Ireland fuel protests: Protester says they are willing to close Ireland down The Irish military will be deployed to move vehicles "blocking critical infrastructure".

500 Irish petrol stations could have 'no fuel by end of the day' www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Starmer says UK won’t get ‘dragged into Iran war’ and there is no need for drivers to stock up on petrol – UK politics live UK PM to chair meeting on government’s response to economic consequences of Iran war later on Monday

www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

apologies I forgot to include link in post- added it in extra post to previous thread

Is it really “panic buying”? Public perceptions and experiences of extra buying at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic Shopping behaviour in response to extreme events is often characterized as “panic buying” which connotes irrationality and loss of control. However, “panic buying” has been criticized for attributing ...

Sorry I forgot to provide link for paper with @profjohndrury.bsky.social & @evangelospsych.bsky.social on panic-buying I mentioned in previous post!
It should be freely available to all via
journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

Yes words matter. When the media report stockpiling behaviour as ‘panic buying’ then it increases such behaviour exponentially. If they reported the equally true story that there is enough to go round if you just buy what you need, then stockpiling behaviour decreases

Paper I did with @evangelospsych.bsky.social @profjohndrury.bsky.social & others explores concept of 'panic-buying' before 1st COVID-19 lockdown & argues that stockpiling behaviour happens because of broader structural factors and not people's psychological vulnerability- eg they don't 'panic'!

Japan urges calm after consumers empty toilet paper shelves Japan's government releases a statement assuring people there is no issue with supply and no need to stock up, despite "reports and social media posts regarding the distribution of toilet paper".

Japanese govt is doing right thing in reassuring public that there's no need to stockpile toilet paper, but media risk creating self-fulfilling prophecy if they report 'panic-buying'
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03...

Interesting article on crowd behaviour at gigs & the use of 'show-stop' procedure when safety is at risk. Links to scary example at an Oasis gig in 2005 when crowd surged to front, breaking crowd safety barrier. Gig had to be paused for 25 mins while it was fixed www.youtube.com/watch?v=aue6...

Liz Ellis on BBC Radio Stoke - Russ Morris sits in (15/03/2026) - BBC Sounds Russ puts a smile on your face with great guests, big events and all the music you love.

I did an interview yesterday for @BBCRadioStoke about the social psychology of trust & social/media influence to coincide with the new series of the BBC drama 'The Capture'.
My bit starts at 42.00 into the following link www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Kneecap: Government loses appeal over terror charge Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, known as Mo Chara, had been accused of showing support for proscribed organisation Hezbollah following a gig in London in 2024.

UK government loses appeal over Kneecap terror charge www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

@chriscocking.bsky.social @hasisd.bsky.social
😢
🙏🏼

‘All together now’: Facilitators and barriers to engagement in mutual aid during the first UK COVID-19 lockdown Despite undeniable hardship, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic also saw an outpour of community solidarity and mutual aid towards those in need. This study explored why people participated in mutual ...

Research I did with @swedishprotests.bsky.social and
@evangelospsych.bsky.social into mutual aid during lockdown also showed how people came together to support and show solidarity with others, rather than behaving selfishly and/or 'panicking' journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

My blog from mid-March 2020 argued that we shouldn't have delayed lockdown & that the stated reason (that the public wouldn't comply with lockdown) had no basis in behavioural science & that people would likely be more resilient dontpaniccorrectingmythsaboutthecrowd.blogspot.com/2020/03/coro...

My blog from mid-March 2020 argued that we shouldn't have delayed lockdown & that the stated reason (that the public wouldn't comply with lockdown) had no basis in behavioural science & that people would likely be more resilient dontpaniccorrectingmythsaboutthecrowd.blogspot.com/2020/03/coro...

Covid inquiry: Lockdown could have been avoided and other key findings The long-awaited report is published into how well or badly the government handled the Covid pandemic.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
2 main headlines from #COVIDinquiry are that earlier lockdown would have saved 1000s of lives & lockdown may have been avoided altogether if protective measures had been introduced earlier

Seeing more eyewitness reports about #TrainAttack on the news provides further evidence of bystanders intervening in this incident. It seems that the actions of these “zero-responders” quite possibly saved lives last night

'Run, there's a guy stabbing everyone' - eyewitnesses describe attack Two passengers on the Doncaster-London train during Saturday's stabbing attack describe chaos as people scrambled for safety.

Eye-witness reports of extreme heroism in response to #TrainAttack in Cambridgeshire, UK last night. Man uses own head to protect woman from being stabbed. Evidence of concept of 'zero responders' & shows that people don't tend to 'panic' in emergencies. www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/...

Dublin: Police van set on fire at protest outside asylum seeker hotel Footage from the scene at Dublin's Citywest Hotel shows a police vehicle on fire.

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

Please don’t use the term ‘stampede’ to describe tragedies such as these @theguardian.com as it rarely matches up with what actually happens. This tragedy is more likely to have been a crowd crush or crowd collapse & it’s unlikely that people were trampled to death by other crowd members

At least 36 dead and more than 50 injured in stampede at Vijay rally in India Victims include eight children at election campaign gathering in Tamil Nadu led by popular actor and politician

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

Next, @chriscocking.bsky.social presented his preliminary findings on his collective identity research concerning the right-wing protests in the UK since the August 24 riots by exploring using visual and audio data collection methods 🧵3/5

At @bps-social-psych.bsky.social the @behaviourresuk.bsky.social funded symposium on our 2024 riots project @swedishprotests.bsky.social @drannetempleton.bsky.social

Feeling the Chill: Protest & Power in the UK | Harley Wishart | Substack I am investigating whether new legislation in the UK has created a 'chilling effect' on activists, and if it has exacerbated the 'discriminatory impact' of protest policing. Click to read Feeling the ...

feelingthechill.substack.com?r=6dmo7h&utm...

There was no 'riot' at Mo Chara's court appearance in London today, which reinforces my previous point below that charging him with incitement to riot after Kneecap's Glastonbury set would have been ridiculous @kneecapceol.bsky.social
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

So this is where I’ll be laying my head this evening in mid Wales. That works for me!

The Press often say ‘riot Police are on alert’ for a demo, but it’s utterly meaningless. There will always be riot police on alert (that’s inherent within their role!). I only saw 2 officers from the TSG (MPS public order unit) in Parliament Square at the protest & they were deployed as advisors

Tsunami reaches Hawaii and California as earthquake off Russia triggers warnings - live updates Two million people are told to evacuate in Japan after an 8.8 magnitude earthquake, one of the strongest ever, hits Russia's eastern coast.

Coverage I've seen so far of #Tsunami shows mercifully little damage and/or casualties. Also reports from #Hawaii of people being 'civilized' & no 'panic' as they evacuate, which fits with most research into mass emergency behaviour
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c3...

Nicky Campbell - 23/07/2025 - BBC Sounds Nicky Campbell takes your calls on the day's talking points.

I was interviewed on @bbc5live.bsky.social this morning about the possibility of riots this summer & my clip is from 49.00-51.00 minutes into the following link;
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
Briefer interaction than anticipated, so a lot of what I'd intended to say didn't get covered

An article I wrote in 2014 highlighted the Battle of #Orgreave during the UK miners' strike was the 1st large scale example of the British Police adopting tactics used by the colonial Police force in Hong Kong
theconversation.com/how-the-uk-i...

Battle of Orgreave national inquiry confirmed by Yvette Cooper Police violently clashed with striking miners at Orgreave in South Yorkshire on 18 June 1984.

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