Join @bronwenmanby.bsky.social, Sharon Cowan, Ruvi Ziegler & me today at IALS for the launch of Devyani Prabhat’s fantastic new @uolpress.bsky.social book Migrating Borders and Citizenship in Law. Chaired by IALS Director Carl Stychin. @ials.bsky.social
All welcome!
ials.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...
Long thread alert 🧵
1. Applying earned settlement rules retrospectively is wrong. But the proposal to extend the default settlement period to ten years for all future migrants is, in terms of long-term damage, an order of magnitude more serious. It has received far less attention than it deserves.
Earned settlement: retrospective change is wrong but prospective change is even worse Changing the rules for migrants already here is wrong and unfair but only affects a finite group of people. Extending default settlement to 10 years or more for everyone is a social policy disaster.
A rare Substack piece from me on the biggest problem with the earned settlement proposals. It's not the unfair treatment of those already here, as bad as that is. It's the forward-looking, permanent change for all future migrants. open.substack.com/pub/wewanted...
Not the first time I hear this, but I find Guards! Guards! to be inferior to the two first books. Equal Rites and Mort are the peak among the first 10 books (how much I have read of the series until now)
"A carefully crafted assemblage ethnography that should be
essential reading not only for medical anthropologists and STS
scholars but also oncologists, cancer care nurses, surgeons and
health policy officials"
I am very grateful for Ayo Wahlberg's thoughtful and generous review of my book.
👣“In our case, you really have to be able to provide us with three Swiss citizens by ancestry.” - naturalization caseworker
Article by Wegahta B. Sereke, Stefan Manser-Egli & Barbara von Rütte: “Swiss by ancestry: Genuine and strategic nativism in naturalization procedures”
shorturl.at/P2jTY
The impact of Brexit on foreign-born workers in the UK - my analysis with @johnspringford.bsky.social now in @voxeu.org
cepr.org/voxeu/column...
I don't know where this narrative of "permanent" refugee status came from (right wing press), but it is wrong. The change is from a single grant of five years' leave followed by the ability to apply for settlement
CJEU, asylum law
New judgment: Italy cannot unilaterally refuse transfers to it of asylum-seekers it is responsible for under the Dublin system. But given that it has done so, the Member State requesting the transfer becomes responsible instead after six months - curia.europa.eu/site/upload/... 1/
New rules for dual citizens reflect how states are adapting citizenship to a digital age of control and surveillance.
👉 Read the full analysis on @theconversation.com UK’s new passport rules for dual citizens are a result of border control in the digital age
theconversation.com/uks-new-pass...
Come work with me! We are recruiting for a Head of Comms and Marketing to help us communicate the work of @britishacademy.bsky.social and the power of the humanities and social sciences in making sense of our changing world
app.loxo.co/job/MzM2MzQt...
An event to celebrate the launch of this brilliant new #OpenAccess book, published with @ials.bsky.social:
uolpress.co.uk/book/migrati...
Excellent new article by Laura Lambert on the role of Justices of the Peace in certifying citizenship in Sierra Leone - from the DIGID project @leuphana.bsky.social #citizenshipinafrica www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
I'll bite: 'long-term, higher volume migration that creates demand for "ethnic" goods and then an offer of the same for the rest of the population is good, short-term, small scale migration is bad'. Was this the line of reasoning? /irony
I am not sure if anyone got access for ethnographic street-level work recently. Monish Bhatia wrote ethnographic analyses link.springer.com/article/10.1... and Fabrice Langrognet is doing a historical street-level analysis onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... so they should probably have insight
I can understand that between the changes in political climate and the reactions to the increase in refugee arrivals since 2015 (2011 for some of the countries involved) this might come as a surprise.
Mass regularisations used to be almost an undeclared structural component of migration policies in countries such as Spain and especially Italy.
(an opinion universally reviled on Bluesky, and with 0 reactions on the other place)
By Daniela Trucco: Bureaucrats and lawyers in the implementation of Italian naturalization: a relational approach to ‘highly discretionary powers’ www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Join us in Florence on 14-15 May for this year's Annual Conference of the @mpc-eui.bsky.social and @globalcit.bsky.social !
CfP: www.eui.eu/events?id=57...
Deadline: 3 February
Division of Medical Education Events and Initiatives to Discuss Autism and ADHD Diagnoses in Context (for Staff and Students) Colleagues in the Division of Medical Education have been involved in a series of events exploring the history of autism and ADHD diagnoses, and related topics concerning the study of neurodevelopment, developmental psychology, and neurodiversity. In June 2025, CHSTM, together with the network Autism@Manchester, hosted the interdisciplinary workshop “Rethinking Neurodevelopment: From WHO Policies to Neurodiversity and Care”, with three speakers, Dr Anna Stenning (University of Southampton), Dr Bonnie Evans and Dr Cinzia Greco (both SMS). The workshop was an opportunity to rethink neurodevelopmental conditions, their historical and contemporary transformations, and to explore the future direction of research in the field. Growing interest in, and diagnosis of, conditions such as autism and ADHD has generated new and sometimes controversial debates. The workshop was an occasion to discuss the history of autism, and the role of international agencies, such as the WHO, in defining this diagnosis, and how other personal identities, such as gender, can influence the experience of autistic people. Dr Erin Beeston (a CHSTM alumna now working with Autism@Manchester) requested support from Dr Greco and Dr Evans to organise an “Autism student journal club”, an ongoing initiative for neurodivergent students to discuss research on the topic and connect with other students with similar experiences. On 16th October, Dr Bonnie Evans and Professor Jonathan Green spoke at a new CHSTM seminar series on Mind, History and Society, bringing together historians and doctors to support understanding healthcare practices. Dr Evans discussed how the history of child development studies within social and political context can help to explain changes in the meaning of the autism diagnosis over time, and why these historical changes are vital to interpreting epidemi…
CHSTM and the Division of Medical Education at UoM are organising/have organised a few interesting events on neurodiversity. Have a look here:
blogs.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/blog/2025/12...
A system of cheap, physical IDs with limited requirements for the holders could solve many of the issues in this field, but apart from some migrant groups I do not see political actors willing to take up that position.
Right-to-work checks should become digital (which is an issue in terms of proving rights), with the promise of making the checks more systematic and traceable. The latter could improve workers' rights and facilitate proving time in employment, but that is still to prove
British citizens without a passport or driving licence will likely remain ID-less. If the new digital ID does get implemented it could be an improvement, but the vulnerability is likely to remain.
The exception is obviously undocumented migrants, for whom a reduction in ID check is welcome
Almost all non-citizens in the UK are already subject to mandatory digital ID, and have no alternatives to it being digital, so there is no improvement on that front. Rather, a divide will remain between those who have to have a digital ID and the majority that has alternatives
I am not sure how much the different parties and pressure groups understand the interests of those would be impacted by an ID policy www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
CJEU, asylum law - an Italian court has asked the CJEU whether the Italy/Albania deal on processing asylum-seekers is as such a breach of EU law - curia.europa.eu/juris/showPd...