Ali Smith writes in @theobserver.bsky.social ‘Ten years on, in even darker times for the people rendered voiceless and used as political expedience every day, Refugee Tales is more necessary than ever.’ shorturl.at/Fl5Z7 @rsliterature.bsky.social @commapress.bsky.social @aviddetention.bsky.social

4 days until we set off on our solidarity walk and it’s going to be a hot one! Sun hat and water bottle packed ✔️🌞 Few remaining walk tickets at RefugeeTales.org and we can’t wait to meet all the walkers 👣✊🏾Thanks for your support!

Hot day. Warm heart? 💛 Feeling appreciation for your sunny life? 🌞Spare a moment to think of those in small cells in indefinite immigration detention & please consider joining The Big Give in #SmallCharitiesWeek and helping to fund our frontline work donate.biggive.org/campaign/a05WS… 💐

We’ve been astounded 💥 by support for our @biggive.bsky.social call for support for our frontline work. 📣Just 3 days to go. Will you show your support for our work please? 🌟https://donate.biggive.org/campaign/a05WS000004b4QXYAY

We’re excited to be in The Big Give’s Small Charity Week! From 23 - 30 June, every donation will be match funded and go twice as far! 💥 Mark your calendar! 📅 Check out our campaign page: shorturl.at/TbgG7 📣 We’ll remind you when The Big Give begins!

There was a cyber-attack on the Legal Aid Agency’s online digital services. The Legal Aid Agency says "We believe the group has accessed and downloaded a significant amount of personal data from those who applied for legal aid through our digital service since 2010." www.gov.uk/government/n...

Welcome walkers at the end of their solidarity walk in Wimbledon on 13 July. Our finale event includes Metronomes Steel Orchestra, actor Niamh Cusack and writer Patience Agbabi alongside experts by experience. Don’t miss! Book at RefugeeTales.org (photo credit: Lyndon Douglas)

Please also support the incredible work of @refugeetales.bsky.social /Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group GDWG.org.uk

The very way in which immigration is framed can lead to misunderstanding and hostility. Too much of the narrative works on a false binary option of "legal or illegal", missing the actual context, and that we are talking about people's lives. www.migrantvoice.org/articles/ref...

The Conservative Party announced their Deportation Bill, to further normalise anti-migrant and anti-human rights rhetoric. Well, we will continue to build an even stronger migration justice movement and a society that protects us all. www.politics.co.uk/news/2025/05...

Love this from Rebecca Solnit in The Guardian today on how deep social change is non-linear, and takes faith and creative persistence and eyes to see.

Our GDWG community recipe book ‘Tales from our Table’ (£22) launches today with dishes from around the world from our volunteers, walkers, staff and experts by experience. Email [email protected] for more info. Thanks Lara and all who contributed #community

Final prep for the zine workshop I’m facilitating with @lusignanmermaid.bsky.social We’re working with parallel translations of poetry in Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Chinese, German, as well as images. Huge thanks to @refugeetales.bsky.social & @sidhepress.bsky.social for your generous contributions. ❤️

Roughly 1 in 2 people detained are eventually released back into the community, their detention having served no purpose! 👇See more info on this thread about: What are immigration detention centers like in the UK? #ImmigrationDetention

🚨Since coming to power the government has continued to argue that Albania is a 'safe' country, despite the risks facing those seeking protection in the UK. Our new briefing shows the harm this has caused Albanian survivors of trafficking - who make up nearly 1/4 of our clients. 🧵1/5

[New Blog 🖋️] Ria Rampersad explores how the UK’s court system fails Foreign National Offenders, where language accommodation isn’t just about translation but is shaped by 'stereotypical judgements and interpretation' — undermining fair trials and due process. blogs.law.ox.ac.uk/border-crimi...

"I am almost 62 years old and I am only now able to give my life meaning without feeling trapped in a cage.” Samuel Jarrett-Coker spent almost 50 yrs trying to resolve his immigration status, with the fear of deportation hanging over him. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Lovely @refugeetales.bsky.social walk today in the Lee Valley

I don't often ask people to write to their MPs. But I think they might listen to you on this, as it's so jaw-droppingly awful, and they're almost certainly unaware of it. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... Please also write to the Environment Secretary: [email protected] Thanks.

Today, we attended the APPG on Detention & encouraged MPs to stand in solidarity with refugees & asylum seekers in detention. 'Detention is a life sentence for the crime of seeking safety from persecution' @rainbowmigration.bsky.social Together, we can end #ImmigrationDetention🧡

Walking in solidarity may seem an unusual form of activism to you but it’s creative as it builds community as we walk; a beautiful community manifestation of making change one step at a time. Book to walk with us in July, we walk from Southwark to Wimbledon over 5 days - tickets at RefugeeTales.org

Read @aviddetention.bsky.social's review of @mfbosworth.bsky.social's Supply Chain Justice: "[I]t is people who are the 'product' — people who arrive or stay in the UK and are subject to detention, people who are sorted, managed, moved, and monetised." www.aviddetention.org.uk/article/refl...

“Packages don’t do that.” If you have any interest in immigration detention and removals you should stop what you are doing and listen to this. Incredible research by @mfbosworth.bsky.social. soundcloud.com/refugeestudi...

In a decision today, the Court of Appeal upheld a JR brought by @medicaljustice.org.uk, which argued that the Home Office is required to consult it before introducing any policy affecting the immigration detention of ‘adults at risk’. 👏✊

Blue skies assured 😉 as we walk to the same horizon of a better imagined on our July walk. Want to live a taste of the community you wish to see? Take 5 days away from your everyday life and walk in solidarity with us www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/refugee-ta...

Need help with your eVisa or dealing with an expired Biometric Residence Permit or Biometric Residence Card? 🤳 LSG Migrants have organised a drop-in session on Saturday, 15 March from 12:00 - 16:00 at the Migration Museum, Lewisham, SE13 7HB. ➡️ instagram.com/p/DHBlJ8ZscV4/

📢 | NEW BLOG: Moving from temporary status to citizenship is the cornerstone of a fair immigration system. But recent policy announcements signal a shift towards instability and precarity. This blog makes the case against a reactive, short-term approach. Read more 👇

“In a country with just 1.5mn citizens, the revocations affected nearly 3 per cent of the entire population…” on.ft.com/3DgmQQN

#WalkInSolidarity with @refugeetales.bsky.social 👣💫✊🏾

Walking in solidarity may seem an unusual form of activism to you but it’s creative as it builds community as we walk; a beautiful community manifestation of making change one step at a time. Book to walk with us in July, we walk from Southwark to Wimbledon over 5 days - tickets at RefugeeTales.org

If you've missed your chance to attend her book launch in January, fear not! You can join our co-director @mfbosworth.bsky.social for for this book launch event co-hosted by UTS and UNSW, at Wed, 2 Apr, 11:45am - 1pm AEDT. More info below: events.humanitix.com/book-launch-...

I have apparently raised 33% of my fundraising target for the wonderful @refugeetales.bsky.social . I am suitably excited. If you want to help it on its way towards 50% that would be lovely www.justgiving.com/page/andrea-...

14 days ago, the UK Home Office released disturbing footage of deportation charter flights. Prof. Mary Bosworth reflects on her research into the detainee escorting system, exposing the hidden violence, resistance, emotions, financial investment, and human costs in her new blogpost: buff.ly/41dcIQu

Here is a photo of some #mud from the @refugeetales.bsky.social walk at the weekend. We walk regardless of weather! Want to donate to this great cause? See the link 🤩

This year’s @refugeetales.bsky.social walk will be passing by the home of the #EalingBeavers. So exciting! 🦫 🦫

How do interconnected dynamics of climate, security and human mobility interplay in Mali: Climate security pathway analysis #Refugees

In July I'm off on a 5 day walk with @refugeetales.bsky.social Why? To raise awareness of the impact of indefinite immigration detention. And hopefully raise some money too. If you'd like to donate here's the link: www.justgiving.com/page/andrea-... #RefugeeTales #Walking #CapitalRing #Solidarity

In response to the UK government's new Border Security, Asylum, and Immigration Bill, @vickytaylor.bsky.social and Catriona Götz have written this blog post analysing the implications of this bill and how it may further criminalise people on the move: blogs.law.ox.ac.uk/border-crimi...

It’s been a pleasingly successful week. Feeling tired - v tired (& possibly a little hungover 🤪) but still thinking about some of the wonderful conversations I had this week. Looking forward to a weekend of R & R with the Fam & friends. Poetry, zines & friendship have been key components of my week.

"Our politics revolve around the idea that scarce resources mean keeping people out. We are utterly unprepared for a world in which perhaps the scarcest resource will be people." - @polgreen.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/01/31/o...

Good morning Oxford 🌞 My #Zine of prompts are ready for the workshop I am facilitating this morning. We’ll be thinking about journeys & what it means to belong. But first - coffee 😎

This #free #online #training event, from @ihrlibrary.bsky.social and @ials.bsky.social, will be useful for anyone researching #migration and #refugee narratives - including our friends @refugeetales.bsky.social. www.history.ac.uk/events/resea...

Final prep for a zine workshop I’m facilitating this week for a colleague on themes of journeys & belonging. My texts include Maya Angelou, @khawlabadwan.bsky.social & @alisonphipps.bsky.social David Herd, Audre Lorde, Joelle Taylor, Refugee Tales & a medieval letter. My zines will be on display✨

A wonderful day spent with @refugeetales.bsky.social for the launch event of our 2025 festival of walking: join us ‘And the tone is welcoming And the tone is celebratory And the tone is courteous And the tone is real And every step sets out a demand And every demand is urgent (D. Herd, 2015).

Heading to meet old friends & new friends @refugeetales.bsky.social launch of the 2025 summer walk. #WalkingInSolidarity Come & join us 💫 👣✊🏾 #EndIndefiniteDetention #RefugeesWelcome

Some welcome news on streamlining of some child asylum claims. These are supposed to be prioritised but normally take longer to decide than for adults. freemovement.org.uk/home-office-...

Great book launch and seminar for @mfbosworth.bsky.social's new book, Supply Chain Justice, about the UK's detainee escorting system. You can buy the book here: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

‘In the US, the language of migration tends toward the hydraulic: surge, wave, pressure, influx. These terms cast human movement as a physical force rather than the outcome of decisions made across decades.’ Pooja Bhatia on Haitian refugees, from April: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

News: New research highlights challenges of asylum accommodation in the UK: Report calls for systemic changes to the UK asylum system to make it more humane via EIN

“We should be like foresters used to be. Because how does anyone do anything if they’ve lost their bearings, and their bearings are in the machine?” Ali Smith speaks with Anna Russell about her new book, “Gliff.”