This is a fascinating and scary little video. And what South Korea is experiencing is only slightly ahead of where the UK and many advanced economies are. Without immigration, we are FUCKED. I mean TOTALLY FUCKED. Yet all parties compete to stop migration. It's madness. youtu.be/Ufmu1WD2TSk?...

Love killing off all the religion departments just as christofascism sweeps the nation.

I appreciate the way this article about Charlie Kirk highlights the role of algorithms and information bubbles in the different perceptions people have of him. wildernessdispatch.com/2025/09/15/w...

Please repost if you agree that British TV News is betraying our democracy by giving Farage what looks like more coverage than all the other opposition parties combined.

The firing of Jimmy Kimmel due to government pressure has rightly shaken those committed to free speech. Entertainers have always criticized politicians. The sign of a good politician who values free speech is to let them; only authoritarians take revenge - just ask the Romans./1

I’ll be running an online introduction to Josephus in November. Sign up if you have interest or pass on to students if you think they might

This is hilarious.

I'm in my mid to late 40s. I grew up in the west end of Newcastle in 80s and 90s. I moved to London in 1998. I look on at wazzocks saying multiculturalism has failed and I just keep wanting to ask 'what do you think you would get back if multiculturalism ended?'

The most heartbreakingly powerful piece I’ve ever read on Substack. Please, please read and share. And look after your family, friends, neighbours and colleagues for whom England is becoming frightening. @sturdyalex.bsky.social 👇 open.substack.com/pub/bestforb...

Call for applications for a position as Assistant Professor of Religion in Early Christianity at Princeton University puwebp.princeton.edu/AcadHire/app...

This post that a friend of my partner's shared on FB potentially explains the Kristin Chenoweth thing, and is frightening.

We are looking for a one-year full-time Research Associate to work on Coptic manuscripts in Manchester as part of a wonderful project that connects mss with local communities. Requires strong skills in Coptic, English, & Arabic. Deadline 31/10. Please share! www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...

Quick rundown for non-US academics of whether you're likely to be eligible for the Anthropic payout: 1. you have works published in or before 2022 2. which are registered for US copyright (most likely if you had a US publisher, not otherwise): check here publicrecords.copyright.gov 1/2

This is vile. Local guy speaks to Sky News about the impact of asylum seekers protests. Watch what happens and share widely

I am fascinated by this guy who was a Higher Ed administrator and has now moved into teaching classes as a faculty member. He is documenting his whole journey on TikTok. Over the summer, he had so much excitement 🧵

Timeline cleanse

Friends who work with old (and illegible) manuscripts: Do you know of software where I can put in PDF digitizations of manuscripts where I can play with contrast/tone/saturation etc globally (not just page to page)?

Asking ChatGPT if it knows the notes to Old MacDonald Had a Farm. What’s the worst that could happen?

‘Each time your body flexes a muscle, duplicates a cell or thinks a thought, it is phosphorus that provides the necessary power. The human body contains just 250 grams of ATP, but it cycles through fifty kilograms of the stuff per day.’ @jjvincent.bsky.social: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

‘The gradual ebbing of classics – once synonymous with education as a whole – opened up ground for the emergence of English. But the relationship also involved an awkward, smothering paternalism.’ Colin Kidd on the history of university English studies: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Still the best 101 on the economics of poverty ever written.

There's no credible evidence asylum seekers commit more crime, or are guilty of more sexual assaults. I am so sick of being force-fed lies by these mendacious thugs in their expensive suits. share.google/WCAREyAQN5TG...

A thoughtful post in @politicalquarterly.bsky.social on Diane Abbott, antisemitism and the complex ways in which race is imagined and understood. By three scholars of antisemitism: @brendanmcgeever.bsky.social, @bengidley.bsky.social and David Feldman. politicalquarterly.org.uk/blog/diane-a...

This is a masterpiece. Simply excellent www.instagram.com/reel/DMVGMIC...

Help me find a wonderful new colleague for our department! Specialty in religions of South Asia or Southeast Asia. #religiousStudies #tenuretrackjobs jobs.sandiego.edu/cw/en-us/job...

A fascinating post from @rayclemens.bsky.social about a lovely MS of a rare text, and where manuscript discoveries are still made. NB: linked within that post is a free, open-access book on Hebrew codicology. Follow Ray, download Malachi Beit-Arié’s book! substack.com/inbox/post/1... #medievalsky

Education is a public good which should be funded out of general taxation. Anyone who wants to defend our universities needs to firmly and repeatedly insist on this point, and not concede an inch to the facile Thatcherite logic that got us into this mess. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

‘We are organisms, not computers.’ On how research into the brain is captive to a picture that doesn’t really fit us. aeon.co/essays/your-...

I'm very excited to see my new book is now on the publisher webpage for Palgrave's Critical University Studies series! link.springer.com/book/9783032...

I like this piece a lot, because it takes the blank incomprehension of Boomers when I try to introduce the numbers to them and really quantifies why the generations just can't understand one another. Great economic history in action. martinrobbins.substack.com/p/waspinomic...

“The tragedy of the contemporary academy is that even when traditional liberal learning clearly wins with students and donors, it loses with those in power.” - Jennifer Frey www.nytimes.com/2025/07/17/o...

On Thursday night, we heard that government was making big concessions on its planning bill, putting lots more controls on its nature recovery plans. I find this disappointing. And to explain why, I have to tell a story I’ve been holding off from sharing.

I've spent a lot of time thinking about this fascinating exchange Colbert had with Dua Lipa, when she asked him about the role his faith plays in his comedy.

New Testament job at Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey! www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNY877/a...

The Centre for Theology and Qualitative Research us hosting the Ecclesiology and Ethnography Conference in September. See the link below for more information, registration options and a draft timetable. www.ecclesiologyandethnography.net/event/durham...

A remarkable and revealing account of the fragility of our legal and constitutional system of government in the face of a concerted effort to prevent journalists from doing their job.

3 in 4 say Britain's best days are behind us. The most common description of the country is 'Broken' & 53% think the next generation will have a worse life than our parents. What do Brits think has gone wrong? How do they want to fix it? And who are the 7 new tribes of Britain?

The extremist radicalism of parts of the British Right is a burgeoning threat the UK state appears not to see, or is perhaps turning a blind eye to. The longer you leave it, the worse it will get.

"I sure as hell don’t think it was God’s plan for local officials to somehow not have implemented an effective warning system in the past 40 years, even with constant reminders that it was needed." @charlotteclymer.bsky.social with a banger of a post here

There's no place for institutional finance in rental markets. It's a predatory extraction machine that robs the poor and middle. But one thing I'd add: we should stop calling these people "investors". They don't "invest". They buy up and milk existing assets. 🧵 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

"Fidelity, bravery, and integrity, forever" A senior FBI officer resigns www.lawfaremedia.org/article/good...

I am delighted to announce the IRCI has 2 job openings in early Christianity (specialisation open, research-focus, early career). Closing date 15 Aug. Contact me with any questions. We hope you'll consider joining our excellent group of scholars! candidate.aurion.cloud/acu/producti...

The 3 year post funded by my @leverhulme.ac.uk Major Research Fellowship is now being advertised, now that the transfer of the grant to @durham-university.bsky.social @durhamtheology.bsky.social has been completed. Please share with exceptional candidates. durham.taleo.net/careersectio...

Industrial revelation: a walk through England’s Great Northern Coalfield. www.theguardian.com/travel/2025/...

💊The NHS is battling "medieval" levels of untreated illness in some of Britain's poorest communities – at a cost to the health service of about £50bn a year, or the same as the defence budget. My big read from Barrow, Blackpool, Burnley and Blackburn: www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Remembering this great tweet on the Summer Solstice