Remember the bullshit Tory HQ 'fact-checker' website run during the last General Election campaign? Well, Labour HQ has taken a leaf out of its playbook with a bullshit 'tactical voting' website. Different rosette, same party.

Israel responsible for two-thirds of record 129 press killings in 2025, says CPJ

Question: “Is the war in Gaza over?” Francesca Albanese: It was never truly over. Since the last ceasefire, Israel has killed more than 600 Palestinians. So where exactly is this “peace”? Why must Gaza remain a slaughterhouse? There is no peace.💔💔💔💔🤬

Job losses at research-intensive universities doubled in two years. The scale of redundancies revealed by RPN has been branded a “disaster” for UK research capacity. Via @chrisjparr.bsky.social. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...

'The University and College Union (UCU), Unison and Unite said the vote by its members followed "years of shocking financial decisions and governance failures".'

Why do people still say 'hard decisions'? Everyone knows it just means making people redundant. So it's not even code at this point. It's patronising.

How Matt Goodwin's definition of "the Elite" focuses on university workers and civil servants, while excluding the investment bankers, asset managers and global real estate executives who pay him bylinetimes.com/2026/02/25/r...

BBC News: Unions pass no confidence vote in University of Nottingham bosses

appreciate that @swin24.bsky.social doesn’t mince words at zeteo: “This was the most openly racist State of the Union in modern history”

'Roughly a third of the group’s members posted deficits last year. The University of Nottingham, which recorded a loss of over £85 million, increased its number of top earners significantly from 207 to 294. And there were 185 at the cash-strapped Cardiff University.'

I’m not at a Russell Group university but the pattern is the same; fewer professional services and academic staff; lower pay and wise conditions, but more and more top earners on ever-higher salaries. It’s just pillage.

"Russian companies have used Britain’s secretive island territories to conduct $8bn (£5.9bn) of trade since the invasion of Ukraine, according to a report that highlights the flow of goods ranging from oil-drilling equipment to luxury yachts linked to Moscow’s political elite." #R4Today

1. Kevin Gross and I just posted a new science-of-science preprint. This one explores the looming peer review crisis. As many of you know, it's becoming significantly more difficult for journal editors to find scholars willing to serve as peer reviewers for submitted manuscripts.

AstraZeneca boss Pascal Soriot’s pay rises to £17.7m. With Trump's backing the company demanded price hike of 25% for drugs supplied to the National health Service. The UK govt capitulated. No govt demands end to fat-cattery and profiteering. People pay more in taxes, get less.

Ministers plan linking patient data to benefit claims and employment statistics. As Streeting promises to make the NHS "accountable" for whether patients are in work by setting new targets for 'getting people back to work'. That NHSE (DHSC) Palantir contract should help www.ft.com/content/6943...

I've seen a couple of Flock cameras in #Memphis that were taken down. I've also, while out knocking doors, seen many Ring cameras and doorbells disabled or outright removed from houses in some of the richest parts of the city. People are angry at ICE. And they're angry at collaborators.

‼️🚨Exclusive from @theleaduk.bsky.social’a @lukebeardsworth.bsky.social Reform UK will take no action against their deputy leader in Lancashire after he reshared social media content calling for a Labour MP to be shot lancashire.thelead.uk/p/lancashire...

Reform UK deputy leader reshared social media post calling for Labour MP to be shot lancashire.thelead.uk/p/lancashire...

Guinea-Bissau "terminated a contentious hepatitis B vaccine trial bankrolled by the Trump administration following a sharp ethical rebuke from the WHO, which warned the study risked causing irreversible harm to newborns" "It's not going to happen, period," said Foreign Minister Joao Bernardo Vieira

Hewish received the Nobel prize for it in 1974: Bell Burnell did not. In 2018 Bell Burnell received a £3m prize for her work. She's used it to set up a foundation to improve the diversity in STEM. 2/2

Palantir - by their actions shall you know them. "It is unusual for a large international company to file one against a local media organisation." www.ft.com/content/434b...

Great to see this. Should be interesting. BBC Radio 4 Tuesday February 24th at 9.30am Inside Health: “Is the tide turning on ME research”? (28 minutes) www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m... #MyalgicEncephalomyelitis #ChronicFatigueSyndrome #MEcfs #CFS #PwME

Reform UK for sale. It had to return over £200,000 in donations from 18 ineligible overseas donors. It received £9m from a person in Thailand. Its former Wales leader received 10.5 yrs prison sentence for accepting bribes to promote pro-Russian narratives. Elon Musk promised $100m.

Pleased to see FullFact confirming what I said in my film is correct. As for Reform leader Nigel Farage - he is of course speaking boll****. Perhaps UK news shows could now start calling him out on this. fullfact.org/immigration/...

Reform UK Accused Of 'Declaring War On Workers' Over Plan To Scrap Employment Rights www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/reform...

The question I ask with any article is: what do I actually know and think about this topic? Essay = assay. This means sometimes my final piece is different to what I thought it would be. "What is your angle?" I am sometimes asked before filing. - I dunno, I reply, I have not written it yet.

NEW Land and Expand - how Palantir captured the Ministry of Defence What a close reading of public domain documents tells us about two concerning contract awards Detailed post by me, following-up on my FT column emptycity.substack.com/p/land-and-e...

even this NYT article ostensibly about people being resistant to AI doesn't REALLY want to tangle with the long list of reasons why (pollution, dismantled climate goals, the fact surveillance obsessed tech companies saddled up to fascism). They're given a throwaway sentence or two

Reform UK has today unveiled Donald Trump-style ICE plans. In the meantime UK news shows continue to fail to call out Reform UK leader Nigel Farage’s completely untrue claims. If UK media can’t get the job done let’s do it ourselves www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...

Writing a bid or grant application involving #coproduction or #codesign? 📝 From being a critical friend on drafts to peer-reviewing proposals, this thread provides top tips to strengthen your bid If you need more tips or have tips to offer, share your thoughts. The more interest, the more tips

Too few people know about this: Emails show that Epstein, with the help of Norway’s former prime minister Jagland, helped Russia blackmail Trump. This likely explains why Trump refuses to pressure Russia. He is compromised

As the public inquiry hearings begin today, my thoughts are with the bereaved families and survivors of the Nottingham attacks. I’m thinking of them all at what will be an incredibly difficult time. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

These people are poison. They will unleash racist thugs on the streets of this country and call it security. They will subjugate us to the US and call it patriotism. They must be stopped. There is no more important task in politics.

Foreign nationals fight in Israel’s military with impunity, while peaceful protest against the war is criminalised at home. This double standard corrodes international law, Refaat Ibrahim writes. johnmenadue.com/post/2026/02...

Brainwashing, 2026 edition. This paper shows how X's algorithmic feed shifts people's views rightwards. It's a sophisticated, highly effective form of reorientation. And it is utterly chilling. If you're still on that platform, unhook yourself now. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Adam Ferguson, Scottish Enlightenment historian & philosopher at Edinburgh University, died #OTD 1816; a pioneer of sociology, who contributed to our understanding of civil society, democracy, political partisanship & conflict. Portrait by Henry Raeburn, c. 1790, Edinburgh University

A few days ago Trump made it easier to use pesticides such as Roundup (despite ongoing legislation over substantive health risks), now his so called EPA make it easier to pollute with mercury. He may want his name on every building/street/monument etc but his legacy will be environmental damage

Opinion: When a mere few months’ hiatus in UKRI funding opportunities imperils the futures of those without permanent posts, it only underlines the fragility of UK biomedicine, says a researcher #AcademicSky #Research ow.ly/q32l50Yhv9m

And the pilot on Social Care has already started. That’s the next one.

NEW How Palantir captured the Ministry of Defence How a close read of public domain documents show how MoD was commercially colonised by Palantir By me, at FT www.ft.com/content/5207...

Hi #UCU folks, Moving quite slowly these days due to various health issues, but here's my NEC/VP election post: bparsia.wordpress.com/2026/02/06/u... Please please please vote for @markpendleton.bsky.social and @suzitoole.bsky.social for the VPs.

So many fourth year students @liverpooluni.bsky.social are getting in contact for research projects, audits, case reports & just to observe in clinics and theatres Hard to keep up with enquiries, but I absolutely love to see the enthusiasm 🤗 @livuni-ilcams.bsky.social @livunimedicine.bsky.social

Exactly right @sianberry.bsky.social: UK has “sleepwalked into a situation that carries enormous risk” by relying on U.S. tech companies" www.politico.eu/article/brit...

first day back at work after 6 days of strike and we are starting the day with ~malfunctioning software that was probably very expensive~

Palantir's most recent scandal, covertly working with Topham Guerin to discredit the work of Good Law Project, is just the latest in a career littered with this kind of activity, beginning with the "Team Themis" scandal in 2011. They've been doing this for decades. goodlawproject.org/how-palantir...

NEW Misconducting in public office An ancient offence in the news - and how it usually is used only for junior officials By me emptycity.substack.com/p/misconduct...

Today is World Day of Social Justice. 🌍 To mark the day, BASW International Chair, Janet Walker reflects on how our profession's Code of Ethics are integral for supporting social workers to uphold their commitment to promoting social and economic equality. 🔗 Read here: basw.co.uk/articles/wor...

the3million intends to take the UK government to court to protect the right of EU citizens to be able to come back home to the UK while their immigration status is being decided. Here are the info and the fundraiser. www.crowdjustice.com/case/eu-citi...

The Security Council — minus the U.S. — joined Palestinian ambassador Mansour as he read a statement on behalf of 80 countries & several organizations condemning Israel’s latest actions in the West Bank, demanding an immediate reversal & underlining “strong opposition to any form of annexation.”

Missed the BSG abstract deadline? There’s still time to be part of the 55th Annual Conference at Oxford Brookes. 🚨Late Breaking Abstracts & Posters🚨 🗓 Deadline: 1 April 2026 (Early Bird Registration closes: 24 April 2026) www.britishgerontology.org/events-and-c... #BSG2026