Samuel Harrison
@samharrison1812.bsky.social
Historian of political thought, Junior Fellow of the Turin Humanities Programme. Formerly Cambridge PhD. Looking at ideas about slavery and citizenship in C18 France. All views are those of my employer. he/him.
Reposted by Samuel Harrison
For all postdocs and ECRs: don't miss out on this great opportunity with the Turin Humanities Programme!
voltaire.ox.ac.uk/news-item/tu...
voltaire.ox.ac.uk/news-item/tu...
TURIN HUMANITIES PROGRAMME: 6th CALL FOR APPLICATIONS - 2025
TURIN HUMANITIES PROGRAMME 6th CALL FOR APPLICATIONS – 2025 2026-2028 RESEARCH CYCLE The full call can be found here as pdf file. Terms and Conditions (pdf) Project Description (pdf) Flyer (pdf)…
voltaire.ox.ac.uk
November 26, 2025 at 11:15 AM
For all postdocs and ECRs: don't miss out on this great opportunity with the Turin Humanities Programme!
voltaire.ox.ac.uk/news-item/tu...
voltaire.ox.ac.uk/news-item/tu...
Filed under the category "perils of typos whilst note-taking"
November 25, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Filed under the category "perils of typos whilst note-taking"
We use the Weimar comparison a lot but Britain increasingly feels like ancien régime France, where the monarchy desperately flogged off tax-exempt offices to fund its immediate spending in the full knowledge that it was only shrinking its own tax base
i: Reeves to unveil £600m raid on foreign student
university fees #TomorrowsPapersToday
university fees #TomorrowsPapersToday
November 24, 2025 at 8:39 AM
We use the Weimar comparison a lot but Britain increasingly feels like ancien régime France, where the monarchy desperately flogged off tax-exempt offices to fund its immediate spending in the full knowledge that it was only shrinking its own tax base
Reposted by Samuel Harrison
Quand soudaingue, en 1790, on tombe sur un créateur d'automates appelé wak-wok-vauk-an-son Frankésteïn
November 23, 2025 at 9:13 AM
Quand soudaingue, en 1790, on tombe sur un créateur d'automates appelé wak-wok-vauk-an-son Frankésteïn
Enjoying the suggestion in this piece that Larry is now fulfilling the traditional function of the constitutional monarch www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
November 8, 2025 at 11:05 AM
Enjoying the suggestion in this piece that Larry is now fulfilling the traditional function of the constitutional monarch www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Samuel Harrison
How universalist was Enlightenment thought? In our 2025 Besterman Lecture, Antoine Lilti (Collège de France) discusses 'The three languages of universalism: thinking globally in the Enlightenment’. Thursday 13 Nov, 5pm @magdalenoxford.bsky.social:
voltaire.ox.ac.uk/event/bester...
voltaire.ox.ac.uk/event/bester...
October 8, 2025 at 9:31 AM
How universalist was Enlightenment thought? In our 2025 Besterman Lecture, Antoine Lilti (Collège de France) discusses 'The three languages of universalism: thinking globally in the Enlightenment’. Thursday 13 Nov, 5pm @magdalenoxford.bsky.social:
voltaire.ox.ac.uk/event/bester...
voltaire.ox.ac.uk/event/bester...
Other news from this trip: I wore my Wedgwood Benn for Pope! t-shirt to the Vatican and a carabiniere stopped me and asked for my ID
There are adverts on the Rome metro to remind drivers that however much pedestrians might annoy them, it is always wrong to run them over
November 3, 2025 at 8:34 AM
Other news from this trip: I wore my Wedgwood Benn for Pope! t-shirt to the Vatican and a carabiniere stopped me and asked for my ID
There are adverts on the Rome metro to remind drivers that however much pedestrians might annoy them, it is always wrong to run them over
November 2, 2025 at 4:37 PM
There are adverts on the Rome metro to remind drivers that however much pedestrians might annoy them, it is always wrong to run them over
Reposted by Samuel Harrison
Il y a soixante-quatre ans, le 17 octobre 1961, la police française massacrait des Algérien·nes qui manifestaient pacifiquement pour leur dignité.
October 17, 2025 at 6:42 AM
Il y a soixante-quatre ans, le 17 octobre 1961, la police française massacrait des Algérien·nes qui manifestaient pacifiquement pour leur dignité.
Honestly don't know how Starmer is so bad at this. The choice is between a few isolated criticisms now or a massive violent blow-up in two weeks' time that dominates the front pages and obviously benefits the far right. Completely incapable of thinking ahead
Starmer's knack for making simple stories worse. Banning away fans from games is pretty common as this story says. Best not politicised, but he has to go there. Badly advised. www.theguardian.com/football/202...
Starmer condemns ‘wrong decision’ to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from Aston Villa game
Fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv will not be allowed to attend the Europa League match at Aston Villa on 6 November owing to safety concerns
www.theguardian.com
October 17, 2025 at 5:53 AM
Honestly don't know how Starmer is so bad at this. The choice is between a few isolated criticisms now or a massive violent blow-up in two weeks' time that dominates the front pages and obviously benefits the far right. Completely incapable of thinking ahead
Reposted by Samuel Harrison
Al Jazeera is doing videos of the Palestinian releases and they're heart wrenching. One man was detained for over a year and was released to find out that Israel had killed his two kids. The youngest was three. Her birthday would've been on Saturday. He'd made a small bracelet for her in prison.
October 15, 2025 at 3:08 AM
Al Jazeera is doing videos of the Palestinian releases and they're heart wrenching. One man was detained for over a year and was released to find out that Israel had killed his two kids. The youngest was three. Her birthday would've been on Saturday. He'd made a small bracelet for her in prison.
British politics: if we can just prove we're delivering on the economy and public services we might be able to inch our way back up towards 25% of the vote
American politics: our record speaks for itself. beer no longer woke. Retired football player mostly standing
American politics: our record speaks for itself. beer no longer woke. Retired football player mostly standing
Eric Trump: "We're saving Christianity. We've saving God. We've saving the family unit. We're saving this nation. I mean, DEI is out of the window, Benny. You no longer have Colin Kaepernick kneeling for the national anthem. You no longer have Budweiser going woke as hell. All of this is dead."
October 14, 2025 at 7:24 PM
British politics: if we can just prove we're delivering on the economy and public services we might be able to inch our way back up towards 25% of the vote
American politics: our record speaks for itself. beer no longer woke. Retired football player mostly standing
American politics: our record speaks for itself. beer no longer woke. Retired football player mostly standing
Reposted by Samuel Harrison
A labour government wants to make amendments to our laws to bring in conditions, and possible outright ban on protests in the UK because the Palestine movement got too big for them to continue to ignore.
A Labour government. Not Tory, not reform, but Labour.
A Labour government. Not Tory, not reform, but Labour.
October 5, 2025 at 8:28 AM
A labour government wants to make amendments to our laws to bring in conditions, and possible outright ban on protests in the UK because the Palestine movement got too big for them to continue to ignore.
A Labour government. Not Tory, not reform, but Labour.
A Labour government. Not Tory, not reform, but Labour.
Reposted by Samuel Harrison
It's an unfortunate reality that it's-for-your-own-good authoritarianism is a component of Labour's political DNA, and when you put people like Jack Straw, David Blunkett, Charles Clarke, John Reid, Jacqui Smith et al in the Home Office, you get plain old you-can't-do-that authoritarianism on top...
Whatever your view on anything, if you don’t realise that initiatives like this spring from an impulse to authoritarianism, you’re deluding yourself I think.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Police to get new powers to crack down on repeated protests, says Home Office
Move follows arrest of almost 500 people at latest pro-Palestinian demonstration in London on Saturday
www.theguardian.com
October 5, 2025 at 8:41 AM
It's an unfortunate reality that it's-for-your-own-good authoritarianism is a component of Labour's political DNA, and when you put people like Jack Straw, David Blunkett, Charles Clarke, John Reid, Jacqui Smith et al in the Home Office, you get plain old you-can't-do-that authoritarianism on top...
Reposted by Samuel Harrison
I'll say it again. Our horror at the Gaza genocide and at the atrocity in Manchester comes in both cases from the same, inherent part of our shared humanity. We need to assert that shared humanity in the face of both these evils as loudly as possible, and in as many practical ways as we can.
NEW: Home secretary Shabana Mahmood urges pro-Palestine protesters to consider not taking part in marches this weekend.
"Imagine if you lost a loved one to a terror attack in this country ... sometimes a little unity, a little solidarity, some love to other people is required"
"Imagine if you lost a loved one to a terror attack in this country ... sometimes a little unity, a little solidarity, some love to other people is required"
October 3, 2025 at 7:51 AM
I'll say it again. Our horror at the Gaza genocide and at the atrocity in Manchester comes in both cases from the same, inherent part of our shared humanity. We need to assert that shared humanity in the face of both these evils as loudly as possible, and in as many practical ways as we can.
In fact, if this New Yorker story is anything to go by, the generals probably largely agreed with this section of Hegseth's speech. That's what happens when one chooses selective outrage over war crimes
www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...
www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...
October 1, 2025 at 4:34 PM
In fact, if this New Yorker story is anything to go by, the generals probably largely agreed with this section of Hegseth's speech. That's what happens when one chooses selective outrage over war crimes
www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...
www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...
Reposted by Samuel Harrison
Yolande Knell reports that Israel bombed a school sheltering displaced people "& then when civil defence workers went to the scene there was another attack"
'double tap' strikes are designed to deliberately kill rescue workers & other civilians. This is what Israel does.
'double tap' strikes are designed to deliberately kill rescue workers & other civilians. This is what Israel does.
October 1, 2025 at 8:31 AM
Yolande Knell reports that Israel bombed a school sheltering displaced people "& then when civil defence workers went to the scene there was another attack"
'double tap' strikes are designed to deliberately kill rescue workers & other civilians. This is what Israel does.
'double tap' strikes are designed to deliberately kill rescue workers & other civilians. This is what Israel does.
Trump controversially endorses traditional Marxist historiography on the Gracchi brothers
Beyond just suggesting socialism is "thousands of years old" Trump's comment illustrates something familiar: the "socialism always fails" crowd always present it as a descriptive claim while morally sidelining their own, often intense, efforts to make sure it fails....
September 29, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Trump controversially endorses traditional Marxist historiography on the Gracchi brothers
Reposted by Samuel Harrison
After more than a decade of war, Aleppo’s historic citadel has reopened its gates to visitors, symbolizing resilience and recovery for the war-torn city.
September 29, 2025 at 2:57 PM
After more than a decade of war, Aleppo’s historic citadel has reopened its gates to visitors, symbolizing resilience and recovery for the war-torn city.
Call me a cynic but I just don't buy that this is Klein being too good-hearted to recognise a bad-faith actor. He portrays Kirk like this because his own liberal programme can only be sustained if one assumes there are good-faith actors on the other side; it's a psychological and political necessity
People were talking on here the other day about what a good guy Klein is interpersonally. He's thoughtful, generous and always tries to see the best in people.
You can see that at play here. He simply cannot accept the fact that Kirk was acting in bad faith.
You can see that at play here. He simply cannot accept the fact that Kirk was acting in bad faith.
September 29, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Call me a cynic but I just don't buy that this is Klein being too good-hearted to recognise a bad-faith actor. He portrays Kirk like this because his own liberal programme can only be sustained if one assumes there are good-faith actors on the other side; it's a psychological and political necessity
Reposted by Samuel Harrison
HUGE HUGE NEWS FROM EGYPT!!
Egyptian President Sisi has issued a presidential pardon for activist and blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah.
Egyptian President Sisi has issued a presidential pardon for activist and blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah.
September 22, 2025 at 12:15 PM
HUGE HUGE NEWS FROM EGYPT!!
Egyptian President Sisi has issued a presidential pardon for activist and blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah.
Egyptian President Sisi has issued a presidential pardon for activist and blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah.
Reposted by Samuel Harrison
A last resister passes aged 99. Son of Italian refugees from fascism, "raised on red milk", only 14 at the Fall of France, his first resistance was pasting anti-Pétain messages on postboxes. By 16, he was in armed conflict. Captured in July 1944, tortured, escaping prison...
Lifelong Communist.
Lifelong Communist.
September 22, 2025 at 8:39 AM
A last resister passes aged 99. Son of Italian refugees from fascism, "raised on red milk", only 14 at the Fall of France, his first resistance was pasting anti-Pétain messages on postboxes. By 16, he was in armed conflict. Captured in July 1944, tortured, escaping prison...
Lifelong Communist.
Lifelong Communist.
Likewise, people are fond of saying Arafat rejected a Palestinian "state" at Camp David, when said state was under US proposals going to be demilitarised, territorially non-continguous, and deprived of control of its own foreign policy, airspace, and even water -- i.e. not a state
Govt minister Hamish Falconer explains that the Palestinian state should have no army or air force. So it can't defend itself.
The Labour govt is fond of saying the first duty of any govt is to defend its own people. Why doesn't that apply to Palestinians?
The Labour govt is fond of saying the first duty of any govt is to defend its own people. Why doesn't that apply to Palestinians?
September 22, 2025 at 6:41 AM
Likewise, people are fond of saying Arafat rejected a Palestinian "state" at Camp David, when said state was under US proposals going to be demilitarised, territorially non-continguous, and deprived of control of its own foreign policy, airspace, and even water -- i.e. not a state
Despite endless scolding about the British left being too America-brained, it's the two parties of the right that believe they can essentially just do what the US did and get the same results in Britain, ignoring basic local economic, social, and indeed geological facts. See also: fracking
This is so deeply unserious. Throughout the entire 14 years of the Conservative government oil and gas licenses were routinely issued and for much of the period there was a policy of maximising extraction.
Production still fell, the economy flatlined, and energy security got worse.
Production still fell, the economy flatlined, and energy security got worse.
September 19, 2025 at 9:01 AM
Despite endless scolding about the British left being too America-brained, it's the two parties of the right that believe they can essentially just do what the US did and get the same results in Britain, ignoring basic local economic, social, and indeed geological facts. See also: fracking