BIG NEWS from @molliesimpson.bsky.social: Three people have been arrested on suspicion of money laundering, fraud and bribery at University of Greater Manchester. Police say opened their investigation a year ago “after we received allegations from The Mill". manchestermill.co.uk/breaking-thr...

“A slow-motion temper tantrum.” “A desperate move by a desperate man who’s fully aware that his rackety history is catching up with him.” Good read this. www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

This @ppfideas.bsky.social talk between @sarahoconnorft.ft.com and David Runciman - broadly about AI and the future of work - is well worth listening to: open.spotify.com/episode/3WpH...

The 1st mass-produced sodium-ion EV is about to hit the market, & experts predict a “battery revolution,” not just for sodium but other chemistries too. “Sodium is the pioneer that can prove that a world beyond lithium is possible.” www.newscientist.com/article/2532...

"Public policy has for too long treated youth disengagement mainly as a supply-side problem" Alan Milburn last week on the need for both supply and demand-side interventions to tackle the NEET rate. Catch up on the discussion here⤵️ buff.ly/5GRYv8o

Zia Yusuf claims Farage is bravely "bringing forward" the judgment of "the ultimate authority": the people of Clacton. Two problems here: 1) He's insisting they judge *before* the full evidence has been heard, not *after*; 2) No constituency can exempt its MP from rules designed to protect us all

This is a terrific thread, especially for the practical broader overview that it provides. (Here's a single URL version: tbsky.app/profile/janr...)

“I am the most verbally and physically attacked public figure or politician of modern times.” The disgraceful Nigel Farage. Remembering Labour MP Jo Cox, born 1974, murdered 2016.

John Lanchester reviewed George Cottrell’s book, 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘓𝘢𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺: 𝘈 𝘎𝘶𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘓𝘢𝘸 𝘌𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘗𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘺𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘴,in the 𝘓𝘙𝘉 in May. Read here: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

This is a terrific thread, especially for the practical broader overview that it provides. (Here's a single URL version: tbsky.app/profile/janr...)

Terrifyingly and precisely right about how and why the AI boom (& bust) follows a derivative logic. Or, why it is a 2008 not 2000 crisis.

This is an interesting thread about LLMs in education and how students feel about it. I feel the same way about LLMs in education as I do about using a forklift to do deadlifts in the gym*. Or riding a motorbike as preparation for running a marathon. * As if I do deadlifts lol.

Power generation in the UK today: 17% Wind 13% Solar 5% Nuclear 65% Schadenfreude over USMNT

wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/... Yikes.

"The AI build-out... is increasingly financed not by selling overpriced equity but by contracting future cash flows and borrowing against hardware.... That is not the architecture of 2000. That is the architecture of 2008." www.groundbrkr.com/p/the-second...

Reminded of Patrick O’Flynn, then Ukip’s economy spokesperson, describing Farage as “snarling, thin-skinned and aggressive” back in 2015.

Can't imagine the rest of the Five Eyes governments — Australia, Britain, Canada, and New Zealand, which share their intelligence with the United States — are thrilled that they've got someone gunning for retribution running the U.S.' spy shop.

The text from the article for the record. The journalist to whom this was credited has accepted this is both garbled and wrong and said that it will be corrected. Let's see.

Incredible

Click bait racist bullshit from the Times/Chris Philp. 12 Cameroonians did not sponsor 15 dependants each. 12 new work visas were issued to Cameroonians. 180 visas were issued to dependants of the (many thousands of) Cameroonians *already here*. Etc. www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

And to think that ex Sheffield Hallam MP and deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg was Meta's president for global affairs until last year, working alongside several of the people featured in this grim piece by @doctorow.pluralistic.net: pluralistic.net/2026/06/27/z...

Error bars on opinion poll graphs are a great idea. Should be mandatory.

I ran an absolutely 100% human, zero AI-involvement at any stage passage of my writing through an "AI detector," curious if it could really tell human from AI work, and it said my own writing was "84% AI written" then asked I wanted to pay to have it "humanized." So there's that to keep in mind.

Hogweed on the middle level of the capped municipal tip in Sheffield's Gleadless Valley:

Clean Up Westminster: “Private political donations have more than tripled in a year, reaching £20.7 million in the first three months of 2026 alone. Britain has created an arms race for bigger and bigger donations, where a tiny number of mega-rich individuals can wield extraordinary influence."

And to think that ex Sheffield Hallam MP and deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg was Meta's president for global affairs until last year, working alongside several of the people featured in this grim piece by @doctorow.pluralistic.net: pluralistic.net/2026/06/27/z...

Long thread on Cotrell by @philbrickellmp.bsky.social, supplementing the information published in today's Sunday Times. (Brickell has previous experience countering financial fraud, money laundering etc.)

This is a really excellent piece by @will-davies.bsky.social, not least it very clearly explains the (economic) state we are in (something that most political commentary seems unable to do).

Another terrific post by @chrisdillow.bsky.social. It is stuffed with pithy and wise observations. substack.com/@chrisdillow...

Your regular reminder that cryptocurrency does in fact have a use case and that use case is crime

This might be the most blatant example in existence of "rich guy who created a problem attempting to place the blame for that problem on immigrants"

Important essay from Alison Wolf on the apprenticeships we need to tackle the youth unemployment crisis. If you know a 20-25 year old you'll know six who are struggling; it's such an urgent problem as.ft.com/r/00566fe0-5...

Common spotted orchid in an unimproved meadow between Barlow and the Dronfield bypass.

Common spotted orchid in an unimproved meadow between Barlow and the Dronfield bypass.

Pernille Haaland is just so funny. Here she is, explaining Nordic #languages. #Scandinavia

fwiw reckon it's probably for the best. It's bad if people interpret "i'm leaving X" to mean simply "I am left-wing", and that's the signal — for better or worse — departing X _for bluesky_ sends

Terrific thread:

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy and her government department leave X.

Improving young people’s “work readiness” isn’t about fixing individuals, but fixing the system. Stronger links between education & employers and real workplace experience are key to helping young people transition successfully into work. Read more 👇 www.nuffieldfoundation.org/news/opinion...

On the needs for care in what you try to emulate, and to learn from other countries' experience. (HT @doctorow.pluralistic.net)

Worked on UK2070 with Bob. I’d pick out this pithy observation, which is sadly just as relevant today as it has long been.

This Report is less than a decade old, was produced with Bob Kerslake in the Chair and involved, among others, the Universities of Manchester, Sheffield and UCL and has been memory holed uk2070.org.uk

"The One Very Simple Reason A.I. Won’t Steal All Our Jobs". Not yet, anyway. But it'll do a lot else. A guest essay by @zey.bsky.social that's really worth reading: www.nytimes.com/2026/06/30/o...

As Dov notes in this excellent thread, this is a cross-party, pan-UK failure, BUT: in particular one of the things I will never understand about Keir Starmer is that he did nothing on this. They literally organised an arson attack on *his house*! Members of his family live there!

“As I descend the stairs I enter not a museum, but a reconstruction of the festival itself. There are psychedelic posters espousing the values of Nova: ‘Find Your Peace’, ‘Good Vibes’.” The Nova Exhibition is in its final week in London. If you have time, go. www.newstatesman.com/culture/2026...

A couple of months later, a different part of the same meadow is stuffed with betony flowers:

"The One Very Simple Reason A.I. Won’t Steal All Our Jobs". Not yet, anyway. But it'll do a lot else. A guest essay by @zey.bsky.social that's really worth reading: www.nytimes.com/2026/06/30/o...

I'm no longer involved with The Sheffield College, but I'm chuffed for chef-lecturer Len Unwin: www.fenews.co.uk/education/na... (SheffCol Goes Global that aims "to prioritise & support young people who would traditionally miss out on travelling abroad for financial or other reasons" sounds great.)

"I've never known a moment so rich in possibility." Here's to hoping that @williamcb.bsky.social has this right: open.substack.com/pub/williamc...

I'm no longer involved with The Sheffield College, but I'm chuffed for chef-lecturer Len Unwin: www.fenews.co.uk/education/na... (SheffCol Goes Global that aims "to prioritise & support young people who would traditionally miss out on travelling abroad for financial or other reasons" sounds great.)