Joe Litobarski

Graduate outcomes and incomes as well as course satisfaction in History are all actually strong. Suggesting that Humanities degrees are not 'career-related' is simply bizarre. 2/2

A-level results in England expected to return to near pre-pandemic levels Career-focused subjects such as business studies and economics to surpass traditional academic disciplines like history in popularity

'Just 40,900 students entered to take history, compared with 41,900 taking economics and 43,000 for physics. Maths remains the most popular A-level with 105,000 entries this year, up by more than 4% compared with 2024.'

Both 'Just' and 'career-related' doing heavy lifting here. 1/2

The Met having to correct a Shadow cabinet member (who, to be fair, later deleted his post)

Extreme right-wing radicalisation will IMHO soon confront the UK state with outright calls for violence. The threat is obvious and growing.

my T&C review of Engineers & the Two Taiwans by Kuo-Hui Chang, Gary Downey & Bono Po-Jen Shih. a concise, perceptive study of the politics of apolitical engineering & fine complement to other histories of Taiwanese S&T, eg @honghongtinn.bsky.social's Island Tinkerers.

muse.jhu.edu/article/965841

The radicalisation spiral Why does it happen and can it be stopped?

New post:

"The Radicalisation Spiral"

Why are so many people becoming radicalised? Is there any way to stop it?

With an antivaxxer running the US health dept + extreme discourse dominating politics it's an increasingly pressing question.

(£/free trial)

open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/t...

This seems like a good project to develop. Supporting pathways for young men to escape or avoid radicalisation seems, in general, like a good worthy endeavour.

How to be a man The right's narrative about male attractiveness is grounded in Social Darwinism and free market economics. Can progressives tell a better story?

The general Take here is: focussing on being generally pleasant to be around and competent at some socially beneficial tasks means that people, including women who may end up being attracted to you, come to value you and like your company. I think this is true.

iandunt.substack.com/p/how-to-be-...

"Self select" betrays an ignorance (maybe purposeful) of the impact of algorithms on the content we see and how that influences individuals.

Assuming he is in power in 2027 when this is decided...

Orbán is in danger of losing power, and possibly going to jail (with friends and family), and he knows it. This makes him extra dangerous and means the EU should be extra vigilant the coming months.

“I’ve never heard of anything like this in K-12 or higher education.

The full scope of the monitor’s role is not even clear.

Will this person be policing what is taught? Who is hired? Who is admitted? This is dangerous.”

Tesla profits plummet

The tech company reports its third quarter of declining profits in a row, amid the ongoing backlash against Elon Musk's foray into politics.

British and proud 👊🏽😉

A minimalist graphic with a textured white background. In the centre, the sentence “Housing is a right, not a privilege.” is repeated multiple times, forming the shape of a house. The top lines are in red, with the colour fading into black as the repetitions continue downward. At the bottom, the phrase appears once more in bold black text. In the lower right corner, there’s a simple outline of the EU flag with twelve stars in a circle.

Housing is a right, not a privilege.

The EU is acting with its Affordable Housing Plan: tackling structural barriers, boosting supply, and unlocking investment.

🏠 A public consultation is open until 17 October.
#HaveYourSay → europa.eu/!6fHwB3

However much Trump talks about wanting to protect US tech giants, his real priority in these talks so far has been on trade in goods, @zach-meyers.bsky.social told @zecsaky.bsky.social in the latest #CERpodcast.

Listen here: buff.ly/vxMlg55

Meta to pull political ads in EU in response to new disinformation rules Facebook and Instagram owner says new transparency regulations are ‘unworkable’ in latest attack on Brussels

Meta to pull political ads in EU in response to new disinformation rules https://on.ft.com/4lEloIK

YouTube video by House of Lords Embed media literacy in the national curriculum says Lords committee

The Communications and Digital Committee has been looking at how we can boost media literacy across the UK. The committee heard from a number of people, including the Youth Select Committee, school children, teachers and parents.

Hear from @baronesskeeley.bsky.social
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfWB...

Latest Dom Cummings missive hits my inbox. Dripping with hatred, jealousy and conspiracism while also laden with prophecies of violence. Britain's Right has truly lost its way. Needs a complete reset.

Europe hardens on Israel Presented by ExxonMobil By GABRIEL GAVIN with ZOYA SHEFTALOVICH PRESENTED BY Send tips here | Contact us on X @NicholasVinocur @swheaton @TimRoss_1 | Listen to Playbook and view in your browser GOO…

British PM Keir Starmer said he would convene an "emergency call" with France and Germany today to discuss the situation in Gaza, after Emmanuel Macron announced last night he would recognize Palestine as a state.

More in Brussels Playbook 👇

This is what happens when neoliberal meritocratic technocracy hollows out democracy and leaves social media to fill the vacuum with outrage, distortion, and division.

The UK has done a good job of selling its digital policies as pro-innovation & friendly to US giants. The EU could do more to reframe its policies - but it should not make substantive concessions to Washington.

🆕 insight by @zach-meyers.bsky.social
Read here: buff.ly/zxuDYFS

Inside ICE’s Supercharged Facial Recognition App of 200 Million Images 404 Media has seen user manuals for Mobile Fortify, ICE’s new facial recognition app which allows officers to instantly look up DHS, State Department, and state law enforcement databases by just point...

This is truly wild: @josephcox.bsky.social got the user manual for ICE's new facial recognition app, which appears to be one of the most powerful face rec systems ever because it is connected to tons of different government databases and surveillance systems

www.404media.co/inside-ices-...

Operation Overload's underwhelming influence and evolving tactics This Dispatch examines why Russia-aligned Operation Overload failed to gain traction in the second quarter of 2025.

More details of Russia's failing disinformation work - Operation Overload’s underwhelming influence and evolving tactics
www.isdglobal.org/digital_disp...

More proposed EU budget legislation now public

Competitiveness fund ec.europa.eu/transparency...

Horizon (research) ec.europa.eu/transparency...

Creative Europe’s successor, AgoraEU, gets massive budget increase The Creative Europe and Creative Europe and Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values programmes are being merged into a better funded media-culture joint support vehicle.

Creative Europe’s successor, AgoraEU, gets massive budget increase

Dystopian. 😬

Whack-a-mole warfare: Europe’s battle against AI-fuelled Kremlin lies Kremlin-aligned AI networks are flooding Europe’s fact checkers with deepfakes, forged articles and bot-driven spin, putting the EU’s Digital Services Act to its toughest test yet.

Whack-a-mole warfare: Europe’s battle against AI-fuelled Kremlin lies

Macron calls on EU to ‘defend European interests resolutely’ from Trump tariffs French president says bloc should be ready for trade war after 30% tariff threat but other EU leaders call for calm

Macron calls on EU to ‘defend European interests resolutely’ from Trump tariffs www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

How Netanyahu Prolonged the War in Gaza to Stay in Power

110 sources. Israel's premiere national security reporter.

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/m...