This Argentina team needs adversity to turn it on. Battered England after the first goal. For England, yet another tournament passes where they’ve been underwhelming. So much talent to pick from as well - baffling.
Allan Gillies
@allangillies.bsky.social
Lecturer in Global Economy, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Glasgow | Political Economy of Illicit Commodities in Latin America
I wrote about England and Argentina, a rivalry that you often see described as “asymmetric” or “a grudge match”, but is really a kind of fascinating dialogic relationship, based largely in shared values and - in the Age of Saturation - nourished by scarcity www.theguardian.com/football/202...
Love and hate collide: England v Argentina is not simply a grudge match | Jonathan Liew
Look beyond the flashpoints and flare-ups and perhaps this is the greatest and most romantic of footballing rivalries
theguardian.com
I have to say, it's making me feel a little insane hearing commentators say Ed Miliband shouldn't be chancellor because of his "ideological zeal" for Net Zero, in a week where temperatures are so extreme that my kids are being sent home early every day and it's regularly 30 degrees inside my house
Stealing some great results in qualifying covered for the fact Scotland’s performances have been chronic for quite some time. Can’t help but feel the team is less than the sum of its parts, with no real clear identity
This is what a pogrom looks like: men in masks coming to drive you from your home. This is a collective failure of our political and media class because we did not have the courage to say no, and because too many were allowed to embrace this without shame
Saul Staniforth@saulstaniforth.bsky.social · 2mo ago#BBCBreakfast: "... families had to be led to safety through the flames.. it wasn't just homes, cars were also torched by young masked men in these predominantly unionist streets, but the target here was immigrants.." This is what the likes of Reform are inciting.
Glasgow has long had its own distinct "far right" anti-immigrant base that cannot be understood without understanding unionist loyalism. This truth is often dismissed - that's different, it's just about football here etc - but I reckon it's going to become increasingly impossible to deny.
Just chatting to a northern irish politician. Had to open their offices last night to help people put out of a loyalist neighbourhood in Belfast This is a city with a long history of ethnic expulsions, but this time we have politicians in the U.K. giving tacit (and not tacit) support
Donald Trump endorses Abelardo in Colombian elections, saying de la Espriella will "stop illegal immigration, fight crime and drugs, and restore public order!” Also falsely calls Cepeda a "radical Marxist" and suggests Colombia's relation with the US will worsen if he is elected
“the very idea of ‘student satisfaction’ is in tension with genuine education since real learning requires intellectual pressure and challenge, which does not always produce satisfied customers. Yet it is satisfaction, not learning, that tends to be measured and rewarded.”
LSE Blogs@lseblogs.bsky.social · 2mo agoStudents' widespread use of generative AI is degrading the value of a university degree. Marvin Starominski-Uehara for @lseimpactblog.bsky.social
Edinburgh Marathon ✅ The heat was a killer. Splits fell off a cliff second half of the race as the cramping kicked in. Just a case of finishing at that point. 3:20 was a decent time under the circumstances
From afar, the reinvention of Burnham as a deep political thinker and man of the people is extraordinary. Remember him as a mediocre minister and career politician
After democratization, #Bolivia defied the region’s violent drug-war pattern by using state–narco networks to contain conflict, at the cost of entrenching corruption and weakening democracy. Find Alan Gillies's "Narco-Democratization": bit.ly/3QQFFAg @allangillies.bsky.social @upittpress.bsky.social
Love the framing - like paying someone a wage is an act of charity
Quinn Slobodian@quinnslobodian.com · 3mo ago3 actual quotes from this piece: “Can I afford the tax? Yes. Is it going to deter me? No. But I think it’s shameful. I provide a lot of money to people who are blue-collar workers who work for me, servers in restaurants." giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
Making an actual violent terrorist attack about wokeness on uni campuses is unbelievable loser politics
Peter Stefanovic@peterstefanovic.bsky.social · 3mo agoBREAKING: “We will now expect universities to publish the scale of the problem on their campuses as well as the specific steps they have taken to clamp down on it. There will be zero tolerance for inaction” Keir Starmer is hosting No 10 summit to tackle antisemitism
The new book is finally out with Pitt Latin American Series! Available now in hardback and paperback from all the usual places
Glasgow Running Festival - half-marathon ✅ Warm up race for the Edinburgh marathon, trying to get a sense of my pacing. Nice to run a PB - 01:26:29
£64bn is the cost of UK capitulation to pharmaceutical companies and Trump. Secret deal commits the NHS to pay higher price for new and existing drugs No debate in parliament. Govt can tax the rich, cut other services, let people die, start manufacturing drugs and become self-reliant.
Inside the £64bn pharma deal that could cost more lives than Covid
With the NHS on its knees, the UK has struck a secretive new drugs deal. But how was it made – and what will it really cost?
thebureauinvestigates.com
On 5 May, Prof Javier Auyero of UT Austin will be in Glasgow to present findings from his latest book, Dark Governance: Illegal Organisations and State Power. Please join us for this joint event of GLARN and IPED. 16:00 - 5 May 2026 Room 916, 42 Bute Gardens Followed by a drinks reception
We have a wonderful new blog by Juliana Ramírez-Muñoz to share with you. Juliana reflects on the Gloria Anzaldúa Borderlands workshop she facilitated for GLARN last month. Read 'Taking seriously the creative discomfort of starting where we are' here: tinyurl.com/47233mh7
“The legislation makes the death penalty the default punishment for Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank found guilty of intentionally carrying out deadly attacks deemed acts of terrorism by a military court.” www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...
Israel passes law to give death penalty to Palestinians convicted of lethal attacks
Knesset approves measure that has been criticised by European countries and rights groups
theguardian.com
While it’s easy to mock the complete ignorance of ancient philosophies which encouraged introspection (albeit with a different lexicon), this example speaks to a problem of our time: billionaires who believe their success in one area qualifies them to pontificate and intervene in other fields.
More Perfect Union@moreperfectunion.bsky.social · 5mo agoBillionaire Marc Andreessen says he has "zero" introspection, and that the idea itself is a modern invention.
Two talks coming-up this month to support the launch of my new book, Narco-Democratization @upittpress.bsky.social. See below for details. Paperback (with 20 percent discount) is available to preorder here: www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10....
Narco-Democratization | Home
Organized Crime and Political Transition in Bolivia
liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk
The US has conducted a bombing inside Ecuador near the Colombian border, with cooperation from the Ecuadorian military Ecuador and the US claim the target was a FARC dissident camp. They do not yet provide any further details US killings in LATAM go landward
Reuters Exclusive "U.S. military investigators believe it is likely that U.S. forces were responsible for an apparent strike on an Iranian girls' school." "The strike would rank among the worst cases of civilian casualties in decades of U.S. conflicts in the Middle East."
Exclusive: US investigation points to likely US responsibility in Iran school strike, sources say
Military investigators believe it is likely that U.S. forces were responsible for an apparent strike on an Iranian girls' school that killed scores of children on Saturday, two U.S. officials told Reu...
reuters.com
Even by the Sun’s low standards, this is pretty astounding: war-mongering, Islamophobic and fascist.
Jim Pickard@pickardje.bsky.social · 5mo agonarrator: only 12% of UK people polled by YouGov thought the UK government should praise the air strikes 21% thought the UK government should condemn the strikes much larger proportion don't have a strong view either way www.thesun.co.uk/news/3838953...
The next few months are shaping up to be a busy time for GLARN @uofgsocsci.bsky.social @uofgsps.bsky.social, with a host of exciting events. See thread below 👇👇👍
Looking forward to sharing insights from my new book Narco-Democratization at @uniofaberdeen.bsky.social Centre for Citizenship, Civil Society, and Rule of Law seminar series on 10 February: cisrul.blog/event/dr-all...
Dr Allan Gillies Presents his New Book ‘Narco-Democratization: Organized Crime and Political Transition in Bolivia’
On Tuesday 10 February at 2-3.30pm in Edward Wright F61 and on Teams, Dr Allan Gillies (University of Glasgow) will speak on his new book ‘Narco-Democratization: Organized Crime and Political…
cisrul.blog