Dr Sarah Hudspith

Does #German really sound aggressive? Why do some people find the sound of #French romantic and sexy? And how about the friendly-sounding Geordies?
Join us for a public lecture by Prof Sascha Stollhans.
👉 Find out more: leedscityoflanguages.leeds.ac.uk/events/talk-...
@saschastollhans.bsky.social

Dr Pete Watson discusses the various meanings, symbolisms and power of football in Colombia over the last decade, from the 2014 Men’s World Cup to the 2023 Women’s World Cup and asks: “What power does football really have?” More info on: leedscityoflanguages.leeds.ac.uk/events/talk-... #languages

Interested in Spanish? Look at the upcoming events that our partner, Instituto Cervantes, is offering!
🖥️ Online Taster Classes
🏫 Face-to-Face Taster Classes
📝 Spanish Level Tests
And a wonderful concert with Luma Trio!
Book your tickets 👇: leedscityoflanguages.leeds.ac.uk/events/conce...
#Spanish

Webinar: Oracy is for everyone, by Prof Stephen Coleman. For teachers & youth workers. Oracy is about enabling every young person to leave school with the confidence to speak for themselves so they can flourish as human beings. 
Booking required: leedscityoflanguages.leeds.ac.uk/events/webin...

The UK Linguistics Olympiad is a national language-analysis competition for students in KS2-KS5. Free to enter, the UKLO contains language puzzles that provides an opportunity to apply formal reasoning from STEM subjects.
This online session for teachers will outline how the UKLO works. #languages

Fancy a taste of #Portuguese language? Join our free online Portuguese taster session. Booking required: leedscityoflanguages.leeds.ac.uk/events/disco...
Session organised by the Camões Centre for Portuguese Language at the University of Leeds and delivered by Carmem Mackle (Lecturer in Portuguese).

Have you heard of a 'Somali village' in Bradford? Come and explore a disturbing yet surprising form of cultural encounter.
Talk: Racial hierarchy in Edwardian Yorkshire: Bradford's Somali Village of 1904, by Prof Fozia Bora 
#Somalia #Bradford #Culture #History #LeedsCityofLanguages

A Retrospective on the Website Dostoevsky Now The North American Dostoevsky Society stands with all the people of Ukraine, Russia, and the rest of the world who condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine. See our statement here. by Sarah Hud…

Today, @sarahhudspith.bsky.social reflects on Dostoevsky Now and the preservation of its content on Bloggers Karamazov: “The full joining of Dostoevsky Now to its big brother Bloggers Karamazov feels to me like the most natural, organic solution.”

bloggerskaramazov.com/2025/10/27/a...

In 2020, during lockdown, photographic artist Alan Ward bought 7 German negatives from the First World War. This workshop will present some of Alan’s work and the responses of the inhabitants of Grandpré. Free. Booking required: leedscityoflanguages.leeds.ac.uk/events/inter...

It shouldn't take an FOI request to see grant success rates. UKRI has a duty of care to researchers to supply this from the outset. We are judged, compared, promoted (or not) according to unbelievably bad odds.

Met Police says it will no longer investigate non-crime hate incidents The move comes as an investigation into Father Ted creator Graham Linehan is dropped, after his arrest over a post on X.

1993: Stephen Lawrence is murdered by racists.
1999: The MacPherson Inquiry recommends recording of non-crime hate incidents.
2005: After the Discrimination Law Review, non-crime hate incidents begin being recorded by UK police.
2025: Mainstream transphobia ends a harm reduction policy that worked.

Thank you!

How do you do that?

Quite a bodying, here, for the UK, from the Commissioner for Human Rights, Council of Europe.

🏮 He points out the Supreme Court ignored human rights (which breaches its legal obligations)
🏮 He says, in effect agreeing with Lucy Powell, Parliament should be involved...

rm.coe.int/letter-to-pa...

Branch update Fifty UCU branches join calls for unconditional talks After over 50 UCU branches signed up to a statement calling on SMT and the General Secretary to meet with Unite for unconditional talks, branch…

We wondered last week whether @drjogrady.bsky.social would listen to @ucu.org.uk members, agree to unconditional talks & withdraw the threat of deductions for taking ASOS.

So we asked her. She didn’t reply herself, but SMT’s response, regrettably, was “no”.

uniteucu.wordpress.com/2025/10/10/b...

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

Because of the unforgivably appalling decisions of the Charity Commission, these hate groups, Sex Matters and LGB Alliance, are funded from your taxes.

Just to be clear, an English degree - learning to critically assess texts - is actually one of the most dangerous for people such as Badenoch.

An educated population, able to bring hundreds of years of context to statements in a dawning age of AI slop and attention-seeking dishonesty is also vital.

Migration is Britain’s superpower. Our future depends on embracing that truth, not denying it | Zack Polanski Labour has lost its nerve. At our party conference this weekend, we’re gathering to set things right, says Green party leader Zack Polanski

"I'm here to talk about what others won’t. To tell the truth about what makes our country great and what makes it not so great. While others thrive on creating scapegoats, I am here to tell you a different story."

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Keir Starmer: the new Joe Biden? The consensus view was that Keir Starmer's speech was his best yet. I think it was born of deep frailty.

This is really excellent from @lewisgoodall.com.

A 'proper' analysis of Starmer's speech and general approach.

open.substack.com/pub/goodalla...

🚨 Call for Papers 🚨
The BASEES 2026 Annual Conference will be held at the University of Birmingham, 10–12 April 2026. ✨
📢 Deadline extended. 24 October 2025. Join us in Birmingham!

To everyone in Britain's Jewish Community: you are not alone. We will not let hate or those who spread it win. We stand with you.

On Yom Kippur many Jewish people in Britain have their phones off to mark the holy day.

As it ends at 723pm, some will hear the tragic Manchester news for the first time.

At that time, please join many of us to send a message of solidarity to British Jews.Thanks Together coalition for proposing.

TONY BLAIR, BIG TECH AND THE HOLY LAND'S DARK MESSIAH As Trump announces the former British PM as his choice to help govern Gaza, Carole Cadwalladr investigates the opaque workings of Blair's institute, its funding from friends of Israel – including bill...

this new @carolecadwalla.bsky.social stuff is terrifying

New! Cassetteboy vs Keir Starmer.

This took absolutely ages, so if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi.com/cassetteboy we'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

Krishnan Guru Murthy, "Isn't it a bit insulting to say to an Indian doctor who is working 60-70 hours a week that in order to get settled status he's got to volunteer?"

Rachel Reeves, "We want people to contribute if they come to our country"

Labour have gone utterly bonkers

When I was a teenager there was a bus direct from my hometown in Germany to London - we had a British army base, and this direct bus connection was one of the benefits of that. One summer I went on that bus to go volunteer in an old people's home in Southend-on-Sea. I had just turned 18 and was... 🧵

What does this quote (in my reply) mean?
In the UK, if you pay your taxes you don't need to also 'contribute'. Compulsory community garden service or choir joining‽ You can even do something anti-society like joining the Tories if you want. Immigrants shouldn't be held to higher standards than us.

Scapple and Scrivener are not free though. Is there anything similar free to access?