Half a million strong. Together. The biggest march against the far-right in British history.

Half a million people standing against the far right. Half a million people who care about each other and our communities. Half a million people ready to make hope normal again.

Proud to be a part of this. @togetheralliance.bsky.social

Join us: 28 March, Park Lane, 12pm togetheralliance.org.uk

This Monday novelist Kit de Waal will be talking to our colleague Dan Taylor about working class writers and the class ceiling, part of our series, Borders in Literature, with @mklitfest.bsky.social 16 Mar, 7pm, Zoom. Tickets (free): bit.ly/mklfdewaal #classceiling #workingclasswriters #literature

Female Agency is here in paperback! Agency is relational, so why not relate to a lighter and less expensive set of chapters about it: www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10....

VC B'ham Uni fails to spot over half a century of open access at @openuniversity.bsky.social. Claims students without A levels 'are not really capable of graduating'. www.theguardian.com/education/20...

Dear Shabana, Let's clear some things up around migration and remember we're talking about people's lives.

It’s time to believe in the power of people. Join @amnestyuk.bsky.social and our coalition representing 7 million people to march against the far right on 28 March. All are welcome. #together #28march

Unity is stronger than division. That’s why we’ve formed Together Alliance with 50+ organisations and thousands of individuals — all pushing back against the far right. #Together we show where this country really stands. Join us: togetheralliance.org.uk

Ah well. Gay Jewish Green Party leader spearheads campaign championing working people of all backgrounds, enabling a working class female plumber to become MP for an ethnically diverse constituency, with a large Muslim population. Sectarianism eh? I suppose the Greens covered almost every sector. 💚

Dear @lucympowell.bsky.social, I have enjoyed our exchange of letters about which of our parties is best placed to stop Reform. Hannah Spencer MP and I trust that you agree that this question has now been resolved once and for all. Thanks, Zack Polanski

Introducing Hannah Spencer MP 💚

I'm honoured to be shortlisted for a Scope Award, alongside some amazing disability advocates and changemakers! 🎉 I'm very lucky to have worked with some amazing people at @openuniversity.bsky.social who have been open to new ways of teaching and learning. 💖 www.scope.org.uk/awards/scope...

Brandi Carlile's accompaniment for "America the Beautiful" before the game last night was SistaStrings. The duo, Chauntee and Monique Ross, played another American anthem, "Lift Every Voice and Sing," on the Library's Stradivarius instruments in 2024. Here's a clip of that impromptu performance. ⬇️

The UK government is proposing radical and punitive changes to settlement rules. This is settlement, not citizenship. The consultation is open until 12 February; please respond to it and oppose these evil proposals. Amnesty have a good guide: www.amnesty.org.uk/resources/gu...

Context: this speech is from SIR THOMAS MORE, a history written, as near as scholars can tell, in the early 1600s by 6 or 7 people including Dekker, Heywood, Chettle, Shakespeare, and Munday. It was never performed, because Jacobean England was a police state and it was banned by the censor.

Incandescent. One of the best pieces I've read about what university means to people and their communities - and what will happen to a city and people after one closes. The *Labour* government and Jaqui Smith in particular should be ashamed of themselves and shamed into doing something. Deplorable.

This is a very useful thread. The government is touting this training as ‘the most ambitious training scheme since the launch of the Open University in 1971’. Which is insulting to the OU, quite frankly.

I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Stay free

People experiencing homelessness were given £2,000 with no conditions through the Personal Grants Project. Early findings show the money went on rent deposits, furniture, courses and childcare. We’re proud to be funding this UK-first trial with CHI. Read more: https://loom.ly/ufqFIqg

“The idea that squeezing a tiny elite of billionaires will pay for everything is fantasy and we do need to expose that.” Good job no one’s ever actually said that - including me. So why is Labour again repeatedly lying to avoid taxing the super-rich? www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

The Embassy staff of Germany, France and the United Kingdom sing Schedryk in the Kyiv underground. Wonderful!

British Library staff asked for a decent pay. Instead they got ‘a few money-saving present ideas’, such as ‘consider not giving presents this holiday season’. They are on strike this week. I wrote about it for @lrb.co.uk. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/de...

Our statement on the government’s abhorrent plans for people seeking safety. Politicians are dividing communities, when they could be building affordable homes and strengthening them.

Join us live at the IHR and online Free registration: tinyurl.com/24fgrxbe @carmenmangion.bsky.social @lauragowing.bsky.social @ihr.bsky.social @clairelanghamer.bsky.social @dralanagharris.bsky.social @sydradford.bsky.social @emiliastu.bsky.social @harkaway1.bsky.social LIGHTNING TALKS 2025

The Labour Government reeling off the same far-right talking points on immigration. And look who is celebrating. The far-right. There is a political alternative that won’t ever scapegoat those fleeing war, persecution and torture join.greenparty.org.uk

Please support and share this petition to help save American Studies teaching at The University of Nottingham. Staff are facing redundancy. The expertise that would be lost would be monumental. Please sign. c.org/26qjPmffNy

Remember guys, @pcsunion.bsky.social staff at the BL are on strike for the next two weeks. Please don't cross the picket line to go to reading rooms, attend exhibitions or anything else. They've endured so much on low pay since the cyberattack in 2023 and the least we can do is have their backs now.

"it is striking how many of the key players we have looked into — the people who have gone out of their way to put up hundreds of flags — seem anything but ordinary." manchestermill.co.uk/the-men-who-...

“A letter is always better than a phone call. People write things in letters they would never say in person" (Alice Steinbach) Registration is now open for The Open University's Letters and Literature conference: full programme here: digital-humanities.open.ac.uk/letters2025/... #literature #writing

Hey Keir Starmer, get the memo? We’ve delivered thousands of messages to Number 10 from our supporters, with the help of some digi-vans! People are fed up with politicians choosing failed policies and scapegoating over investing in all communities. Time for real change.

Open Research Online (ORO) is OU’s free Open Access repository. Anyone can browse peer-reviewed papers, book chapters and more - even records where the full text isn’t available. OU researchers are pre-registered to self-deposit outputs. Explore here 👉 https://ow.ly/e7Q850XcXxb #OpenAccessWeek

Excited to announce the launch of the Writers’ Nook in Café Wilbers, Tees Restaurant, UHNT, Stockton on Tees, developed with Dr. Siobhan Campbell of @openuniversity.bsky.social and Nurse Consultant Mel McEvoy. Official unveiling on Tuesday 14 October, 3pm. PLEASE SHARE AND COME ALONG!

Jews and Muslims in North Manchester: A personal story ‘We thought we were the luckiest people in the world to be born in Manchester’ (This is a marvellous, luminous piece of writing) via @manchestermill.bsky.social manchestermill.co.uk/jews-and-mus...

I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again. Ignore the haters, London is the 🐐

Thousands of Londoners have indefinite leave to remain. They have legal rights and are our friends, neighbours and colleagues, contributing hugely to our city. Threatening to deport people living and working here legally is unacceptable.

A great production of a play which is scarily relevant for today. brockleyjack.co.uk/jackstudio-e...

I don’t know where to begin with this…

Really profoundly shameful. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Looking forward to listening to this later today, by my talented colleague Ed Hogan. Everyone @ouliterature.bsky.social is rooting for Ed to win! www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

I was proud to march in London today. #standuptoracism

“We reject the far right’s racist lies about ‘protecting’ women and girls. They are not defenders of women – they exploit violence against women to fuel hate and division." Words that very much need to be said.

#EnglishCreates great futures

Postgraduate student in book history or literary studies? Apply for a bursary to the Digital Scholarship Winter School. Learn concepts and methods for research on new sources and media technologies. Generously sponsored by @sharpnews.bsky.social digital-humanities.open.ac.uk/text-affects... 2/end

Commemorating the centenary of the death of Bessie Parkes Belloc on 23 March 1925. A poet and journalist, she was a key figure in the mid-19C women’s rights movement in Britain as editor of the English Woman’s Journal. You can read my longer tribute to her at www.pascal-theatre.com/biographies/...