The great irony of April Fools Day is that it's the only day most people approach the news headlines with the appropriate level of scepticism.

Ok *now* it’s philosophy’s time to shine

Thinking of doing a Masters degree with us? @leedsprhs.bsky.social has just announced some school-based Masters scholarships to add to the innumerable scholarships offered by the University of Leeds. Check it out: ahc.leeds.ac.uk/philosophy/n...

Ellen’s book is a fantastic treatment of one of the most fascinating intersections between biology and philosophy.

We (@leedsprhs.bsky.social) are super-excited that Katie Zhou will also be joining University of Leeds in August, as Lecturer! Her research focuses on social and political philosophy, the philosophy of language, metaphysics, and feminist/queer/trans theory. #philosophy katiezhouphil.weebly.com

📣MA funding at @leedsprhs.bsky.social!📣 My School has some Masters scholarships for Philosophy students. University of Leeds offers many further opportunities, inc. 500 scholarships to support eligible international students. Please spread the word! #philosophy ahc.leeds.ac.uk/philosophy/n...

The Iran war yet another notch in the Trump-Russia theory's belt.

Journals hardly ever ask me to review books because I've only done a few (and none for 20 years now). If they did, I would probably still say no. But I'm all the more resolved that if I said yes, I would say so only if I were guaranteed a print copy. Life's too short for this.

2nd CfA: Risk and Uncertainty in Ethics! A cool workshop at University of Leeds, 20-21 May 2026. Keynotes: Hilary Greaves, Claire Field, Weng Kin San. Submit an abstract (max 500 words) to Nick Makins ([email protected]) by 20 March. More info at philevents.org/event/show/1... #philosophy

“Helsinki hasn’t registered a single traffic-related fatality in the past year…Citing data that shows the risk of pedestrian fatality is cut in half by reducing a car’s speed from 40 to 30km/hr, city officials imposed the lower limit in most of Helsinki’s residential areas and city center in 2021.”

The migration doom loop at work: does anyone in government seriously think that a strategy designed to keep out skilled workers and students makes either economic or political sense? ://www.ft.com/content/7408ad00-e4eb-41c7-8849-36061bc0eac1

PM: You get those migration numbers down? Home Sec: Sure did boss, real fuckin damaging to public services and increasing the one voters hate most, just like you asked PM: what

The question may not be "why are British students taking so many useless degrees?" so much as "why can't the British economy generate enough graduate vacancies?"

Basically yes to Bijan's blog post. If you've doubts about maximalist demands and maximalist recommendations for action as UCU strategies at this time in UK HE, please realize NEC elections are really important to this and please vote for the @ucucommons.org slate and the candidates they endorse.

Well this was a wild ride. In turns, tender, witty, profane, bitchy, graphically vulgar, laugh-out-loud hilarious, heartbreakingly sad (esp. #101). So full of life. Inclined to seek a fuller edition and compare translations.

You can't... repeal... a scientific finding. At that point it's just called lying about it.

Let's also hope there are no interaction effects. Would be awful if the beneficial effects of caffeine on dementia risk and of reading and writing on dementia risk turned out to screen each other off.

We (@leedsprhs.bsky.social) are super-excited that Megan Hyska (currently at Northwestern) will be joining University of Leeds as associate professor of philosophy in August. Her research focuses especially on questions about political communication. dailynous.com/2026/02/06/h... #philosophy

I expect to spend today staring at this: ‘we’ve gone from government suggesting that the state would subsidise undergraduate student loans by about 45p in the pound, to making a profit on them for that cohort’. A *profit* on student loans: everyone should read this. 🤯 wonkhe.com/blogs/gradua...

A timely clarification of UKRI plans from its chief exec.

1/ This pause is obviously concerning to researchers & universities & I’d like to specifically register the point that if the reason of ‘aligning with national priorities’ means more policy-driven & less free ideas-driven research then this move is of even more concern. www.msn.com/en-in/politi...

Just a normal Friday night in Finland. That's our president reading one of Tove Jansson's Moomin books live on public broadcasting TV. He's reading it in Swedish; the next book in the Moomin reading marathon will be read in Finnish.

Rufo is only talking about Scandinavians but yes, Nordic people (Scandi or not) can proudly stand together on this.

📣JOB ALERT📣 Lectureship in Liberal Arts and Philosophy/Religion at University of Leeds. We are looking for an academic at Philosophy/Religion interface to run our Liberal Arts BA programme. Closing date: 01 February 2026. More info at: jobs.leeds.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx... #Philosophy #PhilosophyJobs

Credit @sophiep25397.bsky.social on Twitter Farage lied when he said he was too ill to appear for the BBC interview on Sunday. The Heartland Institute, whose party he attended instead, doesn't believe in tobacco harms, climate change and seeks the dismantling of the NHS. Be warned. If you care

Kash Patel going to a big meeting of the intelligence chiefs in England and asking if they can go jet skiing instead of having a normal meeting is really doing a number on my ability to focus

Finally, a flag worth fighting for.

As long as I've been doing journal editing, a strong default among my fellow editors has been not to ask the central target(s) of a paper to referee it. The rationale has always included the possibility of harshness AND the incentives to get one's work discussed. I thought this was widely known!

📣JOB ALERT📣 Lectureship in Liberal Arts and Philosophy/Religion at University of Leeds. We are looking for an academic at Philosophy/Religion interface to run our Liberal Arts BA programme. Closing date: 01 February 2026. More info at: jobs.leeds.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx... #Philosophy #PhilosophyJobs

Martin Peterson's creative response to being banned from teaching Plato (shared with his permission).

We pour billions into saving an economically tiny steel industry whilst actively destroying one of our largest export industries. (Yes, higher education to overseas students who already massively subsidise UK students, are counted as exports).

<thick german accent> The jungle is a place of pure negation... #philosophy #philsky #philosophysky #hegel #herzog #film

CFP: 2026 British Society for Ethical Theory Conference (13-14 July 2026 at University of Leeds). Keynotes: Krister Bykvist (Stockholm), Jennifer Saul (Waterloo). Paper submission deadline: 1 Dec 2025. More info at www.bset.org.uk. This is consistently a very high-quality conference! #philosophy

CFP: The Leeds Analytic Philosophy Graduate Conference, 20-21 April 2026. Abstract submission deadline 15 Nov 2025. Each speaker will present for 30 minutes followed by a 10-minute faculty response and 20-minute general Q&A. More info: philevents.org/event/show/1.... Spread the word! #philosophy

Ed Luce watching democracy die in the United States of America

To be clear, the Conservatives, as His Majesty's Official Opposition, have drafted legislation which they propose to use, and which would allow for the deportation of tens of thousands of people from the United Kingdom. And provide arbitrary power to extend the conditions for such deportation.

Astonishing when you see it like this.

The “health surcharge” is an utterly bogus labelling. It’s not hypothecated for health spending and you can’t choose not to pay it and not use the NHS. You could call it an education surcharge or a defence surcharge or anything. It’s just using the sanctified status of the NHS to rip off immigrants.

"I have a decent fluency in LLMs, and they have utility, but the absurd degree of over-hype, the way they're being forced on everyone, and the insistence on ignoring the many valid critiques about them make it very difficult to focus on legitimate uses where they might add value."

You gently run your hand through the rack. You can feel it—pure cotton, rich wool, Irish linen. The plump buttonholes are handsewn; the buttons attached with a firm shank. You flip the price tag over. It's affordable You buy the jacket and go home, which is only 15 mins away. Your apt is $600/month

For anyone working in Cool Philosophy (social philosophy intersected with M&E), this looks like a fantastic opportunity! philjobs.org/job/show/30010

Our philosophy job ad is also up on PhilJobs now: philjobs.org/job/show/30010 #PhilosophyJobs

Great city, great colleagues; if you fit the (quite flexible) profile, you should apply.

📣JOB ALERT📣 Lecturer or Associate Professor in Philosophy at University of Leeds. AOS: Social Philosophy + at least one of: Metaphysics, Epistemology, or Philosophy of Language, Logic, Mind, or Action. Details at jobs.leeds.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx.... Closing date 5 Nov 2025. #philosophy 1/2

Miira Tuominen and I edited this new book from Brill with no fewer than 25 chapters on various aspects of ancient and medieval philosophy in Greek, Arabic, and Latin texts. Actually there's a little Persian in there too. brill.com/display/titl...

Trump is building a personalist regime where every university must bend the knee or lose funding and every business must bend the knee or face tariffs, H-1B fees, and regulatory blackmail. You can't cover each domain in isolation; they are all the same story.

Top-level shitposting.🤌

Anyone in Athens soon, visit the "Why Look at Animals?" exhibition at EMST. Of course varied, but a high hit rate. I LOVED the 8 conceptually and visually amazing chronophotographs of bird flight paths by Xavi Bou (xavibou.com). His Ornitographies book at home on a lazy Saturday is a real treat. 1/2

The October 2025 issue of ETHICS is now available on the University of Chicago Press site www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/et/2025/... #philsky #PolTheory #legalphil #moralphil #moralphilosophy #legalphilosophy