Want to know what’s driving the rise of Reform in Scotland? What the ceiling to their potential vote might be and who makes up this new political force?… We have a pod for that with some stellar experts and insights 👇

‘Things could go backwards’: Kezia Dugdale talks to Helen Pidd about safety, LGBTQ+ rights and the future of Stonewall, announcing her new role as chair www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Public life is not a stage on which individuals should be handled gently so they are not driven away. It is a domain of power, justification, answerability, and trust... Palantir seeks only the first of these. bsky.app/profile/elio...

Social media has made things worse for so many women and girls, with so much of this harassment online, making those platforms increasingly hostile places. This bill must be part of a bigger institutional and cultural change that we need to see across society.

If you are planning to vote for Scottish Greens don’t be duped by Independent Green Voice nothing environmental or organic about them. Set up by neo-fascist BNP/UKIP. A scandal that they are allowed to use the words green, organic and have a leaf in logo.

BBCs coverage this week hasn't been about "revealing sham immigration advisers". Yes, they exist and should be combatted, but these deliberately create the misleading idea of people seeking asylum committing widespread fraud. It's been about paving the way for this. 1/ www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Important listen (if I may) 👇 Thanks @profnicolamcewen.bsky.social & @kezdugdale.bsky.social for the invite and great questions! (Ping @edinburghpir.bsky.social @uoe-sps.bsky.social)

New from @thesccjr.bsky.social, this podcast series is aimed at PhD students, and invites any questions that you might have about doctoral research and all that it involves.

Have you signed up to the Centre for Public Policy mailing list? 📧💡 You'll receive our monthly newsletter and be the first to hear about future events and opportunities. Subscribe on the Centre website: www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/...

Disgusting reporting by BBC using a tiny number of cases to suggest widespread abuse of a system which routinely denies LGBTQIA+ individuals asylum and forces them back into environments of persecution. This article massively distorts the reality of the situation. 1/ www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

All welcome at Puzzled Faces, a new monthly group for people with hearing loss. Starting on 17 April at The Clarice Pears Building. Come along for chat, activities and a chance to meet others in a welcoming space.

More than a decade ago, during the Syrian Civil War, the northern Syrian city of Manbij was the setting for a real-world, real-time experiment in democracy. And that experiment is captured in the new book "Days of Love and Rage: A Story of Ordinary People Forging a Revolution."

I published this yesterday. www.eff.org/deeplinks/20... Today I learned that my friend Ahmed Shihab Eldin is among those detained. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

I’m very happy to be one of the inaugural Alliance For Higher Education fellows. Higher ed faces some unprecedented challenges and it is an all-hands-on-deck moment for folks working to protect the field.

Glasgow’s traffic congestion is costing bus users an estimated £24m a year, finds new research by @ubdc.bsky.social commissioned by First Bus. The study was led by @drdpmcarthur.bsky.social Dr Fiona Crawford and Dr Jose Rafael Verduzco-Torres @uofgussp.bsky.social www.gla.ac.uk/news/headlin...

The latest episode of The #Identities Podcast! Episode 10: The Asian Gang Revisited With Claire Alexander, Marcus Anthony Hunter, Shamim Miah, Sadiya Akram & Nick Beech open.spotify.com/epi... @nasarmeer.bsky.social Taylor & Francis Research @uofgsps.bsky.social Stuart Hall Foundation

The Doctor is a Dr 🎓🎉👇🏾 bsky.app/profile/glas...

Several excellent contributions to this @theguardian.com panel on the Hungarian election. I particularly like the one by Zsuzsa Szelény. “Removing Orbán from office is one thing. Dismantling Orbánism is quite another.”

Analysis of MAC data shows any fiscal savings of the settlement reforms would be a small fraction of the billions cited by ministers. Research from FoI request by @jdportes.bsky.social The govt must now show its own workings to inform MPs on policy choices www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

ELECTION WEBINAR SERIES🚨🗓️ We're partnering with leading organisations in April and May to explore the big policy questions shaping the elections in a series of timely, expert-led webinars. @acadsocsciences.bsky.social @theifs.bsky.social @ipsosinscotland.bsky.social Sign up - links below🧵⬇️

😂 (I once met Fikret Alic, the emaciated figure behind the barbed wire who LM effectively defamed. He told me they’d ruined life. Absolutely appalling).

Hmm... tough one but is it less than the number of times his rag "Living Marxism" was successfully sued by ITN for claiming the latter had fabricated its reporting of evidence of ethnic cleaning in Bosnia? bsky.app/profile/pete...

Guess how many times this Spiked piece - which blames Orban’s loss on ‘identity politics’ and ‘therapy culture’ - mentions that Furedi is literally working for Orban? democracyforsale.substack.com/p/orbans-brits

I hear progressives in France are inviting Vance to throw his support behind Bardella... share.google/l9DIL1hj50bX...

'The £25,000 Prize recognises outstanding books in the fields of the humanities and social sciences that combine original thinking, high-quality research and exceptional storytelling.' Submissions are now open. 1/2

Tune in to a new podcast series from @uofgpolicy.bsky.social UofG Spotlight: On the Elections 🎧 Hosts @profnicolamcewen.bsky.social, @kezdugdale.bsky.social & @graemeroy.bsky.social will be bringing you episodes covering the big policy issues facing the country. www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/...

📣The Social Policy Association’s Opportunity Grants programme for Spring 2026 is now open for applications! 💷Grants <£1K and £5K available to suppport social policy events and initiatives. 📅Deadline: Monday, 4th May 2026. social-policy.org.uk/opportunity-...

Next #Identities event! 'Ceding Sovereignty to the More-Than-Human: A Maori Perspective' with Prof Carl Mika Chaired by Prof Ima Jackson, Glasgow Caledonian University In person 23 Apr, 2-3.30pm Register: www.eventbrite.co.uk... @nasarmeer.bsky.social @uofgsps.bsky.social @uofgsocsci.bsky.social

"universities.. are among the few public institutions capable of cultivating democratic habits at scale (which is why they are among the first institutions to be attacked by authoritarian regimes). But they, too, will have to reckon with their own failures..." truthout.org/articles/the...

Orban has not appeared on tv - he sent his chief of staff looking ashen. In the meantime, challenger Peter Magyar appeared on tv to claim that this is a historic day. There are no exit polls in Hungary but here are projections from a respectable researcher based on pre-election polls.

The latest episode of The #Identities Podcast is now live! Episode 10: The Asian Gang Revisited With Claire Alexander, Marcus Anthony Hunter, Shamim Miah & Sadiya Akram. Chaired by Nick Beech open.spotify.com/epi... @nasarmeer.bsky.social Aaron Winter Stuart Hall Foundation

What role could marginal seats play in the next Scottish Parliament election? 🗣️🎧 @markmcgeoghegan.bsky.social explains on the #UofGSpotlight podcast why small shifts in support could have a big impact on the final result. 🎧 Listen to the episode in full: uofgspotlight.com

NEW: Election 2026 Policy Insights: Justice ⚖️ 🚨 In the first in a series of insights tackling the big policy issues ahead, Fiona McPhail (@uofglaw.bsky.social) examines Justice. She outlines the case for reforming legal aid and closing the justice gap in Scotland. www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/...

The focus on jury trials is a distraction. The root causes of the court backlog are historic underinvestment and systematic inefficiencies, writes Labour MP @cateccles.bsky.social

I’m going to this and bringing friends and family So please do join us - it will be brilliant

Today in Beirut. #lebanon

The British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grants is now open for applications, supported by DSIT, @leverhulme.ac.uk and @wellcometrust.bsky.social. Apply now: https://bit.ly/4t0MDRl

Professor Ruth Dukes @uofglaw.bsky.social has contributed to a joint @ieruk.bsky.social briefing that warns the Government's new Fair Work Agency risks being a ‘toothless watchdog’ unless urgent changes are made. More: www.gla.ac.uk/news/headlin...

From Roger Scruton cafes to paying Matt Goodwin $10k a month, Viktor Orban has built a network of populist right think tanks, journalists and activists Today Democracy for Sale delves into Orban’s allies on the British right Well worth a read democracyforsale.substack.com/p/orbans-brits

NEW insights from Prof @nasarmeer.bsky.social and Dr Tim Peace: 📝Progress without parity: Ethnic and racial minority participation at Holyrood They note that while Scotland is more diverse than in its electoral history, representation in Parliament lags behind. Read www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/...

Progress without parity: Ethnic and racial minority participation at Holyrood - www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/... @uofgsocsci.bsky.social

We didn't deserve this day.

Next #Identities event! 'Ceding Sovereignty to the More-Than-Human: A Maori Perspective' with Prof Carl Mika Chaired by Prof Ima Jackson, Glasgow Caledonian University In person 23 Apr, 2-3.30pm Register: www.eventbrite.co.uk... @nasarmeer.bsky.social @uofgsps.bsky.social @uofgsocsci.bsky.social

Orbán is Trump’s first and most stalwart European supporter. He now faces a referendum on all he has achieved. The results will tell us where the west is headed, writes Michael Ignatieff

Spectrum, 1980 - not a word... www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMh_...

The disjuncture between even mainstream/liberal US media and practically ever other open society’s news media has become a yawning chasm Grimly fascinating to watch in real time. But no wonder so many in US don’t feel the sense of urgency most of rest of world does

"Strikes against civilian infrastructure follow the same genocidal logic that saw every university in Gaza razed to rubble within 100 days of October 7, 2023."

Trump's aides are telling him that destroying Iran's infrastructure is fair game. They are wrong. They are advocating war crimes. Unfortunately, the targeting of infrastructure is far from new. See: "The Dangerous Rise of 'Dual-Use' Objects in War": papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

4 months later, a good time to ask Ofcom whether its confidential investigation into how X [unnamed] deal with " taking down illegal terror and hate content" including antisemitism + anti-Muslim content (and unlawful racial hatred more broadly) found any major flaws! www.ofcom.org.uk/siteassets/r...

Impressive, but releasing them might be simpler... www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-u...