Chris Downs
@chris-downs.bsky.social
University worker in the UK "a teacher's primary responsibility is not to get in the way of learning" - Mark Notturno
Elon Musk is an avatar of digital capitalism: He both embodies and defines it. On this week's More To The Story, @quinnslobodian.com examines how Musk’s actions have altered American capitalism by changing its relationship with the federal government. Listen here: tinyurl.com/z88wt56b
Butlin's Resort Safety Officers are balloting for strike action after raising concerns about understaffing, unsafe conditions and poor management. Safe holidays depend on safe jobs. 📝 Stand in solidarity. Send a letter demanding Butlin's listens to its workers. www.uvwunion.org.uk/en/letter/bu...
"Systems that enable tax to be shirked on an industrial scale clearly have to change. The likes of Palantir need to stump up what’s due" Unison Gen Sec Andrea Egan, quoted in the Guardian responding to CICTAR's latest report on global tech company Palantir: www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Palantir paid just £2m corporation tax in UK in 2024 despite lucrative public sector contracts
Software group benefits from global systems and accounting practices ‘that enable tax to be shirked’, says union boss
theguardian.com
🗑THE BINVASION IS NIGH!🗑 The @countbinface Comic Book arrives TOMORROW! 🖌: @robmurraycartoons.bsky.social @goshcomics.bsky.social: 🔗 buff.ly/8nsgJrn @waterstones.bsky.social: 🔗 buff.ly/Tsup9Kr 10% of every sale will be donated to @sheltercharity.bsky.social via @workforgooduk.bsky.social
Would you like to WIN a set of 4 Rickard Sisters tea towels? All you have to do is 🏖️ come to Whitstable 🎨 find the Horsebridge gallery 🎟️ buy a raffle ticket at our free talk* 🤞 be lucky See you there on Thursday evening? * £ to Pilgrims Hospices
🎬 And you can see it at Sands Films cinema in London on Sunday sandsfilms.eventive.org/films/the-ma... ⏬️ ⏬️
Sands Films@sandsfilms.bsky.social · 2d agoDee Woods, Co-founder and a Director of IFAN member Granville Community Kitchen and a passionate advocate for food sovereignty, speaks about the lasting significance of the Beveridge Report in 'The Man with the Plan'. #themanwiththeplanfilm #williambeveridge #beveridgereport #fivegiants #sandsfilms
Get ready for Caption (next week?!) and peruse this year's schedule 🏴☠️
We’re coming to Whitstable on Thursday and then Oxford at the weekend - will any of you be there to say hello? Full details of all our shenanigans at RickardSisters.com
Behind the bewildering transformation of British universities, are management consultants being paid millions Really proud to have this vital piece on our unis are being gutted from the inside by @jheathershaw.bsky.social on Democracy for Sale. Do read democracyforsale.substack.com/p/inside-bri...
Inside Britain's university crisis
As teaching staff face job loss, their bosses have netted pay rises and bought advice from a “vampiric” management consultancy, writes Prof. John Heathershaw of the University of Exeter
democracyforsale.substack.com
End Low Pay - Pay Justice for Outsourced Workers. RMT Rail Gourmet picket line at Glasgow Central
Further detailed update, ahead of our EGM on Monday, on our @ucusurrey.bsky.social blog now 👇 surrey-ucu.org.uk/important-br... @ucu.org.uk @timeshighered.bsky.social @zoefranklinld.bsky.social @drjogrady.bsky.social @theipaper.com @theguardian.com @julietterowsell.bsky.social
Times Higher Education (THE)@timeshighered.bsky.social · 6d agoSeveral “important” courses in science and engineering have been suspended at the University of Surrey, with a union accusing the institution of “covert” closures https://ow.ly/iIil50ZuzXK
"The Man with the Plan" is a new film from @sandsfilms.bsky.social about the radical Beveridge plan featuring Simon Callow as William Beveridge. There are screenings, workshops, Q&As across the UK from September 2026. If you want one where there isn't one planned yet, this is what to do ⏬️
Townsend Theatre Productions@townsendprod.bsky.social · 6d agoYes please get in touch x
Amazingly fast work from @selfmadehero.bsky.social and 30+ comic artists (including meeeee) mean that this book will be out in time for the Clacton by-election. Available at @goshcomics.bsky.social from 6 Aug, pre-orders open now.
The new Prime Minister is writing a "10-year plan" for the UK. The arts & culture MUST be part of it. I've signed @campaignforthearts.org's petition urging @andyburnham.bsky.social to revitalise the arts – to revitalise the whole nation 🌱 Join me: www.campaignforthearts.org/petitions/10-year-plan/
Prime Minister – put the arts in your 10-year plan for the UK | Campaign for the Arts
Sign our petition urging the UK Government to build a country where the arts are available from childhood, accessible to all and thriving everywhere.
campaignforthearts.org
Thanks to Students Against Cuts and Generator Projects for creating and hosting this exhibition. This is what you’ll lose - features submissions from Art and Philosophy students, graduates and staff at the University of Dundee. Open 12-5pm now until 5/8/2026.
Outsourced workers to strike at TransPennine Rail union RMT said that outsourced cleaners and catering workers at TransPennine Express (TPE) will take 48-hour strike action against low pay from tomorrow (Friday, July 31). rmtunion.org/4h0E6uL
Outsourced workers to strike at TransPennine
Rail union RMT said that outsourced cleaners and catering workers at TransPennine Express (TPE) will take 48-hour strike action against low pay from tomorrow (Friday, July 31).
rmtunion.org
Barnet care workers simple message: "Are you listening, Andy Burnham?" Worked throughout COVID supporting vulnerable people. Now they're being balloted for strike action because they believe Enough is Enough. 🎥 Watch the video. Then tell us: Do care workers deserve better? #CareWorkers
This talk from Dr David Scott will commemorate the 1826 Weavers Uprising and Chatterton Massacre. Thursday 17th September, 1:30pm, in the Working Class Movement Library's Annex building. The library will also be open 1-4. Tickets and more information here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1826-weave...
Another interview by @georginagodwin.bsky.social well worth half an hour of anyone's time. This time with @oliverbullough.bsky.social. #moneylaundering #organisedcrime monocle.com/radio/shows/...
Oliver Bullough on financial secrecy, corruption and global power
Georgina Godwin meets journalist Oliver Bullough, who explores money laundering in the most unlikely of places in his latest work,...
monocle.com
When we adapted This Slavery into a graphic novel, we set the action in the town where the writer, Ethel Carnie Holdsworth, lived and worked. That meant several joyous trips to Great Harwood in Lancashire - including this one after the book was finished ☔️
What evidence do we have of gender bias in research? Here is an example. The 4000 yo remains of a powerful, highly skilled, goldsmith (the Upton Lovell Shaman) were assumed for 200 yr to be male (see below). Nope. This powerful leader was female all along. archaeologymag.com/2026/07/bron...
🎬 Screenings are happening around the UK this autumn. I hope as many people as possible will see it. ⏬️ (www.sandsfilms.co.uk/the-man-with...)
Sands Films@sandsfilms.bsky.social · last wk.Prof. Danny Dorling, University of Oxford, talks about the Beveridge Report in 'The Man with the Plan'. #themanwiththeplanfilm #beveridgereport #fivegiants #williambeveridge #sandsfilms
Another day, another public letter condemning the ridiculous and harmful decisions made by our administration... This time, the letter comes from the All Parliamentary Party Group for Music Education, calling out the VC and UEB's push to close our music department.
‘Narendra Modi has had his hand forced by a group of meme-making students and members of the Indian working class. It began with an insult.’ New on the blog from Skye Arundhati Thomas. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/ju...
Skye Arundhati Thomas | Modi and the Cockroaches
Narendra Modi has had his hand forced by a group of meme-making students and members of the Indian working class. It...
lrb.co.uk
"The takeaway is not a blueprint for a protest—opposition tactics will always adapt—but to never lose trust in each other’s potential for resistance and desire for community." - Daniella Mazzio ⤵️
Daniella@daniellamazzio.bsky.social · 2w agoNew from me: I reviewed EVERYBODY TO KENMURE STREET, a documentary that contextualizes resistance as an ongoing process that asks us to never lose faith in our neighbors and the communal capacity to do the right thing. For @chicagoreader.com: chicagoreader.com/film-tv/movi...
