Patrick WJ Thompson
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patrickwjthompson.bsky.social
Patrick WJ Thompson
@patrickwjthompson.bsky.social
77 followers 140 following 13 posts
PhD Researcher at Queen's University Belfast | Interested in civil rights, social movements, Irish-British relations | All views my own
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Reposted by Patrick WJ Thompson
zatapatique.bsky.social
Truly a battle of wits
November 14, 2025 at 8:38 AM
patrickwjthompson.bsky.social
This is next week!
patrickwjthompson.bsky.social Patrick WJ Thompson @patrickwjthompson.bsky.social · Sep 16
Delighted to be on the @ihr.bsky.social / @ihrbritainseminar.bsky.social seminar programme for this autumn!

Come and hear me talk about my work on Britain and the NI Civil Rights Movement on 20th November. Or join online via Teams.

More details here 👇

www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
‘Out of sight and out of mind?’: British Perceptions of the Northern Irish Civil Rights Movement
www.history.ac.uk
November 13, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Reposted by Patrick WJ Thompson
colincarlson.bsky.social
OVER A MILLION USERS

DISCUSS SUICIDE WITH CHATGPT

EVERY *WEEK*

what the fuck are we DOING here
ryanmarino.bsky.social Ryan Marino, MD @ryanmarino.bsky.social · 7d
Panera’s moderately caffeinated lemonade was loosely associated with 2 deaths before it was taken off market.

This article alone has 4 examples of ChatGPT encouraging young people to commit suicide, and OpenAI’s own public stats estimate over a million users discuss suicide with ChatGPT each week.
jonathancohn.bsky.social Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · 8d
I fully believe in the corporate death penalty and believe we would be a better world if OpenAI lost its corporate charter and was forcibly dissolved.

www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
November 7, 2025 at 10:59 PM
Reposted by Patrick WJ Thompson
lswisnom.bsky.social
Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching
November 3, 2025 at 10:04 AM
Reposted by Patrick WJ Thompson
usihs.bsky.social
Exciting news! Filming will soon start on a Bad Bridgets film, inspired by Elaine Farrell & Leanne McCormick's great book. We're delighted to have both Elaine & Leanne on our USIHS Committee (for many reasons, this is just today's extra one) @badbridgetbook.bsky.social
deadline.com/2025/10/dais...
Daisy Edgar-Jones And Emilia Jones To Star In ‘Bad Bridgets’ From LuckyChap
Daisy Edgar Jones and Emilia Jones are set to star in 'Bad Bridgets', from 'Kneecap' director Rich Peppiatt.
deadline.com
November 3, 2025 at 12:32 PM
patrickwjthompson.bsky.social
Nice to have a write-up of my recent @royalhistsoc.org article featured in this month's Mitchell Institute @qubelfastofficial.bsky.social newsletter. I did not, however, realise how much my shirt needs an iron in this photo...!

www.qub.ac.uk/Research/GRI...
November 3, 2025 at 9:44 AM
Reposted by Patrick WJ Thompson
historyworkshop.org.uk
What if friendship were understood not just on an individual, personal level, but as something political – a radical practice capable of upending hierarchies and producing revolutionary social change?

Laura C. Forster and Joel White reflect on radical friendship and everyday solidarities.
Friends in Common
How might we reassess friendship as a transformative, even revolutionary, political resource?
www.historyworkshop.org.uk
October 30, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Reposted by Patrick WJ Thompson
jasonkoebler.bsky.social
This is so bleak:

www.404media.co/a16z-is-fund...
Last week, I wrote about Doublespeed, essentially a click farm that sells “synthetic influencers” to astroturf whatever product or service you want across social media, despite it being a clear violation of every social media platform's policy on inauthentic behavior. But that was just the tip of the iceberg. a16z’s Speedrun is also backing: Creed: An AI company “rooted in Christian Values” which produces Lenny, a “Bible-based AI buddy who's always got your back with wise words, scripture-inspired guidance, and a listening ear whenever you need it.” Zingroll: The “world’s largest Netflix-quality AI streaming platform,” which is another way of saying it’s a Netflix populated exclusively with AI Slop. Vega: which is building “AI-powered social orbits.” What does that mean? Not entirely clear, but the company has produced one of the most beautiful Mad Libs paragraphs I’ve ever seen: “We’re building the largest textual data moat on human relationships by gamifying the way people leave notes for each other. For the first time, LLMs can analyze millions of raw, human-written notes at scale and turn them into structured meaning, powering the most annotated social graph ever created.” Moona Health: an AI-powered Sleep care app the company says is covered by insurance. “Our AI-powered platform automates insurance claims and scheduling and analyzes sleep data – providing personalized session guidelines to therapists,” Moona says. Jooba: “The world’s first autonomous recruiting firm.” Margin: “The World’s first AI powered credit card.” Margin says “Customers earn points, with dynamic rewards that adapt to their preferences in real time.” First Voyage: A wellness app that gives you AI “mythological pets that turn wellness into play.” Axon Capital: billed as “DeepMind for Finance,” Axon says it has “pioneered brain-inspired, low-latency AI for financial markets.”
October 28, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Reposted by Patrick WJ Thompson
emilymfg.bsky.social
Really excellent and thorough review by @katyhayward.bsky.social of ‘For and Against a United Ireland’ this morn. Too often IT book reviews actually fail to review the book itself! This was an impressive critique informed by Katy’s own formidable expertise:

www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
October 25, 2025 at 9:16 AM
Reposted by Patrick WJ Thompson
wolfsonhistory.bsky.social
"Original and captivating."

The #WolfsonHistoryPrize judges on why they have shortlisted Kieran Connell's (@kieranconnell.bsky.social) 'Multicultural Britain: A People’s History' (@hurstpublishers.bsky.social) for the 2025 prize.
October 22, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Reposted by Patrick WJ Thompson
davidandress.bsky.social
Nobody actually cares what goes on in universities. All they actually care about is how posh they think a particular university is, based on decades-old vague impressions. Discuss.
mcmwright.bsky.social Matthew Wright 👨🏼‍🦼 @mcmwright.bsky.social · 22d
HE thought experiment: You are the parent of an A-level student and you're helping them research universities. You discover a flaw in the metrics that convinces you that a particular institution is actually vastly better at teaching, research and student support than their ranking and offers suggest
October 24, 2025 at 7:39 AM
Reposted by Patrick WJ Thompson
burnslibrary.bsky.social
Our new digital exhibit is live! “A Part to Play” draws on Burns Library collections to explore the cultural sphere of The Troubles considering how individuals used cultural forms to explore their communities’ perceived heritage, values, and aspirations. 

https://bit.ly/part-to-play
Mural of Bobby Sands with quote "Everyone Republican or Otherwise Has His/Her Own Part to Play"
October 22, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Reposted by Patrick WJ Thompson
evansmithhist.bsky.social
As @livunipress.bsky.social are promoting International Open Access Week, here is an OA article that @njbarnett.bsky.social and I wrote about communism and nuclear disarmament in 1950s Britain for Labour History Review in 2017.

@sslh.bsky.social

www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/epdf/10....
October 23, 2025 at 1:22 AM
Reposted by Patrick WJ Thompson
ihr.bsky.social
In this On History blog, Gaverne Bennett and Jenny Lelkes-Rarugal discuss how the Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH) can be used to research and teach the histories of race and ethnicity
Researching the histories of race and ethnicity in the Bibliography of British and Irish History  - On History
blog.history.ac.uk
October 23, 2025 at 10:03 AM
patrickwjthompson.bsky.social
Depressing myself with some reading on the new Education and Skill White Paper, courtesy of @davehitchcock.bsky.social

hitchcockian.medium.com/somewhere-in...
October 23, 2025 at 9:40 AM
Reposted by Patrick WJ Thompson
sundersays.bsky.social
Labour position is still unclear after this statement. I think they oppose any retrospective loss of ILR but you have to infer that. They say "the right to stay should not be automatic" (meaning those who have not got ILR yet). Prime Minister, Home Sec and Downing St contradictory statements in Sept
jessicaelgot.bsky.social Jessica Elgot @jessicaelgot.bsky.social · 25d
Labour spokesman

“The Tories want to retrospectively change the rules to deport people who have been in this country and contributed to our society for decades. They would separate British children from their parents and expel doctors and nurses who have been serving patients in the NHS for years."
jessicaelgot.bsky.social Jessica Elgot @jessicaelgot.bsky.social · 25d
Worth saying that despite asking for more than 12 hours we’ve had nothing back from Labour on this
October 21, 2025 at 10:44 AM
patrickwjthompson.bsky.social
Over the summer, I contributed some archival research towards this series. It is an important piece of investigative journalism and I'm excited to see it out in the wild!
October 20, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Reposted by Patrick WJ Thompson
profjanegreen.bsky.social
This is really interesting by Matthew Barnfield and colleagues. Our research shows Labour is losing more support among its 2024 voters who feel financially insecure, which - together - suggests voters leaving Labour cant *afford* to wait for ‘jam tomorrow’.
October 20, 2025 at 9:20 AM
Reposted by Patrick WJ Thompson
mrcwarwick.bsky.social
In 1968, against the backdrop of the Race Relations Act and Powell's 'Rivers of Blood' speech, local Birmingham groups campaigned against racism and in support of civil rights

The archives of activist Margaret Stanton capture some of the grassroots activities mrc-describe.epexio.com/records/MSP/...
Ticket for the inaugural meeting of the Birmingham Area Civil Rights Campaign. Photograph from the Birmingham Post, 6 May 1968, captioned 'A grim struggle for the police as they link arms to hold back the large crowd of demonstrators in Victoria Square, Birmingham, yesterday during the Prime Minister's visit'. The most visible placard says 'Would you let your daughter marry Enoch Powell'. Letter sent to newspaper editors in August 1968 by the Birmingham Committee of the International Year for Human Rights. It deplores "the recent recommendations of the Birmingham City Council that all immigration into the city should be stopped, and we affirm that this policy is both morally wrong, and unworkable in practise. We remind the Council that the prosperity of this great city has been built on a long tradition of welcoming immigrants of all races. ... The proud motto of Birmingham is "Forward". Let the Council abandon its present backward-looking policy, and go forward to lead the nation in creating a society in which all races can work together in harmony." Circular issued by the Birmingham Area Civil Rights Campaign Steering Group in 1968. It identifies four main fields of activity for the newly formed Birmingham Area Civil Rights Campaign: education, research, community action and political activity.
October 9, 2025 at 10:57 AM
Reposted by Patrick WJ Thompson
caitbeaumont.bsky.social
Very excited launch of #Saothar50 is today 🥳 🥳. Looking forward to attending later as part of #DublinFestivalHistory & being in fab company of @drmarymcauliffe.bsky.social @sonjatiernan.bsky.social @fionnualawalsh.bsky.social @helenbeaumont.bsky.social. Hope to get quick 🌊🏊‍♀️ in as well 🥶. ❤️Dublin.
caitbeaumont.bsky.social Caitríona Beaumont @caitbeaumont.bsky.social · Sep 30
So grateful to @sonjatiernan.bsky.social & editors of #Saothar50 for opportunity to write on Irish housewives. By mad coincidence my ma was interviewed about her everyday experiences in 1968 & that features in my new article. #familyhistory #femaleactivism
dublinfestivalofhistory.ie/event/specia...
October 9, 2025 at 8:32 AM
Reposted by Patrick WJ Thompson
dmk1793.bsky.social
I enormously enjoyed this conversation with David Runciman about the history of compulsory voting, how it came to be adopted in countries like Belgium and Australia, and what it could for British politics today.
ppfideas.bsky.social Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · Oct 8
NEW EPISODE OUT NOW!

In today’s episode David talks to political historian @dmk1793.bsky.social about whether voting should be required by law and what might change if non-participation was no longer an option. Why have some countries made voting compulsory?

Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com
October 8, 2025 at 7:50 AM
Reposted by Patrick WJ Thompson
patrickwjthompson.bsky.social
Delighted to be on the @ihr.bsky.social / @ihrbritainseminar.bsky.social seminar programme for this autumn!

Come and hear me talk about my work on Britain and the NI Civil Rights Movement on 20th November. Or join online via Teams.

More details here 👇

www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
‘Out of sight and out of mind?’: British Perceptions of the Northern Irish Civil Rights Movement
www.history.ac.uk
September 16, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Reposted by Patrick WJ Thompson
renewaljournal.bsky.social
NEW ISSUE: Renewal Vol. 33 No. 2

Published amidst far-right mobilisation and a Reform surge, the new issue of Renewal (guest co-edited by @sachahilhorst.bsky.social) features activists, journalists, and academics analysing the radical right threat and debating how social democrats can respond
Volume 33, Issue 2
A quarterly journal of politics and ideas, committed to exploring and expanding the radical potential of social democracy.
renewal.org.uk
September 16, 2025 at 1:19 PM