Thread 🧵 “In November 2025, a #school #library in #GreaterManchester underwent a #purge. Inspired by the headteacher’s dislike of one particular title, #books were pulled off the shelves, in a case unlike any previously seen in the UK. Within weeks, more than 130 books had been targeted #BookBan 1/

My excellent colleague @katiedd.bsky.social has just published this remarkable investigation into rampant book banning in a Greater Manchester secondary school library. 193 books including The Da Vinci Code, Twilight, White Teeth and 1984 Graphic Novel www.indexoncensorship.org/2026/03/scho...

"Over the last few years, American tech oligarchs have become the greatest argument against their own existence. The sheer scale of their erratic behavior and political interference proves that extreme wealth concentration is a structural threat to society." -Joni Askola

Reform are banning Christmas, lads

No Easter Eggs this year then

If you are interested in this initiative, Development has a call for Preprint Editors – active researchers with their finger on the pulse of preprint literature – to commission and write ‘In preprints’ articles. Apply by Monday 30 March 2026. Find out more: journals.biologists.com/dev/pages/pr...

Hard agree.

In report Breaking Free: Pathways to a fair technological future, Norwegian Consumer Council delved into #enshittification & how to resist it This phenomenon affects both consumers and society at large. Together with 70 consumer groups, we are sending letter to policymakers in EU/EEA, UK & US:

“The video, released recently by the Norwegian Consumer Council, is an absurdist take on a serious issue; a global campaign aimed at fighting back against the “enshittification”, or gradual deterioration, of digital products & services.” www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

Great move from Norway. I wonder whether any UK group will join this move to reject enshittification? Maybe the Consumers Association?

I served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Force Education and Training for three years before the office was disestablished last year. I owned the policy on professional military education for all five services. I have listened to Secretary Hegseth's announcement. I have thoughts. 🧵

I keep seeing ads on social media from Homeopathy UK for a ‘Celebration Of Homeopathy Gala Event’ next month. Obviously I don’t follow Homeopathy UK, but these are sponsored posts. Not sure why/how I’m targeted. Is it just me or anyone else seeing them too?

Oh dear. Just to give me nightmares, what horrific line-up could Farage choose for (eg) the health, science and environment portfolios? www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

As Trump’s war spins out of control, here is a piece from me on why the only way to understand the U.S. is to see it as a corrupt and capricious dictatorship

Fantastic!

You know he is confessing when he says, "Deranged scumbag"

Anti-Trans Health Secretary & Labour leadership hopeful Wes Streeting claims his segregation of trans people in the NHS are to “protect (cis) women”. Yet he brought Palantir into the NHS, something that its CEO has now admitted will specifically harm cis women. Streeting and Palantir must go.

arXiv to spin out as an independent non-profit. They are seeking a CEO jobs.chronicle.com/job/37961678...

We are launching our new Showcase space for Ethnically Minoritised authors, and would encourage any @york.ac.uk students and staff to go and browse! The room (LFA201 in the Fairhurst) contains over 500 books all specifically recommended by students & staff at York... (1 of 5 >>)

This, folks! All thanks to @juliaangwin.com for getting this lawsuit underway. Will be digesting this and getting the word out to other folks who might be covered by this class action lawsuit against Grammarly.

I learned about a brilliant project yesterday to support British Sign Language (BSL) users, creating new signs for scientific terms in chemistry, oceanography, data science & more. And they're fabulously descriptive. Do have a look and share! www.ssc.education.ed.ac.uk/BSL/index.ht...

Great to see @mariellafrostrup.bsky.social on BBC Breakfast talking about #menopause and her new show ‘Cracking the Menopause’. It sounds like a laugh, and a good way to smuggle useful information into entertainment. /1 of 2

Science secretary Liz Kendall has called on UK universities and research funders to guarantee minimum paid levels of maternity leave for PhD students, reports @jgro-the.bsky.social #AcademicSky https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/guarantee-fair-maternity-leave-phd-students-funders-told

Good read. More confirmation that the Daily Heil and Torygraph cannot be believed.

A very strong start to the new #Ellis. 15 mins in and I’m hooked already. In thrall to the observational and deductive powers of DCI Ellis.

'Elsevier made £1.04 billion in profit in 2025, according to its parent company’s latest annual report, up 7 per cent on 2024.' 1/2

Over the past few months, I've been meeting Duncan Ivison, who in my view has the most important job in Manchester. I wanted to ask the vice chancellor of @officialuom.bsky.social about its reliance on China, the threat of AI and its relationship to the city. manchestermill.co.uk/why-the-hell...

I did love Sister Monica Joan’s turn of phrase. They should publish a memorial book! #CallTheMidwife #Tearjerker

We're a bit behind on #CallTheMidwife. I'm already in bits over Sister Monica Joan organising her own funeral, and the people of Poplar showing their love for her ... 🥺

Looks like Sister Monica Joan is going on a farewell tour of Poplar - quite lovely #callthemidwife

SciWri26 dates are here: The ScienceWriters2026 conference in-person events will take place Sept 25-28 in Corvallis, Oregon. Bespoke virtual sessions will be offered Oct 14-16. We can't wait to see you online or in person! Got an idea for a session? Submit by March 10.

I’ve had to angrily turn off #Sunday on #radio4 because of the nasty bigoted anti gospel movement #Gafcon who want to exclude women and LGBTQIA people from the #anglicancommunion, calling gay people “in error”! Well you are in error mate, Jesus commands us to love one another equally!! Woe to you!

Striking that Trump's minions are more critical of European countries for limited support, or sitting this war out, than they are of Putin for handing information to Iran

"At the heart of this technology is a black box into which questions go & out of which answers are given —but we’re not allowed to see what precisely goes on inside". Sobering piece by @sjamcbride.bsky.social on how Musk's Grokopedia is rewriting knowledge www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/comment/opin...

Well done, that librarian Jessica Waite. https://retractionwatch.com/2026/03/06/librarian-finds-preposterous-number-of-fake-references-in-paper-from-springer-nature-journal/#AI#hallucinations#citations

46 British children have ended their lives since the UK puberty blocker ban. Labour, Wes Streeting and Terfs need to address this. Gender Critical hate kills children.

The use of impact factors in the evaluation of researchers has contributed to the distortion of scientific publishing practices and research practices, noted France's CNRS as it walked away from Web of Science, using $$$ saved to promote #OpenScience & #OpenData. www.cnrs.fr/en/update/cn...

Open Science isn’t just a values choice. It’s an economic one. We are sharing a new independent report by @technopolis-group.com on the economic benefits of #OpenScience and what drives value when research outputs are designed for reuse at scale: plos.io/4rdAxCY

Workshop on genetics, eugenics and scientific racism next week! #Philsci #Philosophy #Ethics #HPS #Sociology #AcademicSky We will be conducting hybrid sessions, you can find the zoom link at www.imseam.uni-heidelberg.de/en/heinzelma...

Someday he'll fire RFK Jr. too, because he's a savvy politician, and RFK Jr. is viscerally disgusting to the human sensibility. When he does - and he will - public health will have to grapple with the fact that it was doable, and we could have tried harder, sooner

Debate 3pm Thurs 5 Mar on World Book Day, by Helen Hayes. Make school libraries & professional librarians statutory commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-bri... Commons research briefing (by professional librarians), shouldn't our kids get the same support as politicians? #GoAllIn #WBD #NYoR

Pretty much.

So... A friend was supposed to give a PURELY SCIENTIFIC talk at NIH within the next couple of weeks and it was cancelled because of a "new process" where all speakers/talks have to be CLEARED BY A POLITICAL APPOINTEE.

A similar thing happened with the Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence's #climatescience chapter, which was *erased* after 27 GOP AGs claimed this extensively vetted, peer-reviewed independent science resource was biased against US energy production. insideclimatenews.org/news/0303202...

“We should all take hidden bias tests regularly to identify our own failings and shine a light on the work we need to do on ourselves.” open.substack.com/pub/scholarl...

Donald Trump is strangely lacking interest in what the consequences might ultimately be. He has made himself a world-historical figure, yet with no appreciation for history’s tragic lessons

NEWS! Donald Trump awarded FIFA War Prize