Some teething problems

A ‘Socratic dialogue’ with an AI tutor - this sounds like a dreadful, weird, isolating experience.

Strong vibes

‘Free up the lecturer to focus on what’s more important’ 🙃

‘So, what’s the chatbot set you this week?’

This is bleak. Essentially, lecturers as middle managers between students and chatbot.

ЗАРУБИН Путин о народной поддержке бойцов во все времена «ЗАРУБИНрепортёр» в МАКСе - быстро качается, быстро работает, покажет быстрее остальных.

In a speech today ahead of May 9 Victory Day celebrations, Putin called on all Russians to support the war effort in Ukraine as the USSR did in World War II, saying the entire home front worked for the front then and "so it will be now." Knit some socks for the troops, folks! t.me/zarubinrepor...

On this day 30 years ago, Chechen rebel leader Dzhokhar Dudayev was killed in a targeted strike as Moscow fought separatists in the North Caucasus republic.

Shortly before his death, he told The Moscow Times he believed Boris Yeltsin ordered his killing.
www.themoscowtimes.com/archive/the-...

The idea that being *a member of the House of Lords* in any way means you can be trusted with Top Secret/STRAP material without proper vetting is so beyond absurd that this must surely be a joke?

As ever, planning to take this down to the wire.

There are currently 6 permanent full time history jobs in the whole UK. 500+ PhDs being produced a year - not all of whom will want to pursue an academic year but likely most, and of course years will stack up onto each other. What a sector.

Russia’s disastrous decision to invade Poland in 1920 has parallels with Putin’s rhetoric over Ukraine Vladimir Putin’s propaganda about the Russian invasion of Ukraine reflect themes once propagated by Vladimir Lenin.

Relatedly I wrote this a few years ago

Not an exact comparison, but Stalin’s regime in 1920s-1930s obsessed about ‘anti-Soviet blocs’ of hostile states, always in development somewhere; it’s rhetoric that’s made an obvious comeback.

Recycled conspiracies

Maria Zakharova at the Russian foreign ministry, describes two days ago nefarious western plans for seizing Ukrainian territory and resources.

100 years ago, Feliks Dzerzhinskii warned Stalin that Poland was preparing to seize Belarus and Ukraine, in cahoots with the west.

The Mandelson fiasco reveals the true nature of Starmerism This is a prime minister who does not understand the difficult trade-offs involved in governing

Keir Starmer famously said there was "no such thing" as Starmerism. He was half-right: there is no such ideology. There is however an approach to managing and running the country that is core to so many of the government's difficulties that we probably should call 'Starmerism'. In tomorrow's paper:

Conservative response to Reform reversing asylum grants Chris Philp MP, Shadow Home Secretary, said: “The Conservatives have already proposed a detailed BORDERS plan to pull out of the ECHR and completely ban asylum claims by illegal immigrants. Instead, we would deport them within a week of arrival. “The Conservative’s Removals Force will deport 150,000 immigrants each year with no right to be here. “Reform is slowing catching up with our ideas - but without the detail that will ensure it works in practice.”

Reform are announcing today that they would review and retrospectively strip asylum status from hundreds of thousands of people who are making their lives in the UK. Notable that the Conservative response to the plan seem to effectively endorse it.

This was good, especially on Putin’s Russia.

And Lavrov takes the opportunity to make claims about a revival of Nazism threatening Russia.

Today is the Russian government’s new day of remembrance for the victims of the ‘genocide of the Soviet people’; a strategically simplified history that frames diverse Nazi crimes as a single ‘genocide’ and ties into the present day war.

Conservative woman is operating at a higher level with this stuff

Is Ukraine winning the drone race? Barely six months ago it appeared that Russia was ahead in the drone race.

New post from @ldfreedman.bsky.social

"Is Ukraine winning the drone war?"

The Russians certainly think so.

What are the implications of Ukraine's innovations for the war and, more broadly, for how other countries should be thinking about drones?

(£/free trial)

open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/i...

Reports of a third attempted arson attack on Jewish targets in North London this week. It's getting really scary and more people need to start taking it seriously.

Stalin finishes his training as a priest

An alternate history where purges are just very enthusiastic performance reviews.

When Angela Rayner underpaid £40,000 in stamp duty, Richard Tice said it was "morally completely indefensible” and she should resign if she had “any moral decency”.

Now we learn he set up four shell companies that let him avoid paying £100,000 he owed in tax and to then transfer the cash to Reform

‘They claimed children will be subject to 'mind control' in lessons, where they will learn about the 'benefits of the Single Market' and European integration.’

Tory MPs talking about Erasmus as if it’s a sleeper cell recruitment programme.

That's it. I've checked the very last proofs of the book and it's now off to the printers. I hope it will reach Hobsbawm fans, Hobsbawm sceptics, and anyone curious about the intellectual life of the left in the 20th century!

Publication: 18 Aug (US), 4 Sept (UK)
www.hup.harvard.edu/books/978067...

Tremendously depressing read. Also: proper reporting.

open.substack.com/pub/londonce...

In this context, UKVI needs to urgently correct its incompetent approach to student visa applications.