📢 Happy to say that my new podcast, HISTORY'S DEVILS, will be starting on 12 Feb with an episode on the origins of British Fascism. For now, here's the season 1 trailer @philmcraig.bsky.social @ww2tv.bsky.social @mikkibrock.bsky.social @rorycormac.bsky.social #history #podcast 🗃 🎬 🔽🔽

I’ve never been one to watch in a good way before

The Name of the Game is Death by Dan Marlowe The Chaos Agent Mark Greaney Elric Vol. 2 Michael Morecock The Anointed HP Lovecraft Covert Action by @magslong.bsky.social and @rorycormac.bsky.social The Present Age by Soren Kierkegaard Those Who Face Death Mark Grdovic

@rorycormac.bsky.social and I had a fantastic time with @jackmurphyrgr.bsky.social on @theteamhouse.bsky.social - we talked #CovertAction; how and why states use it; and what we might miss if we apply the US approach too narrowly elsewhere. Watch it on #YouTube or listen on your fave #podcast app

Not going to leave you hanging during the holidays. Tonight we have a @theteamhouse.bsky.social episode with @magslong.bsky.social and @rorycormac.bsky.social about how various Intel agencies approach covert action. youtu.be/j5cCGxOpR8w?...

Well this is very generous and kind. Thanks @drichterova.bsky.social. So on trend it’s not even out yet! Thanks again for the advance read; I’m really looking forward to sharing it with everyone in the spring 😀

My @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social podcast with @markstout.bsky.social, @magslong.bsky.social, and @rorycormac.bsky.social is now available. Learn more about covert action here: newbooksnetwork.com/covert-action

'Disinformation exploits gaps in Western alliances and domestic politics, often making countermeasures difficult' Read @rorycormac.bsky.social and Dan Lomas @sandbaggerone.bsky.social's written evidence to the Foreign Affairs Committee on disinformation diplomacy ⬇️ tinyurl.com/eb3za49c

£48 royalties! Don’t worry kids, Christmas is saved!

Today I learnt our uni has a “barrier committee” to determine when to open a recently installed (and much hated) barrier which prevents staff from driving from one side of campus to the other. And I just can’t stop laughing

Why, when the country is broke, is the DWP writing to advise me I’m entitled to my dead father’s winter fuel allowance??

Few things more depressing than a door locked that is usually open, a staircase roped off which is usually clear, and three security guards standing outside - as, hidden away from staff and students, council votes on whether to close music and languages. Terribly terribly sad day.

So proud! Another Cambridge UP book to add to the multiple “world leading” articles, £1.1m UKRI bid, fantastic community work, an app aimed at school kids etc etc etc. An absolute superstar!

It was quite something to hear a passionate call to protect music and languages during a Catholic Mass in Clifton estate yesterday. I worry about the reputational impact in our own great city, let alone beyond www.theguardian.com/education/20...

Personal experience of this one, sadly. I watched my dad die of a brain tumour over the past 6 months. The final couple of weeks were cruel, unnecessary, undignified, and neither in his wishes nor interests He begged me to let him die. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Heartbroken to share the news that recruitment to Undergraduate Music courses at the University of Nottingham has been suspended. Please do contact us on [email protected] if you would like to support us.

This quotes a university employee emailing about: "Attempting to retain the business in China". The university says this doesn't reflect policy, but if it sees itself as a business, there's the issue. Universities, like councils & the BBC, are *not businesses*. www.theguardian.com/education/20...

“Propaganda operations in the Cold War were designed to undermine authority, chip away at orthodox ideas, and encourage questioning" @rorycormac.bsky.social reveals to @telegraphnews.bsky.social how the CIA once tried to recruit Sir Winston Churchill 🔗➡️ tinyurl.com/mvp47n4h Image cc: The Telegraph

@jrovner.bsky.social, @rorycormac.bsky.social, and @lmaschmeyer.bsky.social's new article is a super read on an important but neglected area of covert action: www.cambridge.org/core/service...

Publishers: we have a strict word limit Also publishers: all dates in the endnotes must be written out in full

New article out with @rorycormac.bsky.social & @jrovner.bsky.social on Sabotage in World Politics: how does it work, what is it good for, and how is it different from subversion?

🔥 "Sand in the gears: Sabotage in world politics" from @jrovner.bsky.social, @rorycormac.bsky.social, & @lmaschmeyer.bsky.social is a must-read. 👉 Read this timely article here: cambridge.org/core/journal... cambridge.org/core/journal...

What is sabotage? How does it work as a tool of statecraft? And what are its limits? Check out my new article with @rorycormac.bsky.social and @lmaschmeyer.bsky.social. Open access

When the MI5 chief warns that AI and hostile states are reshaping espionage in real time, it’s not a thriller plot - it’s just Thursday. (Ps interesting reference to “threat” in the context of China given the spy trial fiasco) www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The UK’s China spy trial collapsed because, legally, China wasn’t an “enemy” at the time. Apparently, you can’t spy for a country unless the government has officially decided it dislikes them enough 🤷‍♂️ www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

University inefficiency 101: - Arrive on campus at 11 after an off-campus meeting  - No parking anywhere  - Security won’t lift the stupid cross-campus barrier - Exit & drive around in heavy traffic to other entrance: also full - Drive home - Cycle back in - Miss 2 meetings 👏 Perfect 👏 system 👏

Nerd that I am, I’ve been thinking about (theorising is too strong!!) covert action for 15 years. And this in the new Oxford Handbook National Security Intelligence offers a neat distillation:

I’ve got 6 excitable 8 year olds running around my house. I’ve just made a tactical switch from man marking to zonal marking. Wish me luck!

Dr Dan Lomas @sandbaggerone.bsky.social recently contributed to this @thetimes.com piece on the priorities of the new MI6 chief Blaise Metreweli Read it here 🔗 tinyurl.com/4puhmcud Find out more about Dan and his research on intelligence services 🔗 nottingham.ac.uk/politics/people/daniel.lomas

📚 Congratulations to @rorycormac.bsky.social on the publication of his new co-edited book 'Covert Action: National Approaches to Unacknowledged Intervention' 📖 Read more here🔗 tinyurl.com/3cdbynaa ℹ️ Find out more about Rory and his research 🔗 nottingham.ac.uk/politics/people/rory.cormac

My copy editor has (correctly) put loads of em dashes into the book but now it looks like it’s been written by chat gpt!! Grammatical errors are now a weird sign of authenticity. We are artisanal writers

Me writing: I’ll fact check that at the revisions stage At revisions: I’ll check it at copy edit At copy edit: I’ll check it at proofs At proofs: if it’s still here by now I must’ve fact checked it already 🤷‍♂️ 🤷‍♂️ 🤷‍♂️

@lucatrenta.bsky.social I got a message saying you DM’d me but I don’t have direct messenger on here anymore since they did that age verification thing so can’t read it. Sorry

“The geographies of the information research department” Enjoyed this “critical geographical analysis” of British covert operations And there’s me thinking that geography was just oxbow lakes and erosion! rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1...

Oh turns out it’s on preorder. Loving the blurbs from early readers: “Often laugh out loud”; “Monty Python meets le Carré”; Fun, fascinating and absurd; “Spy thrillers have nothing on Fakers” Can’t wait to share it! www.amazon.co.uk/Fakers-Top-S...

Enjoyed this study on anglocentrism in covert action scholarship. It says I’m wrong merely to point to an evidence bias. Shame it didn’t come out before we did the below 👇 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

1/3 📕 #CovertAction: National Approaches to Unacknowledged Intervention is now out! I am delighted to have co-authored the chapter “Czechoslovakia: Covert Measures in Peace and War.”

Good news! You can now download the open access (free) ebook of Age of Decption from @CornellPress ! (You can also buy a paperback, which makes a fine decoration for your bookshelf) www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...

Strong recommend. 👊

@terrystiastny.bsky.social what’s the best way of contacting you please? I no longer have DM on here

🫣🤫🫣

🤷‍♂️ my dad grew up in a Nottingham housing scheme “but” developed a passion for Latin AND football … growing up poor ≠ uncultured

Excited to see Covert Action: National Approaches to Unacknowledged Intervention, in the wild at #APSA2025. My contribution: Israel's Mossad and Covert Action: Immigration, Counter-Proliferation, and Assassination. Edited by @rorycormac.bsky.social @magslong.bsky.social @markstout.bsky.social

Anything missing?

Is this the nerdiest graphic ever?! The Whitehall machinery coordinating British covert activities, 1945-65 Literally years of research to compile and exactly the kind of thing I got into academia for!!

And with that the Cormac and Cormac bookshelf is full!

Hooray, my copy finally arrived! It’s the first attempt to compare states’ approaches to what our US friends call covert action My own personal conclusion is “covert action” is dumb and when talking about wider practice beyond US legal codes we should use “unacknowledged interference”

It's out! Truly a wonderful book, full of useful new insights. A groundbreaking contribution to the field of Intelligence Studies by so many of our favorite scholars. www.amazon.com/Covert-Actio...

Every word I said back then is true. I'm so glad that this came out in time for my spring class in "Comparative Intelligence Services." Congratulations @markstout.bsky.social @magslong.bsky.social @rorycormac.bsky.social Genevieve Lester, @markstout.bsky.social, @dvanp.bsky.social, & all involved.

@rorycormac.bsky.social @markstout.bsky.social @dvanp.bsky.social @jgmaber.bsky.social @paulmcgarr.bsky.social @dianabolsinger.bsky.social It arrived! Super excited about our edited volume on #covertaction! And extremely grateful to our contributors and reviewers for their hard work and support!