Tom H

I would note that Harari’s claim here seems to be specifically that the biblical text is unamended. He is not ignorant of the ways in which it has since been reinterpreted and softened within both Jewish (eg Rabbi Hillel and Talmud) and Christian traditions

My understanding has always been that the Hebrew Bible treats slavery as a human institution that exists but must be suitably regulated. There are a lot of laws about the obligations towards one’s slaves, including their right to redemption in the jubilee year.

YouTube video by Prosser Family Adventures HD Pancake Day Song - Maid Marian and her Merry Men - with Pancake Recipe!

Well you know what day it is! m.youtube.com/watch?v=lS9J...

Feeling pretty self conscious right now

For some people, shouting "we don't want no Zionists here" is like "we don't want no fascists here". I can see their argument - terrible things were done in the name of Zionism.

But almost all Jews would hear "we don't want no Jews here". And they have good reason to fear this is the subtext.

OMFG Green's is now available online for free

It is a very good column, but I should protest on behalf of my tween: it’s not just toddlers who enjoy driving the DLR.

A round, light brown tablet made of clay with three lines of cuneiform scripts. Two rulings, or traced straight lines, enclose the writing. The photo also shows the sides of the tablet, including a few damaged parts.

May as well dive right in.

Did you know that dogs in ancient Mesopotamia also refused to drop the ball?

According to a Sumerian proverb, “The dog understands ‘Take it!’ It does not understand ‘Put it down!’”

Source: cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts/34...

"I keep alternating between crying and feeling determined it is important to remember the value of documenting injustice. We show up for the people who need us to bear witness, because it can't just be one group of people bearing the brunt of their tyranny...He lost his life for those values."

A video of Alex Pretti reading out the final salute of an unnamed veteran he cared for until the end of his life in the ICU, posted to Facebook by his son.

Or was I just hungover at the time and forgot it ever happened?

Is this some new ancient Oxford tradition, or did it just not apply to undergraduates in the noughties?

The Carney doctrine Open comment thread on the PM's Davos speech

Mark Carney's speech really is terrific: full text is here and very much worth your time.

US reportedly considers granting asylum to Jewish people from UK Trump lawyer Robert Garson told the Telegraph he discussed refuge for those leaving UK over antisemitism

Thanks but I’d rather be in the country where cops resign for lying than the one where they can murder me no questions asked www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Opinion | An Old Theory Helps Explain What Happened to Renee Good

"Angels do not govern us — men and women do — and no man or woman should be immune from the rule of law. We’ve taken that idea for granted for far too long, to the point where we’ve abandoned the “auxiliary precautions” the founders knew we needed. Now we are paying the price in blood."

Paul Revere engraving of the Boston Massacre, a key event in the build up to the American War of Independence.

Two British soldiers were convicted of manslaughter following the Boston Massacre of March 1770. Does ICE today face more or less accountability than the redcoats?

BTW, thank you for providing the (mince)meat of my end-of-term Xmas lesson for my year 7s: an old Twitter thread of yours about mince pies!

As a parent of similarly aged kids it was fantastic. But even to my very inexpert eyes the interpretations seemed a bit dated, so I’d love to know how an actual social historian experiences it

Please tell me you took them to Tudor World too.

Abolishing trial by jury: why is the government overlooking the obvious? Today, the government has confirmed that it intends to remove the right to trial by jury in the vast majority of cases in the Crown Courts. Serious criminal allegations, carrying up to three years …

NEW BLOGPOST

Abolishing trial by jury: why is the government overlooking the obvious?

thesecretbarrister.com/2025/12/02/a...

While the whole thing might well be bunk, that bit at least is plausible: IIRC most of the wealth of Rome was generated in the Eastern Empire. Dalrymple has some astonishing stats about how much GDP came in through its Red Sea port

It’s all very exciting. First time I’ve seen the new logo. Did anyone explain what it is meant to be?

1. Thread.
Ed tech and the best lesson I taught this year.
The best Ed tech in the world for my subject is a book.
It is the ideal delivery method because the effort of concentrating on it helps people learn what's in it.

America is to democracy as London is to underground railways: it’s got the oldest, and one of the biggest, but boy is the infrastructure creaky.

I think you need to re-read the context of Alon’s original comment, and the arguments I’ve been making, as neither of those sentences take this conversation any further. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

I’ve been grappling with the ethics of whether or not to bet on the outcome, considering the ludicrously good odds being given for a Harris victory (an easy 40% profit to be made even if she just wins the popular vote)

Note, I’m not saying all comparisons with SA fail. Just the idea that the relationship between anti-Whiteness and SA is comparable to the relationship between antisemitism and Israel.

A distraction from what? I joined this thread to discuss antisemitism not to discuss Israel’s crimes.
But the comparison with SA fails because (British concentration camps notwithstanding) White South Africans hadn’t faced an anti-white racist genocide aimed at their extinction in living memory.

It is entirely possible for the following all to be true:
1)Some bad people will make any kind of rhetorical move to justify bad actions
2)Jews as a people (including J Israelis) are so traumatised by Shoah that they’re extra sensitive to antisemitic tropes
3)There are bad people who hate all Jews

I will confess I find the politics of mask-wearing bewildering, so don’t feel able to say anything intelligible about it!