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Dr Terry Smyth

@terrysmyth.bsky.social

110 followers 120 following 110 posts

Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Author: 'Captive Fathers, Captive Children: Legacies of the War in the Far East' (Bloomsbury 2023). Community Fellow, History Dept, University of Essex (2017-2025).

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Dr Terry Smyth @terrysmyth.bsky.social · Nov 16

'Captive Fathers, Captive Children'
My 2023 book published by Bloomsbury.
'an extraordinary book ... a memoir, a social history of POWs, an ethnography of commemoration & an exploration of the subjectivity of descendants.' (Prof Michael Roper)
'deeply personal, yet scholarly' (Prof Joanna Bourke)

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Reposted by Dr Terry Smyth

Josiah Mortimer @josiah.writes.news · 1d

"Another Reform MP has been accused of being in breach of Parliamentary rules, after its deputy leader Richard Tice failed to register lavish hospitality he received from Lubov Chernukhin – wife of a former Russian deputy finance minister"
leftfootforward.org/2025/10/refo...

Reform’s Richard Tice failed to register lavish hospitality from former Russian finance minister’s wife

'Tice and Oakeshott stayed at the Chernukhins’ “turreted villa” with “a stunning view of the Mediterranean” and had supper with them at a Michelin-starred restaurant'

leftfootforward.org

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Dr Terry Smyth @terrysmyth.bsky.social · 1d

"RIOT WOMEN" on BBC1. Don't drag this one out. Watch it in one go if you can. It's completely brilliant!

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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 4d

“I’m old enough to remember when mainstream British politicians, who should know better, stirred up racial hatred as a path to power. You’re old enough to remember too because it was last Tuesday. And it was Robert Jenrick”

Cathartic anger at flag-flying racism.

www.thenerve.news/p/stewart-le...

Stewart Lee: The thugs have taken my flag. So I’ve taken theirs

What do you do with a lot of cheap banners hanging from motorway bridges once you’ve torn them down?

www.thenerve.news

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Dr Terry Smyth @terrysmyth.bsky.social · 10d

#NoStoneUnturned subscribe.bylinetimes.com/nostoneuntur...

#NoStoneUnturned – Byline Times Shop

#NoStoneUnturned Help Byline Times go where others dare to tread. We’re raising £20k to build a new special investigations team led by Nafeez Ahmed. Byline Times is asking for your support to advance ...

subscribe.bylinetimes.com

Reposted by Dr Terry Smyth

Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 11d

This video of Chicagoans intervening to save a man from being abducted off the streets by ICE is making the rounds on Instagram.

Community action works.

Source: www.instagram.com/reel/DPZL2AL...

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Reposted by Dr Terry Smyth

Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 11d

We flounced out of the EU on the say-so of politicians who lied to us. And what a total shitshow that’s turned out to be. The polar opposite of what they promised. Now the call to flounce out of the ECHR. By the same people. Telling the same lies. Has the country been kicked in the head by a horse?

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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 27d

Why you should never argue online iandunt.substack.com/p/why-you-sh...

Why you should never argue online

Even if you win a mud fight, you're still covered in mud.

iandunt.substack.com

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Dr Terry Smyth @terrysmyth.bsky.social · Sep 16

Yes. Every social media fixated, media monkey swinging and screaming from branch to branch on the publicity tree should calm down, shut up for a while, and let the government carry on working on behalf of the citizens of this country. You are becoming tiresome.

Reposted by Dr Terry Smyth

Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · Sep 15

I find these two men (particularly these two)
telling us their approved version of parenting - deeply sinister.
I hope their christofascist, MAGA-flavoured manoeuvrings backfire so dramatically, in our secular, progressive country, that they rue the day they decided to tell us how to live our lives.

Adam Schwarz @adamjschwarz.bsky.social · Sep 15

Nigel Farage:

"Children who have two stable parents have a better chance in life... The most stable relationships, the ones that last the longest, tend to be between men & women... There's an awful lot of kids in the country not getting the kind of start... they deserve."

Farage has two ex-wives.

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Dr Terry Smyth @terrysmyth.bsky.social · Sep 15

x.com/khnh80044/st...

Love Music on X: "Freddie is looking down and giving y'all a standing ovation. That's spectacular!😍💗 The most INSANE Bohemian Rhapsody Flashmob you will ever see!! With 30 musicians and singers in the STREET of Paris 😍 Cre : Julien Cohen Pianist https://t.co/OxK8bGVweT" / X

Freddie is looking down and giving y'all a standing ovation. That's spectacular!😍💗 The most INSANE Bohemian Rhapsody Flashmob you will ever see!! With 30 musicians and singers in the STREET of Paris 😍 Cre : Julien Cohen Pianist https://t.co/OxK8bGVweT

x.com

Reposted by Dr Terry Smyth

Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · Sep 15

Reform would have you believe they’re different from Tommy Robinson and the far right. They’re not. Reform is chock full of Robinson’s fascist fans and the v worst politicians are legitimising them.
Anyone who genuinely cared about our country wouldn’t let their racist rhetoric take hold.
(iPaper)

Ian Birrell: Opinion

Extract:

Farage - who resigned from Ukip over its embrace of Robinson and development of an "anti-Muslim fixation" - now has a policy chief demanding a ban on the burka, MPs calling Britain "a fundamentally Christian country" and has shifted position in a year to demand mass deportations.
The chairman of Reform UK said Robinson's march showed
"the silent majority". At the party's conference, members freely told me they were fans of the far-right activist. I heard a fringe speaker talk about tackling the "insurrectionary religion" of Islam. And the party links crime to migration while focusing hard on Muslim grooming gangs, echoing themes heard last century in bigoted hostility to Jewish refugees and Roman Catholic migrants.
When Enoch Powell claimed six decades ago that immigration would bring "rivers of blood", the Tory leadership of the day turned on him and was backed by Labour:
Contrast that with today when we see the Conservative Party leader try to outflank Farage over deportations of women and children while her leadership rival, Robert Jenrick, jumps on a stunt over street flags initiated by the far-right.
Meanwhile a panicked Labour
Government, flailing around to look tougher on illegal migration, says Robinson is tapping into disquiet and that the march was a "klaxon call" to redouble their efforts to tackle public concerns.
It is, however, also a klaxon call to political leaders to defend our great multicultural country and all ofits citizens - whatever their colour; gender, race or religion - from an insurgent far-right rabble, which is being aided by unshackled social media, irresponsible technology billionaires and enemy states intent on destroying democracy.
Ugly rhetoric leads to ugly events.
So silence is no longer an option for true patriots who love the modern reality of their country, in this struggle for the soul of our nation.

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Dr Terry Smyth @terrysmyth.bsky.social · Sep 10

Laila Cunningham: The colourful face of Britain’s new hate narrative url:https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250810-laila-cunningham-the-colourful-face-of-britains-new-hate-narrative/

Reposted by Dr Terry Smyth

Memento (Spooky) Morty 🌙 @mementomorty.bsky.social · Sep 4

I'm losing it over here

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Dr Terry Smyth @terrysmyth.bsky.social · Sep 1

There are some people who really don't deserve their place on this earth. Let's rebirth them and see if they come out better next time.

Reposted by Dr Terry Smyth

Route60Plus @route60plus.bsky.social · Aug 9

tRump is the master of this…

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Dr Terry Smyth @terrysmyth.bsky.social · Jul 22

www.rlf.org.uk/posts/ukrain...

Ukraine’s writers at war, and the life and death of Victoria Amelina

Julian Evans on the life and work of Orwell Prize-winning Ukrainian author Victoria Amelina, and the fragmented nature of writing about war.

www.rlf.org.uk

Reposted by Dr Terry Smyth

Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · Jul 21

Hey, UK media!
Are you just going to let Farage dump another steaming pile of populist bullshit on us *without ever* properly scrutinising his ideas or him…his funding, his riots, his links to Putin and Trump, his Brexit shitshow, his grifting side gigs, his lies, his ignorance…?
Call. Him. TF. Out.

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Dr Terry Smyth @terrysmyth.bsky.social · Jul 18

When will marketing/branding types stop their needless use of the word 'space'?

Reposted by Dr Terry Smyth

James Leakyboots Batty @jamesbatty.bsky.social · Jul 13

Nigel Farage takes money from the public purse and doesn't do a decent day's work. I can find no evidence of a disability that might keep him off duty (poncing about in the US doesn't count); so I have to conclude he is a benefits cheat.
www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/nig...

'He's done nothing': Nigel Farage accused of only using Clacton 'for photo opportunities'

There are murmurs of discontent in Clacton, and Nigel Farage remains an elusive presence in his own constituency.

www.thelondoneconomic.com

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Dr Terry Smyth @terrysmyth.bsky.social · Jul 7

Same old story, find a false grievance and off we go ....

Reposted by Dr Terry Smyth

Tye Dye Terrapin @tyedyedterrapin.bsky.social · Jun 28

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Dr Terry Smyth @terrysmyth.bsky.social · Jun 27

Shock horror. Government adjusts its policies in response to arguments put by democratically elected representatives. For me that's democracy in action. High time the hugely overpaid political commentators grew up and stopped creating needless conflict and controversy.

Reposted by Dr Terry Smyth

Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · Jun 25

May 2025: median wage of a UK worker, £30,252; net £25,293.

In 2024 (2025?) a single person needed to earn £28,000 for minimum acceptable standard of living; £69,400 for a couple with two children.

Low incomes, unchecked profiteering blights life.

50 families have more wealth than 34m Britons.

Earnings and employment from Pay As You Earn Real Time Information, UK - Office for National Statistics

Monthly estimates of payrolled employees and their pay from HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC’s) Pay As You Earn (PAYE) Real Time Information (RTI) data.

www.ons.gov.uk

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Dr Terry Smyth @terrysmyth.bsky.social · Jun 24

I am mildly amused by the succession of media outlets rushing to apologise for the US President using a word that most prepubescent youngsters in this country would see as innocuous, if a little lazy.

Dr Terry Smyth @terrysmyth.bsky.social · Jun 20

You can be all of those things ... and yet also dangerously wrong.