Dan Hancox
@danhancox.bsky.social
Journalist and author from south London. Latest book: MULTITUDES: How Crowds Made the Modern World (Verso 2024).
https://cursedobjects.podbean.com/
https://danhancox.substack.com/
https://cursedobjects.podbean.com/
https://danhancox.substack.com/
Pinned
Dan Hancox
@danhancox.bsky.social
· Feb 24
BBC Radio 4 - Thinking Allowed, Crowds
The rich and diverse history of crowds in entertainment, sports and politics.
www.bbc.co.uk
A heads-up: I will be on Thinking Allowed tmw at 3.30pm talking about crowds and my new book, Multitudes @versobooks.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
Reposted by Dan Hancox
50 years since the death of Francisco Franco, @danhancox.bsky.social reports how the families of the many victims are still seeking justice.
https://bit.ly/4pcV0ad
https://bit.ly/4pcV0ad
The families of Franco’s victims still seeking justice 50 years after his death | The Observer
bit.ly
November 20, 2025 at 4:50 PM
50 years since the death of Francisco Franco, @danhancox.bsky.social reports how the families of the many victims are still seeking justice.
https://bit.ly/4pcV0ad
https://bit.ly/4pcV0ad
Reposted by Dan Hancox
Really good article about a history I knew very little about.
But that’s not just me being ignorant.
As Dan put it (in DMs), ‘The Pact of Forgetting is a thing with capital letters and its own Wikipedia page.’
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pact_of...
But that’s not just me being ignorant.
As Dan put it (in DMs), ‘The Pact of Forgetting is a thing with capital letters and its own Wikipedia page.’
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pact_of...
November 17, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Really good article about a history I knew very little about.
But that’s not just me being ignorant.
As Dan put it (in DMs), ‘The Pact of Forgetting is a thing with capital letters and its own Wikipedia page.’
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pact_of...
But that’s not just me being ignorant.
As Dan put it (in DMs), ‘The Pact of Forgetting is a thing with capital letters and its own Wikipedia page.’
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pact_of...
Reposted by Dan Hancox
“Franco died not in a ditch but in bed, as a victor, and he left behind this legacy: that justice would not to be served, that the amnesty law would be signed, that everyone would be pardoned and that his successors would sign up to a pact of silence – of forgetting.”
— Andrés Rebolledo Barreno
— Andrés Rebolledo Barreno
November 17, 2025 at 9:25 PM
“Franco died not in a ditch but in bed, as a victor, and he left behind this legacy: that justice would not to be served, that the amnesty law would be signed, that everyone would be pardoned and that his successors would sign up to a pact of silence – of forgetting.”
— Andrés Rebolledo Barreno
— Andrés Rebolledo Barreno
Reposted by Dan Hancox
Happy to report @danhancox.bsky.social is back on his bullshit (complimentary)
observer.co.uk/style/featur...
observer.co.uk/style/featur...
The families of Franco’s victims still seeking justice 50 years after his death | The Observer
observer.co.uk
November 18, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Happy to report @danhancox.bsky.social is back on his bullshit (complimentary)
observer.co.uk/style/featur...
observer.co.uk/style/featur...
Reposted by Dan Hancox
‘There were more than 45,000 forcibly disappeared people in Andalucía alone – and yet, as far as the state is concerned, no one forced them to disappear.’
@danhancox.bsky.social on Spain’s deep failures of memory and accountability re. the Franco regime.
observer.co.uk/style/featur...
@danhancox.bsky.social on Spain’s deep failures of memory and accountability re. the Franco regime.
observer.co.uk/style/featur...
The families of Franco’s victims still seeking justice 50 years after his death | The Observer
observer.co.uk
November 17, 2025 at 9:22 PM
‘There were more than 45,000 forcibly disappeared people in Andalucía alone – and yet, as far as the state is concerned, no one forced them to disappear.’
@danhancox.bsky.social on Spain’s deep failures of memory and accountability re. the Franco regime.
observer.co.uk/style/featur...
@danhancox.bsky.social on Spain’s deep failures of memory and accountability re. the Franco regime.
observer.co.uk/style/featur...
Reposted by Dan Hancox
This is a great book for all people who've been part of a protest and then talked about as a mindless mob in the papers the next day. 'Wait,' you think. 'I was there and my mind was still working.' Yet the establishment does this over and over and it turns out it has a long history.
🟡 MULTITUDES: How Crowds Made the Modern World is out in paperback from @versobooks.bsky.social today 🟡 www.versobooks.com/en-gb/produc...
November 4, 2025 at 1:51 PM
This is a great book for all people who've been part of a protest and then talked about as a mindless mob in the papers the next day. 'Wait,' you think. 'I was there and my mind was still working.' Yet the establishment does this over and over and it turns out it has a long history.
🟡 MULTITUDES: How Crowds Made the Modern World is out in paperback from @versobooks.bsky.social today 🟡 www.versobooks.com/en-gb/produc...
November 4, 2025 at 12:46 PM
🟡 MULTITUDES: How Crowds Made the Modern World is out in paperback from @versobooks.bsky.social today 🟡 www.versobooks.com/en-gb/produc...
Reposted by Dan Hancox
My latest Guardian Long Read is about a shadowy area of criminal law that has exploded since austerity, and what “two tier justice” really means in Britain: www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...
‘The police weren’t interested’: what’s driving the rise in private prosecutions?
The long read: As the police and courts continue to struggle with the legacy of austerity, many people are seeking alternative routes to justice – but it could be making matters worse
www.theguardian.com
October 23, 2025 at 11:50 AM
My latest Guardian Long Read is about a shadowy area of criminal law that has exploded since austerity, and what “two tier justice” really means in Britain: www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...
I notice Thames Water have the main ad on the New Statesman politics podcast. I recall Uber had a running NS ad about how brilliantly they treat their employees... an interesting slot that, for some of the worst companies. I guess they figure SPADs listen www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Thames Water ranked worst supplier in England as firms’ ratings hit record low
Environment Agency rates eight of nine companies as poor and needing improvement
www.theguardian.com
October 23, 2025 at 10:06 AM
I notice Thames Water have the main ad on the New Statesman politics podcast. I recall Uber had a running NS ad about how brilliantly they treat their employees... an interesting slot that, for some of the worst companies. I guess they figure SPADs listen www.theguardian.com/business/202...
The Inbetweeners is making a comeback, which is confusing, because I'm sure we were told by tedious culture warriors that this was against the laws of physics
October 14, 2025 at 2:18 PM
The Inbetweeners is making a comeback, which is confusing, because I'm sure we were told by tedious culture warriors that this was against the laws of physics
Starmer's almost directly quoted The Day Today's mock campaign ad: "we know that all conflict will perish in the brotherhood of flags" www.youtube.com/watch?v=T72T...
The Day Today - It's Alright
YouTube video by Paloopah
www.youtube.com
September 30, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Starmer's almost directly quoted The Day Today's mock campaign ad: "we know that all conflict will perish in the brotherhood of flags" www.youtube.com/watch?v=T72T...
Last week I published the full transcript from Burial's last ever interview on my Substack. The conversation took place the month before Untrue came out in October 2007, in my living room in Tooting. Suffice it to say people have gone a bit nuts over it 💗 danhancox.substack.com/p/burials-la...
Burial's last interview
A little exclusive, because why not
danhancox.substack.com
September 29, 2025 at 10:39 AM
Last week I published the full transcript from Burial's last ever interview on my Substack. The conversation took place the month before Untrue came out in October 2007, in my living room in Tooting. Suffice it to say people have gone a bit nuts over it 💗 danhancox.substack.com/p/burials-la...
Reposted by Dan Hancox
missed this: the Met promising to put its facial recognition tech onto officers' phones to be used on the spot. how long until every conversation with the police involves getting your face scanned? www.nytimes.com/2025/09/17/t...
September 18, 2025 at 12:28 PM
missed this: the Met promising to put its facial recognition tech onto officers' phones to be used on the spot. how long until every conversation with the police involves getting your face scanned? www.nytimes.com/2025/09/17/t...
Reposted by Dan Hancox
- you clean up that banksy?
- sure did, your honour, leaving a perfect, permanent outline, imbuing the work with real fuckin gravitas while making its point better than the artist did himself just like you asked
- sure did, your honour, leaving a perfect, permanent outline, imbuing the work with real fuckin gravitas while making its point better than the artist did himself just like you asked
They erased the new Banksy mural in London. But the stain remains.
September 10, 2025 at 1:02 PM
- you clean up that banksy?
- sure did, your honour, leaving a perfect, permanent outline, imbuing the work with real fuckin gravitas while making its point better than the artist did himself just like you asked
- sure did, your honour, leaving a perfect, permanent outline, imbuing the work with real fuckin gravitas while making its point better than the artist did himself just like you asked
I have a name, Jim! ;) open.substack.com/pub/danhanco...
September 9, 2025 at 11:51 AM
I have a name, Jim! ;) open.substack.com/pub/danhanco...
Reposted by Dan Hancox
Don’t ignore that the bbc asked a racist question here
Asked by the BBC how he would feel if "your daughter was having to walk past one of these [asylum] hotels every day?" Keir Starmer replies that "I completely get it".
"I understand why people want the hotels closed. I want them closed".
"I understand why people want the hotels closed. I want them closed".
September 1, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Don’t ignore that the bbc asked a racist question here
It has been an astonishing realisation / waste of my valuable time to learn that Lucy Mangan's review was if anything too kind to Destination X - aka GeoGuessr for people who have never ever thought about the outside world - hallucinatory is bang on though www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
Destination X review – the BBC’s big new reality competition will make you feel like you’re hallucinating
It’s like The Traitors meets Race Across the World, with contestants sent on a deliberately disorientating 175-mile helicopter ride – and then put onto a bus with no windows. And that’s before you con...
www.theguardian.com
August 26, 2025 at 2:19 PM
It has been an astonishing realisation / waste of my valuable time to learn that Lucy Mangan's review was if anything too kind to Destination X - aka GeoGuessr for people who have never ever thought about the outside world - hallucinatory is bang on though www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
Reposted by Dan Hancox
me on @cmatbaby.bsky.social’s EURO-COUNTRY and why it gives voice to a distressingly normalised post-recession malaise. i hope you read!
The emblem of modern Ireland? Not fiddles and Guinness but a soulless shopping plaza | Emer McHugh
The singer CMAT dances around a retail centre in a video for her new album. It is the elegy those of us who grew up in the post-Celtic tiger recession have been craving, says Irish writer Emer McHugh
www.theguardian.com
August 25, 2025 at 7:38 AM
me on @cmatbaby.bsky.social’s EURO-COUNTRY and why it gives voice to a distressingly normalised post-recession malaise. i hope you read!
Reposted by Dan Hancox
Can’t remember if I shared this already, but I recently did a live episode of @cursedobjectsuk.bsky.social with @luketurner.bsky.social, fab curator Kate Clements and of course @kasiatee.bsky.social and @danhancox.bsky.social. You can listen here:
War, Memory and Tat, LIVE - with Dr Charlotte Lydia Riley, Luke Turner and Kate Clements
Podcast Episode · Cursed Objects · 23/06/2025 · 59m
podcasts.apple.com
August 6, 2025 at 6:47 AM
Can’t remember if I shared this already, but I recently did a live episode of @cursedobjectsuk.bsky.social with @luketurner.bsky.social, fab curator Kate Clements and of course @kasiatee.bsky.social and @danhancox.bsky.social. You can listen here:
Reposted by Dan Hancox
A great read this book by @danhancox.bsky.social. Thank you Dan. An excellent closing paragraph too: ‘One of the greatest mistakes we have made in recent decades is to accept the idea that freedom is a quality that can be found and enjoyed only by the individual acting alone. #Booksky 💙📚 #AmRrading
August 6, 2025 at 2:59 AM
A great read this book by @danhancox.bsky.social. Thank you Dan. An excellent closing paragraph too: ‘One of the greatest mistakes we have made in recent decades is to accept the idea that freedom is a quality that can be found and enjoyed only by the individual acting alone. #Booksky 💙📚 #AmRrading
Reposted by Dan Hancox
Just learned a new expression which is fascinating but does resonate a bit with the first time I went to London alone as a callow 17 year old in 1980! ‘One was now in the urban danger zone where visitors from the country were thrown to the wolves,' the Swedish academic Orvar Löfgren #Crowds
August 5, 2025 at 6:15 AM
Just learned a new expression which is fascinating but does resonate a bit with the first time I went to London alone as a callow 17 year old in 1980! ‘One was now in the urban danger zone where visitors from the country were thrown to the wolves,' the Swedish academic Orvar Löfgren #Crowds
Reposted by Dan Hancox
More love for Cameron Winter/Geese here from @danhancox.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/danhanco...
open.substack.com/pub/danhanco...
You better come over with a crucifix...
The song of the year, two new Guardian features, an Essex music zine, and Cursed Objects
open.substack.com
July 30, 2025 at 11:12 AM
More love for Cameron Winter/Geese here from @danhancox.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/danhanco...
open.substack.com/pub/danhanco...
Reposted by Dan Hancox
‘‘Totalitarian movements are mass organisations of atomised, isolated individuals, Arendt wrote in The Origins of Totalitarianism.’’ From @danhancox.bsky.social’s Multitudes. Are we here now too? Reference is made to this in Adam Curtis’s #Shifty - did neoliberal capitalism create this too?
August 1, 2025 at 6:25 AM
‘‘Totalitarian movements are mass organisations of atomised, isolated individuals, Arendt wrote in The Origins of Totalitarianism.’’ From @danhancox.bsky.social’s Multitudes. Are we here now too? Reference is made to this in Adam Curtis’s #Shifty - did neoliberal capitalism create this too?
Reposted by Dan Hancox
Good morning, I've written a piece about the prime minister. I spoke to several dozen sources, including government insiders, former legal colleagues and campaigners to ask: what happened to Keir Starmer the heroic human rights lawyer? www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Starmer v Starmer: why is the former human rights lawyer so cautious about defending human rights?
The long read: Given his career as a human rights barrister, it was hoped Keir Starmer would be the PM to restore the UK’s commitment to international law. The reality tells a different story
www.theguardian.com
July 29, 2025 at 6:27 AM
Good morning, I've written a piece about the prime minister. I spoke to several dozen sources, including government insiders, former legal colleagues and campaigners to ask: what happened to Keir Starmer the heroic human rights lawyer? www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Great piece by @cianginty.bsky.social about the fascinating history of the bicycle as a liberating invention in Ireland (as it was in so many places!) www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The bicycle played a rich role in Ireland’s past. Now it is key to our future | Cian Ginty
Cycling was once a mass participation activity. Ben Healy’s dazzling Tour de France performances can help catalyse a revival, says editor Cian Ginty
www.theguardian.com
July 24, 2025 at 10:28 AM
Great piece by @cianginty.bsky.social about the fascinating history of the bicycle as a liberating invention in Ireland (as it was in so many places!) www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...