Great book - here's my review, hot off the @lsereviewofbooks.bsky.social press!

Too many students are convinced by their own universities, by some of their teachers and professors, and by the AI companies themselves that ‘using ai to study is getting ahead of the game’ But the process they seek to get ahead of is the point.

Useful, practical.

ITALY: Arms factory workers say no to war newint.org/arms/2026/it...

Palantir poses a clear risk to privacy, democracy and human rights and shouldn't be let anywhere near the NHS. news.sky.com/story/nhs-ho...

🚨Save Languages at the University of Essex 🚨 #langsky #linguistics UoE plans to cut German, Italian, Portuguese and Chinese + all evening classes and merge Language and Linguistics with a larger unit. Only 2 languages will remain next October. Please sign our letter: tinyurl.com/SaveLingLang...

⏳ One week to go! ✍️ The ETUI is looking for an Education Officer to lead its European Works Councils (#EWC) training within the Education Department. 👉 Apply now: etui.org/43J 🚨 Deadline: 20 March 2026

We should not dismiss these as the rambling words of an insane person, even if that's what they look. We need to remember that these people have huge power already, and we must resist any attempt to give them more.

“I now talk about AI with my students not under the framework of cheating or academic honesty but in terms that are frankly existential” www.theguardian.com/technology/n...

Even if AI doesn’t hit jobs in a big way, unemployment is starting to re-emerge as a policy issue. So it’s good that @sarahoconnorft.ft.com reminds us how low our unemployment benefits are, and how this can lead to people taking jobs below their skill level www.ft.com/content/771a...

My colleague Ratnes Alahakone is looking for participants in her study on Sexual Wellness: A New Frontier in Employee Wellbeing at Work. You can sign up here: form.typeform.com/to/Vrfb7oXF

Can someone share this with Starmer?

‘We remain deeply concerned that universities will be unable to absorb the cost of the levy’s introduction. The loss of cross-subsidy for domestic teaching & research will harm universities’ ability to deliver their core functions’ Our response to the levy www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/60...

How to battle the normalisation of populist neo-fascism youtu.be/Z5J7J1mvYtc?...

"Managers may prefer to see people at desks, but for many who take jobs while carefully calculating rents, house prices, commuting costs and childcare complexities, flexibility is not a nice-to-have feature but the difference between taking and leaving a job." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

'Collateral damage' www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...

The greatest risk of AI in higher education isn’t cheating – it’s the erosion of learning itself share.google/CjcdXejrMQyJ...

Come in person or join us online tomorrow:

This is good on where things are, but I’m not sure that in lots of cases higher ed has ever really been about the ‘transmission of knowledge’: how many humanities undergrads who go off into work really retain the subject-level knowledge? Thinking and writing have always been more important.

For women,these files offer an unprecedented chance to eavesdrop on conversations from which they are usually excluded [...] a salutary insights into what a set of distinguished global figures think and say about women when they assume the women aren’t listening. www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

ADVICE: If universities want their journals to be sustainable, and to serve scholarship well, three practical implications follow. First, treat journals as infrastructure. Second, invest in metadata as a public good. Third, recognise diversity as a feature, not a failure.

BUIRA Annual Conference 2026: Regulation in a Time of Disruption, 23-25 June, Essex University. Call for papers now open: www.buira.net/2026/01/22/c...

🔶New issue of Futures of Work. This issue explores how borders shape workers’ lives, treating them not as neutral lines but as contested and ideological forces. The articles show how bordering practices structure labour mobility and inequality. futuresofwork.co.uk

We stand in solidarity with EU countries. Together, we are holding online platforms accountable. Online platforms bring many benefits, but they also pose risks: 🔴 Harmful content 🔴 Addictive features 🔴 Threats to children, consumers, democracies, and elections

This is huge. Tenure was axed in the UK by Thatcher for political reasons in 1988, and since then UK academics have gradually completely lost control of their entire sector. Tenure is the bedrock of what *real* academic freedom means, not the right-wing 'you must platform fascists version' /1

Real wages declined 0.3% for low-wage workers in 2025, a stark departure from the unusually strong wage gains they had experienced over the previous five years. This reversal was not inevitable—it was caused by policy decisions that weakened the labor market. #EconSky @epi.org @joe-fast.bsky.social

Seminar on Organisational Misbehaviour Online and in person: ⏰Tue 17th Feb 10am - 1pm Prof Wim Vanderckhove, EDHEC Business School Dr Athol Williams, University of Oxford Dr Guodong Cheng, University of Greenwich Chair: Dr Sterling Rauseo Register here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/organisati...

🚨 Wide gaps in waiting times for a SEND diagnosis by socio-economic background 🚨 Our research shows how middle-class (ABC1) parents have shorter waiting times for formal SEND diagnoses than working-class (C2DE) parents.

Are you interested in pursuing a funded PhD at the ESRC Centre for Digital Futures at Work, at the University of Leeds, supervised by Mark Stuart & Charles Umney? You will contribute to a study titled, ‘Building employment inclusion within the West Yorkshire regional digital skills ecosystem.'

‘If I think about what this means, I want to cry’: what happens when a city loses its university?

‘Novice workers who rely heavily on AI to complete unfamiliar tasks may compromise their own skill acquisition… We find that AI use impairs conceptual understanding, code reading, and debugging abilities, without delivering significant efficiency gains on average.’ arxiv.org/pdf/2601.20245

A lot to digest here in this government summary report on AI Skills for Life and Work. www.gov.uk/government/p...

Jane Lethbridge examines how the meat production industry functions as a global industry, contributing to increased health risks for consumers and workers and as a major emitter of greenhouse gases. bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journal...

Hot off the press - a letter from the Exec Chair of @ukri.org explaining his plans and in particular the financial position of STFC. It notes curiosity driven research is protected and will make up around half of UKRI spend over the coming period www.ukri.org/news/open-le...

One in seven food businesses on major delivery platforms, including Deliveroo and Just Eat, is now a “dark kitchen” www.theguardian.com/business/202...

First was the second day of the @etui.bsky.social occupational safety and health conference. I particularly liked the talks by Juan Sebastian Carbonell (limits to algorithmic management) and @aloisi.bsky.social 👋 (AI at work: product or people safety?) www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqL9... (2/4)

Imagine having your 5-year old child taken away by an armed man in a baklava.

Spare 15 minutes and listen to Carney's speech at Davos: "You cannot live within the lie of mutual benefit through integration when integration becomes the source of your subordination." youtu.be/hZCGD3ZTlZw?...

Join us next week for our virtual book talk, Sociology of hope. Adrian Scribano will join us to discuss his books themes of revolution, utopia, social change, and collective action. 📅 Wed 21 January ⏰ 6.30pm 🎟️ Free and open to all | register to attend⬇️

"The company announced a consultation on a proposal to close the site in Milton Keynes, which was the first Amazon centre to open in the UK, in 1998" www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

I only want to read articles where an author takes responsibility for every sentence. Please don't disrespect my limited time by presenting me with sentences produced by an LLM that are not full of the meaning that YOU want to say. I want to connect with an author and trust their integrity.

One of life's little joys, but so effective: share.google/e9j9Slg3eYIy...

Tech workers need unions too buff.ly/dgLeqyj With mass layoffs and poor working conditions becoming widespread across the sector, it’s time for techies to get organised @marisharay.bsky.social @thebristolcable.bsky.social @joshuareynoldssl6.bsky.social @utaw.tech @unitesharon.bsky.social @tuc.org.uk

Our new Bedside Books column offers brief insights into titles our readers can’t put down, from books on men’s inner lives and women’s aspirations in today’s Delhi to volumes on the opioid crisis, perimenopause and swimming in Hampstead Ladies’ Pond. Find your page turner: buff.ly/3EfwkNl

I’m in this meme and I don’t like it. #academicsky #academiclife

Heavy rain, thunderstorms and hail is expected across Palestine, according to the Palestinian Meteorological Department.

"Do not cite an academic paper unless you’ve read it" - I have always taken this for granted. Now I've started saying these exact words to my students at the beginning of every term. And reminding them now and then...

"Silicon samples" www.science.org/content/arti...

📣 Call for doctoral researchers! For our International Max Planck Research School on the Social and Political Constitution of the Economy we’re seeking doctoral researchers with a master’s degree in sociology, political science, economics, or a related field. Please share widely! s.gwdg.de/LNzUNa

Optimism is currently unfashionable. The newly published Community Life Survey asks, "do you agree or disagree that this local area is a place where people from different backgrounds get on well together?" I wondered if we might see a sharp decline this year; it has gone down 1%, to 80% agreement.