Cambridge University should have known better, Fleet Street should have known better, the people hungrily absorbing every bit of news about it, making newsrooms feel like they had to keep going with it as a story, should have known better, horrible horrible horrible

Poorly timed notification from the range there 🤦🏻‍♀️

It’s just depressing. Further education has been cut to ribbons. Higher education is in crisis. Labour turns its eyes to the bit of the education system which is turning out the highest literacy rates in the western world and goes “that’s the bit that needs to change”

Stephen Bush@stephenkb.bsky.social · last wk.

A must-read by @daisychristo.bsky.social:

As well as stories like this, I've had trans people in my mentions talking about their fears - people who need heart transplants who might be spending months in hospital, people with serious mental health issues in terror about what happens if they get sectioned. It makes me sick at heart.

sja@sam-ja.bsky.social · 2w ago

i'd recommend people read the response from an LGBTQ+ cancer charity to last year's EHRC proposed guidance - been thinking a lot about this particular section ever since i first read it (full response here outpatients.org.uk/2025/06/26/e...)

In the end, mindless trolls won’t take away what matters most’. Scorching, and spot on.

Victoria Derbyshire@vicderbyshire.bsky.social · 3w ago

I wrote this 👇 open.substack.com/pub/vicderby...

If you're a freelancer working in heritage, you're going to want to come to this! We're setting up a branch of @prospectunion.bsky.social, and this is our first meeting, open to members and non-members. This Thursday, online from 12-1. Register for a link: forms.cloud.microsoft/pages/respon...

We are searching for creative academics who want to experiment with their engagement work and find new ways to share their research with a public audience. Apply now: https://bit.ly/43JR4oA

I feel like the way of dealing with such behaviour is to look these people right in the eye and say, very gently, "You think your right to park matters more than homes these children?" Then when they reply just repeat it with slightly different emphasis.

Hundreds slam proposals to turn car park into children's home in Bromley

Plans to build a children’s home on a car park in Bromley have been slammed by nearby residents who call the current parking situation “a…

newsshopper.co.uk

Have the British public always been so self centred? I’m staggered by how many people I’ve seen saying ‘I don’t use buses so what good is that?’ Or ‘pubs aren’t for me so who cares?’ Millions of people do use each and they are both pretty vital for our economy and society

The British government is still on X

Sunder Katwala (sundersays)@sundersays.bsky.social · 4w ago

Starmer's final words at No 10 are about the damage and dangers of the forces of division for British society, which he was hoping in 2024 - and is still hoping in 2026 - that the politics + policies of fair chances and civic unity could defuse and defeat.

I am a climate scientist and, same.

Kim McCauley@kimischilling.bsky.social · last mo.

I am not a climate scientist but when I was a kid the number of times we couldn’t go outside because of Canadian wildfire smoke was zero times

there's only so much you can do with northern ontario given the size

Faeelin@faeelin.bsky.social · last mo.

Isn’t forest management a thing?

Advance notice of the British Academy reports published to be tomorrow (Wednesday) and their findings. It does not make happy reading if you value UK higher education and research.

Hetan Shah@hetanshah.bsky.social · last mo.

‘Thousands of university job cuts in humanities and social sciences are creating widespread cold spots for languages, classics and theology degrees, the British Academy has warned’ www.theguardian.com/education/20...

Spicy

It's been a point that's been argued to a brick-wall my entire professional life but if you take a cold hard look at the relative successes, compounding economic benefits, and global standing of British industries the treatment of the performing arts is a completely mad kind of self harm

Arts Professional@artsprofessional.co.uk · last mo.

Performing and creative arts university courses will no longer receive funding from a government teaching grant as part of “difficult decisions” about spending priorities, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has said.

I really need people to understand that being shitty to women is not separate from a person's politics. Contempt for those seen as weaker, resentment towards people who get something you think you're entitled to, using power to dominate or intimidate—these are the foundations of someone's"politics."

Any questions? Keeping in mind that I already explained about my hat.

"Emergency podcasts, sir. Thousands of 'em"

I love the image of a group of beavers sucking air in through their teeth, saying 'Oooh, you've had some right cowboys in here, haven't you? Leave it with us, me and the crew will sort this for you, no problem'

Jim Hawkins@jimallthetime.bsky.social · last mo.

‘Step aside, humans’: how beavers solved a flooding problem in west London A London council was facing a big bill to solve a flooding problem – until beavers came along and fixed it for free www.positive.news/environment/...

Have been at a number of events with various think tankers and senior civil servants and everyone knows this is happening but seems caught like a deer in headlights. Meanwhile Bridget Phillipson and Jacqui Smith blithely whistle on. Can’t hold.

Hetan Shah@hetanshah.bsky.social · 2mo ago

‘We urge the Government to prioritise this issue. Should this situation continue unchecked, the damage to the health of higher education, research and innovation will be profound and have long-lasting consequences.’ www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/news/stateme...

the NIMBY, joyless Soho Society have put a statement out and I love the very delicate and precise phrasing of this, from "been involved in Soho" to "on average, many of the trustees"

I will be blunt, at the point you are asking “but why should Labour MPs stop using a product owned by someone who endorses their own murders?”…you’d think “self-respect” would be on there.

Stop Funding Hate@stopfundinghate.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Elon Musk endorses an open call for violence which frames refugees as "invaders". This is why we need to #makehatecostmore www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/fight-the-...

Labour can threaten a £10k charge on migrants and still it’s never enough for the hard right. Perhaps there’s a lesson here? 🤔

'From a window at night.' (1896) Towards the end of her life, Maria Yakunchikova wrote that her work from the late 1890s attempted to convey the fleeting preoccupations of other lives - 'the flashes of another world, the perception of which is blended into the landscape.'

I hope this doesn't sound patronising but go and see art. The Hockney talk has reminded me again that seeing art in the flesh is a very different experience to seeing it on a screen. You understand why people cry in art galleries. It's not just the gift shop prices.

Fly the angel sleeves of your hostess dress at half mast, dim the standard lamps of all suburbia and please be seated at the telephone table to make the gossipiest call you can from a landline in memoriam💙

Kirkdale Bookshop@kirkdalebooks.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Pass this on. You never know who might need it and it could make a huge difference if someone is struggling for whatever reason

Kat Brown@katbrownwrites.com · 2mo ago

Tesco is extending its Kids Eat Free scheme to 7 days a week over the summer, where children get a free meal with an adult purchase, but honestly, this detail about how small the adult purchase can be broke my heart.

been furious with Starmer for long enough that this is genuinely coming as a surprise to me, but I'm feeling a bit.......sad this morning? not really about him per se but about the waste of time, I guess, and the end of yet another political failure when Britain really couldn't afford another one

Labour won by 20 points and net immigration is down by over 80% in two years. But sure write your column again.

"But the present is a riptide. You’re only human; the spirit of the age will ragdoll you." What a lovely essay on reading and discovering joy in books. So enjoyed.

JP@jpbrammer.bsky.social · 2mo ago

I went from reading a few books a year to around one a week. I wanted to write down how I got there, how it involved rethinking my relationship to attention, and why I believe reading books can heal your brain. I hope this gives you something useful! johnpaulbrammer.substack.com/p/how-i-lear...