My new book Navigating Democracy is open for pre-order and is 25% off at Waterstones! It's a short guide to the key questions facing democracy - polarisation, populism, misinformation & more - combined with 50 beautiful illustrations. Sale ends Friday 🚨 www.waterstones.com/book/navigat...

Had an amazing time in Braga at the meetings in ethics and political philosophy. Met some old friends and made some new ones. I spoke about grandparents and other nonparents who play a significant role in raising children, arguing for protection and support for their relationships.

I am heartbroken by University of Exeter’s decision to endanger the majority of staff in philosophy and qualitative social science, including #Egenis @exeterspspa.bsky.social No warning, no consultations, just an email dropped into inboxes announcing redundancy. c.org/zKbPJFDwBq #philsci #sts #hps

Submissions for the 2026 Philosophy Students' Symposium in Maribor are still open! The topic this year is AI in philosophy, broadly construed.

Philosophy Students’ Symposium 2026

The topic this year is AI and philosophy, broadly construed.The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence is fundamentally transforming our society, scientific practices, and our understanding of t...

philevents.org

At-home brain implant gives man with motor neuron disease his daily life back. The device has helped a man with motor neuron disease communicate and control his computer for nearly two years. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

At-home brain implant gives man with motor neuron disease his daily life back

The device has helped a man with motor neuron disease communicate and control his computer for nearly two years.

nature.com

Here is an academic reform we should all be able to agree on: works cited should not count against word limits for journal articles. I say this as I work on a paper with a 2k works cited page, which will price me out of many phil journals.

We keep babyifying ever older people (16 and 17 year olds getting tech curfews, the woo-woo stuff around sentencing under-25s). Think it’s an underappreciated (and mostly bad) consequence of being an ageing democracy:

Why childhood is getting longer

Technology, demography and culture are all pushing society to extend how long people are considered young for

ft.com

Politics UK@politicsuk.com · 2mo ago

🚨 NEW: Keir Starmer will introduce nightly social media curfews for 16 and 17-year-olds as part of the Government's social media ban [@thetimes]

I’ve officially resigned as Associate Editor for Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience. It used to be a reputable journal, but became a case study in how forced automation destroys academic integrity. 👇

After a marvellous lecture yesterday from @tmbejan.bsky.social on equality (before egalitarianism) we had this morning a fascinating talk on Locke (before liberalism) to our usual talk-and-bake group. Both occasions marked by rich insight & conversation and for that we are very grateful indeed 😁

Call for public to assist in nationwide hedgehog count

Hedgehog Conservation Ireland and researchers at University of Galway and Oxford are calling on people to take part in the inaugural Great Big All-Ireland Hedgehog Count.

rte.ie

Amy Taggart@amytaggart.eurosky.social · 3y ago

I recently uncovered my old Kindle & all its long lost wisdom. Annoyingly this book isn’t actually about justice for hedgehogs at all. This kind of false advertising should really be illegal ⚖️ 🦔 #philsky

Congratulations to @leticiamarteleto.bsky.social, Sneha Kumar, Luiz Gustavo Fernandes Sereno, & Alexandre Gori Maia for winning this year's ASA Sociology of Population section's Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship in Population Award! journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

I've just updated my website. Don't worry, it still has a picture of me eating food on every page. Feedback appreciated. liamshields.com

Liam Shields

Visit the post for more.

liamshields.com

Cycled to Northwich this morning. I love them morning and cycling. I don't love getting flies in my eye. 71km feels like my limit for now. So this is where I should be. Next stop Greenbank

Had a marvellous time at Brave New World in Manchester last week, thanks to hosting from @yonghaohuang.bsky.social, Anthony McMullin, @liamshields.bsky.social @jamespattison.bsky.social & others. As usual took the chance to ask a few questions of the audience, and thus gather a bit more data...

Continue to think the core problem with “ban the under 16s from social media” is it treats “online harms” as similar to a bottle of Grey Goose when they are far more akin to bathtub moonshine:

Perhaps we should all be banned from social media

Focusing only on under-16s obscures the lack of internet safeguards for everyone else

ft.com

The “hammock of shame” 😂 Superb turn of phrase there, @brianwoolfinder.bsky.social Bravo, Sir! 👏

Wild times. Sociology jealous of the public voice of …… Philosophy. www.socialeurope.eu/sociology-is...

Sociology Is Surrendering Its Public Voice to Philosophy

As modernity falters, sociology cannot diagnose the society it once helped define — and philosophy has taken its place.

socialeurope.eu

Every summer I repost this article on how to spot drowning. Please read it and pass on. In the last few years I’ve had SIX messages from people who saved a kid’s life after clicking on the link from my feed. slate.com/technology/2...

Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning

Drowning is not the violent, splashing call for help that most people expect.

slate.com

What does privacy mean in an age where your phone knows your heart rate, your search history, and your 3am thoughts? My new paper introduces the Personal Agential Realm (PAR). Open access so do check it out! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Understanding privacy: The personal agential realm theory and its implications

The digital revolution has expanded the ways personal information can be collected, shared, and exploited, yet existing privacy theories often struggl…

sciencedirect.com

So boring! Fun ways I can think of: 1) PM from the Lords 2) PM from outside Parliament 3) Act of Parliament creating a new constituency where only Burnham is allowed to stand. 4) Act of Parliament that, for the purposes of the constitution, Andy Burnham and Keir Starmer swap identities.

Mark Wallace@wallaceme.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Sorry, what is this? Who on earth wants not just one leadership change this year but two??

Nice cycle to plumley this morning

Just had a lovely birthday breakfast. 41 not out

This might be my favourite dessert

Starting Tomorrow: the ETHICS/PEASoup Blog Discussion on on “Justice for Girls: On the Provision of Abortion as Adequate Care” a free article by Alyssa Izatt and Kimberley Brownlee at doi.org/10.1086/739648, with a précis by Japa Pallikkathayil, peasoupblog.com/2026/04/anno...

Justice for Girls: On the Provision of Abortion as Adequate Care* | Ethics: Vol 136, No 3

When the US Supreme Court rejected the constitutional right to abortion care, several US states enacted bans. This legal change exposed critical moral questions about pregnancy in childhood: What do a...

doi.org

Drivers are wanting to make the switch to EVs, but can't afford to.🚗 Social leasing has prooved popular in Europe, driving forward decarbonisation alongside affordability. That's why we've signed @transenvuk.bsky.social's joint letter to Government, calling for a UK rollout. buff.ly/oe0UqWg

Joint letter: Urgent need to introduce social leasing of electric…

Civil society, industry and trade unions are united in urging the Government to act — to introduce a social leasing scheme for battery electric vehicles…

transportenvironment.org

My hometown of Halifax still has the 11+. Locals have to compete with kids from *miles* out of town, whose parents would otherwise send them to private school in Leeds, Bradford or elsewhere. They've all had tonnes of tutoring, too, as that's much cheaper than the fees potentially avoided.

Tim Bale@timbale.bsky.social · 4mo ago

You don't say!

BBC News leading all its bulletins on demands by former Government advisor Lord Robertson for more defence spending, without at any point mentioning his current paid senior role for US defence lobbyists

"Every now and again, someone is nice enough to invite me to go and look at a half-finished construction scheme, so I can marvel at the cleverness of a modern engineering project..." A day out on HS2.

How do you build a new high speed railway, anyway?

A day out on HS2.

jonn.substack.com

As someone who teaches college aged Americans about US History, I can say that the history of anti-Catholicism is something very few have learned anything about, and it always comes as quite a surprise. Most students, even religious ones, barely know the difference between Catholics and Protestants.

Choosing whether—and whom—to marry is a bit like choosing between a bowl of cereal or a chocolate doughnut for breakfast. How? 💍❓🍩 Join us with Prof. Ruth Chang at the BIAP Distinguished Lectures to explore these questions and more! 🤔💭 ✨ Sneak peek on TED: t.ly/ylR6E 🗓️Schedule and info: t.ly/r8_jI