Dave Hitchcock

@davehitchcock.bsky.social

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Historian of #earlymodern poverty and Course Director at Canterbury. Looking at Dying Homeless, 1600-2013 & eventually a next book: 'The Ends of Poverty in the British Atlantic, 1600-1800', he/him.

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Curtice comes to bury the tories.

bong, bong, bong, labour landslide of 176.

I have a lot of sentences in this litany of tory-inflicted miseries that I am fond of. Perhaps the very best though needs to be: "It may have been an error on Cameron’s part to hold a vote on a potentially nation-wrecking policy he had no desire to carry out to solve an internal party problem."

So, I think when my editor asked me to do a long list of Tory policy screw ups since 2010, he was expecting something funny? The reality was... not particularly funny.

An (incomplete) list of every terrible policy the Conservatives have inflicted on Britain since 2010 | Jonn Elledgewww.theguardian.com Readers, brace yourselves, says the writer Jonn Elledge

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Dave Hitchcock

So, I think when my editor asked me to do a long list of Tory policy screw ups since 2010, he was expecting something funny? The reality was... not particularly funny.

An (incomplete) list of every terrible policy the Conservatives have inflicted on Britain since 2010 | Jonn Elledgewww.theguardian.com Readers, brace yourselves, says the writer Jonn Elledge

Tossed my vote to FPTP sea this morning but I will never, ever, vote for someone who demonises a vulnerable minority.

Happy 1st Jediversary to all who celebrate (us, we celebrate).

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Dave Hitchcock

Luckily, when we hear the excuse "we were just following orders" there's nothing horrific that comes to mind.

Seems crazy! But just logical. If a President cannot commit a crime in the course of an official act, like giving an order to the military, how can you prosecute the person who follows the order? There’s a whole code of military conduct about “illegal orders.” All orders are legal now.

In happier news a young person who I've moved administrative heaven and earth for over a couple of years, including having to reassess an entire year to hang in, is going to proceed to graduation with a 2:1 outcome.

Biden's campaign does have a chance to win the election on the basis of the Supreme Court ruling, by the way. Make everything, *everything*, between now and November about the immense threat of a completely unconstrained and vindictive Donald Trump in charge of the world's deadliest military etc.

When people ask me how "history" is relevant or important to the world today all I am going to do is point silently at 'Trump v. United States', July 1st, 2024.

Man that "Glorious Revolution" document of 1689 entitled the 'Bill of Rights', upon which a rather more famous version from October 1774 was based, is looking remarkably radical all of a sudden.

I told the Times higher folks straight up (when being asked about union stuff) that "you really do not want to see what happens when a university goes under". That was like Sept 2023. There's been good pieces since as reporters have cottoned on. Still, it's true. You guys do not want to see it.

It's not an 'extreme hypothetical' if the guy promises to do it in literally every stump speech he gives.

So it's happening, then. A supreme court approved (tm) dictatorial tyranny in America, above the law, brooking no reproach, run on that most american of political fuels: white supremacy and white grievance. Not hyperbole, instead, a likelihood. It must be stopped.

The Supreme Court’s ruling putting presidents above the law must be understood not simply as a grant of immunity for past crimes, but an enthusiastic endorsement of those he will commit if given the chance. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

The Supreme Court Gives Its Blessing to Trump’s Criminalitywww.theatlantic.com And gives him permission for a despotic second term.

Fellow academic historians I have a question 🗃️ Do you think 'small' history programmes (no optional modules, less than 10 staff) can be sustainable in a UK university? The RHS has its doubts and I well understand them.

Aren't these 6 people supposed to hate "judicial activism"? Or, once again, are we talking solely about anyone other than them and their mates.

SCOTUS overrules Chevron, a massive blow to the ability of federal agencies to function. The familiar 6–3, with Roberts writing for the majority www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23p...

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Dave Hitchcock

Overturning Chevron is going to usher in an era where self-taught judicial expertise in technical areas such as chemistry, statistics, mechanical engineering, biology, geomorphology, epidemiology, mathematics, and many other fields will once more be able to shine forth as it did in the Middle Ages.

Some absolute loser behaviour here, and again, for no reason whatsoever. So the guy is getting some traction on social media. How exactly is that bad again? This McSweeney guy has the easiest ever election to win against the tories and is spending time pulling this crap?

In FPTP this is absolutely not a surprise, and frankly it's probably just sensible campaigning at this point. Sure it sucks for whomever in Labour got nominated in such clearly unwinnable seats, but that process is already complete poison under Starmer so some karma is to be expected there.

Here you go: as talked about here, the tacit backroom deal between Labour and the Lib Dems - which both parties deny - is coming into play. Labour is now pulling activists out of Lib Dem target seats across the South which will maximise Tory losses.

Labour diverts activists away from Lib Dem target seatswww.ft.com Campaign data analysed by FT reveals electoral strategy likely to maximise Tory losses in the south of England

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So UK Special Forces vetoed applications from Afghan commandos they’d fought alongside (potentially) because they were worried they the Afghan troops could give evidence against them in the ongoing investigation that Special Forces regularly killed unarmed civilians then planted evidence.

Minister admits British special forces vetoed Afghan commandos' UK entry

Minister admits British special forces vetoed Afghan commandos' UK entrywww.bbc.com Letter reveals the government admits misleading Parliament over cases of Afghan special forces.

I could live a week, a wonderful week, drinking only Tim Stanley's tears for sustenance.

And this:

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As both a professional archaeologist of 10 years and a political activist, this is fucking dumb, but if this is the thing you're mad about just know that if the A303 judicial review fails this year we're going to dig a 2 mile long tunnel through the site and get it stripped of World Heritage status.

Stonehenge covered in powder paint by Just Stop Oil protesters - BBC Newswww.bbc.co.uk The move comes the day before celebrations for the Summer Solstice.

I harbour a towering anger at much of the political class in the UK, and, should you be wondering why, you can read this as exhibit a. www.theguardian.com/society/arti...

‘My state pension was £880 – and my rent was £1,000’: how a 70-year-old man became homeless in Britainwww.theguardian.com Tony Sinclair had worked all his life – but still found himself sleeping rough. Then even his tent was taken away from him

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The Federal Trade Commission, of all entities, is out here writing absolute bangers about AI snake oil. www.ftc.gov/business-gui...

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CfP: The Many-Headed Hydra Twenty-Five Years Later networks.h-net.org/group/announ... #History 🗃️

CfP: The Many-Headed Hydra Twenty-Five Years Later | H-Netnetworks.h-net.org 2025 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the publication of The Many-Headed Hydra: Slaves, Sailors, Commoners, and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic (Beacon Press, 2000), by Peter Lin...

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Dave Hitchcock

It's pretty incredible to think they somehow spent fifty BILLION dollars on this as of a year or two ago and not only can I not fathom where that money went, but we barely even talk about it because it's overshadowed by even stupider wastes entirely by guys named Sam.

4* no notes, slap it up top of the next submission.

Can we just admire the title (and sentiment) of this new journal article for a minute link.springer.com/article/10.1...

ChatGPT is bullshit - Ethics and Information Technologylink.springer.com Recently, there has been considerable interest in large language models: machine learning systems which produce human-like text and dialogue. Applications of these systems have been plagued by persist...

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We saw you from across the bar and we really dig your Roger Roger

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Important reading on how Twitter algorithms promote far-right classicist accounts.

The Antiquity to Alt-Right Pipelinewww.workingclassicists.com Classical statues in the profile? Racism and misogyny in the feed? Tallulah Trezevant looks at the alt-Right and Classics...