Whitelocke

It also ignores the fact that it's very well documented that most servicemen voted for Roosevelt in 1944. (Similarly, the military vote was strong for Labour in Britain's 1945 election).

🎯

Interesting that inter-racial relations were patched up surprisingly quickly afterwards. White Kenyans were, for the most part, left alone after independence, with Kenyatta striking a conciliatory tone.

A lot of people seem to think that Israeli Jews can be forced to just up stakes like the Pied Noirs or White Rhodesians.

The past is a different country

Makes you wonder what would be necessary to generate the needed political consensus. They've been through the same story over and over again to the point it's beyond a joke.

Never ceases to amuse me that he is an Oxford graduate who now co-hosts a popular podcast on WW2.

The Temspford new town is a really good example of the posting-to-policy pipeline.

(And that's very much a good thing in this case)

Balliol Man at large

So much policy was decided in meandering memos written by generalists.

I remember using it! We had to climb up the sides during PE class. They put those blue mats on the floor in case we fell.

It nearly is. Almost all of the remaining WW2 veterans have died since 2000.

Apparently, part of why Iran was so infiltrated by Mossad was that many people in the regular Iranian military, despite the IRGC.

The IRGC does a lot IIRC.

Contrary to Labour mythology, it was Baldwin who defeated Mosley.

It's a well established fact of political science that having a strong centre-right party makes democracy a lot more durable.

I first appeared in British defence white papers in the early 1950s IIRC.

One thing I remember reading in Peter Wright's memoir, Spycatcher (detailing his time at MI5), was his criticism that in Canada the RCMP was responsible for counterintelligence.

He thought police agencies were just badly suited for that sort of mission.

Isn't the advantage of the NG that it is a local force? A regular Gendarmerie would have to be transported to crisis spots, which would take time.

One of the notable features of PTSD was that there was no way of predicting who would suffer from it badly and who would only have minor issues.

Far more money went into the strategic bombing than on the Manhattan Project.

Evergreen

Bill Slim, probably Britain's greatest ever general, argued that the more special units you establish, the lower the quality of your regular forces

I've pirated literally thousands of e-books which I have cluttering up my e-readers.

The British elite was genuinely freaked out at the large number of volunteers turned down by the Army during the Boer War due to ill-health and malnourishment.

British social reformers thereafter started giving their books on poverty titles like "The Heart of the Empire" to play on this.

Economic stagnation is the #1 problem facing Britain by far. It drives me nuts that it gets such little political attention.

I feel AI will be most useful as a way to double-check humans rather than replace them.

Norman Fowler saved so many lives. It's incredible how much difference having a single person in power at the right time can make.

There were more Royal Marines (green beret) than Paras (red beret) on the Falklands, but it was the red beret that became iconic.