Jonathan Boff
@jfb1066.bsky.social
Military Historian. Writing a book on Economic Statecraft and Money as a Weapon of War (OUP, 2026). Strategy. Author of 2 award-winning books on the First World War. Professor at University of Birmingham.
Just started watching After the Hunt and so far struck by the realism of Julia Roberts as a College philosophy professor who wears Armani suits and keeps a full time housekeeper
November 29, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Just started watching After the Hunt and so far struck by the realism of Julia Roberts as a College philosophy professor who wears Armani suits and keeps a full time housekeeper
FCOL
November 28, 2025 at 3:06 PM
FCOL
Europe should give Ukraine the money right now, outright.
No ifs, no buts, no loans.
It’s the cheapest defence we will ever pay for; a loan will only store up trouble for decades; and it needs to be done with full democracy, making the case to voters to help them understand the threat we face.
No ifs, no buts, no loans.
It’s the cheapest defence we will ever pay for; a loan will only store up trouble for decades; and it needs to be done with full democracy, making the case to voters to help them understand the threat we face.
My press remarks in full here ↓
www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/informa...
www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/informa...
Informal Foreign Affairs Council: press conference by High Representative Kaja Kallas
Check against delivery! Good afternoon everybody, We just met with the EU Foreign Ministers in video format to discuss latest developments in ending Russia’s war. Foreign Minister Sybiha also joined u...
www.eeas.europa.eu
November 27, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Europe should give Ukraine the money right now, outright.
No ifs, no buts, no loans.
It’s the cheapest defence we will ever pay for; a loan will only store up trouble for decades; and it needs to be done with full democracy, making the case to voters to help them understand the threat we face.
No ifs, no buts, no loans.
It’s the cheapest defence we will ever pay for; a loan will only store up trouble for decades; and it needs to be done with full democracy, making the case to voters to help them understand the threat we face.
People responsible for this procurement should go to jail.
Even if they currently sit in the House of Lords
Even if they currently sit in the House of Lords
The MOD has paused all Ajax training after around 30 soldiers reported noise and vibration injuries, with Minister Luke Pollard ordering an urgent investigation.
ukdefencejournal.org.uk/fresh-halt-t...
ukdefencejournal.org.uk/fresh-halt-t...
Fresh halt to Ajax training after 30 troops unwell
The MOD has paused all Ajax training after around 30 soldiers reported noise and vibration injuries, with Minister Luke Pollard ordering an urgent investigation.
ukdefencejournal.org.uk
November 27, 2025 at 12:02 PM
People responsible for this procurement should go to jail.
Even if they currently sit in the House of Lords
Even if they currently sit in the House of Lords
Usual King’s Road rush hour traffic
November 26, 2025 at 9:01 AM
Usual King’s Road rush hour traffic
No rabbit Ms Reeves could pull out of today could possibly save her.
The only questions are
1) will budget be so poor that it brings her down at once and threatens the budget itself?
2) if not, will Starmer get rid of her before or after local elections?
And 3) will that be enough to save him?
The only questions are
1) will budget be so poor that it brings her down at once and threatens the budget itself?
2) if not, will Starmer get rid of her before or after local elections?
And 3) will that be enough to save him?
November 26, 2025 at 7:41 AM
No rabbit Ms Reeves could pull out of today could possibly save her.
The only questions are
1) will budget be so poor that it brings her down at once and threatens the budget itself?
2) if not, will Starmer get rid of her before or after local elections?
And 3) will that be enough to save him?
The only questions are
1) will budget be so poor that it brings her down at once and threatens the budget itself?
2) if not, will Starmer get rid of her before or after local elections?
And 3) will that be enough to save him?
Flattered to be quoted in new report on UK Economic Security by Commons Business and Trade Select Committee: publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5901/cm...
The points they picked up were:
1) the need for a whole-of-government approach
And
2) planning is a valuable process in itself
The points they picked up were:
1) the need for a whole-of-government approach
And
2) planning is a valuable process in itself
Toward A New Doctrine For Economic Security
Report of the Business and Trade
publications.parliament.uk
November 24, 2025 at 9:21 AM
Flattered to be quoted in new report on UK Economic Security by Commons Business and Trade Select Committee: publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5901/cm...
The points they picked up were:
1) the need for a whole-of-government approach
And
2) planning is a valuable process in itself
The points they picked up were:
1) the need for a whole-of-government approach
And
2) planning is a valuable process in itself
How’s my weekend going? Great. thanks, so long as you forget the morning spent fretting about Aged Ps, the biblical rain, the freezing cold, and the power cut this evening which a) was causing my not-so-young neighbour some grief and b) has left me sitting in the cold and dark since 6 pm
November 22, 2025 at 10:13 PM
How’s my weekend going? Great. thanks, so long as you forget the morning spent fretting about Aged Ps, the biblical rain, the freezing cold, and the power cut this evening which a) was causing my not-so-young neighbour some grief and b) has left me sitting in the cold and dark since 6 pm
Weather so awful I might as well write lectures
November 22, 2025 at 10:42 AM
Weather so awful I might as well write lectures
All that time we have spent teaching people what War is.
It now looks like we should have invested more in educating folk in what Peace means.
(Hint: it doesn’t mean a supposed ally blackmailing you into stopping fighting and doing what your enemy wants)
It now looks like we should have invested more in educating folk in what Peace means.
(Hint: it doesn’t mean a supposed ally blackmailing you into stopping fighting and doing what your enemy wants)
November 22, 2025 at 7:39 AM
All that time we have spent teaching people what War is.
It now looks like we should have invested more in educating folk in what Peace means.
(Hint: it doesn’t mean a supposed ally blackmailing you into stopping fighting and doing what your enemy wants)
It now looks like we should have invested more in educating folk in what Peace means.
(Hint: it doesn’t mean a supposed ally blackmailing you into stopping fighting and doing what your enemy wants)
Dear Rest of the World Leaders,
You don’t have to respond to everything Mr Trump says, much less immediately or according to his arbitrary timetables.
A little temporary deafness can work wonders sometimes
#strategy101
You don’t have to respond to everything Mr Trump says, much less immediately or according to his arbitrary timetables.
A little temporary deafness can work wonders sometimes
#strategy101
November 21, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Dear Rest of the World Leaders,
You don’t have to respond to everything Mr Trump says, much less immediately or according to his arbitrary timetables.
A little temporary deafness can work wonders sometimes
#strategy101
You don’t have to respond to everything Mr Trump says, much less immediately or according to his arbitrary timetables.
A little temporary deafness can work wonders sometimes
#strategy101
Reposted by Jonathan Boff
Always a like, never a repost. Some men just fear being too public about finding my content compelling.
November 20, 2025 at 7:52 AM
Always a like, never a repost. Some men just fear being too public about finding my content compelling.
I just watched my 3rd Edward Berger film.
All Quiet on the Western Front
Conclave
Ballad of the Small Player
3 strikes and out.
Pretty cinematography but dull dull dull movies
All Quiet on the Western Front
Conclave
Ballad of the Small Player
3 strikes and out.
Pretty cinematography but dull dull dull movies
November 19, 2025 at 9:36 PM
I just watched my 3rd Edward Berger film.
All Quiet on the Western Front
Conclave
Ballad of the Small Player
3 strikes and out.
Pretty cinematography but dull dull dull movies
All Quiet on the Western Front
Conclave
Ballad of the Small Player
3 strikes and out.
Pretty cinematography but dull dull dull movies
An interesting article. Its not clear to me when the authors think the golden age of war studies was, when it was producing ‘hard political reflection’, but if there ever was one, it was when historians led the charge. Now they don’t in most places
www.militarystrategymagazine.com/article/stra...
www.militarystrategymagazine.com/article/stra...
Strategy and the Last Manager: The Case for Dissenting War Studies - Military Strategy Magazine
Applying James Burnham’s theory of the ‘managerial revolution’ to the evolution of war studies, this article argues that the field has been captured and reshaped by a managerial class more concerned w...
www.militarystrategymagazine.com
November 19, 2025 at 3:51 PM
An interesting article. Its not clear to me when the authors think the golden age of war studies was, when it was producing ‘hard political reflection’, but if there ever was one, it was when historians led the charge. Now they don’t in most places
www.militarystrategymagazine.com/article/stra...
www.militarystrategymagazine.com/article/stra...
Reposted by Jonathan Boff
Research Assistant (War Studies)
King's College London - School of Security Studies School Office #skystorians 🗃️www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPK464/r...
King's College London - School of Security Studies School Office #skystorians 🗃️www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPK464/r...
Research Assistant (War Studies) at King's College London
Discover an exciting academic career path as a Research Assistant (War Studies) at jobs.ac.uk. Don't miss out on this job opportunity - apply today!
www.jobs.ac.uk
November 18, 2025 at 6:39 AM
Research Assistant (War Studies)
King's College London - School of Security Studies School Office #skystorians 🗃️www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPK464/r...
King's College London - School of Security Studies School Office #skystorians 🗃️www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPK464/r...
Reposted by Jonathan Boff
Reposted by Jonathan Boff
@tommckinney.bsky.social on BBC Radio 3 just talked about Benjamin Britten’s ‘exile’ in America during the Second World War.
If if was indeed an ‘exile’, it was a self-imposed one. He could have come home to help the war effort.
Maybe he did more good as a cultural ambassador in the USA…??
If if was indeed an ‘exile’, it was a self-imposed one. He could have come home to help the war effort.
Maybe he did more good as a cultural ambassador in the USA…??
November 18, 2025 at 7:31 AM
@tommckinney.bsky.social on BBC Radio 3 just talked about Benjamin Britten’s ‘exile’ in America during the Second World War.
If if was indeed an ‘exile’, it was a self-imposed one. He could have come home to help the war effort.
Maybe he did more good as a cultural ambassador in the USA…??
If if was indeed an ‘exile’, it was a self-imposed one. He could have come home to help the war effort.
Maybe he did more good as a cultural ambassador in the USA…??
. By flying endless kites on both sides of the ‘raising income tax’ debate, Government has ended up with the worst of both political worlds: showing it was willing to break its manifesto pledges while not solving its fiscal problem.
It might be better all around to revert to the purdah tradition
It might be better all around to revert to the purdah tradition
Yay, the even worse option of lots of small taxes upsetting noisy lobby groups.
Big scoop by my colleagues, this:
November 14, 2025 at 6:38 AM
. By flying endless kites on both sides of the ‘raising income tax’ debate, Government has ended up with the worst of both political worlds: showing it was willing to break its manifesto pledges while not solving its fiscal problem.
It might be better all around to revert to the purdah tradition
It might be better all around to revert to the purdah tradition
Reposted by Jonathan Boff
5 Lumber Court figures throughout Songs of Seven Dials. I thought it was worth spending more time there, though - to think about the real #DopeGirls, how London was made modern, and how a cosmopolitan working-class community tried to resist the onward march of gentrification in the 1920s and 1930s.
November 13, 2025 at 11:23 AM
5 Lumber Court figures throughout Songs of Seven Dials. I thought it was worth spending more time there, though - to think about the real #DopeGirls, how London was made modern, and how a cosmopolitan working-class community tried to resist the onward march of gentrification in the 1920s and 1930s.
Reposted by Jonathan Boff
A sneak preview of one of the stops on our whistle stop walking tour of #20s30s Seven Dials - what was 5 Lumber Court (now Tower Court).
November 13, 2025 at 11:19 AM
A sneak preview of one of the stops on our whistle stop walking tour of #20s30s Seven Dials - what was 5 Lumber Court (now Tower Court).
Reposted by Jonathan Boff
"As we wrestle with our own predicaments abroad, the Churchill of history is a better guide than the Disney version".
@patporter76.bsky.social on why we need to engage with the contradictions & compromises of the actual Churchill, not the "loveable bulldog" of myth.
thecritic.co.uk/winston-chur...
@patporter76.bsky.social on why we need to engage with the contradictions & compromises of the actual Churchill, not the "loveable bulldog" of myth.
thecritic.co.uk/winston-chur...
Winston Churchill was not Tony Blair | Patrick Porter | The Critic Magazine
Historian and culture warrior Andrew Roberts is right to rebuke the MAGA fringe and its line of attack on mid-century British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, now a figure of legend and myth.
thecritic.co.uk
November 13, 2025 at 9:31 AM
"As we wrestle with our own predicaments abroad, the Churchill of history is a better guide than the Disney version".
@patporter76.bsky.social on why we need to engage with the contradictions & compromises of the actual Churchill, not the "loveable bulldog" of myth.
thecritic.co.uk/winston-chur...
@patporter76.bsky.social on why we need to engage with the contradictions & compromises of the actual Churchill, not the "loveable bulldog" of myth.
thecritic.co.uk/winston-chur...
I’d like them to do a retro Bond, set in the 60s
The New Bond is obvious.
November 11, 2025 at 10:46 AM
I’d like them to do a retro Bond, set in the 60s
A new horror word spotted in the Daily Telegraph today: ‘delusional’,
to go alongside ‘inspirational’.
What’s wrong with ‘deluded’ and ‘inspiring’??!
to go alongside ‘inspirational’.
What’s wrong with ‘deluded’ and ‘inspiring’??!
November 10, 2025 at 10:07 AM
A new horror word spotted in the Daily Telegraph today: ‘delusional’,
to go alongside ‘inspirational’.
What’s wrong with ‘deluded’ and ‘inspiring’??!
to go alongside ‘inspirational’.
What’s wrong with ‘deluded’ and ‘inspiring’??!