Sara Rich Dorman

‘If I think about what this means, I want to cry’: what happens when a city loses its university? When Essex University’s Southend campus opened, it was a message of hope for a ‘left behind’ UK seaside town. Its closure will be felt far beyond its 800 students, some of whom will not get their degr...

'When it opened, the campus housed a GP surgery and a new dental clinic offering free treatment to local people. This was followed later by the forum – a library and art gallery shared by the university and local people.' 1/2

‘If I think about what this means, I want to cry’: what happens when a city loses its university? When Essex University’s Southend campus opened, it was a message of hope for a ‘left behind’ UK seaside town. Its closure will be felt far beyond its 800 students, some of whom will not get their degrees

‘If I think about what this means, I want to cry’: what happens when a city loses its university?

bsky.app/profile/srd....

Ethiopia secures $400 million UK investment to expand power grid linked to GERD dam - Europe Africa Expanding access and regional connectivity

Ethiopia secures $400 million UK investment to expand power grid linked to GERD dam

https://www.europesays.com/africa/61790/

The agreements were signed on Monday during a visit by Britain’s foreign minister, Yvette Cooper, and form part…

United States Files Forfeiture Action Against Two Anti-Submarine Warfare Crew Trainers En Route from South Africa to the Chinese Military Today, the Justice Department filed a forfeiture complaint against two mission crew trainers (MCTs) that were interdicted in transit from the Test Flying Academy of South Africa (TFASA) to the People’...

This is bad news for U.S.-South Africa relations.

FYI: @cthomasjamh.bsky.social

www.justice.gov/opa/pr/unite...

Roman Brick and Tile Podcast Episode · Build Like a Roman · 03/02/2026 · 23m

As I'm presently doing my MRes in Archaeology focus on:

What the Romans built, what they used, and who did the work

So, I thought I'd do something useful, and created a new account:

@buildlikearoman.bsky.social

And a Podcast

Please do have a look if Roman materials are of interest

INSV Kaundinya: Hand-stitched Indian ship arrives in Oman - BBC News The ship, which has no engine and moves under square sails, retraced the ancient route in 17 days.

News I’m somewhat late to but apparently the Indian Navy built a ship based on a fifth century painting and sailed it to Oman to recreate the trading route of the Indian Ocean in late antiquity.

www.bbc.com/news/article...

A Catalog of Gaza’s Loss Recording what has been erased—and making sense of what remains.

"The university estimates that the continued bombardment destroyed a total of nearly 1 million books. Their destruction is, by that measure, the single greatest intellectual loss in Gaza’s long and turbulent history." www.thenation.com/article/worl...

As an aside, any Canadian who wants to study resistance to a U.S. occupation (myself included) should read this book and Waging A Good War. Mass protest and civil disobedience are extremely potent tools, but I agree with critics who argue we’ve lost the ability to strategize and direct them.

I seem to recall I made the same complaint last year...

didn't we just go through this? too many elections.

couldn't resist.

A map showing the expansion of the Voi bikes hire zone in Edinburgh to include Stockbridge, Inverleith, Craigleith and Ravelston

The Voi shared e-bike scheme is expanding northwest; Stockbridge, down to Crewe Toll, and along the Hawthornvale Path towards Newhaven, along with an increase to 700 bikes and new parking locations.

Voi have had over 500 suggested parking locations from the public across the city since launching.

Our investigation naming & linking RSF commanders to war crimes in Sudan was nominated for the #NewsEmmys. 🙏

Watch it here: youtu.be/H231YlstDKk

By @sanjanamv.bsky.social @ckoettl.bsky.social Natalie Reneau @declanwalsh.bsky.social Aaron Byrd with @cen4infores.bsky.social & Ayin Sudan.

Aerial photo of an archaeological dig showing open shallow trenches and a round tent

In 2024, volunteers helped excavate at least two roundhouses at the site of an ancient settlement near Moffat which was once part of a busy Iron Age landscape ⛏️

Think you can help uncover more? Register for the Adie's Brae dig in April, no experience required: www.digitscotland.com/events/adies...

This is a fun read. Have to admit I loved the Swamp Fox (but I wasn't allowed to watch much TV except Disney back in the '70s!). (Muppet show + Disney or the Nature of Things was the highlight of my week).

A round, blue street sign depicting a white icon of a bicycle is affixed to a wooden planter filtering a road; we see the sign in close-up against the brown panelling of the wood, with some gently overhanging ivy and other plants growing from the top of the unit. In a hazy backdrop are the tops of sandstone buildings and the profile of hills beyond.

🚲 edi.bike | issue 130 | 2nd Feb '26

Scottish Budget Spin, Smoke and Mirrors Hide Huge Active Travel Underfunding; ‘Monster Bikes’ Bill gets First Parliamentary Reading; Transport Committee Round-up; plus events, infrastructure, route closures & more:

buttondown.com/edi.bike/arc...

#edinburgh

New York cyclists protest ride

Idaho : cyclists protest ride https://bsky.app/profile/theidaho97.bsky.social/post/3mdrillmn222j

Midwest cyclists protest for Alex Pritti despite -20C https://bsky.app/profile/biking4freedom.bsky.social/post/3mdqtktj2vs2k

Seattle cyclists protest ride https://bsky.app/profile/meadekrosby.bsky.social/post/3mdqovwbu3k2x

#USA cyclists #RideInUnity 🚲🚲

@edi.bike @theidaho97.bsky.social @christl.bsky.social @rcmacleod.bsky.social @biking4freedom.bsky.social @meadekrosby.bsky.social @edfoc.bsky.social @aarongreiner.bsky.social @edcriticalmass.bsky.social @oldpueblocyclist.bsky.social @prinzrob.bsky.social @sw20.info

I mean just this bit speaks for itself, but the whole article is worth reading..

A reckless farce, which needs to be stopped now.

Marginal tax rates for graduates with student loans – add interest and another 6% for postgrads.

£25,000: 37%
£50,270: 51%
£100,000: 71%

today as on all days: criminalise LLM use

Such is the outrage in Denmark over both Trump’s desire for Greenland and disparaging remarks about NATO that one of the country’s leading newspapers devoted their Saturday front and plenty of room inside to the bios of all 44 Danes slain during NATO missions in support of the US

Must be an election year. Just had Lorna Slater @lornaslater.bsky.social knock on our door. Really should have mentioned @pedalonparliament.org on 30 May!

Ok, let’s do this🙄

We’ll start with an explainer covering:

🕒What is a 15-minute city
🏫What on Earth is going on with Oxford
👽Where the conspiracy theories have come from

And then we’ll look at the Telegraph article

🧵
1/25

Two things can be true: we’re a competitive authoritarian state with all sorts of efforts to put a thumb on the scale of who has power AND we have sufficiently free and sufficiently fair elections that every month we see the party in power lose.

Ultimately, Petitioners may, because of the arcane United States immigration system, return to their home country, involuntarily or by self-deportation. But that result should occur through a more orderly and humane policy than currently in place. Philadelphia, September 17, 1787: "Well, Dr. Franklin, what do we have?" "A republic, if you can keep it." With a judicial finger in the constitutional dike, It is so ORDERED. SIGNED this 31st day of February, 2026. 7um Jing FRED BIERY UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE Credit: Bystander Matthew 19:14 John 11:35 There is also the photo of the boy from the viral stories included.

Federal judge has ordered the release of Liam Ramos (the bunny hat boy) and his father. A brief and rather remarkable order. Clearly written to be shared widely, so please do. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Yesterday, the Burkinabè authorities announced the dissolution of all political parties and the repeal of the legislative framework governing them, along with the transfer of their assets to the State.

📸 OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT / AFP

SA expels Israeli chargé d’affaires from Pretoria for ‘gross abuse of diplomatic privilege’ The Israeli chargé d’affaires to South Africa has been given 72 hours to leave the country.…

SA expels Israeli chargé d’affaires from Pretoria for ‘gross abuse of diplomatic privilege’ www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026...