I do feel very sorry for the crews trapped on these ships in the Gulf. Their mental health must be under pressure having been stuck for over 70 days, away from family, and with no clarity on when things will improve www.ft.com/content/28c8...

I do feel very sorry for the crews trapped on these ships in the Gulf. Their mental health must be under pressure having been stuck for over 70 days, away from family, and with no clarity on when things will improve www.ft.com/content/28c8...

We’ve all worked with someone to whom this applies 🤣 (From @jenwilliamsft.bsky.social Inside Politics today) www.ft.com/content/e720...

Wow. Three of my favourite words combined 😋

Important read from @meganclement.bsky.social about Nemesis, the French group who attended the Tommy Robinson rally dressed ironically in niqabs. ‘The group’s main focus is violence against women, and only incidents perpetrated by non-white men or immigrants.’ www.fullerproject.org/editions/far...

‘Compared with other rich countries, England is highly reliant on for-profit children’s homes: 84% of places are in the hands of private providers… Other countries have instead turned to charitable providers. In France, just 5% of the market is run for profit.’ www.ft.com/content/cc7f...

‘Coltrane’s first move after he was fired was to quit heroin, going cold turkey at the family home in Philadelphia. His second was to master the more than 1,000 examples notated in Nicolas Slonimsky’s monumental 1947 Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns.’ www.ft.com/content/11b0...

I’m on @benansell.bsky.social’s R4 show next week discussing the future of the humanities. I love that the Beeb have listed my cockney alter ego www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

We’ve all worked with someone to whom this applies 🤣 (From @jenwilliamsft.bsky.social Inside Politics today) www.ft.com/content/e720...

Important read from @meganclement.bsky.social about Nemesis, the French group who attended the Tommy Robinson rally dressed ironically in niqabs. ‘The group’s main focus is violence against women, and only incidents perpetrated by non-white men or immigrants.’ www.fullerproject.org/editions/far...

UKRI are recruiting for a new Exec Chair for Research England (£160k-£170k). It is a crucial role including QR funding and the REF. I hope they get a great field. But I worry a bit. It's hard to find on their website (see link below) fa-evzn-saasfaukgovprod1.fa.ocs.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...

Glad to see this www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Will AI secure humanity's future? I'm speaking at this LSE Festival event on Saturday 20th June - you can join in person or watch online www.lse.ac.uk/events/lse-f...

'Proposed staff cuts at some of the UK’s leading science departments should prompt ministers to reconsider whether the future of subjects key to industrial strategy ambitions are left to the markets, experts have said.' 1/2

‘Coltrane’s first move after he was fired was to quit heroin, going cold turkey at the family home in Philadelphia. His second was to master the more than 1,000 examples notated in Nicolas Slonimsky’s monumental 1947 Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns.’ www.ft.com/content/11b0...

Excellent piece this

Congratulations to the data wizards at @ourworldindata.org who created this elegant tool so you can adjust fertility, mortality & migration rates for any country to see the impact on population sizes & age structures. This is really, really great!! Check it out!! Excellent tool, terrific write up.

Definitely one of the more intimidating venues I’ve spoken at! The beautiful Sheffield City Council auditorium where I gave a keynote to the UK Evaluation Society on the ‘Politics of Evidence’. I asked what lessons can be learned from the dismantling of US evidence infrastructure…

Turns out saying it cost too much to prevent climate change means you end up with the downsides of climate change plus the costs of adaptation www.ft.com/content/ec4d...

🎉 Arabic, Persian, and Turkic Poetics: Towards a Post-Eurocentric Literary Theory, published by the British Academy, is shortlisted for the ESCL Excellence Award for Collaborative Research ألف مبروك تبریک می‌گویم Tebrikler Congratulations 🎉 Now 20% off on our website: bit.ly/3PlDvIF

An amazing set of research we are funding through the latest award of 244 small grants ranging from the creation of an edition of the complete works of Renaissance writer Robert Southwell to a new analysis of the macroeconomic effects of protectionism www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/sche...

As Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations turns 250 we are supporting this conference in Glasgow in June reappraising the book and considering what it means for the world today www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/events/briti...

On Weds I’m speaking at the UK Evaluation Society conference on the ‘politics of evaluation’. I’ll say that in a period of political volatility, evaluators need to work with the wider evidence community to protect independent institutions, data infrastructure & a functioning information environment

An amazing set of research we are funding through the latest award of 244 small grants ranging from the creation of an edition of the complete works of Renaissance writer Robert Southwell to a new analysis of the macroeconomic effects of protectionism www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/sche...

Good to host Development Minister Jenny Chapman launch the new Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Global Research and Technology Development strategy. It's excellent to see this focus on research and evidence which is even more necessary at a time of tightening budgets.

It would be easy to miss how things are turning against Russia. It has suffered the first net loss of land since Aug 2024. They are losing soldiers quicker than they can recruit replacements. And Ukraine is regularly attacking deep into Russia with long range drones 🎉 economist.com/europe/2026/...

‘Last month, the OECD singled out low growth in business investment as a reason for the UK's weak productivity and “sluggish” growth in GDP per capita.’ www.ft.com/content/c182...

‘One of his early backers was Robert Shillman, a right-wing American tech mogul whose other beneficiaries include Laura Loomer, a conspiracy theorist close to Mr Trump; Geert Wilders, a populist-right Dutch politician; and Charlie Kirk… Mr Musk pays his legal fees’ economist.com/britain/2026...

I’d not heard of Peter Phillips - there will be a free outdoor exhibition of his work in Birmingham in June www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

‘The case for government-funded statistics is that it is worth spending one dollar in a thousand in the hope that the other $999 might be fractionally better used as a result.’ @timharford.ft.com’s column focuses primarily on the US, but it applies as much to the UK! www.ft.com/content/46d7...

I would be happy to run this £120k course for £60k. Or £240k if that’s better? www.thetimes.com/article/32dd...

That well known socialist rag, <checks notes> the @economist.com makes the case for partial nationalisation of AI companies 👀 economist.com/leaders/2026...

As Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations turns 250 we are supporting this conference in Glasgow in June reappraising the book and considering what it means for the world today www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/events/briti...

‘I’m just so passionate about the arts and sciences being brought together… And I thought it was quite funny that the arts would sponsor the sciences — because it’s normally the other way around, right?’ Lovely @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social piece on a science inspired artist www.ft.com/content/54c7...

Join the Constitution Unit! We are welcoming British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship scheme applications for September 2027 entry. If you are interested, contact your proposed mentor by next Monday. Applicants must have had their PhD viva between 1 April 2024 and 1 April 2027. Find out more 👇

‘Monsters, @stephenking.bsky.social writes, “stand in for all the things we fear in our real lives” — traumas that shine with a “terrible brilliance”. An artfully crafted horror story is a filter, a way to face what otherwise would blind you.’ www.ft.com/content/5014... @carolinebicks.bsky.social

I would be happy to run this £120k course for £60k. Or £240k if that’s better? www.thetimes.com/article/32dd...

Even for those of us that aren’t Prime Minister it is good to ask if there are low value activities which are sucking up our time samf.substack.com/p/why-do-pri... @samfr.bsky.social

Historic England is looking for people who know and care about heritage as part of a recruitment of 7 new Commissioners to the Board. 12 days per annum. £4,133. Apply by 4th June apply-for-public-appointment.service.gov.uk/roles/9320

That well known socialist rag, <checks notes> the @economist.com makes the case for partial nationalisation of AI companies 👀 economist.com/leaders/2026...

Interesting long read from @jburnmurdoch.ft.com making the case that declining birth rates are particularly tied up with the rise of smartphones and therefore fewer people in relationships, which in turn leads to fewer kids www.ft.com/content/fba3...

It may improve your weekend to know that at least the AI agents are having a crap time as well www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

It’s fascinating to me that this week (when there’s so much going on in politics) this is the Spectator editorial. It completely neglects discussion of geopolitics and the value of being in a bloc. As well as friction in markets. Is this really still Gove’s view? spectator.com/article/the-...

It may improve your weekend to know that at least the AI agents are having a crap time as well www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

'London’s Wellcome Collection is to restitute 2,000 manuscripts that had been acquired in 1919 at “a low price” from a Jain temple in what is now Pakistan. This represents the largest group of Jain manuscripts outside South Asia.' 1/3

I would lose this job so fast as I’d keep referring back to The Discourses rather than The Prince which is not what someone who pays you to say ‘what would Machiavelli think’ wants from you

Amazing the personal risks people will take to preserve archival material www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

This thread is really interesting. Inside and outside the USA there is an underappreciation of just how big and high quality US research is. Individual US departments produce more of the highest quality science than European nations. And not just small ones.

The wonderful Southbank Centre is looking for up to three new Governors. Apply by 7 June micro.green-park.co.uk/southbankcen...

Amazing the personal risks people will take to preserve archival material www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...