Do you see the problem of performance sport? @jackhardwicke.bsky.social and i certainly do. So we put this special issue together. Do get in touch if you have an idea. Cheers, CRM think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issu...

There is one overriding political problem, from which all others follow. Until it is addressed, every policy advanced by governments is window dressing. www.theguardian.com/inequality/2...

22 authors in a new OA peer-reviewed article in Soc of Sport Journal: Israel is committing *athleticide* in Gaza, "an indispensable component of the overall genocidal campaign enforced by the Israeli settler colonial regime and bankrolled by the US." journals.humankinetics.com/view/journal...

Mamdani: "We can respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the strength it fears, not the appeasement it craves. After all, if anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him."

Contrary to popular belief, performance sport does not promote public health. A new article by @jackhardwicke.bsky.social breaks down this pervasive myth. thesocietypages.org/engagingspor...

"We are hurtling toward climate chaos. The planet's vital signs are flashing red. The consequences of human-driven alterations of the climate are no longer future threats but are here now." academic.oup.com/bioscience/a...

As the single most important news story this year, I can't wait to see the detailed and central coverage this will get in every media outlet we have

Sooooo much wasted time from talented scholars has gone into those numbers. I realised a long time ago I can get really good work done with zero or tiny bits of funding, so im more than happy to stop wasting my time chancing something that 99% of people dont get.

UK children living in the most disadvantaged areas are more likely to die in intensive care, children living in poverty projected to rise to 4.8m by 2029. Govts tinker with poverty. Push real wage/benefit cuts, don't curb profiteering, appease the rich, destroy futures.

Richest 1% has more wealth than 70% of UK population combined. Top 20% own two-thirds of wealth, receive 36% of income. Bottom 20% own 0.5% of wealth, receive 9% of income. Can't grow economy or have social stability. Poverty is political choice. Which political party wants to address this?

Since privatization, shareholders of water, rail, bus, energy and mail have received £200bn in dividends. Plus £bns more through intrgragroup transactions. In public ownership this would have gone into infrastructure and lower bills, alleviated poverty. Govts still don't curb profiteering.

There is a paucity of good evidence suggesting that these interventions reduce substantially the risks of neuropathology that attend participation in a collision sport like American tackle football. 1/ www.nytimes.com/2025/09/27/u...

UK public has paid £200bn to shareholders of privatised water, rail, bus, energy and mail services, mostly foreign owned. Investment neglected. Regulators useless. Often little/no competition, captive customers fleeced,, more pushed into poverty. Privatisation is one of the biggest scams.

Happy Socialist Sunday #SocialistSunday

How popular are post-capitalist/socialist ideas and policies? Here's a list of studies and surveys with some striking results...

Someone who supports my work has paid for 3 books for me to give away! I'll double that - so I have *six* to give away!!! To enter just repost & comment below. I'll announce the winners on friday (1st Aug). Please do share, thanks. 🙏🤟🍻 More info on the book here - www.routledge.com/Doing-Good-S....

Thames Water shareholder funds in 1990, £1.3bn; invested ZILCH since Extracted £10.4bn dividends Paid £13.6bn interest Now borrowing at 9.75% One-third customer bills service debt Pays £200m a year to consultants Billions would have gone into infrastructure, if not privatised. Must nationalise.

The follow up 'twin paper' is now published 👇. If the first one laid a solid but rather bland foundation, this one zeros in on a much more obvious set of critical issues. I think the opening line is telling - journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

New research published by The Lancet finds that economic sanctions imposed by the USA and EU are associated with more than 500,000 deaths per year since 1970, five times more than deaths by war. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Our latest paper challenges a powerful myth: that investing in performance-sport straightforwardly benefits health. We explore how this belief persists, why it's misleading, and how it can influence harmful personal and policy decisions. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

New one. Its the 2nd of 3 that mark out some very clear foundational issues in qualitative social science. These will be really useful for PhD scholars and early career researchers that are funding their feet. Please do share, comment & ask questions. 🍻 journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Many people, including scholars, have a warped understanding of sport. This means they struggle to develop critical thought and often reproduce myths. We want to put an end to that. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Astonishing to discover that the £70m per year cost of policing football matches isn't paid by the football clubs (which are commercial businesses) www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

"83 per cent of 5-year-olds will be exposed to ‘unprecedented’ extreme heat in their lifetime" "Dangerous heat is deadly for children, warns the charity which has plotted the impact of different climate scenarios throughout their lifetimes." www.euronews.com/green/2025/0...

Labour are not for the elderly, sick or disabled, the homeless, low paid families with children, and they’re definitely not for the working class. youtu.be/UWcddtfV-_E?...

Do you ever read qualitative social science; sociology, psychology, criminology, and the like, and get a sense that the methods just don't give enough insight into what actually happened? Yep, me to, esp in relation to where scholars' ideas came from. More here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Some epistemology from me & @drcrmatthews.bsky.social This wasn’t really about biobanding or parents understanding of it, this was more about the critique of the tools typically used to “measure” such understanding. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Funny and somewhat true. . .

1. One of capitalism’s greatest successes is to shut down our imaginations. With the help of its favoured tools - neoliberalism and fascism - it persuades us that “there is no alternative”. Our first task is to re-ignite our moral imaginations and name our alternatives. 🧵

No child should acquire brain damage that is within adult control to prevent. Sport is no exception. New paper on this: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Doing Good Social Science - www.routledge.com/Doing-Good-S...

I delivered the last @jcms-eu.bsky.social annual lecture, a arguing that #Europe needs to enter the #postgrowth era to come to grips with the #social-ecological crisis and its colonial legacy. I also outline a #sustainable #welfare deal for the EU #degrowth onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Thames Water wants to be spared billions of pounds of costs and fines over the next 5 years. TW ripped off customers, dumped sewage in rivers, neglected investment, borrowed money to pay dividends. Laws must apply. No public bailout. Let it go bankrupt. Nationalise for nominal sum.

I have finally got hold of images from an MRI of my brain from last year! Any suggestions of who may be willing to look at it in relation to brain injury? @alanpearcephd.bsky.social any suggestions?

Horrific. And I bet these deaths show a gradient of inequity!

“The report makes two main practical demands to the football industry, beyond the obvious of reducing emissions, raising awareness and collecting more data: to ban polluting sponsors and to redesign the football calendar to make it more regional.”

In my column today I argue that, unbelievably, Labour are worse on environmental issues than the Conservatives. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

🚨New Publication🚨 "Sport at the Conjuncture: Sport History, Sexual Abuse, and Resistance" in Public Humanities over at Cambridge University Press 👇🏻 www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

As new fires rage in LA, Olympics presidential candidate warns the city set to host the 2028 Games to be "better prepared". 🤥 Translation: "Don't look into the polluters that fund us, just get better at dealing with the apocalyptic scenes they cause."

The Olympics pose a grave threat to the planet and meaningingfully dealing with climate change is the proper framing. Hosting any sport mega events in a climate crisis is gross. inews.co.uk/sport/olympi...

“As an editorial cartoonist, my job is to hold powerful people and institutions accountable. For the first time, my editor prevented me from doing that job. So I have decided to leave the Washington Post” — Ann Telnaes, after drawing this cartoon, which included the image of a supplicant Jeff Bezos

In a context of declining gov funding for public parks and greenspaces, it's important to understand the role they play in communities and people's lives. Latest paper shares some insights on why they matter 👇 tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....