The social sciences enable us all to understand our rapidly changing & interconnected human world – & the UK excels at them! 3 UK universities are ranked in the top 10 universities in the world for social science. Find out more about why the social sciences matter➡️

Day three of our lockdown and restrictions hearings begins today at 9.45am. Experts from UK universities will discuss the scientific considerations of lockdowns and other measures as tools to prevent and control infection in a public health emergency: www.covid19inquiry.scot/hearing/lock...

Line might as well read "The government wants to shut down 30% of UK universities leading to 10s of 000s of job losses"

Staff who leave UK universities report "the absence of an ethics of care within universities other than perhaps through collegiality (amidst crisis); the non-accountability among senior managers and dereliction of leadership." https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20230721132953122

“The core business of the university - teaching and research - is co-ordinated virtually entirely by ordinary non-executive staff”.

🚨 #Gaza40 campaign call out to academics: Please sign this open letter addressed to the Prime Minister, Home Secretary, Foreign secretary and Education secretary to ensure students from Gaza can safely take up their places at UK universities docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

From credit scores to digital IDs, neoliberalism retools the panopticon; privatised, gamified, and sold as progress. Once Orwellian, now mundane - the self becomes a dataset, the citizen a score. We are governed not by law, but ruled metrics.

Be aware that the 'violent extremists' all wear suits and scapegoat the fuck out of the most vulnerable in society

With The Ignoramus In Chief Ruining America Daily,Ignorance Seems The Likely Winner,Chump !

UK inflation is caused by profiteering Since the pandemic electricity generation companies hiked profit margins by 198%. Electricity/Gas supply margins up 363%. Shipping up by 650 times. Health and social work up by 118%. People impoverished. Can't rebuild economy without ending profiteering.

A secret apology for making a violent threat against the U.N.? Anyone working at a normal place would have been fired. "Jesse Watters had privately apologized to U.N. global communications chief Melissa Fleming after the U.N. contacted Fox News about the remarks he made in a Tuesday broadcast"

The elephant pretends to eat this gentleman's hat! ♥️ #bluesky #animals #natuer #wildlife

Journalism is not a crime. My friend Steve has done critically important work here in Chicago and we must stand up for the First Amendment and the public’s right to know.

Read my latest:

Multicultural Community Cinema presents: ON FALLING A poetic & piercing film on the gig economy and our need for connection. Time: Sat 24th May | 2–5PM Venue: Community Wellbeing Space, EH14 3HR Age: 16+ Free drinks, and popcorn. Book: www.eventbrite.com/e/1320325100... #onfalling #cinema

“I'm not comfortable risking their wellbeing carrying cash in public for a gig worker economy job that pays worse than minimum wage”

Attended a great symposium on #decolonising today, and it's striking how equity/inclusion work in UK HE feels so precarious. In spite of the election of a (slightly?) more progressive government, budget cuts and redundancies coupled with far right resurgence make for worrying times. Thoughts?

Federal Liberals are cutting back on temporary foreign workers coming to Canada. But what about those already here, who continue to work in precarious conditions, during an anti-immigrant backlash? My latest podcast for @breachmedia.ca with Deena Ladd breachmedia.ca/confronting-...

New on The Bibliophile: An excerpt from the introduction to PRECARIOUS: THE LIVES OF MIGRANT WORKERS by Marcello Di Cintio. Look for it on bookstore shelves next Tuesday, September 30! digitalbibliophile.substack.com/p/welcome-to...

GMB WIN 🎉: Sheffield Council workers have secured a historic equal pay agreement 🙌 The Council will overhaul its pay and grading systems - following a claim first raised by GMB in 2023 🏫

#Starmer #BritCard

People want lower energy/utility bills, nationalised utilities, a low cost of living, fair wages, & a secure #NHS. Most people aren't concerned about immigration, except for those who believe the #FarRight lies. #Labour are doing NOTHING, because they're not on our side, only of the wealthy.

EXCLUSIVE: The Papua New Guinea Courier's UK correspondent on Nigel Farage bringing the UK media to heil open.substack.com/pub/mrhenrym...

NEW! Thames Water’s £500m desalination plant has delivered just 7 days’ water in 15 years (plus chemical leaks). Now it wants to spend another £500m to suck water from Thames, replace it with treated sewage, all while losing 570m litres a day to leaks www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Shockat Adam slams Starmer for dancing to the tune of the far right with 'Reform-lite' politics From Starmer’s “island of strangers” speech, to dehumanising immigration policies, Labour have embraced ‘Reform-lite’ politics, says Adam www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/...

Good article about the realities of work and union organizing in India‘s gig economy.

In an academic sense, the UK economy is nothing but a gigantic farce: • Dismantle the industry. • Leave a gigantic market union. • Hollow out the social welfare institutions. • Crack down on gig workers, but not their employers. From whence should the people get money to buy bread?

In China 40% of the urban labour force now depend on some kind of flexible work. The fortunes of these precarious workers will shape the country’s economy and society for years to come

Yes, this will impact disabled workers for sure: “The people it will affect are overwhelmingly women, young people, and disabled people, who are already often in precarious and insecure work.”

Hi all, I have a new regular(ish) blog available based on my research. Please give me a follow for discussions on Sociology, Social Policy, Food Poverty, Universal Basic Income, and much more: drdavebeck.substack.com

BREAKING 🚨: Thousands of North Tyneside council workers to be forced to pay for work parking 🙅 This as Councillors are set to award themselves a £6k pay rise 📈

Researchers at Oxford University are recruiting caregivers of LGBT+ youth for a study on stigma & family relationships. It is an online survey that takes 20-30 minutes, and all answers are anonymised. Please visit : psychiatryoxford.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_... #TransResearch #LGBTQResearch

Uni Restructure a Health Risk "Almost 30 staff at the Australian National University’s humanities school have stopped work after an internal report warned of psychological hazards in their workplace related to the institution’s restructure."

Successive thatcherite neoloberal anti-governments have paved the way for foreign private equity firms to buy up UK universities. Once again, public interests are undermined for a corrupt dystopian free-market agenda. UK (like the US) being destroyed so a few greedy smaugs can hoard even more.

There are no jobs in the UK for US scientists or for anyone else in research - the university sector has already shed 10,000+ jobs in the last couple of years. So this is just not going to happen.

A tale of the Huntington's disease cure. Tested on volunteers who weren't paid. Using UK university facilities for which they weren't charged. Ends up in the hands of Private Healthcare who will charge $2-5m for a single round of treatment. Actual cost about $25,000.

Chris Mason's piece today on the BBC is a clear example of this. Allegedly it is about the Lib Dems, but has almost as much focus on Reform and unnecessarily introduces and uncritically voices Reform messages. These days, not unusual, but striking www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

On the blatant double standards the media - BBC included - deploys while showcasing Nigel Farage. He is constantly given a free pass not granted to other politicians. bylines.scot/news/the-far...

When it comes to success in UK politics dishonesty is the best policy. m.youtube.com/watch?v=bAOk...

I am surprised that a few days after the Flemish regional government decided to slash inheritance tax and increase the flat rate long term care tax - thus taxing the living poor to spare the dead rich - I have seen no comment on it, even from the socialists.

#ucu For anyone who might have missed it the first time around, here's Matt's brilliant blog on alienation in academia: blog.matthewbarnard.phd/a-world-with...

So #Leicester is heading out on strike soon, against looming job cuts. Today we found out that #AncientHistory is ranked first in the Times University Rankings. In the Guardian we're 5th. But we're also all overworked and demoralised. We try to protect the students from that, but it's always there.

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Last week on Wonkhe: From covert mergers to regulatory complacency, Jim Dickinson reveals how market logic is reshaping UK higher education – and why the fate of Buckingham could set a troubling precedent

Well, I guess that's it for "responsible research and innovation" then

We need more in-depth reporting on UK university finances like this. Research , research funding and their relation to teaching and teaching funding could do with a similar level of detail. Here's a sharing link for 3 non-subscribers: on.ft.com/3ImSMWa

It is a BONKERS UK Higher Education funding system where universities are treated as corporate entities (hiring and firing and expense control and bank covenants etc) but can’t set prices to actually cover their costs!

Gutwrenching but vital piece about #UKHE overreliance of international students' fees and how this harms those students -- who are often lured to the UK unrealistic promises about the cost of living. Good to see the human cost foregrounded in this. www.ft.com/content/3f49...

Hear me out: 20 years from now we make a gameshow where young adults are given headlines from 2025 and they need to guess if it's the onion or real news.