Jim Smithson

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Always a great weekend - book today!

Lawrence was chosen to go to the Hejaz partly because his name was already known to the Sherif, as the designer of his new stamps.

We're thrilled to announce that our annual WW1 weekend will take place in Leeds at the Royal Armouries - Here is a taste of who to expect on the Saturday, with more names to come! @seaspitfires.com @peterhart.bsky.social Sign up for further updates via the link:

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A little friend joined us, singing quietly as he or she hopped around our feet looking for tasty treats.

#Düren - an important station with long platforms in German military plans for 1914 - linking up the troop garrisons from Cologne, Jülich and the Eifel region.

Bombing doesn’t bring democracy. Troops on the ground can’t impose democracy. Long term occupation doesn’t make democracy. The people have to want to change - a hard lesson from history.

Extraordinary that in these fractious & divided times, so many of us can unite around the single, simple fact that Matthew Goodwin is an irredeemable twat.

But that would break the long tradition in Parliament of always giving someone a job they are not in any way qualified for.

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#OTD - 27 February 1915

Paperback incoming… Can’t deal with the bad karma of posting a link to Amazon - available for pre order via Bloomsbury so far at the same price anyway. @pikegrey1418.bsky.social

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Smearing Sussex (and Me): Responding to Nigel Biggar’s Latest Attack in The Spectator The University of Sussex, Feb 2026, taken by the author. Alan Lester The Spectator has published an article by Nigel Biggar smearing the University of Sussex as repressing students who ‘don&#…

The Spectator published this attack on me & colleagues just as the High Court is considering Sussex’s request for review of the Office for Students fine. It accuses us of ‘repressing’ our students. The magazine ignored my request for to reply. Please disseminate.

alanlester.co.uk/blog/smearin...

Lovely! Have a similarly lovely Sunday.

If you want a very readable, accessible non-academic history which is nonetheless deeply informed by the latest academic scholarship, you should check out @alexchurchill.bsky.social and @pikegrey1418.bsky.social 's new Ring of Fire on the opening weeks of the war

Thread

Fascist #slopaganda isn't about seducing anyone. They're aware that their nostalgic images are ugly & fake, and that their promise to return to an imaginary past is a fraud. They're proud of the shallowness of their nostalgia, because their real promise is to legitimize cruelty against others

Antique portrait of a man seated in an ornate chair, holding a book, with a studio backdrop. The photo features subtle detailing and a faded sepia tone, and is encased in a worn, edged frame. The photograph is marked with the studio name.

21 February 1894 | A Jew Meyer Dvoretsky was born in Grodno. In 1914 he emigrated to Norway.

In November 1942 he was deported to #Auschwitz. He perished in the camp on 21 December 1942.

A mugshot registration photograph from Auschwitz. A man with a shaved head wearing a striped uniform photographed in three positions (profile and front with bare head and a photo with a slightly turned head with a hat on). The prisoner number is visible on a marking board on the left.

20 February 1885 | A Pole, Józef Lipiński, was born in Stara Ukta. A teacher.

In #Auschwitz from 24 April 1942.
No. 32530
He was shot in the camp on 27 May 1942.
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▶ Watch a short video about Block 11 and its yard where shooting executions were held: https://t.co/VBgDxkWLMa

And allowing billionaires to pollute and litter like this is fine, actually.

Grace Brewster Hopper (1906 –1992) was an American computer scientist, mathematician, and US Navy rear admiral. She was the first to devise the theory of machine-independent programming languages, and developed two early high-level programming languages still in use today. #CelebratingWomen

Photo of von Sanders in her German Uniform wearing a Turkish Fez. Dark uniform against a lighter background. He is seated and holds a sword in his left hand pointed toward the floor.

A Russian Austin Armoured Car in Romania, 1917.

Agreed Paul. Lovely production with superb performances. Michael Palin revisiting some of his Python characters. 😂 Super subtle swipes at modern society and TV (new programme “Barrel Scraping” with celebrities the girl didn’t know “scraping a barrel”! 😂😂)

A Russian Austin Armoured Car in Romania, 1917.

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