A DR Congo supporter has watched all their of three African Cup of Nations 2025 games holding his pose as the statue of Patrice Lumumba, who was born a century ago in 1925, and assassinated as prime minister in 1961 shortly after independence www.telegraph.co.uk/football/202...

And the playlist! (More articles should come with a playlist!)

Enjoying @jimmy-pieterse.bsky.social’s article on campus radio in South Africa

One of the reasons that emergence of ‘cold spots’ of subject provision matters: 52% of 18 year olds from the most disadvantaged backgrounds (the most deprived quintile in the Indices of Multiple Deprivation) plan to live at home when they go the university www.thetimes.com/article/22cc...

The number of global deaths of children under-5 is projected to increase this year (from 4.6m to 4.8m) for the first time this century. (FT) The price of aid cuts.

I’ve a lot of affection for Northwestern and respect for faculty there (who voted against this!) But this is deeply shameful.

Columbia and Northwestern are the academic homes to the most prestigious journalism schools in the country and they are the two universities that caved to the Trump administration’s extortion demands that are directly connected to the First Amendment. Just gonna sit with that for a while.

What a weird view of the working classes! My working class Nan left school at 14, but seemed happy that her grandkids had more options. Her working class husband moved long distances for work & the life he wanted. It doesn’t honour them to remove opportunities and choices from their descendants!

A tragic bridge collapse 🏗️ at the Kalando mine ⛏️ in the DRC 🇨🇩 has claimed at least 50 lives 🕯️ and left many injured 🚑. This heartbreaking event 😔 underscores the urgent need for safer conditions ⚠️ for artisanal miners.

Wole Soyinka's US visa revoked

Another to add to my list of favourite journal article titles…

I would really appreciate a regular “hello olds! Here’s what politics looks like on teen TikTok” newsletter.

I worry about this, and also about universities avoiding students from political / religious/ sexual minorities within foreign countries, who might make (justified) asylum claims.

"Belgium’s federal prosecutor referred a 92-year-old former diplomat, Étienne Davignon, to the Brussels criminal court over alleged war crimes related to the killings." Belgium marks Congo’s slain leader Lumumba's 100th birthday w exhibition – & possible trial: www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

Rest in peace Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o www.theguardian.com/books/2025/m...

I have a programme that uses AI to "narrate" academic articles etc and it can be useful, although always a bit odd. What I love (or hate!) about fiction audiobooks, though, is the way the narrator interprets the text and the characters. I worry about great readings becoming harder to find.

Remarkable to think this may be the first pope in history to have partaken of Malört, or even to know what Malört is. Watch out for his communion wine

Le philosophe congolais Valentin-Yves Mudimbe est décédé à l'âge de 83 ans

If the UK was really, really smart, it would now plough tens of billions into research centres and take in all the American academics fleeing the US. Spoiler: the UK is not smart. 🇬🇧

This is a national scandal. When will the government wake up and realise they are presiding over the rapid implosion of the UK's world-renowned university sector?