C.J. Corn

Ex-Mandarin (MOD, DfT) now historian and schoolmaster (politics, Chinese, history, music, head of year) at Rugby Group school.

[C.J. Corn @CornCJ]

Anyone who enjoyed this excellent podcast episode might enjoy my chapter on Wu Zetian (#news) in the magnificent @IainDale ‘s new book on Dictators.

What lessons could an aspiring dictator learn from the most powerful woman in history…?

https://t.co/bb5JNNWzrr

[William Dalrymple @DalrympleWill]

China's only empress rose from harem to throne, used Buddhism to capture power

Wu Zetian was a fifth-grade concubine in the Chinese royal harem in the 7th century who rose to become China's only empress. William Dalrymple's new book, The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World, sheds light on how she used Buddhism and Nalanda-trained scholars to capture and consolidate power.

https://t.co/OODQ6vPqKk

[C.J. Corn @CornCJ]

Immediately writing off a book for referring to a Cambridge ‘quad’

[C.J. Corn @CornCJ]

@eoinmauricedaly Like the Salt Path scandal last year, where Moth’s apparent ‘recovery’ from CBD gave false hope to people with it

[C.J. Corn @CornCJ]

@Ameer_Kotecha TOIL gives terrible incentives: plenty of civil servants hang round for an extra unproductive hour in the office (or Pret) and add that to their TOIL instead of just doing the work quicker

[C.J. Corn @CornCJ]

I prefer to think of Bhutan 不丹 as ‘not Denmark’ 丹麦

[Xavi Ruiz @xruiztru]

The literal meanings of Asian country names in Chinese

[C.J. Corn @CornCJ]

@si_rubinstein Likewise there’s an amateur wicket keeper on Teesside really coming into form late in life. There are late bloomers in every field

[C.J. Corn @CornCJ]

@singtoconley Ok impressed but it’s clearly early 2000s, not 1990s

[C.J. Corn @CornCJ]

Excited for the appearance of RON on national ballots. But it’s only worth it if you also: make it AV / SV, make the fine meaningful, and get rid of postal voting in all but exceptional circumstances and replace with early voting at your council office

[Politics UK @PolitlcsUK]

🚨 NEW: Compulsory voting, including a possible £10 fine for those who stay at home, were previously backed or approved by senior advisers to Andy Burnham while working at think-tanks

The proposals would include a "none of the above" vote option and exemptions

[@thetimes]

[C.J. Corn @CornCJ]

@timmehmclean @lukerobertblack Makes sense: my assumption is many unionists vote for the unionist party most likely to win (or even vote Alliance or SDLP to keep SF out) so it would take a long sustained local poll lead for them to switch in a real election.

[David James @drdavidajames]

Bridget Phillipson was one of the worst Secretaries of State for Education (and the bar for that is pretty high). Read my obituary of her career in @thecritic https://t.co/12670UJ2X1

[C.J. Corn @CornCJ]

Superb

[Re:State @restate_thinks]

🚨New report: A Mid-Career Fast Stream.

Today we publish a detailed guide for the Government on how to create a new Mid-Career Fast Stream so that exceptionally talented people from outside the civil service have a dedicated route to apply.

https://t.co/Y7z8WIjRKA

[James Marriott @j_amesmarriott]

I wrote this about Count Binface who represents a very tedious strain in British culture
https://t.co/dWlDoKGEJi

[C.J. Corn @CornCJ]

@ingelramdecoucy My prep school English teacher had us read Decline and Fall and he swore that ‘eee-ve-lyn’ was female and ‘eh-ve-lyn’ was male. 🤷‍♂️

[C.J. Corn @CornCJ]

Find myself going slightly insane as I discover almost everyone I like and respect seems to find the smug, laboured stooge Binface unaccountably hilarious.

Just say no.

[NPRG @CptHastings1916]

@soilysound https://t.co/C76nSzIqgK

[C.J. Corn @CornCJ]

@BDSixsmith Checks out, that’s why True and Fair are bossing the polls

[C.J. Corn @CornCJ]

@yuanyi_z At the DfT post-Covid we got an email from the PermSec saying that as a thank you for our work (effectively renationalising the rail network in a few weeks) they had bought one (1) Nespresso machine. A follow-up email clarified we would need to bring our own pods.

[C.J. Corn @CornCJ]

@jruddy99 @Scott_Wortley @RuthDavidsonPC Tbf she lives in Dulwich (I understand)

[C.J. Corn @CornCJ]

@CptHastings1916 Just happen to be reading this about George Lansbury (Alwyn Turner’s Shellshocked Nation, which is fab)

[C.J. Corn @CornCJ]

@FaringForwards Aaaa I was hoping to see this belter

[C.J. Corn @CornCJ]

@si_rubinstein [current year]