🚨Watch as police confiscate van showing Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump in Windsor amid the US president's state visit

Between them, politicians and employers are destroying our great higher education sector. We won't sit back and let it happen. #WeAreTheUniversity

HUUUGE turnout this morning to demand protection for our jobs and our students' learning conditions. There is no deficit!!!

“We don’t see how the university can continue to provide quality education to students with drastic reductions in staff. Management does not appear to be listening—students may [be] able to insist they do.” Sophia Woodman UCU Edinburgh President

🔉🎵 Sound Up! Great support for our striking workers from Old College passers-by and Och Vey, a local Klezmer band!

Thank you for your solidarity Richard! #StopTheCuts #SaveHE ✊

I joined the @ucuedinburgh.bsky.social picket line this morning to show solidarity and hear first-hand about the devastating plan for £140 million of cuts to jobs and courses They are asking people to email the university principal to oppose it

Resolute @ucuedinburgh pickets at Old College and throughout the university today #SaveHE #NoCompulsoryRedundancies #StopTheCuts

Teach outs this week by @ucuedinburgh.bsky.social Learn more about the branch and the strike to defend jobs and oppose cuts #SaveHE #NoCompulsoryRedundancies #StopTheCuts

Today's @ucuedinburgh.bsky.social rally to defend jobs and oppose cuts at Edinburgh university #SaveHE #NoCompulsoryRedundancies #StopTheCuts

📢 Staff at the University of Edinburgh are on strike against £140m cuts. Show your support to colleagues at Edinburgh university ✊

Pickets across @edinburghuni.bsky.social campus this morning opposing £140million cuts and up to 1,800 jobs going, including by compulsory redundancies #SaveHE #NoCompulsoryRedundancies #StopTheCuts

So, just to reiterate: PLEASE REGULATE THE USE OF EXTERNAL CONSULTANCIES, Government. We all had a good laugh today, but it wasn't worth the millions this will have cost in tuition fee money going to some consultancy that is about to do exactly the same two towns over.

🚨Calling all scholars in to National Security Strategy. Thu 17/07, 11.30 - BISA Security Policy & Practice event, including: Will Jessett Paul Rogers @christinecheng.bsky.social @joedevanny.bsky.social Lewis Brooks, @saferworld.bsky.social @cpduncanson.bsky.social indico.bisa.ac.uk/event/563/

A group of activists who hurt no one and are trying to stop violence are ‘terrorists’, but those committing actual genocide are our trusted partners. @Pal_action you will be remembered well by history. Starmer & Cooper, your legacy is also guaranteed. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Great turnout for the @ucuedinburgh.bsky.social strike rally We hope management are listening ✊ 📣

Time for cooperative universities. Let us run them. www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/politics/...

Our Professional Services staff are crucial to #universityofedinburgh!!! #OpenDay #UniversityofEdinburgh #stopthecuts #ucu #ucuedinburgh

Edinburgh branch officers explain why UCU members are going on strike at Edinburgh University this coming Friday #StopTheCuts #solidarity

Busy picket lines in the sun this morning with @ucuedinburgh.bsky.social as members strike to save jobs, stop £140m cuts and prevent compulsory redundancies #StopTheCuts #NoCompulsoryRedundancies 🌞🌞

Busy picket lines across the university today. @ucuedinburgh.bsky.social striking to save jobs and #StopTheCuts

Herald coverage: Edinburgh university staff strike today as 1800 job losses threatened www.heraldscotland.com/news/2525177...

Rally in the sun 😎 @ucuedinburgh.bsky.social hearing speakers on why £140m cuts unnecessary and demanding uni senior management rule out comp redundancies. We don't want to, but we'll be back out on strike in Sept unless @edinburghuni.bsky.social management see sense #StopTheCuts

Claire Duncanson from @ucuedinburgh.bsky.social on BBC's Lunchtime Live explaining why management's plan to cut £140m and an estimated 1800 jobs doesn't make sense 🤔 #StopTheCuts #NoCompulsoryRedundancies

Our members are fed up with the cuts!! #ucuedinburgh #ucu #universityofedinburgh #stopthecuts #saveHE

#OpenDay #UniversityofEdinburgh #stopthecuts #ucu #ucuedinburgh

Incredible support for our staff at @ucuedinburgh.bsky.social on picket lines today in their fight against management's plans to slash budgets and jobs ✊

Challenging the Billionaire Takeover: Building the international movement for people and planet 📆 Sat 5 July, 11am - 3.15pm 📍Augustine United Church, EH1 1EL Book here: bit.ly/4e2ES6O 📢With Global Justice Now Director, Nick Dearden & trade campaigner Seema Syeda 🙋🏽‍♂Talks, workshops & a free lunch🥖🥒🍰

news.stv.tv/east-central... 😳

🚨 BREAKING: From September 1st peak rail fares will be scrapped for good in Scotland! 🟢2023: Greens scrap peak rail fares. 🟡2024: SNP bring them back 🟡2024: thousands join Green and trade union calls for the SNP to reverse their decision 🟢2025: SNP reverse their decision

After a worrying set of local election results in Britain one Ray of hope was @greenparty.org.uk more than doubling the number of councillors in contested seats. Seems standing up for principles is able to resist the rise of far right whereas Labour's attempts to placate it fail.

There is a depressing predictability to this. Of course Labour's takeaway from the locals was to "be tougher on people seeking asylum", because small boat landings are obviously such a major issue in Runcorn. Why do the hard work of implementing policies which actually benefit people after all.

Essentially *all* research and expert assessments show that this does not work. It will not counter Farage, but literally push votes towards Reform. It genuinely is impossible to overstate how profoundly stupid and strategically illiterate this decision is. You cannot out-Reform Reform.

🟡Last year, an SNP minister met with Israel’s deputy ambassador. Now he is meeting with their arms dealers who have made billions from enabling war, conflict and suffering. 🟢Greens are clear, Scotland must stand against genocide, and the Scottish Government must stop funding war criminals.

Here's a thought, rather than repeated 'one-off' injections of money to avoid the worst: reform the funding and governance structure. It would even be, dare we say, more *efficient* to stabilise funding and get accountability, so you don't have to launch rescue missions every few weeks.

Here we go again. Job cuts of the scale and pace announced by the University of Edinburgh are unnecessary, unfair and totally counterproductive, and staff have no choice but to resist. ✊✊✊@ucuedinburgh.bsky.social

The idea that new oil & gas fields are a key lever for economic dynamism in the UK is completely at odds with the reality of the North Sea basin's inexorably declining contribution to the UK's economic & energy security--not to mention the costs of escalating climate change. Some thoughts: /1

‘A Trump Trade Deal Would Open the UK’s Doors to the Big Tech Robber Barons’ Me in @bylinetimes.bsky.social bylinetimes.com/2025/04/04/a...

Staff & students @dundee.ac.uk didn't cause the financial crisis. They shouldn't have to pay for management's mistakes. They must be treated with respect. Today I wrote to @jennygilruth.bsky.social, the Education Cabinet Secretary, urging her to act. @ducuuo.bsky.social @dundeeuniunite.bsky.social

At current rates, Scotland’s 30% nature recovery target could take 65 years to reach New figures show rewilding is now underway across 2.5% of Scotland - 195,615 hectares, up from 2.1% one year ago. With ScotGov aiming for 30% by 2030, greater political support & action is needed 👉 bit.ly/4leVCuU

With welfare cuts from Labour, rent hikes from the SNP, and bills going up, let nobody tell you there's no alternative. It's called a wealth tax. Only the super-rich would pay, but we could cancel the cuts, restore public services, and invest in our future. www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/2505146...

Fascinating and sobering lecture by former Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves on 'Europe's New Cold War' hosted by @scga.bsky.social at The University of Edinburgh. 'In Eastern Europe, twilight lasts longer and dawn comes sooner.'

Another great meeting with @scga.bsky.social at Edinburgh University hosting @ilvestoomas.bsky.social introduced by @phillipspobrien.bsky.social giving his perspective on European Defence and the wider world. An important meeting.

A packed out UoE lecture theatre to hear HE Toomas Ilves discuss the new Cold War. Another fantastic, if sobering, @scga.bsky.social event.

🤦‍♂️ The only way to deal with Trump is to show some spine. Serious, collective action by those he’s targeting. His project must fail to split his movement. I was with an American friend at the weekend desperate for us to learn this, fast. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Tomorrow there'll be a Westminster Hall debate on the financial crisis and the wave of job losses in Britain's universities. A ridiculous under-reaction to what might become one of the biggest stories in years, but worth it nonetheless I suppose. www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/...

The most offensive thing, apart from the stupid amount of money, about this is: why do we then pay senior management so much? Might as well cut out the middle man? Since all they do is just copy-paste what the three consultancies are copy-pasting? &then hide behind that to avoid taking any decision.

By loading all the functions on the centre, you increase the data stress there to intolerable levels, and it collapses. You also ramp up costs that the thinner and thinner 'lower' offer cannot meet. You do quality and reputational harm that is likely impossible to repair. (2/2)

One underreported facet of the Great University Crisis is the contribution of a small number of consultancy firms who recommend: *Centralise functions *Cut small courses *Reduce student options *Abolish loads of joint awards *Chop staff headcount This is *exactly* what you must not do. (1/3)