This is correct. Also, I'm amazed but not amazed that this story has been dominating headlines for two days and I've not seen the words 'Smiley Culture' and used once.

Congrats to our Research Associate Riyaz Timol, who has a new article published along with co-authors & friends of the Centre @stphnhwrdjns.bsky.social & @saleemaburney.bsky.social "Does Islam Oppose Science?", examining views of Muslim faith leaders on science & scripture brill.com/view/journal...

That is, if memory serves, to support high cost subjects, underrepresented groups, and technical qualifications.

When the father of a murdered son makes a public statement saying "we do not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension", then I believe it's incumbent on any news outlet reporting on Farage's comments to ensure people know he has chosen to disregard the family's wishes.

Henry Nowak's father: "This is not a case about Sikhism. This is not a case about racism. This is a case about murder." Farage: "Nah, it's about racism. Have at it, boys!"

Strong feeling that uni lecturers are the canary in this particular coal mine. The best thing* about marking work is getting enthusiastic about students' enthusiasm. But we can't do that anymore; we have to constantly suspicious. It stinks.

Our SHAPE Involve and Engage 2027-28 programme is now open for applications, offering an exciting opportunity for humanities and social sciences researchers to engage with the public. Apply now: https://bit.ly/43JR4oA

Tend to agree with this. It's another case of Starmer's Labour using ministerial powers to avoid an argument, and storing up bigger problems in the process. After all, how do you think a Reform govt would use this precedent?

Boardman said: "[in 2021], there were 250 million car journeys a year in the [Manchester] region of less than one kilometre. "People don't do that because they like sitting in traffic, they do it because they don't feel like they have a viable alternative.”

The connection between misogyny and extremist violence is clear and well-researched. And yet, not a single counterterrorism intervention in the whole history of the War on Terror has addressed this. 5\

This is rather good www.theringer.com/2026/05/28/t...

The man on Bovino's left (as we look at the photo) is Martin Sellner He is the Austrian co-founder of the white nationalist Generation Identity group. He was banned from the UK in 2018 on security grounds, and remains banned In 2019 it emerged he'd conversed with the Christchurch mosque shooter

This is really good but one question it oddly doesn't ask: Why is the Premier League, an organisation with an actual programme of anti-racist activity, still on X? And why aren't more people putting pressure on the PL to depart, given that would have genuine consequence?

This is just an invasion by any other name. In a just world, Israel would face the same treatment as Russia.

I laughed so hard at the outfit. Incredible.

2026 Me: Hey 1996 me, in 30 years time you'll be furious at everything Tony Blair says and think John Major makes some pretty sensible points 1996 Me: Fuck, so I'm doomed to become more conservative as I get older 2026 Me: Well not exactly

This sounds like one of those grand VC schemes that won't survive contact with the reality of student life. It'll be implemented with massive fanfare, cause huge stress for everyone, and then be quietly unwound when the VC leaves in 2027.

This is an annoying question because, yes, I do think social media is very harmful for kids, but only as harmful as it is for adults. And tbh, kids are generally more adept at critically using it than adults.

Just had to talk the kiddo down from apoplectic rage because he, reasonably, can't see the sense in bum offsides.

Tuchel’s England – like Southgate’s – is Proudly Multiracial 🎯

Satuday's @theguardian.com cartoon #transrights #EHRC #LGBTQ

Useful chapter on applying routine activity theory to cybercrime – likely to make a good addition to the ‘further reading’ if you’re teaching routine activities to students.

Bluesky! I and my fabulous colleagues have a new article out on Muslim religious leaders' views about science, and evolution specifically. This took quite a lot of blood and sweat to get out. Do read, share etc. brill.com/view/journal...

I am so furious about the toilet BS, which creates a totally bizarre environment in which nosey people can stop anyone from having a wee. What sort of govt feels good about creating the means to stop people having a wee? We need more free public toilets, not ways to make it harder to go to the loo

This is a very convoluted way to say, 'Our policy is completely fucking unworkable.'

I don't think it's a good idea to legally privilege someone else's discomfort over another person's rights.

New Article—Social Forces “Negative views of science & scientists are relatively rare, but are more common among political & religious conservatives than among political or religious liberals.” “In a multivariate framework, it is clear that politics, not religious faith, is the crucial predictor…”

I do think a lot of anti-Starmer sentiment is blaming one man for the world's problems. But the proscription of Palestine Action is a clear exception. He's a KC. He knew full well how broad the terrorism powers are now. And he knew proscription would have huge consequences way beyond PA itself.

Notable also that the major Spanish news networks like El País and RTVE *always* describe Reform and Farage as far right/ultraderecha in their headlines.

I do worry a lot about this stuff, but honestly, this piece vastly overstates the rationality of the pre-internet media ecosystem. It's not like the print tabloids prioritised truth over emotions, is it?

[incidentally, some people here who claim to be on the left/anti-racist, but think that it can't be antisemitism if you just say "Zionists" instead of "Jews" would benefit from reading this.]

Anti-Zionism is not prima facie antisemitism. But this far-right march is a good example of how blatant antisemitism also doesn’t become kosher if you just replace the word “Jew” with “Zionist.”

As others (@owenwntr.bsky.social, MiC etc) have noted, social attitudes cut by financial security is quite a neat prism. Financially insecure social liberals going Green, financially insecure conservatives Reform. Lab & LD left with financially secure liberals. Con higher with secure cons.

Very, very good news. I know it seems very strange and counter-cultural to put people who believe in equality and human rights in the Equality and Human Rights Commission, but maybe this weird new approach will work.

Frustrated with the election pundits talking as if votes only 'swing' from one party to another. I did some analysis of the results, and my modelling (based on votes only, not polls) suggests that the largest movement since 2024 local elections (by a long way) is from 'Did Not Vote' -> Reform

If I were to identify the fatal flaw in the Starmer project, it is obsessing so much over minimising attack targets that you erase your own strengths. The route to re-election runs more through Miliband than Mahmood.

I know people are frustrated that the mince has not defrosted. But, given time, it will defrost. Some people argue we should have taken it out of the freezer last year. But that is not what the British people voted for. The procedures are being followed and we are now reviewing when to remove it.

No this is not a fair standard, any more than it is fair to say that all of Islam is tainted by the Iranian or Saudi governments, or all of Christianity by... *gestures broadly to all of European history.* No religious community on earth is free of its crimes.

There is huge, broad-based public desire to show solidarity and oppose antisemitism. There is not a broad-based public desire to attend a Farage rally. What on earth is the BoD thinking?

The “Blue Labour” strategy still being promoted by some on Labour right is premised on being able to win social conservatives while holding on to social liberals. Failure state for this strategy is failing to win social cons while alienating social liberals. Here is a map of that failure state:

Nice voting system you've got there. Definitely able to cope with electoral landscape. No issues whatsoever

Sky News projecting a national vote share for Reform of 27%, based on results so far. That’s four points down on what they achieved in local elections last year. Somewhat of a counter to the prevailing narrative. More evidence that Reform appears to have peaked.

Have you read a 1977 letter in Nature treating "Ozymandias" as a draft scientific paper, giving referee's comments. Eg: #16: Unless this is a windless desert, surely a sandy desert should show dune formation? If actually level, perhaps in fact it is a stony desert? nature.com/articles/268...

Because we've grown so used to how wacky she is, everyone seems to be overlooking just how mad 'Palestine marches bad, Tommy Robinson marches just religious commentary' is.

Something I've long thought: the old REF restriction of 5 publications per person over 7 years should be an upper production limit imposed on all academics.

I live in central London, we get a lot of both marches and backwash to the marches, and, to reiterate, I do hear and see things that I think people shouldn’t say or do. After a thousand years living here I might see as much in person as I do on X in a week and here in a month.

Well, I’m at the village fair and the first thing I have seen is this memorial bench to The Prodigy’s Keith Flint (genuinely) in the churchyard. Apparently there has been local controversy. The vicar has vigorously defended it.