Ben Rosher

Olga Tokarczuk casually throwing out the most poetic description of ontological security ever written.

He can (and should) do all of these things. But until he can call reform racists with his full chest instead of pandering to their voters he is nothing but harmful to the country

Bang on the money @judeinlondon.com

www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/fe...

The UK student loan system — and its danger for Labour Growing anger among millions of graduates who face decades of debt is causing unease in Westminster

“I graduated with £42,000 of debt and even though I’m paying it off, it’s now £72,000.”

It's truly an abomination: On a normal job you keep paying forever. 40 years!

“Why would I trust a government that mis-sold me a loan when I was a child?” is a very good question.
www.ft.com/content/7bf5...

Results of the 20th Quarterly Survey on the Conditions for North-South & East-West Cooperation October-December 2025 have been published.

The report and presentation can be accessed at crossborder.ie/reports/brie...

@benrosher.bsky.social, @anthonysoares.bsky.social & Aidan Campbell

#research

Why? Why by 2030?

A referendum should be held as soon as it seems apparent that a majority would support a united Ireland. (Think that’s even written down somewhere)

Tying it to an arbitrary future date is silly politics.

What SF need to do is get on convincing people it’s a chance worth taking.

Everyone should’ve been boycotting mega-events since Israel started committing genocide while still being allowed to keep participating.

But now’s the second best time.

Brexit is obviously a folly and farce that will continue to ruin the country for years to come.

But there is no small consolation that the thing that was supposed to save the Tory party has ended it.

Revolution picking the children out of its teeth.

They are indeed heretical. But do read.

Genuinely think there are cognitive benefits to having a bookshelf where you inadvertently see books you read and remember the importance (or not) of the contents periodically.

From @faisalislam.bsky.social

Surreal, but heard at Davos:

Official Danish archives show Woodrow Wilson’s 1916 signature & Secretary of State Robert Lansing, committing US by treaty that Denmark has right to “whole of Greenland”, after Trump written denial of right.

always a pleasure to chat with the @eurowhat.bsky.social guys, even if the topic is a tough one like this. i hope the episode is useful for anyone thinking about what to do next as their relationships to eurovision change

A survey where each questions has three emoji: green smiling face, yellow neutral face, red frown face.

Dr. Zoë Jay returns to discuss Eurovisionaries, an academic research project investigating the ways #Eurovision fans think about and practice forms of cultural diplomacy. www.eurowhat.com/242

Angola and Namibia agree to take back illegal migrants and criminals Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood had warned the government would impose visa sanctions on the Democratic Republic of Congo if it refused to co-operate - its VIPs and decision-makers have now been stripp...

The UK government back to blackmailing other countries, this time to be able to force people to return to objectively unsafe ones.
Labour proving once more to be as bad, if not worse, than pretty much any previous government for decades in relation to immigration.
news.sky.com/story/angola...

Jingle Bells (Batman Smells): an incomplete festive folk-rhyme taxonomy Gather round the fire, everyone, and let me tell you a story. It has everything you could want in a Christmas blockbuster: superheroes and villains, a car crash, children singing, a mystery to solv…

For your collective delectation this holiday season:
Quite possibly the silliest thing I've ever written (and definitely the most ridiculous graph I've ever made!)

loreandordure.com/2025/12/16/j...

It's worth reading this in context of Labour's intent to make it even harder to resist deportation if you've committed offences, because even now it's extremely hard to win: in fact if you don't have children & don't face harmful treatment on return, there's almost nothing you can do to succeed 1/🧵

Despite all my rage I am still just some steaks in a cage

Starmer urges Europe’s leaders to curb ECHR to halt rise of far right Exclusive: PM calls for members of European convention on human rights to allow tougher action to protect borders

Starmer says ‘do what the far right want, to stop the far right’

www.theguardian.com/law/2025/dec...

let the bodies hit the floor
let the bodies hit the floor
let the bodies hit the floor
let the bodies hit the floor

Revealed: MPs rack up huge rent expenses while pushing through cuts to benefits MPs are allowed to rent a second home, but while they are simultaneously cutting benefits for the vulnerable, the cost feels hard to swallow.

Senior MPs including Kemi Badenoch, Robert Jenrick and Darren Jones are claiming tens of thousands of pounds a year in taxpayer-funded rent expenses while either calling for or implementing benefit cuts on the poorest

By me, for the Big Issue www.bigissue.com/news/politic...

Home Depot wanted holiday cheer, got a whole-ass choir calling out their partnership with ICE instead…

Read our paper, it’s nae bad.

The qualifying period to settlement will be increased to a baseline of 10 years.

These criteria will increase or reduce that time, for those who qualify. Only one criterion from each table can be applied

We must copy Denmark Social Democrats' hardline anti-asylum measures in order to win back voters' trust, says Shabana Mahmood.

Meanwhile in Denmark:

Asylum changes seek to use children as a weapon, says Labour peer Alf Dubs Dubs, who was a child refugee, says Shabana Mahmood’s ‘shabby’ plans will increase community tensions

Lord Dubs of Battersea is quite right.

The proposed immigration changes are needlessly cruel and will do little to make our immigration system more humane, workable, safe or responsible. I strongly encourage the Govt to look again at proposals.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Previously Farage as PM would’ve been a farce because reform can’t organise a piss up in a brewery. But labour are putting in all the infrastructure he could ever want.

Labour is a “godsend” for Farage says the far-right.

Levy on international students’ tuition fees not in best interest of UK, says leader of top university Duncan Ivison, president of Manchester University, says government’s 6% surcharge plan will ‘hurt the sector’

A levy on foreign students is one of the closest things you're going to see to tariffs on services - except the UK will be putting it on its own exports...

www.theguardian.com/education/20...

UK set to limit refugees to temporary stays Shabana Mahmood is expected to say the era of permanent protection for refugees is over, in major changes to the UK's asylum and immigration system.

Forcing the most vulnerable people on the planet further into precarity is simply monstrous bbc.com/news/article...

Photograph from Aidan and Ben's presentation.

We're grateful to all the community & voluntary groups - & local authorities - that responded to our 19th quarterly survey on the Conditions for North-South & East-West Cooperation.

Watch the presentation, & read the report, on the findings at crossborder.ie/reports/brie...

@benrosher.bsky.social