Mark Shanahan
@markshanahan.bsky.social
Political historian into US & UK politics. Associate Professor at the University of Surrey, sometimes on the radio/TV. Follower of the mighty Wycombe Wanderers & the underperforming Middlesex CCC. Into books, theatre & jangly guitars.
December 2, 2025 at 12:03 AM
December 1, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Irony that #piersmorgan is lecturing us all about lying this morning @bbclaurak.bsky.social. #BBCLauraK
November 30, 2025 at 9:34 AM
Irony that #piersmorgan is lecturing us all about lying this morning @bbclaurak.bsky.social. #BBCLauraK
Dull line of questioning from @bbclaurak.bsky.social to the Chancellor this morning - and Reeves clearly spent yesterday doing her homework and rehearsing for the 'gotchas'. The result, though, is hardly a meeting of minds. Is adversarial the best form of interview? ##bbclaurak
November 30, 2025 at 9:23 AM
Dull line of questioning from @bbclaurak.bsky.social to the Chancellor this morning - and Reeves clearly spent yesterday doing her homework and rehearsing for the 'gotchas'. The result, though, is hardly a meeting of minds. Is adversarial the best form of interview? ##bbclaurak
Funny how every generation thinks that they're the first generation of modern men #bbclaurak. I hate to burst your bubble @davidgandy.bsky.social...
November 30, 2025 at 9:03 AM
Funny how every generation thinks that they're the first generation of modern men #bbclaurak. I hate to burst your bubble @davidgandy.bsky.social...
November 30, 2025 at 9:01 AM
November 29, 2025 at 12:41 AM
November 28, 2025 at 12:05 AM
November 27, 2025 at 7:42 AM
Anything to read into @rthonwesstreeting.bsky.social not sitting on the Gov Front Bench for today's #Budget speech? He's a beneficiary and certainly has seniority. Yet he's choosing to park himself (in a good camera shot) beside The Speaker's chair. #BudgetCommentary
November 26, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Anything to read into @rthonwesstreeting.bsky.social not sitting on the Gov Front Bench for today's #Budget speech? He's a beneficiary and certainly has seniority. Yet he's choosing to park himself (in a good camera shot) beside The Speaker's chair. #BudgetCommentary
How much fiscal headroom does the Chancellor create by sacking the #OBR's digital media team? #BudgetCommentary
November 26, 2025 at 12:52 PM
How much fiscal headroom does the Chancellor create by sacking the #OBR's digital media team? #BudgetCommentary
The #OBR has now been renamed: 'Oh bloody hell'. #BudgetCommentary
November 26, 2025 at 12:49 PM
The #OBR has now been renamed: 'Oh bloody hell'. #BudgetCommentary
November 26, 2025 at 12:07 AM
November 25, 2025 at 7:08 AM
A microcosm for #Trump2.0. Malevolent and incompetent.
Comey: "I'm grateful the court ended the case against me, which was a prosecution based on malevolence & incompetence... I was inspired by the career people who refused to be part of this travesty. It cost some of them their jobs, but it preserved their integrity, which is beyond price"
November 24, 2025 at 8:18 PM
A microcosm for #Trump2.0. Malevolent and incompetent.
November 24, 2025 at 10:20 AM
November 23, 2025 at 12:07 AM
November 22, 2025 at 12:01 AM
November 21, 2025 at 12:05 AM
November 20, 2025 at 12:01 AM
November 19, 2025 at 8:09 AM
Trump is ensuring the release of the #DoJ - curated #EpsteinFiles is as slow and convoluted a process as possible - with a massive chance of it coming to a shuddering halt when he instructs #PamBondi to use the on-going investigation to keep them out of the public gaze.
If Donald Trump wants to release the Epstein files, he could just release them, instead of green-lighting the House resolution.
And it's not as if he cares whether he has statutory authority to do a lot of what he's been doing.
But he needs a law for this?
And it's not as if he cares whether he has statutory authority to do a lot of what he's been doing.
But he needs a law for this?
November 18, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Trump is ensuring the release of the #DoJ - curated #EpsteinFiles is as slow and convoluted a process as possible - with a massive chance of it coming to a shuddering halt when he instructs #PamBondi to use the on-going investigation to keep them out of the public gaze.
I'm quoted in this piece in @newsweek.com from @uniofsurrey.bsky.social. The Democrats caved - but the Republicans have to own the consequences not just of the shutdown, but of harsh policy and a slow economy.
According to polling by CBS News, 55 percent said Trump and Republicans got more of what they wanted from the shutdown deal.
Donald Trump Crushed Democrats With Government Shutdown Deal: Poll
www.newsweek.com
November 18, 2025 at 9:25 AM
I'm quoted in this piece in @newsweek.com from @uniofsurrey.bsky.social. The Democrats caved - but the Republicans have to own the consequences not just of the shutdown, but of harsh policy and a slow economy.
November 18, 2025 at 9:02 AM
November 17, 2025 at 9:52 PM