Les Back

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Love this Jimmy Reed’s speech at UofG www.instagram.com/reel/DUs0yev...

Love listening Cornel preach sociology… ‘let the ears of the guilty ones tingle with truth’. www.instagram.com/reel/DUR7OnD...

Had a wonderful trip to speak at the Winter Seminar for the Norwegian Sociological Association… lots of serious thinking and ribald fun - Norwegian pop songs sung loudly in the bar late into the night. Freezing though in Storefjell -20 one night!

Remembering dear friend Caspar Melville today who died last year. Caspar and I would take Goldsmiths students on an annual pop music history walks around Soho, London. Sorely missed RIP. A beautiful spirit.

Professor Les Back takes up role of BSA President - Everyday Society - The British Sociological Association We are delighted to confirm that Professor Les Back has taken up the role of BSA President, stepping up from Vice President. Many members will know Les’s work and his...

Congratulations to @academicdiary.bsky.social on the @britsoci.bsky.social presidency! We are so thrilled to have such a caring and visionary leader in our community at a time when we need Sociology more than ever! 🎉
es.britsoc.co.uk/professor-le...

Babylon (1980) ⭐ 7.3 | Drama 1h 35m

I think Franco Rosso’s movie Babylon would be my tip. I think I’ve shown this film almost every year I have been a University teacher. m.imdb.com/title/tt0080...

Oh thanks so much, looking forward visiting. Looks like a wonderful programme and as you say couldn’t be more topical. I hope that what I have prepared will speak to your theme.

Vinterseminaret 2026 – Program, påmelding og praktisk informasjon - Sosiologen Den 6.-8. februar 2026 blir det et stort utvalg gruppesesjoner, keynotes om "rase" og polarisering og foredrag om krigene og konfliktene som splitter oss.

Looking forward to speaking at the Norsk sosiologforening on Friday, trying to make sense of the dark times we’re living through. sosiologen.no/foreningen/f...

Homicides at lowest level in nearly 50 years, ONS statistics show The 499 homicide cases in the year to September were the lowest in England and Wales since 1977.

‘Lawless Britain’ update, in case you missed it. Homcides in England and Wales currently lower than at any point since the 1970s. Knife crime at its lowest level since 2003… Why aren’t we shouting this stuff from the rooftops? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Very excited to have this out received a lovely endorsement from Laurie today… such a Diamond.

Distinguished Service to British Sociology Award Winner Announced - Everyday Society - The British Sociological Association We are delighted to announce Professor Bridget Fowler (University of Glasgow) is the 2025 winner of the Distinguished Service to British Sociology Award. This prestigious award is judged on service...

Wonderful news - Bridget Fowler received the Distinguished Service to British Sociology Award, 2025. es.britsoc.co.uk/distinguishe...

YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)

Bruce Springsteen has become braver and more radical as he has got older. It’s the way to end a career like Johnny Cash did before him - “Take a stand in this land for the stranger in our midst” www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWKS...

Just finished writing a feature on Laurie Taylor @ 90 for a Sociological Review Magazine… what a life Laurie has led. Should be out in May. He is recording a new season of Thinking Allowed at the moment for BBC Radio 4. 28 years of putting socioligy on the airwaves. 👏👏👏

About 150 protesters gathered outside Sen. John Fetterman's office in Philadelphia Tuesday, urging him to not vote in favor of a bill that would provide more funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees both ICE and the Border Patrol.

www.inquirer.com/politics/pen...

Really feel for friends and colleagues in the US and the violence of ICE. It’s almost a year since being in Harlem in the first days of the Trump Presidency www.gla.ac.uk/schools/soci...

Kirsteen Paton and Alice Mah has a piece in it so there a bit of a West of Scotland theme xx

Manchester University Press - Walking Walking - Browse and buy the Hardcover edition of Walking by Charlotte Bates

So chuffed to be in this new book edited by Charlotte Bates and Emma Jackson, and my chapter is my first attempt at writing about life in Glasgow manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526184900/

Agh, Michael I am so bad at masking 😂😂😂. Thanks for your kind words. It was a privilege to be able to convey my debt to LKJ in front of him as well as the relatives who lost loved ones in the New Cross Massacre. The university is what we make together to on occasions like that and in the work you

Oh well, to be honest I was massively relieved to get the words out. It was a hard talk to give, Michael. Hope you are managing. All power to you brother.

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A real honour to attend a Memorial Service marking the 45th anniversary of the New Cross Fire at St Andrew’s church, Brockley yesterday. A beautiful service honouring the 14 lives lost to this still unresolved tragedy, and the dignity and resilience of all those impacted by it.

What's Millwall FC got to do with Bonnie Prince Charlie? The unlikely link between the London club and some of Scotland's best-known historical figures.

Love this story of Cockney Jacobites and the link between Mill Wall FC and Bonnie Prince Charlie - thanks Fraser www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Was lovely to see you there, Michael. It was Goldsmiths at its best.

Michael is the best guide to London’s secrets. More than 50 bodies wash up on Thames beaches every year the river police and the landlocked Met fight over those corpses and the enquiries that inequitably follow in order to justify their existence. Am returning with other souvenirs and sights

On Stepney Beach with dear friend and sparring partner Michael Keith. So good to see Michael, sharing stories by the Thames in the sunshine.

Absolutely incredible evening at Goldsmiths honouring the great poet, musician and activist Linton Kwesi Johnson. A deep reminder from Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social and others, including students interpreting Linton’s poetry, of all the things that drew me to Goldsmiths in the first place…

Hoping to get the words out for Linton tonight… wonderful to be reminded of the depth of his contribution.

A small pilgrimage and a prayer for the victims of the New Cross massacre on my way to the event for LKJ tonight. Not forgotten.

LKJ’s writing is so often steadying. That’s so interesting Ian.

On the train to London to speak at this time event for LKJ at Goldmsiths. Nervous as hell but so to have the opportunity to say something about my debt to him. www.eventbrite.com/e/honouring-...