New #OpenAccess article. This one has been in development for a while, so it is nice to finally see this research published.
'Paths to action: Fantasy, ideology and incitement in an extreme-right narrative'. Language in Society doi.org/10.1017/S004...
Happy International Women’s Day! Please enjoy this article I wrote with Rosie Walters in 2024. We explore the IWD communications from arms manufacturers, arguing that these function as a form of gender washing (whereby discourses of progress obscure violence)
doi.org/10.1093/ips/...
In a world where appalling acts of violence are committed every day, our climate teeters on the brink of collapse and where powerful men act with impunity, don't we have better things to do than make marginalised people fight for scraps of dignity?
and it's wrong to think that Black people and disabled people are separate groups that have irreconcilable needs when Black disabled people are offering nuanced perspectives
I've linked to a transcript of Jhónelle Bean, a Black woman with Tourette syndrome:
bsky.app/profile/pygm...
But context matters. Being able to read the room matters. This interaction was stoked up and made to go viral - clipped from footage, stripped of context and engineered to cause outrage.
Two minoritised groups pit against each other and made to fight. That is what I find so incredibly disturbing.
God knows I've been on the receiving end of racism, homophobia, transphobia. I know the words that are used to hurt me and I know their power - that caught-breath flinch and that split second decision of how to respond - aggression? defusion? ignore? - and all the ways that you cannot respond.
The shitty thing about Tourette syndrome is that it makes you blurt out words that you know are offensive & hurtful. It's not an issue of education or lack of control - it's not something that can be controlled. And they should fully be in society, incl accepting awards for their achievements.
People in the room were much better prepared to address the dynamics as they emerged. It was a huge error to have not edited the broadcast - as the organisers did to edit out "free Palestine" or Davidson's other tics - and so not create shitty internet outrage that hurts everyone.
I've seen so many rancid takes on the BAFTAs that either seem to assume that disabled people shouldn't be out in public or seem to assume that Black people shouldn't be out in public.
I don't have a good answer to this but I do know the organisers chose not to bleep it out of the broadcast.
Happy birthday!
Every year, two of my best friends and I line up our arms and compare how the endless murk of the British winter has done us dirty. No person should be these colours ☹️
Sometimes academia is great because you get to nerd out about one of your special interests and take an entire class along with you. Anyway today I taught crisis communication and got to talk about some of my very favourite disasters and also introduce Sara Ahmed's writing on making a crisis
@salonidesouza.bsky.social delighted to be your first follower 😊
I'm so sorry. Much love to you and all who knew her x
Sometimes you're having a kind of crappy week and then the guys at the campus falafel van remember you and give you extra falafel and that's how you end up with eleven (11) hot fresh falafel with your chips #blessed
Meet Cheese. Today he hung out on this sofa for a solid four hours while a gaggle of adoring students cooed over every twitch of his whiskers and took an absurd number of photos of him.
Tough life being a @royalholloway.bsky.social campus cat
The bits I get emotional about are a) all of Thomas Andrews' appearances and b) that final swoop along the A deck promenade along the sunken ship, where the lights begin to glow from the inside and the crumpled deck clears. A ship's dream of herself.
I'm deeply interested in disaster documentaries which my wife hates, so today we compromised on Titanic (1997) and now, in the year of our Lord 2026, my wife is crying over Titanic
The same Palantir that Keir Starmer's Labour have embedded in our NHS and Ministry of Defence.
The level of authoritarian surveillance and data gathering/selling already happening in the UK is deeply frightening.
If you are also horrified by ICE's actions in Minnesota, here's a great resource for finding organisations, communities and individuals who need donations. Everything from mutual aid to help people cover their rent and fund emergency food packages to organisations offering legal defence.
Nine years and a day since top surgery. Nine years and a day since I woke up and something that had constantly been buzzing - constantly there, a noise I had almost learnt to ignore - went blessedly, blissfully silent.
It's a blessing and a privilege and almost certainly saved my life.
Excellent. I found some cucumber flavoured crisps in an Asian grocer recently which I think you should try!
She thought you needed (more of) a challenge. And maybe she was right.
"Post a perfect album from the 90s that isn't Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, or Alice in Chains"
cba to add album covers but:
Pulp - Different Class
Radiohead - OK Computer
Tricky - Maxinquaye
Portishead - Dummy
Honourable mentions to the Manics (Holy Bible) and Tori Amos (Under the Pink)
My mum is attempting to teach me to knit and I am being thoroughly humbled. Please compare my knitting with my crochet
Absolutely not.
The younger dog is sticky. Why is the younger dog sticky.
First bizarre observation of the day from my dad has resulted in a discussion of the etymology of Christmas and my wife singing (loudly, enthusiastically, slightly off-key) "happy birthday to you" to the tune of Gaudete.
Happy Christmas if you celebrate, and a peaceful winter's day if you don't
One of the most delightful of Christmas traditions
The BMA has come out swinging for the rights of all trans people in healthcare settings and beyond - both patients and healthcare providers.
Genuinely brilliant news amongst the bad - please read it and share, and remember that we are NOT alone. Not by a long stretch.
