Hugh Pemberton
@hugh-pemberton.bsky.social
Recent British history is my thing (political, governmental, economic); armchair strategic studies my secret vice. Emeritus Prof at Bristol. Sometime historian of the UK civil service, more recently of Thatcherism. But often on my allotment these days .. more
Recent British history is my thing (political, governmental, economic); armchair strategic studies my secret vice. Emeritus Prof at Bristol. Sometime historian of the UK civil service, more recently of Thatcherism. But often on my allotment these days
Hugh R. Pemberton, FRHistS, is an academic historian specialising in the late twentieth-century British politics and British social and economic policy. As of 2018, he is Professor of Contemporary British History at the University of Bristol. .. more
Political science
54%
Economics
32%
The untold story that is told constantly and isn’t really true
Random Wikipedia pages delivered social media style as an antidote to doomscrolling (h/t @alphaville.ft.com )
xikipedia.org
xikipedia.org
Starmer's reported condition - incredibly unpopular, shorn of authority, probably un-reelectable and yet will stagger on for want of an alternative - is just the new normal of how Britain is governed. It was also true for two-thirds of May's premiership, half of Johnson's and all of Sunak's.
🧵
🎆🎉🥂!
First ‘practical PhDs’ awarded in China — for products rather than papers
The programme is designed to train more elite engineers who can help to boost the country’s innovation.
www.nature.com
This strikes me as a very good idea with considerable social utility. Though perhaps less of a break with some advanced engineering PhDs than it would be in other subjects?
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Starmer's reported condition - incredibly unpopular, shorn of authority, probably un-reelectable and yet will stagger on for want of an alternative - is just the new normal of how Britain is governed. It was also true for two-thirds of May's premiership, half of Johnson's and all of Sunak's.
Two Mandelsonian thoughts I have been cautious about sharing but I’m interested in what people think
Absolutely this 👇
www.ft.com
Armen Sarkissian - theoretical physicist and former Armenian president - argues we've moved from classical politics based around institutions and a degree of order to a quantum politics of profound uncertainty. An illuminating thesis, though perhaps overestimating how ordered things once were?
Reposted by Hugh Pemberton
Two Mandelsonian thoughts I have been cautious about sharing but I’m interested in what people think
The Murder of The Washington Post
Today’s layoffs are the latest attempt to kill what makes the paper special.
www.theatlantic.com
Bezos is a worm, but tbh, it would be easier to defend the WaPo if it was a better newspaper than it's become - less verbose, less pompous, less parochial, more courageous
www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
Pension scheme backlog reaches 120,000 as minister eyes June recovery
Cabinet Office minister says government is working to restore most aspects of the Civil Service Pension Scheme to agreed service levels by June
www.civilserviceworld.com
The fallout from the predictable failure of Capita to administer the civil service pension scheme is actually getting worse not better, with many thousands of recently-retired civil servants now going without pension payments.
www.civilserviceworld.com/professions/...
www.civilserviceworld.com/professions/...
Reposted by Hugh Pemberton
Wonder why the government has failed to hit its house building targets🤔 The private sector builds out at a rate that maximises returns to shareholders, not to deliver social objectives. Only when the public sector returns to the market in a major way will the situation change.
A Wargame Shows Just How Vulnerable Europe Is to a Russian Attack
With America disengaging, Russia might be ready for a new war much sooner than previously estimated.
www.wsj.com
It seems entirely plausible that - in the event of a ceasefire in Ukraine and a US withdrawal from its leadership role in NATO - Putin could switch his forces to attack the Baltics and that Europe's response would probably be both too hesitant and too weak to defend them
www.wsj.com/world/europe...
www.wsj.com/world/europe...
Is This Crypto’s Fimbulwinter?
Political power may not be enough to save the crypto cult
open.substack.com
Krugman on crypto: "Analyzing crypto prices isn’t like, say, analyzing housing prices ... because with crypto there are no fundamentals, it’s vibes all the way down". And once the vibes go ...
open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...
open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...
Many Victorian cities grew by tenfold in a century
Could ours do the same?
open.substack.com
The contrast between the Victorians' willingness to build and today's unwillingness (with all that entails for those not lucky enough to already have somewhere decent to live) is a stark one. This long discussion of the factors enabling C19 development is fascinating. From Works in Progress
Many Victorian cities grew by tenfold in a century
Could ours do the same?
open.substack.com
The contrast between the Victorians' willingness to build and today's unwillingness (with all that entails for those not lucky enough to already have somewhere decent to live) is a stark one. This long discussion of the factors enabling C19 development is fascinating. From Works in Progress
The Crypto-Hoarding Strategy Is Unraveling
Bitcoin fell below $76,000 on Saturday, saddling Michael Saylor’s Strategy with paper losses on its token purchases.
www.wsj.com
To the surprise of nobody with an ounce of sense the crypto craze has ended and a lot of people are starting to nurse heavy losses
www.wsj.com/finance/curr...
www.wsj.com/finance/curr...
How Elon Musk used SpaceX to rescue xAI and build a $1.25tn colossus
Billionaire folds rocket maker into a lossmaking AI start-up, betting scale and control can beat rivals to blockbuster IPO
www.ft.com
Episode #95 in the blockbuster series "The Long Con".
How Elon Musk used SpaceX to rescue xAI and build a $1.25tn colossus - www.ft.com/content/9d2b... via @FT
How Elon Musk used SpaceX to rescue xAI and build a $1.25tn colossus - www.ft.com/content/9d2b... via @FT
How the Murdoch Family Built an Empire—and Remade the News
Today, the name represents a story of profit and power unlike any other. But tracing the genealogy of Murdoch sleaze requires a long memory.
share.google
This is a very enjoyable hatchet job
How the Murdoch Family Built an Empire—and Remade the News | The New Yorker | by Andrew O'Hagan share.google/ldvLu9M1Vb5b...
How the Murdoch Family Built an Empire—and Remade the News | The New Yorker | by Andrew O'Hagan share.google/ldvLu9M1Vb5b...
The Predatory Hegemon
How Trump Wields American Power
reader.foreignaffairs.com
This is an excellent analysis of why Trump's ditching of the USA's benign imperialism in favour of predatory hegemony is ultimately almost bound to fail. By Stephen M. Walt @foreignaffairs.com
reader.foreignaffairs.com/2026/02/03/t...
reader.foreignaffairs.com/2026/02/03/t...
Leave NATO? No thanks Zack...
I don't think the Brazilian navy is coming to our rescue if Putin attacks
open.substack.com
This Paul Mason piece is very good
It is a tragedy for UK environmentalism, and for the country more generally, that the Green party has been taken over by the sort of far-lefties who took over and led Labour to an unprecedented electoral wipe out in 2019
open.substack.com/pub/htsf/p/l...
It is a tragedy for UK environmentalism, and for the country more generally, that the Green party has been taken over by the sort of far-lefties who took over and led Labour to an unprecedented electoral wipe out in 2019
open.substack.com/pub/htsf/p/l...
As Ashcroft points out, there is no quick fix for the Tories, who would be better advised to begin by thinking hard about why they lost so badly in the last election, accept and address the problems identified, then build a new policy programme from there
Two problems stand out for the Conservatives with "unite the right":
a) palling up with reform is likely to alienate 1 in 5 Conservative voters
b) it will also trigger an effective " unite the left" response via massive tactical voting
a) palling up with reform is likely to alienate 1 in 5 Conservative voters
b) it will also trigger an effective " unite the left" response via massive tactical voting
Unite the right, hold the centre… How should the Conservatives position themselves in Britain’s fragmented politics? - Lord Ashcroft Polls
The string of defections from the Conservatives to Reform has intensified both the schism on the right of politics and the debate over what to do about it. Prosper UK, the new group launched by Sir An...
lordashcroftpolls.com
This is an excellent and concise outline of the problems for the Conservatives in a "unite the right" electoral strategy lordashcroftpolls.com/2026/02/unit...
I wouldn't!
An ego trip to the movies | Robert Hutton | The Critic Magazine
A third of the way through Melania, Amazon’s very expensive film about the current first lady of the US – a first lady who, we’re left in no doubt, is the greatest first lady in the history of first…
thecritic.co.uk
The best (i.e. only) reason to go and see Melania the movie is that it "might be evidence in an impeachment trial. And in any case, it is an important document in the decline of American public life."
thecritic.co.uk/an-ego-trip-...
thecritic.co.uk/an-ego-trip-...
No death penalty for Luigi Mangione. Manhattan District Judge Margaret Garnett has dismissed Counts 3 and 4 of the federal indictment, including the capital murder charge and a related firearms offence.
He still faces two federal stalking counts. He’s entered not guilty pleas.
He still faces two federal stalking counts. He’s entered not guilty pleas.
What a joy it must be to live in a country where you can shoot someone dead, plead the "he ran a company that I felt was ripping me off" defence, and literally get away with murder