Ben Gidley

This is a personally heartbreaking story, and also a symbol of a wider pattern of capitalist core states using a growing range of carrots and sticks to enrol poorer states as offshore prison camps and dumping grounds for migrants.

Ukrainian family denied UK asylum told to block out bombs with headphones Thousands of Ukrainians were welcomed to the UK in 2022 after Russia invaded. But Home Office figures show there has since been a dramatic reduction in the numbers now being approved for asylum.

UK Home Office now only accepting 4.5% of Ukrainian asylum seekers because it’s a “safe country”. Families sent to cities being bombed, told to use noise cancelling headphones to block out the horror.

news.sky.com/story/ukrain...

Which one is your grandad?

In the first in a new “Glossary” series on our blog, Jelena Lalatović explains “Liminality”

liminalwater.uni-graz.at/en/blog/blog...

The #LiminalWater blog has launched with @bengidley.bsky.social’s introductory post on the project, looking for resources for hope in a time of multiple crises.

liminalwater.uni-graz.at/de/blog/blog... @fwf-at.bsky.social @jennywustenberg.bsky.social @samsamev.bsky.social @bbkhistorical.bsky.social

This day looks absolutely amazing for anyone who’s interested in documentary film, working class history, Hungarian emigration, the anti-Stalinist left or the Jewish East End. Starring Alan Dein, Sukhdev Sandhu and Rachel Lichtenstein among others:

I’ll find out if there might be a remote option or if it’s being recorded. I’m unable to go too.

Later this month in Leeds, @rachelshabi.bsky.social discussing decoloniality and Jewish identity

Exposing Foreign Involvement in Sudan’s Evolving War, by Husam Mahjoub – 15 February 2026 leftrenewal.org/articles-en/...

Tout le mérite revient à mon camarade @danielmang.bsky.social

Haoues Seniguer sur la violence au nom du judaïsme et de l’islam au prisme du 7 octobre et de ses conséquences - 14 février 2026 00:00:00 Présentation du projet « Left Renewal » et de cette série de webinaires 00:06:20 Haoues Seniguer se présente 00:09:10 HS…

Haoues Seniguer sur la violence au nom du judaïsme et de l’islam au prisme du 7 octobre et de ses conséquences.

vimeo.com/1164956197

Really good article on the diversity of historic Zionism, the gap between it and contemporary Zionism, and how US Jewish public opinion has shifted on this question as a result. [The dynamic is similar in the UK, but hasn’t moved so fast.]

Performing Citizenship: Public activism and the 1798 Alien and Sedition Acts

The next @ihr.bsky.social Migration and Mobility Seminar is on 3rd March - @conniethomas.bsky.social will be presenting 'Public activism and the 1798 Alien and Sedition Acts' - of (huge) interest to those interested in migration, citizenship & US history. Sign up here: tinyurl.com/3s6yym7t

It is one of the bigger honours of my adult life to have been asked to contribute to Chip’s festschrift

bsky.app/profile/tran...

This is very sad news. Chip was a major influence on my political development as well as an anti-fascist icon.

Philippe Marlière - Normal Circumstances? Philippe Marlière: Normal Circumstances? - Far-Right France: Le Pen, Bardella and the Future of Europe by Victor Mallet

I reviewed "Far-Right France: Le Pen, Bardella and the Future of Europe" by Victor Mallet for @litreview.bsky.social. (February issue) Article in free access below. 👇
literaryreview.co.uk/normal-circu...

And I forgot the link: leftrenewal.org/perspectives... There’s content in English but also French, Persian, Italian, Greek and other languages.

We also updated our Venezuela dossier up to the end of January. leftrenewal.org/us-venezuela...

At #LeftRenewal, we continue to update our dossier on the Iranian uprising and its repression, with voices from trade unions and activists from the region and its diaspora. Recent content from @sia-shahabi.bsky.social @sepehrhaghighi.bsky.social @radiozamaneh.bsky.social @chowmak.bsky.social + more.

🙏🏼

Weaponizing Words: How the Trump Administration Used Language to Distort the Truth in Minnesota Government and media organisations used the power of words to shift moral responsibility for the ICE killings, argues linguist Dan Clayton

I've tried to translate some of what I was feeling and thinking about the recent events in Minneapolis into something a bit more analytical.
bylinetimes.com/2026/01/29/w...

Check out our new website!

(Here’s the page for my project: liminalwater.uni-graz.at/en/projects/... )

Chicken soup? (Peer reviewer = my grandmother.)

Writers have no control over the headlines above their name in most publications. Sub-editors (who might have dozens of articles they’ve barely read to publish) are choosing titles that will outrage and titillate.

How liberals lost the internet | Robert Topinka In the first part of our series on digital politics, we look at how centrists have lost ground fighting disinformation – when the real battle is over emotion and attention, says digital media academic...

The 1st of my 3-part series on digital politics is out in the Guardian.

Read, comment, tell me I'm wrong, attack me. As I argue:

'The real battleground is over emotion and attention, which is what determines whether information – good or bad – finds an audience.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Quite an honour to be one of the keynotes at Greenwich University’s #HolocaustMemorialDay event last night, in very grand surroundings. I spoke about how we can learn from antisemitism’s history to resist it, & how intergenerational learning & multidirectional solidarity can create safer communities

In April, all three of us will be coming together for a Left Renewal webinar to discuss our critical perspectives further. Many thanks to @danielmang.bsky.social and @bengidley.bsky.social for the invitation, more details coming soon and in the meantime, this blog is worth following: leftrenewal.org

Thank you so much for agreeing to talk with us and for the kind plug

I’ll tell Arndt!

New article by my lovely colleague Arndt Emmerich on the Jewish Sopranos* of Frankfurt.

(*Sopranos as in Tony Soprano, not as in opera)

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

If you’re in #Southampton, this #HMD2026 event tomorrow, focusing on the Roma and Sinti genocide (sometimes called the Porrajmos, “devouring”), looks excellent: