Nicholas Guyatt
@nicholasguyatt.bsky.social
I teach American history at Cambridge. Views/opinions strictly personal. Content 40% political, 30% historical, 30% cat photos but ratio under constant review
Pinned
I know I have been promising this forever but the Oxford Illustrated History of the United States will finally be out in June of next year, just in time to help unite the nation around the 250th
Even in the 'unipolar' years of the 1990s, US presidents were exasperated by their inability to control the United Nations; the idea of replacing the unruly Security Council with a pliant 'Board of Peace' is really a sign of US decline in the world, not of Trump's strength
January 18, 2026 at 12:48 AM
Even in the 'unipolar' years of the 1990s, US presidents were exasperated by their inability to control the United Nations; the idea of replacing the unruly Security Council with a pliant 'Board of Peace' is really a sign of US decline in the world, not of Trump's strength
A really excellent analysis of imperialism, gangsterism and regionalism under Trump 47 - and some sobering thoughts about the connections between violence abroad and the white nationalist agenda at home thedigradio.com/podcast/maga...
MAGA Empire w/ Aslı Bâli and Greg Grandin
Featuring Aslı Bâli and Greg Grandin on the MAGA model of US imperialism.
thedigradio.com
January 17, 2026 at 8:20 PM
A really excellent analysis of imperialism, gangsterism and regionalism under Trump 47 - and some sobering thoughts about the connections between violence abroad and the white nationalist agenda at home thedigradio.com/podcast/maga...
I think the 'reverse discrimination' line is not a good look, for sure
January 8, 2026 at 7:55 PM
I think the 'reverse discrimination' line is not a good look, for sure
So much for the Trinity Hall reboot! www.theguardian.com/education/20...
Cambridge college to target elite private schools for student recruitment
Exclusive: Trinity Hall’s new policy described as a ‘slap in the face’ for state-educated students
www.theguardian.com
January 8, 2026 at 3:31 PM
So much for the Trinity Hall reboot! www.theguardian.com/education/20...
A military capture of Russian-flagged vessels at sea won't seem like small stuff to most of the world, and the idea that a US sanctions regime can be seen as legitimate by the rest of us when the Trump administration is burning down the international order is also a hard sell right now
January 7, 2026 at 4:29 PM
A military capture of Russian-flagged vessels at sea won't seem like small stuff to most of the world, and the idea that a US sanctions regime can be seen as legitimate by the rest of us when the Trump administration is burning down the international order is also a hard sell right now
Hard to reconcile the flagrant illegality of US policy towards Venezuela this past week with the idea of a 'legal' sanctions regime - and I suspect that that regime will end up being highly selective rather than consistently enforced, in terms of Venezuela/Iran vs Ukraine
January 7, 2026 at 4:20 PM
Hard to reconcile the flagrant illegality of US policy towards Venezuela this past week with the idea of a 'legal' sanctions regime - and I suspect that that regime will end up being highly selective rather than consistently enforced, in terms of Venezuela/Iran vs Ukraine
Madness for the UK government to get involved in the increasingly unhinged and dangerous foreign policy of the Trump administration, but Keir Starmer seems determined to outdo Tony Blair in becoming lickspittle-in-chief to a rogue U.S. president
January 7, 2026 at 4:08 PM
Madness for the UK government to get involved in the increasingly unhinged and dangerous foreign policy of the Trump administration, but Keir Starmer seems determined to outdo Tony Blair in becoming lickspittle-in-chief to a rogue U.S. president
Ha ha! I mean Mike Lupica and George Will were *kinda* your colleagues, right?
January 6, 2026 at 7:47 PM
Ha ha! I mean Mike Lupica and George Will were *kinda* your colleagues, right?
You probably don't have a lot of bandwidth for recreational reading about a divided America, but just on the off chance I have a piece on the Mason-Dixon Line in the latest edition of the New York Review of Books www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
The Most Rancorous Line | Nicholas Guyatt
How did the Mason–Dixon Line—meant to resolve a longstanding colonial border dispute—come to represent the US’s foundational divide between slavery and freedom?
www.nybooks.com
January 6, 2026 at 7:38 PM
You probably don't have a lot of bandwidth for recreational reading about a divided America, but just on the off chance I have a piece on the Mason-Dixon Line in the latest edition of the New York Review of Books www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
Pure cowardice on the part of every European leader who refuses to call out the Trump administration for what it is: a criminal and utterly lawless extortion racket which poses a grave danger to the security of the entire world
January 6, 2026 at 1:47 PM
Pure cowardice on the part of every European leader who refuses to call out the Trump administration for what it is: a criminal and utterly lawless extortion racket which poses a grave danger to the security of the entire world
I often think about this Guardian piece from 2011 insisting that we shouldn't equate the Daily Mail of the 1930s - "Hurrah for the Blackshirts!" and all that - with the Daily Mail of today. And I'm afraid I think today's paper is at least as bad, and maybe worse
January 5, 2026 at 6:53 PM
I often think about this Guardian piece from 2011 insisting that we shouldn't equate the Daily Mail of the 1930s - "Hurrah for the Blackshirts!" and all that - with the Daily Mail of today. And I'm afraid I think today's paper is at least as bad, and maybe worse
In the upside down world of the Daily Mail, If you're opposed to the US invading another country, kidnapping its president and then telling the world of its plan to "run" that country indefinitely, you're a "Maduro apologist"
January 5, 2026 at 6:49 PM
In the upside down world of the Daily Mail, If you're opposed to the US invading another country, kidnapping its president and then telling the world of its plan to "run" that country indefinitely, you're a "Maduro apologist"
Reposted by Nicholas Guyatt
that is what Bush said about Iraq - $7 trillion mistake
DID HE JUST SAY THE OIL WILL PAY FOR THE OCCUPATION
January 3, 2026 at 5:36 PM
that is what Bush said about Iraq - $7 trillion mistake
A gangster regime, with cheap dialogue to match
January 3, 2026 at 5:33 PM
A gangster regime, with cheap dialogue to match
So many lies in Trump's rambling speech, but his easy segue from the illegal use of the military overseas to the illegal use of the military in US cities is really chilling
January 3, 2026 at 5:02 PM
So many lies in Trump's rambling speech, but his easy segue from the illegal use of the military overseas to the illegal use of the military in US cities is really chilling
Hard not to wonder whether Trump has been using his recent hours-long phone calls with Putin to barter over Venezuela and eastern Ukraine; would be entirely on-brand for Trump to tell the Russian president about his invasion plan long before anyone in Congress gets the memo
January 3, 2026 at 3:15 PM
Hard not to wonder whether Trump has been using his recent hours-long phone calls with Putin to barter over Venezuela and eastern Ukraine; would be entirely on-brand for Trump to tell the Russian president about his invasion plan long before anyone in Congress gets the memo
Alas disaster for Venezuela and the region rather than the crooks and punks of the Trump administration, I fear
January 3, 2026 at 1:28 PM
Alas disaster for Venezuela and the region rather than the crooks and punks of the Trump administration, I fear
Feels as if there's a real gap in the market right now for a peace prize for people who actually promote peace
January 3, 2026 at 1:26 PM
Feels as if there's a real gap in the market right now for a peace prize for people who actually promote peace
Pro tip: If you're following the BBC's coverage of the Maduro abduction, it's worth googling the guests to see if they are Venezuelan defence industry entrepreneurs
January 3, 2026 at 1:22 PM
Pro tip: If you're following the BBC's coverage of the Maduro abduction, it's worth googling the guests to see if they are Venezuelan defence industry entrepreneurs
The media reaction to Trump's plainly illegal invasion/abduction this morning has been mostly shock, but Venezuelan opposition figures with "close ties to the US security establishment" have been boasting about this outcome for months (this from the FT in October)
January 3, 2026 at 1:20 PM
The media reaction to Trump's plainly illegal invasion/abduction this morning has been mostly shock, but Venezuelan opposition figures with "close ties to the US security establishment" have been boasting about this outcome for months (this from the FT in October)
Lemon pig has asked me to clarify that that's a 'Roman salute' in the second photo, bizarrely this materialised in late January/early Feb and has remained ever since
January 1, 2026 at 1:58 PM
Lemon pig has asked me to clarify that that's a 'Roman salute' in the second photo, bizarrely this materialised in late January/early Feb and has remained ever since
Happy new year, everyone! Seeing in the new year by burying our 2025 lemon pig with full honours, helluva year to be a lemon pig
January 1, 2026 at 1:56 PM
Happy new year, everyone! Seeing in the new year by burying our 2025 lemon pig with full honours, helluva year to be a lemon pig
Since the "tech prosperity deal" was engineered to give Sam Altman, Satya Nadella and Jensen Huang even more encouragement to build AI data centres and produce yet more AI slop, the UK may have dodged a bullet here
The US has suspended implementation of a technology deal it struck with the UK during Donald Trump’s state visit to Britain, amid growing frustrations in Washington over the progress of trade talks with London ft.trib.al/lOOAInf
December 16, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Since the "tech prosperity deal" was engineered to give Sam Altman, Satya Nadella and Jensen Huang even more encouragement to build AI data centres and produce yet more AI slop, the UK may have dodged a bullet here
The madness of our civilisation, in which the super-rich are throwing money at AI which the rest of us don't want, and are meeting the ridiculous power demands of data centres mostly by burning gas and cooking our planet
December 16, 2025 at 1:40 PM
The madness of our civilisation, in which the super-rich are throwing money at AI which the rest of us don't want, and are meeting the ridiculous power demands of data centres mostly by burning gas and cooking our planet
Above my pay grade, that piece of intel!
December 11, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Above my pay grade, that piece of intel!