Just dropped through my letterbox - a great special edition of @intnatsecjournal.bsky.social on women in intelligence

Reposting my blogpost from November 2024 - What does the British public think about another Trump Presidency? whorunsbritain.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/2024/11/08/w...

The Speaker’s statement about the CPS decision to withdraw charges against two individuals under the Official Secrets Act in relation to Chinese espionage in Parliament. He’s not happy. hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2025...

Always a special day, graduation with a great bunch of colleagues from Social and Political Sciences at Lincoln.

The government has published its response to the Intelligence and Security Committee’s report on Iran www.gov.uk/government/p...

Doing some tidying up in the office. Came across this CIA flyer on diversity and inclusion which I picked up at a CIA careers stand in the US a few years ago. I guess they don’t hand these out anymore. 😕

In Bruges

A few days in Bruges, took a short ride out to the small town of Sluis just across the Dutch border. Sluis was liberated by Canadian forces on 1 November 1944 but at a terrible cost, the town’s moving war memorial lists the names and ages of those who died in the bombardment of the town.

Continuing my summer reading on early modern intelligence with Postal Intelligence by @rmidura.bsky.social

More holiday reading, I’ve been looking forward to reading this for a while - Intelligence and espionage in the English Republic 1600 - 60 by Alan Marshall, with some great cover art - The Hired Assassins by Jean Louis Ernest Meissonier, from the Wallace Collection #ArtofSpying

The Sunday Telegraph’s report on Stella Rimington’s appointment as D-G of MI5 in December 1991.

"We are united in our opposition to the attempts of Iranian intelligence services to kill, kidnap, and harass people in Europe and North America in clear violation of our sovereignty". www.gov.uk/government/n...

In the Scottish Borders, some holiday reading.

😳

The Intelligence and Security Committee will be conducting an inquiry into the Afghan data breach

Worth checking out the whole special edition of Parliamentary Affairs on the #votesat16 debate in the UK, co-edited by @jontonge.bsky.social, Thomas Loughran and Andy Mycock: academic.oup.com/pa/issue/74/3

Financing universities – is there a way out of the maze? blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...

Discussing votes at 16 with my children (all over 18) reveals a diverse range of views. Remarkable degree of consensus however on removing the vote from older people. 🤔

New blogpost: The Afghan super-injunction case: Some constitutional implications publiclawforeveryone.com/2025/07/17/t...

My employer is using the ugly compound word 'rightsizing' to describe the closing of building and the compression of office and teaching space. I had a look in the OED just so we're clear about what that means...

Lots of bad solutions proposed for UK universities in the press: Limit research to Oxford and Cambridge, curb VC pay, teach more “efficiently” etc But 1. Fees have flatlined meaning they don’t cover the costs of 2. the massive loans that VCs took out for buildings when unis were privatized. 1/

Of course: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Afghan leak intelligence was hidden from MPs - from today’s @thetimes.com

Intelligence and Security Committee issued an important clarification to former Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace’s comments on yesterday’s @BBCr4today regarding the committee’s powers. Confusion about ISC status & powers is not uncommon. #superinjunction isc.independent.gov.uk

My report "Lessons for Prevent" will be published on Wednesday, probably late morning. My terms of reference ask me to look at the Prevent histories of the killers of Sir David Amess and the Southport girls, and draw any conclusions for the future of Prevent. www.gov.uk/government/p...

Yesterday the Intelligence and Security Committee met with the Prime Minister for the first time since 2014. There is still work to do but this is an important step in putting relations between the ISC and the government back on an even keel.

The Intelligence and Security Committee report on Iran was completed before Trump’s re-election but the experience of the previous Trump administration hangs heavily over this report.

The Intelligence and Security Committee report on Iran has been published. Another ISC inquiry conducted a long time ago. There are academic journals that publish more quickly. isc.independent.gov.uk

This depressing story seems to indicate a need for cultural change within MI5. IPCO (which was itself misled) will no doubt comment in the report ordered by the Court. Two points made in the judgment show why this is indeed quite serious: /1

I’ve probably worked more University of Lincoln open days than most. This one is different and sadly, not in a good way. With loyal colleagues @uculincolnbranch.bsky.social

Great turnout for @uculincolnbranch.bsky.social strike today. Great to see so many staff defending jobs, programmes and the quality of education at the University of Lincoln.

Thanks @ucu.org.uk we had a great turnout ✊🏽✊🏻✊🏿✊

Strike day at University of Lincoln today - an important lesson for management, students don’t come to university to sit in empty buildings, staff are a university’s greatest asset not a drain on resources. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

With management's refusal to rule out compulsory redundancies, and an active mandate for industrial action, #UCULincoln members will be on strike Friday 4th July. We must not continue to pay for a national HE crisis with our jobs and livelihoods! #nocompulsoryredundancies

First open day of the year at University of Lincoln tomorrow and sadly we’re preparing to strike. After cutting programmes and disposing of 500 staff in less than a year the management won’t rule out compulsory redundancies. Staff are standing up for jobs and programmes @uculincolnbranch.bsky.social

I’m getting tired of being in meetings in which people refer to problems in all UK universities. There are sector wide problems but all unis are not in the same financial mess and university managers have not all responded in the same way, claiming otherwise is to absolve responsibility.

What has happened to the Intelligence and Security Committee report on Iran? It is now three months since the completed report was sent to the PM.

Glenn Miller memorial at former RAF King’s Cliffe in Northants, on the site of his final hangar concert in October 1944. The memorial now sits inside a private holiday park, is not signposted from the road and largely inaccessible. They kindly let me in to see it.

Tank Traps

Current reading

Two thoughts on the appointment of the first woman to head SIS. Firstly, for the naysayers diversity in the intel community as in other areas is not simply about meeting targets it's about effectiveness. From the ISC report on women in the intel community. isc.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/u...

"Blaise Metreweli will succeed Sir Richard Moore in the autumn in what Sir Keir Starmer called a “historic” appointment. She takes over after a 26-year intelligence career at a time when Starmer says Britain faces threats on an unprecedented scale". www.thetimes.com/uk/defence/a...

"I am absolutely delighted by this historic appointment of my colleague, Blaise Metreweli to succeed me as ‘C’. Blaise is a highly accomplished intelligence officer and leader, and one of our foremost thinkers on technology" www.gov.uk/government/n...

🤔 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

BBC's Arabic radio service in Lebanon closed after 85 years as part of a £28.5m savings drive. 'Just months later, in October 2023, the Russian state-owned Sputnik news agency took over the frequency. Its news bulletin opened with “This is Moscow”, replacing the previous “This is London” intro.' 🙄

“The union acknowledged there were challenges across the sector but said the crisis had been handled "especially poorly" at the University of Lincoln” - University staff vote to strike over redundancies www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

This is the threat. It's not just the gullible embrace of AI. It's the enthusiasm for its potential to make us less engaged, less competent and, ultimately, thicker.

This really is a shitshow - www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...