Has anyone written anything good about the return of 'affordability' as a political concern from a cultural perspective? its affective contours, what residual narratives it's tapping into?

The man who accelerated his car into a crowd of people in Liverpool admits simply to having “lost his temper.” The most recent example of what the Zetkin Collective called the “great driving right show” - the political, social and environmental debasement of the car. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

actual bluesky challenge: post your favorite work of art from fifty years before you were born.

Preparing for the 'Cultural Analysis in the World' symposium in Amsterdam next week and have really enjoyed reading Aylin Kuryel's excellent essay on the field's vexed relationship with 'social relevance'.

Ok I know a lot of yous were surprised you hadn’t heard of the longest strike in NHS history happening in Gloucester, now here’s your chance to make a difference - a local petition like this is really important, please sign www.megaphone.org.uk/petitions/sa...

Also travelling to Aarhus for the @dkmarxsoc.bsky.social conference on Abolition and pleasantly surprised to report no delays from the deutsche bahn (!) so far? Look forward to talking crisis, debt and social reproduction tomorrow morning provided I haven't just jinxed my travel 🛤️

In food history, we notice how super-refined foods--gelatin, vienna sausage, white bread--lose class and become horrifying once they become industrialized. Suddenly, fingermarks in bread dough demonstrate skill, not clumsiness. Post-chatGPT, I'm feeling this about writing. Smoothness feels gross.

'In short, Accidental Lime-Bike Critical Mass (ALBCM) is making our streets safer in general. Bad cyclist behaviour is conditioning bad driver behaviour, for the better.' danhancox.substack.com/p/onwards-to...

there's a crowdsourced directory of branches on yourparty.tools

Are there any meetings like this or groups getting together across (N) London?

if you want something feel-good!

🚨COMRADES!🚨 It's finally time to register for the 10th Danish conference for marxist studies on oct.10th-11th through link below! This year the theme is on "Abolition" and we are so 🎉HYPED🎉 for this year's line-up which includes our great keynotes @genderhorizon.com and @brosef-stalin.bsky.social 🔥

No, with respect, the buck stops with him. He's the leader. Not McSweeney, not the comms guy. He sets the strategy, tone and values. He is responsible. Either Starmer and his whole crew are ousted and are replaced by something very different or its Vichy Labour from here until doomsday.

ASCA based PhD researchers! I would love to hear from you for the PhD panel part of this workshop between ASCA and the Sussex Centre for Cultural Studies 👇

Fascinating

The West is that place on earth where an army killing civilians on a massive scale creates less outrage than calling for the metaphorical death of that army. The actual is trumped by the imaginary.

New from me: I've spent the last 6 months compiling a map of data centres, whose locations are generally secret, operated by Amazon, Microsoft and Google. Cross-referencing that map with areas of water scarcity shows many are in the world's driest areas. www.source-material.org/amazon-micro...

Labour's idea of 'free speech' is freedom to make trans people feel unsafe on campus, but not the freedom to criticise Israel.

'It is not just that the only story we hear is the one told by gender critical academics. It is not just that those who claim to be silenced are given more opportunities to speak. Their speech is how other people are silenced.'

This is of very great concern. Labour has effectively declared war on trans academics and students. By defining transphobia as a “free speech” issue it is going to protect transphobes in higher education while preventing trans-inclusion. This is the opposite of “free speech”.

If you have to "self-censor" rather than spreading transphobic propaganda perhaps you should be self censoring. Trans and non-binary individuals are not "fair game" for abuse, no matter how much some seem to think so right now. We all deserve to not face abuse. #r4today www.bbc.com/news/article...

3 collaborative doctoral awards - funded studentships - on the project 'Visual Cultures of Fascism'. www.liverpool.ac.uk/study/postgr...

It's...not countering if....it's....the same stuff.

Masters scholarships for Palestinian students at Sussex. Please disseminate? www.sussex.ac.uk/broadcast/re...

Those high income drivers are at it again www.theguardian.com/education/20...

One of the most optimistic stories of today. This egregious "saving on labour costs" is proving to be unprofitable due to the ballooning IT / licensing prices instead. Hopefully the big tech takeover will peak soon as it's found to be inefficient and predatory. youtu.be/RLf0Fw1wW7Q?...

In 2010, anti-copyright activist Aaron Swartz hanged himself after being prosecuted to the full extent of the law for making copyrighted academic publications freely available. Today, academic publishers are insisting those copyrights be lifted to feed the corporate AI slop machine.

Academia already acting like the ethnic cleansing of gaza is complete. Shame on Leiden and Cambridge Uni press. Utterly disgusting.

🚨 Sussex AI PhD studentships - call is open now! Scholarships are available for researchers working at the intersection of multiple academic fields. I am interested in supervising doctoral projects with strong philosophical approaches/research questions. www.sussex.ac.uk/study/fees-f...

It's just one part of a wider problem, but it's causing significant stress to PhDs who would like to pursue academia and aren't getting the required experience - not to mention the short-term loss of earning opps

Looking forward to hosting @carolynpedwell.bsky.social's seminar on 'AI and the Affective Ideologies of Common Sense' next week with the Sussex Centre for Cultural Studies 💫 12th December at 4pm, online. It's open to all, sign up here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ai-and-the...

This is why the RG is favored in policy and practice by both the government and the press

Je m'ennuyais alors j'ai fait une petite liste de médias indépendants que j'ai repris sur le portail @bastamedia.bsky.social (on va dire avec une ligne éditoriale à minima "sociale") Si ça vous sauce de les avoir dans vos fils d'infos c'est là: go.bsky.app/ETH2u4v

Two vital pieces of info b4 Black Friday: 1. Price trackers have proven that Amazon has been slowly hiking prices so they can pretend to slash them on Black Friday/Cyber Monday. There are no actual deals. Just the appearance of them. 2. Amazon workers are on strike www.google.com/amp/s/amp.th...

'those who work at night or get up very early for work are 50% more likely to vote for the national rally' (national front) authoritarian and degrading working conditions are priming far right votes in France

depressing but useful live overview of redundancies and restructures in HE from @qmucu.bsky.social (i'm darkly cackling at exeter calling their VS program the 'exeter release scheme')

BOOK PROJECT. I posted this CFP in 300 character chunks earlier but here is the full pdf. Message w/ any questions. "Capacities To: Affect Up Against Fascism" - deadline for abstracts is 10 Dec, with complete submissions (100-1500 words) due Dec 31. Click the link for the pertinent details.

TWO Cultural Studies starter packs for the price of one! A collaborative effort with @gil-rodman.bsky.social. These packs include folks committed to cultural studies as both an intellectual and political practice. go.bsky.app/VEpToCi go.bsky.app/LJvnwMj

If you're in Brighton area next week 29 November please come to this screening: Screening: انتي صامدة (She the Steadfast) Date: Fri, Nov 29 • 18:00 GMT Location: University of Sussex, Falmer, BN1 9RH www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/screening-...

🤖AI, Affective Ideologies and Common Sense ✨: Looking forward to giving an online talk as part of the Sussex Centre for Cultural Studies' new series 'The State of Cultural Analysis' on 12th December. Hope to see you there! Sign-up details below: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ai-and-the...

👋 Having a go at Bluesky though I'm generally quite social media shy & dubious. Would love to connect with academics in cultural studies, working on everyday life, crisis, energy humanities or critical logistics!