Ed Bithell
@edbithell.bsky.social
Strategy and sovereign partnerships at Fractile
Also writing on trade, tech and industrial policy
Former UK civil servant and diplomat, 好異史者, he/him
(usual caveats)
Also writing on trade, tech and industrial policy
Former UK civil servant and diplomat, 好異史者, he/him
(usual caveats)
There's probably a whole category of "more people died in this war in China" facts, like even most pretty well-read people haven't heard of the Taiping Rebellion but it probably killed more people than WWI
January 5, 2026 at 10:31 PM
There's probably a whole category of "more people died in this war in China" facts, like even most pretty well-read people haven't heard of the Taiping Rebellion but it probably killed more people than WWI
That's very true - I was thinking about it more from the (potentially somewhat Whiggish) popular notion that the Anglican Church is (/has always been) more liberal on marriage than the RC Church because Henry wanted a divorce, when really like you say he just wanted his convenience and noone else's
January 5, 2026 at 10:23 PM
That's very true - I was thinking about it more from the (potentially somewhat Whiggish) popular notion that the Anglican Church is (/has always been) more liberal on marriage than the RC Church because Henry wanted a divorce, when really like you say he just wanted his convenience and noone else's
On the last one, @bretdevereaux.bsky.social wrote a great series of essays on Roman identity vs modern myths acoup.blog/2021/06/11/c...
Collections: The Queen’s Latin or Who Were the Romans? Part I: Beginnings and Legends
Who were the Romans? How did they understand themselves as a people and ‘Roman’ as an identity? And what were the implications of that understanding – and perhaps more importantly…
acoup.blog
January 5, 2026 at 10:14 PM
On the last one, @bretdevereaux.bsky.social wrote a great series of essays on Roman identity vs modern myths acoup.blog/2021/06/11/c...
- lost classical texts were mainly lost because people stopped writing them down, not destroyed on purpose (and a huge amount of the classical texts we still have came to us via the Islamic world)
- Romans, even the imperial elite, weren't all "white" and would find modern ideas about race v weird
- Romans, even the imperial elite, weren't all "white" and would find modern ideas about race v weird
January 5, 2026 at 10:12 PM
- lost classical texts were mainly lost because people stopped writing them down, not destroyed on purpose (and a huge amount of the classical texts we still have came to us via the Islamic world)
- Romans, even the imperial elite, weren't all "white" and would find modern ideas about race v weird
- Romans, even the imperial elite, weren't all "white" and would find modern ideas about race v weird
- the only country that comes close to USSR in WWII deaths is China, and together they're probably more than half of the total
- French Revolution not led by the urban poor against the rich but by the bourgeoisie against aristocrats
- French Revolution not led by the urban poor against the rich but by the bourgeoisie against aristocrats
January 5, 2026 at 10:10 PM
- the only country that comes close to USSR in WWII deaths is China, and together they're probably more than half of the total
- French Revolution not led by the urban poor against the rich but by the bourgeoisie against aristocrats
- French Revolution not led by the urban poor against the rich but by the bourgeoisie against aristocrats
picking all new ones for the sake of keeping it going:
- the English Reformation had nothing to do with divorce, which Henry VIII thought was wrong, and the Pope could've given Henry his annulment in 5 seconds if he hadn't been held hostage by Katherine's nephew
- the English Reformation had nothing to do with divorce, which Henry VIII thought was wrong, and the Pope could've given Henry his annulment in 5 seconds if he hadn't been held hostage by Katherine's nephew
January 5, 2026 at 10:09 PM
picking all new ones for the sake of keeping it going:
- the English Reformation had nothing to do with divorce, which Henry VIII thought was wrong, and the Pope could've given Henry his annulment in 5 seconds if he hadn't been held hostage by Katherine's nephew
- the English Reformation had nothing to do with divorce, which Henry VIII thought was wrong, and the Pope could've given Henry his annulment in 5 seconds if he hadn't been held hostage by Katherine's nephew
Often forgotten/ignored that Euromaidan, and thus the original Russian invasion, was triggered not by any NATO events but by Yanukovych refusing to sign the EU-UA Association Agreement!
December 14, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Often forgotten/ignored that Euromaidan, and thus the original Russian invasion, was triggered not by any NATO events but by Yanukovych refusing to sign the EU-UA Association Agreement!
Marvelisation of all film franchises continues - most people don't want to have to know what happened in the last film! Bring back self-contained sequels like Terminator 2
November 11, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Marvelisation of all film franchises continues - most people don't want to have to know what happened in the last film! Bring back self-contained sequels like Terminator 2
I have an impression that this is also a "nobody thinks they're old" situation where well-meaning (and culturally influential) people who finished school literally 40+ years ago will talk about the curriculum as if it has not changed since they did the British history survey when they were twelve
November 7, 2025 at 8:09 PM
I have an impression that this is also a "nobody thinks they're old" situation where well-meaning (and culturally influential) people who finished school literally 40+ years ago will talk about the curriculum as if it has not changed since they did the British history survey when they were twelve
Apple have had a massive cube on Fifth Avenue since 2006 and as far as I'm aware New Yorkers do not mistake it for the Kaaba
July 30, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Apple have had a massive cube on Fifth Avenue since 2006 and as far as I'm aware New Yorkers do not mistake it for the Kaaba
Are there attempts to disrupt this market? Especially given that distribution can be almost entirely digital, could a group of sufficiently prominent academics in a given field just found a new journal that doesn't charge ludicrous access fees?
July 6, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Are there attempts to disrupt this market? Especially given that distribution can be almost entirely digital, could a group of sufficiently prominent academics in a given field just found a new journal that doesn't charge ludicrous access fees?
if you're lucky, you might get 200ml of tonic water for £6
June 27, 2025 at 7:35 AM
if you're lucky, you might get 200ml of tonic water for £6
Also even among the rest of the racialised stuff, stands out to me now that "Outcast of Redwall" starts like a story that could be pretty meaningful for adopted kids from rough backgrounds then more or less concludes nope genetics is the main thing that determines whether people are good or evil
January 25, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Also even among the rest of the racialised stuff, stands out to me now that "Outcast of Redwall" starts like a story that could be pretty meaningful for adopted kids from rough backgrounds then more or less concludes nope genetics is the main thing that determines whether people are good or evil
I like that they think their audience will get in on armour but are not yet sold on having spare cash
January 10, 2025 at 10:26 AM
I like that they think their audience will get in on armour but are not yet sold on having spare cash
Did a little bit for fun during undergrad (mainly jokes and so on shared between classmates, writing 诗 etc) but never since. Studied the language for four years and was never assigned to compose/translate into classical
December 11, 2024 at 7:42 AM
Did a little bit for fun during undergrad (mainly jokes and so on shared between classmates, writing 诗 etc) but never since. Studied the language for four years and was never assigned to compose/translate into classical
It's a pity because I think there's an interesting set of questions to ask around why big corporates spend money disseminating poststructuralist social theories they don't understand, but the answer is not "HR are Red Guards"
December 5, 2024 at 10:04 AM
It's a pity because I think there's an interesting set of questions to ask around why big corporates spend money disseminating poststructuralist social theories they don't understand, but the answer is not "HR are Red Guards"
The gap between news written for retirees who think they already know everything about business, and news for actual business leaders (the woke cabal FT), keeps widening
December 5, 2024 at 10:02 AM
The gap between news written for retirees who think they already know everything about business, and news for actual business leaders (the woke cabal FT), keeps widening
In short yes there is a whole undercurrent around the self-disciplining supposedly needed to stay thin and how (relevant for TCW!) society associates that with ideals of whiteness, even though it's not necessarily how our bodies work
November 24, 2024 at 5:27 PM
In short yes there is a whole undercurrent around the self-disciplining supposedly needed to stay thin and how (relevant for TCW!) society associates that with ideals of whiteness, even though it's not necessarily how our bodies work
@katemanne.bsky.social has done some really interesting work on the social and moral values attached to fatness and working for thinness (book is called "Unshrinking")
November 24, 2024 at 5:24 PM
@katemanne.bsky.social has done some really interesting work on the social and moral values attached to fatness and working for thinness (book is called "Unshrinking")
In fact I think this goes back in many ways to your original point about Trump – he ran a very hostile *primary* campaign which likely attracted a lot of disengaged voters, who were "non partisan" but didn't trust either party, and then yeah like you say partisan GOP voters held their nose and voted
November 24, 2024 at 8:39 AM
In fact I think this goes back in many ways to your original point about Trump – he ran a very hostile *primary* campaign which likely attracted a lot of disengaged voters, who were "non partisan" but didn't trust either party, and then yeah like you say partisan GOP voters held their nose and voted
Also wonder whether Obama partly bucks the trend because he first ran as a low profile insurgent against the party machine; voters increasingly partisan but also generally don't like politicians (think this may help explain Trump support from low engagement voters who think of him more like Perot)
November 24, 2024 at 8:25 AM
Also wonder whether Obama partly bucks the trend because he first ran as a low profile insurgent against the party machine; voters increasingly partisan but also generally don't like politicians (think this may help explain Trump support from low engagement voters who think of him more like Perot)
That's true but Clinton was still much less popular than 2012 Obama or even 2020 Biden; although it would be interesting to see the exact timing of the polls (guessing it's in election week, but not stated?) as Trump did attack her personally throughout the campaign
November 24, 2024 at 8:19 AM
That's true but Clinton was still much less popular than 2012 Obama or even 2020 Biden; although it would be interesting to see the exact timing of the polls (guessing it's in election week, but not stated?) as Trump did attack her personally throughout the campaign
This but also how the hell did Democrat machine politicians insist on the least popular Democratic nominee in polling history
November 24, 2024 at 12:33 AM
This but also how the hell did Democrat machine politicians insist on the least popular Democratic nominee in polling history
This type of conversation is also a consequence of internet fights cooking everyone's brains – acknowledging ambivalence/ concern without a premade answer is treated as weakness/hypocrisy a lot
November 12, 2024 at 3:20 PM
This type of conversation is also a consequence of internet fights cooking everyone's brains – acknowledging ambivalence/ concern without a premade answer is treated as weakness/hypocrisy a lot
Especially when you consider that e.g. the ruling parties in UK/France lost 19.9pp/14pp of their support in elections this summer – inflation is hurting incumbents everywhere
November 7, 2024 at 1:14 PM
Especially when you consider that e.g. the ruling parties in UK/France lost 19.9pp/14pp of their support in elections this summer – inflation is hurting incumbents everywhere