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.
A bright coral red graphic with black and white Yugoslavian stamps accross the bottom. Text in the centre reads Cold War Socialism, Non-Alignment and Anti-Colonialism in the Yugoslav Press, 1961 - 1979. With University of Exeter. Uncover fresh insights into Cold War socialism and anti-colonialism from a Yugoslav perspective, centering on the largely unexamined Joint Translation Service (JTS) bulletins. Deadline Tuesday 5 May.
Applications now open for a fully-funded PhD studentship exploring Yugoslavia’s multifaceted role during the Cold War, co-supervised with @exeter.ac.uk .
This is one of a number of studentships available as part of AHRC’s Collaborative Doctoral Partnership scheme.
Find out more: link.bl.uk/q95
Us too, Curlew… us too. 😴
#MondayMotivation
🤨
Photo of the South of Scotland regional ballot paper for the Scottish election on 7th May 2026. Added text identifies the "INDEPENDENT GREEN VOICE" as "NOT the Green Party" and "SCOTTISH GREEN PARTY" as "The actual Green Party".
Anyone who received their postal ballot today in the South of Scotland region, please be aware that "Independent Green Voice", which appears second on the list on the peach regional ballot paper, is NOT the Scottish Green Party. This is in fact a deliberate vote spoiling attempt by right-wingers.
You need autistic people to read a draft of your questionnaire or survey and give you feedback on how unclear your questions are. 😹
TRUMP, throwing insults at Pope Leo:
“weak on crime”
“terrible for foreign policy”
“catering to the Radical Left”
“owes his position to me”
“sit down and mind your own business”
POPE LEO, unbothered:
“We are called to love.”
I really need to start remembering that the general internet is not a good starting point for researching anything related to Nazi culture ....
Vacancy for a three-year post-doc position at the Universiteit van Amsterdam!
This postdoc position, part of the European Research Council (ERC)-sponsored 𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐂𝐊𝐀𝐃𝐄 project, seeks to understand the long legacies of blockades on the post-war order.
Have you ever been criticised in public for using a Blue Badge? I’m looking to gather disabled people’s experiences for The Guardian to explore hostility around the Blue Badge and Motability schemes.
We’ve made a quick form you can fill in here: www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a... (Please share.)
On this day in 1945, Bergen-Belsen was liberated. Last spring during the Gaza war, human rights activist Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man accompanied his mother, a Holocaust survivor, to Germany for the 80th anniversary. He reflects on the complex emotions of that visit.
😍
Someone call Mountain Rescue!
Cover of book with text in yellow reading: The Firearm Revolution: From Renaissance Italy to the European Empires, overlaid on an image of an angel in seventeenth-century dress with wings and a long gun.
Hello Bluesky! My new book, THE FIREARM REVOLUTION, is out on 14 April. It’s about how a new technology changed society, and how hard it was to control. Here’s a little thread of what’s inside:
If we want to make universities democratic (or indeed ensure they have a future) we might want to start with accountability of senior management, fully open access publishing that is free at point of use, and the decommercialisation of higher ed.
I really need to know what the piped music is in these …
It’s a great moment to remember that in the leadup to this popular uprising, the first major gut-punch was delivered by Budapest Pride. Poetic justice. 🇭🇺🏳️🌈
Congratulation!!
2 books on a windowsill. Volume 1 (parts 1 & 2) of the History of the Book in Scotland.
Phot of first page of chapter in History of the Book in Scotland vol. 1: Kate Ash-Irisarri, ‘The Manuscripts of Walter Bower’s Scotichronicon’.
So pleased to see this out in the world! 2 volumes, over 60 contributors (incl. a small one by me) - a huge achievement for the four editors congratulations to @ilikeoldbooks.bsky.social et al for getting this over the line!
Hungarians celebrated the landslide defeat of Orban by singing "We Are the Champions" out in the streets
Not "Dear Green Place" 🙄
Do Gen Z kids have more fingers than the rest of us?
🎶Your own … personal … Jesus …
An Apollo space capsule descending to splashdown, under three red-and-white striped parachutes. One parachute has been replaced with a Tunnocks teacake, for comedic purposes.
Largely ignored by the world’s media, Scotland’s astronauts have returned safely too
I can see why - fantastic beach for a game of frisbee 🥏
What I love is that some people are calling it „backwards office chair racing“ — I mean, hello, how else?
I do apologise. I now understand exactly what you mean.
youtu.be/Sf7Ha8sFsgw
Enjoy!!!
A guy asking ChatGPT to review a series of fart sound effects and getting a serious kiss ass response that calls it atmospheric
I can't stop laughing at this post. It's perfect.
(All good, I realised I could do with tidying my desk)
