Wonderful words and insightful thoughts from @matthewbarnard.phd on the real issues in academic freedom and free speech 👏🏻

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Seconding this ! Go be awesome at Middlesex!

"Spanish Flu" says hi.

A poster with a colorful stack of books on the left and this text on the right: “Hey, Teenagers: Pay close attention to the books people try to ban. Then, make a beeline to read those books, if you can. Find out for yourself why those people want that book banned. Find out for yourself if they can be trusted to know what’s best for you.” ~ Jeff Zentner

NATIONAL LIBRARY WEEK

"Hey, Teenagers: Pay close attention to the books people try to ban. Then, make a beeline to read those books, if you can. Find out for yourself why those people want that book banned. Find out for yourself if they can be trusted to know what’s best for you.”
~ Jeff Zentner

Amazing that it’s always the same three transphobic columnists, over and over and over again. Here, we have the lesbian JD Vance rewriting a history she was never part of.

British universities paid security firm to ‘spy’ on pro-Palestine students Investigation reveals how Horus, a company led by ex-military intelligence officials, was hired during protest movement.

No money for jobs. Plenty of money for spying.

Many of the 12 universities who paid private intelligence to spy on pro-Palestine activists are forcing through major job cuts.

@drjogrady.bsky.social it's "shameful", universities have "wasted hundreds of thousands spying on their own students"

All the official channels failed these students. Makes you wonder how many more disasters like this are currently taking place or about to take place.

Or have taken place, but since the visa rules are so strict, they are made to disappear back to their home country. #UKHE

Boom. Now UoN need to ACTUALLY be prepared to negotiate + compromise on their disastrous plans which threaten the university on an existential level + will lead to massive job losses. We can + MUST challenge this. Be part of @uonucu.bsky.social to save the soul of this uni.

The way the English think calling someone a liar is considered tantamount to using the most offensive swear word is something I particularly hate about the English.

Universities set to be fined up to £500,000 for failing to protect free speech The Office for Students (OfS) will oversee scheme, which will launch in time for the upcoming academic year

Ideas of “free speech” cannot be divorced from social reality. Right now, those who vocally defend the rights of trans folk, migrants, Palestinians, etc are punished while those who contest the rights of minoritised groups are protected. That’s not encouraging free speech — it’s cultivating fascism.

Although those would likely have unhealthy amounts of racism, misogyny and other horrible stereotypes...

Jo speaking for Palestine

Jo speaking for Palestine

Jo speaking for Palestine

On Palestinian Prisoners' Day, Jo Grady stood outside Downing Street in solidarity with more than 9,000 Palestinian political prisoners, hundreds of them children, subjected to detention without charge, torture and abuse in Israel's brutal apartheid system.

Actual lack of academic freedom.

You'd only know it if you consulted the public record, so here it is: lordslibrary.parliament.uk/office-for-s...

Sheffield Hallam University nursery closure plan 'mad' - parents Sheffield Hallam University is consulting over the closure of its Collegiate Nursery site.

Sheffield has long nursery waiting lists

Yet Sheffield Hallam University’s nursery - open beyond just staff - has falling attendance

It's not well publicised 😉

Because SHU wants to shut it & sell the building to balance the books. Convenient timing 😲

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

It's a great addition to English language

"He's more than a grifter, he's an absolute Vice Chancellor"

"We put him in charge & he's VC-ed us into decay"

"Started simple. Now it’s VC’d up & no one knows what’s going on"

"He calls it stakeholder engagement, classic VC speak"

Ooooh! Love the wyrd stuff ❤️

Ooooh do love @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social

Regent Street near Playhouse - a crowd of architecture fans with red jacketed Lucy

Near the old General Hospital site and Lucy in her red jacket pointing the way

Gesturing at the great Birkin buildings of the Lace Market with Lucy in her trademark red jacket

The Adams Building by TC Hine with Lucy doing Tommy Cooper pose

Lovely afternoon with @notrock.bsky.social doing #TCHine architecture walk - erudite and entertaining in equal measure.

A screenshot of an electronic page of a book with the acknowledgements page reading "It occurred to us at the same moment to dedicate this book to each other. We do so as a celebration of an extraordinarily happy collaboration, in which we experienced many of the things we were writing about"

This weekend I've been deep in the literature writing up one of my thesis chapters, and came across what might be one of the most wholesome academic acknowledgements in a book I've ever seen (from "Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation")

Bureaucracy is no substitute for a values debate As OfS tells ethics committees to rein themselves in and prioritise academic freedom, Joe Mintz makes the case that values can't be wished away – they have to be argued over in public

Last week on Wonkhe: As OfS tells ethics committees to rein themselves in and prioritise academic freedom, Joe Mintz makes the case that values can't be wished away – they have to be argued over in public

I still remember when queer feminist historian colleague blocked me on socials and proceeded to bad mouth me to other people because I told her in late 2023 that, while the accounts of Hamas sex violence were still unverified, there was ample research showing Israel deploys against Palestinians.

‘Your brain isn’t fully formed until you’re 25’: A neuroscientist demolishes the greatest mind myth | BBC Science Focus Magazine Whether you are young or old, your brain is always changing.

‘Your brain isn’t fully formed until you’re 25’: A neuroscientist demolishes the greatest mind myth

www.sciencefocus.com...

Dr Dean Burnett tackles a stubborn, and increasingly harmful, brain myth. For Science Focus Magazine.

#Brains #Teens #Development #Autonomy

REVIEW: Chopsy by Maya Jordan – Folding Rock 'Proud to call ourselves home' - Gemma June Howell reviews Maya Jordan's 'Resistance Tales of a Working-class Woman'.

After seeing @mayajordanwrites.bsky.social speaking @bookspacecardiff.bsky.social I've been rereading the marvellous review in @foldingrockmag.bsky.social by Dr Gemma June Howell. Giving this book such a serious review, befitting the eloquence of Maya's writing, is ❤️ foldingrock.com/review-chops...

I've entered!!!

FFS indeed 🤦🏻‍♀️

A close up photo of a mum reading a story to a baby on her lap. In quotation marks, dark blue text says Her little feet would start going and her hands would wave – she’d get so excited... Seeing her reaction made it all worthwhile. Quote from a parent on low income talking about Bookstart Baby.

It's never too early to share stories with babies.

That's why our #Bookstart Baby programme provides a free book pack to families with babies - and 78% of parent and carers say it prompted them to read or share books and stories more.

Find out more in our Impact Report: https://bit.ly/4tsOHla

We’re fighting for transparency over Palantir NHS briefing documents | Good Law Project Wes Streeting is refusing to publish documents that will provide the truth about the risks of Palantir’s systems for handling our health records, so we’re fighting back

In public, Wes Streeting is furiously back-pedaling from his earlier Palantir cheerleading.

But in private he is refusing to let us see what civil servants told him about Palantir

So, with @petergeoghegan.bsky.social, we are taking him to court to try and force him to hand over the briefings.