New report: The far Right in Britain has become an industry, with its influencers increasingly earning big money. "A cottage industry of digital vigilantes and migrant hunters now acts as viral content creators" and supposed "citizen journalists" irr.org.uk/wp-content/u...

Authoritarianism in the digital age by @kylzjarrett.bsky.social, @robkitchin.bsky.social, Jing Hiah and @steelecat717.bsky.social in @dialoguesdigsoc.bsky.social. Intro to special issue with 48 papers on the topic. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

1/ The “looking to Denmark” stuff re migration shouldn't ignore the social cleansing features in “parallel societies” (parallelsamfund) approaches. This labels neighbourhoods partly by the share of “non-Western” residents and then permits demolitions, forced tenure changes and criminal sanctions...

It's hard to convey my disgust & moral outrage at Trump & Rubio for killing hundreds of thousands My team at Duke has spent almost a decade studying the pros & cons of health aid, which has undoubtedly saved millions of live but has down sides. We have a policy paper out soon on the topic. 1/n

1. Proves what I argue in book Media Distortions about how Facebook creates its own definitions about what is spam/fraud and what is a legitimate ad to filter out ads that threaten its business model. ->

The world’s first trillionaire initiated a move that has left more than half a million people dead, most of whom are children.

"If we do not act, we risk seeing the development of a fully automated loop in which assignments are generated by AI with the support of a LMS, AI-generated content is submitted...on behalf of the student, and AI-driven metrics evaluate the work" www.mla.org/Resources/Ad...

We're really staring at the abyss with how our employers in our sector are treating us.

GPs are asking for funding so that patients can have greater access to GPs You will hear something different from Wes Streeting & Government They will say that there is more funding & GPs but there isn’t anywhere near enough of either They aren’t telling you the truth

I will now forever think of orcas as undersea Hannibal Lecters desperate for a nice drop of chianti to wash down their spoils.

My languages loving teenager sits their GCSEs this year and is looking at their options. When we have met Universities at careers fairs I have been asking them what is the long term stability of their programmes for this very reason. Soon studying abroad might be their best, or only, choice.

England today - people having their ongoing medical treatment unilaterally withdrawn, without appeal, because that treatment, agreed with their doctors, makes some bigots uncomfortable.

New paper just out on how changing sociotechnical systems of knowledge production and access - platforms, the cloud, AI - pose profound challenges to educational practice and research doi.org/10.1080/0305...

After an investigation which took >2 years, the journal Cross Cultural Research has retracted a paper which used Lynn's "national IQ" database, on the grounds that "Post-publication review raised serious concerns about the validity of the data & the article findings"

Yes. There’s no reason for all these tax-free allowances. Low starting rates of tax to affirm the social responsibility of contributing. And a thoroughly progressive system on top of them, of course.

Almost immediately he's with those with “palms calloused from delivery-bike handlebars”. This is the way. Labour botched it. I hope the Greens are taking notes. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/n...

He did a whole two minute ad highlighting the life of Sylvia Rivera! That was backed by a banger of a track from Sophie, noting the murder of Martha P Johnson. Never mind not running away he embraced NYC trans folks. AND WON! youtu.be/bEvVSpN0BXg?...

The gall of putting mortgages on there

So, what we have here is: 1. Cautious academic recommendations to de-Gove the curriculum; 2. Govt signalling it might do half of it; 3. While announcing MORE tests & benchmarks, and NO more funding... And nobody answers the question, what are GCSEs even for, when education to 18 is compulsory?

hire all the fired political teen vogue writers and make a new magazine call teen rogue. we’ll all subscribe en masse

What a waste of consistent talent and the loss of a channel to young people and many more besides. Mainstream journalism in dire straits across the board.

We've got you 👍

Nature suggests you use their "Manuscript Adviser" bot to get advice before submitting I uploaded the classic Watson & Crick paper about DNA structure, and the Adviser had this to say about one of the greatest paper endings of the century:

The post Halloween pumpkin soup I made is maybe a bit on the thick side..

This is properly brilliant 👇

There are 2,585 "mainline stations" in the UK. One "airport-style security" checkpoint takes maybe 4 people to staff at any one time, so probably at least 12 over the period a station is open, every day, plus another 6 or 8 to cover 7-day operation... dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/i...

Looking at this chart, you wonder if the mere fact of the Labour Party being in government is a resentment generator

In case, @k8ebrown.bsky.social and I have looked in great depth a few years ago at the use of "populism" in the Guardian and the role it has played in euphemising and mainstreaming far-right politics journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

"'Oh, no, the state couldn't do that’, and when you say, ‘No, actually, it has done that—and within our living memory’..."

Witching hour has commenced - neighbours wee girl loved picking stuff and then putting it back in the bowl or her brothers treat bag, some customs take a while to learn ♥️

Next week, 5 Nov, we're hosting a talk by Lindsay Weinberg and Anish Vanaik on "astroveillance" in HE "Through astroveillance, conservative political elites attempt to recruit students into roles as partisan monitors and informants against faculty" Open to all here: www.de.ed.ac.uk/event/lindsa...

Celebrating the publication of our very own @sophiebishop.bsky.social's first book, 'Influencer Creep'! 🎉 We are hosting a book launch on the 19th November (followed by a drinks reception), and everyone is welcome: ahc.leeds.ac.uk/media/events... 📚 Order the book: www.ucpress.edu/books/influe...

I'm sure it won't last, but for now Wikipedia's SEO is winning

How can we emphasise enough that fascism is the politics of unhesitating, indiscriminate violence against any opposition? It may *use* democracy to manoeuvre its way to power, but once it has power, it is the politics of a punch in the face for daring to disagree, at every level, on every issue.

BBC running a film this morning about the widening availability of the morning after pill (EHC). In the commentary the voiceover says ' the morning after pill needs to be taken within five days of an unwanted pregnancy'. They should say after unprotected sex or contraceptive failure. 1/4

This seems to be the intended and coordinated plan: "Floods will spread, communities will be destroyed, but there will always be a group of rich people and rich companies that will be able to protect themselves as the planet is being progressively destroyed.” www.theguardian.com/environment/...

If anyone wants an article about what it is like to be in a hotel while applying for asylum (this is pandemic era but much still applies) then our article last year covers some of this from the perspective of those in the hotels

This is ALL the outcome of VERY deliberate Tory policy, going back almost a decade, to MAKE this into a crisis by refusing to make timely judgments on asylum, and segregating refugees, in penniless squalor, as sitting targets for racism. It's ALL deliberate.

As a GP, I am not allowed to receive a pen or post-it note pad from a pharmaceutical company rep Govt banned them in case I was influenced to prescribe medications This should also be banned Influence being bought in Govt Patients should influence not the healthy & wealthy

“What this society needs, is more freedom to express our hatred of difference”, said no decent person, ever. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

They are PEOPLE before anything else.

Equality is a garden that needs constant tending, because the weeds never stop growing.

Today, the Planning Bill returns to the Lords. And the future of nature in England’s planning system is on the line. 🌳⚠️ Peers must back the amendments* that protect wildlife, ensure accountability, and build nature back into our homes & communities. *130, 140 & 245, 114, 148

'The Rev Clive Foster said Windrush scandal survivors were questioning whether “history is repeating itself” as UK politicians target legal migrants.' Essential, timely reading.

This pararaph from Kropotkin's "The conquest of bread" never seemed more relevant - in fact, the whole fascinaton with Trump's, Farage's, Starmer's, Putin's, Órban's etc. antics is inversely proportionate to the attention to dying civilians in Gaza and elsewhere

Where's the democracy, the concern about the environment, about water consumption, about data over people during an energy bill crisis....etc etc

'From that point, Price abandoned the manufactured bonhomie with which he had placed calculated rightwing talking points as if they were gentle chit-chat, and the mask slipped. He ranted about young people who have no responsibilities...and folded like a wet anti-Ulez pamphlet'. 1/2

It's a profound contempt for your readership. Rather than try and inform, educate, help people understand the world in a way that's clearer – just try and keep them in their place.