I'd love to have the job of installing security lights. It seemingly doesn't matter what angle you install them at and you obviously get a bonus payment for directing them into neighbours' houses.

They've moved from "Respect the flag, and the history of this country" to "Depose the king" in just a few small months. Here's hoping horseshoe theory is correct (it's not) and they come out for the abolition of private property sometime in April.

That's a bloody beige barrel, you bastards

Rage bait for Christmas morning

Merry snotty Christmas to all those who are gifted a cold for the festive season

Few people realise this, but the Home Alone films are prequels to the Saw franchise.

If the government recognises what's going on could this finally be the time that we move to a more proportional system? I'm thinking the answer is likely "NO!" but there's nothing wrong with hope.

Strange times

So a university should be held liable for failing to prevent protesters who didn't actually stop the event? It increasingly seems like "freedom of speech" has come to mean "my voice must be heard with no opposition"

well, nice to be able to skip the “this war isn’t for oil, how dare you” phase of things this time around

More fool me. Decided to give AI a go at tracking down something I remember from ten years ago. Ended up spending my time tracking down phantom references. What a waste of fucking time and money AI is.

For example, "in 2022 English departments produced five PhDs for every two assistant professor job openings. The rest become members of the academic underclass, taking whatever work they could find or exiting academia completely." #Highered #PhDchat #research #teaching www.aaup.org/underclass-s...

Everyone's favorite disney princess next year will be the uncanny valley constantly melting figure who in 10 second intervals encourages children to drink household cleaning products. Her hit show on Disney+ will have a billion views a week and a full line of merch and a movie franchise coming out.

DOJ's newest recruitment ad features Judge Dredd, the comic satire about the dangers of lawless policing and authoritarian power

On the one hand, this is awful. On the other hand of the modern academic, it continues the relevance of my PhD. 🤦‍♂️

Why do global environmental institutions multiply and persist even when they seem unable to address biodiversity loss and environmental governance failures effectively? Our new OA article with @jacquelinebest.bsky.social in @risjnl.bsky.social tries to answer this question. 1/7 cup.org/4hZNlcX

A few things about AI worth remembering. 1) What it says has no credibility. 2) It does not hallucinate, it generates plausible accounts that depart from reality 3) "Intelligence" is a great stretch of the term 4) There's a strong push to claim it is the inevitable future, but if so, why the push?

AI could end scarcity, end humanity - or boost trend growth by 0.2 percentage points

With Maurice Glasman and Dominic Lawson calling for the return of the stocks, we find most Britons opposed - although Reform voters are divided All Britons: 21% support / 72% oppose Lib Dem: 12% / 85% Labour: 12% / 83% Green: 13% / 82% Con: 28% / 64% Reform: 43% / 48% yougov.co.uk/society/arti...

This is such a snivelly shitweasel thing to say, as if people who oppose more and more testing aren't actually on the side of good education. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Finally, a shift back to sensible centreground politics www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

The world is run by cry bullies who assert power by claiming anyone stopping them being dicks is hurting them

Rogoff's new article on the Guardian is a joy of misrepresentations and defenses in order to promote his new book. Very weird, but how would you keep going after being found out so publicly?

In my house a fart is increasingly known as a Presidential Address

Humanist Bertrand Russell's perfect, utterly uncompromising 1962 letter declining Oswald Mosley's invitation to lunch. An perennial joy to see this circulating online from time to time.

Politicians are repeatedly sliding in to applying conditionalities to the human rights of immigrants. Easy slippery slope to everyone else

This is maybe a reflection on the contemporary moment....or, it's an assigned reading for a class this week

Emily Tucker argues that the AI regulation debate largely misses the point: the real threat to democracy is unchecked data extraction and accumulation that is fueling corporate power. “We can have mass surveillance, or we can have political self-determination. We can’t have both,” she writes.

Incredible. Jack Posobiec references the earliest version of antifa -- the anti-fascists in the Weimar Republic who were opposed to the Nazi Party -- as the bad guys.

When being hit by a car, a smaller car going at a slower speed is preferable. Also, try not to be a child.

Ah, microwaved leftover Blairism. Kier, you shouldn't have! Like, really, Kier, you shouldn't have.

In case you thought I was exaggerating, here is the "debate" on Kimmel from Newsnight. David Frum explaining the horrific first-amendment-breaching executive overreach. British right wing hacks: bUt HiS jOkE wAs iNaCCuRaTe!

I guess the Ovenden window shifted.

Fascists ruin everything. Here I am, trying to enjoy the switch into Autumn and the fascists are off fascing. Why can't they, I dunno, bake an apple crumble or something?

I didn't realise hobbyists were being funded by universities! Here I was thinking that most University staff members have an undergraduate degree, maybe a Masters, and a PhD. Y'know, the 6-8 years of qualifications that make you a professional researcher. Hierarchy eats people's brains.

*PSA EVENT* This #Teaching & #Learning Webinar will look at using LEGO® in #PoliticalScience & #InternationalStudies as a Flexible and Effective Tool for Playful Learning’ with Dr. David Wilcox & Dr. Giuditta Fontana @unibirmingham.bsky.social 📆 19 November, 1 - 2pm, online ➡️ buff.ly/VEPbxAy

It is always sad to see yet another victim of the horrific levels of gun violence in the United States. I'm sure we all hope that such an appalling incident leads to greater political attention to this epidemic of senseless and needless carnage.

Publication alert: Commercial determinants of infant and child health: A focus on Nestlé’s baby food products marketed in Africa www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Man I'm old. After a few weeks of being away on collection day, I just thought to myself "Ooh, the recycling bins will be emptied today"

Finally! 🤩 Our position piece: Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia: doi.org/10.5281/zeno... We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity. 1/n

"Commentary *like this* about a deputy Prime Minister felt politically unsurvivable" - Chris Mason, BBC ten o'cıock news. This script over these pictures treats vandalism & criminal damage as a legitimate form of democratic voice. The BBC should avoid doing that, esp in broader current climate

The last sentence is more famous but people remember it wrong. The line preceding it is more important. Fascists mostly don’t care who being stomped on, they’re just trying to give people the thrill of being the boot.

🔥

No, Carswell and others like him haven’t been ‘radicalised’. They’ve always thought like this. The only thing that has changed is that they now realise they can get away with saying it out loud.

It's amazing with all these flags in my local area. Labour have only been in power for a year and they've managed to get people to love the country again. So many people expressing their pride in our open and tolerant society by flying the flag 🥲

Our department @yorkpsychology.bsky.social has 2 open lecturer positions (=tenure-track Assistant Prof). Social psych is one of the priority areas, so consider applying if you study social behavior, incl. intergroup relations, culture, environmental or media psych. jobs.york.ac.uk/vacancy/lect...

Reform will have to reselect in Croydon, as their initial candidate for Mayor had been dead for 6 months when they selected her, Inside Croydon report Being dead is one way to pass the social media vetting but was likely to get noticed eventually insidecroydon.com/2025/08/27/f...

The two articles are summarised here: www.ppesydney.net/all-that-has... The writing of this, among many things in my life, was inspired by @ultha.bsky.social

Congratulations here to Wes Streeting for condensing the essence of the Westminster Monoparty into just 23 seconds. Outstanding work.

I get my students to do this, essentially. They do a better job of it too.