Mark Shanahan
@markshanahan.bsky.social
530 followers 1.4K following 960 posts
Political historian into US & UK politics. Associate Professor at the University of Surrey, sometimes on the radio/TV. Follower of the mighty Wycombe Wanderers & the underperforming Middlesex CCC. Into books, theatre & jangly guitars.
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Wordle 1,580 4/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Que? #Wordle1580
Wordle 1,579 5/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Real thing. #Wordle1579
Wordle 1,578 5/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Funny thing. #Wordle1578
The UK is a very different, far more secular, society. Unlike the US, there is no political power over here in the hands of Christian conservatives. If we see religious conservatism in our politics at all it's through Muslim councillors and a small number of independent MPs ranked against Farage.
Wordle 1,577 3/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Another banned weapon?
Wordle 1,576 5/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Cutting through the options. #Wordle1576
Wordle 1,575 5/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Ultra annoying. #Wordle1575
On this #WorldMentalHealthDay I remember my son - as I do every day, and every moment when I'm not consciously thinking of something else. We lost Rory aged 22 in 2018, one of more than 100 students who dies by suicide in the UK every year - the tip of a mental health crisis iceberg. #AcademicSky
#Wordle1574 5/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Stayed the course
To be fair to her, he has absolutely no grace and just doesn't shut up. An odd panel again with both a Reform bro and a right wing libertarian, ex IEA journo. Audience was good though. #bbcqt
Certainly one of the most tin-eared and right up there for ignorance. #bbcqt
He lies in the way that other people breathe.
The Norwegians could really mess with #Trump's mind...and give the #NobelPeacePrize to #Witkoff. #AmericanPolitics
Wordle 1,573 4/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Sailor's kiss?
Wordle 1,572 5/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 And it did.
Wordle 1,571 5/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 There's the rub.
Wordle 1,570 3/6

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Ah, but that would mean sticking their head above the parapet and breaking with the groupthink.
Wordle 1,569 3/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Buzzin'
Every now and then, the Tories need a Hague (wrong time), a Duncan Smith (wrong man), or a Howard (wrong man, wrong time) to reset, lose the losing mentality and prepare for a real fight - as delivered by Cameron. Badenoch seems to have immediately lurched into all the worst elements of Tories 97-05
Wordle 1,568 4/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Team effort?
Instincts of a blind mole rat.
Wordle 1,567 5/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 What a jerk.
Yet we've made tax a dirty word in this country. I'm old enough to remember the 70s (though not as a tax payer) when our expectation was of a far higher level of direct tax. Thatcher's switch to tax on consumption changed the landscape, yet the top rate of income tax was 60% in her 1st budget!