Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Tell me this is a joke: www.theguardian.com/education/20...theguardian.comBacklash as Indian oil heir made professor of sustainability by Newcastle UniversityRole for Anant Ambani, son of India’s richest person, who also runs a controversial mega-zoo, met with incredulity 000
Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 11/09/2026There is large scale disenfranchisement of eligible voters in India. Since 2025, 5,800,000 million voters have been removed from Delhi's voter list alone. thewire.in/government/d...thewire.inDelhi’s Voter Roll Today Is 37% Smaller Than in 2025Delhi’s roll now contains 97,53,577 names. The number of people who actually turned out to vote last year was 94,88,376. 001
Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 01/09/2026static.klipy.comJungkook's Archery FinalsALT: Jungkook's Archery Finals 000
Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 28/08/2026www.equator.org/articles/lea...equator.orgThose Who Leave and Those Who Stay • EQUATORIt was hard to imagine that I might soon be in another country, away from this war 000
Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 10/08/2026They are not centrists but right wing. Also, the centrists everywhere almost always punch left and rarely of ever right. 000
Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 08/08/2026The minister of higher education, Uttarakhand state government has recently claimed that a new app is coming that will help move around monsoon rains by moving the clouds, especially if there is heavy rain in any one area. www.facebook.com/share/r/1BHd...facebook.com 000
Reposted by Arun KumarSaul Staniforth @saulstaniforth.bsky.social · 08/07/2026"... there are rules around transparency linked to MPs so we the public know who is giving MPs money so that we understand who is investing in them.." Mustn't call them bribes. Lets call them investments! 919160
Reposted by Arun KumarArun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 02/06/2026We discuss how elite philanthropy works in three phases in the cyclical maintenance of capitalism. Firstly, by securing elite class interests through intergenerational wealth transfer (where philanthropy is used to socialise and discipline heirs) and accumulating wealth by creating new markets. 113
Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 27/06/2026This is re-writing historical record to mask Starmer's failings. It is time to retire the 'decent man, poor communicator' line of analysis, it doesn't stand up to scrutiny, he had to be dragged kicking and screaming to do what he now counts as his biggest achievement - scrapping two-child cap. 061
Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 26/06/2026And very soon we will have even more higher education consulting firms 010
Reposted by Arun KumarPrem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 24/06/2026United Utilities CEO pockets £2.5m despite pollution targets saga, 79% hike. £830,000 bonus, not blocked by OFWAT. Bonus for what? For 175bn litres of water lost annually to leaks Sewage dumped for 327,000 hours. No new reservoir since 1989. Customers fleeced.thisismoney.co.ukUnited Utilities boss pockets £2.5m despite pollution targets sagaUnited Utilities has been attacked for illegally dumping millions of litres of raw sewage into Windermere, England's largest freshwater lake. 16274159
Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 22/06/2026For all the commentariat fawning over 'Starmer is a decent man' line, the sad reality is this. 001
Reposted by Arun KumarBallot Box Scotland @ballotbox.scot · 22/06/2026For many LGBT folk like me, and especially trans folk, Keir Starmer will be remembered in the same way as Margaret Thatcher: with deep contempt for having overseen a deeply hostile, queerphobic government, which rolled back human rights and set society back by at least a decade. Good riddance. 0868297
Reposted by Arun KumarTrinket @trinketbirdy.bsky.social · 13/06/2026Love this city. The racists are all stuck in a shit pub rn being yelled at by *checks notes* Fatboy slim? 4442931028
Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 12/06/2026Also, why I never played Pokemon Go when folks raved about it: www.theguardian.com/technology/2...theguardian.comPokémon Go data trained AI that could assist military drones in war zonesLocation scans from the globally popular augmented reality game have helped train AI to recognise and interpret physical spaces 000
Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 11/06/2026One of the few rare joys of social media is how it lets you stumble onto really interesting work completely outside your own field and learn a great deal. Today I read about whale necropolis in southeastern Indian ocean. Read and enjoy: www.nature.com/articles/s41...nature.comA 5.3-million-year-old deep-sea whale necropolis in the Diamantina Zone - NatureResearchers uncovered an enormous deep-sea accumulation of whale remains in the southeastern Indian Ocean, showing long-term, specialized ecosystems and an extensive fossil record that offers new insi... 153
Reposted by Arun KumarDave Andress @davidandress.bsky.social · 11/06/2026The expectation here that trans people will just quietly, politely, fuck off and never be seen again, is absolutely palpable. 0199
Reposted by Arun Kumarflyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 02/06/2026This is how Tony got that easy ride. There’s an old documentary where John Major says he refused Rupert Murdoch’s demands ahead of the 97 election. Smash-cut to Tony Blair bouncing up the gangplank on Rupert’s yacht, while Alastair Campbell solemnly explains that politics is about compromise. 26216
Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 06/06/2026This is right on the money, and a problem not just with AI but capitalism in general which is increasingly producing more, but what it produces isn't useful to anyone apart from the tech broligarchy and the political patrons. 064
Reposted by Arun KumarTom Roberts @tpgroberts.bsky.social · 05/06/2026There is a small minority of English people who want this debate, unfortunately they are all columnists. 824296
Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 02/06/2026And the paper is open access - so no paywall or subscription required. 000
Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 02/06/2026It engages in scale-making; and increasingly works not with but on the state - as authoritarianism's rise in the 21st c. shows. 100
Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 02/06/2026Thirdly, elite philanthropy engineers 'philanthropic fixes' (following Harvey) that create new fixes (both in the sense of addiction but also securing in place); but which create future assets/markets -- thus, supporting cyclical maintenance. 100
Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 02/06/2026Secondly, elite philanthropy frames capitalism's crises and problems that can be solved by technomanagerialism. Thus, diverting attention and resources away from root causes and defending capitalism. 100
Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 02/06/2026We discuss how elite philanthropy works in three phases in the cyclical maintenance of capitalism. Firstly, by securing elite class interests through intergenerational wealth transfer (where philanthropy is used to socialise and discipline heirs) and accumulating wealth by creating new markets. 113
Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 27/05/2026UK politicians being shills for US broligarchs while constantly pulling wool over the voters' eyes and wanting us to believe they are acting in the public interest. 001
Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 26/05/2026Absolutely nothing anywhere has become better in the longer-term : rail, water, electricity, healthcare, social care, education, higher education, police, fire services, prisons, charities, expertise, air travel, roads. Even the privatise but regulator better line has been a failure. 010
Reposted by Arun KumarRob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 09/05/2026In 2024 Labour won by being just acceptable enough to just enough people. Now they are unacceptable, for different reasons, to just enough people almost everywhere. The electoral valley of death. 414334
Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 07/05/2026Or maybe, just maybe, he doesn't have any values: www.theguardian.com/politics/202... Throughout, Labour has treated its own voters with nothing but contempt: not only taking our votes for granted but that if we disagreed, we were unable to comprehend what the 'real business of governing' involved.theguardian.comStarmer’s failure to demonstrate strong values ‘driving away progressive voters’Report using research from senior Blair and Clinton pollster comes as Labour braces for dismal election results 010
Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 24/04/2026Especially when all your competititors are also busy coining fancy slogans claiming to be distinctive, isn't it? The cheaper option, all along, would be to not coin slogans at all and let academics get on with their job. 020
Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 22/04/2026Now we have different ways of calculating percentages! 000
Reposted by Arun KumarCas Mudde @casmudde.bsky.social · 20/04/2026Any Social Democratic party worth its name should stop chasing the far-right old white male voter and listen to the young female voter…youtube.comThe Voters Progressive Parties Are Ignoring | Cas Mudde at GLOBSEC Forum 2025YouTube video by GLOBSEC 08430
Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 17/04/2026This should be top of most political and policy debates in the country - but wouldn't be of course! And we all know why. 000
Reposted by Arun KumarInderjeet Parmar @usempire.bsky.social · 06/04/2026www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaS3... 110 years since #EasterRising sent shockwaves across the world that empires days were numbered! Great song - and article links Irish freedom solidarity everywhere today against oppression m.thewire.in/article/hist... ✊🏽🤛🤝👊✊🏽youtube.comSinéad O'Connor & The Chieftains - The Foggy DewYouTube video by Siobhán McCarthy 031
Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 03/04/2026Chandu Maheriya's razor-sharp essay on the ubiquitous chappals and its entanglements with caste. www.equator.org/articles/you...equator.orgCaste and Chappals • EQUATORWhat leather footwear reveals about discrimination against Dalits 001
Reposted by Arun KumarPrem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 27/03/202613.4m Britons, including 4m children, live in relative poverty. Median wage of an employee is around £31,000. Poorest 20% pay higher proportion of income in taxes than the richest 20%. 1% has more wealth than 70% of the population combined. No govt plan for equitable distribution of wealth.bbc.co.ukMore than 13 million living in poverty, government figures showThe level rose slightly on the previous year while the number of children living in poverty has remained steady. 11255137
Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 20/02/2026When you think there are no depths too low for him to fall down to, trust Blair to do just that. What a disgraceful ex-PM. 000
Reposted by Arun KumarCarolineJMolloy @carolinejmolloy.bsky.social · 17/02/2026Welcome to Reform’s front bench Yusuf, Hampton School, £29,916 per year Jenrick, Wolverhampton Grammar, £17,835 per year Farage, Dulwich College, £30,618 per year Tice, Uppingham School, £58,176 per year Braverman, Heathfield School, defunct private school The authentic voice of the working class 57761408
Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 08/02/2026This from Clive Lewis is right on the money. If anything, Mandelson and McSweeney's departure should be the end of the New Labour project. 000
Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 07/02/2026Write a substack, they said. www.theguardian.com/media/2026/f...theguardian.comRevealed: How Substack makes money from hosting Nazi newslettersExclusive: Site takes a cut of subscriptions to content that promotes far-right ideology, white supremacy and antisemitism 000
Reposted by Arun KumarMar Hicks @histoftech.bsky.social · 06/02/2026No joke: I got angry hate mail today for writing an obituary of a Black woman scientist—because the person felt she did didn’t deserve the recognition. Which just makes me want to share it again: www.nature.com/articles/d41...nature.comGladys Mae West obituary: mathematician who pioneered GPS technologyShe made key contributions to US cold-war science despite facing huge barriers as a Black woman. 13674820719710