So anyway, folks: I’m out of here for a while. There is too much I have to deal with / do atm, so can’t keep up here as well. Will be back soon. In the meantime, here’s some totally unsolicited advice! First of all: ☀️ Enjoy the sunshine.

The world is so hostile at the moment and I know this Govt’s actions and their language, and the actions and language of too many others, are so harmful to so many. But I still think we have hope in our communities. This reflects some of it—just spotted at a bus stop I was leaving from.

I really hope the Prime Minister is proud of what he has done; proud that he has fuelled hate and division in a desperate attempt to pander to some. They are not buying it, but with his actions—by choice—the Prime Minister has now made this the focus of attention. It’ll define the next few years.

❔Are you an immigrant at home in Scotland? 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Now would be just the time to participate in my current research survey! It does not relate directly to events of this week, but it will help inform immigration debates. This survey is also open to other groups 🧵 hass.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

It’s here! ORDERS OPEN! A #transgender rights history about #LGBTQ+ standing up to Nazis in the shadow of the Third Reich! Hirschfeld’s Institute and the lives of #trans patients proving that joy + life lived as your authentic self is an act of radical #resistance. 🧪🗃️📚🏳️‍⚧️ bookshop.org/p/books/the-...

I am pleased to be able to share today that the University of Strathclyde, in partnership with the Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights (CRER), is to host the first Anti-Racism Observatory for Scotland (AROS). www.strath.ac.uk/whystrathcly...

My letter to the Prime Minister. #immigration

I'm done.

You are a "citizen of nowhere", they said. A "queue-jumper", they said. Now I am a "squalid chapter", they say. A risk as I might make this an "island of strangers", they say. I am "pulling the country apart", they say.

Apart from this being wrong, apart from it fuelling Reform support, this framing is so deeply insulting to immigrants already here. We *chose* to come here to give our skills to the UK (for which UK paid nothing), to make our contributions etc here. I am done being sh*t on by every Govt.

Immigration and the UK — the main thing really is this: UK governments have, for ~ the last two decades, pursued anti-immigration policies. You tell me one positive outcome from that approach. There isn’t one. Not a single one in my view. There is, however, a very long list of harms caused.🧵

I genuinely don’t really know what else we can say about Labour and immigration. Their approach could not be more misjudged and wrong than it is: this will literally push even more voters towards Reform and, meanwhile, the care sector will implode.* www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

I am honestly lost for words.

Just out! Our peer-reviewed critique of the Cass Review has been published by BMC Medical Research Methodology. Please read and share. We show that the Cass Review is fatally flawed and should not be the basis for policy or practice in transgender healthcare. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

This is your ongoing reminder that anti-migrant (“illegals”) and anti-trans politics (“gender ideology”) are current anchors of several authoritarian governments. People who tolerate, even selectively, such politics are facilitating the rise of fascism. This is why solidarity is key to oppose this.

One of the strangest ironies of the last ten years has been watching Britain immersing itself as deeply as ever in memories of WW2 while proudly turning its back on the project that emerged from it.

As a German I will forever be grateful to all who fought for the liberation of Europe. But as a historian I am looking at front pages today and must wonder: What is the point of remembering #VEDay 80 years on, what is the point of our thanks, when we are failing to protect the sacrifices made? 🧵

On this day in 1933, Nazis looted the Institute of Sexology to then burn what they had taken a few days later. The Institute carried out vital pioneering work RE understanding trans people and supported calls for equality for gay & transgender people and women. More here: hmd.org.uk/resource/6-m...

Even *if* you accept Stephen Miller’s (textually, historically, and morally indefensible) claim that undocumented immigrants are not entitled to due process, you’d *still* need due process to ensure that the individuals at issue are, in fact, undocumented. His argument fails even on its own terms.

An absolute masterclass in how the UK media platforms and normalises far right politics. This is how Farage wins.

This letter from Tony Vaughan KC, the MP for Folkestone, is the clearest articulation I’ve seen on the flaws of the interim update from the EHRC. The section titled ‘Legal Incoherence’ hits the nail on the head.

I do not wish to sound like a broken record but Labour are taking us to a very dark place indeed. Who looks at Trump, the serious harm he is causing to communities and our global order; looks at his fascist coup; and then, despite all we know, still goes: ‘let’s do that’…

Essentially *all* research and expert assessments show that this does not work. It will not counter Farage, but literally push votes towards Reform. It genuinely is impossible to overstate how profoundly stupid and strategically illiterate this decision is. You cannot out-Reform Reform.

You’re telling me that right wing voters that Labour was trying to appeal to voted for a right wing party anyway and left wing voters decided not to vote for Labour because they’re too right wing now? Who could have possibly predicted this.

Instead of taking the risk of a Reform Govt seriously, Labour will now likely shift even further to the right. I must say again: essentially all research and expert evidence makes clear that this does not work; all it would do is fuel Reform further. Voters go for the original, not the copycat!

Good god. Meta is using their AI licensing deals with John Cena, Disney, and others to peddle sex chat bots to kids. Burn this company to the fucking ground. www.wsj.com/tech/ai/meta...

FUCK OFF YOU ARSEHOLES. There is only so much professionalism, particular as a non-binary, autistic, individual, I can muster at the moment. Stop treating us as if we are "broken" as if we are "wrong". How hard is it to accept us as us? I want to cry at the way we are talked about.

1. Because this issue is critical, but has received remarkably little coverage, here's a thread pulling out the key themes from my article yesterday, on the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, which puts decades of environmental protections to the torch. 🧵 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Not on here much atm as too much happening, so very aware that I’m late with this but let me just say: full solidarity with the trans community. I am beyond appalled by what is happening and will always be your ally. You do not threaten my rights as a woman, transphobia does: it’s helping …

It’s 9am TFT time here, and citizens are already gathering to protest Tariffs by the United States. Our plain clothes Officer Penguins are attempting to maintain calm, but unfortunately we keep losing them in the crowd.

Now available for sale in the Labour Party online shop. This is just disgusting. I am genuinely speechless.

Really @theguardian.com you should be ashamed. This clickbait headline and the text underneath is not far off misinformation. Please compare the headline with the actual statements made by the council. This really is NOT acceptable reporting in my view.

I have not seen such a blatant anti-immigrant statement based on falsehoods, pitting people against people, in some time. Statement made by Keir Starmer at today’s immigration summit.

@timothysnyder.bsky.social und Jason Stanley verlassen die USA. Beide haben in deutschen Zeitungen große Interviews gegeben, in denen sie die Zustände in den USA schonungslos beschreiben - und die Mängel der deutschen Erinnerungskultur kritisieren. Tim Snyder im Spiegel:

I have consistent Tory déjà vu ... only it's Labour. Every day I think: 'they cannot possibly get worse'. And then, every day, they manage to do just that. From the failure to finally provide safe routes to this now - it's wrong, inhumane, and pure Reform cosplay. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

While so many continue to pretend that it’s not fascism that we’re seeing in the US, here’s Trump continuing his policies of Gleichschaltung. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

A lot of talk about hard choices. Really not: choosing austerity, going after our vulnerable communities—that is the easy choice! Labour haven’t made a single hard choice here. Hard choices would be e.g. meaningfully addressing Brexit*, stopping anti-immigration policies, taxing wealth etc.

My colleague @davidwilsonhist.bsky.social and I are delighted to invite applications for a PhD studentship funded by ESRC @sgsss.bsky.social, collaborating partner Scottish Civic Trust. #history #slavery #Glasgow Full details below. #skystorians #PhDsky #academicsky www.sgsss.ac.uk/studentship/...

Obviously no direct comparison, but Starmer would do well to understand that, in the German election, 39% of those who viewed their financial situation as bad voted AfD. This report is right to urge him to focus on living standards rather than immigration etc. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Wer immer noch entgegen jeder Datenlage behauptet, nur eine Verschärfung der Migrationspolitik würde gg die AfD helfen und man sei einfach nicht rechts genug gewesen trotz Rechtsrucks, den muss man wohl so verstehen, dass er/sie rassistische, rechte migrationspolitik einfach ganz geil findet.

I don’t want to repeat what I’ve already shared in my thread yesterday, but as more and more data become available, I must stress again how misleading it is to say 80% of Germans voted against the AfD and that the far right was defeated comprehensively. Let me show you some new data to illustrate. 🧵

Important counterpoints that need to be added to the overall relief that the AfD didn't win more than expected in Germany tonight. (A relief I share, but Tanja is right nonetheless.)

I know we all love a dose of hopium, especially now. But the take, which I see all across here, that the far right was defeated in Germany tonight because 80% of Germans voted for other parties is very misleading and unhelpful. Understanding this really matters. 🧵

This isn’t some rant saying “Germany has learned nothing from its past” - the reality is more subtle than that. Middle-class Germans live and travel with an incredible amount of ease and comfort, and they just got…sleepy. Many of them dismissed the far-right’s rage as just another set of complaints.

The new cover of TIME.

And there it is: Russell Vought is confirmed. I wrote a long profile of him, his worldview, his political project: He’s one of the architects of Project 2025, an avowed Christian nationalist, and a radical ideologue of the “post-constitutional” Right. He is at war with pluralistic democracy.

As an immigrant who chose to make my home in the UK—but also as someone who is a migration historian and researches the impact of dog-whistle politics—there is no way for me to overstate how wrong and disgusting these ads by the UK Labour Party are. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

The AHA & the @oah.org have released a joint statement on the presidential executive order “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K–12 Schooling.” “We reject the premise that it is ‘anti-American’ or ‘subversive’ to learn the full history of the United States.” 🗃️