Finished reading #Furies yesterday. A collection of short stories from a range of authors, reflecting on and inspired by the words branded on women/other over the centuries. Reshaping, retelling, and reclaiming these narratives. The book is a journey and I loved following the tumultuous curves 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Film club night, Sew Torn, ⭐️⭐️⭐️. Divided the room intensely with scores ranging from ⭐️⭐️ to ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. Nice indie film, low cerebral energy, fun metaphors, thematic, excellent acting, and good pace.

“Palantir is working on a tool for ICE that populates a map with potential deportation targets, brings up a dossier on each person, and provides a ‘confidence score’ on the person’s current address” https://www.404media.co/elite-the-palantir-app-ice-uses-to-find-neighborhoods-to-raid/

"They drag people out of their houses at any hour of the day and night…families are torn apart. Men, women, & children separated…children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared.” - Anne Frank, 1942

Israeli genocide has dropped right off the legacy media's radar. Not one of the campaigners and groups we work with, however, has shown the same level of forgetfulness

First day back at work and I am starting with an IT course on #NVivo. Already it is so obvious to me how wildly easier my research and data management throughout my PhD would have been with this piece of software.

Cyril and Joe run the “school” and “library” at the commune. Most of the books are self published and the “school” has a huge focus on “free play”. Apparently the children’s innate moral compass will guide them. Cyril and Joe are very proud of their philosophy degrees.

The rule books and character sheets for #ForbiddenLands are stunning. Narratives in their own right before the adventure has even begun. Adapting solo rules so we can play a DMless duet. #TTRPG #HappyNewYear

what does everyone use for bookmarks now that train tickets are mostly digital?

2026 sees the start of a film club. So far we’ve watched ’The Phoenician Scheme‘ (⭐️⭐️⭐️) which divided the room, and ‘Oppenheimer’ (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️) which left us all with lots to discuss.

Today at around 430pm I submitted my PhD thesis. I let my 3yo goblin press the submit button. It was beautiful and wild. It was also immensely anticlimactic as I was met with an error message saying I didn’t have the correct permissions to follow through on the request. I am not joking! #AcademicSky

If words have consequences (and they do) and if it is right to restrict some expressions and slogans after Bondi massacre, then must also be right to restrict some Islamophobic and white supremacist speech, given the use of murderous violence by the far right. But Labour are stalling on this.

HR: "Please sign this contract." Me: "Sure, but what's the work schedule it refers to?" HR: "Ohh, we'll confirm that after you've signed." Me: "But won't I then be contractually obliged to fulfill it?" HR: "Yes." Me: "So can I see the details first?" HR: "..." Me: "Please?" HR: "..." #AcademicSky

SKULL OF THOMAS AQUINAS: TAKE A LEFT NOW PRIEST: No, the GPS says we have to keep going— SKULL: I KNOW A SHORTCUT PRIEST: Do you remember the last ti— SKULL: FOR THOSE WITH FAITH, NO EVIDENCE IS NECESSARY; FOR THOSE WITHOUT IT, NO EVIDENCE WILL SUFFICE

Is it just me, or is writing any academic paper at least 60% looking up words in a dictionary to ensure they have the exact meaning you want to elicit*? #AcademicSky *Not just academia it would seem. I looked up ‘elicit’ 2mins ago just incase. Good job too as I was originally typing ‘illicit’.

Today's study music comes from a genre I'm going to call Battle Opera. And I love it. Highly recommend the album 'Runaljod - Ragnarok' by Wardruna. Especially loving the song 'Odal'. #NowListening #AcademicSky @wardruna.music-social.com

Yesterday my mother-in-law, who is proofreading my thesis for me, rang me to tell me that a core idea of my thesis is wrong. I appreciate her proofreading immensely, but not her academic or editorial suggestions… sigh! #AcademicSky

Delivering some lectures and seminars for a different university this coming January onwards, and their admin makes my home institution look practically saintly by comparison. #AcademicSky

Fantasy vs reality WFH with 3yo. Fantasy: 3yo sits by me drawing &/or listening to her Yoto while I type away. Reality: 3yo is stressed by my need to WFH again, I am under a pile of soft toys, my back is agony, Sarah & Duck is on. Only 2wks to go. This is the final push. #AcademicSky #StudentParent

Over 1 in 4 of police forces in England and Wales still haven’t implemented basic policies for investigating sexual offences. That’s why we’re supporting Nina Cresswell to hold the police force that failed her to task: https://goodlaw.social/4w3n

I have just come across Black Violin for the first time and I am absolutely obsessed tidal.com/artist/36439... #BlackViolin #NowListening

December is the month when I try to finish reading all my half started books in order to start afresh in January. On track for my reading target of 2025 but OH MY DAYS I’m not convinced I’ll clear this backlog before the new year!

Having nonacademic friends proofread your read work really shines a light on how neurotic academia is, meanwhile having academic friends proofread your work really demonstrates how research is simply never "finished". #AcademicSky

Pot holes of knowledge I've acquired this week: 1) everything you didn't want to know about asbestos, 2) the history of Discord, 3) everything about Angelina Jolie, 4) Tidal vs. Spotify, which led to, 5) a brief history of Kanye West. Next up: 6) what's the difference between a roar and a meow?

The single best thing about finding my 3yo Goblin and her friend “working” at my desk, is that they were doing so with “their babies” on their laps. Now to check the damage to my thesis… #academicsky

People love to talk about how awful theater kids are, and they’re not wrong, but let’s be real, debate kids have made this country a lot worse

The quality of an audio book is predominantly determined by the narrator rather than the author of the book. Having listened to nearly all of @joeabercrombie.com narrated by Steven Pacey, every other audio book now pales drastically in comparison. #audiobooks #nowreading #kobo

Today in @aeon.co Andreas Mogensen and I discuss animal welfare, AI welfare, and probabilistic ethics. We make the case for addressing the moral status of animals and AI systems as we address health, climate, and other big issues: with probabilistic reasoning and proportional responses.

Is Blue Sky popular with academics because you publish something and nobody reads it?

Saturday. Lie in. Cuddles. Bakery breakfast. Coffee. Reading. Thesis. More coffee. Medina, J. 2023. The Epistemology of Protest: Silencing, Epistemic Activism, and the Communicative Life of Resistance [Online]. Oxford University Press. Available from: doi.org/10.1093/oso/.... #AcademicSky #Weekend

Forced to take the day off by family & friends to rest & recoup. Birthday weekend so I’ve surrendered. Mantra of the day is: it can only be as good as your best, and that is enough. #AcademicSky #PhD #thesisdeadline #41days

We have been tracking people’s experiences with gendered spaces and our new report looks at the impact of the 2025 EHRC interim update on access to, and experiences within, gendered spaces in the UK.

I am generally not keen on protesting outside of people's homes. But anyone who values an autonomous public sphere should be worried by this government's pervasive attempts to legislate protest out of public life. This kind of thing is the definition of creeping authoritarianism.

Happy belated Halloween 👻🎃 I'm dressed as the scariest thing of all - a PhD thesis! Proud to say that as of Wednesday mine no longer haunts me haha Thanks to the whole @cambridgeftd.bsky.social team for their support! #academicsky #womeninstem #neuroskyence

People think staying silent keeps them safe. But how many “quiet survivors” have been protected by their silence? Institutions thrive on people believing they have no choice. 🪜 🎓 📜 🍎 ♀️ 👩🏾‍🔬 👩🏼‍🔬 👩🏾‍🎓 #PhDSky #Blackademia #AcademicChatter #AcademicSky #HigherEd #PhDChat

Cwtched on sofa (back finally recovering enough that it’s comfy again!) working on thesis with sprog next to me on her “laptop” (a folded piece of cardboard). She just asked if I knew how to turn my laptop on, and then informed me she could show me if I didn’t… #AcademicSky

It is quite frankly obscene how blasé I feel about deleting chunks of my thesis as I run through the final edit. Five years hard work and my overriding feeling is: “yeah that’ll do.” #AcademicSky #PhD #Countdown #SubmissionTime #56days

In IKEA today. Saw this button in one of the showroom kitchens. Overwhelming urge to push it to see if it was part of the display or a genuine safety feature.

Dinner dates with friends featuring a topic for debate.

“The UK stands at a crossroads. Are we going to be a nation that respects its human rights obligations, or are we going to abandon them whenever the rightwing press demands it? First immigrants, then trans people – who next, Sir Keir?” – Jo Maugham (@goodlawproject.org) https://goodlaw.social/icp3

Draw the line. Join the Green Party today ⤵️ join.greenparty.org.uk?utm_source=s...

I recently criticised my partner for saying that the far right were lacking in intelligence because I don’t think that it’s clever or useful to make political arguments by mocking individuals. This graffiti, however, really tests my point…

It has come to my attention that I have been alternating between using two different translations of Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics throughout my thesis, and it is now causing me the most frustrating fuck-up-erry. #AcademicSky

Yesterday's march and demo was incredibly uplifting. Over 2000 attendees with unions etc all in attendance. We outnumbered the far right in our masses and they shrunk in response, as they should. From the Pennines to the sea, Yorkshire will be fascist free. #RefugeesWelcome #StandUpToRacism

As if I hadn't already upped the difficulty of my PhD by having a baby half way through, we're now moving house in the final three months that I aim to finish and submit in. My timing is truly impeccable... #AcademicSky

Brummy condemns racist Robert Jenrick on #BBCQT but accidentally uses racist language! It was a PERFECT illustration of how the concept of racism is distorted by conservatives to help them get away with it. Well done Zack Polanski!

#StandUpToRacism this Saturday. Hyde Park Feeder March. Meet 1130am at Hyde Park corner of Woodhouse Moor. Refugees welcome. Celebrate our diversity. No to the far right. March and rally in Leeds. Saturday 11th October 1230pm at Leeds Art Gallery. Leeds Stand Up To Racism. Together we are stronger.

I have read far too much news today and it has broken me a little bit. Resurfacing this article from 2022. The politics of migration is not about migration, it is about race and it always has been. theconversation.com/ukraine-refu...