Yeaaaah! Very happy son here! And I'm happy for him too. #Saints

🏺 Lithics people...! Help needed here.

It's me in the Financial Times, detailing the deep and pernicious influence of one-size-fits-all management consultancy in our universities... Take a look! 👇 www.ft.com/content/5032...

New Substack from me about Donald Trump's 'Calendar of Chaos'. I just looked at my calendar and apparently it's still only March, despite Trump having created a decade's worth of chaos since Jan 1st. This post walks us through the rest of the year 1/n benansell.substack.com/p/donald-tru...

Am not an energy analyst but why does seem every interview with a U.K. minister this week included a pointed question about why not drilling more in North Sea and almost none about renewables/net zero as an energy security imperative? It’s bizarre, frankly

Madeleine Sumption (MAC) highlighted something that is largely missing from the UK media + political debate. The most likely reason why claims are going down in Europe & going up in the UK is that asylum seekers can't now make a second claim in another EU country - but the UK is outside that

Vaccination

Here is the British Journal of Sports Medicine's consensus statement after the World Athletics announcement: a "harmful anachronism" bjsm.bmj.com/content/60/7...

Wish I could join in person. I am definitely there in spirit. #together_alliance

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"We are dealing with a guy in severe cognitive decline who doesn't make sense from one moment to another" Trump says "in-depth" peace talks with Iran were a success. The problem is that no one else seems to have any knowledge of them taking place. www.thenewsagents.co.uk/article/how-...

Mum hospitalised in 1st wave, Dad died; she never came home, got decanted to care home, put in solitary confinement. Unspeakable misery. Boris and crew made terrible decisions, fuelled by hubris and a desire to party. I'm incandescent with rage. (Thank you Christina for making sure we don't forget).

If you aren’t a citizen but are eligible to vote there’s a fairly quick deadline here in the UK to register. Check your local authority website

Afghan women have now been banned from applying to study in British universities by the Labour government www.gov.uk/government/s...

"Why does the football season run from August to May, with pitches lying fallow for six days a week? Under our accelerated league structure, fans and clubs can complete their football requirements by November."

It was the worst of times, it was the worst of times

Australians now have better mobility into the EU than Brits “Under the new scheme, Australians can live and work in Europe for up to four years without needing a job offer before arrival.” Second class citizens in our own continent www.skynews.com.au/lifestyle/tr...

REMEMBERING GAZA SCHOLARS A group of academics have spent the past 18 months creating an archive that commemorates the lives of Palestinian scholars killed by Israel. 83 of our colleagues, so far, have bios; the group's work continues rememberinggazascholars.org

Maybe one of the @archsoton50.bsky.social students will apply? 🏺

Thinking about disAbility in Egypt. Now need to try to write about it. And feeling "seen" in my thoughts and writing

There is absolutely no place for antisemitism in the UK. I am deeply saddened to see this horrific attack in London this morning. We must all stand together in solidarity with our Jewish communities.

“It is a well-established fact that the universe has a sense of humour. It is less well-established, but increasingly obvious, that the humour is of the kind best enjoyed from a great distance, like, let’s say the moon.”

I know this has circulated with alacrity recently, so you may have already seen it, but if you haven't... WOW BOY HOWDY it's the most useful thing. Thank you cardcatalogforlife.substack.com -- this is a very very very helpful public service: cardcatalogforlife.substack.com/p/google-has...

Noooo

Data and decency in defiance of the ban.

For anyone at #aaba2026 there is a great women’s networking and mentorship group — happy hour later today too! bawmn.org

Back at work and abso-****-lutely exhausted after 4 days.

Worrying times in some parts of France. 🤞 for sanity.

Unless ofc it is a writer murdering the royalties dept after another "we can only send checks not digital transfers, and we encourage you instead to donate your royalties back to our endowed academic press that has not registered ur book for US copyright & doesn't care it's in the Anthropic data."

So pleased a friend from Ukraine is in my parents' house in Durham. She is enjoying the lack of drones and bombs.

@mrsmhere.bsky.social I don't know you & I absolutely understand your desire for privacy. I just wanted to thank you for the photo of daffodils. I have had a tough week due to parental dementia & the daffs reminded me of their garden in Durham. Thank you. They made me smile & think of happier times

This is hilarious. Also, completely enraging.

With Alt text because it's important

Academia finds a whole new low into which to sink

This was a line in Mock the Week last night. I can't remember who actually said it. Probably @daraobriain.bsky.social Rhys James or Milton Jones (who may or may not be on here)

Put Trump’s criticism of Starmer and other democratic leaders against his consistent syrupy praise for authoritarian, brutal leaders. Starmer is in good company. Just remind yourself how Trump praises authoritarian antidemocratic leaders in this thread. It’s an eye opener 🧵 1/

This infographic was produced in order of MP’s money earned from other jobs. Ooh look who’s front and centre, it’s “man of the people” Nigel Mirage. Not often seen in his constituency but topping the charts of additional earnings.

Always thought this was succinct & powerful: “Nearly every government that goes to war underestimates its duration, neglects to tally all the costs, and overestimates the political objectives that can be accomplished by the use of brute force.” –Watson Institute for Int & Public Affairs

But we do already pay for plumbers. We pay for them to do training in FE and via apprenticeships.

"Where’s the soul searching about why voters might have defected to a challenger from the left? Why, in God’s name, did anyone think it was a good idea to imply a large chunk of Labour’s coalition is, in fact, stupid?" Newsletter out. Bit angry.

OSULA'S MOMENT OF MAGIC WINS IT AT ST. JAMES' PARK! 🤩

Initially most people will be internally displaced by conflict. Most people have neither the resources or contacts to cross an international border to become a refugee. The longer a conflict goes on however the more routes are created, both in terms of smuggling and trafficking. 1/4

Personally, I'd have gone with the fact that "one in five (22%) also supported it for non-white citizens whose parents were born in the UK" for the headline. 😱

Great article from Sam @writesbright.bsky.social on Farage's impersonation of Trump's favourite tantrum and lie - "the election was stolen" 😭 writesbright.substack.com/p/inconvenie...

Feeling very stressed. Have just signed the forms and handed over huge amounts of money to Kitnocks. All because #Alzheimer's has done horrible things to my mother and changed her completely. #DementiaSucks

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Very important essay from @zacharydubois.bsky.social @jaepuckett.bsky.social & Noelle Martin-- "Invalidating someone’s identification documents has immediate and powerful consequences that cascade into all aspects of their life." theconversation.com/kansas-revok...

I can confirm. They are lovely. Bought some for a relative as a Christmas present

This amused me. I feel so sorry for everyone in the area but, I have to admit, definitely less sorry for those who moved there to avoid paying taxes and lived off the backs of people from poorer parts of the world. Especially feel sorry for indentured/slave labourers who have nowhere safe to go

Today is #RareDiseaseDay & we are celebrating by highlighting the invaluable work of the Undiagnosed Diseases Network (UDN)! Formed in 2020, it aims to solve the most challenging medical mysteries using advanced technologies. In this thread, we will highlight their use of the #zebrafish model. 1/5 🧪