UCL staff, students and alumni demand that UCL rescinds Demis Hassabis’ Honorary Fellowship. Sign our petition now, link and info at this link: shorturl.at/l0BCO

Almost all children in 73 areas of England live in low-income households New official measures show levelling up attempts have failed to shift high levels of deprivation

Almost 100% of children in 73 neighbourhoods in England are living in income-deprived families.

Govts push real wage/benefit cuts, two-child benefit cap; oppose universal basic income; don't curb profiteering.

No govt targets to cut poverty.

1% has more wealth than 70% of the population combined.

🎥 WATCH: Lifestyle, Migration & Community

In a recent Conversations event, @profkarenoreilly.bsky.social, @michaelacbenson.bsky.social, Graham Crow and Matthew Hayes take a closer look at the field that Professor O'Reilly’s book The British on the Costa Del Sol helped to launch.

buff.ly/zBCtAkQ

This is horrific

In July 88 a US missile cruiser breached Iranian territorial waters & was fired on by Iranian gunboats.The Vincennes’ incompetent/belligerent crew identified a civilian Iranian plane as an F14 & fired on it, killing 290 people inc. 66 kids.Toby Craig Jones will speak on this in our seminar nxt week.

Gaza death toll from Israeli attacks rises, despite ceasefire Palestinians continue to be killed by Israel as people struggle for aid in decimated Gaza.

“A medical source at the al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza says two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli attack on the Shujayea neighbourhood.”

www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblo...

Oh no! RIP Miss Major

While the perpetrators of Gaza’s genocide pose as its saviours, survivors return home – to a wasteland | Nesrine Malik Western leaders attending the Sharm el-Sheikh summit have enabled and sponsored this slaughter. They are in no position to build a Palestinian future, says Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik

Coloniality 101: “…we have a crime without criminals, a genocide without génocidaires, a wretched population who…must be fed and watered while the world works out what to do with them.

And now an explicit rejection of Palestinian self-determination…again ”.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

‘Ceasefire doesn’t end Gaza’s manmade catastrophe’ – Aid worker We spoke to Mai Elawawda, a Gazan who works for Medical Aid for Palestinians in Gaza, and began by asking her how she feels now people are moving back towards northern Gaza.

"It was hard seeing the videos of our colleagues returning to their homes, finding them literally in rubble."

Gazan aid worker Mai Elawawda tells @krishgm.bsky.social she knows "many people whose bodies were still under the rubble".

Read and watch:

www.channel4.com/news/ceasefi...

We marched again 🇵🇸🇵🇸

💔

Palestinian orphans in Gaza marching with photos of their dead parents

The Sociological Review Journal Vol 73 Issue 5 Kirsteen Paton Emma Jackson Les Back Nirmal Puwar Andrea Doucet Eva Jewell Jessica Falk Rebecca Coleman Dawn Lyon Chloe Turner Thomas Wadsworth Zoe Walshe Beth Bramich Shamser Sinha Sophie Woodward Brenda Herbert Irene van Oorschot Sophie van Balen Andreas Folkers Susie Scott Nina Lockwood Theresa O’Keefe Aline Courtois Jérémy Vachet https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/SOR/73/5/

OUT NOW: The Sociological Review journal 73.5, featuring 13 new papers (11 #openaccess).

💡 Includes a Special Section on the legacy of @academicdiary.bsky.social and Nirmal Puwar’s Live Methods, published in 2012 as part of our monograph series.

buff.ly/bJQXWs6 @journals.sagepub.com

A-level and undergraduate teaching resources Free to download from the Sociological Review Foundation Our world, through the eyes of sociologists

We are excited to announce the launch of #lessonplans tied to our #Uncommonsense #podcast. Each highlights relevant AQA & Cambridge OCR modules, and shares recommended reading. You can find all episodes listed in this news story, here. Engage! Enjoy! Share! buff.ly/LUHf6md

Photograph of North London branch of Morley’s fried chicken, with its brightly lit, bold red interior and groups of customers chatting and ordering, illustrating research on fast-food outlets as social third spaces beyond home and work.

“I enjoy working here because people treat us with respect – around 90% of the customers are regulars. You get to know them, and they get to know you.”

London’s chicken shops offer chips, community and respect, writes Safia Banharally in The Sociological Review magazine.

buff.ly/u7edt4y

Ethics Review In Practice I have known Lucy Pickering for a long time. I first met her almost 30 years ago through a mutual friend, and I got to know her well some years later when we were doing our PhDs at the same time. W…

Lucy Pickering and I first talked about research ethics nearly 30 years ago. Now we’re launching a call for chapters on experiences of ethics review.

Deadline: 30 Nov 2025

More here 👉 helenkara.com/2025/10/08/e...

#ResearchEthics #CallforChapters #EthicsReview

Attacks at synagogues and mosques. Don't let them claim we're not in this together against racism and racist violence. Divide and rule is all they have. Solidarity.

Text of poem Oh Rascal Children Of Gaza Khaled Juma Oh rascal children of Gaza, You who constantly disturbed me with your screams under my window, You who filled every morning with rush and chaos, You who broke my vase and stole the lonely flower on my balcony, Come back - And scream as you want, And break all the vases, Steal all the flowers, Come back, Just come back...

They say there’s hope in poetry. There are no poets, no children here. Come back, poets & children of Gaza.

I’m reminded of Amrita Pritam’s invocation of the poet Waris Shah in ‘Aaj Aakhan Waris Shah Nu’, eliciting his response on the endless murders of Punjabi women at Punjab’s partition in 1947.

💔

Thank you for sharing

Critical AI On this page are some resources for Critical AI Literacy (CAIL) from my perspective.

It’s weird how UK unis are now encouraging academics to use AI (parking climate concerns). Unis are soon going to be one AI model talking to another “But universities are not tech companies. Our role is to foster critical thinking, not to follow industry trends uncritically”

olivia.science/ai

Police to get new powers to crack down on repeated protests, says Home Office Move follows arrest of almost 500 people at latest pro-Palestinian demonstration in London on Saturday

When Labour came to power last year it followed 14 years of Tory rule in which international monitors had issued stark warnings about the UK's "authoritarian turn" through crackdowns on political protest and migrants' rights. Starmer is continuing that project.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Gaza's healthocide: medical societies must not stay silent The catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Gaza, with the apparent deliberate targeting of health-care infrastructure and personnel, has highlighted a profound challenge to the global medical community. ...

‘Medicine is more than science—it is a moral duty. And when that duty is under threat, silence becomes betrayal’ @thelancet.com

www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

‘Can I just be a kid?’ Students shaken by immigration raids seek help from school counselors Kindergartners repeat worries heard at home. Older kids text to check on parents during class. Therapists say mental health is at risk now and in the long term.

A whole generation of kids will be shaped by this experience of authorities harassing children and their parents at school and at home

That will be school for them

laist.com/news/student...

Jewish bloc statement on Manchester attack: www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/article/jewi...

Statement from the Syrian Community in the UK on the Tragic Attack in Crumpsall 3rd October 2025 The Syrian community in the United Kingdom extends its deepest condolences to the Jewish community in Manchester and across the UK following today's tragic stabbing at a synagogue in Crumpsall. We are horrified by this attack, and we stand in full solidarity with our Jewish neighbours as they grieve. That such violence was carried out in a sacred place of worship, and on Yom Kippur-the holiest day of the Jewish year—makes this tragedy all the more painful. We stress unequivocally that houses of worship must remain places of peace, safety, and sanctity, never targets of hate or violence. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families, and the Jewish community during this most difficult time. As Syrians, we know this pain all too well. For over 15 years, Syrians of all faiths have endured devastating attacks on mosques, churches, and sacred spaces. We have buried loved ones, mourned in silence, and lived with the scars. Violence against innocent people especially in places of worship—is something we stand firmly against, wherever it happens. At this stage, no one within our Syrian community networks—neither within nor beyond Manchester-has been able to identify the individual involved in this attack or confirm knowing him personally. We appeal to our wider society not to allow this tragedy to give rise to racist incidents directed at Syrians, Muslims, or migrants. Violence must not be met with further division or hatred. At the same time, we hope this incident will not be misused to impose restrictions on freedom of expression—particularly the right to peacefully protest and speak out against the ongoing genocide in Gaza. The Syrian community stands alongside the Jewish community in rejecting violence, and we recommit ourselves to building a society where every community can live in dignity, security, and mutual trust.

Statement from Syrian NGOs on yesterday’s attack, including Manchester-based Rethink Rebuild Society.

www.rrsoc.org/node/1746

syrianbritish.org/statement-fr...

Cc @sundersays.bsky.social @syrianotes.bsky.social

Statement from the Syrian community in the UK ❤️

syrianbritish.org/statement-fr...

Israel arrests 400 in Gaza-bound aid flotilla There have been demonstrations and diplomatic protests around the world after Israeli forces intercepted dozens of boats from a Gaza-bound flotilla, carrying food and medicines.

Israel arrests 400 in Gaza-bound aid flotilla

www.channel4.com/news/israel-...

Remember how I wrote a whole thread on how these fundraisers came about and how it used to be impossible to send money to Gaza without getting in trouble...I should have added that at some point the rules will change again. As they see fit...
bsky.app/profile/lexi...

Awful