Elena Gadjanova
@elliegadjanova.bsky.social
Political scientist. Ethnic politics, political communication, and social media in Africa. Writing a book on cross-ethnic outreach in highly diverse states. British Academy Innovation fellow 2025-2026.
A massive multi-city study finds zero link between undocumented immigrants and violent crime. It turns out the only real crime being committed here is politicians brutally assaulting statistical evidence to fuel their culture wars. 📈
Undocumented migration does not raise crime rates, huge study finds
Analysis of neighbourhoods in more than 100 US cities finds no evidence that rising numbers of undocumented immigrants are linked with violent crime.
nature.com
Now is as good a time as ever to simply say that support services are available if you are in need of them. ; www.nhs.uk/mental-healt... findahelpline.com
Help for suicidal thoughts
Where to get help if you are having suicidal thoughts, and what to do if you are worried about someone else.
nhs.uk
So much for "India is immune to gen-Z protests because it's too big/diverse/federal" arguments... www.ft.com/content/5921...
India’s Gen Z takes on Modi
Growing unemployment and anger over education system pose serious challenges to premier
ft.com
I've signed and sent a letter - from authors, broadcasters, journalists, artists, scholars and performers - to express our deep concern at @exeter.ac.uk’s troubling plans to make mass redundancies within the Humanities Dept @uniofexeterhass.bsky.social. I would love it if you read and shared widely.
Reminded me that there is actually a research paper showing being funny negatively correlates with right-wing authoritarianism... www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Right-wing authoritarians aren't very funny: RWA, personality, and creative humor production
Right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) has well-known links with humor appreciation, such as enjoying jokes that target deviant groups, but less is known a…
sciencedirect.com
We're launching a funding drive on Bellingcat today. It's a tough funding environment at the moment with global funder cuts & the fear of Trump scaring off donors, so support us here www.bellingcat.com/donate/?utm_... A short video about what your donations will fund www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Vzb...
What Happens When You Fund Bellingcat ...
YouTube video by Bellingcat
youtube.com
Absolutely crucial piece of research on misinformation in local news on Facebook, X and Nextdoor by @smfthinktank.bsky.social Full report is here (www.smf.co.uk/publications...) but these are some key findings:
This, absolutely. So often misunderstood in counter-disinformation efforts
Eliot Higgins@eliothiggins.bsky.social · 3mo agoBut this also tells us something fundamental about how we need to approach counter-disinformation efforts. It's not about getting rid of the supply of bad information or fact-checking it out of existence, instead we need to focus on why there's a demand for it in the first place.
Without a receptive audience these fake news posts don't get any traction, because there's no-one whose engaged enough with the topic to seek it out and to share it. As ISD writes, there's a huge campaign against Armenia at the moment, but it gets pretty much zero traction.
Just installed '10 Blue Links' Google Chrome extension and it has removed all the AI junk at the top of the page that had been obscuring my search results. Hooray! Recommend💯
A very good afternoon to the absolute hero who organised and parked this beauty in the middle of little Tommy’s far-right hate march. ❤️
“We call misinformation a mistake, disinformation a lie, and malinformation gossip.” 🇫🇮 Ht @dpmanchee.bsky.social via @davidheniguk.bsky.social ****** @emma-briant.co.uk FYI
Dominic Manchee@dpmanchee.bsky.social · 3mo agoHow to prepare UK citizens for a information environment swamped by fake news, fantasy arguments, and bullshit ? Maybe UK should teach media literacy as part of a revised national curriculum ? Approach worked in Finland so why not here ? www.dandc.eu/en/article/f...
The United States now has the most government restrictions on academic freedom of any high-income country. www.chemistryworld.com/news/academi... Raw data from @vdeminstitute.bsky.social —> academic-freedom-index.net/research/Aca...
Orban actually conceding where neither Trump nor Bolsonaro did really is yet another vindication for Juan Linz.
Cartoon by Gábor Pápai, a well-known Hungarian political cartoonist.
Hungary: National parliament election Turnout at 11:00 AM CEST 2010: 24.78% 2014: 23.23% 2018: 29.93% 2022: 25.77% 2026: 37.98% Source: Nemzeti Választási Iroda ➤ europeelects.eu/hungary #Hungary
A sea of humanity at Heroes' Square in Budapest. Hungarians of all walks of life gather en masse to demand regime change, in a nation kneecapped by unspeakable levels of corruption and nepotism for nearly two decades. The winds, and sounds, of change are palpable. 🔥 @telexhu.bsky.social
Tibor M. Kalman@kalmantibs.bsky.social · 4mo agoHeading to Heroes' Square this afternoon to attend a massive, free concert, with over 50(!) bands and performers on stage, each singing a protest song in support of regime change in Hungary 🇭🇺. Here is a link to live feed, starting 4 pm (CET). 💯📢✊🏼 www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6BE...
I hope this is driving home to folks that anti-DEI/anti-woke are functioning mostly as a way to make racism more palatable by framing it as a kind of defensive reaction to an imagined unfairness.
NBC News@nbcnews.com · 5mo agoNEW: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has taken steps to block or delay promotions for more than a dozen Black and female senior officers across all four branches of the military, according to nine U.S. officials familiar with the process.
I've always shied away from social media – but current times have changed this. The categories shaping our lives are being challenged rapidly & profoundly. That's why I've launched FoD: to explore where these trends are leading.The future of difference isn't predetermined - join the conversation
Futures of Difference | Substack
Futures of Difference explores how social categories — race, gender, migration — are transforming. Essays & conversations with 30+ leading scholars. A scholarly platform from the Max Planck Institute,...
futuresofdifference.substack.com
The fun thing writing about US elections is that it's just so comically polarised. Every race is like: Republican: made millions lobbying for oil companies, has been charged with fraud, tweets racism. Democrat: was a teacher before setting up a charity for needy children. Wants free healthcare.
Sam Freedman@samfr.bsky.social · 5mo agoNew post just out "The lifeline election (part one)" With Trump increasingly out-of-control the US midterms have never been more important. In this post I look at whether the Democrats can win Congress - focusing on the nine key Senate races. (£/free trial) open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/t...
The advantage of using sarcasm to implicitly criticise Trump is that he won't notice.
Freedman highlights a stark asymmetry: the US can force compliance from its tech giants in extremis, but allies like the UK are left exposed to American corporate power with no recourse. Better come to this realisation late than never: Tech sovereignty isn't just about China.
Sam Freedman@samfr.bsky.social · 6mo agoNew post just out: "Sovereignty for sale" The UK is uniquely exposed to the power of US tech monopolies - from Palantir to AI and cloud services. Why is it so dangerous? What are other countries doing? And what should we do? (£/free trial) open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/s...
