Author of "Yes to Europe! The 1975 Referendum & Seventies Britain". "A jaw-dislocating page turner"(Andrew Marr). Co-director @MileEndInst, Reader @QMHistory
Oxford
Joined April 2013
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It's out! My book "Yes to Europe: The 1975 Referendum & Seventies Britain" is published today - a snip at £24.99. Warmest thanks to everyone @cambUP_History. amazon.co.uk/Yes-Europe-Refe…
Universities should indeed offer "value for money" - but how do we measure the value of education? Every test that comes from government is crassly econometric. We need to recapture a higher vision of what the university is for - and of what it means to be human. [THREAD]
17. Our students bear a cost my generation never had to pay; yet I'm endlessly impressed by their curiosity, enthusiasm & adventure. We owe them every drop of "value for money":not in the debased coinage of a philistine govt, but in the richness of a fuller, more human life.[END]
Robert Saunders retweeted
Absolutely fantastic episode. One for the political nerds amongst us but such a critical analysis that highlights the major consequences of the supposedly well intentioned constitutional change
Well done to David and @redhistorian. 🙏
Robert Saunders retweeted
"Party Members Choosing Party Leaders"
Is the problem the principle of the thing or the people who end up in charge (Corbyn, Truss)?
How did reforms undertaken in the name of democracy manage to undermine democracy?
Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com
NEW EPISODE OUT NOW!
For our penultimate bad idea in this series, David talks to @redhistorian about what’s gone wrong with British politics since party members got to decide who leads the party – and in some cases who gets to be PM.
Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com
Robert Saunders retweeted
NEW EPISODE OUT NOW!
For our penultimate bad idea in this series, David talks to @redhistorian about what’s gone wrong with British politics since party members got to decide who leads the party – and in some cases who gets to be PM.
Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com
If you're in Oxford, I'll be speaking tomorrow (Tuesday) at 5pm at the Modern History Seminar on "Writing History After Brexit".
It's a roundtable with me, Patricia Clavin, Anne Deighton and Robert Gildea, chaired by Senia Paseta. Should be fun! talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/series/…
Robert Saunders retweeted
Next Wednesday, 4 Dec, I'll be speaking at @QMULHistSoc about Scotland’s first devolution referendum and the country’s social and political culture in the 1970s.
It starts at 4pm and is free to attend (bloody well should be, you say ...) so do join us!
eventbrite.com/e/old-songs-l…
ALT ‘Old Songs & Lost Romance’: Devolution and Seventies Scotland. Join us for a lecture by Tom Chidwick exploring Scotland’s first devolution referendum and social/political culture in the 1970s. 4th December 2024, 4-6pm. David Sizer Lecture Theatre, Bancroft Building.
Wherever one stands on this issue, allowing UK missiles to be fired onto the soil of a nuclear state is not just an "operational decision" that can't be discussed.
It's a major act of state - something we never did in the worst days of the Cold War - & it needs democratic debate
BREAKING: Sir Keir Starmer has told Sky's @BethRigby that the UK must give Ukraine "the support that is needed."
However, he refused to comment on the impact long-range missiles might have after the US permitted Ukraine to fire them into Russian territory.
Read more: trib.al/GtdNP4Q
I gave my own views on this here. xitter.cf/redhistorian/status/18…
Robert Saunders retweeted
Just after resigning as Prime Minister in 1957, Sir Anthony Eden sailed to New Zealand. His steward on board ship was John Prescott…
When I was a sixth-former, Prescott spoke at a politics A-Level conference.
A Tory pupil tried to take him down & got absolutely mollered by him.
But then Prescott did something surprising: he apologised, said it was a fair question & gave a long answer. I really respected that
Robert Saunders retweeted
Strongly support this - far too much time spent talking about who is winning and not enough on what is at stake
Should the U.K. ban polling for a period before an election? Other countries do — and top Tory & Labour strategists both see the case for it. Latest story from my book Landslide with @REWearmouth here
politico.eu/article/ban-poll…
We shouldn't (and, realistically, can't) ban polling before an election - but we *can* stop organising our entire electoral coverage around it.
An election is a choice to be debated, not just a race to be forecast.
Should the U.K. ban polling for a period before an election? Other countries do — and top Tory & Labour strategists both see the case for it. Latest story from my book Landslide with @REWearmouth here
politico.eu/article/ban-poll…
I got to live and work in this magical place for eight years. Pretty much every day I'd be taken aback by how beautiful it was.
I'm a PhD student at @UniofOxford and I think I'm living in a fairytale :-)
Foxes playing around in the snow at Magdalen College this morning — absolutely magical!
Surreal moment on #r4today: @amolrajan asks @bphillipsonMP how she'll vote on assisted dying; she answers, but stresess that MPs must decide without govt pressure. Rajan then asks how she can justifying answering his question.
"Today" has to break its obsession with the "gotcha"
If being honest about the dire state of the public finances spooks the markets, doesn't the problem lie with those who brought the public finances to that state?
When your economy relies on hoping that no one looks beneath the bonnet, your economy is heading for trouble.
The economic damage caused by Labour's negative publicity was eminently predictable I'm afraid, and is clear evidence of Labour putting their political advantage ahead of the national interest.
thetimes.com/business-money/…
Wonderful to hear @j_amesmarriott, on #R4Today, defend the humanities on human, not just economic principles.
As he says, an understanding of the past or a joy in music is of value in itself.
It's not just a means to teach employable skills or secure a good starting salary.
Universities themselves have internalised the language of "employable skills" and "average starting salaries".
They need to be bolder in arguing that we are humans and citizens, not just future inputs into GDP.
I had a go at that case here: xitter.cf/redhistorian/status/11…