You could say that Rock n Roll was born 111 years ago today in Arkansas, but probably not where you'd think. Before there was a Chuck Berry or Little Richard, there was those who wanted to be like her.

Rosetta Nubin better known as Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the godmother of Rock was born on this day

Such a strong piece of writing

Don’t forget to tip your hat to Karl. An imposing monument to a towering intellect.

And I have a chapter in it

Ha! I think I might find uses for that word. Could it, in the urban world, be the opposite of gentrification? As ever, I will be gratefully bending my ears to the audio recommendations as well.

The Palgrave Handbook of Racial Injustice and Resistance This handbook addresses the role of the criminal-legal system in projecting and enforcing racial injustice across the globe.

link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

Listening to it young I felt older, listening to it old, I feel young. Timeless classic

BBC Radio 4 - Thinking Allowed, Prison violence, sound and survival A prize-winning study of the sounds of prison life, and an exploration of victimisation.

Hey #Criminology & #CJS,
If you're interested in #prison & #SensoryCriminology then check out this week's #ThinkingAloud on BBC #Radio4

@kateherrity.bsky.social will be discussing her book Sound, Order and Survival in Prisons: The Rythms and Routines of HMP Midtown
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Fintan O'Toole: Tony Blair and Peter Mandelson will go down in history as crawlers and creeps If we want to understand why democracy is in such trouble, we can learn plenty from the careers of two men who were once stellar figures in democratic politics

O’Toole calls the dynamic duo of BritPol “walking embodiments of political putrefaction”. Usual neat understatement. www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026...

THE REVIEWS ARE IN! A NEW FILM MELANIA EXCLUSIVELY IN THEATERS JANUARY 30 "If syphilis were a movie!" - Indiewire "I can't understand a f*cking thing she says!" - Variety "Should be considered a war crime!" - Hollywood Reporter "Like being taken hostage by the Taliban!" -NY Times "Watching Melania's journey from Slovenian prostitute to First Lady is like walking barefoot in a field of Lego while you have explosive diarrhea!" - RogerEbert.com "If Epstein really did kill himself, watching this film may have been why!" - Screen

Roger Ebert. 🤣😂🤣😂

Hope it went well. I so wanted to be there but it clashed with a previously arranged local meeting. The book (and the event) look fantastic.

EQUATOR Equator is a magazine of politics, culture and art.

www.equator.org/about this new journal is well worth a look. Great writing, great ideas.

This is behind a paywall but well worth a read, a good introduction to some of the ways whiteness is avoided, misunderstood and underestimated. Dm for a copy

Mannheim Centre for Criminology | Book launch event In this event we are bringing together some of the leading voices in violence reduction policy and practice, to prompt honest discussion about the future of violence reduction in the UK

www.lse.ac.uk/events/book-...
With all this talk of Reform it is good to see the other ‘R’ word in the launch for this book: “We argue for the need for a revolution in violence reduction - to build a new movement for change that connects the dots between policy and the street.” Amen to that! Avanti!

Ugly as his comments about NATO troops were, his venomous comments about Somalis that were so explicitly white supremacist, have barely been mentioned.

Great investigation of the Nazis, racists and criminals mobilising the flag-on-lamp-posts movement. This is the kind of journalism that the national media could and should have conducted:

manchestermill.co.uk/the-men-who-...

Hope the talk goes well. Where’s it at? I won’t be able to get there but wish I could

Opinion | Could This Unserious, Mischievous, Frightening Man Be Britain’s Next Prime Minister?

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/27/o...
Possibly paywalled but well worth a read if you can

Aime Cesaire: “that colonial activity, colonial enterprise, colonial conquest, which is based on contempt for the native and justified by that contempt, inevitably tends to change him who undertakes it…”

Hope things pick up. Anouar Brahem is often my ‘go to’ when soothing needed.

Conor Gearty died a month ago yesterday. He was deeply committed to human rights law without idealising it. He recognised its power & value while acknowledging its limitations (& those of the people engaging with it). He was also an exceptional lawyer. This is a fitting final piece in the @lrb.co.uk

I wrote about the Manchester synagogue attack and attempts to blame Gaza protests
rachelshabi.substack.com/p/indivisibl...

Hello - it's taken a while but we are finally here! The BSC is on Bluesky. We look forward to sharing all the exciting things happening at the BSC: Events, Networks, Newsletters, our 2026 conference, membership opportunities and much more. Please follow us for all things Criminology and CJ!

Each of the six books listed on this page offer compelling analysis of struggles that will define the 21st century.

Convict Criminology on Trial and ‘Writing From the Flesh’: A Review Essay Prompted by Introduction to Convict Criminology by Jeffrey Ian Ross, Bristol University Press This article is an extended review of Jeffrey Ian Ross's student textbook, ‘Introduction to Convict Criminology’. The review tackles critical issues emerging in convict criminology and the wider live...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... My review essay on a new book about convict criminology. It’s open access and free to read

A Moon Will Rise from the Darkness - Pluto Press A devastating indictment against international complicity in Israel’s genocide in Palestine

Francesca Albanese on the genocide in Gaza, 'A Moon Will Rise from the Darkness', free to download
@pscupdates.bsky.social @europeangroup.bsky.social @ccse-ljmu.bsky.social @statecrime.bsky.social @qmucu.bsky.social @oubucu.bsky.social @carolinelucas.bsky.social

www.plutobooks.com/product/a-mo...

Forever Young melts me everytime. Lucky students having you back in the room.

You’d expect eloquence from a lawyer, but listening to him he was beyond eloquent.

Challenging Conceptions of “Borders” and “Race”: Q&A with E. Tendayi Achiume E. Tendayi Achiume, Ashvin B. Chhabra and Daniela Bonafede-Chhabra Member in the School of Social Science, comes to the Institute from Stanford Law School. Her research focuses on the international le...

“my research suggests that borders are more complex, mobile, and attach to different bodies in diverse ways. Their function isn't as simple or legitimate as commonly believed.” www.ias.edu/ideas/challe...

Love, Class and Empire Cambridge Core - Twentieth Century British History - Love, Class and Empire

This, on late British imperial administrators in Iran & Iraq, looks excellent. Focuses on the intertwining of the personal and the political.

www.cambridge.org/core/books/l...