Matthew Waites (he or they)

Don't forget to register for our October #IdentitiesEvent!

'From Colonial Subjects to #Black Nations: Racializing the Caribbean within Global #Blackness'

With @jamellag.bsky.social, Chaired by @aaronwinter.bsky.social
In collaboration with Sociology at Lancaster University

www.eventbrite.co.uk...

📣 Submit your paper to the @bjsociology.bsky.social 2026 Conference!

The BJS conference will showcase cutting-edge research across Sociology, providing a platform to discuss the most exciting developments in the field.

Submit your abstract by Monday 20 October 2025.

www.lse.ac.uk/sociology/br...

Equating Respect for Trans People With Terrorism Is as Dangerous as It Is Absurd

Far-right groups in the U.S. are trying to get the FBI to classify trans advocacy as domestic terrorism.

This is the authoritarian playbook: turn identities into threats, use “security” as cover, suppress dissent.

Advocacy is not terrorism. 🏳️‍⚧️

#TransRights

Conor Gearty · Unwelcome Remnant: Erasing the Human Rights Act The Supreme Court is quietly editing the Human Rights Act out of existence. In cases where human rights cannot be...

“The current members of the Supreme Court, ten men and two women, all of them white, seem to regard the Human Rights Act as an unwelcome remnant of a past era.”

Prof Conor Gearty’s final essay in @lrb.co.uk is a painfully clear analysis of how the UK Supreme Court is depressing human rights norms.

Our latest Sociological & Cultural Studies blog has just been posted. In it Karolina Benghellab discusses the hidden forms of violence and detention that are a deliberate consequence of Europe's increasingly militarised, and hugely costly, border regimes. Please read and share...

Here's a little Friday thought from William Morris, who died on this day in 1896: "...the first step toward the fresh new-birth of art must interfere with the privilege of private persons to destroy the beauty of the earth for their private advantage, and thereby to rob the community.”

Our next #IdentitiesEvent!

'From Colonial Subjects to #Black Nations: Racializing the Caribbean within Global #Blackness'

@uofgsociology.bsky.social @uofgsps.bsky.social @uofgsocsci.bsky.social @nasarmeer.bsky.social @aaronwinter.bsky.social @jamellag.bsky.social

Register: www.eventbrite.co.uk...

Image text: Don’t miss out! Abstract submissions invited for the BSA’s 75th anniversary conference, 8-10 April 2026, University of Edinburgh – a fixture in the sociological calendar unlike any other. Submission deadline: THIS FRIDAY, 3 October 2025 tinyurl.com/23sjk4nh #sociology

Don’t miss out! Abstract submissions invited for the BSA’s 75th anniversary conference, 8-10 April 2026, University of Edinburgh – a fixture in the sociological calendar unlike any other.

Submission deadline: TOMORROW, Friday 3 October 2025 tinyurl.com/23sjk4nh #sociology

Have submitted an abstract to BSA conference, deadline is tomorrow ! X @britsoci.bsky.social

JD Twitch, esteemed Scottish DJ in duo Optimo, dies aged 57 The producer and DJ, real name Keith McIvor, had been diagnosed with an untreatable brain tumour earlier this year

www.theguardian.com/music/2025/s...

‘Direct evidence of genocidal intent’: the UN commission of inquiry’s report on Israel’s actions in Gaza Legal analysis has accused Israel of committing genocide in four out of five categories as defined by 1948 convention

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

MPs express shock after alleged racially motivated rape of Sikh woman West Midlands detectives are looking for two white male suspects after incident involving 20-year-old in Oldbury

This is the racism and misogyny that has been unleashed www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Looking forward to my next International Studies Association involvement, as Discussant at Amy Lind’s queer workshop stream within the ISA-BISA joint conference in Newcastle @isanet.bsky.social @dramylind.bsky.social www.isanet.org/Conferences/...

Happy to be starting a new role as Joint Subject Lead for the Sociology Subject Group, with my excellent colleague Andrew Smith, here at University of Glasgow @uofgsociology.bsky.social

Know an amazing digital librarian or archivist? Share this job opportunity to help preserve & digitize access to the 🌎 most important collection on sexuality, relationships, & intimate culture 📚📰📑

📍On-site at IU Bloomington. Salary $70-95k + benefits.

🚨 Apply by Sept 30!

knsy.in/job101311

ISA Book Award Winners (2024-2025). "Security in Crisis: Planetary Emergence and the Technopolitics of Crisis Management." Columba Peoples. STAIR Book Award. "Unparalleled catastrophe: Life and death in the Third Nuclear Age." Rhys Crilley. STAIR Book Award. "The Time of Global Politics: International Relations as Study of the Present." Christopher McIntosh. THEORY Best Book Award. ISA logo.

Congratulations to all the 2024-2025 ISA #BookAward winners! These title have left a lasting impression and earned well-deserved recognition.

Amnesty International launches global campaign to protect UK protest rights after Palestine Action arrests The Urgent Action will involve letters addressed to the UK’s Chief Prosecutors, signed by activists and supporters all over the world.

For the 1st time the UK will be the the subject of an @amnesty.org global urgent action. It says this is to "protect the right to protest in the UK, following the arrest, since July 2025, of over 700 people for peacefully protesting in support of Palestine Action" www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releas...

Very exciting book news from Rosa Campbell, one-time editorial fellow at History Workshop 📖 👀

PSA26 FAQs and Additional Information | The Political Studies Association (PSA) How can I stay up to date with announcements about PSA26? The dedicated webpage for PSA26 will include all the latest information, deadline dates and related links. PSA Members will also receive…

*PSA26 Annual Conference* - Call for Papers is now open!
If you've got a question or query, check out the extensive FAQs.
Paper proposal deadline: 17 October 2025
➡️

'In the struggle to express the horror we are reduced to a pale approximation and a tremor of words.' (Levi, 1986: 23). share.google/x4Jz9iU3aEgz...

Labour 'close to signing' major £2bn contract with Israel's largest weapons firm The Labour Government is reportedly close to signing a multi-billion-pound contract with Elbit Systems, Israel's largest weapons manufacturer ...

via @scotnational.bsky.social

screen shot from Mirror story covering the letter

100 Women's Rights Organisations, including
@rapecrisis.bsky.social, @refugecharity.bsky.social, & @evawuk.bsky.social have signed a letter warning that attempts to link rape & violence against women & girls to immigration is a racist distraction.

They urge the govt to address dangerous narrative

Robert Jenrick, the Tory Shadow Justice Secretary and former Home Office Minister, joining protesters outside an asylum hotel is one of the most disgusting acts by a frontline British politician in living memory.

Updates from UCU Commons Welcome to UCU Commons Updates!

As always, to receive our mailouts directly to your inbox, sign up to our Substack:

ucucommons.substack.com/p/coming-soon

Image:
British cops stand peaceably in front of a crowd of assorted White racists, skinheads and blackshirts, holding up Union jacks; one particularly nasty specimen in front of the crowd holds up a pennant that reads: "Kill 'Em All: Let God Sort Them Out." Behind him another racist leers happily.

We gays grew up hearing politicians claim that gay people having kids was “against nature,” “social engineering,” “grooming,” “ideology,” etc. Now this rhetoric is recycled to degrade trans lives. This is why the fight against transphobia is also a fight against homophobia. Bigots will trash us all.

Adult content restrictions could pave the way for anti-LGBTQIA+ content bans Could bans on adult content easily be extended to deem LGBTQIA+ content as ‘mature’?

Adult content restrictions could pave the way for anti-LGBTQIA+ content bans 👇

https://www.wearequeeraf.com/w/

Call for papers: Interdisciplinary perspectives on empire, colonialism, and anticolonialism. Deadline 30 August 2025

#CFP 📝
Our 'Interdisciplinary perspectives on empire, colonialism, and anticolonialism' event on 17 October 2025 will bring into dialogue different perspectives of the subject across the arts, humanities and social sciences

Find out more and submit a paper by 30 August
buff.ly/Avy8Okl

Recognising Palestinian state must not distract from ending Gaza mass deaths, UN expert says Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur for the occupied territories, calls for practical actions and warns against distracting ‘attention from where it should be: the genocide’

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Letter to Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Jonathan Reynolds) and the Minister for Women and Equalities (Bridget Phillipson) ​ Dear Secretary of State for Business and Trade and Minister for Women and Equalities, ​ We, the undersigned businesses and organisations, are writing to express our deep concern at proposals seeking to enforce blanket, mandatory exclusion of trans people from gendered spaces and services. The proposals made in the EHRC's draft Code of Practice to the Equality Act would have serious and far-reaching consequences for UK businesses, our employees, and our customers. Any final code similar to this draft would tell organisations that we must adopt practices that are incompatible with modern business values, create unworkable operational challenges, and cause significant economic harm. ​ Conflict with business values Many of us have spent years building inclusive environments where all customers and staff feel safe and welcome. These proposals would tell us to act in ways that directly contradict those commitments; undermining trust, damaging reputations, and risking the loss of valued staff and customers. They are rooted in an assumption that trans people are a threat and that exclusion is the only acceptable outcome. This framing is both harmful and disconnected from the lived reality of the communities in which we operate. Exclusion of anybody should be a last resort, done only where it is proportionate for legitimate reasons which will be different for each individual organisation, not made blanket and mandatory. ​ Legal and operational risks

More fantastic work from @transsolidarity.bsky.social.
Please forward a copy of this open letter to any businesses or orgs you know who are concerned about the new EHRC Code of Practice, and ask them to sign.
#StrengthInNumbers
@bibabee.bsky.social

www.transsolidarityalliance.com/businesses-o...