Send Us Your Questions + A (Late) Summer Update

It’s been a while since we did an update and there are a few things to let you know about.

But first a quick introduction for new subscribers who might be wondering exactly what they’ve signed up to:

You can find out more about what we do, and who we are, on our about page. But the quick version is that this is a father and son substack. Lawrence (the father) is Emeritus Professor of War Studies at King’s College, London, and author of many books on strategy and military history. He focuses on conflicts around the world and particularly Ukraine.

Sam is a senior fellow at the Institute for Government, and former government adviser. He writes about UK policy and politics. We tend to alternate, though when a big story breaks in either field, one of us may write more than the other for a bit.

We also have a monthly guest post – which this month was an interview with the Russia analyst Mike Kofman. Paid subscribers get access to 4-6 paywalled posts a month; full access to an archive of almost 200 posts; the ability to comment; and the opportunity to ask us questions. We have over 37,000 subscribers now (both free and paid) from 163 countries. A special hello to our one subscriber in Papua New Guinea.

Send us your questions

Every couple of months we run a Q+A with paying subscribers. So please do send us your questions in the comments below, or by email, and we’ll do a post with as many responses as possible next week. They can be for either (or both) of us, on any topic. You can read the last set of questions and answers here.

Other updates

1. Lawrence’s latest book “Command: The Politics of Military Operations from Korea to Ukraine” is now out in paperback in the UK. It will be out in the US on the 1st December. It featured in numerous “Books of the Year” lists for 2023 and had glowing reviews across the UK and US press.

2. A couple of other of recent pieces by Lawrence that may be of interest: on Prigozhin’s death in the New Statesman; and on how Putin is running out of options for Foreign Affairs.

3. There was great family excitement when Lawrence’s article on strategy and the Barbie movie featured in the “Popbitch” newsletter. Not a sentence we ever imagined writing.  

4. Meanwhile Sam wrote a feature for Prospect magazine on Starmer’s inheritance. You can read his monthly column for Prospect here. He also wrote a piece for the IPPR think-tank on how to assess public opinion about climate change (in which he tried to apply the principles from this post on how to read issue polling).  

5. Sam also did a podcast series, with the brilliant Ayesha Hazarika of Times Radio, called the Power Test, with ten episodes looking at different policy areas and whether Labour is ready for power or not. There were some great guests including Alistair Campbell, Jim O’Neil, Alan Johnson, David Blunkett, and many others. We also had Darren Jones and Liz Kendall, both of whom got promoted to the shadow cabinet in Starmer’s recent reshuffle, so it’s obviously a career boost. A second series is coming soon.

Finally, we’ve written before that the decline of twitter is making the substack network more and more important in helping us grow. We’re hugely grateful to the 167 other substacks that recommend us, as well as to all of you who share pieces on social media and via email. Substack have now introduced a way for us to say thank you to those who spread the word:

When you use the referral link below, or the “Share” button on any post, you'll get credit for any new subscribers. Simply send the link in a text, email, or share it on social media with friends.

When your friends use your referral link to subscribe (free or paid), you’ll automatically receive extra months subscription for free.

• Get 1 month free for 5 referrals

• Get 3 month free for 10 referrals

• Get 6 month free for 25 referrals

There’s even a leaderboard

To learn more, check out Substack’s FAQ.