Andrew Defty
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adefty.bsky.social
Andrew Defty
@adefty.bsky.social
750 followers 850 following 210 posts

Associate Professor of Politics, University of Lincoln. Parliament, the intelligence services, a little bit of social policy.

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Political science 84%
Sociology 5%
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adefty.bsky.social
Andrew Defty @adefty.bsky.social · 1h
Very much enjoyed Christian House’s piece in the FT this weekend about art and diplomacy #ArtofSpying - www.ft.com/content/ad73...
What art should I hang in my embassy? Top ambassadors reveal their soft power secrets
Diplomats have been tactfully hanging masterpieces for centuries — collectors should take note
www.ft.com

Reposted by Andrew Defty

gsoh31.bsky.social
Glen O'Hara @gsoh31.bsky.social · 3d
Read this thread for the lived experience of what it's like in almost all UK universities now - just an internal implosion. Organisationally, morally, in terms of capacity and morale.
melissaterras.bsky.social Melissa Terras @melissaterras.bsky.social · 10d
Missing from the coverage of redundancies at Edinburgh: this was done in such a haphazard, uncoordinated way, there are now core teams who have gone from 5 people to 1 with no change in workload or pressure and huge loss in knowledge of institutional process. www.heraldscotland.com/news/2576321...
Hundreds of staff leave Edinburgh University amid cuts drive
According to the university, 345 of these departures were the result of a targeted voluntary severance (VS) scheme run by the institution in 2025.
www.heraldscotland.com

adefty.bsky.social
Andrew Defty @adefty.bsky.social · 3d
I have a short comment piece on the need for a more joined-up approach to intelligence oversight in Baltic Rim Economies special issue on intelligence and foresight. There are also some great pieces by others in there which are really worth reading www.centrumbalticum.org/en/publicati...

Reposted by Jan W. Mueller, Alan Richardson, David R. Miller , and 5 more

newsguy.bsky.social
Steve Herman @newsguy.bsky.social · 3d
VOA's headquarters, 'the Sistine Chapel of the New Deal,' faces possible destruction as part of the Trump administration's drive for "maximum value for the federal real estate footprint." wapo.st/4a5NCsq
The stunning art trove hidden in a D.C. building marked by Trump for disposal
Packed with frescoes, paintings and reliefs, the federal government’s Cohen Building has been called “the Sistine Chapel of the New Deal.” Advocates fear these works could be at risk.
wapo.st

adefty.bsky.social
Andrew Defty @adefty.bsky.social · 3d
We really can’t be sure he knows any of those things.

adefty.bsky.social
Andrew Defty @adefty.bsky.social · 3d
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Austria's biggest spy trial for decades puts ex-intelligence officer in the dock
Egisto Ott, 63, denies charges of handing over information to Russian agents.
www.bbc.co.uk

adefty.bsky.social
Andrew Defty @adefty.bsky.social · 3d
Minor point re. operation of the ISC. ISC has not usually named a Deputy Chair but appointment of a member of House of Lords as the ISC Chair means Deputy Chair needed in order to speak for the committee in the Commons. From Tuesday’s Commons debate on Chinese Embassy:

adefty.bsky.social
Andrew Defty @adefty.bsky.social · 3d
Intelligence and Security Committee statement on the Chinese Embassy. ISC is content that security implications can be mitigated, but raises broader concerns about lack of clarity regarding how national security considerations feed into planning isc.independent.gov.uk

adefty.bsky.social
Andrew Defty @adefty.bsky.social · 4d
You're in serious denial if you think the one accurate statement in a speech littered with lies and spurious nonsense is that the US is not planning to take Greenland by force.

adefty.bsky.social
Andrew Defty @adefty.bsky.social · 4d
What an embarrassing spectacle.

adefty.bsky.social
Andrew Defty @adefty.bsky.social · 5d
If he thinks the Chagos deal is stupid wait until he finds out which President signed off on it.
a cartoon of two spidermans standing in front of a nypd van
ALT: a cartoon of two spidermans standing in front of a nypd van
media.tenor.com

adefty.bsky.social
Andrew Defty @adefty.bsky.social · 6d
In making threats and plans to occupy Greenland the US is already in breach of art. 2 (4) of the UN Charter and art.8 of the Rome Statute of the International Court of Justice. US President looking increasingly like the criminal head of a rogue state.

Reposted by Steve Peers, Steven Fielding, Andrew Defty

yougov.co.uk
YouGov @yougov.co.uk · 6d
67% of Britons support retaliatory tariffs against the US if Trump imposes tariffs as a result of UK opposition to his attempts to take over Greenland

Support: 67%
Oppose: 14%

Net support by 2024 vote
Green +73
Lab +65
Lib Dem +64
Con +60
Reform +29

yougov.co.uk/topics/inter...

Reposted by Will Jennings, Samantha Brennan, Andrew Defty

katz.theracket.news
Jonathan M. Katz @katz.theracket.news · 6d
Tfw the dog won’t wag
Quinnipiac poll: Nearly 9 in 10 U.S. voters oppose taking Greenland by military force Q: Would you support or oppose the United States trying to take Greenland by military force? Note: Totals may not equal 100% because of rounding. Source: Jan. 8-12, 2026, Quinnipiac poll of 1,133 registered voters with a margin of error of +/- 3.7 percentage points. Error margins are larger among subgroups. Support Don't know/No answer • Oppose Registered voters 86% Republicans 23% 68% Democrats 95% Independents 94%

adefty.bsky.social
Andrew Defty @adefty.bsky.social · 6d
True - I wondered at first if the PM was heading to Davos this afternoon, but seems more likely, given Commons late start on a Monday, it maybe about getting this out before America gets up, so PM not forced to comment in real time to more deranged comments coming out of US administration.

Reposted by Andrew Defty

casmudde.bsky.social
Cas Mudde #AbolishICE @casmudde.bsky.social · 6d
Looks like they will never learn...

Bullies never respect or reward weakness. They prey on it!
European Officials Lean Toward Negotiating, Not Retaliating, Over Trump Threat
www.nytimes.com

adefty.bsky.social
Andrew Defty @adefty.bsky.social · 7d
John Bew’s review of Hillary Clinton and Keren Yarhi-Milo’s study of crisis decision making, Inside the Situation Room. observer.co.uk/culture/book...
Inside the White House situation room | The Observer
Hillary Clinton and others explore the psychology behind the decisions that shape history
observer.co.uk

Reposted by Andrew Defty

jorgeliboreiro.bsky.social
Jorge Liboreiro @jorgeliboreiro.bsky.social · 8d
As we speak, the European Union is defending Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity against Russia and Denmark's sovereignty and territorial integrity against the United States.

adefty.bsky.social
Andrew Defty @adefty.bsky.social · 8d
Lincolnshire is a coastal county, it’s just that when you get to the coast it can still be quite a long way to the sea.

Reposted by Richard S.J. Tol, Steve Peers, Colin Murray , and 7 more

explaintrade.com
Dmitry Grozoubinski @explaintrade.com · 8d
There are going to be limits to what you can make other countries do by threatening to tax your own citizen's purchases of their products.

I believe handing over entire territories falls well beyond those limits.

🤷‍♂️

Reposted by Simon Dalby, Matthew P. McAllister, Andrew Defty , and 1 more

claesdevreese.bsky.social
Claes de Vreese @claesdevreese.bsky.social · 8d
Speaking truth to power.

"Do not speak of the security of the Arctic, when its greatest threat is YOU"

Greenlandic citizen at Nuuk demonstration.

Source: dr.dk

Reposted by Andrew Defty

uofgsps.bsky.social
UofG School of Social & Political Sciences @uofgsps.bsky.social · 10d
A new book by Prof Jane Duncan and Allen Munoriyarwa that offers a comprehensive analysis of the critical challenge of intelligence accountability in an era of expanding digital surveillance capabilities is now available from @scotunipress.bsky.social

More: www.sup.ac.uk/forthcoming-...

Reposted by James M. Bullock, Éric Laurier, Felicity Callard , and 9 more

melissaterras.bsky.social
Melissa Terras @melissaterras.bsky.social · 10d
Missing from the coverage of redundancies at Edinburgh: this was done in such a haphazard, uncoordinated way, there are now core teams who have gone from 5 people to 1 with no change in workload or pressure and huge loss in knowledge of institutional process. www.heraldscotland.com/news/2576321...
Hundreds of staff leave Edinburgh University amid cuts drive
According to the university, 345 of these departures were the result of a targeted voluntary severance (VS) scheme run by the institution in 2025.
www.heraldscotland.com

adefty.bsky.social
Andrew Defty @adefty.bsky.social · 11d
Sounds familiar
plashingvole.bsky.social Plashing Vole @plashingvole.bsky.social · 12d
Today’s activities: an all-day meeting to decide how specifically to make our surviving degree courses worse, the general outlines already having been imposed (fewer modules, fewer hours per module, fewer assessments, fewer subject modules, fewer academics).

adefty.bsky.social
Andrew Defty @adefty.bsky.social · 12d
Interesting debate in House of Lords today on proscription of IRGC including this exchange between the current chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee, Lord Beamish, and former ISC member, now Home Office Minister, Lord Hanson hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2026-0...

Reposted by Glen O’Hara, Katrina Navickas, Andrew Defty

plashingvole.bsky.social
Plashing Vole @plashingvole.bsky.social · 12d
Today’s activities: an all-day meeting to decide how specifically to make our surviving degree courses worse, the general outlines already having been imposed (fewer modules, fewer hours per module, fewer assessments, fewer subject modules, fewer academics).

adefty.bsky.social
Andrew Defty @adefty.bsky.social · 12d
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
'Urgent' search for missing Lincoln student Connor Calleja
Lincolnshire Police says it is growing
www.bbc.co.uk

adefty.bsky.social
Andrew Defty @adefty.bsky.social · 13d
Elizabeth Buchanan refers to Greenland as “the James Blunt of geopolitics and international security.” I’m not sure if that’s unfair to Greenland or to James Blunt.

Reposted by Colin Harvey, Andrew Defty

paulfscott.bsky.social
Paul F Scott @paulfscott.bsky.social · 13d
'Evidence of British complicity surfaced in two UK parliamentary reports in 2018, which revealed that MI5 and MI6 had fed questions to the CIA to ask Abu Zubaydah, in the knowledge that he was being tortured.' www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
UK ‘pays substantial sum’ to tortured Guantánamo Bay detainee
Lawyers for Abu Zubaydah accused British intelligence services of providing questions to his CIA interrogators
www.theguardian.com

adefty.bsky.social
Andrew Defty @adefty.bsky.social · 15d
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