David Hayes

Was reminded of Bentham’s argument that fear of crime can be a worse harm than crime itself. Everyone can be affected by fear of crime but relatively few people experience serious crime. And fear of crime can easily be manipulated for nefarious purposes.

Trump seizes control of Washington DC police and deploys national guard President claims US capital ‘overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals … and homeless people’

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Land of the Free segues into police state. Most leaders would welcome falling crime and homelessness figures. But doesn’t fit the MAGA narrative so replace those compiling the data. Well no other President has had so much insider information on crime

Managed to get a draft down to 7,397/7,400. Mostly by cutting an argument that I thought was interesting but didn't have the space to make out properly. One for the Folder of Tentative Future Research Ideas, I suppose?

I made this comparison when Palestine Action was first banned - and I've yet to hear any rationale for distinguishing between the two contexts. IMHO a telling comparator when it comes to measuring the illiberal turn in Western politics.

Rightwingers warn of another blaze of summer riots in Britain – but they’re the ones striking the match | John Harris Grim predictions of ‘societal collapse’ and ‘civil war’ will hit home so long as Labour fails to address the country’s problems, says Guardian columnist John Harris

“The spectacle of politicians knowingly peddling inflammatory narratives is nauseating – and… they are starting to look like desperate people throwing matches on kindling that refuses to ignite. That is a remarkable way for self-styled patriots to behave”

Indeed.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Today a far right protest is expected to take place outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Bristol

Let me be clear: the far right are not welcome in Bristol. They don’t represent us, or what we stand for

But I also want to be clear about what’s driving this wave of unrest...

Tuition fees are rising again and nobody is happy – it’s time to actually fix our broken university sector | Zoe Williams The figures simply don’t add up for higher education in England and Wales. Yet delusional politicians from all parties seem intent on avoiding the issue, says Guardian columnist Zoe Williams

"The figures simply don’t add up."

Tuition fees are rising, staff are underpaid, and universities are in crisis but politicians still won’t face the truth.

Thanks to Zoe Williams for highlighting the crisis in The Guardian today.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

That's very kind of you to say Alice -- I do think it ranks among the least worst things I've written!

I'm sure your paper will be great. It's a really exciting event and I'm looking forward to catching up!

I'm finally writing again! I have a paper to write for a (pre-read) conference in October, due at the end of the month. I've just finished the first draft: 10,106/7,400 words.

Why does this always happen?

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📢 Have your say on the 2025/26 pay offer.

Your voice matters. Don’t leave it to others.

VOTE NOW!

Nigel Farage: Tough on crime, soft on facts Plus: The latest from Reform Watch, long-reads galore in The Lead Digest, and a slice of the news in the North.

national.thelead.uk/p/nigel-fara...
Since the 1960s ‘law and order’ has been politicised as code for authoritarian, racist crackdown on a limited range of offences that are a threat but magnified out of all proportion. Our persons and property are harmed far more by plutocrats and their governments

Language on immigration in UK news and politics found to have ‘shaped backlash against antiracism’ Pattern of ‘hostile language’ in media and debates likely to describe people of colour with less sympathy, report says A pattern of “hostile language” in news reports and UK parliamentary debates is more likely to describe people of colour as immigrants, or with less sympathy, researchers have found. The race equality thinktank the Runnymede Trust analysed more than 63m words from 52,990 news articles and 317 House of Commons debates on immigration between 2019 and the general election in July 2024. Continue reading...

Language on immigration in UK news and politics found to have ‘shaped backlash against antiracism’

Government launches Orgreave inquiry, 40 years after clashes at miners’ strike Move follows decades of campaigning over violent policing and collapsed prosecutions at South Yorkshire coking plant

Some welcome good news. The government must listen to and engage meaningfully with the OTJC and the families of the Orgreave picketers. The Hillsborough inquiry shows that this is not an automatic victory, but it is a step on the road to one.

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

From Afghanistan to Lincolnshire – why Britain desperately needs an immigration reality-check Plus: The latest from the North of England, more hot air in this week's Reform Watch, and everything from hurling, to AI and The Beatles in The Lead Digest.

national.thelead.uk/p/from-afgha...
Brilliant demolition of the right wing immigration panics- which Labour echoes increasingly. Shows we need immigration for many reasons including for work and to satisfy asylum obligations

In which ‘gender-critical’ zealots attempt use the courts to force a space (a space whose users have overwhelmingly voted for trans-inclusion btw) to discriminate against a marginalised group. Feels the wrong way round, doesn’t it?

Trump says he ‘really likes Starmer, even though he’s a liberal’

I've read many condemnations of Keir Starmer, but none as damning as this.

There's a thesis to be written on reactions to the incremental expansion of the scope of 'religion or belief' discrimination. Protection of gender critical views = sensible judicial development of the law. Protection of radical feminist views = runaway activism. www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07...

How Britain privatised itself into failure Britain outsourced its state – now private firms profit while public services crumble. In Failed State, Sam Freedman explains what went wrong

How Britain privatised itself into failure

Britain outsourced its state – now private firms profit while public services crumble. In Failed State, Sam Freedman explains what went wrong

Review by John Cole

@yorkshirebylines.co.uk

2015. An old guy with a soul patch taunts a man with Buddy Holly glasses, a beanie,and a flannel shirt. The old guy says "you lazy Millennials don't wanna work." He smugly leans in and says "all you wann do is avocado toast." The Millennial shakes his skinny fists like antennas toward heaven and says "I swear to God. When I'm in my thirties, I'm gonna be more charitable to young people." It's 2025. The Millennial, 10 years older, says to his friend wearing an Animal Collective shirt "yeah, every Zoomer I've ever met is a braindead piece of shit." She nods in agreement.

On the other hand, making clear that conspiracy theories as training data output antisemitism is a rather tidy mathematical proof of the Sasquatch/flat earth to Jew-hate pipeline

Dear PM, thanks for the welfare concessions, but I still won’t vote for your bill. Scrap the whole thing | Richard Burgon Your government is choosing to balance the books on the backs of disabled people. That’s not the country we are supposed to be building, says Labour MP Richard Burgon

UCU is grateful to the Labour MPs who are continuing to oppose the government's disability benefits bill.

They are standing up for real labour values.

No 'concessions' are good enough – such a disgraceful attack on disabled people must be dropped altogether.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Wrong T-shirt son? You’re nicked The act which came into force this week could make terrorists of us all

In 2001, as the Terrorism Act 2000 came into force, I warned that it could be used to ban non-violent protest groups and imprison those who support them. Government spokespeople and cheerleaders told me I was talking rubbish.
And here we are.
#PalestineAction
www.monbiot.com/2001/02/22/w...

When all you have is a harpoon, all your problems start to look like whales...

I am old enough to recall as far back as 2018 when Cooper sported a suffragette rosette. A reminder that the suffragettes, unlike Palestine Action, actually planted bombs and destroyed property.

Red Paint And when everyone with scary red paint in their attic is proscribed. who will paint the cross on the lintel so that the genocide will pass by your home?

Red Paint

Reeves considers softening inheritance tax changes amid non-dom backlash Chancellor is keen to mollify wealthy global investors and attract foreign investment into the UK

God, here we go again.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Same energy

It was a real honour to attend today's event honouring Dirk van Zyl Smit, a titan of penology and my PhD supervisor. It was an especial treat to hear about his work contributing to detoxifying criminology of its Afrikaner nationalism in post-apartheid South Africa. Congratulations, Dirk!

A possible replacement for "I hope this email finds you well"?

“We stand together and fight or fall apart alone”

Right now in Newcastle, members from far and wide in solidarity ✊

UCU and PROUD