Chris Smith
@spyhistorian.bsky.social
Historian. Spies, signals intelligence, Second World War. Social and Cultural history. History of humour. Insults = 🚫
Pinned
Chris Smith
@spyhistorian.bsky.social
· May 12
I cannot continue financially supporting Labour while it bullies immigrants; while it panders to racist Reform voters; while its leader employs the rhetoric of Enoch Powell; and while it is allowing the destruction of my sector of employment again to pander to racism. @teamlabouruk.bsky.social
This I their most popular song on Spotify, with 900m streams. I'm disappointed it's not metal and despise myself for liking it so much.
open.spotify.com/track/2wBnZd...
open.spotify.com/track/2wBnZd...
November 24, 2025 at 7:57 PM
This I their most popular song on Spotify, with 900m streams. I'm disappointed it's not metal and despise myself for liking it so much.
open.spotify.com/track/2wBnZd...
open.spotify.com/track/2wBnZd...
I've heard a lot about Ghost, the band, apparently they are with Sleep Token the new big thing. Even my students are talking about them.
So I bought an album for £4.99 at the shops. It is really... derivative. It sounds like a poppy version of 70s/80s metal. Very new wave.
Why do the kids like this?
So I bought an album for £4.99 at the shops. It is really... derivative. It sounds like a poppy version of 70s/80s metal. Very new wave.
Why do the kids like this?
November 24, 2025 at 7:34 PM
I've heard a lot about Ghost, the band, apparently they are with Sleep Token the new big thing. Even my students are talking about them.
So I bought an album for £4.99 at the shops. It is really... derivative. It sounds like a poppy version of 70s/80s metal. Very new wave.
Why do the kids like this?
So I bought an album for £4.99 at the shops. It is really... derivative. It sounds like a poppy version of 70s/80s metal. Very new wave.
Why do the kids like this?
Leaving aside of the folly of out Faraging Farage, what does this serve? It is expensive and will not work in putting off migrants from seeking a new life in the UK. Labour have lost the plot.
Labour's anti-asylum policies are already fundamentally inhumane and discriminatory. Applying them retrospectively is pure cruelty though. It serves absolutely no purpose. Meanwhile it will increase the costs and bureaucracy of an already dysfunctional Home Office.
www.thetimes.com/article/6f83...
www.thetimes.com/article/6f83...
November 24, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Leaving aside of the folly of out Faraging Farage, what does this serve? It is expensive and will not work in putting off migrants from seeking a new life in the UK. Labour have lost the plot.
I see the Telegraph are spinning Farage's school boy racism as a non-story. "It was 50 years ago!", they bellow. It's snot fair!!! Is the subtext, like 9 year olds.
But the point is that his racism is more dogwhistle now, yet still present. The other is that he is clearly lying through his teeth.
But the point is that his racism is more dogwhistle now, yet still present. The other is that he is clearly lying through his teeth.
November 23, 2025 at 4:22 PM
I see the Telegraph are spinning Farage's school boy racism as a non-story. "It was 50 years ago!", they bellow. It's snot fair!!! Is the subtext, like 9 year olds.
But the point is that his racism is more dogwhistle now, yet still present. The other is that he is clearly lying through his teeth.
But the point is that his racism is more dogwhistle now, yet still present. The other is that he is clearly lying through his teeth.
My prediction: the revelations that Farage was a racist and still is, see the Breaking Point poster as Exhibit A, will not dent his or Reform's position by a single point. The idea that "subject him to scrutiny" will damage him is laughable. The people who like him and Reform want the racism.
November 23, 2025 at 1:22 PM
My prediction: the revelations that Farage was a racist and still is, see the Breaking Point poster as Exhibit A, will not dent his or Reform's position by a single point. The idea that "subject him to scrutiny" will damage him is laughable. The people who like him and Reform want the racism.
It amazes me that there are three unoccupied seats in the US House and they have been (or will be) unoccupied for months. Why does it take so long, in a two year election cycle, to hold a special election and fill a vacancy? Who represents the constituents in the meantime? Do they pay federal taxes?
November 22, 2025 at 10:57 AM
It amazes me that there are three unoccupied seats in the US House and they have been (or will be) unoccupied for months. Why does it take so long, in a two year election cycle, to hold a special election and fill a vacancy? Who represents the constituents in the meantime? Do they pay federal taxes?
I'm not sure why people imagine that any embassy, large or small, is not a hub of intelligence gathering. I mean, are t they all?
November 21, 2025 at 9:50 PM
I'm not sure why people imagine that any embassy, large or small, is not a hub of intelligence gathering. I mean, are t they all?
Three things for which there have been zero political consequences:
1. Covid-denialism and government incompetence
2. Brexit
3. Anti-immigration socio-cultural divisiveness
All of these would have destroyed careers in previous years.
1. Covid-denialism and government incompetence
2. Brexit
3. Anti-immigration socio-cultural divisiveness
All of these would have destroyed careers in previous years.
November 21, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Three things for which there have been zero political consequences:
1. Covid-denialism and government incompetence
2. Brexit
3. Anti-immigration socio-cultural divisiveness
All of these would have destroyed careers in previous years.
1. Covid-denialism and government incompetence
2. Brexit
3. Anti-immigration socio-cultural divisiveness
All of these would have destroyed careers in previous years.
So what have we learned (actually not learned as studies modelled this at the time) but Johnson and Cummings ignored the science, leading to 23,000 additional deaths, and lock down "sceptics" (science deniers) were and remain morons.
November 20, 2025 at 9:24 PM
So what have we learned (actually not learned as studies modelled this at the time) but Johnson and Cummings ignored the science, leading to 23,000 additional deaths, and lock down "sceptics" (science deniers) were and remain morons.
I haven't seen my partner in weeks and am (was?) about to go see her, I've had my job formally placed "at risk", and I've come down with a massive cold and am a ball of snot.
Maybe I should just curl up into a ball and hibernate for a week?
Maybe I should just curl up into a ball and hibernate for a week?
November 20, 2025 at 5:51 AM
I haven't seen my partner in weeks and am (was?) about to go see her, I've had my job formally placed "at risk", and I've come down with a massive cold and am a ball of snot.
Maybe I should just curl up into a ball and hibernate for a week?
Maybe I should just curl up into a ball and hibernate for a week?
Oh good.
November 20, 2025 at 5:46 AM
Oh good.
I spoke to Jonathan of the marvellous #Anglotopia podcast recently on the Coventry Blitz. This should be out soon. I had a great time and we arranged then and there to talk further about Bletchley Park, which is a strange part of the Coventry story, in February.
November 20, 2025 at 5:02 AM
I spoke to Jonathan of the marvellous #Anglotopia podcast recently on the Coventry Blitz. This should be out soon. I had a great time and we arranged then and there to talk further about Bletchley Park, which is a strange part of the Coventry story, in February.
Remember when the worst scandal to visit the White House for years was a President wearing an ugly suit? Happy times.
November 17, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Remember when the worst scandal to visit the White House for years was a President wearing an ugly suit? Happy times.
This is bullshit. The political gravity has, in my lifetime, always favoured poorly educated elderly and middle-aged people. It has always disfavoured the young been suspicious of the educated. Where is the triple lock for the young?
And it is not the job of universities to sell the idea of...
And it is not the job of universities to sell the idea of...
'our recent report by UCL Policy Lab and More in Common highlights that something more fundamental is going on in our politics that universities must grapple with: the political centre of gravity has moved towards voters who are more sceptical of universities.' 2/3
www.ucl.ac.uk
November 17, 2025 at 8:26 PM
This is bullshit. The political gravity has, in my lifetime, always favoured poorly educated elderly and middle-aged people. It has always disfavoured the young been suspicious of the educated. Where is the triple lock for the young?
And it is not the job of universities to sell the idea of...
And it is not the job of universities to sell the idea of...
Labour will lose the next election and deserve to do so. These people aping the right need to be deselected. Now.
Green MP Carla Denyer accuses Shabana Mahmood of trying to "out Reform Reform" and says "toxic racist narratives and the scapegoating of migrants" are to blame for "tearing our country apart" not migrants.
Mahmood: "I couldn't care less what any other political party has to say about these matters"
Mahmood: "I couldn't care less what any other political party has to say about these matters"
November 17, 2025 at 8:09 PM
Labour will lose the next election and deserve to do so. These people aping the right need to be deselected. Now.
Moral, intellectual and policy bankruptcy on full display from a *Labour* government. This is a disaster for the centre of politics and an apocalypse for the left.
I'm reading through the white paper or whatever it is. RESTORING ORDER AND CONTROL: A statement on the government’s asylum and returns policy www.gov.uk/government/p...
Asylum and returns policy statement
This policy statement sets out significant reforms to the UK’s asylum and returns policy.
www.gov.uk
November 17, 2025 at 7:42 PM
Moral, intellectual and policy bankruptcy on full display from a *Labour* government. This is a disaster for the centre of politics and an apocalypse for the left.
I don't do conspiracy theories. But seriously? The WH spent months blocking this. Months. Yet, all of a sudden, Trump is keen to release the files? After his hand picked people have had control of them? After sex-trafficker, Maxwell, has been transferred to a cushy life in minimum security? OK...
BREAKING: President Trump says House Republicans should vote to release Epstein files, a startling reversal after previously fighting the proposal.
In reversal, Trump says House Republicans should vote to release Epstein files
President Donald Trump says House Republicans should vote to release files involving the Jeffrey Epstein case, a startling reversal after previously fighting the proposal.
bit.ly
November 17, 2025 at 3:21 AM
I don't do conspiracy theories. But seriously? The WH spent months blocking this. Months. Yet, all of a sudden, Trump is keen to release the files? After his hand picked people have had control of them? After sex-trafficker, Maxwell, has been transferred to a cushy life in minimum security? OK...
Lol
November 17, 2025 at 3:04 AM
Lol
Perversely, I'm tempted to rejoin the Labour Party. I quit over Starmer's disgusting rhetoric regarding immigration. But now I feel that rejoining and making the argument internally is vital. Being outside the tent pissing in is cathartic but has proven fruitless. They took no lessons from anything.
November 16, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Perversely, I'm tempted to rejoin the Labour Party. I quit over Starmer's disgusting rhetoric regarding immigration. But now I feel that rejoining and making the argument internally is vital. Being outside the tent pissing in is cathartic but has proven fruitless. They took no lessons from anything.
The cinema is screening the new Running Man movie. On other screens, Home Alone and one of the Twilight films. Why these?
Maybe I'm being dumb, but surely, if you're showing a remake for a couple of weeks on multiple screens, you might want to put the kick ass original on?
Maybe I'm being dumb, but surely, if you're showing a remake for a couple of weeks on multiple screens, you might want to put the kick ass original on?
November 16, 2025 at 9:24 AM
The cinema is screening the new Running Man movie. On other screens, Home Alone and one of the Twilight films. Why these?
Maybe I'm being dumb, but surely, if you're showing a remake for a couple of weeks on multiple screens, you might want to put the kick ass original on?
Maybe I'm being dumb, but surely, if you're showing a remake for a couple of weeks on multiple screens, you might want to put the kick ass original on?
Do Labour want to lose the next election? I'm starting to think they do. You can't fight Reform with the issues of their choosing and the policies of their choice. You will *always* lose. They can't be outflanked from the right. Just as the Tories learned to their cost.
Labour surely must know this.
Labour surely must know this.
Shabana Mahmood has vowed to end Britain’s “golden ticket” for asylum seekers by forcing people arriving illegally to wait 20 years before they can apply for permanent settlement
Shabana Mahmood: ‘Illegal migration is tearing Britain apart’
The home secretary is planning to introduce a 20-year wait for permanent stay to end a ‘golden ticket’ for asylum seekers
www.thetimes.com
November 16, 2025 at 9:09 AM
Do Labour want to lose the next election? I'm starting to think they do. You can't fight Reform with the issues of their choosing and the policies of their choice. You will *always* lose. They can't be outflanked from the right. Just as the Tories learned to their cost.
Labour surely must know this.
Labour surely must know this.
I think it will be telling when the Department of Justice decides whether or not to prosecute Maxwell for perjury in her deposition - which the emails prove she did.
If they do not, the Democrats and journalists should repeatedly ask the reason.
If they do not, the Democrats and journalists should repeatedly ask the reason.
November 14, 2025 at 12:00 PM
I think it will be telling when the Department of Justice decides whether or not to prosecute Maxwell for perjury in her deposition - which the emails prove she did.
If they do not, the Democrats and journalists should repeatedly ask the reason.
If they do not, the Democrats and journalists should repeatedly ask the reason.
As mentioned in another post, I suspect the US might well now have a moment that the UK went through a few years ago with Jimmy Savile and, more recently, allegedly Russell Brand (not convicted, which is vital to note).
This interview with comic Katherine Ryan reveals much:
youtu.be/ubMtmQlNy4w?...
This interview with comic Katherine Ryan reveals much:
youtu.be/ubMtmQlNy4w?...
Kathryn Ryan talks about Russell Brand
YouTube video by ben parker
youtu.be
November 13, 2025 at 12:54 AM
As mentioned in another post, I suspect the US might well now have a moment that the UK went through a few years ago with Jimmy Savile and, more recently, allegedly Russell Brand (not convicted, which is vital to note).
This interview with comic Katherine Ryan reveals much:
youtu.be/ubMtmQlNy4w?...
This interview with comic Katherine Ryan reveals much:
youtu.be/ubMtmQlNy4w?...
Is the US about to have its Jimmy Savile moment. For those unaware, Savile was a really weird TV star and DJ who, it transpires after his death, was among the most prolific paedophiles of recent decades.
His position, power, wealth, and celebrity ensured that though rumours spread throughout his...
His position, power, wealth, and celebrity ensured that though rumours spread throughout his...
November 13, 2025 at 12:22 AM
Is the US about to have its Jimmy Savile moment. For those unaware, Savile was a really weird TV star and DJ who, it transpires after his death, was among the most prolific paedophiles of recent decades.
His position, power, wealth, and celebrity ensured that though rumours spread throughout his...
His position, power, wealth, and celebrity ensured that though rumours spread throughout his...
Is there a billionaire not implicated in the Epstein emails?
November 12, 2025 at 11:39 PM
Is there a billionaire not implicated in the Epstein emails?