Very kind, Rob. Thanks

Enjoyed 'Suez: 24 Hours That Broke the British Empire' on Channel 4? In my book 👇 published in 1996 I discuss the role of international #radio broadcasting in the crisis, focusing especially on the BBC Overseas Services, Voice of America & BBC Monitoring Service #propaganda #booksky

Finally finished reading Flashlight by Susan Choi. Took me a while to settle into its narrative & style. A compelling family saga woven with the history of Koreans in Japan & North Korea’s abductions of Japanese. Worthy of its inclusion on the 2025 @thebookerprizes.com shortlist. #Booksky

Ho hum. Part of the story of the Cambridge Five lies in a strikingly lax vetting process, which allowed positions to be filled without sufficient scrutiny.

Gao Zhen: China sculptor's secret trial highlights censorship extremes Gao Zhen is being retroactively punished for 15 year-old-works, in a case that has alarmed rights groups.

Art on trial - a sculptor's arrest highlights new extremes for censorship in #China www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Okay, I’m biased. John McClelland (“Mac”) was my friend and colleague at @uniofnottingham.bsky.social in the 1990s. He embodied the best of academia at a time when university life was truly about teaching & research. In my view, his book 👇 remains the finest introduction to political theory #booksky

“Framed solely as a heist on a staid establishment, the Five’s crimes have become easy to underplay, even to glamourise. But there were forgotten victims of their treachery.”
Now reading Stalin’s Apostles by Antonia Senior #booksky

I am very sad to read that my old friend Professor Chin-Chuan (CC) Lee has died. A towering figure in media & communication studies - in Hong Kong & across the world - CC helped shape my understanding of the field, especially Chinese media. RIP

Recommend this in the BFI Classic series by Michael Eaton So many insights into the creation & production of Our Friends in the North

Had an uncredited role as Lee J. Cobb’s henchman in On the Waterfront

Research Handbook on Political Propaganda This timely Research Handbook draws on a wide range of international case studies to assess the transformative impact of modern communication landscapes on political propaganda. From Brexit to Donald ...

Still available - my co-edited Research Handbook on Political #Propaganda. A collection of essays addressing theory, themes & case studies from across the world; & includes my chapter on #Trump’s first term & how he followed closely the famous 7 Propaganda Devices, first discussed in 1937 #booksky

MA Film Studies Public Talk Versioning China: International Co-production and Cultural Diplomacy in Chinese Documentary

My friend & co-author Dr Ming Yu, #documentary filmmaker & currently a visiting scholar at @ucl.ac.uk is presenting our work on Co-production & Cultural Diplomacy in Chinese Documentary - 14 May 2026. Link 👇 #China
www.ucl.ac.uk/arts-humanit...

By far the best political autobiography I’ve read: Denis Healey’s The Time of My Life

“Without even a cursory nod to data or expertise, USAID’s leadership had determined purely on a whim that lifesaving maternal health services were not a priority for this administration.” - From Nicholas Enrich’s new book on the dismantling of #USAID, Into the Woodchipper

Colleagues with interest/expertise in Asian Cinema. Please consider submitting a proposal to this exciting new @dgb-asianstudies.bsky.social series edited by Dr Ming-Yeh Rawnsley & our good friend, Dr Wikanda Promkhuntong @iuliaivana.bsky.social

Delighted to pick up my copy of Plurality: The Future of Collaborative Technology & Democracy by @audreyt.org & @glenweyl.bsky.social. I have written about Audrey Tang’s work in strengthening #Taiwan’s democratic resilience & her contribution to Taiwan’s soft power, so excited to learn more

Hungary election: Viktor Orbán concedes with opposition on course for landslide election win - follow live Hungary's prime minister has been ousted after 16 years in power, with Péter Magyar set to be the country's new leader.

Democracy is alive and well in Hungary! A great result which helps European cohesion vis a vis Russia and the US - and a fitting response to their meddling. www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c2...

Hungary election: Viktor Orbán concedes with opposition on course for landslide election win - follow live Hungary's prime minister has been ousted after 16 years in power, with Péter Magyar set to be the country's new leader.

Huge news from Budapest tonight. Congratulations to the people of #Hungary. Voting can still make a difference, even in “illiberal democracies”

Finished The Writer and the Traitor by @robertverkaik.bsky.social. A superb book that explores not only the extraordinary relationship between Greene and Philby, but also deeper questions of identity, betrayal, & loyalty. Highly recommended.

The cover of Gene Kemp’s The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tyler

Fond memories of our Headmaster reading this to the school, & our collective gasp when the twist is revealed #booksky

A diplomat asked Gates: "How has one man in a cave [Osama Bin-Laden] managed to out-communicate the world’s greatest communication society?" #propaganda

In 2007, Robert Gates, US Secretary of Defense noted "It is ... embarrassing that Al-Qaeda is better at communicating ... on the Internet than America. Speed, agility, and cultural relevance are not terms that come readily to mind when discussing US strategic communications".

As someone who has studied propaganda for 40 years I am fascinated with the Iranian regime’s deployment of new communication platforms. “They [a younger generation in Iran] have outdone the US & Israel in communications, especially in the social media realm.” @cnn.com www.cnn.com/2026/04/10/w...

I used to love discovering these number stations on shortwave radio during the 1980s

How have I not discovered Through the Square Window before now? Any podcast that references The Georgian House in episode 1 & interviews legend Graham Garden in the latest episode must now rank among my favourite shows. Thanks @samiraahmeduk.bsky.social & Graham Kibble-White

Congratulations to @robertverkaik.bsky.social on the publication of his new book, The Writer and the Traitor, on the friendship between my favourite author, Graham Greene & Cambridge spy Kim Philby. Just received my copy & look forward to reading.

I discovered Laurie Lee rather late - when my book group rejected reading Village Christmas. I read it anyway & loved it. I then read Cider with Rosie which I had always thought of as a children’s book - don’t ask me why - but it’s a glorious, and at times deeply moving, read #booksky

From the Rooftops of Tehran | Anonymous We in Iran own our grief, mourning all by ourselves.

“I cannot tell where the sun is anymore, and I write quickly, for fear that at any moment I might be killed. Writing under such urgency demands an economy of words.” From the Rooftops of Tehran by Anonymous published in @nybooks.com www.nybooks.com/articles/202...

Highly recommend this wonderful series available on BBC iPlayer: The Art of Persia. Samira Ahmed @samiraahmeduk.bsky.social explores the art, history, culture & people of a whole civilisation now under threat