I was interviewed today by BBC Hereford & Worcester about the psychology behind helping others in the context of the recent #BostonMarathon The story starts about 22 minutes into the clip below & my interview is from 25.00-29.30. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

500 Irish petrol stations could have 'no fuel by end of the day' www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Japanese govt is doing right thing in reassuring public that there's no need to stockpile toilet paper, but media risk creating self-fulfilling prophecy if they report 'panic-buying' www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03...

Interesting article on crowd behaviour at gigs & the use of 'show-stop' procedure when safety is at risk. Links to scary example at an Oasis gig in 2005 when crowd surged to front, breaking crowd safety barrier. Gig had to be paused for 25 mins while it was fixed www.youtube.com/watch?v=aue6...

I did an interview yesterday for @BBCRadioStoke about the social psychology of trust & social/media influence to coincide with the new series of the BBC drama 'The Capture'. My bit starts at 42.00 into the following link www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

UK government loses appeal over Kneecap terror charge www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

@chriscocking.bsky.social @hasisd.bsky.social 😢 🙏🏼

My blog from mid-March 2020 argued that we shouldn't have delayed lockdown & that the stated reason (that the public wouldn't comply with lockdown) had no basis in behavioural science & that people would likely be more resilient dontpaniccorrectingmythsaboutthecrowd.blogspot.com/2020/03/coro...

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... 2 main headlines from #COVIDinquiry are that earlier lockdown would have saved 1000s of lives & lockdown may have been avoided altogether if protective measures had been introduced earlier

Eye-witness reports of extreme heroism in response to #TrainAttack in Cambridgeshire, UK last night. Man uses own head to protect woman from being stabbed. Evidence of concept of 'zero responders' & shows that people don't tend to 'panic' in emergencies. www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/...

Please don’t use the term ‘stampede’ to describe tragedies such as these @theguardian.com as it rarely matches up with what actually happens. This tragedy is more likely to have been a crowd crush or crowd collapse & it’s unlikely that people were trampled to death by other crowd members

Next, @chriscocking.bsky.social presented his preliminary findings on his collective identity research concerning the right-wing protests in the UK since the August 24 riots by exploring using visual and audio data collection methods 🧵3/5

At @bps-social-psych.bsky.social the @behaviourresuk.bsky.social funded symposium on our 2024 riots project @swedishprotests.bsky.social @drannetempleton.bsky.social

There was no 'riot' at Mo Chara's court appearance in London today, which reinforces my previous point below that charging him with incitement to riot after Kneecap's Glastonbury set would have been ridiculous @kneecapceol.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

So this is where I’ll be laying my head this evening in mid Wales. That works for me!

The Press often say ‘riot Police are on alert’ for a demo, but it’s utterly meaningless. There will always be riot police on alert (that’s inherent within their role!). I only saw 2 officers from the TSG (MPS public order unit) in Parliament Square at the protest & they were deployed as advisors

Coverage I've seen so far of #Tsunami shows mercifully little damage and/or casualties. Also reports from #Hawaii of people being 'civilized' & no 'panic' as they evacuate, which fits with most research into mass emergency behaviour www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c3...

I was interviewed on @bbc5live.bsky.social this morning about the possibility of riots this summer & my clip is from 49.00-51.00 minutes into the following link; www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/... Briefer interaction than anticipated, so a lot of what I'd intended to say didn't get covered

An article I wrote in 2014 highlighted the Battle of #Orgreave during the UK miners' strike was the 1st large scale example of the British Police adopting tactics used by the colonial Police force in Hong Kong theconversation.com/how-the-uk-i...

Irrespective of Kneecap's stated political views, it would have been ridiculous to have charged them with incitement to riot after their Glastonbury performance. I explored this further in thread below that I posted previously #Kneecap www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I was interviewed for BBC Radio Sussex today about the 20th anniversary of 7/7 to talk about the research I did with @profjohndrury.bsky.social into the collective resilience of those affected by the explosions. My bit starts at 1.13.30 in link below www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

1/10 On this day 20 years ago, I was with @chriscocking.bsky.social and Steve Reicher at the Royal Society summer exhibition in London, presenting our work on how people behave in emergency evacuations. As I tried to travel to the exhibition venue, I was part of a crowd of

'Adrian applied a tourniquet and pinched shut the artery in Dan's thigh to stop him bleeding to death.' @chriscocking.bsky.social and I found many other examples like this of mutual aid among survivors in our research on this major incident. @ukri.org funded www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The decision to investigate these acts illustrates some potentially concerning issues with what Avon & Somerset Police have recorded as a 'public order incident'. I'll stick to what I saw of the Kneecap set via BBC iPlayer, as I didn't see the Bob Vylan set www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Article below interviewed me about the #NottingHillCarnival in London and why I thought concerns about a mass casualty incident are potentially being exaggerated www.the-londoner.co.uk/notting-hill...

As someone who works in crowd safety management, I know that it's difficult to accurately estimate crowd size. But from seeing the photos of the event, I can confidently state that claims that >1/4m people attended Trump's military parade is way off the mark! #NoKings apnews.com/article/trum...

This piece below is the best attempt to explain the #ballymenariots that I have seen yet. The PSNI's reference to 'mob mentality' doesn't adequately explain why people get involved in riots & as @BBCMarkSimpson puts it - 'People do not become racists overnight' www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The PSNI have now activated a mutual aid request for help from other police forces in the UK, meaning we may see officers from the mainland deployed in NI over the coming days #BallymenaRiots www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c6...

Rioting in #Ballymena continues for 2nd night, with Police using baton rounds & water cannon. PSNI are currently the only Police force in UK to employ these tactics during public disorder www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Worrying scenes from #LosAngelesProtests and Trump's inflammatory rhetoric ('bring in the troops') is unlikely to help. Most research into riots has shown that in order to de-escalate the situation, it's better to encourage dialogue & understanding between both sides www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cv...

Trump's claim that 'paid troublemakers' are behind current disorder in LA is a common myth often used to explain why people get involved in riots. This myth is almost always unfounded & not supported by any credible evidence that I'm aware of #LosAngelesProtests www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cv...

Trump's claim that 'paid troublemakers' are behind current disorder in LA is a common myth often used to explain why people get involved in riots. This myth is almost always unfounded & not supported by any credible evidence that I'm aware of #LosAngelesProtests www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cv...

It looks like that there has been significant disorder in Paris after PSG's Champions League victory. Media are reporting there have been 2 deaths related to this & one was a stabbing in Dax in SW France, which is nowhere near Paris. #ParisRiots www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cx...

Sad news from #Liverpool yesterday and my thoughts with those affected. But media reports of 'panic' as crowds scatter are misplaced, as fleeing imminent danger is a perfectly sensible & rational response www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cn...

Thanks to @rubonist.bsky.social for sharing this post from another place. It’s about PR, but it’s also about everyone involved in response and recovery. Cc @chriscocking.bsky.social @rcn.org.uk @policechaplain.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/theuntan...

We interviewed a survivor in this @ukri.org funded study, with @chriscocking.bsky.social www.sussex.ac.uk/affiliates/p...

This trip to the Isles of Scilly is turning into a busman’s holiday as it’s the Pilot gig world championships & there are crowds everywhere, including out at sea. They even seem to have drafted in extra public order trained Police to help with crowd management!

'Over the past 24 hours, the following articles increased their @altmetric.com Attention Score significantly: 'Everyone for themselves? A comparative study of crowd solidarity among emergency survivors' 1-day score: 16 All time score: 115' bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1348/...

Today is the anniversary of the #Hillsborough disaster. Blogs below by myself & @profjohndrury.bsky.social from 2012 when the Hillsborough Independent Panel was released. dontpaniccorrectingmythsaboutthecrowd.blogspot.com/2012/09/hill...

Union members at Cardiff University have announced plans for a marking and assessment boycott on top of strike action in response to hundreds of academic jobs being axed. @julietterowsell.bsky.social reports #AcademicSky