Good to see @zackpolanski.bsky.social asked about this. He’s right on this, of course. So much of my time (and camera roll) is taken up by reporting flytipping. It is a symptom of an ill society, and we need long-term thinking and a real commitment to reducing waste & increasing recycling.

“I’m really worried for my friends and neighbours who are immigrants, or the children of immigrants, who’ve kept our city region moving.” Our candidate for Gorton and Denton, Hannah Spencer, says the threat of adopting ICE-style tactics would put hardworking communities in the firing line.

Happy Valentine’s Day, from us to you. Tag your exes. Xoxox

Someone trod in the newly-painted kerb lines -

Much-missed blue skies above the mouth of Tyne -

We have blue skies - and snow!

Thinking and writing kind of simultaneously about two different projects on play in two northeast working class neighbourhoods. Reminded again & again about the magic of play, and of playwork & space for play, in kids' lives, but also of how much more we need to demand for play in places like these.

“Every assignment is now an unverifiable collaboration between a stressed undergrad & a VC-backed robo-parrot. Detecting “authentic” student thinking is technically possible, but prohibitively expensive. Think about it: We would need to pay real human faculty to interact with real human students”

THIS IS WHAT A UNION LOOKS LIKE. THIS IS WHAT SOLIDARITY LOOKS LIKE. THIS IS WHAT STANDING UP FOR WHAT IS RIGHT LOOKS LIKE. IGNORE AT YOUR PERIL!

Screen Time.

This week saw our annual 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗣𝗮𝗻𝗲𝗹 event. Each year our stage 3 students volunteer to present and reflect on their Dissertation projects to our current stage 2 students, who are now in the planning stages of their own dissertation journey.

Solidarity to our neighbours 🪧

good morning, #linguistics 🐦🐦 pals the University of Essex wants to cut 50% of our Language & Linguistics department, close our foundation programme & our Southend campus, + cut 400 jobs academic departments and professional services jobs across all depts join us in the fight against these cuts!

An incredibly worrying set of data about youth provision that the government’s youth strategy will barely touch. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

The freezing level will continue to fall over the coming days, meaning that where any precipitation does fall, there is an increased likelihood that it will be of snow, even at relatively low elevations (greys on the map) ❄️

As Doreen Massey might (well) have asked, "in what sense a high street problem"? Very little acknowledgment that "high street regneration" won't solve the problems (of rich absentee retail landlords, of poverty, of internet shopping, of decimated council budgets, of new out-of-town centres etc.)

🎉 Congratulations to our colleague, Dr Josep Almudéver Chanzà (@josepchanza.bsky.social), on his first monograph, "𝙒𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣 𝙇𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨, 𝙌𝙪𝙚𝙚𝙧 𝙁𝙖𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙛𝙪𝙡𝙨: 𝙍𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙍𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙞𝙣 𝘾𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝙎𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙣" 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸 𝗶𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝘁! www.bloomsbury.com/uk/women-lea...

“children are not choosing to stay off the streets and parents are not choosing to be helicopters; our streets are choosing to exclude children” From @urbancyclinginstitute.org

This is the second image of a flooded playground I’ve seen in the last few days illustrating the impact of heavy rain on our everyday lives It’s an important reminder that space for children’s play needs to be climate-resilient too - and indeed that playspace can mitigate extreme weather.

Please do share this doctoral opportunity with MA/MSt students - four years of AHRC funding to work on the history of children's play in Wales, supervised by me and the lovely and brilliant Dr Jacky Tyrie. Any questions get in touch! www.swansea.ac.uk/postgraduate...

New Book! "All Geographers Should be Feminist Geographers: Creating Care-full Academic Spaces" now available from UGA Press. Excited to talk about the book with folks, so please consider if this topic and ideas are well-suited to department seminars, class visits, or other conversational spaces.

Today’s view from the tip (I’m doing a lot of clearing out) - the Howdon metro depot, with a new metro parked up. Makes sense you can see it from here but had not thought. Saw a new metro passing too.

Sorting through many boxes in preparation for moving, I’ve found the letters and emails my friends and family wrote to me, with clippings and photos, when I was doing my PhD fieldwork in Novosibirsk, Siberia in 1996, 30 years ago. Torn between just chucking and at the least reading them all first.

Sunday sunset over the council tip -

IMPORTANT OLYMPIC NEWS: THE POLISH FIGURE SKATING TEAM HAS A PLUSH PIEROGI

A cold and wet afternoon at Shiremoor Adventure Playground, but it was still full of regular kids playing inside and out. I was there to talk to 3 young people who’ve ’graduated’ through the playground and are now working with youth and SEND groups, sharing all they’ve learnt and experienced.

This is freaking insane and one main reason why I keep on in this space - absolutely absurd what we’ve normalized on our streets.

While the protest was underway, Thames Valley Police issued several tickets to offenders – including one motorist who, when seeing the children wave their signs at him while he was parking on double yellows, mounted the pavement and drove towards them.

Child at the podium: “A woo woo woo.” Mamdani: That’s how I felt when we came up with this plan. Together, we will expand the idea of what is possible in our city—and what sounds and noises we can make at a press conference.

you don't know your neighbors because of cars your city doesn't make enough in taxes because of cars busses are slow because of cars they won't build light rail because of cars your city's air is awful because of cars one of the leading causes of death and injury from accident: cars

“North Shields is a small port built 800 years ago on fishing and shipbuilding, which celebrates its heritage yet embraces new ways.” 🙌🙌🙌🙌 www.theguardian.com/culture/2026...

"Youth provision should not depend on charities like us alone. That’s why we urge local MPs and the communities minister to go further in strengthening statutory protections for youth services and review councils’ statutory duty to provide youth services."

It’s 15 years since I moved to North Shields, the longest I’ve ever lived in one place. I 🖤 North Shields The river, the boats and ferries, the skies, the seagulls, the fish(ing), the art, the back lanes, the streets, the stairs, the bridge, the metro, the vistas, the histories & the geographies.

This street passes a school with over 2000 students and prioritises vehicles. People are hemmed in to narrow pavements which are blocked by bus shelters, side roads have fast, sweeping entrances, crossing points have tiny islands, and the cycle lane is narrow, painted and has a rough surface.

“Closing Southend means losing homegrown social workers people who understand this community.” Join us this Thursday as we rally to stop the cuts and save Southend’s campus. 🕛 12:00–13:00 | 📍 The Forum, Elmer Square, Southend

Everything in this report reflects on what we value, for communities, for peripheral places, for young people, for education, for the future - and it looks like we’ve got it all wrong.

This is a neverending cycle too, universities get to the end point, and then start again. And, in the meantime, we're expected to just keep delivering teaching, research, support, etc.

The group bike ride for Alex Pretti is about to depart in Minneapolis, stopping at his memorial, then Renee Good’s, and finishing at the VFW. If you can join, hop on anywhere. It’s a warm 17° & sunny! I’ve never seen this many cyclists for a group ride. ⚡️✊🏽⚡️🚲⚡️✊🏽⚡️ #RIPPretti

Hundreds of volunteers hitting the streets this morning in Gorton and Denton. Lower bills, tax the super-rich- hope will win. Only the Greens can stop Reform in this by-election.

Pop up skatepark spotted SE 9th and Taylor Portland, OR. This is one of the best modal filters! #Skateboard #Skatepark

Some light over the mouth of the Tyne (but no Shields ferries, as a result of storm damage to the jetty)

When direct connections between the mouth of Tyne and London and Norway were just part of the fabric of our ordinary transport infrastructures.

Genuinely can’t remember when I last saw blue sky above our street. I think it was last year.

Bikes fight fascism. Minneapolis’ bike community is deep, strong and unstoppable. I am so excited to see so many friends tomorrow. 🚲 ❤️

Good to see mainstream coverage of “deplaytion” - the loss and decline of neighbourhood playgrounds, and of a tolerance of children’s neighbourhood play. It’s critical that this issue is taken as seriously - in terms of children’s mental health - as social media. Thanks @anooshc.bsky.social.

Spent the morning at a @ntcouncilteam.bsky.social event starting the conversation about North Shields bid to become #TownofCulture. An amazing group of people in the room, all full of ideas of how to grow different bits of Shields, and celebrate the awesome place it is.

Physics is under the cosh, Astronomy and Chemistry in peril, Geography is losing territory, English, Modern Languages and History are among the many shrinking UK disciplines. Surely it's time to have a concerted, structured conversation about universities and the national research base.

The actual words of the current British Home Secretary: “My ultimate vision for that part of the criminal justice system was to achieve, by means of AI and technology, what Jeremy Bentham tried to do with his Panopticon. That is that the eyes of the State can be on you at all times."

Labour keeps talking about saving the high street without naming the real problem. Car dependency. You cannot fix town centres while planning everything around driving. The internet is permanent. Retail only survives where footfall is dense, local, frequent, and cheap to access.

Be Nice 😀, Byker, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2025 #photography