Denmark has *far* worse outcomes - economic, social and integration - than the UK. Just a fantasyland for those who want an excuse for their own xenophobia and/or are incapable of doing the hard work of confronting the UK's real problems. www.thetimes.com/world/europe...

Rich alludes here to the wisdom of the judges at the Nuremburg trial: “To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole."

Excellent article but stark reminder that for all the perceptions of universities as ivory towers for elites, they are actually vital hubs in towns n cities supporting local businesses and providing key services as well as education….

“Much of the commentary reads as if improving high streets is not a good in itself, a measure important in enhancing people’s lives, but is primarily a means of undermining the Reform vote or staunching Labour’s decline.” My @theobserveruk.bsky.social column: observer.co.uk/news/opinion...

Cutting staff at a neighbouring Uni is bad for the whole coastal South East. Aside from London, what industries or large employers are there? Visit a seaside town in the winter? How is this 'levelling up'? 14,000 jobs in HE lost last year. Where is the government support? #AcademicSky

Wise words from Howard Zinn on the anniversary of his passing...

No system beats First Past the Post for creating scenarios in which people inadvertently help their opponents. It's ideal if you want to strongly disincentivise talented, morally motivated people from going into politics (something Britain has successfully done for centuries).

Excellent article “The danger is not merely that bad ideas occasionally slip through. It is that the system gradually loses the capacity to recognise what a good idea even looks like.”

I just thought everyone should see this

In any other context, requiring a high-productivity sector to offshore the production of its highest value-added exports would be seen as the economic illiteracy it so obviously is... www.ft.com/content/a23c...

Knut Hamsun, a Norwegian writer, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920. In 1943, he sent Joseph Goebbels (Hitler's propaganda minister) his Nobel Prize medal as a gift.

This ought to be a huge national news story. But the quiet dismantling of a key sector barely registers outside HE. Maybe someone will care when the local economies that Unis sustain start to go bust too. Important story from @patrickjack.bsky.social & @timeshighered.bsky.social

@nature.com doesn't mind publishing "thoughts some dude had in the bathtub" as long as they're on language, apparently.

This craven cowardice is not only morally repugnant, but also completely at odds with the Royal Society’s own code of conduct. By failing to uphold the code, Sir Paul Nurse looks like he’s himself also breaching it - both are bringing the Society into disrepute. royalsociety.org/-/media/abou...

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.

“Between 1898 and 1994, Washington effectively acted to change governments in Latin America at least 41 times, a tally that includes neither many unsuccessful efforts at regime change nor the invasions, filibustering, and gunboat diplomacy that took place the previous century.“ Greg Grandin:

rome statute of the international criminal court, article 8bis: crime of aggression

The outrageous sanctioning of EU lawmakers and citizens in order to pressure democratically-elected European governments to change their laws shows just how intent the US government is on controlling Europeans' lives. We must go into 2026 with eyes open.

#philsky Funded postdoctoral positions (FCT) at the Institute of Philosophy, University of Porto – Call for expressions of interest:

If there was an academia wrapped it would say: ‘you read these articles, those abstracts, half of this book, a third of that one, maybe a chapter from this…’

Britain could have joined Erasmus five years ago; an agreement on funding was completed between negotiators but vetoed “at the very last minute” by Boris Johnson. From Stefaan de Rynck’s book

"This decision was not taken lightly, with staff feedback taken into consideration throughout the consultation.” I’ve seen an awful lot of consultations in HE & it’s so strange that universities always claim to have taken staff feedback into consideration whilst never acting on any of it.

It has become received wisdom in Brussels and Washington that there is a new “euro-sclerosis”: that the EU economy is lagging the US This view is wrong A little primer on the measurement of productivity – and why reports of the economic death of Europe are greatly exaggerated🧵

“At the very moment when global competition for research talent is intensifying, Britain has made itself less accessible, less attractive, and less affordable.” This is a good article.

New post: Expertise, Government, the Media and Covid mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2025/11/expe... The Covid inquiry shows not just political failure on a deadly scale, but of media failure to transmit expertise and to hold to account politicians that let tens of thousands die unnecessarily.

"My NHS colleagues & I weren’t willing to let the bodies pile high in their thousands. Boris no longer mentions them at all." My piece on the responses to the UK Covid-UK Inquiry report that try to airbrush the dead away. Sincere thanks, @theobserveruk.bsky.social. observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Good journalism; horrifying story. We should abolish the Home Office.

This focuses on politics. But we should also care about *outcomes*. In the UK, migrants (both from EU and elsewhere) are more likely to have a job than the UK born. In Denmark, there's a gap of 15-20%. Similarly for education outcomes. Why would we want to copy that?

After more than 10 years of “the Danish Model”, nativism is hegemonic in the country, the far right polls near level highs again, and the Social Democrats lost Copenhagen and poll at historic low. European Social Democrats should look at the facts, not the myths! Me in @theguardian.com

Me at the LRB blog on the atrocious refugee policy of Mahmood and Starmer

Here's a suggestion: let's create an Association for the Abolition of Artsy Acronyms in Academic Applications and Research Groups in the Humanities. ("AAAAAARGH" for short because the full name is too long, and it has a second layer of meaning that beautifully captures the essence of the project...)

Once every 20 years or so, the director-general of the BBC is forced to resign for being insufficiently rightwing. Alastair Milne in 1987. Greg Dyke in 2004. Tim Davie in 2025. The great irony is that the BBC was in all cases profoundly biased towards established power. But just not biased enough …

Time to reshare this piece on the pitfalls of following the road Denmark has taken on immigration: ukandeu.ac.uk/denmarks-mig...

I think this constant push for immigrants to feel & act ‘grateful’ is so insidious. Let’s change the narrative. Migration is a normal part of human behaviour, not a charity case. If you’re doing your best to do your best, you don’t need to do even more to be accepted. It’s your right to be accepted.

Neo-conservativism presaged Trumpian neo-fascism in several respects. It saw violence as a positive policy option not a defensive last resort. It held laws, norms and the lives of non-white people in total contempt. And many, many centrists either cringed in deference to it or actively collaborated.

Siblings #caturday #proofofcat

Research should inform policy but that’s tricky if it is almost entirely driven by policy. The independence of research is key to change because if you fund only research that responds to policy (even good policy) you’re less innovative, creative & responsive to the open options of the future.

This, from @catherinedevries.bsky.social, is really useful advice for young (and, tbh, old!) academics. Worth passing on if you know any, maybe? catherineeunicedevries.substack.com/p/fail-bette...

Another eventful Saturday afternoon #caturday #catsofbluesky

Black cats are normally quite hard to photograph. I like how this one turned out. #caturday (as they say, although it’s actually from yesterday evening)

This is great. Clear, very well informed, and rightly passionate.

People recognised as refugees fleeing persecution & granted the right to live in the UK to be denied the right to be joined safely by their spouse & children. This Labour govt is a moral void, a stinking darkness, an empty hollow of cowardice & contempt. #r4today www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

That's quite the chart annotation. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Filling classrooms with computers didn't have the huge and positive impact on learning that was promised. Filling them with tablets hasn't done it either. I know this might sound absurd to many (especially politicians) but what if we filled them with highly skilled and properly supported educators?

Instead of judging individuals by what they contribute to society, why not judge society by what it contributes to individuals? Like, y'know, civilized people would.

Developments continue

It’s a developing situation

Lazy Saturday afternoon

There is an increasingly common and very lazy notion that universities are left biased. That needs countering as universities are under attack in the US but also elsewhere. I wrote a thread about it.