Hello and welcome history friends, patrons all back to when diplomacy fails for this state of the podcast address on the 4th of January, 2024. I hope you're doing well. It's been a while.

In case you were somehow unaware, this absence has been down to a single cause, the PhD.

But now both the thesis and the Viva are finished, and I'm waiting on a date for the graduation ceremony.

Everything on my side's finished, and I can confirm that my thesis passed with very minor corrections,

which is apparently the best possible result, because picture perfect PhD thesis don't exist, apparently.

This all means, drum roll, please.

You're now listening to Dr. Zachary Twomley.

I can't say that without a massive smile on my face, but of course, just call me, Zach.

I think we should take a moment to appreciate the significance of this moment.

We've come a long way since

2012. It's nearly 12 years since when diplomacy fails released its first episode when I began

on a journey which became one of the foundational experiences of my life. It should be stated

for the record, without when diplomacy fails, there is no Dr. Zach. And I know

it's a cliche, but I really couldn't have done this without you. It's because of your response to this

podcast over the last decade that I gradually acquired the confidence, the knowledge, and the ambition

to go further, and that led me eventually to the PhD.

We don't need to get into a biography of me right now. I'm sure I've said these things in some

fashion or another at some point before, but I've always struggled with imposter syndrome,

stemming from the collapse of my plans in 2010, when I failed to get into my intended history and English course in University College Dublin.

But long story short, I took a different route, a post-leaving cert course, which in my hubris I had dismissed as an option B for losers.

But this loser embraced that course as his true

last chance to get into university, and after passing that course, I acquired my place

...