The 'Battle of Cable Street', which took place on 4 October, 1936, has become a foundational myth of anti-fascism in Britain. This excerpt from my 'No Platform' book explores how 'Cable Street' was used as inspiration for student activists in the 1970s. hatfulofhistory.com/2020/10/03/t...

Hard to believe it was three years ago today that we had the first preliminary hearing for module 1 of the UK covid inquiry. I attended online and kept Vince with me. Still no justice. ♥️

I wish people could understand its very possible and should be the norm, that you can despise anti-Semitism and Islamophobia at the same time. It's not either/ or

Chi-town, you guard this man well, you hear? Anything happens to him, Chicago, America, and the WORLD will be poorer for it.

Ra for Jinty!

I went to Civaux to see the cemetery but as I walked into the village I was startled to see this: a Carolingian church so reminiscent of Anglo-Saxon Deerhurst. It's very weird this instant recognition of spaces out of context, especially ones you've had to try to imagine. The proportions... 🧵👇 1/

My god. “Watson said she saw agents dragging residents, including kids, out of the building without any clothes on and into U-Haul vans. Kids were separated from their mothers…’It was heartbreaking to watch…seeing kids coming out buck naked and taken from their mothers, it was horrible.’”

This is so important for the health of the population in so many ways. (Cf. The appalling ‘Boris’ Johnson’s tenure in the role.)

I dunno...I think that declining to be the Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force sends a pretty clear message (and it's clear to just about everyone that this most probably is NOT for "family reasons.)

This against one of History's most successful admissions cycles and a clearly thriving degree scheme (healthier than some that have been taken out of scope). This isn't 'cannot rule out' but 'chooses not to rule out' compulsory redundancies.

This.

Here I am in 2020 in the flimsiest, most pitful PPE - like so many other NHS staff, some of whom died from the Covid they caught in their hospitals. Tory peer Michelle Mone - who today lost her legal case & must repay the govt £122m - dares to claim she’s been ‘scapegoated’. What, Michelle? 🧵

Yes, please!

PPE Medpro is being required by the UK government to repay almost £130 million; a move celebrated by Chancellor Rachel Reeves (and many others, I suspect).

This is why we fund scientists to study things like oyster slobber even if you don’t think it sounds important

I know we're desensitized, but it's important to note, again, that today's events would have led to the immediate impeachment & removal of any president from at least Truman to at least Obama. We're hundreds of miles on the interstate past Richard Nixon's high school prank-level crimes compared to 👇

hardly anyone will watch Starmer's appearance at Labour conference today but it was probably the best speech he's ever given he clearly signposted what he stands for - a diverse, tolerant, decent Britain - and how be believes progressives are in an existential fight with the populist right

A meme for the modern university...

Brilliant! (Or Keystone Cops… 🤣)

Quite outrageous behaviour by a Labour government!

Here is your friendly occasional reminder that as a Tier 4 then Tier 2 immigrant, I could not access any benefits (and this was printed specifically on my visa), could not vote in any UK election (not even local council), and paid an NHS charge with the amount linked to the length of my visa.

We acquired (with the landowner’s permission) three of the biggest Giant Puffballs, we’ve ever seen. Delicious fried-up in bacon fat!

The vacuum at highest levels in talking about this dark turn in British life over the last few months HAS to end.

Kind of amazing how UK news media still remains obsessed with the structurally limited impact in economic terms of small boats even as this potentially terminal havoc works its way through key UK industrial supply chains on.ft.com/3Ihb8YF

The “Ed Davey is obsessed with Farage” takes are weird. A) The media is obsessed with Farage B) If the next election looks anything like the polling, it will basically be a progressive/populist bloc election. Labour won’t be Davey’s enemy. They’ll be his path to govern.

People say "autism never used to exist" and then you go to the Natural History Museum and the exhibit has a caption like "Born in 1762, The Revd [name] was famously irascible, steadfast in his routine, and dedicated his life to collecting 25,000 rare beetle specimens".

Every time.

What on Earth is this? An "in depth" BBC article about free speech in the UK that only cites examples of right-wing/ 'anti-woke' speech being suppressed. How can you mention Lucy Connolly but completely ignore Palestine Action / Just Stop Oil? Gob-smacking. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

It is possible to cherish the BBC as an institution while also saying that BBC News is failing very badly, day after day, in its duty to inform and that it always fails in a right-wing direction. It desperately needs to recover its integrity

Putting all this together, @lgilbert.co find the following. It's not that Farage is (just) exaggerating/overstating - he is simply lying about migrants, jobs, wages and benefits. Media should be very clear about this. www.laurenpolicy.com/p/are-recent...

And thousands of others all over the U.K. Thank you Sadiq Khan. As usual standing up and ready to be counted.

Anyone shocked that Reform plan to deport immigrants with Indefinite Leave to Remain hasn’t been paying attention. Next it will be stripping citizenship from dual citizens, then deporting them. Who do you think Reform are? This. This is who they are.

Anyway well done to the BBC for laundering the leader of a movement which in no substantial way differs from the 1970s-style National Front into our living rooms

Told you so…

Even Maggie Thatcher wasn't averse to imposing windfall taxes on banks. The IPPR believes Starmer/Reeves should emulate this, with a windfall tax to recoup public money lost on the BofE's quantitive-easing programme. Banks like Barclays, with annual profits of well over £10bn, can readily afford it.

I’m watching and it’s astounding. We all knew something like this was going on - but the extent of it! While so many were suffering, dying, sunk into loneliness - a few were absolutely RAKING IT IN. The COVID health crisis was a very, very lucrative opportunity for some.

The ITV exposé on COVID now turns its sights on testing. I was stunned in 2020 when Sir Paul Nurse - Director of the Francis Crick Institute - told me he’d written to the government to offer the services of the Crick (the biggest biomeolecular lab in the country) - and never got a reply…

I guess I am a liberal!

So, Trump calls for a ceasefire in Ukraine like non stop, while blocking a UN call for a ceasefire in Palestine, non stop. Double standards on steroids. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The 400 richest Americans are now worth a record $6.6 trillion. The entire bottom 50% of America is worth just $4.2 trillion. Our problem isn't a lack of resources. Our problem is ever-expanding inequality.

The point of going to university is to explore research and knowledge, not to start an effing business. The skills and experiences gained might help you start a business, as might the interactions with the people you meet, but it is not the purpose of a degree. Fed up of this manure.

Volunteering at the @covidmemorialwall.bsky.social is always meaningful - but on a beautiful, sunny day, when people have come all the way from Cumbria to bring you cakes, it's extra special. 🥰

Great British medievalist Barbara Harvey is currently being remembered on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Last Word’. (Fri 19 Sep 25)

Labour have been in charge 12 months, and we’re well on the way to immigration levels back at pre Brexit levels. Don’t buy the hysteria. Check the facts.

The man had many insights into life that I enjoy!

next Monday we begin four weeks of industrial action at the University of Nottingham, inspired by the work of brave colleagues across the sector who've stood up and ruled out compulsory redundancies in many instances (Newcastle, Sheffield—many more!) Without us, there is no university! #StopTheCuts

#WordsMatter Carol Ann Duffy writes ‘bombsite’ poem about Trump’s UK state visit | Carol Ann Duffy | The Guardian share.google/ZvDAQmOk9nhK...

Exactly…

I'm so old I remember the Conservative and Unionist Party being known as the Law and Order Party. How far have the Tories sunk.