Out on the South Downs yesterday making the most of a brief break in the weather. Windmills, woodlands and dew ponds. Lovey.

UK construction and service sectors shrank in 2025. Both crucial sectors, particularly services. Higher Education also obviously shrank significantly. At least some of this will be driven by lower migration, which as ever is crucial to our economy: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Two grant schemes from the School of Advanced Study are now open for applications: Being Human Festival 2026 and the Centre for Public Engagement Practice in Arts and Humanities’ new Collaboration and Innovation Grant. Go to bit.ly/3ZoolUq for details on how to apply

Lee Miller at Tate Britain. Beautiful images. Haunting images. Images of shattered worlds…

Heartbreaking piece here on the closure of the University of Essex’s Southend campus. Unlike much that’s written about universities, it really captures the deep emotional connection between university and place, and what it means when that’s lost: www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Early signs of spring at the end of the garden, and a new guardian spirit to help them along….

Wowsers look at what happened to posts on Twitter/X about London crime after monetisation of posts was introduced… economist.com/britain/2026...

‘Lawless Britain’ update, in case you missed it. Homcides in England and Wales currently lower than at any point since the 1970s. Knife crime at its lowest level since 2003… Why aren’t we shouting this stuff from the rooftops? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Perhaps Jean Baudrillard was onto something after all… www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Oh my god, Reform have dredged up Matt Goodwin of all people to stand in Gordon and Denton… Seriously, people of Gorton YOU DESERVE BETTER!

A real honour to attend a Memorial Service marking the 45th anniversary of the New Cross Fire at St Andrew’s church, Brockley yesterday. A beautiful service honouring the 14 lives lost to this still unresolved tragedy, and the dignity and resilience of all those impacted by it.

This really can’t be repeated and shared enough…

Trump to Iran: don't execute protesters or we'll bomb you Trump to America: don't protest or we'll execute you

Absolutely incredible evening at Goldsmiths honouring the great poet, musician and activist Linton Kwesi Johnson. A deep reminder from Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social and others, including students interpreting Linton’s poetry, of all the things that drew me to Goldsmiths in the first place…

Another update from the front line of ‘Broken Britain’. London’s murder rate lowest in more than a decade and much lower than 20 years ago… www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

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Merry Christmas from the Goldsmiths campus. If Britain hadn’t switched to the Gregorian calendar back in the 18th century, this is what your Christmas Eve would be looking like..

Quite! So sick of this nonsense. When people say ‘too many people are going to university’ it’s never their own kids or their friends’ kids that they have in mind…

Christmas is the time for… an emergency trip to the dentist when a MASSIVE piece of one of your teeth chips off when eating a Pret sandwich. Ffs…

Christmas time in the City of Lights… #Paris

Just a friendly reminder that by all the measures that matter to people: the economy, a functioning NHS, good public services, strong research and innovation, a rich and exciting cultural scene, etc, a big drop in net migration is a REALLY BAD THING www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cn...

Sad news. I used to love the Roses as a teenager in Manchester. Weirdly I never realised then that at same time I was discovering his music, Mani was living literally ten minute’s walk from my mum’s house! An incredible musician and decent guy, by all accounts. RIP. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Terrific day at the Albany in Deptford for our mini Festival of Migration as part of @beinghumanfest.bsky.social. Bringing Goldsmiths researchers together with local residents and community partners to explore stories and histories of migration. A JOYOUS event in increasingly dark political times.

Terrible news coming out of Notts. I spent many years at this uni doing my MA and PhD, teaching and working in their arts centre (which is linked to the Music Dept). Tragic to see Music and Languages being decimated there, as at so many other unis… www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Some words from me in @artsprofessional.co.uk on a new project with Future Arts Centres - a network of over 170 UK arts organisations. We’re exploring the role that arts spaces can play in bridging divides and fostering ‘creative democracy’. More to follow! www.artsprofessional.co.uk/magazine/fea...

Great evening yesterday at the Goldsmiths Prize ceremony. One of very few literary prizes that actually rewards risk taking and experimentation. CD Rose won this year for We Love Here Now... Always good to see a Mancunian lifting a literary trophy! @goldsmithsprize.bsky.social

Cobbled together Halloween costume. I’m supposed to be a highwayman but I’ve ended up looking more like an eighteenth century French peasant…. Either way, always good to be wearing a tricorne hat!

Had a lot of fun and revisited some old frights writing this seasonal piece on scary books for children for @uk.theconversation.com ! #Halloween theconversation.com/scary-storie...

I sometimes stop and remember that all of this is because we had one Black president, and then two women ran, and this mystical convergence opened the Hellmouth.

In a morbid sort of a way, this is a fascinating piece… ‘Why one small town with very little immigration turned to Reform UK’ www.bbc.com/news/article...

Looking forward to our Festival of Migration in November as part of @beinghumanfest.bsky.social In the midst of ever more dismal political narratives about migration, human rights, the humanities, it feels more important than ever to be doing events like this …. www.thealbany.org.uk/events/festi...

Urban edgeland walking out along the river Wandle to Morden Hall Park. Light industry and suburban sprawl giving way to wetlands, water meadows, sleepy rivers. In the right day, in the right light, this is a magical corner of London.

Excellent dissection of the Caerphilly by-election here and what it means for both Labour and Reform. Take home message is a shocker: you’re better off opposing Reform by… actually opposing them. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Caerphilly shows us that the two things that might still stop Reform is turnout and tactical voting. What won't work is taking people's votes for granted and being somehow worse than the Tories.

So important to keep sharing, stating, re-stating stuff like this. Many types of crime are far lower than they used to be. Society isn’t ‘broken’…. Seeing a few fare dodgers at stations is no reason for society to lapse into fascism!

Two policy tweaks that would massively help UK HE (thread). First up (1) reintroduce some form of student number caps per HEI, thus stopping the growth of non-student centred, bloated mega-unis. That’s for starters. Second policy change is:

Sometimes people just hit the nail right on the head 👇

Looks like the govt are pressing ahead with the international student levy then. It’s a bad idea. Everyone has told them it’s a bad idea. They are pushing ahead anyway… Watch this space for a reverse ferret on this at some point. What a waste of time. www.gov.uk/government/p...

River walking in Sheffield this week. Learning more about the incredible River Don Project led by Opus Independents - which is modelling what a Rights of Nature approach to urban river management looks like, taking the South Yorkshire bioregion as a starting point. Amazing work. www.theriverdon.org

Happy Friday from the Goldsmiths campus.

Renaissance sky over South London…

Just when you thought things couldn’t possibly get worse… www.bbc.com/news/article...

Uh-oh… 😟

Goldsmith juxtapositions. Lovely morning in the neighbourhood.

Mick Harvey and co raising the spirit of David Lynch at the Royal Festival Hall this evening! Absolutely stunning gig…

Heading out to ‘In Dreams: David Lynch Revisited’ at the Southbank and my mood is absolutely

Is Andy Burnham the answer to Labour’s woes? I’m sceptical, to be honest. He’s done great stuff in Manchester but won’t be able to do all the things that make him popular as PM… In principle though I’m obviously all for more Northerners running the show 🤘 www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-...

South London sunset 👌

This is such sad news. I actually had some interactions with Conor Gearty back in the Being Human fest days and he seemed like an absolute gentleman as well as a righteous, courageous human being. What a loss… www.theguardian.com/law/2025/sep...

Don't tell Nigel! Renewables beat fossil fuels during the last year! via grid.iamkate.com #NetZero #ClimateChange