David Edgerton
@davidedgerton.bsky.social
Historian, currently at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin. https://www.davidedgerton.org/
Reposted by David Edgerton
Many thanks to @phillipspobrien.bsky.social @davidedgerton.bsky.social and others for these endorsements! #AdvanceBritannia
October 24, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Many thanks to @phillipspobrien.bsky.social @davidedgerton.bsky.social and others for these endorsements! #AdvanceBritannia
Reposted by David Edgerton
We're excited to announce the call for papers for #MBS26, the next Modern British Studies conference, at Birmingham in June 2026. We'll be launching the #MBS Association at this event, to support further regular conferences in Modern British Studies.
www.birmingham.ac.uk/events/moder...
www.birmingham.ac.uk/events/moder...
Modern British Studies Conference 2026 - University of Birmingham
Conference information
www.birmingham.ac.uk
October 16, 2025 at 8:47 PM
We're excited to announce the call for papers for #MBS26, the next Modern British Studies conference, at Birmingham in June 2026. We'll be launching the #MBS Association at this event, to support further regular conferences in Modern British Studies.
www.birmingham.ac.uk/events/moder...
www.birmingham.ac.uk/events/moder...
Very insightful comparison of the significance of Margaret Thatcher and the Queen for understanding where we have been led to from @anthonybarnett.bsky.social www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...
What did Mrs Thatcher do to us?
Less a prime minister than a monarch, the Tory leader’s real legacy was stasis
www.newstatesman.com
October 13, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Very insightful comparison of the significance of Margaret Thatcher and the Queen for understanding where we have been led to from @anthonybarnett.bsky.social www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...
Reposted by David Edgerton
Join us for a roundtable on 'The Modern British City' in January at Senate House, London, with Simon Gunn, Erika Hanna, Owen Hatherley, Peter Mandler, Otto Saumarez Smith and Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite, followed by wine! www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
Roundtable: 'The Modern British City'
www.history.ac.uk
October 10, 2025 at 9:23 AM
Join us for a roundtable on 'The Modern British City' in January at Senate House, London, with Simon Gunn, Erika Hanna, Owen Hatherley, Peter Mandler, Otto Saumarez Smith and Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite, followed by wine! www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
Reposted by David Edgerton
Keir Starmer’s Labour conference speech: our writers’ verdicts
David Edgerton, Faiza Shaheen and Maurice Glasman respond to the Prime Minister
David Edgerton, Faiza Shaheen and Maurice Glasman respond to the Prime Minister
Keir Starmer’s conference speech: our writers’ verdicts
David Edgerton, Faiza Shaheen and Maurice Glasman respond to the Prime Minister
www.newstatesman.com
September 30, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Keir Starmer’s Labour conference speech: our writers’ verdicts
David Edgerton, Faiza Shaheen and Maurice Glasman respond to the Prime Minister
David Edgerton, Faiza Shaheen and Maurice Glasman respond to the Prime Minister
Reposted by David Edgerton
Our new magazine, Equator, is officially out in the world — and here @equatormag.bsky.social
Sign up for preview emails, donate, and get tickets to our launch event in London: equator.org
Sign up for preview emails, donate, and get tickets to our launch event in London: equator.org
September 15, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Our new magazine, Equator, is officially out in the world — and here @equatormag.bsky.social
Sign up for preview emails, donate, and get tickets to our launch event in London: equator.org
Sign up for preview emails, donate, and get tickets to our launch event in London: equator.org
Reposted by David Edgerton
We’ve heard a lot about flags but turbines and steelworks are the true stuff of economic sovereignty. Britain has been blatantly exposed as dependent on foreign governments and multinationals, as demonstrated by the recent closure of Grentmouth oil refinery. Read more in my @lrb.co.uk article ⬇️
Ewan Gibbs · Goodbye to Grangemouth
Any form of ‘just transition’ – managing the move to a greener economy while also protecting workers and...
www.lrb.co.uk
September 14, 2025 at 9:53 AM
We’ve heard a lot about flags but turbines and steelworks are the true stuff of economic sovereignty. Britain has been blatantly exposed as dependent on foreign governments and multinationals, as demonstrated by the recent closure of Grentmouth oil refinery. Read more in my @lrb.co.uk article ⬇️
A rich study of the extraordinary radicalisation of the British right.
For the @newstatesman.com i profiled Dominic Cummings – a case study in elite radicalisation
www.newstatesman.com/ideas/2025/0...
www.newstatesman.com/ideas/2025/0...
The rage of Dominic Cummings
Britain’s rogue intellectual has predicted a civil war. Is he also cheerleading one?
www.newstatesman.com
August 24, 2025 at 8:10 AM
A rich study of the extraordinary radicalisation of the British right.
Reposted by David Edgerton
I think often about how the historian @davidedgerton.bsky.social predicted the disturbing extremist slide in UK politics, in this interview conducted in the summer of 2023 and recounted in my book What Everyone Knows About Britain* (*Except the British).
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
August 4, 2025 at 9:26 AM
I think often about how the historian @davidedgerton.bsky.social predicted the disturbing extremist slide in UK politics, in this interview conducted in the summer of 2023 and recounted in my book What Everyone Knows About Britain* (*Except the British).
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
July 30, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Quite right - it macerated the brain. It’s time to retire the word ‘technology’
July 30, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Quite right - it macerated the brain. It’s time to retire the word ‘technology’
Reposted by David Edgerton
I'm a big fan of the colourful briefs given by government teams regarding how brilliant they were to achieve trade deals, obviously effort was involved, but a mostly tariff reducing UK-India deal was always on offer - it was lowering UK ambition that got the deal. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
‘People said it would never be done’: UK and India trade agreement defies expectations
For Britain, this is a much-needed post-Brexit boost, and for India it shows decades of protectionism are in the past
www.theguardian.com
July 24, 2025 at 7:17 AM
I'm a big fan of the colourful briefs given by government teams regarding how brilliant they were to achieve trade deals, obviously effort was involved, but a mostly tariff reducing UK-India deal was always on offer - it was lowering UK ambition that got the deal. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Starmer's party has an extraordinary capacity to prove its critics right. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Keir Starmer removes Labour whip from four ‘persistent rebel’ MPs
Rachael Maskell, Neil Duncan-Jordan, Brian Leishman and Chris Hinchliff pushed out and three trade envoys lose roles
www.theguardian.com
July 16, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Starmer's party has an extraordinary capacity to prove its critics right. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Even declinism gets worse - nice from @johnmerrick.bsky.social
The right wants us to think Britain is on the verge of ethnic conflict. The truth is worse than that | John Merrick
The right wants us to think Britain is on the verge of ethnic conflict. The truth is worse than that | John Merrick
In blaming problems on migrant ‘outsiders’, prophets of decline are paving the way for harder borders and mass deportations, says John Merrick, deputy editor of the Break-Down
www.theguardian.com
July 14, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Even declinism gets worse - nice from @johnmerrick.bsky.social
Reposted by David Edgerton
If only I didn't waste my time researching stuff and instead just went on about "blockchain-based trade initiatives" I could presumably earn a lot more money...
July 7, 2025 at 9:39 AM
If only I didn't waste my time researching stuff and instead just went on about "blockchain-based trade initiatives" I could presumably earn a lot more money...
I've written about Keir Starmer's government in its first year www.newstatesman.com/politics/lab...
Annus horribilis
Keir Starmer’s government does not represent the true Labour Party.
www.newstatesman.com
July 4, 2025 at 8:09 AM
I've written about Keir Starmer's government in its first year www.newstatesman.com/politics/lab...
Yup - big, big problem.
An ECIPE colleague suggested some time ago that most developed countries sought similar industries - cars, pharma, diverse advanced manufacturing, ICT etc - whereupon the main flaw of the UK industrial strategy - that it tries to make this focus the main story. www.ft.com/content/ec40...
Was Labour’s industrial strategy worth the wait?
Long-awaited plan focuses on bringing down energy costs and promoting eight sectors, but includes repurposed commitments
www.ft.com
June 24, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Yup - big, big problem.
Haven't digested yet, but there are 16 world-leadings and 8 superpowers in the text ...
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/685854...
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/685854...
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk
June 23, 2025 at 9:05 AM
Haven't digested yet, but there are 16 world-leadings and 8 superpowers in the text ...
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/685854...
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/685854...
Reposted by David Edgerton
"The only debate now is whether you are agile enough to seize future chances or be rapidly left behind. That is the driving purpose of my plan for change."
Oh dear. Whatever a strategy is, this isn't it. www.ft.com/content/a033...
Oh dear. Whatever a strategy is, this isn't it. www.ft.com/content/a033...
The industrial strategy will provide certainty for business
Debates about big or small government belong in the past; being agile enough to seize future chances is what matters
www.ft.com
June 23, 2025 at 8:00 AM
"The only debate now is whether you are agile enough to seize future chances or be rapidly left behind. That is the driving purpose of my plan for change."
Oh dear. Whatever a strategy is, this isn't it. www.ft.com/content/a033...
Oh dear. Whatever a strategy is, this isn't it. www.ft.com/content/a033...
Reposted by David Edgerton
Ukania ✅ Original New Left critique of the peculiarities of British capitalism.
Yookay ❌ Boorish far right mantra of surface level gripes, real or imagined.
Tom Nairn had your number.
Yookay ❌ Boorish far right mantra of surface level gripes, real or imagined.
Tom Nairn had your number.
June 20, 2025 at 8:54 AM
Ukania ✅ Original New Left critique of the peculiarities of British capitalism.
Yookay ❌ Boorish far right mantra of surface level gripes, real or imagined.
Tom Nairn had your number.
Yookay ❌ Boorish far right mantra of surface level gripes, real or imagined.
Tom Nairn had your number.
An idea for Keir ...
crane-dragonfly-8ey5.squarespace.com/blog/2025/6/...
crane-dragonfly-8ey5.squarespace.com/blog/2025/6/...
My Idea for Keir, from the New Statesman — David Edgerton
Begin to appreciate that many of the problems the country faces are the product of implemented New Labour and Tory policies, not the lack of competence of the Tories. They got what they wanted done. Y...
crane-dragonfly-8ey5.squarespace.com
June 17, 2025 at 6:38 PM
An idea for Keir ...
crane-dragonfly-8ey5.squarespace.com/blog/2025/6/...
crane-dragonfly-8ey5.squarespace.com/blog/2025/6/...
This is a wonderful discussion of my Rise and Fall of the British Nation, and the first to note the importance to it of my critique of Cain and Hopkins, which I took, along with that of Anderson and Nairn, to be richest existing analyses of the twentieth century British nation and empire.
This week’s review! — on @davidedgerton.bsky.social’s The Rise and Fall of the British Nation. Well, less of a review than a discussion of how Edgerton sheds light on the pitfalls of gentlemanly capitalism. Plus a bit about Hobsbawm the nationalist at the end!
Out of Empire
The Rise and Fall of the British Nation: A Twentieth Century History, David Edgerton, 2018.
unevenandcombinedthoughts.substack.com
June 17, 2025 at 3:38 PM
This is a wonderful discussion of my Rise and Fall of the British Nation, and the first to note the importance to it of my critique of Cain and Hopkins, which I took, along with that of Anderson and Nairn, to be richest existing analyses of the twentieth century British nation and empire.
Reposted by David Edgerton
Honestly I still can’t stop laughing 😂😅🤣
June 15, 2025 at 6:00 AM
Honestly I still can’t stop laughing 😂😅🤣
Reposted by David Edgerton
David Edgerton durante su conferencia “What can chemistry tell us about capitalism, and what can capitalism tell us about chemistry?” en la #14ICHC @euchems-histchem.bsky.social
June 12, 2025 at 7:12 AM
David Edgerton durante su conferencia “What can chemistry tell us about capitalism, and what can capitalism tell us about chemistry?” en la #14ICHC @euchems-histchem.bsky.social
Pouring water on a duck’s back - me and others telling Keir Starmer to change things www.newstatesman.com/ideas/2025/0...
Ideas for Keir
Tracey Emin, Jeremy Corbyn, Piers Morgan and others on what the Prime Minister should do next.
www.newstatesman.com
June 12, 2025 at 9:09 AM
Pouring water on a duck’s back - me and others telling Keir Starmer to change things www.newstatesman.com/ideas/2025/0...