Police say they are "ready to use every power at our disposal" against further Patriot Platform protests, following a meeting with the home secretary But complex human rights balancing exercises are still needed to use them - even for those with "obvious malign intent" inews.co.uk/news/no-mask...

No-mask zones and face scanning: Inside the operation to derail small-boats demos

Police have been told they are expected to make full use of their powers to stop protesters wearing face coverings following disturbances in Dover and Portsmouth

inews.co.uk

#oxford #medievalsky I’ll be presenting at the All Souls (that autocorrected as All Soups!) seminar series on 2 November probably on the genealogy of Ivar the Boneless (not a soup flavour)

Thinking of the size of the oven in which this baguette was baked. French woman with her baguette and six bottles of wine, Paris, France, 1945. (Photo by Branson Decou).

📌 ICYMI — Green Party Split Over Iran as Members Push to Oppose IRGC Ban and Sanctions — @josiahmortimer.bsky.social A conference motion with significant backing urges an end to sanctions on Iran and opposes banning the IRGC - putting party policy on a collision course with its own MPs

Green Party Split Over Iran as Members Push to Oppose IRGC Ban and Sanctions

A conference motion with significant backing urges an end to sanctions on Iran and opposes banning the IRGC - putting party policy on a collision course with its own MPs

bylinetimes.com

'“This year’s decline is concentrated among white 18-year-olds,” [Lucia] Costantini said. “The trajectory for other major ethnic groups has been very different. Entry rates among black, Asian and mixed 18-year-olds have risen again this year."'

I don't like being mean, but we need fewer opinions people got off social media and more hard reading and thinking.

Climate solutions most likely to reach ‘positive tipping points’ revealed by scientists - Global shift towards clean electricity and more could trigger ‘cascade’ of progress #climatecrisis Story by @matthewpearce.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Climate solutions most likely to reach ‘positive tipping points’ revealed by scientists

Global shift towards clean electricity could trigger ‘cascade’ of progress, helping reduce air pollution, cut waste and revive oceans

theguardian.com

Good to see (in contrast to The Times' headline) this framed so inclusively: 'Working-class people will be at the heart of a renewed government drive to tackle entrenched inequality, with Minister for Women and Equalities Bridget Phillipson establishing the government’s first dedicated Class Unit.'

Time to end class squeamishness: first government unit to improve life chances for working class

New Class Unit to focus on improving lives of low-income families, disadvantaged communities and rooting out child poverty.

gov.uk

Snap! My new article on the risks taken by medieval monastic scribes will come out in the same issue. I had great fun researching and writing it, and I hope people will enjoy reading it!

Sven Meeder@svenmeeder.bsky.social · 2d ago

Proofs! Great to see the first contours of our article 'Law and Marriage'. It discusses the canonical tract known as the 'De Ratione Matrimonii' and offers its first critical edition + translation. Soon in Traditio, volume 81! See: canones.org/topics/news/

Upcoming Deadline! Nomination Deadline 30 September 2026. The EHS awards a prize of £1,000, on a biennial basis, for an outstanding book in Economic and/or Social History. The winner of the Outstanding Book Prize will be announced at the annual conference.

Public Order Act 1936 "... any person who in any public place or at any public meeting wears uniform signifying his association with any political organisation or with the promotion of any political object shall be guilty of an offence..." www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Edw8an... #R4Today

A dark blizzard of disinformation is warping the public’s perception of our great city. But we know the truth: our homicide rate is lower than every major US city, neighbourhood crimes are down and we’ve been ranked #1 city in the world 11 years in a row. My piece for The Times.

We must fight back against troll army’s lies about London

There is a dark blizzard of disinformation online, where our capital is described as a lawless dystopia in decline — this couldn’t be further from the truth

thetimes.com

Just bumping this. Support the RNLI!

Leonie V. Hicks@lvhicks.bsky.social · 4d ago

Just in case you've lost the link to donate to the RNLI rnli.org. The sea does not discriminate, neither does the RNLI and nor should we.

And here, to be consistent, I’ll gently point out that not taking a much harder line against the Dover protestors is bad for national security.

"The trouble with you, Spode, is that just because you have succeeded in inducing a handful of half-wits to disfigure the London scene by going about in black shorts, you think you're someone. You hear them shouting "Heil, Spode!" and you imagine it is the Voice of the People."

K M Flett@keithbeard.bsky.social · 2d ago

Fans of PG Wodehouse (Farage's favourite author btw) may recall Roderick Spode & the black shorts. Clearly fascist Danny Tommo has not read Wodehouse. Picture outside the Daily Mail 9th Sept 2026

Surprising this story isn't getting more coverage...

Protestors confuse Pakistan cricket team for migrants after gathering at hotel

Misinformation caused groups of people to gather at The Marriott Hotel

portsmouth.co.uk

While all this is happening, many of his supporters have over the past 48 hours published photographs and names of RNLI volunteers with threats of real harm against them. Weapons-grade hypocrisy. Fucking hell.

The Far Right Has Put RNLI Volunteers In The Crosshairs

Online misinformation about Channel rescues is no longer just poisonous rhetoric, it’s putting real people at risk.

bearlypolitics.co.uk

Proofs! Great to see the first contours of our article 'Law and Marriage'. It discusses the canonical tract known as the 'De Ratione Matrimonii' and offers its first critical edition + translation. Soon in Traditio, volume 81! See: canones.org/topics/news/

The Chief Rabbi speaks for Netanyahu, Ben-Gvir and their apologists in this country. Ed Miliband speaks for me and many other British Jews.

Nadine Batchelor-Hunt@nadinebh.bsky.social · 3d ago

This is an overtly political statement unbecoming for a chief rabbi that conflates Jews and Israel and does not represent the views of me or people like me I could say more, but it’s almost Rosh Hashanah and I don’t want to start the new year badly - and, frankly, its awfulness speaks for itself

This is seismic news for fisheries scientists. Northern cod is *the* iconic symbol of total fisheries collapse due to overfishing (and other factors) *and* the iconic symbol of a complete failure to recover for decades afterwards. This is like announcing the complete recovery of bison on land.

UBC Oceans@ubcoceans.bsky.social · 3d ago

For the first time in over 30 years, Newfoundland and Labrador’s Northern cod stock has been deemed “healthy” by Ottawa. www.canadianaffairs.news/2026/09/05/i...

Children’s social care is starved of money but the businesses who profit from the care system are forking out almost £1,000 a ticket for a two day conference hosted by privatisation lobbyists at the Children’s Homes Association

Coming soon: latest title in the Society's 'New Historical Perspectives' book series for early career historians: 'Prostitution, Repentance and Social Welfare in Renaissance Florence', by Gillian Jack bit.ly/4gY9IQ7 Available in print and Open Access from 15 October. #Skystorians 1/2

Prostitution, Repentance and Social Welfare in Renaissance Florence - University of London Press

From the fourteenth century, prostitutes in Florence were encouraged to leave their profession and spend their lives in repentance at the monastery of Sant’Elisabetta delle Convertite. Many did over i...

bit.ly

I welcome today’s announcement that trade with illegal Israeli settlements will be banned, something I have long campaigned for. I also welcome the Foreign Secretary’s statement in Parliament recognising that Israel’s occupation is illegal under international law.

What Sam said. Meanwhile, in Denmark, migrants' kids lag 20/30/40 points behind on average -and there are still people here who think *we* should copy *them* on immigration/integration.

Sam Freedman@samfr.bsky.social · 4d ago

One reason England does so well is our second generation immigrants outperform their peers which is not true in most OECD countries. We are also very good at integration. And it's v sad that this is never acknowledge in debates on immigration.

The ‘heroes’ who dare not even reveal their own faces target the brave people who embody the values of selflessness and humanity. Scum is too polite a word for them.

Louis 〓〓@louishenwood.bsky.social · 4d ago

Over on X, the far-right British Patriots have launched a hate campaign against the RNLI They are recording RNLI volunteers in order to dox them, reveal their identities and publish details of where they and their families live These men are dangerous

Its supposedly “handpicked” and “vetted” members include men with violent criminal records, including convictions involving violence against women and violent disorder. hopenothate.org.uk/2026/08/13/p...

Patriot Platform: Danny Tommo’s “handpicked” men convicted of violence against women  – HOPE not hate

HOPE not hate exposes the violent men “handpicked” by Danny Tommo for his new ‘Patriot Platform’. Despite being subject to “rigorous checks” and prioritising “quality...

hopenothate.org.uk

It's also a pretty quick way to make enemies of many local communities where the RNLI is far more popular than the Far Right

One of the best subjects for increasing the social capital of disadvantaged students - self confidence, oral skills, team working?

Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 6d ago

'The statistics for drama are similarly bleak. A-level drama entries have almost halved in 10 years, with by far the biggest drop in state schools. Forty per cent of state schools no longer even offer music or drama GCSEs.'

There’s something about seeing the face of a four-year old from two thousand years ago which make the centuries melt away. At the Staatliches Museum Ägyptischer Kunst in Munich.

A large group of co-ordinated, masked men blockading a piece of significant infrastructure is a security threat and should be dealt with as one. There should also be serious questions about why police/intelligence services didn't pick up on it in advance.

Thomas I-G@thomasig.bsky.social · 6d ago

This was clearly not an act of spontaneity. Dozens and dozens of men travelling down, all wearing black, all wearing masks is anything but a spontaneous protest. An infuriating response.