Senior Researcher @csjthinktank. Writer and columnist. Previously @JSMilbank
London
- Tweets 2,676
- Following 521
- Followers 3,520
- Likes 7,353
Pinned Tweet
Apologies for long Twitter absence. My previous account - JSMilbank - has been hacked and I'm locked out for the foreseeable future. If you've received a message from that account its a scam. Would deeply appreciate if previous followers would follow me here at @SebMilbank
35
70
329
100,537
One is really struck by the exceptional aggression of the British military at its height. Just read about the siege of Gibraltar some time - an extraordinary degree of courage and initiative that produced extraordinary results
16
43
992
47,911
Sebastian Milbank retweeted
Censorship is bad. Funding terrorist organisations is bad. If you have issues with the proscription of Palestine Action, that's fine; but the NS framing is a strawman (literary freedom) and not the real underlying issue (should PA be proscribed?)
OPEN LETTER: Sally Rooney is a writer, not a terrorist. Her books must be available to the public. Their withdrawal from sale, on the basis of ill-conceived and draconian anti terror legislation, is an affront to basic principles of free speech and expression so long taken for granted in this country. We categorically reject censorship - whether direct or indirect - and urge the government to change course, amending the legislation which has led us to this point of repressive absurdity.
14
29
328
7,164
If this sounds oddly familiar its because its the same argument that Montesquieu and Gibbon make about the fall of the Roman Empire. It's also sheer nonsense. Victorians ruthlessly pursued the national interest throughout the 19th century, and you'll struggle to prove otherwise
After 1815, however, Britain underwent a moral revolution, away from national interest politics, towards idealism and romanticism, especially though Evangelical Christianity.
7
2
62
2,145
Sebastian Milbank retweeted
Read our new report, Growing Up Online
As written by @SebMilbank
He argues for:
✅Parental covenants to protect children
✅Send official guidance to every parent and teacher
✅Creating an offline culture in every school
As covered in The Times today👇
1
3
3
295
Sebastian Milbank retweeted
Tetrarşi ortaklarına ait ünlü heykel grubunda görülen kartal başlı kılıç kabzasının kazılarda bulunmuş bir örneği (Metropolitan Müzesi, MS 4. yüzyıl).
2
14
112
3,064
The Royal Navy in October 2026: A Paradox of Ambition and Decline
Views my own, comments, corrections and strong debate welcome.
1/25 The Royal Navy of late 2026 is a force of extremes. It operates two large aircraft carriers that are notionally operational, a small number of highly sophisticated Type 45 destroyers and Astute-class attack submarines, and a nuclear deterrent that has never broken Continuous At-Sea Deterrence. At the same time, the surface and subsurface fleets required to protect those carriers, sustain the deterrent and meet routine tasking are thinner, older and less available than at any point since 1945.
This is not the result of a single review or a sudden funding cut. It is the cumulative outcome of decisions stretching back to the late 1970s, accelerated by the 1998 Strategic Defence Review and deepened by the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review.
The Royal Navy has repeatedly chosen exquisite individual platforms over the numbers needed to keep them at sea, deferred hard choices on infrastructure, and operated under a culture in which responsibility is diffused until it disappears.
32
68
333
47,141
Sebastian Milbank retweeted
Since 2022, Civic Future has grown from a single Fellowship into policy courses, workshops, crisis simulations and two Talent Programmes.
It’s a school in all but name.
So today we’re making it official: the Civic Future School for Government 🏛️🧵
civicfuture.org/school-for-g…
1
31
115
35,441
I don’t think people realise how remote some areas are in the states. Sure we have wild rural roads and dense forests, but they’re all in walking distance of civilisation. You can still just walk out into pure wilderness in America it’s unlike anything in Europe
11
2
35
3,684
I would not personally trust the NHS with my organs
I just had to replace a lost driving licence.
It involved creating an account, downloading an app, about 20 minutes of verifications, scanning my passport and face, being charged £14, and giving away all my internal organs. Seamless service.
7
40
1,673
It's a lowest common denominator, consumerist, mass culture. So yes the screens, and to a lesser extent the publishing industry. But more than anything its the fact that books exist to give us access to a culture and a community of minds that we no longer value or sustain.
Everyone blames screens for the decline of reading.
Nobody blames the consolidated corporate publishing industry that made books pricier, more generic, and harder to find. jacobin.com/2026/10/books-pu…
2
1
26
785
It's harder, but ultimately a lot of this is downstream of Britain being catastrophically bad at diplomacy. There are things we could offer France or threaten it with that nobody seems to have even considered putting on the table. We've given them no reason to play ball.
France is a more difficult interlocutor than Mexico has been for America or Nauru has been for Australia.
2
2
31
1,237
What I'm really struck by is how frozen in time the West and the world order seems. IMF 1944, UN 1945, GATT 1947, Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948, NATO 1949, Treaty of Paris 1951. None of these has been seriously revisited, just added to or built upon.
A quarter of a century ago Tony Blair said the 1951 refugee convention was outdated in a world of mass migration.
And yet a quarter of a century later, here it still stands.
3
5
66
1,291
This has somehow attracted further midwits, all intent on proving - well god knows *what* they're trying to prove - mostly it seems, how much they supposedly know about linguistics, whether or not it has anything to do with anything. Very tedious.
It's rare you see such a perfect example of midwittery in the wilds - an ideal specimen of pedantic mediocrity trying to retrospectively scold one of the greatest writers in human history.
6
502
This wouldn't be an issue if local taxes were collected on income, as they are in most of Europe! Instead we're stuck with an unwieldy property tax that targets the value of the house rather than the income of the household, and is based on 30 year old assessments
When I met Angela Rayner to campaign for change to overly aggressive council tax debt collection, with its unprecedented rapid escalation to balliffs, she nodded like most politicians do.
I explained it was destructive for individuals, councils and the economy. She listened more then said she'd change it. I was sceptical. Yet a consultation was launched within weeks and delightfully the change announced within 18mths (its in place from next April) - bullet train pace for politics.
I've a rule that if I campaign for a politician (of any party) to do something, and they do it, I say thank you. Its important to recognise it. So thank you so much Angela Rayner for listening and more importantly acting. The changes coming are a great start.
1
13
679
It's rare you see such a perfect example of midwittery in the wilds - an ideal specimen of pedantic mediocrity trying to retrospectively scold one of the greatest writers in human history.
"English is both a Germanic and Latin language"
once again begging to make intro to linguistics obligatory in every high school
15
16
728
19,136
I've obviously triggered someone (God knows why) but English *is* special in this regard, there are no other languages I know of with a near 50-50 split between Latin and Germanic vocab, each with a distinct register. But happy to be corrected!
what basis of comparison do you wish to offer, to make this potted history of the English language, seem like something special rather than quite a typical career for a language. i am afraid just being English doesn't qualify you, or anything, for special boy status.
6
59
14,353
Can't make this point strongly enough: expertise in one area of knowledge, with its own systems of classifications and terms does not obviate other areas of expertise, or ordinary speech. Pretending not to understand is the game of a schoolchild: stop it.
Thanks for proving my point. It's clear what Borges means, and he's not making an intervention within the science of linguistics, he's speaking as a writer, his domain of expertise. You haven't paused to consider whether there are other domains in which the statement *is* true
26
2,066