS TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR PUBLISHED BOOKS! manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526179593/
Cover of ‘In Solidarity, Under Suspicion: The British Far Left from 1956’ by Daniel Frost and Evan Smith. Red text on cream background, with hands shaking across globe in the middle.
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Canaan Morse 莫楷 @canaanmorse.bsky.social · 27/11/2025
“Dangit I hate gift shopping for my family, they’re so hard to buy f—“
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Dr Patrick Thompson @patrickwjthompson.bsky.social · 27/11/2025
Needs more naval guns
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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 27/11/2025
Noise and Nuance: What the public really thinks about immigration Read the new report from @britishfuture.bsky.social on public attitudes to immigration, asylum, settlement + the contested politics of the issue www.britishfuture.org/publication/...
britishfuture.org
Noise and nuance: What the public really thinks about immigration - British Future
Report on the 2025 British Future/Ipsos Immigration Attitudes Tracker, examining public opinion on immigration and asylum.
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Dr Patrick Thompson @patrickwjthompson.bsky.social · 27/11/2025
The longer we have a political class that refuses to tell the truth about immigration, because it is easier to embrace populist misconceptions, the further down the road to disaster we go...
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The Historical Journal @historicaljnl.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
📢Out now on #firstview! Daithí Ó Corráin (@dublincityuni.bsky.social) on 'The British Government, Workmen’s Compensation, and the Civilian War Casualties of the Easter 1916 Irish Rebellion' #Compensation #Civilian #Casualties #Injury 20thc 🗃️ 👉Read open access: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
The Easter 1916 rebellion occasioned significant civilian casualties. Having initially resisted the idea of compensating bereaved or injured civilians, the British government relented by establishing the Rebellion (Victims’) Committee (RVC) which assessed 550 compensation applications for death and injury. Utilizing these applications as well as Dublin Castle, Treasury, press, and parliamentary records, this article examines five aspects of the state’s treatment of civilian casualties: why the government’s initial opposition to compensation was eventually reversed; the establishment of the RVC, the bureaucratic compensation process, and the surveillance of working-class claimants; what the compensation claims reveal about the nature and circumstances of civilian casualties during the rebellion; how the Workmen’s Compensation Act (1906) was used to determine compensation awards and, consequently, how this minimized the state’s financial liabilities by treating civilian casualties not as victims of war but on a par with injured workers; and, lastly, why the workmen’s compensation legislation was an inadequate means of treating civilian war casualties. The RVC compensation records enable a unique case study of how the 1916 rebellion adversely affected the lives of ordinary men, women and children, and how the British state endeavoured to limit its obligations to make reparations to them.
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Edward @fornbirkibeinn.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
Sometimes wonder if what the UK needs is a thinktank that doesn't do any new research, it just repeats obviously true statements that people try to ignore because they're inconvenient. International students cross-subsidise home students. Your pension is paid for out of general taxation.
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Dr Patrick Thompson @patrickwjthompson.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
Had a brilliant time sharing my work at the @ihrbritainseminar.bsky.social seminar last week at @ihr.bsky.social. Really great discussion as well, facilitated by @colmpm.bsky.social, with lots of interesting questions. Thanks for having me!
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