A new essay for all my trans siblings and our allies. "As the UK enters a new era of state-mandated segregation, I find myself asking: was it all worth it?"

What we have won

It was the largest trans protest in British history. We travelled from across the country to central London. We were joined by allies, especially cis gay, lesbian, bisexual, and queer people who re…

ruthpearce.net

The EHRC guidance does not apply to workplaces, and trans people are not criminalised for using any toilet in the UK. But the whole point of this - as with Section 28 back in the 1980s - is to intimidate people. Don't give into that fear.

Slurms MacKenzie@slurmsmackenzie.bsky.social · 24h ago

Just a reminder that: - this isn't for workplaces and if your work is trying to implement it scare them over discrimination claims - the onus is on the service provider, not the service user to comply - the code *itself* says enforcement of toilet facilities is unworkable and low priority

'An astonishing 98 per cent of 18 year olds educated in Scotland who have accepted a...place via UCAS have done so at a Scottish provider – just 270 have headed south via a firm or insurance offer in England, and none to providers in Wales or Northern Ireland.' Astonishing, or canny? 3/3

UK history is at a crisis point in academia. More & more people are going freelance on a part time basis, or as a whole new form of employment. IHN is creating support network for all historians who work independently. We aim to bring people together, promote your work, and be a hub of information.

Lucy Delap@lucydelap.bsky.social · 2d ago

Great discussion at the 'crisis in UK history' meeting hosted by @ihr.bsky.social, @royalhistsoc.org, @histassoc.bsky.social and History UK. Horror stories of closures and redundancies, balanced by new resources. Check out for ex. the new Independent Historians Network independenthistorians.org

@indyhistnetwork.bsky.social The Modern British Studies Association is seeking a representative for independent scholars on our Steering Committee - please do consider joining us. Further details via this link: modbritstud.org.uk/join/

Lucy Delap@lucydelap.bsky.social · 2d ago

Great discussion at the 'crisis in UK history' meeting hosted by @ihr.bsky.social, @royalhistsoc.org, @histassoc.bsky.social and History UK. Horror stories of closures and redundancies, balanced by new resources. Check out for ex. the new Independent Historians Network independenthistorians.org

A long read on "Nousferatu" from the University of Exeter academic perspective, but ranging much more widely. Verhoeven & Eltham on "Nousferatu" (2023): www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

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

Good news for trans people these days is "the attempt by transphobes to generate evidence for their claims was protected from being scuppered by even more extreme transphobes" while the bad news is "another regulatory body declares trans people not worth protecting".

Good Law Project@goodlawproject.org · 6d ago

“The arguments made by the claimants weren’t really rooted in concerns about ethics, safety, or efficacy. But decisions about healthcare should be made by young trans people and their clinicians – not by anti-trans campaigners.” goodlaw.social/vw87

london archives, plea and memoranda roll a34, m.2

Matt Gabriele@profgabriele.com · 6d ago

ok let's do a discourse: what historical text absolutely needs the big budget film treatment, AND will create the need for a review by a scholar in a prestige publication? for medieval Europe, either: -- Song of Roland -- Book of Margery Kempe

If you want to ask the LGBT+ health team at NHS England what they think about all this, there is a contact email here:

NHS England » LGBT+ health

NHS England » LGBT+ health

england.nhs.uk

Jo D@jdown.bsky.social · last wk.

Lastly @lousadzak.bsky.social another FOI request post-Sullivan data changes www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/equa... said no EIA assessment made but 'Engagement was also undertaken with NHS England’s LGBT Health Programme'. Perhaps that was the extent of their consultation. Hopeless. 7/7

We are aware that NHS England is implementing a change to how it records patient data, prioritising ‘sex observed at birth’ over gender and other medically-relevant data. transactual.org.uk/blog/2026/07...

Also, long shot, but I don’t suppose anyone has a pdf of Clyde’s Eve’s Sour Apples that they might be willing to share?

Sam Rutherford (he/him)@echomikeromeo.bsky.social · last wk.

Enthralled by this fab chapter by Jana Funke, new to me, about Irene Clyde's thought! www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edi... So cool to see Clyde's theories of gender, feminism, & sex change situated alongside those of Woolf, Hall, etc.

Enthralled by this fab chapter by Jana Funke, new to me, about Irene Clyde's thought! www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edi... So cool to see Clyde's theories of gender, feminism, & sex change situated alongside those of Woolf, Hall, etc.

Lesbian-trans-feminist modernism and sexual science | 18 | Irene Clyde

This chapter places Irene Clyde’s (1869–1954) feminist works in dialogue with other feminist writings in Anglophone literary modernism. Clyde was a trans

taylorfrancis.com

What a treat to hear such a beautiful range of voices expertly woven together by Flora Zajicek to tell the story of Govanhill Baths, inc @lucyjanes.bsky.social & Niall Murphy, the mighty @damedenisemina.bsky.social and loads of local organisers and residents. Also me! www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

BBC Radio 4 - Archive on 4, The People's Pool

One Glasgow swimming pool reveals the story of public baths and wash houses in Britain.

bbc.co.uk

My dept is about to be reduced to 3 people covering 3 separate disciplines. The 25 PhD students will be left bereft of adequate supervision numerically and in terms of expertise. The government has decided that they should have no recourse (music to my university’s ears).

Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 2w ago

'Read it on a substantial train delay – alongside the promises made to students when the Office for Students (OfS) was created – it is something much worse. It is the formal expiry of the deal that was supposed to make marketisation safe for the people paying for it.' 2/2

1982. Jeff Dudgeon bravely leads the struggle for Gay Liberation, leading to law reform and paving the way for revolutionary social change in Northern Ireland. 2026. Jeff Dudgeon supports Donald Trump. www.newsletter.co.uk/news/opinion...

Letter: I was due to speak in defence of President Donald Trump but was cancelled due to BBC Northern Ireland bias

A letter from Jeffrey Dudgeon:

newsletter.co.uk

'The scam’s logistics speak to how urbanisation and industrial capitalism had changed both the practice and the crime of abortion by the end of the nineteenth century.' Julia Porter Burke on how criminals exploited anti-abortion laws to target vulnerable women.

Lady Montrose and the At-Home Abortion

What can an advertisement in a nineteenth century newspaper tell us about the history of at-home abortion?

historyworkshop.org.uk

Genuinely keen to know whether this is doomed to failure!

Sam Rutherford (he/him)@echomikeromeo.bsky.social · 2w ago

My dream is that my special subject (final year undergrad) students will read enough of Well of Loneliness to be able to discuss it in class in the second half of the first semester; is this doomed to failure (y/n)

My dream is that my special subject (final year undergrad) students will read enough of Well of Loneliness to be able to discuss it in class in the second half of the first semester; is this doomed to failure (y/n)

You opened a credit card. ICE now knows where you live. Here's how when you open a credit card your address leaves your bank, goes through middlemen companies, and ends up with ICE. ICE plans to use this data for immigration and 'voter fraud'. No warrant More: www.404media.co/you-opened-a...

Really good & useful blog post from members of our branch's finance committee about the situation at our place:

UCU University of Glasgow@ucuglasgow.bsky.social · 2w ago

"Austerity FOMO is thus different from the general shock doctrine in at least one respect ... it is an attempt to fabricate a crisis which does not yet exist, at least not in the form it is being presented." Read the full blog post here: glasgow.web.ucu.org.uk/2026/07/22/w...

This is important from @zackpolanski.bsky.social: As an education academic I will be working on this push-back, informed by theorists like Friere and hooks, in alliance with a number of fantastic activists from different backgrounds. www.scenemag.co.uk/zack-polansk...

It's giving

Lee Hurley@hleehurley.com · 3w ago

"TRANS activists are bombarding primary schools with ‘sex-change propaganda’ in the form of brightly coloured picture books, according to a new report." [Mail on Sunday] "The report – compiled by concerned authors and editors with traditional views on biology and sex..."

It's really harmful to claim that organisations have to follow the guidance, and I don't think trans rights orgs should be doing so. Organisations have to follow the law. The guidance will be influential, but it is not mandatory, and making people think it is, is not good.

Read the full story here: www.thenational.scot/news/2629147...

Glasgow Pride urged to drop Coca-Cola sponsorship over illegal West Bank settlements

THE charity organisers behind Glasgow Pride have been urged to drop Coca-Cola as a sponsor ahead of a major parade this weekend due to the soft…

thenational.scot

today! And sit-in on Glasgow Green from 11am!

lucy rowan holmes@absobloodylucy.bsky.social · 3w ago

if you’re in glasgow this weekend, you should check out the Solidarity Pride hub event, which i’m assured is NOT sponsored by genocidal corporations 🫡 loads of grassroots queer orgs and workshops and food and things. a fun day out for the whole parish

Everything the same as before except worse????

Adam Bienkov@adambienkov.bsky.social · 3w ago

The Times reporting that Andy Burnham succeeded in persuading Shabana Mahmood to become Chancellor because it would give her more control over cutting immigration

Lovely review by @louisstaples.bsky.social of a striking and moving exhibition on currently in my neck of the woods: www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

‘I’m not into leather at all!’: John Wood on privately photographing Glasgow’s gay underground, and the comparisons with Robert Mapplethorpe

He was a telecoms engineer by day – and documented the Scottish city’s leather scene by night. Now the 79-year-old has opened his erotic archives and received his first ever solo exhibition

theguardian.com

Congrats we just made it impossible to come here for a PhD www.bostonglobe.com/2026/07/16/m...

Trump administration limits student visas to four years, changing longstanding policy - The Boston Globe

The new rule, which also restricts the international students’ ability to transfer schools or change majors without approval in their first year, will go into effect in mid-September.

bostonglobe.com

If you can sit in a meeting and cry about what you're being told to do to a child, you can also refuse to do it.

Cal Horton (they/them)@fiercemum.bsky.social · 3w ago

Just had meeting with kiddo's school. She has been fully supported, treated with full equality & dignity for years. All of that changes from September. Full segregation & humiliation across the board. The school staff cried in the meeting. This will absolutely lead to children's deaths 1/2

University of Glasgow - which prides itself on being “world changers together” - is a founding member

elia ayoub@ayoub.bsky.social · 3w ago

Jesus. 35 UK universities quietly- without debate - joined the Ministry of Defence’s “Battlefield Alliance” which seeks to “reorientate academia towards Defence and National Security” They’re destroying the social sciences and humanities while militarising the institutions