Tom H
@nomist.bsky.social
History teacher, parent.
“Sings enthusiastically, if not always tunefully” (Year 2 school report).
“Sings enthusiastically, if not always tunefully” (Year 2 school report).
Reposted by Tom H
OMFG Green's is now available online for free
The Largest Historical Dictionary of English Slang Now Free Online: Covers 500 Years of the “Vulgar Tongue”
The Largest Historical Dictionary of English Slang Now Free Online: Covers 500 Years of the “Vulgar Tongue”
'The three volumes of Green's Dictionary of Slang demonstrate the sheer scope of a lifetime of research by Jonathon Green, the leading slang lexicographer of our time. A remarkable collection of this ...
www.openculture.com
February 7, 2026 at 6:30 AM
OMFG Green's is now available online for free
Reposted by Tom H
May as well dive right in.
Did you know that dogs in ancient Mesopotamia also refused to drop the ball?
According to a Sumerian proverb, “The dog understands ‘Take it!’ It does not understand ‘Put it down!’”
Source: cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts/34...
Did you know that dogs in ancient Mesopotamia also refused to drop the ball?
According to a Sumerian proverb, “The dog understands ‘Take it!’ It does not understand ‘Put it down!’”
Source: cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts/34...
November 13, 2024 at 11:20 AM
May as well dive right in.
Did you know that dogs in ancient Mesopotamia also refused to drop the ball?
According to a Sumerian proverb, “The dog understands ‘Take it!’ It does not understand ‘Put it down!’”
Source: cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts/34...
Did you know that dogs in ancient Mesopotamia also refused to drop the ball?
According to a Sumerian proverb, “The dog understands ‘Take it!’ It does not understand ‘Put it down!’”
Source: cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts/34...
Reposted by Tom H
"I keep alternating between crying and feeling determined it is important to remember the value of documenting injustice. We show up for the people who need us to bear witness, because it can't just be one group of people bearing the brunt of their tyranny...He lost his life for those values."
You have to read this. Firsthand affidavit from one of the women who was there and recording the video. She talks about how Alex Pretti was directing traffic when she arrived. She watched him be killed in front of her. She's afraid to go home, worried she'll be arrested.
January 25, 2026 at 4:35 AM
"I keep alternating between crying and feeling determined it is important to remember the value of documenting injustice. We show up for the people who need us to bear witness, because it can't just be one group of people bearing the brunt of their tyranny...He lost his life for those values."
Reposted by Tom H
A video of Alex Pretti reading out the final salute of an unnamed veteran he cared for until the end of his life in the ICU, posted to Facebook by his son.
January 25, 2026 at 1:18 AM
A video of Alex Pretti reading out the final salute of an unnamed veteran he cared for until the end of his life in the ICU, posted to Facebook by his son.
Reposted by Tom H
Mark Carney's speech really is terrific: full text is here and very much worth your time.
The Carney doctrine
Open comment thread on the PM's Davos speech
paulwells.substack.com
January 20, 2026 at 5:52 PM
Mark Carney's speech really is terrific: full text is here and very much worth your time.
Thanks but I’d rather be in the country where cops resign for lying than the one where they can murder me no questions asked www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
US reportedly considers granting asylum to Jewish people from UK
Trump lawyer Robert Garson told the Telegraph he discussed refuge for those leaving UK over antisemitism
www.theguardian.com
January 18, 2026 at 9:46 PM
Thanks but I’d rather be in the country where cops resign for lying than the one where they can murder me no questions asked www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Reposted by Tom H
"Angels do not govern us — men and women do — and no man or woman should be immune from the rule of law. We’ve taken that idea for granted for far too long, to the point where we’ve abandoned the “auxiliary precautions” the founders knew we needed. Now we are paying the price in blood."
Opinion | An Old Theory Helps Explain What Happened to Renee Good
www.nytimes.com
January 18, 2026 at 3:58 PM
"Angels do not govern us — men and women do — and no man or woman should be immune from the rule of law. We’ve taken that idea for granted for far too long, to the point where we’ve abandoned the “auxiliary precautions” the founders knew we needed. Now we are paying the price in blood."
Two British soldiers were convicted of manslaughter following the Boston Massacre of March 1770. Does ICE today face more or less accountability than the redcoats?
January 8, 2026 at 9:43 AM
Two British soldiers were convicted of manslaughter following the Boston Massacre of March 1770. Does ICE today face more or less accountability than the redcoats?
Reposted by Tom H
NEW BLOGPOST
Abolishing trial by jury: why is the government overlooking the obvious?
thesecretbarrister.com/2025/12/02/a...
Abolishing trial by jury: why is the government overlooking the obvious?
thesecretbarrister.com/2025/12/02/a...
Abolishing trial by jury: why is the government overlooking the obvious?
Today, the government has confirmed that it intends to remove the right to trial by jury in the vast majority of cases in the Crown Courts. Serious criminal allegations, carrying up to three years …
thesecretbarrister.com
December 2, 2025 at 4:38 PM
NEW BLOGPOST
Abolishing trial by jury: why is the government overlooking the obvious?
thesecretbarrister.com/2025/12/02/a...
Abolishing trial by jury: why is the government overlooking the obvious?
thesecretbarrister.com/2025/12/02/a...
Reposted by Tom H
1. Thread.
Ed tech and the best lesson I taught this year.
The best Ed tech in the world for my subject is a book.
It is the ideal delivery method because the effort of concentrating on it helps people learn what's in it.
Ed tech and the best lesson I taught this year.
The best Ed tech in the world for my subject is a book.
It is the ideal delivery method because the effort of concentrating on it helps people learn what's in it.
November 29, 2025 at 8:39 AM
1. Thread.
Ed tech and the best lesson I taught this year.
The best Ed tech in the world for my subject is a book.
It is the ideal delivery method because the effort of concentrating on it helps people learn what's in it.
Ed tech and the best lesson I taught this year.
The best Ed tech in the world for my subject is a book.
It is the ideal delivery method because the effort of concentrating on it helps people learn what's in it.
America is to democracy as London is to underground railways: it’s got the oldest, and one of the biggest, but boy is the infrastructure creaky.
November 5, 2024 at 11:05 PM
America is to democracy as London is to underground railways: it’s got the oldest, and one of the biggest, but boy is the infrastructure creaky.
Reposted by Tom H
Thought-provoking skeets from one of the UK's most interesting policy thinkers: does doing well Maths GCSE predict high earnings because maths is important, or because we are better at fairly assessing maths? (It's both, IMO, but some more thoughts of my own follow.)
Doing well in Maths GCSE is a better predictor of higher earnings than doing well in any other GCSE. Usually we conclude "heh, Maths is important". Hence the push to make Maths compulsory to 18, for example But what if... 2/4 assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/60c36f...
November 1, 2024 at 1:57 PM
Thought-provoking skeets from one of the UK's most interesting policy thinkers: does doing well Maths GCSE predict high earnings because maths is important, or because we are better at fairly assessing maths? (It's both, IMO, but some more thoughts of my own follow.)
Agatha All Along was brilliant until the final scene, a cop-out which was presumably mandated by the Disney/Marvel suits.
October 31, 2024 at 10:37 PM
Agatha All Along was brilliant until the final scene, a cop-out which was presumably mandated by the Disney/Marvel suits.
Reposted by Tom H
Are you a National Trust member? Do you dislike the cancer of concocted right wing culture-war nonsense slowly and steadily making every good thing in this country, go shit? Then grab your membership number and vote online in the AGM by midnight tonight. Just choose the 'NT recommended candidates'.
October 25, 2024 at 2:00 PM
Are you a National Trust member? Do you dislike the cancer of concocted right wing culture-war nonsense slowly and steadily making every good thing in this country, go shit? Then grab your membership number and vote online in the AGM by midnight tonight. Just choose the 'NT recommended candidates'.
Well deserved!
Thrilled to hear that the Horrible Histories TV series I worked on for 11 years is getting a special BAFTA award next month, in recognition of its 15-year impact! www.bbc.com/news/article...
Horrible Histories to receive special Bafta Award
The children’s historical sketch show is rewarded for its "extraordinary cultural and social impact".
www.bbc.com
October 24, 2024 at 8:36 AM
Well deserved!
Don’t look now, but I’ve got a joke about Orpheus.
I’ve got a joke about Achilles, it’s almost perfect but there’s one flaw
I have a joke about Theseus. But it is not very original.
October 23, 2024 at 8:23 AM
Don’t look now, but I’ve got a joke about Orpheus.
😮
Councils have essentially become social and children's care funding agencies, which, as most people don't use those services, means they don't really understand where all their council tax is going...
October 22, 2024 at 5:18 PM
😮
Reposted by Tom H
This sounds like a wonderful book about the infamous Duke of Buckingham, recently played by Nicholas Galitzine in the fun TV drama Mary & George
The Scapegoat by Lucy Hughes-Hallett book review – James I’s beloved bedfellow
www.theguardian.com/books/2024/o...
The Scapegoat by Lucy Hughes-Hallett book review – James I’s beloved bedfellow
www.theguardian.com/books/2024/o...
The Scapegoat by Lucy Hughes-Hallett review – James I’s beloved bedfellow
A biography of the Duke of Buckingham brings the royal favourite, and his ‘entrancingly strange’ world, to life
www.theguardian.com
October 20, 2024 at 10:10 AM
This sounds like a wonderful book about the infamous Duke of Buckingham, recently played by Nicholas Galitzine in the fun TV drama Mary & George
The Scapegoat by Lucy Hughes-Hallett book review – James I’s beloved bedfellow
www.theguardian.com/books/2024/o...
The Scapegoat by Lucy Hughes-Hallett book review – James I’s beloved bedfellow
www.theguardian.com/books/2024/o...
How controversial is it to say that Hadestown in the West End is better than the Broadway version?
October 20, 2024 at 3:29 PM
How controversial is it to say that Hadestown in the West End is better than the Broadway version?
Reposted by Tom H
Adam and Eve invite God round to show him what they've done with the Garden
October 18, 2024 at 9:59 AM
Adam and Eve invite God round to show him what they've done with the Garden
Reposted by Tom H
One of the finest generals this country has produced. An incredible man to interview.
It is not hyperbole to say that he prevented a war with Russia in the Balkans, when Wes Clark was determined to start one.
I wrote about it here. authory.com/JohnBull/Pri...
It is not hyperbole to say that he prevented a war with Russia in the Balkans, when Wes Clark was determined to start one.
I wrote about it here. authory.com/JohnBull/Pri...
October 15, 2024 at 9:39 PM
One of the finest generals this country has produced. An incredible man to interview.
It is not hyperbole to say that he prevented a war with Russia in the Balkans, when Wes Clark was determined to start one.
I wrote about it here. authory.com/JohnBull/Pri...
It is not hyperbole to say that he prevented a war with Russia in the Balkans, when Wes Clark was determined to start one.
I wrote about it here. authory.com/JohnBull/Pri...
Reposted by Tom H
"Westminster’s reliance on Elon Musk’s X is ‘totally wrong’, says Labour MP." Josh Simons MP is right about this:
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
![Simons, a technology expert who wrote a book on artificial intelligence, told the Guardian in an interview: “I think that Twitter’s algorithm, its ranking model, which determines what we see on Twitter when we open it, has manifestly changed since Elon Musk took over. Not least because I don’t think I’ve ever liked anything that he said ever, and I see loads of him all the time, and I really don’t want to.
“I’ve even said: ‘Show less of this,’ and there he is, every time. And that’s a sure sign – when a founder and owner of a company, you see more of them on an algorithm, despite not liking them – [of] something going on.”
He added: “I think that it is totally and completely wrong and harmful to British democracy that the Westminster bubble gets to know each other through a ranking model designed by a man who’s spending his life campaigning for Donald Trump. I think that it’s shortsighted of us all.”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:7ozv52xitkpjflxhygf5c65b/bafkreiglkz6v366rqtqxhmnyzwhpidfwhwnugiqkkek4szncmrb5d27mkm@jpeg)
October 14, 2024 at 8:54 PM
"Westminster’s reliance on Elon Musk’s X is ‘totally wrong’, says Labour MP." Josh Simons MP is right about this:
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
A pleasant surprise to find @stephenkb.bsky.social in the new Reform machzor whilst hungrily leafing through it yesterday.
October 13, 2024 at 2:23 PM
A pleasant surprise to find @stephenkb.bsky.social in the new Reform machzor whilst hungrily leafing through it yesterday.
