David Edgerton

@davidedgerton.bsky.social

Historian, currently at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin. https://www.davidedgerton.org/

David Edgerton FBA is an English historian and educator. He was educated at St John's College, Oxford, and Imperial College London. After teaching the economics of science and technology and the history of science and technology at the University of Manchester, he became the founding director of the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine at Imperial College, London, and Hans Rausing Professor. He has held a Major Research Fellowship (2006–2009) from the Leverhulme Trust. In 2013, he led the move of the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine to the Department of History of King's College London. Edgerton's books include Warfare State: Britain 1920–1970 and The Shock of the Old: Technology and Global History since 1900. Edgerton was elected a fellow of the British Academy in 2021. .. more

Political science 37%

Philosophy 18%

Posts Replies Media Videos

Reposted by David Edgerton

Alan Allport @alanallport.bsky.social · 17d

Many thanks to @phillipspobrien.bsky.social @davidedgerton.bsky.social and others for these endorsements! #AdvanceBritannia

Reposted by Dave O’Brien, David Edgerton, Lucy Delap , and 1 more Dave O’Brien, David Edgerton, Lucy Delap, Kate Bradley

Modern British Studies Association @modbritstud.bsky.social · 25d

We're excited to announce the call for papers for #MBS26, the next Modern British Studies conference, at Birmingham in June 2026. We'll be launching the #MBS Association at this event, to support further regular conferences in Modern British Studies.

www.birmingham.ac.uk/events/moder...

Modern British Studies Conference 2026 - University of Birmingham

Conference information

www.birmingham.ac.uk

David Edgerton @davidedgerton.bsky.social · 28d

Very insightful comparison of the significance of Margaret Thatcher and the Queen for understanding where we have been led to from @anthonybarnett.bsky.social www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

What did Mrs Thatcher do to us?

Less a prime minister than a monarch, the Tory leader’s real legacy was stasis

www.newstatesman.com

Reposted by Dave O’Brien, Lesley A. Hall, David Edgerton , and 3 more Dave O’Brien, Lesley A. Hall, David Edgerton, Keith Lilley, Margot C. Finn, Katrina Navickas

Peter Mandler @petermandler.bsky.social · Oct 10

Join us for a roundtable on 'The Modern British City' in January at Senate House, London, with Simon Gunn, Erika Hanna, Owen Hatherley, Peter Mandler, Otto Saumarez Smith and Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite, followed by wine! www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

Roundtable: 'The Modern British City'

www.history.ac.uk

Reposted by David Edgerton, Holger Nehring

The New Statesman @newstatesman1913.bsky.social · Sep 30

Keir Starmer’s Labour conference speech: our writers’ verdicts

David Edgerton, Faiza Shaheen and Maurice Glasman respond to the Prime Minister

Keir Starmer’s conference speech: our writers’ verdicts

David Edgerton, Faiza Shaheen and Maurice Glasman respond to the Prime Minister

www.newstatesman.com

Reposted by David Edgerton

Jonathan Shainin @shainin.bsky.social · Sep 15

Our new magazine, Equator, is officially out in the world — and here @equatormag.bsky.social
Sign up for preview emails, donate, and get tickets to our launch event in London: equator.org

Reposted by David Edgerton

Ewan Gibbs @ewangibbs.bsky.social · Sep 14

We’ve heard a lot about flags but turbines and steelworks are the true stuff of economic sovereignty. Britain has been blatantly exposed as dependent on foreign governments and multinationals, as demonstrated by the recent closure of Grentmouth oil refinery. Read more in my @lrb.co.uk article ⬇️

Ewan Gibbs · Goodbye to Grangemouth

Any form of ‘just transition’ – managing the move to a greener economy while also protecting workers and...

www.lrb.co.uk

David Edgerton @davidedgerton.bsky.social · Aug 24

A rich study of the extraordinary radicalisation of the British right.

John Merrick @johnmerrick.bsky.social · Aug 23

For the @newstatesman.com i profiled Dominic Cummings – a case study in elite radicalisation
www.newstatesman.com/ideas/2025/0...

The rage of Dominic Cummings

Britain’s rogue intellectual has predicted a civil war. Is he also cheerleading one?

www.newstatesman.com

Reposted by Steve Peers, David Edgerton

John Merrick @johnmerrick.bsky.social · Aug 23

For the @newstatesman.com i profiled Dominic Cummings – a case study in elite radicalisation
www.newstatesman.com/ideas/2025/0...

The rage of Dominic Cummings

Britain’s rogue intellectual has predicted a civil war. Is he also cheerleading one?

www.newstatesman.com

Reposted by David Edgerton

Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · Aug 4

I think often about how the historian @davidedgerton.bsky.social predicted the disturbing extremist slide in UK politics, in this interview conducted in the summer of 2023 and recounted in my book What Everyone Knows About Britain* (*Except the British).

linktr.ee/whateveryone...

David Edgerton @davidedgerton.bsky.social · Jul 30

Yup www.ft.com/content/a48c...

David Edgerton @davidedgerton.bsky.social · Jul 30

Quite right - it macerated the brain. It’s time to retire the word ‘technology’

Reposted by David Edgerton

David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · Feb 9

Further reflection, but the thought has been building for a while. To restore UK growth, the government has to bury the tribute-Thatcherism which has dominated the economic approach for too long (and isn't actually that reminiscent of the 1980s).

And this is a story of Labour Party history.

David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · Feb 9

The TL:DR is this - as a mid-size power the UK can be a regulatory player or it can focus on growth through trade.

Time for the UK to choose whether Brexit means absolute sovereignty or trade.

Reposted by David Edgerton, Lea Ypi

Jonathan White @jonathanpjwhite.bsky.social · Feb 18

A piece I wrote for the Guardian:
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

How Trump and the new right came to ‘own’ the future – while apparently exploiting the past | Jonathan White

The centre left’s failure has left a vacuum that’s been filled by those offering hope, rather than a technocratic status quo, says the LSE’s Jonathan White

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by David Edgerton

Duncan Robinson @duncanrobinson.bsky.social · Feb 20

Wrote column on *why* Britons are so happily hawkish on Russia www.economist.com/britain/2025...

How Britons became happy hawks on Russia

They simply love to poke the bear

www.economist.com

Reposted by David Edgerton

Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · Feb 23

"Utterly delusional" does not even come close.

archive.ph/OVHMg

On AI, where Europe is on course to over-regulate, Starmer is keen to get closer to the US. “The UK needs to move forward and seize the opportunity of not being Europe,” a source familiar with Mandelson’s letter explained. The prize, Downing Street believes, is a big one that could ease Rachel Reeves’s problems in balancing the books. “AI is transformational,” the Starmer aide said. “What you’re talking about is a level of productivity growth that means everybody in the world, in ten years’ time, is going to be more productive than the most productive person in the world today. We have to make sure that we are in a position to quickly take advantage of it.”

Reposted by David Edgerton

Stian Westlake @stianwestlake.bsky.social · Feb 26

For a long time, people have talked about the need for a 'strategic brain' for the UK's innovation system.

Some thoughts on how to build an ambitious R&D analytic capability to make that a reality.

open.substack.com/pub/magicsmo...

A Strategic Brain for the R&D Ecosystem

How to build a shared analytic capability for public R&D investment

open.substack.com

Reposted by David Edgerton

David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · Mar 12

I'm adding civil service reform to industrial strategy, immigration and regulation as subjects where aggressive government briefing bears no resemblance to what is likely to happen.

As a driver of populism this gap between rhetoric and reality is perfect. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Plan to cut thousands of civil service jobs in radical government shake-up

Exclusive: Proposals also include cutting thousands of civil service jobs and restructuring NHS England

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by David Edgerton

King's Arts & Humanities @kingsartshums.bsky.social · May 9

🔊 Listen to Professor David Edgerton on BBC Radio 4 discussing the history of Science and the end of WW2.

Listen from 10.50.00 ⬇️

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

BBC Inside Science - The mysteries of the ocean floor - BBC Sounds

A new study says 99.999% of the world’s deep seafloor is still unseen by humans.

www.bbc.co.uk

Reposted by David Edgerton

Angus Bylsma @angusbylsma.bsky.social · Jun 17

This week’s review! — on @davidedgerton.bsky.social’s The Rise and Fall of the British Nation. Well, less of a review than a discussion of how Edgerton sheds light on the pitfalls of gentlemanly capitalism. Plus a bit about Hobsbawm the nationalist at the end!

Out of Empire

The Rise and Fall of the British Nation: A Twentieth Century History, David Edgerton, 2018.

unevenandcombinedthoughts.substack.com

Reposted by David Edgerton

David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · Jun 24

An ECIPE colleague suggested some time ago that most developed countries sought similar industries - cars, pharma, diverse advanced manufacturing, ICT etc - whereupon the main flaw of the UK industrial strategy - that it tries to make this focus the main story. www.ft.com/content/ec40...

Was Labour’s industrial strategy worth the wait?

Long-awaited plan focuses on bringing down energy costs and promoting eight sectors, but includes repurposed commitments

www.ft.com

Reposted by David Edgerton, Sarah Brouillette

The Guardian @theguardian.com · Jul 14

The right wants us to think Britain is on the verge of ethnic conflict. The truth is worse than that | John Merrick

In blaming problems on migrant ‘outsiders’, prophets of decline are paving the way for harder borders and mass deportations, says John Merrick, deputy editor of the Break-Down

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by David Edgerton

David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · Jul 24

I'm a big fan of the colourful briefs given by government teams regarding how brilliant they were to achieve trade deals, obviously effort was involved, but a mostly tariff reducing UK-India deal was always on offer - it was lowering UK ambition that got the deal. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

‘People said it would never be done’: UK and India trade agreement defies expectations

For Britain, this is a much-needed post-Brexit boost, and for India it shows decades of protectionism are in the past

www.theguardian.com

David Edgerton @davidedgerton.bsky.social · Jul 16

Starmer's party has an extraordinary capacity to prove its critics right. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Keir Starmer removes Labour whip from four ‘persistent rebel’ MPs

Rachael Maskell, Neil Duncan-Jordan, Brian Leishman and Chris Hinchliff pushed out and three trade envoys lose roles

www.theguardian.com

David Edgerton @davidedgerton.bsky.social · Jul 14

Even declinism gets worse - nice from @johnmerrick.bsky.social

The Guardian @theguardian.com · Jul 14

The right wants us to think Britain is on the verge of ethnic conflict. The truth is worse than that | John Merrick

In blaming problems on migrant ‘outsiders’, prophets of decline are paving the way for harder borders and mass deportations, says John Merrick, deputy editor of the Break-Down

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by David Edgerton

David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · Jul 7

If only I didn't waste my time researching stuff and instead just went on about "blockchain-based trade initiatives" I could presumably earn a lot more money...

David Edgerton @davidedgerton.bsky.social · Jul 4

I've written about Keir Starmer's government in its first year www.newstatesman.com/politics/lab...

Annus horribilis

Keir Starmer’s government does not represent the true Labour Party.

www.newstatesman.com

David Edgerton @davidedgerton.bsky.social · Jun 28

I agree that not running things well is a big problem but I think what we take to be management, and management training, is part of the problem rather than the solution …

David Edgerton @davidedgerton.bsky.social · Jun 24

Yup - big, big problem.

David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · Jun 24

Was Labour’s industrial strategy worth the wait?

Long-awaited plan focuses on bringing down energy costs and promoting eight sectors, but includes repurposed commitments

www.ft.com

David Edgerton @davidedgerton.bsky.social · Jun 23

Haven't digested yet, but there are 16 world-leadings and 8 superpowers in the text ...
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/685854...

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk

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