love this from Martin Wolf

this should frighten you

If you're in Edinburgh on the 16th June, here's a chance to see radical Jewish music taken in three different directions on the same night: www.skiddle.com/e/42436986

Some recent book reviews on #FirstView now 👇 📚 @tomhulme.bsky.social on @tricksterprince.bsky.social's Songs of Seven Dials 🔗 doi.org/10.1017/S096... 📚 @hamishkallin.bsky.social on @lauracforster.bsky.social's The Paris Commune in Britain 🔗 doi.org/10.1017/S096...

“Police arrested a man for a burglary in a city he had never visited after face scanning software deployed across the UK confused him with another person of south Asian heritage.”

Everything in this report reflects on what we value, for communities, for peripheral places, for young people, for education, for the future - and it looks like we’ve got it all wrong.

Top tip: to avoid having the British Union of Fascists logo on the side of your mock-up train, don't use horrible text-to-image AI slop instead of actual designers and artists. www.scotsman.com/news/transpo...

If there's a financial crisis at the University of Edinburgh, it is of senior management's making. Staff and students deserve answers. Why should we trust a senior management team responsible for such mismanagement to 'fix' this? www.ucuedinburgh.org.uk/blog/depreci...

My klezmer band Och Vey are playing alongside Edinburgh-based Italian folk band The Badwills on 21st Feb, followed by a cumbia set from Peruvian DJ él-pi-b0y. It's gonna be fun, and you're invited. Tickets via www.skiddle.com/e/41960406

If the Palestine Action hunger strikers die - which they could do at any moment, as they are now very close to the end - it will be the government that killed them. Today’s column explains why. Please share, and write urgently to your MP. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

utterly depressing to read of the plans to demolish Argyle House, another modernist jewel potentially disappearing from Edinburgh’s urban fabric after the loss of the RBS building on Dundas Street.

Some of our most precarious members, tutors and demonstrators on 'guaranteed hours' contracts, have had their work hours cut or disappeared entirely in management's cost cutting spree. All the money paid to Nous could have gone to them. #StopStaffCutsatUoE www.theferret.scot/consultancy-...

At this rate, I honestly don't know why we aren't seeing mass riots against AI, which drains our most precious resources, replaces our jobs, steals our culture, will likely break our economy (again), infantalises us, and syphons money up to the uber rich who see themselves as rulers of our future.

This is one of the big accounts boosting Tommy Robinson, Farage and Reform and ‘English Patriots’. It’s Russian.

I do hope that Peter Mathieson can hear this from his office and that he is finding it REALLY annoying. Well done, @hamishkallin.bsky.social

RALLY TOMORROW! Join the fightback against job cuts! Wednesday 19th November at 1pm at the Scottish parliament.

Calling all staff and students at UoE, and all those who care about its future: join us on the picket lines! Teach outs, picket locations, bake sale... see our FAQ #UCU #WearetheUniversity #StopStaffCutsatUoE www.ucuedinburgh.org.uk/industrial-d...

SAVE GEOGRAPHY at Leicester University (UK) - We call on the University of Leicester to urgently reconsider the proposal to dissolve Geography. This is direct attack on the discipline of Geography at Leicester with likely loss of Geography staff. Please sign + share www.change.org/p/save-geogr...

my band Shinlifter have their EP launch on Saturday and with impeccable timing our Instagram has been hacked so we’ve lost our main channel for promoting it. if anyone wanted to help share this brilliant poster by my pal Grace there, here or elsewhere we’d be very grateful!

Universities across the world seeing this: "its only wrong 45% of the time!! Lets buy free licenses for our students, staff and faculty!! Lets lock into contracts with rapacious predatory AI companies with shitty technofascist politics, sucking up water and jacking up electricity prices!!"

Chakrabortty on fine form: this is economically, politically, and morally bankrupt nonsense from Steve Reed, the new Labour housing minister.

New commentary in Transactions: 'Decolonial limits to Henri Lefebvre's spatial revolution' by James D. Sidaway In this commentary, Sidaway responds to @hamishkallin.bsky.social's recent TIBG paper on the reconciliation of anarchist and Marxist approaches in geography. doi.org/10.1111/tran...

I see we're at the "put Jewish people on a special surveillance list" stage of "combating antisemitism"

Playing on pickets is always immensely fun, I recommend it.

We're striking to stop budget cuts and mass redundancies and standing up for the future of our students' education. There is no deficit.

Interesting reflection on the removal of the Kirkgate benches by Connor Robertson. What did it signify and why does it matter? "The benches are back, but the battle for the right to the city continues."

Lovely show on the life and politics of the anarchist Colin Ward on @resonancefm.bsky.social just now. You can listen via the link below.

Israeli forces bulldozed Palestinian seed bank in Al-Khalil/Hebron, home to 22 years of seed collection efforts to preserve heritage varieties and plants with valuable traits: e360.yale.edu/digest/hebro...

There was a time when the government would piss on us and tell us it was raining; now they're pissing on us and telling us it's piss.

I watch some football highlights on Youtube, and it recommends I watch these next (on a browser with no cookies or account). If the internet is now our public space, how do we fight the far right without fighting this algorithmic shepherding? This feels so urgent and impossible.

Additional word on my door as of this morning. I think I'm officially old now.

An important response to the IHRA debate - many Jewish staff at Edinburgh (myself included) believe it must be scrapped.

>40 students currently trapped in Gaza with full scholarships to UK Universities are asking for a safe route to come and study Petition for UK academics asking govt to facilitate a biometric visa deferral and open a route of safe passage Sign & share ⏬️ docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Any Edinburgh colleagues know anything about this shady group?

No words 💔

📣 Call for Papers: Debt Urbanism and the Housing Question ℹ️ I'm putting together a symposium proposal to The International Journal of Urban and Regional Research (IJURR) with co-editors @sklosterkamp.bsky.social & Mel Nowicki 🗓️ Deadline for abstracts 22 August 2025 🏹 Please spread the word!

I realise this isn't the most pressing issue in the world right now, but I find the signage for tickets at Edinburgh Tram stops really irritating.

This story is chilling, and the Police response is profoundly authoritarian. Responsibility for this lies with the Labour Party. It is not a criminal offence to say FREE GAZA.

"But as well as inflicting pain and impoverishing academic offerings, a hard-line approach to staff redundancies may eventually cost them more money than they will save in the short term." Important stuff from my colleague @nickmegoran.bsky.social -

When warnings of Insectageddon were issued a few years ago, there was widespread denial. Less so now. It's devastating. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

BREAKING: An Israeli airstrike on a school-turned-shelter has killed at least 25 Palestinians, mostly women and children, Gaza's Health Ministry said. The school was hit three times while people slept, setting their belongings ablaze, they added.

"The Suffering Is Beyond Description": Report from Gaza as U.N. Warns 14,000 Babies Could Soon Die

Sounds interesting!

This is today! 6pm in Room 2.13, Institute of Geography on Drummond Street. Free and no need to book, just turn up. The book is wonderful and it's a joy to have Tracy here to discuss it.

SHINLIFTER and OCH VEY on the same bill tonight! 7pm, Wee Red Bar, Edinburgh. Tickets £10/£8 on the door.

My klezmer band are playing at Wee Red Bar in Edinburgh on Friday 16th if you fancy some punky dancey sweaty vibes. Tickets for sale in advance and on the door. www.skiddle.com/e/40963963

My klezmer band are playing at Wee Red Bar in Edinburgh on Friday 16th if you fancy some punky dancey sweaty vibes. Tickets for sale in advance and on the door. www.skiddle.com/e/40963963

Hosting @city.bsky.social and @eilidh.bsky.social on 19th May to celebrate the launch of ABOLISH RENT, a bold wee book about radical solutions to the housing crisis. It's a free event, do join us if you're interested.