Fraser MacDonald

She could have had such a cushy, respectable, upholstered life ... think tanks and visiting professorships and she chose ... this.

The improvised response at 2:08 is remarkable.

No one in the political life of the UK is anywhere near as impressive as this … or as threatening.

Hard not to sound like a Prevent referral but … it seems important that Labour are not allowed to go down this road.

YouTube video by Novara Media If You're Watching This Video, Israel Has Kidnapped Me in International Waters

Israeli forces have intercepted the Global Sumud Flotilla so now would be a good time to pressure your government to hold Israel to account and ensure everybody's safe return. Kieran Andrieu is one of my oldest friends and I'm worried about him. youtube.com/shorts/HiiJn...

Black and white studio portrait, late 19th c, of James MacDonald.

The foreman mason for the old PO was my grandfather’s cousin, James MacDonald of Abriachan. (He tried contracting on his own but went bust over a school in Harris; in 1900 he went to Egypt as masonry overseer on the Aswan Dam, where he died of typhoid age 42). Must pass on some archives to you!

2025, So Far I wish I had a time machine so I could go back in time and talk to my dad in 1988, just before I was born, and tell him what it’s like to live in the future. I’d tell him all the amazing things that a...

Sad to discover a new writer through their passing.

It’s only a 3 minute read but Kaleb Horton’s last blog says a lot.

kalebhorton.ghost.io/2025-so-far/

joining the war on autism on the side of autism

Just to illustrate how much worse it's got, I have received more abuse over the past year and a bit - including death threats and a large volume of antisemitism - for what I write than in the previous 15 years of covering migration and the far right put together.

Solidarity to these colleagues.

Will professional bodies like AAG or RGS speak up, even if universities bend the knee?

How wonderful!

lol

There should be a name for days when you can hear both house martins and pink-footed geese.

Charlie Kirk, Redeemed: A Political Class Finds Its Lost Cause By ignoring the rhetoric and actions of the Turning Point USA founder, pundits and politicians are sanitizing his legacy.

Wow, that Ta-Nehisi Coates essay:

“If you would look away from the words of Charlie Kirk, from what else would you look away?”

Yes, fair enough. But as a matter of abstract principal, if you were to receive an entirely anonymous emailed press release purporting to represent dissidents at a major civic institution, would this meet your threshold for reporting without any other verification?

Hamish MacGibbon · Diary: My Father the Spy

Ah thanks, I'd half forgotten I'd done this. And I missed out a rather key detail: that it has since emerged that James MacGibbon who first published Strand's book confessed at the end of his life that he was a Soviet spy. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v3...

I’ve long followed your reporting, including on (Russian & Iranian) fake accounts and the damage they do to trust. As I’m concerned about the evidential credibility of this story, can you liaise with @helenputtick.bsky.social and reassure me regarding this specific point: bsky.app/profile/fras...

Again, I’m not looking for names to be reported I just want reassurance that you’re satisfied that the people purporting to be this group are indeed Edinbugh Uni academics.

Okay but I’m not asking whether you know them personally, but whether you’ve seen evidence that this group genuinely exists as a group. Any anonymous troll can make a claim, I’m asking for evidence that *substantiates* the claim.

Also agree, and one way or another recognises that there are many fronts on which the fight is urgent.

Absolutely agree with this.

I know many folk have already been doing anti-fascist organising but this needs to be *everyone out*: workers, trade unions, students, religious & community groups...

The crisis is now. 🚨

It was troubling to see miles of saltires on lampposts in Glasgow yesterday. This wasn’t a 2014 indyref vibe, it felt truly sinister.

As Peter says: very dark, very quick.

Hi David, can you clarify if you’ve seen evidence that Edinburgh Academics 4 Free Speech actually exists as a group, beyond a single anonymous email? Fair enough if so, but that feels like an important threshold for reporting.

A perceptive thread, especially about the need to address the offline lives of people now being radicalised by the right.

Very troubling news.

Berkeley has historic form when it comes to putting fash before faculty; awful to see a return to Loyalty Oath days.

HUUUGE turnout this morning to demand protection for our jobs and our students' learning conditions. There is no deficit!!!

It is quite simply dishonest to describe TPUSA as a “free speech” organization and not even mention the “Professor Watchlist,” as NPR just did. Reporting on a crime does not entail adopting the victim’s views.

the David Brent look at the end ☠️

So glad you did this Dani, it’s a terrific essay.

Ewan Gibbs · Goodbye to Grangemouth Any form of ‘just transition’ – managing the move to a greener economy while also protecting workers and...

‘Any form of “just transition” seems implausible in the context of spiralling energy costs, failed climate targets and mounting closures in older manufacturing sectors without compensatory growth in newer industries.’

@ewangibbs.bsky.social on the Grangemouth refinery: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

From Washington to Westminster, the populist right needs to erase history to succeed. It’s up to us to resist | Kojo Koram Removing ‘divisive’ Smithsonian exhibits, Farage’s ‘patriotic’ curriculum: this is where the unpicking of the 20th century liberal order begins, says academic Kojo Koram

Brilliant & important analysis from @kojokoram.bsky.social: why the populist right’s attack on history is integral to its attack on democracy & human rights:

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...