"The legislation includes language to block President Donald Trump from finalizing a plan to put political appointees in charge of approving grants." Temporary reprieve for science or permanent block of a quasi-Stalinist measure?

Senate finalizes funding patch that would block Trump’s grant overhaul

Language is included to delay the president’s move to put political appointees in charge of grant approval.

politico.com

"When the first of August came round, the Professor realized he had pleasantly trifled away nearly two months at a task which should have taken little more than a week." -Willa Cather (from The Professor's House, 1925)

Sachsen-Anhalt. Brace, brace.

Ulrike Franke@rikefranke.bsky.social · 6d ago

Spiegel describes the three likely outcomes: an absolute majority (!!) for the extreme right AFD, an AFD-led government without a clear majority, or a CDU-led government in which they would need to work with the Linke (which they usually avoid under any circumstances) www.spiegel.de/politik/deut...

Churn, not crisis, for UK science @profgeraintrees.bsky.social & I have written the editorial in this week’s @science.org, reflecting on early moves by the Burnham government + scope for US-UK cooperation on scale-up finance & AI for science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... @rorinstitute.bsky.social

You all should read Anne Carson, full stop. Everything available. Extravagantly clever and beautifully fierce writing.

Dr Stylite@columnist.bsky.social · last wk.

You all should read Ann Carson’s Norma Jeane Baker of Troy, you cowards. cc @beijingpalmer.bsky.social

This may happen - but if the Eu relations team stays in the new OPMC it may just mean that Ed Miliband takes on some of what Keir Starmer was doing, while Hamish Falconer continues the NTS role. That would be my interpretation. We know Burnham wants to focus more domestically

Anurag Deb@anuragdeb.bsky.social · last wk.

Remains to be seen what impact moving control of EU relations out of the Cabinet Office will have on intergovernmental relations, esp vis-à-vis any decision-shaping on the UK's part in areas of devolved competence. In 3rd countries like Switzerland, EU+IGR are necessarily intertwined.

“Institutions…active agents…democratic commitment is not inherent but must be cultivated and defended. Ultimately, #democracy requires ongoing engagement, ethical leadership, and a willingness to bear short-term costs for long-term preservation.” - @chrischirp.bsky.social @martinmckee.bsky.social

Martin McKee@martinmckee.bsky.social · last mo.

🧵1/ In our new paper, @chrischirp.bsky.social & I argue that while institutions can resist authoritarian pressure, some enable it. Looking at the current US regime, we examine why universities, law firms, and corporations often chose accommodation over resistance.

If you are interested in what’s happening in US science this is a good thread on the Kratsios report. Often the UK picks up US themes so it’s worth being aware bsky.app/profile/shob...

Shobita Parthasarathy@shobitap.org · 2w ago

I suffered through Kratsios' answer to Science: the Endless Frontier. The NYT summary is good, but there's more to it. And I should say that I welcome improvements to the scientific enterprise (which is why I'm participating in @alondra.bsky.social and Jenny Reardon's Public's Science project). 🧵

I wrote about the Nolan Odyssey for the LRB. I'll summarize some of my main points below, in case you don't feel like reading all that. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Emily Wilson · An Uncomplicated Man

As they say at the awards shows, I was humbled to learn that Christopher Nolan has read at least the first line of my...

lrb.co.uk

We were utterly delighted to be invited to this year's Royal Society of Literature @rsliterature.bsky.social Summer Party. Our exhibition, displayed as new Fellows were being inducted, also features the RSL's president, Elif Shafak, whose entry you can read here: 📖 tinyurl.com/5xwxmaw8

Just finished teaching an experiential, site-specific & practice-informed module on & in Barcelona, for a cohort of fab UCL @artshumsucl.bsky.social students. Part of a Turing-funded suite of European city modules, it's a truly special study format. @uclnews.bsky.social

interesting commentary by a UCL colleague on the likely effect on science of DSIT's demise. (TLDR: not dramatic, in James' view).

James Wilsdon@jameswilsdon.bsky.social · 2w ago

DSIT is dead, but UK science will be fine. Keep your eyes on the AI prize. A few thoughts by me @theconversation.com on the reorganisation of Whitehall science theconversation.com/what-the-sud... @ersatzben.com @hetanshah.bsky.social @rorinstitute.bsky.social @profgeraintrees.bsky.social

It would be quite nice and quite collegial and quite effective (not to mention very good indeed for the UK) to join these arguments up with the evidenced-based arguments of (for example) the British Academy.

The Royal Society@royalsociety.org · 2w ago

"It is essential that science is in no way a junior partner." Paul Nurse PRS has responded to changes including the merger of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology into a new Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade: royalsociety.org/news/2026/07...

(on slow slow summer writing) And when the sun started to burn the earth, promising a long and unconquerable sultriness, everything alive, everything which had moved and made noises in the night, sank into somnolence. Chekhov, 'Fortune'

Strong causal evidence that not cooperating with the radical right strengthens the mainstream right.

Werner Krause@krausewe.bsky.social · 3w ago

New working paper w/ @denis-cohen.bsky.social @rantuna.bsky.social & @turnbulldugarte.com! *Does publicly refusing to cooperate with the far right only strengthen it?* A widespread belief says yes. In this paper, we test it based on a natural experiment from Spain. tinyurl.com/5azkfnas [1/6]

Nifty shift.

Tim Bale@timbale.bsky.social · 4w ago

Had to be done.

The dean of Yale Law School and some members of its faculty are trying to stop a settlement between the university and the Trump administration, warning that an agreement could jeopardize Yale’s independence, according to two people familiar with the deliberations.

Yale Law School Fights to Stop Trump Deal

nytimes.com

main parties say they will boycott Farage’s stunt by-election, looks like the perennial novelty candidate & self-styled space alien may now get his chance… Academics studying politics & anti-politics have long realised that joke candidates no joke at all www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

Political Parody and the Politics of Ambivalence

This article offers insight into the meanings of the unprecedented political potential of humor in the early twenty-first century by discussing three parodic forms of contemporary political humor: car...

annualreviews.org

Count Binface@countbinface.bsky.social · 4w ago

Game on, Nige.

Breaking: Ministers confirm cut to Strategic Priorities Grant for universities. Teaching funding reduction will be sharply felt by some institutions, says Office for Students. Free to read. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...

Ministers confirm cut to Strategic Priorities Grant for universities - Research Professional News

Teaching funding reduction will be sharply felt by some institutions, says Office for Students

researchprofessionalnews.com

Back in Paris for today's massively consequential court decision that will determine whether the RN leader M. Le Pen can stand in next year's French presidential election. It is no exaggeration to say that today's court decision will effectively launch the French presidential election campaign 1/

UEFA: „When the certainty of rules is no longer guaranteed by its guardians, the integrity of the game is at stake and the credibility of a competition is undermined.“ Substitute „game“ for „democracy“ & „competition“ for „rules-based order“ and you’ve got the US administration in a nutshell.

Stanley Pignal@spignal.bsky.social · last mo.

VEEERRRRY punchy statement by UEFA on the reversal of the American red-card suspension. And quite right, too. "We express our disbelief at such an unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision." www.uefa.com/news-media/n...

Brilliant archive and project. Close to our heart with @uclei.bsky.social‘s #BlackEurope initiative. @artshumsucl.bsky.social

Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social · last mo.

'In these 2-hour workshops, we will be working with photographs from the Image of the Black (IB) Archive. Created between the 1960s and 1990s, the archive contains over 30,000 photographs documenting representations of people of African descent in (primarily) Western art.' 13 July, Warburg Institute

AI firms are now destroying our cultural heritage: they are buying massive amounts of used books, scanning them in likely violation of copyright laws, training their models and destroying the books. www.tagesschau.de/kultur/ki-fi...

KI-Firmen kaufen offenbar Antiquariate leer - Buchhändler alarmiert

Es sind sonderbare Bestellungen: Massenweise werden in Antiquariaten innerhalb kürzester Zeit online Ladenhüter bestellt. Dahinter stecken vermutlich Firmen, die ihre KI trainieren. Nicht nur Buchhänd...

tagesschau.de

British Academy President's statement on the UK's higher education crisis, July 2026.

British Academy President: UK higher education crisis risks irreversible damage

As course closures, shrinking provision and widening regional inequalities threaten the future of UK higher education and research, President of the British Academy, Susan J Smith calls for an immedia...

thebritishacademy.ac.uk

Brilliant from @alanbeattie.bsky.social on the floating signifier of ‘The North’. Brought to mind the student applicant, from the South, to York who said they wanted to study in a northern city.

Alan Beattie@alanbeattie.bsky.social · last mo.

Why yes, this is personal. Why do you ask?

So typical of you, Chronos, personification of time, to wave with your winged hourglass and reminding everyone to hurry up. We know, we're late. Thank you.

📢NEW RESOURCE: A new web resource and accompanying report to explore the vulnerabilities to political interference of 33 key UK scientific public bodies & 11 scientific advisory committees! unchecked.uk/public_body_... 1/7

Written a quick substack summarising the paper as well (although there's only so much you can do in 800 words compared to the length of the full paper!) open.substack.com/pub/christin...

Institutions are only as brave as the people running them

Resisting Trump has been the more successful choice for institutions

open.substack.com

Martin McKee@martinmckee.bsky.social · last mo.

🧵1/ In our new paper, @chrischirp.bsky.social & I argue that while institutions can resist authoritarian pressure, some enable it. Looking at the current US regime, we examine why universities, law firms, and corporations often chose accommodation over resistance.

A grim day in a grim week in a grim month for UK higher education, with Dundee, Exeter and Hertfordshire all making major announcements of planned redundancies. Shrinkage of the research & teaching base by the invisible hand's visible fist is not an 'us' or 'them', SHAPE or STEM phenomenon. 1/2

REFERENDUM+10: The Brexit referendum was a one-time event. It's tempting to think that a return referendum will easily reverse the damage it caused. But, as per @albertpweale.bsky.social of @uclspp.bsky.social, nothing could be further from the truth. ucleuropeblog.com/2026/06/23/r...

REFERENDUM+10: No Great Leap in Reverse | Albert Weale

The Brexit referendum in 2016 was a one-time event with long-lasting and damaging consequences for the UK. It is tempting to think that another one-time event in the form of a return referendum on …

ucleuropeblog.com