iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 1h

Syed is the ultimate stupid person's image of a clever one. He has enjoyed decades of lavish security churning out brain farts and, at least in the past, he didn't sniff them to get high. Those days are long past.

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Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 2h

Regardless of one's opinion on Zionism, Israel or Palestine, the fact that a question of frankly performative foreign policy - the UK is essentially irrelevant - is such a massive bee in the bonnet for these folks suggests they aren't really serious.

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Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 3h

A one trick party. All the evidence shows that Britain has been stagnant since 2008, with hobbled public services, public discontent as a result, but no economic growth. Yet the Tories want to double down on that legacy of failure. share.google/MdyoblLlFPhJ...

share.google

Tories plan to extend cuts beyond £47bn previously pledged, leak reveals

Exclusive: Shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith told party members last year he had discussed making further savings if they win next election

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Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Unpaid work on a course that teaches ethics? Oxbridge? Reform? Colour me shocked.

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Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

It is a bad sign of the times that senior politicians feel they need to comment on issues like this in the first place. It is for the Premier League and Manchester City to reach a resolution on this. It is not something the PM should weigh into and worse it is foolish as it is a lose lose topic.

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Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Citing the events of the Second World War, which various international definitions and legislation were invented to prevent from happening again, is not a strong argument to defend Israeli conduct in Gaza.

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Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I always enjoy setting sample essays for students to mark, they are *brutal* and entirely unforgiving. It is the key reason I think peer-marking of assessed work is a bad idea, their expectations are so much more exacting than those of any academic I've met.

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Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

This is not heresy but 100% correct.

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Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

A new purchase. Though some of these recipes don't sound... great.

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Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Oh, this is just sooo perfect. Comedy that writes itself.

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Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Is it just me or are we creating a disaster in academia? For years we have churned out funded PhD studentships and even JRFs and research projects. Back in my day, it was very hard to get a permanent job. Now, it is basically impossible without connections. Yet we still advertise PhDs and JRFs.

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Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Not sure if people know it or if i'm late to the party, but Reichs and Republics, a podcast on German History, is absolutely great. There seems to be so little English language stuff, particularly on the post-war period, and this podcast really does it and does it very well. 👍👍👍

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Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Spare me from dickhead colleagues and the pettyist of fucking bullshit.

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Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

The ultimate first world problem that gets on my nerves: cafes that fill the paper cup with water and then put the teabag in and no stirrer. Milky water at the top and black tea at the bottom is just the worst beverage.

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Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Never heard of it. Perhaps it says more about the media platforms the reviewer chooses to engage with?

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Reposted by Dr Chris Smith

Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

#IntelligenceStudies Hi all, I'm currently doing the final steps on a book proposal for a short textbook on #BletchleyPark. The commissioning editor has asked if there are any courses that might feature such a work on reading lists. If you would do so, can you please let me know the title/uni?

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Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Catching up with World War II with Tom Hanks, specifically the episode on Bletchley Park. Plenty wrong with it, and it has talking-heads who, frankly, know nothing about the subject.

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Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

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Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

The strange death of the Daily Telegraph is an object lesson in the general decline into swivel-eyed lunacy on the right in general.

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Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

I'm no lawyer, but I struggle to see how Piers Morgan can claim to have suffered reputational loss over Spencer's error in his book. Not because he did what Spencer said but because Morgan's reputation is already in tatters.

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Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

What has happened to the Royal Mail is a disgrace and an object lesson in the worst kind of privatisation.

static.klipy.com

Disaster Girl Meme: Pirómano

ALT: Disaster Girl Meme: Pirómano

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Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

The really *amazing* thing about this whole Braverman vs Mogg thing is not that Braverman is pretending to be a self-hating ethnic-nationalist - she isn't, that would require her having actual beliefs - but that Jacob Rees-Mogg is a civic nationalist! Mind *blown*.

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Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

The laughable problem with Braverman's idiocy here is that a figure like Rishi Sunak has far more in common with the cultural values or traditional British squire-Toryism than any Tory leader in over a century. But to her, he isn't "English".

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Reposted by Dr Chris Smith

James Crossland @jamescrossland.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

This week's HISTORY'S DEVILS is a big one - Gavrilo Princip. Tim Wilson from @cstpv.bsky.social joined me to discuss this 19 year-old "trigger" of the First World War Listen ⬇️ 🎧 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/h...

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Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Inject it directly into my veins.

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Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Two-tier policing? Let's see what transpires. But we have Danny Tommo on camera slashing an inflatable boat with a rescue worker on board. This is: A. Attempted murder. Or B. Presumably a form of reckless endangerment that falls under the Criminal Damage Act 1971 (Section 1(2)).

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Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Lest we forget. Cov city and a mediocre indie band from about 20 years ago! This is what they fought for in the Great War. And isn't it a bit early for performative poppy brain worms?

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Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I wonder if the only solution is political activism beyond the normal as no political party wants to fight for UKHE. So, perhaps UCU starting a single issue political party to field candidates in university towns and cities that threaten Labour MPs in marginals.

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Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

"The British historians wrote almost as if Britain had introduced Negro slavery solely for the satisfaction of abolishing it." Eric Williams, still on point all these decades on. All is changed while everything has stayed the same.

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Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

I was pondering a module, not that I can offer it, on postwar British history through the medium of TV social commentary. It would be quite fun to set episodes of Doctor Who, Blake's 7, Yes, Minister, Strings, Dad's Army, Play for the Day, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, House of Cards, Monty Python, etc

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Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

The end is shit. They get Jim'll Fix It badges.

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Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

The other point here is the normalisation of rhetoric that would have been career ending five years ago. "Invasion" clearly taps into the "Great Replacement" "White Genocide" racist conspiracy theory and is 100% the langauge of the far right.

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Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Government gives universities a beating and then complains when they drip blood on the carpet.

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Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

What are the odds that if probed we would receive a historically illiterate screed on Churchill's direct responsibility for the Bengal famine?

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Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Sat stew experiment: Beef from the butchers marinated in Guiness West Indies Porter, seasoned with garlic, bay leaves, and thyme for five hours. Now on the hob for the next four hours on the lowest temp with onion, carrot, and parsnip. Adding baby potatoes with one hour to go.

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Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

This has "no contact" in the future written all over it.

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Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

The TV drama on Netflix The Bombing of Pan Am 103 is excellent. One of the best parts of it is the haunting soundtrack by the Scottish band Mogwai. Absolutely perfect score.

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Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I didn't read beyond the first few sentences. Is he taking credit for an agreement that has existed for decades?

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Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Terrible news. And a blistering indictment on government and university managers up and down the UK. But also of the media, who only seem to cover these matters late and when they impact socially "prestigious" institutions. One of the last great UK sectors is collapsing.

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Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

A very worthwhile point here, other issues not withstanding: What are the provisions for mental health to people traumatised by war who flee here, escaping war, famine, and other massive trauma?

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Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Imagine just how many MacDonalds burgers will be thrown at the screen in the Presidential residence in the White House if this comes to pass.

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Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Several AIs have already stolen pretty much all my stuff: articles, chapters and indeed entire books, reflecting years of work. I received nothing. What do they mean "will be"?

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Dr Chris Smith @spyhistorian.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... I, for one, think we should respect this brave act of self-determination. Turn off the water, the electricity, establish tolls at every border, denying all freedom of movement, and wait a month.

bbc.co.uk

Piddington in Oxfordshire votes to leave UK over asylum plans

Piddington residents vote over proposals to house up to 1,256 male asylum seekers nearby.

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