Dr Patrick S. McGhee

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Dr Patrick S. McGhee

Dr Patrick S. McGhee

@Patricksmcg

📜 Historian of Heterodoxy | Writer | Photographer | PhD (@Cambridge_Uni) | Honorary Fellow (@durham_uni) | 🌹 Lancastrian 🍀 Irish 🦌 Scottish 🪶

Britain Katılım Mayıs 2011
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Dr Patrick S. McGhee
Dr Patrick S. McGhee@Patricksmcg·
The wait is over! We're thrilled to announce the publication of our new interdisciplinary essay collection on the history of atheism in the early modern world. This important collaborative volume explores diverse early modern attitudes towards atheism in Brazil, China, England, France, Italy, New England, Poland, Scotland, Spain, and Transylvania. Thank you to all the pioneering co-authors who contributed chapters and to the editorial team at @Palgrave for guiding the project! This work is part of a research project generously funded by the @LeverhulmeTrust and @durham_uni.
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FeministsAgainstAntisemitism
FeministsAgainstAntisemitism@FAAntisemitism·
🚨EXCLUSIVE UNDERCOVER REPORT🚨 The Feminist Blood Libel A FAA exclusive report from inside the lecture that laundered antisemitic lies under the friendly cover of feminism and academic respectability. One of our members recently went undercover at a feminist event billed as 'Supremacist Formations and Sexual Violence' that placed Zionism in the same category as Boko Haram & ISIS. Held at the Met university in London, this event claimed that Israel deliberately targets 'wombs', 'deliberately targets reproduction', and that 'Jewish national self-determination is fundamentally about elimination, depravity, and sexual harm'. @nicolelampert @realzoestrimpel @joshxhowie
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Jonathan Eric Lewis
Jonathan Eric Lewis@LewisJonathanE·
There's never been a country in the history of the world in which the adoption of antizionism as an ideology has led to a more peaceful, prosperous, and tolerant society Something for Official Ireland to consider ....
Sean@poetsoup

@RachelMoiselle For Ireland's own sake, for our own chance at continued prosperity and goodwill in the world, this inordinate obsession with Israel and with Jewish people has to stop. It will achieve nothing but the degradation of our own country, reputationally and economically.

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Dr Patrick S. McGhee
Dr Patrick S. McGhee@Patricksmcg·
This looks like an exciting initiative from @IMEMSDurham. Spend a week immersing yourself in medieval and early modern history, examining manuscripts, letters, and printed books, and studying works that have shaped religious culture, politics, and society.
IMEMS Durham@IMEMSDurham

Calling all students, academics, researchers, librarians, archivists and curators: come and take an IMEMS short course! 🖋️📜 - Fully online - Flexible to your schedule - £100 per course - Optional live Q&As with your tutor Explore and book here: imemsdurhamlearn.com/ourcourses/

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Dr Patrick S. McGhee
Dr Patrick S. McGhee@Patricksmcg·
Censorship thrives on ambiguity, suggestion, and unspoken pressure. Precisely *because* they are 'non-statutory', various guidelines can be interpreted and implemented elastically to circumvent existing constitutional frameworks and legal regulations. It is in this invisible space that the spectre of blasphemy can be resurrected.
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Dr Patrick S. McGhee
Dr Patrick S. McGhee@Patricksmcg·
"Removing juries from criminal trials may sound like an administrative adjustment. In reality it alters something deeper: the balance between citizen and state. Trial by jury is not simply a procedural detail. It is a constitutional principle." This is a superb intervention from @RobbieRinder on the importance of retaining jury trials as a check on the overbearance of the state and a crucial conduit for civic life. History tells us that the erosion of liberty can happen gradually and quietly, under the guise of bureaucracy and with grave consequences, intended or otherwise. "Constitutions are not built for the governments we trust. They exist for the day power falls into the hands of someone we do not." Exactly. This is a sentiment that the government would do well to remember in all aspects of its agenda.
Rob Rinder@RobbieRinder

Jewish memory carries a long familiarity with how civic safeguards begin to thin. Rarely dramatically; a practical reform here, a sensible efficiency there. Something temporary. Something administrative. Something that seems perfectly reasonable at the time. Until slowly, almost invisibly, the distance between citizen and state begins to shrink. Constitutional safeguards don’t exsist for the governments we trust. They exist for the day power falls into the hands of someone we do not.

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Dr Patrick S. McGhee
Dr Patrick S. McGhee@Patricksmcg·
For instance, I’ve yet to hear a convincing explanation for the seemingly eager willingness of some to identify so-called “assisted dying” as a cause worthy of support among secularists and humanists. What has state-facilitated killing to do with the separation of religion from politics or the celebrating of human life?
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Dr Patrick S. McGhee
Dr Patrick S. McGhee@Patricksmcg·
“The history is grim but well documented. It reveals something political theory rarely grasps. Once politics hardens along sectarian lines, violence between communities ceases to appear extraordinary. It becomes the more ruthless continuation of the same logic.” An interesting piece on sectarianism and secularism. History is replete with warnings against the dangers of sectarianism, yet many seem intent on reanimating old hatreds, tacitly mythologising violence, and denigrating hard-won resolutions, exacerbating antisemitism and authoritarianism as a result. My sense is that secularism, meanwhile, remains a worthy cause in principle, but might benefit from reinventing itself somewhat, particularly in relation to politics and practice.
Toby Young@toadmeister

As Britain careers towards a sectarian future, have the lessons of Northern Ireland been learned, ask David Betz and Michael Rainsborough. The distance from political rivalry to violence is shorter than many will admit. dailysceptic.org/2026/03/19/bri…

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Dr Patrick S. McGhee
Dr Patrick S. McGhee@Patricksmcg·
Jury trials have played an essential role in shaping the history of liberty, democracy, justice, and civilization. Serving on a jury imbues the individual citizen with an inner sense of duty and connects them outwardly to society, thus reaffirming a shared commitment to justice for all.  This has been recognised for centuries, not only in Britain, but also in Europe and the United States. Jury trials are about the social and civic community: “The jury...invests each citizen with a kind of magistracy; it makes them all feel the duties which they are bound to discharge towards society, and the part which they take in its government.”  Jury trials are about the liberty of the citizen and the boundaries of the state: “The jury is pre-eminently a political institution; it must be regarded as one form of the sovereignty of the people.”  Excerpts from Alexis de Tocqueville, 'Democracy in America' (originally published 1835).
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Rachel Moiselle
Rachel Moiselle@RachelMoiselle·
My first ever Substack post for St. Patrick’s Day. A little vignette (one I in fact wrote this day last year) that encapsulates, for me, what it means to be Irish. Lá Fhéile Padraig sona daoibh agus oíche mhaith, a chairde. @rachelmoiselle/note/c-229373779?r=4agy4n&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">substack.com/@rachelmoisell…
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Sonia Sodha
Sonia Sodha@soniasodha·
The government using “women’s rights” as a cover to drastically restrict access to jury trial is one of the most cynical tactics I’ve ever seen. Glad there are some in the VAWG sector calling it out.
Joanna Hardy-Susskind@Joanna__Hardy

David Lammy MP has been hammering home that his proposed jury restrictions are for victims of crime. Yesterday, over THIRTY organisations across the VAWG sector wrote David a letter. And it was clear: They do not support the restriction of jury trial. rightsofwomen.org.uk/wp-content/upl…

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Dr Patrick S. McGhee
Dr Patrick S. McGhee@Patricksmcg·
The erosion of civil liberties will happen with the appearance of public approval and hardly anybody is going to be able to figure out why.
Dr. Michael B. Riordan@michael_riordan

The main issue here is how ‘No’ is actually the strongest ‘Yes’. It’s so sneakily worded this must be deliberate: if you read this quickly — as most people would —and you are opposed to the measure, you could easily answer No, not realising it meant Yes. This is no way that a government department should be conducting a public consultation. Disgraceful behaviour by @SciTechgovuk civil servants in clear breach of impartiality standards. Who can we report this flagrant abuse to?

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Dr Patrick S. McGhee
Dr Patrick S. McGhee@Patricksmcg·
Image: "Title page of 'Democracy in America', by Alexis de Tocqueville, translated by Henry Reeve, with a preface and notes by John C. Spencer (New York: George Dearborn & Co.; Adlard and Saunders),” Yale University Library Digital Collections, accessed March 18, 2026, collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/2018812. [Public Domain]. @BeineckeLibrary
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Dr Patrick S. McGhee
Dr Patrick S. McGhee@Patricksmcg·
“We are deeply concerned that the curtailment of jury trials risks unfair outcomes that undermine justice for everyone. For centuries, trial by one's peers has acted as a democratic safeguard, functioning as a vital connection between society and the law, so that justice is not determined by a single class or authority alone.” An important letter that further exposes the dangers of restricting jury trials and clearly reaffirms the need to curtail the overbearing state. The denial of jury trials will represent a betrayal of women and an abdication of the moral duties this government claims to uphold.
Joanna Hardy-Susskind@Joanna__Hardy

David Lammy MP has been hammering home that his proposed jury restrictions are for victims of crime. Yesterday, over THIRTY organisations across the VAWG sector wrote David a letter. And it was clear: They do not support the restriction of jury trial. rightsofwomen.org.uk/wp-content/upl…

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The CBA
The CBA@TheCriminalBar·
The letter in full, link below Dear Deputy Prime Minister, Violence Against Women and Girls sector calls for the preservation of access to jury trials We write on behalf of organisations across the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) sector to urge the Government to reconsider the proposals contained in the Courts and Tribunals Bill 2026 to restrict access to jury trials in England and Wales. rightsofwomen.org.uk/wp-content/upl…
The CBA@TheCriminalBar

Thirty organisations representing victims of violence against women and girls (VAWG) have written to the justice secretary @DavidLammy, urging him to drop plans to significantly reduce the number of jury trials. The groups said that the proposals, which will affect court cases in England and Wales, will deepen mistrust in the justice system among victims and distract from measures designed to reduce offending. The signatories, which include Rights of Women, the End Violence Against Women Coalition, Women for Refugee Women and various branches of Women’s Aid, added that they were “deeply concerned that the curtailment of jury trials risks unfair outcomes that undermine justice for everyone”. The letter, which has also been signed by Fiona Rutherford, the chief executive of the law reform charity @JUSTICEhq, said those working against violence were particularly concerned for women and girls who were “unjustly criminalised” as a result of their abuse, some of whom have faced trial themselves. Another signatory, @centreWJ the Centre for Women’s Justice, has long campaigned on the issue, saying that about 70% of women in prison or under probation supervision are known to be victims of domestic abuse. It argues that some domestic abuse victims charged with criminal offences have acted under duress or in self-defence. theguardian.com/law/2026/mar/1…

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Keşfet

@reaktionbooks @NewBooksNetwork @nicolelampert @realzoestrimpel @joshxhowie @IMEMSDurham @JewishChron @RobbieRinder