Timely reminder of where UUK are coming from, and how they continue to do such a poor job of making the political case for HE. Education is a public good. The investment in it should be made by the state. Tuition fees should be abolished and universities directly funded by government.

Terrible news from Lincoln.

How is my book project going?

More terrible news, this time from Exeter www.change.org/p/stop-redun...

Really interesting research that shows the limits of information provision for creating behaviour change. Radical idea I know, but I think we could all get together and agree to elect a group of people who we could then ask to regulate away dangerous products. That might improve safety for us all?

The Tories used to call themselves “ the party of law and order”.

'Conflict and cooperation in a changing world' 🌍 The deadline to submit papers for #VirtualBISA2027 is approaching 🌟 Find all information here! 👉 virtualconference.bisa.ac.uk @simonrushton.bsky.social @jamiejhagen.bsky.social @julietdryden.bsky.social @citystgeorges.bsky.social

Job opportunity at the University of Sheffield (UK) for a Danish speaking researcher interested in the business of bordering, political economy and related topics

Government policies don’t help of course, but VCs across the country continue to actively pursue the complete destruction of arts and humanities in UK universities. A catastrophic failure of individual and collective leadership.

Sheffield staff who took strike action are being locked out again next week for refusing to replace teaching lost to the strike. But in a strange twist, next week is still a teaching week for us. So management’s brilliant actions have knocked out another week of teaching for no reason.

So incredibly grim. Supporting and advising my students is by far the most important (and rewarding) part of my job. Why are universities so keen to AI themselves out of existence?

Don't forget our submissions of papers for our 2027 virtual conference #VirtualBISA2027 are OPEN NOW 🌟 'Conflict and cooperation in a changing world' 🌍 All information here! 👉 https://ow.ly/Ask950YY2ek Simon Rushton Jamie J. Hagen @julietdryden.bsky.social City St George's, University of London

Back on strike with @sheffielducu.bsky.social. Why? Management is pushing ahead with restructures despite sitting on £200m+ in reserves. Along with colleagues in East Asian Studies, I also find out in 12 days how many of us they want to fire. No justification is deemed necessary by management.

I, for one, was shocked to discover yesterday that a detailed vetting process had uncovered something that no-one had previously suspected: Peter Mandelson, it turns out, is a wrong ‘un!

JOB ALERT: Two 4.5 year postdoctoral positions to work on my Wellcome-funded project 'Conserving Global Health: Biodiversity Protection and the Prehistory of Planetary Health'. Please share widely! CLOSING DATE: 23 April (the date on Jobs.ac.uk is apparently incorrect)

How dost thou, chuck?

As a member of the BISA executive committee, I’d highly recommend this as a good use of your time. Good people doing a lot of work to promote and support the discipline.

That Starmer keeps Mahmood in post shows this is not just the actions of an inhumane Home Secretary, but a deeper rooted ideology of hostility and xenophobia within this government. No-one benefits from blocking Chevening scholars. This is cruelty for sake of it. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

4 x Postdoc opportunities for researchers interested in human-animal relations. I genuinely can’t think of a better group of people to work with. Check out their explanation of the opportunities here: digitalmedia.sheffield.ac.uk/media/Multis...

The registration deadline for #BISA2026 is today ‼️ Join us in Brighton in June: 'Is International Studies ready for what comes next? New thinking, new directions' 🎉 Register now 👉 https://conference.bisa.ac.uk Simon Rushton @julietdryden.bsky.social VisitBrighton Juanita Elias

The Tories’ real rivals are now the Monster Raving Looney Party, Count Binface, and other assorted eccentrics hoping to attract a few hundred protest votes.

MATTHEW BADLOSS IS IT

Insulting his constituents, Matt Goodwin does the most Matt Goodwin thing. Blaming others for failing to see his brilliance. Academics first, now voters. This sentiment is driving his radicalisation. Maybe even people at Reform will realise that it‘s a very bad quality for a politician to have.

Exactly this. The only answer is making the positive case for the benefits of migration into the UK. Starmer’s Labour are far too cowardly to do that so instead we lurch ever further right, in the process doing incalculable harm to immigrants, UK-born minorities, and the country as a whole.

Theory: people who have their own private islands are up to no good. (Only potential exception I can think of to this general rule is St Cuthbert).

Received official notice today that my employer will be withholding 100% of pay for the next three weeks, to myself and all other members of @sheffielducu.bsky.social who refuse (as is our legal right, and our solidaristic duty) to reschedule classes cancelled due to strike action. Outrageous.

Well that’s me locked out. No pay for the foreseeable future, all because I refuse to reschedule lost teaching, for which I have already lost pay as part of the strike. Please donate to support @sheffielducu.bsky.social members like me at www.gofundme.com/f/heubvb-sup...

REGISTRATION IS OPEN FOR #BISA2026!! Take a look at the conference programme and register now via the conference website: conference.bisa.ac.uk Participant registration deadline: 2 March See you in Brighton 🌊🏖️ @simonrushton.bsky.social @julietdryden.bsky.social @visitbrighton.bsky.social

Two weeks left to apply for a postdoc position on my project! I'm looking for historians, anthropologists, STS and Global Health researchers with a broad interest in #Brazil, #rural populations, #health, #medicine, and #zoonosis. For more information👇

Nominations for our annual BISA prizes have opened today! 🎉 Recognising excellence & achievement through research & teaching in the field of International Studies! 🌟 Open until the 3 February & presented at our annual conference find all info here 👉https://www.bisa.ac.uk/members/prizes

More good things for London. Screw the north. 🤬

It’s a dark night when you look at the news and are forced to admit that you no longer believe in the power of the FIFA peace prize

Unbelievably, it's been 25 years since we lost Kirsty MacColl yet the beauty of her music and her memory still resonate. Here's a song I wrote for her to sing in the 1995 movie 'Mad Love'. www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWjl...

Like the Post Office Horizon scandal before it, a story that has been covered for years and years by Private Eye without national newspapers apparently noticing. Lots more money siphoned off while everyone else looked away.

Nearly every Take relating to this has been done except one, which is - why would the European leaders take advice from Starmer on how to beat the far right? Who among them envies his popularity or admires the sagacity of his advisors? www.theguardian.com/law/2025/dec...

Sensible universities see their staff as assets to be nurtured and protected. Foolish universities see them as a cost to be minimised. Really stupid universities see them as an enemy to be defeated. @sheffielducu.bsky.social

Check out this post about our current situation from a colleague at another university. @sheffielducu.bsky.social

Opportunity for #students : @mcs-medact-ippnw.bsky.social  Holdstock-Piachaud Student #Essay #Prize opens & encourages students to explore the themes covered by the #journal who will be shaping the future. #Disarmament #climate #nowar #medact #competition #research #publichealth #publication

The only Legitimate Concerns about asylum seekers are concerns for their well being and safety. For a rich country like ours to incessantly whine about these people as if we are their victims is perhaps the single most pathetic spectacle in British politics over the past quarter century.

From this minister's op-ed: "People wanting to experience God are more likely to meet the Divine trying to shut down the Broadview, Illinois, ICE facility than we ever were in church...God does not live in our houses of worship, but...with those who are bearing the brunt of cruelty in this moment."

Starmer’s Labour and the BBC both show what attempting to appease the far right leads to: stronger demands to move even further right. Who could have guessed?

#BISA2026 submissions deadline is TODAY at 11:59pm 🌟 We cannot wait to see you all in Brighton as we look at the next 50 years in IR 🎉 Today is your final chance to get your submissions in 👉https://conference.bisa.ac.uk/call-papers-0 VisitBrighton Simon Rushton @julietdryden.bsky.social

Last call for BISA 2026 Conference submissions - get your abstracts in asap. 👇

Academic milestone day.....my first ever CFP, alongside the fantastic @ckweatherill.bsky.social We're putting together a panel looking at Gender and resistance in environmental politics for the @mybisa.bsky.social conference next June. Please share away and get in touch if it's of interest

Announcing our #BISA2026 conference keynote as leading scholar Professor Kimberly Hutchings @qmpoliticsir.bsky.social 🎉 The title will be 'Violence and the Meaning of Peace’ and we are very excited! 🌟 Find out more 👉 buff.ly/c46i8zp @simonrushton.bsky.social @visitbrighton.bsky.social

Authors -it’s worth checking this to see if your work is included, -though seems there’s much less on the eligible works list here than work downloaded from LibGen or PiLiMi -though this might be the beginning of legal action over AI theft of copyrighted work, rather than the end. Good Luck 🤞

It's time to start planning for next year's conference! Get in touch if you want information on the process, or if you'd like us to share a call for papers!

I feel like putting together a Loss and Damage panel I think. Time to think about it still, but feel free to reach out if you want in.