"It’s unclear if ICE will target farm workers as it ramps up enforcement, but White House Border Czar Tom Homan told Reuters that immigration arrests will 'explode greatly next year,' and that enforcement would 'absolutely' hit workplaces." https://bit.ly/4qLfA2p

On 31 December 1999, a piece of music started playing in a lighthouse in East London. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Polymarket and the like aren't gambling, they're scams.

I've watched thousands of videos from the Jan. 6 riot as part of NPR's reporting and archive project on that day. Here are some of the lesser known videos that have really stuck with me. 🧵

🌟New book! SAGE Handbook of Digital Labour, edited by Ergin Bulut, Julie Chen, Rafael Grohmann, and Kylie Jarrett. us.sagepub.com/en-us/sam/th...

Very cool company that Starmer's government just signed anothr huge contract with. 👍👍👍

I think about universities here too: what would it be like to empower staff on the ground, to give them resources and support to escalate and advocate for bigger action where needed but also... sometimes just fix the damn bike entrance with the tools and skills they have without any fuss or hassle?

Starmer's tweet couldn't be clearer but a bit awkward when one of the main government comms platforms literally does this as a feature now

Fraud was the excuse: this is the real goal, revealed - reduce safety net funding, but only in blue states.

"When I came out, I probably seemed unsavory compared to the competitors. But that was when academic research happened in libraries and George W. Bush was considered the stupidest president. Tell me, how have you guardians of facts been doing recently?" #McSweeneysTop25of2025

📘 My new book States of Solidarity: How to Build a Society is out now (OUP). 👉 academic.oup.com/book/61834 I wrote it against a background of growing inequalities, fragile democracies, climate breakdown, and technologies that too often pull us apart instead of together. 👇

The rooster from the spire of Notre Dame after its fall, Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine in Paris. #art #culture

It seems like this is the point: "an attack by the US on a Nato ally would mean the end of the military alliance and 'post-second world war security'. It would, she warned, mark the end of 'everything'": www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

"they often cultivated highly niche agendas, ranging from white-supremacist eugenics, “spiritual” antisemitism..., the virtues of training the body, German-language purification, valorizing the German landscape, and Nordic nature cults..." www.theideasletter.org/essay/the-ge...

Our researchers were sanctioned for maintaining a research portal tracking misinformation about the Russian-Ukrainian war. conflictmisinfo.org

We're destroying things we'll only need to rebuild.

The coming years are likely to see substantial changes in the nature of work and in how people find jobs. In this podcast, #CornellILR's @michelebelot.bsky.social and Jason Sockin discuss ongoing research on how digital technologies can be used to improve the process of matching jobs to people.

happy new year, apply for job bsky.app/profile/nick...

We have never not been ChatGPT-ed:

Interesting call here for chapters on the theme of Tech/Money:

With #TheLastHumanJob coming out in paperback January 27, I'm excited to share some upcoming appearances - it's going to be a busy spring! Come join the conversation about the value of human connection. For more info see allisonpugh.com or press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...

Seeing lots of folks incorporating "critical university studies" lessons into their spring classes. For what it's worth, my 2022 Redesigning the Academy class site is totally open, and I've got a bunch of relevant (open) Arena channels, too... [1/2] redesigningacademy.wordsinspace.net/spring2022/

A phenomenal team, a prescient and urgent project, and it's a privilege to be working with them through the @workersobservatory.org #InternationalMigrantsDay

On the 15 and 16 January we have our first training course of the year! Getting started with household panel surveys is our 1 day intro to study design, content, data, weighting, plus basic data management. 15 Jan: online 16 Jan: in-person at Essex uni www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/help/trainin...

One thing I'm looking forward to this year is seeing where Migrant Justice Edinburgh goes. Currently in a capacity building stage funded by @regenfuturesfund.bsky.social, this is a collaborative project dedicated to supporting migrants’ collective agency in Edinburgh.

"This means that not only is a large purchase like a bicycle impossible; even a bus ticket (£4.40 for two single journeys on Lothian Buses) swallows more than half of their weekly budget..."

Realise we've all been doing our own research here (so grain, salt), but I've also come to think 1.) Trump is not well/dying? 2.)We're stuck in his personal bucket list (a photo op to compete with Obama, e.g), as well as 3.) a fire sale for the various agendas & ideologies that unpin him.

I've had this open in a tab for days and keep meaning to listen, taking a closer look now I see it's full of local colleagues discussing things like narratives of the end of the world. Posting here so I remember to listen. www.sunkhronos.org/podcasts/the...

That last RT reminded me of a personal "AI nailed it" fav from 2025:

Tell me we should trust AI to give us the facts. Tell me it's a future we can put our faith in. Come at me. I'm right here, waiting.

finally, we're living through precedented times

This is worth reading, especially if you've lived through the birth of the internet, the rise of social media, and regularly experience the rabbit hole of the doomscrolling wondering what is happening in and to the world.

This whole thread...

Caroline Haslett believed electricity could emancipate women from household drudgery to pursue ambitions outside home. President @wes1919.bsky.social edited The Woman Engineer. Founder Director of Electrical Association 4 Women. 6 Point Group member d #OTD 4 Jan 1957 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolin...

Thinking about the work of Käthe Kollwitz, which seems especially resonant these days.

reasoning (mine) always goes round the back of itself ends up howling for the opposite of what I started out to prove which now seems also true or not exactly the opposite (that would be ‘within reason’) just some other angle from ‘Lieu Vague’, a poem by Anne Carson: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Here, on the verge of a new year, some things I have enjoyed and hope you might too: The discovery of Edinburgh's community radio station through some friends who run their own show "Between the bazaar and the bog." Really enjoying the show too: www.ehfm.live/residents/be...

NYT: At least 40 people were killed in the US attack on Venezuela, including military personnel and civilians.

"Trump sanctioned five European citizens involved in disinformation policy and research... what I hadn’t realised when that news dropped is what “sanctions” mean in an age when so much of our lives are dependent on US technology platforms." broligarchy.substack.com/p/the-threat...

A side story is there’s a ton of insider trading on these prediction markets. New accounts making hundreds of thousands on their first and only trade, that maduro would be ousted. Seems like insider trading is legal if not encouraged on these platforms

He can't stay awake.

One Day, Everyone Will Always Have Been Against This with Omar El Akkad (10/22/25) www.youtube.com/watch?v=b91y...

👀

www.theguardian.com/technology/2... @karengregory.bsky.social

This short film was on my 'best of 2025' list:

Saw someone say "AI is the research tool no one trusts": www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

“Gone are the days when companies like Instacart and DoorDash can bully their way into record profits on the backs of workers and consumers," said Sam Levine, the incoming head of the Dept. of Consumer and Worker Protection under Mayor Mamdani.