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Lewis Baston

@lewisbaston.bsky.social

20K followers 1.8K following 3.6K posts

Author of ‘Borderlines’ (Hodder, 2024). Psephologist, cat ‘owner’, traveller, flâneur. https://www.hodder.co.uk/titles/lewis-baston/borderlines/9781399723763/

www.hodder.co.uk

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Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 17d

Delighted to announce that Borderlines is one of @waterstones.bsky.social paperbacks of the year!

Image of the cover of Borderlines, with a photograph of an abandoned customs post in the mist, on a gold background. The text to the right reads Waterstones Paperbacks of the Year.

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Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 3h

Unzoomed #631 3/6 🔴🔴🟢⚪️⚪️⚪️
unzoomed.com didn’t look up the named landmark in round 2 that will give it away for those who know.

Unzoomed

Identify cities using satellite images in this daily puzzle game, where each guess zooms out for enhanced clues.

unzoomed.com

Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 3h

Parish announcement for fellow Unzoomed fans. I’m not that surprised as it seemed the work of one fellow’s enthusiasm. I’m willing to chip in a bit but it would be a lot less fun if I didn’t have company in doing so. No subscription rate posted yet as far as I can see.

Unzoomed is shutting down
Ads do not make up for the costs of our map provider, even with the generous discount they give us. To keep Unzoomed alive, we are switching to a paid subscription model, with no ads.
Free access will be shut down on December
Ist, 2025.

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Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 4h

The historical parallels are just too wincingly crude now, aren’t they?

Olga Nesterova @onestpress.onestnetwork.com · 12h

Press pool: “On Trump’s desk in the Oval Office today was a plan for a triumphal arch on the other side of the river from the Lincoln Memorial”

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Reposted by Lewis Baston

Barney Stringer @barneystringer.bsky.social · 17h

Now you don’t have to choose! Both of

@jonnelledge.bsky.social History of the World in 47 Borders, and

@lewisbaston.bsky.social
Borderlines: History of Europe in 29 Borders,

are 99p on Kindle at the moment. (Only 2.6p per border…)

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Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 20h

Boring but necessary notice: don’t get too excited about one poll. Also, check the record of the polling company to see if they often produce outliers.

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Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 23h

This is not an invitation for Mancunians to defend the honour of their orbital motorway.

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Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 23h

The M60 is rubbish as well. I was staying in Harlem and was going to see a friend in Astoria and it took over an hour (I was late but she nobly hung on, and told me not to put my faith in crosstown buses). How people with flights at LGA are supposed to cope with it, I don’t know.

Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 1d

"On Wednesday, Mr. Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, rode the full route of the M57, a crosstown bus that traverses Midtown Manhattan and is one of the city’s slowest, to remind New Yorkers that he wanted to speed up their commutes."

Mamdani Rides Slow Bus to ‘Fast and Free’ Buses Event

www.nytimes.com

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Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 1d

I always find @jorisluyendijk.bsky.social interesting.

Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 1d

I bow to her wisdom. My vocabulary has hereby shrunk by one word.

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Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 1d

If this is a ruling backed by the ultimate authority (Daphne) I’ll expunge ‘nestled’ from my mental dictionary.

Lily, a white cat, curled like a furry croissant in a corner and definitely not xxxxxxx

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Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 1d

I hate ‘iconic’. I think it’s an LLM word as well as a sign of authorial laziness. Editors are welcome to summon me to the office for a ceremonial arse-kicking if it’s in something I write. Likewise ‘quintessentially’ but there are occasions when a ‘nestled’ might be permitted or excused.

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Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 1d

As an intern I was conscious that I was in the presence of a legend when in the presence of Ed. His stories told in the pub are probably even now not suitable for publication. I didn’t know much about his later career but I’m sorry the world has lost him so soon.

Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 1d

If I’ve never heard of something, I feel conscious of a gap in my knowledge and try to remedy that situation. This might also be why I have trouble sticking to what I’m supposed to be doing, but still.

Tom Cox @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social · 1d

I can never understand why some people view "Never heard of it!" as a withering insult. Loads of things virtually nobody has ever heard of are brilliant. Not all things virtually everybody has heard of are total dogshit, but my empirical research has demonstrated to me that a vast number are.

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Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 1d

F. E. Smith cartoon. Almost enough to make one take up Conservatism or smoking.

Spy cartoon for Vanity Fair, 1906 or 1907 I can’t remember. F. E. Smith is depicted formally dressed, a cigarette holder in his right hand with an elegant curl of smoke rising from it. His face is rendered nearly triangular, his expression suggests he is about to deliver a witty remark.

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Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 1d

The ‘Spy’ cartoon of Smith on the cover of John Campbell’s book was fantastic.

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Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 1d

Holborn

Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 1d

What’s the word where you’re from that, when pronounced exactly as it looks, identifies a tourist immediately?

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Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 1d

Unzoomed #630 1/6 🟢⚪️⚪️⚪️⚪️⚪️
unzoomed.com hello, my old friend.

Unzoomed

Identify cities using satellite images in this daily puzzle game, where each guess zooms out for enhanced clues.

unzoomed.com

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Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 1d

Case for Howard is that he pulled the party out of its tailspin under IDS. Case for Macmillan is pretty strong - getting rid of the Empire without blowing up the party, economic growth and public services, sticking with Keynesianism in 1958, winning a big majority, relations with JFK.

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Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 1d

Nearly won the October 1964 election that looked unwinnable as late as May, and resigned in 1965 without outstaying his welcome, bequeathing the party a proper leadership election system.

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Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 1d

I’d put Sir Alec a bit higher up the list in that he took over in a fraught situation and calmed the party down, and he ran Cabinet pretty well. He was respected in foreign policy and his government invested a lot in housing and public services…

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Reposted by Lewis Baston

Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 1d

I was in Pézenas 🇫🇷 yesterday and there are a lot of fine doors scattered around town. This one was at the Museum of Doors so they had to put on a bit of a show. #AdoorableThursday

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Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 1d

Well, why would there be Antifa in Weimar Germany I wonder? And is the world a better place for it not succeeding?

Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 1d

From Donald Trump's Roundtable on Antifa just now —
"Antifa has been around in various iterations for almost 100 years in some instances, going back to the Weimar Republic in Germany."
— special guest Jack Posobiec

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Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 1d

Alt text: a classical style door, painted red. In front of it is a rock with a large model door nail in it.

Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 1d

I was in Pézenas 🇫🇷 yesterday and there are a lot of fine doors scattered around town. This one was at the Museum of Doors so they had to put on a bit of a show. #AdoorableThursday

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Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 1d

Hope you are enjoying it!