Andrew WM Smith
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smidbob.bsky.social
Andrew WM Smith
@smidbob.bsky.social
2.9K followers 1.2K following 1K posts
Historian of Modern France at QMUL
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Reposted by Andrew WM Smith
hetanshah.bsky.social
‘More than ever before, we need British diplomats, spies and soldiers to speak the language of our adversaries.’

Stark piece from a former diplomat on how loss of language learning hits our defence & geopolitical capabilities
www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/proc... @timeshighered.bsky.social
More than ever before, we need British diplomats, spies and soldiers to speak the language of our adversaries. We need universities like Nottingham to be pumping out Russian and Mandarin graduates each year, to work across Whitehall. A British Academy report from 2013 on the need for foreign languages in diplomacy and security recommended strengthening the pipeline between academia and government. Practically nothing has been done to advance this agenda in the intervening 12 years, however. My old department, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), has a dreadful track record in training its staff to speak foreign languages. A target recommended in 2018 by the Foreign Affairs Committee for 80 per cent of diplomats who study foreign languages for their jobs to pass their exams, has never been met.
November 26, 2025 at 8:54 AM
smidbob.bsky.social
(meant to type wonderful, but she certainly merits the description of wonder)
November 27, 2025 at 9:10 AM
smidbob.bsky.social
Bargain!
November 26, 2025 at 8:48 AM
smidbob.bsky.social
Look forward to listening to it with my daughter!
November 25, 2025 at 11:28 AM
smidbob.bsky.social
Thanks for using the essay, it sounds like a great course!
November 25, 2025 at 11:10 AM
Reposted by Andrew WM Smith
hetanshah.bsky.social
Latest update from @britishlibrary.bsky.social says they are launching a new version of their main catalogue on Monday 8 December and around that time also launch an interim version of their Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue. Hooray!
www.bl.uk/stories/news...
Restoring our services – November 2025 update
In the coming weeks and months we will be restoring a number of key functions.
www.bl.uk
November 22, 2025 at 12:19 PM
smidbob.bsky.social
Well, I can heartily recommend them. It was an unanticipated Christmas gift at which I initially scoffed and of which I eventually became very fond!
November 18, 2025 at 10:46 PM
smidbob.bsky.social
Are you on campus tomorrow? If so, happy to lend my heated gilet as a stop gap!
November 18, 2025 at 10:42 PM