How do we learn enough about university finance and governance to unruin our great institutions? Great question posed by Chris Newfield of @isrfoundation.bsky.social - isrf.org/blog/the-uni... - and some thoughtful answers.

@reecejones.bsky.social - thanks for this important intervention.

In 1997 Zbigniew Brzezinski infamously described the Ferghana Valley as a weak point in the unstable and fractured ‘Eurasian Balkans’ of Central Asia, itself at the heart of “the global zone of percolating violence.” Central Asian states have proved him wrong: uza.uz/en/posts/fer...

Superb post from an expert voice on the US border patrol.

dissentmagazine.org/article/the-... - great piece on the rise and fall of an academic field

Some embarrassment for West Yorkshire's mayor yesterday when she relied on AI for an unusual map of the 'northern powerhouse' railway system... www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater...

Great News! UEF is one of the great centres of border studies, and Alex is one of the field's great scholars - a match made in heaven! www.uef.fi/en/article/p...

Attending the 2026 RGS-IBG Annual Conference? 🤔 Don't miss our call for Session Sponsorship! We welcome paper sessions & panels, but also practitioner forums, discussions, workshops, and other innovative formats. More info 👇

"What Happened When My Yale Students Gave Up Their Phones for Four Weeks?" Thoughtful article for all educators. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/o...

If the UK government keeps making it harder and more expensive for overseas students to study here, they will go elsewhere: Uzbekistan in many ways is a more attractive option for Indian students than the UK kun.uz/en/97387923

Nice new piece on 'Radio geopolitics' by my colleague Alison Williams. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

It’s my 20th (Newcastle University) birthday! On December 1st, 2005, I began work here as a political geography lecturer.

My thoughts on the politics of Remembrance in the UK, written for John Heathershaw's excellent Substack blog 'Security After Christendom.' johnheathershaw.substack.com/p/the-two-wo...

Concerning new article showing how European university researchers are involved in research that helps the EU strengthen Frontex's border regime. 'Impact?' - yes. 'Securing grant funding?' - yes. 'Ethical?' - dubious. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Why has the Christian church so often supported war and what might a pacific rereading of that history and the scriptures look like? My book on this topic is currently on half price sale with the code CONFSHIP at checkout. wipfandstock.com/978149821959...

a university without its staff is nothing! On strike again fighting against the cruelty and economic shortsightedness of course closures and compulsory redundancies at the University of Nottingham

On Remembrance Sunday. I was delighted to retell this amazing story of a little-known WW2 truce. Sometimes it takes courage not to fight. @ncl-geography.bsky.social @hassfacultyncl.bsky.social www.bbc.com/news/article...

What does the election in north Cyprus signify? Great blog by Rebecca Bryant blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2...

What happens when borders reopen? My new article for Geopolitics journal, co-written with the economist Zalina Enikeeva. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

"Is peace possible?" I was part of a BBC Radio Wales discussion on this for UN International Day of Peace this week. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Great book title: explains its thesis. www.penguin.co.uk/books/474267...

US universities face growing threats to academic freedom – both at home and abroad. Here’s how leaders and academics can guard against #authoritarianism: www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/how-p... #AcademicFreedom #FreeSpeech #HigherEd ‪@jhu.edu‬ @sarahemclaugh.bsky.social

Can confirm. #librarians #booksky

Apparently Trump wants to try and earn his way up to heaven by brokering peace in Ukraine. But here's a radical thought... www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/u...

Lessons from the forgotten peacemakers on Aka Island - stories for VJ Day. www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/202...

South China Morning Post yesterday. Not ideal. Don't think these things aren't noticed around the world: they are. (1/2)

80 years ago today WW2 reached its cataclysmic conclusion in the bombing of Hiroshima. But as I write here, the extraordinary but virtually-unknown story of the Aka island truce is a sliver of hope. Other outcomes are possible. @spaceforpeace.bsky.social theconversation.com/when-us-and-...

What if state borders united rather than divided? The curious case of the 'Peace Border' between Uruguay and Brazil www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2024/08/p...

Part of a building dedication to the Emperor Antoninus Pius by the Sixth Legion which was found at Chesters Roman Fort on Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland. Now on display in the site museum. 📸 My own. #EpigraphyTuesday #RomanBritain #HadriansWall

Can peace break out unexpectedly? Article I wrote for The Times this week about an incident at the end of World War 2 that is every bit as remarkable as the December 1914 Christmas truces yet which remains virtually unknown. @spaceforpeace.bsky.social @cnduk.bsky.social

"The day US and Japanese soldiers laid down their guns for a picnic" - article I wrote for today's Times (print and online). One of the most amazing stories I have ever encountered. A moment of peaceful, intimate interaction in midst of terrible battle. www.thetimes.com/world/asia/a...

Wild strawberries on a beautiful summer's day! From Hieronymus Bock's 1552 herbal.

Special forum in honour of pioneer development, feminist and participatory methods geographer, Janet Townsend, late of Durham University, for Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography.

The Queen of the Night (Epiphyllum oxypetalum) blooms once a year at night.

Great work by our colleagues Stewart Jamieson and Guy Paxman: "We have been using satellite data to map an ancient river landscape beneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet:. The landscape has been frozen in time for up to 34 million years." ⚒️🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/202... - train more peacemakers: it's cheaper and effective.

“Mass redundancies will trash the global reputation of UK universities” As @nickmegoran.bsky.social of writes, cuts aren’t just short-sighted they’re self-destructive. ✊ Join UCU and Fight back. www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/mass...

Redundancies and course closures: @nickmegoran.bsky.social on pain, protest and reputational damage at UK universities @ucu.org.uk www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/mass...

Newcastle University's Vice Chancellor draws a wage packet equal to the annual salaries of the UK Prime Minister, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Secretary General of the United Nations combined. Yet to cut costs he wants to lay off frontline academics. Sign petition to say NO! chng.it/QSwScJvzFj

Two years ago today our dear friend and mentor, Janet Townsend, died. We remember her with affection and mourn her departure. This tribute to her work just appeared in SJTG, an introduction to a series of short forthcoming /already published reflections onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

A very nice article by my colleague, Alastair Bonnett, on time zones. A useful thing to read given the time changes many of us experiences at this time of year: lnkd.in/ethTpG6M

At long last: committees.parliament.uk/committee/20...

I was interviewed about nationalism, war, peace and faith by Newcastle University politics alumnus, Tim Farron MP, for his ‘Mucky Business’ podcast: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/n... Listen from 7:20

Very good on The Great University Disaster. Note it's *not* attacking administrators: indeed unis may be *under*-managed. The point is that extreme, inappropriate corporatization and bureaucratization has destroyed their very purpose, like a virus from within. (1/2) academic.oup.com/brain/articl...

There is a new neutral zone in the world, on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border 24.kg/english/3213...

Very much enjoying Professor Alisher Faizullaev's new DiplomaticNexus channel. www.youtube.com/@DiplomaticN...

Insightful comment on how wealthy investor visas facilitate corrupt individuals moving to the UK and US, by author of superb new book on the topic @jheathershaw.bsky.social

“The scandal of a liberal arts education is that it’s not about giving people what they want. It’s about challenging the wants themselves, and ultimately to form and direct those wants and desires otherwise.” Superb essays on why we should not treat students as consumers.