Hugh Pemberton
@hugh-pemberton.bsky.social
Recent British history is my thing (political, governmental, economic); armchair strategic studies my secret vice. Emeritus Prof at Bristol. Sometime historian of the UK civil service, more recently of Thatcherism. But often on my allotment these days .. more
Recent British history is my thing (political, governmental, economic); armchair strategic studies my secret vice. Emeritus Prof at Bristol. Sometime historian of the UK civil service, more recently of Thatcherism. But often on my allotment these days
Hugh R. Pemberton, FRHistS, is an academic historian specialising in the late twentieth-century British politics and British social and economic policy. As of 2018, he is Professor of Contemporary British History at the University of Bristol. .. more
Political science
54%
Economics
32%
Many Victorian cities grew by tenfold in a century
Could ours do the same?
open.substack.com
The contrast between the Victorians' willingness to build and today's unwillingness (with all that entails for those not lucky enough to already have somewhere decent to live) is a stark one. This long discussion of the factors enabling C19 development is fascinating. From Works in Progress
Many Victorian cities grew by tenfold in a century
Could ours do the same?
open.substack.com
The contrast between the Victorians' willingness to build and today's unwillingness (with all that entails for those not lucky enough to already have somewhere decent to live) is a stark one. This long discussion of the factors enabling C19 development is fascinating. From Works in Progress
The Crypto-Hoarding Strategy Is Unraveling
Bitcoin fell below $76,000 on Saturday, saddling Michael Saylor’s Strategy with paper losses on its token purchases.
www.wsj.com
To the surprise of nobody with an ounce of sense the crypto craze has ended and a lot of people are starting to nurse heavy losses
www.wsj.com/finance/curr...
www.wsj.com/finance/curr...
How Elon Musk used SpaceX to rescue xAI and build a $1.25tn colossus
Billionaire folds rocket maker into a lossmaking AI start-up, betting scale and control can beat rivals to blockbuster IPO
www.ft.com
Episode #95 in the blockbuster series "The Long Con".
How Elon Musk used SpaceX to rescue xAI and build a $1.25tn colossus - www.ft.com/content/9d2b... via @FT
How Elon Musk used SpaceX to rescue xAI and build a $1.25tn colossus - www.ft.com/content/9d2b... via @FT
How the Murdoch Family Built an Empire—and Remade the News
Today, the name represents a story of profit and power unlike any other. But tracing the genealogy of Murdoch sleaze requires a long memory.
share.google
This is a very enjoyable hatchet job
How the Murdoch Family Built an Empire—and Remade the News | The New Yorker | by Andrew O'Hagan share.google/ldvLu9M1Vb5b...
How the Murdoch Family Built an Empire—and Remade the News | The New Yorker | by Andrew O'Hagan share.google/ldvLu9M1Vb5b...
The Predatory Hegemon
How Trump Wields American Power
reader.foreignaffairs.com
This is an excellent analysis of why Trump's ditching of the USA's benign imperialism in favour of predatory hegemony is ultimately almost bound to fail. By Stephen M. Walt @foreignaffairs.com
reader.foreignaffairs.com/2026/02/03/t...
reader.foreignaffairs.com/2026/02/03/t...
Leave NATO? No thanks Zack...
I don't think the Brazilian navy is coming to our rescue if Putin attacks
open.substack.com
This Paul Mason piece is very good
It is a tragedy for UK environmentalism, and for the country more generally, that the Green party has been taken over by the sort of far-lefties who took over and led Labour to an unprecedented electoral wipe out in 2019
open.substack.com/pub/htsf/p/l...
It is a tragedy for UK environmentalism, and for the country more generally, that the Green party has been taken over by the sort of far-lefties who took over and led Labour to an unprecedented electoral wipe out in 2019
open.substack.com/pub/htsf/p/l...
As Ashcroft points out, there is no quick fix for the Tories, who would be better advised to begin by thinking hard about why they lost so badly in the last election, accept and address the problems identified, then build a new policy programme from there
Two problems stand out for the Conservatives with "unite the right":
a) palling up with reform is likely to alienate 1 in 5 Conservative voters
b) it will also trigger an effective " unite the left" response via massive tactical voting
a) palling up with reform is likely to alienate 1 in 5 Conservative voters
b) it will also trigger an effective " unite the left" response via massive tactical voting
Unite the right, hold the centre… How should the Conservatives position themselves in Britain’s fragmented politics? - Lord Ashcroft Polls
The string of defections from the Conservatives to Reform has intensified both the schism on the right of politics and the debate over what to do about it. Prosper UK, the new group launched by Sir An...
lordashcroftpolls.com
This is an excellent and concise outline of the problems for the Conservatives in a "unite the right" electoral strategy lordashcroftpolls.com/2026/02/unit...
I wouldn't!
An ego trip to the movies | Robert Hutton | The Critic Magazine
A third of the way through Melania, Amazon’s very expensive film about the current first lady of the US – a first lady who, we’re left in no doubt, is the greatest first lady in the history of first…
thecritic.co.uk
The best (i.e. only) reason to go and see Melania the movie is that it "might be evidence in an impeachment trial. And in any case, it is an important document in the decline of American public life."
thecritic.co.uk/an-ego-trip-...
thecritic.co.uk/an-ego-trip-...
No death penalty for Luigi Mangione. Manhattan District Judge Margaret Garnett has dismissed Counts 3 and 4 of the federal indictment, including the capital murder charge and a related firearms offence.
He still faces two federal stalking counts. He’s entered not guilty pleas.
He still faces two federal stalking counts. He’s entered not guilty pleas.
What a joy it must be to live in a country where you can shoot someone dead, plead the "he ran a company that I felt was ripping me off" defence, and literally get away with murder
The Revolt of the Young Men?
Britain's second wokest cohort might surprise you
open.substack.com
"While it is true that Reform has gobbled up a large chunk of the right-leaning youth, this is just reallocation within an already shrinking bloc"
open.substack.com/pub/joxleywr...
open.substack.com/pub/joxleywr...
Reposted by Hugh Pemberton
No death penalty for Luigi Mangione. Manhattan District Judge Margaret Garnett has dismissed Counts 3 and 4 of the federal indictment, including the capital murder charge and a related firearms offence.
He still faces two federal stalking counts. He’s entered not guilty pleas.
He still faces two federal stalking counts. He’s entered not guilty pleas.
We could produce a lot of electricity on the land used for biofuels
About enough to meet current global electricity demand.
open.substack.com
Biofuels are even more of a scam than I'd assumed. They meet 4% of transport energy demand, but we could use that land to power 100% of road transport once it's all electrified and still have power to spare
open.substack.com/pub/hannahri...
open.substack.com/pub/hannahri...
Middle America has turned against Trump
Voters on Main Street accuse him of having the anti-Midas touch
open.substack.com
Looking at YouGov polling, Peter Kelner reaches a brutal conclusion:"Most Americans now regard their president as a reverse Midas, who turns all he touches into dross."
open.substack.com/pub/kellnerp...
open.substack.com/pub/kellnerp...
Nobody in Britain is going to see the new Melania movie – I've crunched the data to prove it
I really don't care, do u?
takes.jamesomalley.co.uk
UK Melania screenings are practically empty. Keep up the good work you Brits!
takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/i-really-d...
takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/i-really-d...
'We are deeply sorry': Capita and Cabinet Office bosses outline plan to tackle pension scheme crisis
Cat Little and Adolfo Hernandez apologise for 'serious issues' affecting Civil Service Pension Scheme members
www.civilserviceworld.com
Who knows why the Cabinet Office picked serial failure Capita to run the civil service pension scheme but perhaps they might now finally understand at a personal level how useless many outsourcers are
www.civilserviceworld.com/professions/...
www.civilserviceworld.com/professions/...
It's amazing, isn't it!
Indeed so!
Reposted by Tim Bale
Andy Burnham’s Manchester and its rapid revival
The city is growing faster than the national average after an economic transformation that started 30 years ago
www.ft.com
A reminder from @jenwilliamsft.bsky.social that Manchester's astonishing turnaround was a decades-long process
www.ft.com/content/606d... via @FT
www.ft.com/content/606d... via @FT
Document Length - A Cry of Anguish!
“Let us suppose that you are sitting at your desk considering applications to your Minister for licences.
open.substack.com
If you've ever wondered why it's become so very hard to get things done in Britain I suggest you read this (which has a much wider application than the civil service, which is the focus of @ukcivilservant.bsky.social )
open.substack.com/pub/ukcivils...
open.substack.com/pub/ukcivils...
Prosper UK
Prosper UK is bringing people together who share our values, care about the future of the country, and want politics to work better.
prosperuk.com
If the Conservative party survives I suspect the launch of Prosper UK and its campaign for a centre-facing Conservatism may come to be seen as a very significant moment. Of course, its launch has been virtually ignored by a right wing media that is a key part of the party's problem prosperuk.com
Reform in ‘ferocious battle’ with council officers over pension cuts, says Richard Tice
Party’s deputy leader warns planned reductions in contributions risk being too cautious
www.ft.com
Reform embraces a long-standing political tradition - treating employee pension fund "surpluses" as a policy piggy bank. The fact that surpluses can melt away in a jiffy is always conveniently ignored
www.ft.com/content/9b10... via @FT
www.ft.com/content/9b10... via @FT
General tenor of Saturday's media coverage of Trump's Greenland foray? We are all Gaullists now
The dystopian world of Donald Trump
He pulled back on Greenland, but a rupture of the old order is under way
www.ft.com
The FT's bleak verdict: "The real story of this week, however, is not that Trump blinked. It is, in Carney’s words, that a rupture is taking place. The old order is gone, and it is not coming back."
The dystopian world of Donald Trump - www.ft.com/content/2d50...
The dystopian world of Donald Trump - www.ft.com/content/2d50...
Decoupling from Trump’s America
Washington’s allies are looking for a new strategy after a week that has demonstrated what some see as the risks of subordination and coercion
www.ft.com
"Trump’s Greenland plans were a bomb placed under the international system and the western alliance. That seems to have been defused in Davos. But — sooner or later — one of Trump’s bombs is likely to go off"
Decoupling from Trump’s America - www.ft.com/content/ed08... via @FT
Decoupling from Trump’s America - www.ft.com/content/ed08... via @FT
Reposted by Hugh Pemberton
All the coverage of Andy Burnham is about what it would mean for Labour at Westminster.
Can one outlet at least mention that Burnham is less than halfway into his term as mayor & would be legally obliged to resign that role if he became an MP?
There's a serious case for a party saying "no" to that
Can one outlet at least mention that Burnham is less than halfway into his term as mayor & would be legally obliged to resign that role if he became an MP?
There's a serious case for a party saying "no" to that