Rod Liddle, crying tears of beef stock like racist stigmata because refugee Syrians are using British libraries for free, will always be how I'll remember him.
Oli Mould
@olimould.bsky.social
He/him. Academic at large, but lectures in human geography at Royal Holloway, University of London. linktr.ee/olimould Researches anti-capitalism & cities. Christianarchist. Toffeeman. Interested in scifi, films, architecture, music and t-shirts.
Social media has atomised trend setting, cultural consumption and and aesthetics more broadly that we can't conceive of a dominant cultural pattern any more, hence counter-culture can't exist as a genre.
As a millennial, the closest cultural corollary I can think of is South Park which took aim at everything, and such ambiguity ended up being fuel for the alt-right.
Will Davies@will-davies.bsky.social · 2d agoThe Rod Liddle biography suggests a certain post-1968 'type' who was just idiotically drawn to norm-breaching, moving via adolescent rebellion, punk, revolutionary socialism, and eventually ending up at racism, because by the 21st century that was the most efficient transgression still on offer
Infantino may well have to step down! But don't worry, there's plenty of identikit rich, powerful, greedy men to take his place www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...
Fifa president: Who might replace Gianni Infantino in world football's top job?
Pressure is building on Fifa president Gianni Infantino but if he goes, who comes in?
bbc.co.uk
Like all great writers, it's a time to pay tribute to the words they left us with
The National@scotnational.bsky.social · 3d agoBREAKING: Sunday Times and Sun columnist Rod Liddle has died aged 66 after a short illness
This report seems to align with Burnham's recent policy about devolution: giving more fiscal autonomy to cities will hopefully boost growth
Centre for Cities@centreforcities.bsky.social · 3d agoBritain’s cities in 10 charts 📊 British cities power the national economy, but many underperform their international peers. Ten charts explain why cities matter, what holds them back and what improving their performance could deliver 👇
Being a parent of teenagers during the summer holiday: you're simultaneously cripplingly anxious by the time you aren't able to give them because of work, while also being consumed by panic over how they are choosing to spend theirs (i.e on phones and not doing something 'wholesome').
Westworld Season 1 is still up there as one of the best TV seasons of all time. That it went so downhill so rapidly is also equally as astonishing
Glad someone senior from the sector is pushing back. Labour MPs need to understand the serious real anger from graduates and the people who produce them. And the dangerous financial situation they have allowed to fester, or indeed worsened, in one of Britain’s leading sectors.
Labour has harmed universities as much as Trump, London School of Economics head says
LSE vice-chancellor Larry Kramer points to domestic student fees freeze, international student limits and rise in employers’ national insurance
ft.com
The Philip Colbert exhibit at the Lightbox in Woking is interesting, if a little small. The colours were giving me a mini-migraine in the end (although could have been the kids begging me to go…)
From what I can gather, the argument being made here is that Burnham is a love child of Cool Britannia and the Financial Crash.
Duncan Robinson@duncanrobinson.bsky.social · 6d agowww.economist.com/britain/2026... Wrote about our indie music loving elite and how Burnham is...just another 50-something bloke interested in the exactly same thing as others of his generation
The Machine that Britain’s government has built for arbitrary arrest should make every person’s blood run cold.
Saul Staniforth@saulstaniforth.bsky.social · 6d agoJust sitting on the pavement and clapping is now terrorism. Not saying anything, not holding or displaying any signs, just sitting on the pavement & clapping. Andy Burnham can stop this. But he isn't. Reporting by Steven Methven for @novaramedia.com
UEFA has just unanimously decided to boycott both men's and women's World Cups over FIFA's attempt to sell the global game to private equity. Damn.
The sec of state who has seen at least 15000 academics lose their jobs just said this. Out loud. Mercy me. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
‘It hurts to lose a job you love’: Starmer loyalist Bridget Phillipson fights on despite cabinet demotion
Exclusive: The former education secretary on her new role as Labour chair and continuing as the minister for women and equalities
theguardian.com
I'm not qualified to judge whether such people are psychopaths. All I can say is that they behave as if they are. From today's Telegraph.
"Before he was Scrooge, he was..." HIS NAME IS EBENEZER SCROOGE. HE'S ALWAYS BEEN EBENEZER FFS
There's a reason why 'Capitalocene' is more appropriate to describe our age than 'Anthropocene' because humans aren't the problem, capitalism is.
Zack Polanski@zackpolanski.bsky.social · 7d agoWhilst the cost of living crisis continues to spiral, with food and fuel prices soaring, so do global oil and gas companies profits. Shell has today announced it's profits have more than doubled. This is obscene. www.reuters.com/business/ene...
The fact that FIFA have transformed the World Cup from a festival of quasi-nationalistic celebration based on geographic and cultural attachment into a hyper-capitalist hellscape that uses said nationalism to extract more profit is pretty bang on for late capitalism I'd say.
" Joshua Kushner, the brother of Trump’s son-in-law Jared, is seen as the main potential investor"
Jessica Elgot@jessicaelgot.bsky.social · last wk.This is a proper proper jaw dropper www.thetimes.com/sport/footba...
Katie Melua, get on to your agent, you’re relevant again
Melissa & Chris Bruntlett@modacitylife.com · last wk.Beijing’s bicycle comeback might be one of the world's most significant urban cycling revivals. After decades of decline, its mode share has climbed back to almost 30%, supported by over 3,200 kilometres of infrastructure, extensive bike-sharing systems, and an ambitious program of street redesign.🧵
The kids spend all day inside, they should go outside! - but not on the roads, cars are too big & dangerous - don’t cycle on the pavements, stay on the cycle lanes which don’t exist outside cities - not to the park, it’s been fenced off for a festival - don’t go in large groups, it’s scary
Burnham is the first PM in my adult life that actually talks.... normally? Like he actually answers questions and doesn't seem like he's spewing media trained garbage. And he's our first PM that knows how to do social media which probably helps.
In the (excruciatingly long, even for academia) process of getting this paper to fruition, It was very clear that Fuller is a controversial and somewhat divisive figure, but there's lots to admire about him, notably his radical thoughts on the city. So give it a read before you judge him....!
Ed Brookes@ed-brookes.bsky.social · last wk.Pleased to share a new paper in Cities! @olimould.bsky.social @squirerachael.bsky.social and I revisit Buckminster Fuller through three of his designs and explore how they provide provocations to enrich post-crisis urban imaginaries. Check it out here: tinyurl.com/FullerCity
Pleased to share a new paper in Cities! @olimould.bsky.social @squirerachael.bsky.social and I revisit Buckminster Fuller through three of his designs and explore how they provide provocations to enrich post-crisis urban imaginaries. Check it out here: tinyurl.com/FullerCity
A Fuller City: Rekindling the work of Buckminster Fuller in the age of planetary urban crisis
Crisis increasingly characterises urban life in the twenty-first century, as intersecting ecological, economic, geopolitical and social pressures conv…
tinyurl.com
