Rory Cormac

So proud! Another Cambridge UP book to add to the multiple “world leading” articles, £1.1m UKRI bid, fantastic community work, an app aimed at school kids etc etc etc.

An absolute superstar!

University of Nottingham considers axing language and music degrees Total of 48 degrees could disappear from Russell Group institution, with falling revenues and rising costs blamed

It was quite something to hear a passionate call to protect music and languages during a Catholic Mass in Clifton estate yesterday.

I worry about the reputational impact in our own great city, let alone beyond

www.theguardian.com/education/20...

Thanks Peter. It’s been quite a 6 months

Ahh thanks. I hope you enjoy it

Funny you should say that. My brother’s dog got put down when dad had about 3 months to live.

Dad was jealous of the dog, crying how unfair it was that humans are treated with less dignity

Peers suggest over 900 changes to assisted dying bill Experts say the volume is a record, and backers of the bill fear opponents are using delaying tactics.

Personal experience of this one, sadly.

I watched my dad die of a brain tumour over the past 6 months. The final couple of weeks were cruel, unnecessary, undignified, and neither in his wishes nor interests

He begged me to let him die.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Heartbroken to share the news that recruitment to Undergraduate Music courses at the University of Nottingham has been suspended.
Please do contact us on protectuonmusic@gmail.com if you would like to support us.

UK university halted human rights research after pressure from China Exclusive: Leading professor at Sheffield Hallam was told to cease research on supply chains and forced labour in China after demands from authorities

This quotes a university employee emailing about: "Attempting to retain the business in China".

The university says this doesn't reflect policy, but if it sees itself as a business, there's the issue.

Universities, like councils & the BBC, are *not businesses*.

www.theguardian.com/education/20...

I always enjoy trying to work out what (or who) triggered it in such circumstances

“Propaganda operations in the Cold War were designed to undermine authority, chip away at orthodox ideas, and encourage questioning"

@rorycormac.bsky.social reveals to @telegraphnews.bsky.social how the CIA once tried to recruit Sir Winston Churchill 🔗➡️ tinyurl.com/mvp47n4h

Image cc: The Telegraph

Thanks :)

@jrovner.bsky.social, @rorycormac.bsky.social, and @lmaschmeyer.bsky.social's new article is a super read on an important but neglected area of covert action:

www.cambridge.org/core/service...

All very true :)

Publishers: we have a strict word limit

Also publishers: all dates in the endnotes must be written out in full

New article out with @rorycormac.bsky.social & @jrovner.bsky.social on Sabotage in World Politics: how does it work, what is it good for, and how is it different from subversion?

🔥 "Sand in the gears: Sabotage in world politics" from
@jrovner.bsky.social, @rorycormac.bsky.social, & @lmaschmeyer.bsky.social is a must-read.

👉 Read this timely article here: cambridge.org/core/journal...

cambridge.org/core/journal...

What is sabotage? How does it work as a tool of statecraft? And what are its limits? Check out my new article with @rorycormac.bsky.social and @lmaschmeyer.bsky.social. Open access

MI5 operating in new era of terror and state threats, says chief In an annual speech, Sir Ken McCallum says the security service is operating in

When the MI5 chief warns that AI and hostile states are reshaping espionage in real time, it’s not a thriller plot - it’s just Thursday.

(Ps interesting reference to “threat” in the context of China given the spy trial fiasco)

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Government will publish evidence in collapsed China case, PM says The Tories and Lib Dems had called for witness statements provided to prosecutors to be released.

The UK’s China spy trial collapsed because, legally, China wasn’t an “enemy” at the time.

Apparently, you can’t spy for a country unless the government has officially decided it dislikes them enough 🤷‍♂️

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

a man in a suit and tie is standing in front of a window with his hands on his head . ALT: a man in a suit and tie is standing in front of a window with his hands on his head .

University inefficiency 101:
- Arrive on campus at 11 after an off-campus meeting
 - No parking anywhere
 - Security won’t lift the stupid cross-campus barrier
- Exit & drive around in heavy traffic to other entrance: also full
- Drive home
- Cycle back in
- Miss 2 meetings

👏 Perfect 👏 system 👏

Nerd that I am, I’ve been thinking about (theorising is too strong!!) covert action for 15 years.

And this in the new Oxford Handbook National Security Intelligence offers a neat distillation:

a man in a jeep jersey is standing next to two other men ALT: a man in a jeep jersey is standing next to two other men

I’ve got 6 excitable 8 year olds running around my house.

I’ve just made a tactical switch from man marking to zonal marking.

Wish me luck!

MI6’s new chief aims to restore British influence in Middle East Blaise Metreweli, 48, is the youngest ever boss of the Secret Intelligence Service

Dr Dan Lomas @sandbaggerone.bsky.social recently contributed to this @thetimes.com piece on the priorities of the new MI6 chief Blaise Metreweli

Read it here 🔗 tinyurl.com/4puhmcud

Find out more about Dan and his research on intelligence services 🔗 nottingham.ac.uk/politics/people/daniel.lomas

What a lovely review. Congratulations!

Indeed. My dad is a massive grammar pedant and it’s been drilled into me since birth. My “language evolves” argument really wound him up!

Book cover for 'Covert Action'

📚 Congratulations to @rorycormac.bsky.social on the publication of his new co-edited book 'Covert Action: National Approaches to Unacknowledged Intervention'

📖 Read more here🔗 tinyurl.com/3cdbynaa

ℹ️ Find out more about Rory and his research 🔗 nottingham.ac.uk/politics/people/rory.cormac

My copy editor has (correctly) put loads of em dashes into the book but now it looks like it’s been written by chat gpt!!

Grammatical errors are now a weird sign of authenticity. We are artisanal writers

Me writing: I’ll fact check that at the revisions stage

At revisions: I’ll check it at copy edit

At copy edit: I’ll check it at proofs

At proofs: if it’s still here by now I must’ve fact checked it already

🤷‍♂️ 🤷‍♂️ 🤷‍♂️

@lucatrenta.bsky.social I got a message saying you DM’d me but I don’t have direct messenger on here anymore since they did that age verification thing so can’t read it. Sorry

Area | RGS Geography Journal | Wiley Online Library This paper develops a historical and political geographical analysis of the UK Foreign Office's Information Research Department (IRD). To date, there has been no geographical study of IRD and through...

“The geographies of the information research department”

Enjoyed this “critical geographical analysis” of British covert operations

And there’s me thinking that geography was just oxbow lakes and erosion!

rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1...