As the child of a mother born in Ireland and a father born in Pakistan, I can't endorse this message strongly enough #brotherhoodisuniversal

I helped make a film, out this week, called “Rovina’s Choice,” about the deaths this man without conscience or accountability has caused — already 600,000, ⅔ of them children.

Sending my condolences to his family and friends I met him a few times, to discuss the 1965, 68 and 75 Race Relations Acts, his experience as legal advisor to the Race Relations Board over 1968-75 He has left an important legacy, showing why the law matters, tho acknowledging its limitations

This obviously racist comment is revealing in a way: racism isnt about 'skin colour' per se, but stereotypes that justify discrimination against people. For the racist 'Black' just means bad/dangerous person, an attribution of negative pathologies & cultural stereotypes to justify wrongful treatment

The haters said they couldn't do it. And they were right. Honestly, great call from the haters.

I think she would make the claim that all these people can be British, on the basis that it’s a kind of civic nationality rather than English, which is an ethnic group. NB I am not endorsing her view, just saying what I think it is

Braverman would have a four generation purgatory period in which people born in England were provisionally learning stuff that would somehow transmit by osmosis to make their grandchildren potentially English in a way they could not be - but being either *really* something else, or of nowhere

I am fascinated by a question @lastpositivist.bsky.social raised - will the mundane reality of Mamdani's governance cause anyone like this to reconsider their fantasies or the basis of their fantasies? How much do they even believe this crap themselves?

Any thoughts on the impact of the curriculum review on access to higher education for disadvantaged groups? Given that prior attainment, particularly at GCSE, is the biggest barrier for free school meal children to attend HE, it's good to see the review focused on inequalities

This #TrusteesWeek we celebrate the PSA trustees and recognise the difference they make to our charity.💙 buff.ly/qC1d7TZ @drdonnasmith.bsky.social @dralberro.bsky.social @profnjallen.bsky.social @omaromalleykhan.bsky.social @rosegann.bsky.social @stefwolff.bsky.social @teachpolitics.bsky.social

When I was born to my migrant parents in 1970s New York City, they saw the beauty, vibrancy and hope in the city, even as they were aware of the ugliness and hardship. They are feeling more hope today, in a city they still think of as home

What a heartwarming story. The news should feature more stories like this!

Lots of commentary saying that it's not clear what the point of the speech is. Seems pretty clear to me. It's pitchrolling broad based tax rises in the Budget and making sure - as Reeves did with the fiscal rule change in 2024 - that it doesn't surprise the markets on the day.

Having been born in Brooklyn in the 1970s to migrant parents, one endorsement I particularly noted is the person who has since then endorsed discrimination against my parents and millions of New Yorkers, migrant and US born, in access to basic rights of housing, employment, education and health

‘If the industrial strategy is to succeed, we’ll need English graduates as well as engineers, historians alongside computer scientists, and social scientists together with health professionals.’ www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/do-we-n... @timeshighered.bsky.social

Time to re-up this? #PolSci

The population of the town in Ireland where my mother (and grandparents, great grandparents and great great grandparents etc) was born is under 400 When my Pakistan-born father (and his children) first visited in the late 1970s/early 1980s we experienced a warm, loving welcome

Let's just take a moment to reflect on the self-sacrifice and hope this person embodies - not the evil, hateful monsters thirsting for violence.

Racial prejudices are encyclopaedic in variety & have deep social roots The racist can always pivot to a different stereotype for group B when it turns out group A aren't the current target, and can tap into wider implicit and explicit social awareness of respective tropes about B as well as A

It's not fashionable, I know, but sometimes when events in the world are truly awful, terrible, horrific it seems best to watch the news reflectively - as professionals do their best to report for us, as details emerge - without attempting to use those events to validate one's owns views.

How to cope with loneliness in your first year of university

The twist in this story is that the A-level student found it back in 1977 but we have only rediscovered this fact 50 years on www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Purely linguistically, mechanically, empirically 'mum' is definitely tricksy like can you imagine saying that as their first word just deeply inplausibilitudinous

I’ve said this before but white guilt is useless. I don’t want people to feel guilty for things they had no part in, and guilt easily curdles into resentment. But everyone regardless should feel an obligation to correct injustice, especially if you somehow benefit. bsky.app/profile/mich...

3 conclusions from recent policy proposals & discussion on immigration -Many still do not know why the Windrush injustice occurred just a few years ago -Some of the sympathy & apologies then issued were dishonest -Some do know why it occurred & think the hostile environment didn't go far enough

Read about a @taso.org.uk project (one of several) seeking to address the degree awarding gap between Black and white students. Thank you to Birmingham City University for their insights on the project: taso.org.uk/news-blog/ce...

Forgot how much I enjoy Gidon Kremer's recording of the Philip Glass Violin Concerto, something I hadn't listened to for 5-10 years

You in fact can't talk about the history of the labor movement without talking about multi-ethnic coalitions. The International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union was initially composed of Jewish and Italian immigrants, but later grew to Black, Puerto Rican, Chinese, and Filipino workers.

The far (and not so far) right plump for a dishonest framing of Islamophobia as a free speech issue to deflect from their racism against other minorities too They are being tactical: they think anti-Muslim racism is more acceptable but haven't dropped anti-Black or anti-Jewish thinking & policies

🗳️ First exit polls from the Netherlands: Wilders’ PVV appears to shrink from 37 to 25 seats. Make no mistake — the far right remains strong. Support hasn’t disappeared; it’s shifted across parties. The Dutch political landscape is more fragmented than ever — and the far right is no exception. 🇳🇱

With the official prognosis giving one additional seat to PVV and one to FvD compared to the ext poll, the narrative should really not be that the Netherlands/Jetten has beaten the radical right. The far right bloc remains remarkably stable.

ICYMI, in our latest blog post, @omaromalleykhan.bsky.social reflects on the post-16 white paper, welcoming its focus on evidence and inequality, and urging that progress be judged by how far reforms close gaps in access, participation & success. Read the post: taso.org.uk/news-blog/ev...

Just need to keep repeating this point. Stagnant zero sum economies create political ungovernability. Productivity growth has collapsed in many rich countries since the financial crash on.ft.com/4hwRuoB

This is absolutely right. It’s about creating a permission structure for violence, whether that violence is conducted by the state directly or simply permitted by the state.

Curious if/how it might be possible to disentangle sex/gender from gender norms as drivers of outcomes That straight & gay men have different outcomes seems to suggest the latter has *some* explanatory role, tho obviously straight and gay men vary by gender normativity & other demographics interact

Quite a world when a federal judge has to call in a federal official to specifically tell him he can't use tear gas on children in Halloween costumes

The government of Jamaica has set up a portal for contributing to official relief efforts. I will update this thread if anything analogous opens up for Haiti, Cuba, or the DR supportjamaica.gov.jm

Look, Aristotle and Diogenes were metics; second class citizenship didnt stop them from contributing to the life of Athens, right?

Only 38% of free school meals pupils pass GCSE English & Maths Which shows the challenge for the 67% govt target for ppl to progress to higher education, higher level vocation or apprenticeship That *non*FSM pass rate only 66% does indeed suggest systemic failings www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/n...

Always fascinating watching people underestimate the size of London vs other UK ciries. On an average weekday, more journeys are made on JUST the Elizabeth line than the ENTIRE population of Liverpool. If the Tube was a city, its average daily passengers would make it the 2nd largest in the UK.

It's almost as if they don't want Black and Asian ppl to be their neighbours or colleagues We know, anyway, they wouldn't object to people getting angry at people for their existence, and wouldnt spot genuine threats to children's safety or workplace discrimination

I misread the Peston quote and worried he might try to (badly) explain how 'race realist' is a term used to defend biological racism and then I re-read and oh my no much worse Yes we know that some people *really* do get quite angry merely by seeing Black and Brown faces and yes that is racism

There are a few pairs born in the same year, e.g. John Quincy Adams & Andrew Jackson in 1767, or Ulysses S. Grant & Rutherford B. Hayes in 1822, but nothing else quite like that.

Recalling the 'debate' I participated in 15-20 yrs ago where I encountered the view that racism didn't exist & minorities instead preferred 'self-ghettoisation' I remarked: you think people *choose* to live in 'ghettoes' do you know what a ghetto is? They responded there are 'ghettoes of the mind'

Date of birth Donald Trump June 1946 George W Bush July 1946 Bill Clinton August 1946 Any other 3 Presidents born in 3 consecutive months? (Obviously none with 32 year gap in being elected) Nb. Barack Obama August 1961

'I don't see colour'* *'Except when I see too many Black and Brown faces on television or on the streets, then my blood boils'

I wrote this 9 years ago today, apparently, tho that's nothing on the 224 year old Daniel Defoe quote I cite For the launch of this website www.ourmigrationstory.org.uk www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

There's a lot of deflections hypocrisies among racists They only object to some groups but like a favoured minority They only object to the idea that inequality means racial discrimination They only object to character sing ppl by race They only object to lumping all not-White ppl toegeter

A very moving speech, personal & connecting w/millions of Muslims. It is brave for Mamdani to say this; the aunt and uncle he cites wd be very proud. Universalism is the only path forward for humanity, but that cannot mean suppression of (discrimination against) the particularism that makes us human