Jonathan Davies

Makes a lot of sense.

Tom Stoppard, playwright of dazzling wit and playful erudition, dies aged 88 A theatrical sensation since the 1960s, whose dramas included Arcadia, The Real Thing and Leopoldstadt, Stoppard also had huge success as a screenwriter The playwright Tom Stoppard, whose playful erudition dazzled the theatregoing world for decades, has died aged 88. One of a select band of writers from any discipline to earn his own adjective – “Stoppardian” – in the Oxford English Dictionary, he delighted in the most improbable juxtapositions: philosophy and gymnastics in Jumpers (1972); early 19th-century landscape gardening and chaos theory in Arcadia (1993); rock music, dissident Czech academics and the love poetry of Sappho in Rock ’n’ Roll (2006). Continue reading...

Tom Stoppard, playwright of dazzling wit and playful erudition, dies aged 88

Eating with a double cuff is never easy. Props to Chuka.

Viola Fletcher, Oldest Survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre, Dies at 111

Viola Fletcher, Oldest Survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre, Dies at 111 www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/u...

Day 3 Sheffield Uni UCU strike against threat of extensive redundancies. 400 academic staff gone. Nearly 100 more now confirmed. They want another £10m staff saving this year, despite being in a strong position financially. #SheffieldUCU @sheffielducu.bsky.social www.ucu.org.uk/article/1423...

I know the blimps want us to get ready for war. But is anyone seriously weighing the true extent of any threat based on structural factors?

E.g., the Russian economy has around 20% of the purchasing power of the EU. How is Russia going to steamroller Europe?

One for the anti vaxers, covidiots and great barrington “libertarians”. Lethally dangerous morons with corrupt, seedy, Trumpish Johnson atop the pile.

“People died who could have been saved. These deaths are facts that cannot be denied. And I will never forget what I saw.”
The COVID enquiry shines a light on the abject failure of the UK’s public health response - too little, too late.

I’ll never forget the horror of the Covid wards | The Observer

“Have they given up? Are they just deciding to build up herd immunity by watching us die? The government has given up, hasn’t it? They are throwing us into the slaughterhouse.”
It’s not hindsight - we knew this at the time @drrachelclarke.com writes:
observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Respect!

Could you do better than Reeves as chancellor? Play our interactive budget game Can you pull the levers of power to deliver a successful budget? Can you keep backbenchers happy without upsetting the bond markets? And can you do it all while keeping the books balanced? Try our bud...

I created a £31 billion surplus without even increasing the basic rate of income tax. The rich won’t be happy. 😁

www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-...

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

New: Dialogues in Urban Research exploring what it means to think about crisis as urban & how locating crisis in the urban reconfigures relations between eventful & everyday crisis politics, materiality, discourse & movement. Part of a great set of interventions.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

'Once again, the lack of regulation in the university sector has thrown up the risk of creating disciplinary “cold spots”; if the proposals are adopted, students in the East Midlands will no longer have a local opportunity to develop an integrated knowledge of languages and cultures.' 3/3

The latest threat to UK modern languages is yet another faux pas Nottingham and Leicester are taking a swing at language departments. But those proposing closures have taken their eye off the ball, say four linguists

'After vigorous and partially successful attempts to save modern languages degrees at Cardiff...and the University of Aberdeen in the past two years, linguists are now called upon to point out the equally obvious folly of cutting modern languages at the universities of Nottingham and Leicester.' 1/3

She has terrible politics. You get a pass. You’re wealthy, we get the money back, plus a lot more, by taxing the arse off you. Simples! #universalism

You get a pass. You’re wealthy, we get the money back, plus a lot more, by taxing the arse off you. Simples! #universalism

She has terrible politics. You get a pass. You’re wealthy, we get the money back, plus a lot more, by taxing the arse off you. Simples!

That would be the dog's favourite place.

Reeves ditched income tax rise after improved UK fiscal forecast Dramatic U-turn ahead of Budget had sparked sell-off in gilts and pound

Thank heavens for the OBR and its fiscal forecast!

www.ft.com/content/abfe...

More easily said than done. One of our hatches is leaking a steady drip into the kitchen. 🙄

We are under a severe weather warning for rain from 12:00, and advised to make preparations and take action. Can anyone advise me of what these preparations and actions should consist? So far, I've pulled the curtains and retreated to bed. Anything else?

Adolf Hitler may have had micro-penis due to genetic disorder, researchers say Documentary investigating the Nazi dictator’s DNA reveals Adolf Hitler had Kallmann syndrome, a disorder which delays puberty and hinders sexual development

Professor Turi King, who led the research, said: “If he was to look at his own genetic results, he’d almost certainly have sent himself to the gas chambers.”

www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/adol...

Sudan war exposes hypocrisy of UK government's treatment of asylum seekers Ben Whitham, senior policy and research officer at Refugee Action, writes that the Sudan war exposes 'racial injustice' in the asylum system.

I wrote for the Big Issue about Sudan and how the UK's foreign policy choices cause forced displacement while the UK then denies responsibility for refugees and refuses safe routes to seek asylum.
www.bigissue.com/opinion/suda...

How Palantir infiltrated the state At a moment of national emergency, the government handed our data to Peter Thiel’s controversial company

In an interview about Palantir's creeping involvement in the British state and the NHS, I told @prospectmagazine.co.uk: “Its business is death and destruction. This is not an organisation you want running the democratic jewel of the postwar period.”

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/dem...

Sign the Petition Save Geography at the University of Leicester

Thanks to all who have already signed the petition about the closure of Geography at the Uni. If you haven’t, please do so to help stop this ill-thought out action that threatens the future of staff, students & the discipline at Leicester

www.change.org/p/save-geogr...

Radical abundance: how to build an alternative to capitalism Ayeisha Thomas-Smith is joined by Keir Milburn and Frances Northrop

“The essential services we need to survive used to be owned by us: the UK public. Our public services have been sold off to private corporations over whom we have no control.”

@kmilb.bsky.social, author of Radical Abundance, interviewed on @neweconomics.bsky.social
neweconomics.org/2025/10/radi...

Depending on what you make of the targets he has been set, or rather set himself, it could be regarded as a publicity stunt.

Letter of Support for Professor Farhana Sultana As scholars within and beyond academia, we write in solidarity with academic freedom of expression with our colleague, Dr. Farhana Sultana, an internationally recognized scholar and tenured Full Profe...

As an alumni of Syracuse University, it's appalling that they are capitulating against a right-wing campaign against Professor Farhana Sultana for exercising her first amendment rights. Do consider signing this letter calling on Syracuse University to reinstate her docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Reeves refuses to say she will stick to manifesto pledge on tax rises and insists she must face world ‘as it is’ – UK politics live Chancellor says she is focused on priorities for British people in pre-budget speech laying ground for expected tax rises

I still don’t understand why they ruled out tax rises. It would’ve made no electoral difference. Reviving the fortunes of a faded imperial hegemon is far beyond a government such as this one, but so much of the political damage is self-inflicted.

www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

Happy birthday! 🎉