Aaron Ackerley

Think this is exactly right - political journalism that is completely abstracted from policy, which was not the norm before 2017, has become the default. Impossible to have a serious attempt to either shrink what the state does or widen the tax base (have to do at least one) on that basis.

Andreas Whittam Smith, co-founder of the Independent, dies aged 88 The journalist and editor also led the British Board of Film Classification and served as the senior lay member of the Church of England Andreas Whittam Smith, the co-founder of the Independent newspaper and a former president of the British Board of Film Classification, has died aged 88. Whittam Smith was also the first editor of the Independent and served as First Church Estates Commissioner, the senior lay member of the Church of England, from 2002 to 2017. Continue reading...

Andreas Whittam Smith, co-founder of the Independent, dies aged 88

History in Practice ‘Doing the Readings’ – Will Pooley ‘Escaping the Lecture: Using game-based learning to engage History students’ – Rebecca Andrew and Sam Chadwick ‘Using Fo…

Excited to launch, with @callingdrjones.bsky.social, 'History in Practice' - an informal space to collectively share, reflect, and collaborate on all things related to history teaching in universities

Some excellent pieces to begin with, please do get involved!

www.history-uk.ac.uk/history-in-p...

BBC tells staff they cannot quote Trump line removed from Reith Lecture Journalists not allowed to repeat Rutger Bregman’s corruption claims against US president in coverage of edit

“Also for legal reasons, we’re not able to tell you what that line is.”

From a media law perspective: BS.

There is no "legal" reason for not publishing that line.

www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...

Gabrielle Giffords • @GabbyGiffords • 3h X My husband @CaptMarkKelly is a 25-year Navy combat pilot veteran. He served our country with strength, courage, and integrity, dedicating his career to protecting us and upholding our constitution. Today, the President of the United States called him a traitor and demanded he be Show more Captain Mark Kelly @CaptMarkK...• 3h I've had a missile blow up next to my airplane, been shot at dozens of times by anti-aircraft fire, and launched into orbit — all for my country. I never thought l'd see a President call for my execution.... • 3.7K {7 2.3K 8.9K thl 461K 企 Janette Fenway @LeesLemmas • 43m @elonmusk Why is my feed suddenly flooded with lefty lawmakers spouting nonsense? 276 • 69 贝 Elon Musk * X @elonmusk X.com Because we are failing very badly with the recommendations algorithm. Doing my best to address this. 3:49 PM • 11/20/25 • 6.3K Views

An X user asks Elon Musk why they’re seeing tweets from left-wing lawmakers.

Musk: “Because we are failing very badly with the recommendations algorithm. Doing my best to address this.”

Trying to win an award from the Hollywood Foreign Press, which is simultaneously three separate things he has built his career on hating.

The British library is in crisis: why does nobody care? The widespread indifference to the British Library's crippling cyberattack demonstrates a perilous failure to value the knowledge infrastructure vital for national prosperity

I’ve written a piece on the curious lack of media and political interest in the issues faced by our national @britishlibrary.bsky.social. This is strange given we live in a world where ideas, knowledge and research are a long-term source of innovation and insight
www.cityam.com/the-british-...

BU College Republicans president says he called ICE to ‘detain these criminals’ at Allston Car Wash The president of Boston University College Republicans wrote on X he called the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement requesting it detain employees at Allston Car Wash, the site of a Nov. 4 raid w...

According to the car wash owner, agents arrested employees before they could obtain their documentation from their work lockers. So many were likely here legally.

Here's hoping this article on Zac boasting about how he ruined some immigrants' lives follows him around for a very long time.

Arsonists cosplaying as fire fighters: Why the right-wing war on the BBC is succeeding The resignation of Tim Davie as BBC Director-General is the next stage in the corporation's collapse into cowardice.

"The BBC’s most vehement right-wing critics are like arsonists pretending they’re writing fire safety pamphlets."
brokenbottleboy.substack.com/p/arsonists-...

This is ever more the case now the BBC’s current affairs output has increasingly become, simultaneously, trivialised and dominated by right-wing talking points. To do one of those two things might be an accident. To do both is unforgivable.

Prescott's BBC memo, saying "I served as the Political Editor of the Sunday Times for 10 years".

Prescott's LinkedIn page, saying he was Political Editor of the Sunday Times for 10 years.

A 2001 Guardian story saying he was leaving his job as Political Editor after four years. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2001/jun/28/pressandpublishing.marketingandpr

Michael Prescott's report makes vital points about the importance of being accurate, and also how difficult that is. For instance, he describes himself as having been Political Editor of the Sunday Times for 10 years, which is not what the Guardian reported when he left the job.

Tim Davie and Deborah Turness resign: BBC statements in full Director general says "mistakes have been made" but "allegations that BBC News is institutionally biased are wrong".

This is really scary: even former Tory Davie, the disproportionate coverage of Reform and relentless attention to right wing anti-immigrant talking points have not been enough. Right wing networks want complete capture.

Davie and Turness resignation statements in full www.bbc.com/news/article...

There’s a headline.

@reuters.com #Gaza
www.reuters.com/world/middle...

Elon Musk is once again inciting violence on British streets because the government has taught him there are literally no consequences for doing so.

They even carry on using his far-right social network to promote government policy as he does it. The absence of backbone is *astounding*.

It is part of the special issue: 'People and Networks in the History of Nordic Journalism'

Thanks to the editors Heidi Kurvinen and Emil Eiby Seidenfaden for their work on the issue!

It offers a theoretical/methodological approach for exploring journalistic autonomy, and how it relates to editorial control and the division of responsibilities between different journalists/departments.

Illustrative examples from British, Norwegian and Swedish journalism history are surveyed

Happy to see my article 'Editorial control, the division of responsibilities, and journalistic autonomy' in Journalistica is now live.

Available open access here: tidsskrift.dk/journalistic...

#mediahistory #journalismhistory

I wrote a piece last week about how the Far Right since Trump/Brexit have normalised discussing in public previously unacceptable things.

Tonight’s Peston show: “Is the Reform MP who says she’s driven mad by TV adverts full of Black and Asian people a racist or realist?”

That scene of the Welsh BBC correspondent being the only person interviewing Caerphilly's new Plaid AM while the rest of the media interviewed Reform's loser in the background was far too on the nose.

What Influence Has the BBC Had on History?

Founded as the British Broadcasting Company in October 1922, the #BBC has sought to ‘inform, educate and entertain’ for a century. Facing an uncertain future, what impact has it had on the past?

⌛️ Last chance to read this archive article for free

www.historytoday.com/archive/head...

While you were momentarily distracted, Israel has full-on trashed last week’s “ceasefire”, because it can.

In his latest book, historian @tricksterprince.bsky.social reveals the surprising history of the remarkable neighbourhood of Seven Dials in #London in the 1920s and 30s.

The story he reveals tackles issues - race, class and gentrification - that would define the kind of city London would become.

The Daily Grail In the interwar period, a British media magnate set out to convince voters to stop worrying and love protectionism.

In the interwar period, a British media magnate set out to convince voters to stop worrying and love protectionism. www.hnn.us/article/the-...

The Daily Grail In the interwar period, a British media magnate set out to convince voters to stop worrying and love protectionism.

How a press baron tried to convince voters to say “yes” to tariffs. www.hnn.us/article/the-...

The Daily Grail In the interwar period, a British media magnate set out to convince voters to stop worrying and love protectionism.

Read @aaronackerley.bsky.social on the Empire Crusade. www.hnn.us/article/the-...

#20s30s

The topic seems far more timely now than back when I began the research many years ago...

The Daily Grail In the interwar period, a British media magnate set out to convince voters to stop worrying and love protectionism.

I have a piece out in the wonderful @myhnn.bsky.social Newsletter about the propaganda strategy of the Empire Crusade, and Lord Beaverbrook's efforts to implement tariffs via a nationalistic campaign

If it sounds of interest, please do check it out:
www.hnn.us/article/the-...

For me, it would be the "Don't Cook Now" cook book.

networks.h-net.org/group/announ...