Reposted by Melanie SimmsRob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 10/10/2026It would seem the Home Office has now acquired the ability to impose, without visibility or accountability, shadow bans on students coming to British universities from particular countries. How? Because of the interaction between indiv visa decisions (made by HO alone) and visa rules for unis 1/? 10258175
Reposted by Melanie SimmsResolution Foundation @resolutionfoundation.org · 06/10/2026Why was the ONS overestimating the hours worked in the economy? Survey-based estimates had previously implied that the average employee took three fewer days of annual leave than the legal minimum, which seems implausible. Read more ➡️ buff.ly/1lEnAtC 143
Reposted by Melanie SimmsLinda Yueh @lindayueh.bsky.social · 03/10/2026AI does not act on jobs. It acts on tasks, and a job is a bundle of heterogeneous ones. Ask how much AI speeds up a lawyer and the question has no answer: AI drafts a brief in minutes but does nothing for a court appearance. cepr.org/voxeu/column...cepr.orgHiding in the mean: AI is adding jobs and removing them at the same timeEstimates of AI's employment effect disagree in size and even in sign. This column argues the disagreement is built into the measurement: AI substitutes for humans on some tasks and complements humans... 041
Reposted by Melanie SimmsEwan Gibbs @ewangibbs.bsky.social · 01/10/2026'Green' and 'class' politics are often viewed as mutually hostile to each other. My research explores how British miners, electricity workers and builders articulated a distinctive working-class environmental politics in the 1970s and 80s. You can read my new article here.tandfonline.com‘The true conservationists’: British trade union environmental politics in the late twentieth centuryThis article demonstrates British energy trade unionists engaged intently with environmental debates during the 1970s and 1980s. These findings challenge dominant interpretations of the emergence o... 13312
Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 01/10/2026This hype around the Bayeux Tapestry is hilarious to me. I grew up on the south coast of England and a trip to Bayeux with school was pretty much compulsory - and subsidised. If (like me) your mum also did an occasional booze cruise, you saw it maybe 5 times in your childhood. And it was BORING!! 100
Reposted by Melanie Simms4 Day Week Foundation @4dayweek.bsky.social · 30/09/2026We all know South Cambs District Council's 4-day week works. What Local Authority Leaders need to know now is: How did they do it? What was the impact? and How can we do it too? To answer those questions, we’ve condensed all the key data into one brand-new, easy-to-read document. Read it below ⬇️ 164
Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Indeed. It’s a worked example of why the conflation of OPEX and CAPEX by all parties for so long has really hurt everyone. 010
Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Understanding what’s happening at Dundee takes a good working knowledge of HE finances. But I strongly recommend that if you work in the sector, you gen up fast. It’ll resonate beyond Scotland. www.theferret.scot/dundee-unive...theferret.scotDundee university might have too much cash to qualify for its taxpayer bailoutThe university has continued to argue staff cuts are needed to make ends meet. But a growing cash balance has raised questions about the need for more redundancies, and whether it qualifies for millio... 162
Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Sorry about the NYT link and paywall. I can’t find an alternative outlet at present. 000
Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 29/09/2026This is one of the many reasons we shouldn’t share research data with corporate AI. We still need to find out exactly what happened - although we may never do. But it’s one of a million reasons why I wouldn’t. Data protection matters. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/27/s...nytimes.comDid Anthropic’s A.I. Really Make a Scientific Discovery on Its Own?An expert at the University of Copenhagen said his team had been sharing its research with the company’s A.I. model, Claude, and that its new finding matched their work. 110
Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 28/09/2026Added to which, the replacement of human labour with technology has to be viable in capitalism. And at the moment, no CFO in the world has a reasonable clue what they might be charged for any of this in, say, 3 years time. 011
Reposted by Melanie SimmsLSE Review of Books @lsereviewofbooks.bsky.social · 28/09/2026NEW: Debt and the Future of Workers by @ggouzoulis.bsky.social @qmul.bsky.social @brisunipress.bsky.social examines how household debt forms an essential part of the capitalist exploitation process. Read the review by Photis Lysandrou 👉 blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofb... 0137
Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 27/09/2026One of the most stunning details about the OpenAI attack on Australian medical data is not so much that it was reported 3 months late. But that it was reported to a public mailbox. 000
Reposted by Melanie SimmsAlex Bryson @alexbryson.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Come and join us for this BJIR special issue conference in memory of David Metcalf cep.lse.ac.uk/_new/events/... @sriucl.bsky.social @bjireditor.bsky.social @cep-lse.bsky.socialcep.lse.ac.ukBJIR Conference in Memory of Professor Sir David Metcalf | Various speakers | Thursday Thursday, December 3, 2026 - Friday Friday, December 4, 2026 | CEP EventAn event from the CEP Public Events series organised by the CEP 031
Reposted by Melanie SimmsEwan Gibbs @ewangibbs.bsky.social · 23/09/2026You can get 20% off my new book, An Injury to All: The Unmaking of the British Working Class, from bookshop.org and help support independent bookshops! 12715
Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 23/09/2026I know we’re now all waiting for this plane to land wherever it lands! 110
Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 22/09/2026Service varies according to context. But I will ride into battle for these people. They are the very best at upholding international safety and dignity. I need to know they are there even though I’m unlikely to ever need them. Solidarity. And good work people. 1110
Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 22/09/2026I grew up on the South coast. The people who make up the RNIL crews were my classmates. I share few politics with them. But our (very not fancy, recently Secondary Modern) school had a Latin motto. Ut prosim. That I may be of service. What is “service”? I can’t think of better than the RNLI 1/2 1164
Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 22/09/2026I don’t self-identify as a gamer. But I really am. And Wolfenstein (the original). Played it all the way thru. And the final boss nearly gave me a heart attack! 120
Reposted by Melanie SimmsPer Engzell @pengzell.bsky.social · 22/09/2026Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH) hosts a conference on Workers and Technological Change 10-11 December. Submit by 16 October. Open to "historians, economists, sociologists, political scientists and scholars of industrial relations" www.torch.ox.ac.uk/event/call-f...torch.ox.ac.ukCall for Papers | Workers and Technological Change 1149
Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 21/09/2026OK - so he pronounces his own name Mack-le-more. (Very soft le). I think the least we can do is swap to saying it like that. Every days a school day. (You all probably knew this already). 010
Reposted by Melanie SimmsHetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 20/09/2026Not long now till this conference we are supporting on the 250th anniversary of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations. 8/9 October in Edinburgh. Register here www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/events/briti...thebritishacademy.ac.ukThe Wealth of Nations at 250: understanding prosperity and development in the modern worldWhat makes nations wealthy? This question, first systematically explored by Adam Smith 250 years ago, remains as pressing today as it was in 1776 when Smith published An Inquiry into the Nature and Ca... 293
Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 19/09/2026And shoe brands - all I’m asking for is some cute styles with ok labour conditions and not actively supporting genocide, lynching and the like. Not that hard. Yet here we are. 010
Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 19/09/2026Um… even as a middle aged white woman from the UK, I can read the horrific US Converse ad. Do they think the rest of the world isn’t watching? 220
Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 19/09/2026Yup. I love the analogous of a strimmer (weed whacker as I believe our US cousins call them) tied to a dog. For a while, it might do what you want. But sooner or later, it’ll jump the fence to run after a squirrel. 171
Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 18/09/2026Just the summer. But they did keep me the whole summer! 1110
Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 18/09/2026I worked in a posh restaurant in France. I have many tales. But not carving a fish correctly (at the table - in full view of customers WHO WERE FRENCH) was judged the worst by my Maitre d’. 1400
Reposted by Melanie SimmsThe British Academy @britishacademy.bsky.social · 17/09/2026Applications are now open for the Elevate Programme, a professional development programme supporting early career researchers across the UK. Activities are delivered through a mix of online and in-person sessions. Applications open until 28 October. Find out more: bit.ly/4wOVF5V 063
Reposted by Melanie SimmsPer Engzell @pengzell.bsky.social · 16/09/20264-year postdoc at @wzb.bsky.social in the research group Globalization, Work and Production led by @martinkrz.bsky.social. Start: January 2027. Deadline: 30 September. wzb.eu/en/jobs/post... 079
Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 16/09/2026Im in my “furious and intentional” era - I might start saying this. 140
Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 15/09/2026I did an internship in Japan 30+ years ago. And discovered the first food I really didn’t like - natto. Try it. Probably only once. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. www.theguardian.com/food/2026/se...theguardian.comIt’s a superfood but natto as we know it. Japan’s slimy fermented beans are coming your wayComprised of smelly soya beans held together by strands of mucus, the ancient dish is appearing in health food shops across the world 100
Reposted by Melanie SimmsMax-Planck-Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung (MPIfG) @mpifg.bsky.social · 15/09/2026🚨 Call for Applications: Postdocs We’re looking for postdoctoral researchers for the following research areas and topics: - Political Economy - Economic Sociology - Technology and Statehood - Wealth and Social Inequality 🗓️ Application deadline: Dec. 11 📢 Please share widely! s.gwdg.de/UzLEpr 11424
Reposted by Melanie SimmsPer Engzell @pengzell.bsky.social · 15/09/20264-year postdoc(s) at Copenhagen Business School on project The Business of Corruption: Why Business Elites Collude or Combat Political Corruption, led by @mkjustesen.bsky.social. Start: summer 2027, deadline 18 September. www.cbs.dk/en/about-cbs... 12625
Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 14/09/2026The future of work will not be decided by the fetishisation of the new. Under capitalism, labour and capital are in constant tension with each other. The future is decided by those negotiations. Implicit and explicit. 140
Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 14/09/2026If you're a union member in the UK, you will soon be asked for your personal email address (not work). This is REALLY IMPORTANT. It seems like one of those tasks that isn't urgent. But PLEASE DO IT. If you want to take part in a future electronic ballot they MUST have your personal address. 099
Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 14/09/2026I’ve had this with something as simple iMessage autocorrect. It’s the AI messing things up. 041
Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 12/09/2026This is a brilliant podcast. And I think most people will find this episode incredibly reassuring (about the models - we still have to be out of our minds with worry about the techbros). 000
Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 11/09/2026I am reminded once again that even at this ripe age, when I get a meeting request that includes “update on progress”, I default to assuming they want an update from me. Even when I am waiting for THEM to make progress. You call it Type A. I call it childhood trauma! 141
Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 11/09/2026Do we even need to worry about AI rendering electronic infrastructure unusable if the pensioners will do it? 000
Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 11/09/2026From a bit of googling, this appears to be true. I’m so gobsmacked that I don’t know what to do except repost. 100
Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 10/09/2026Sir - I aware of your contributions. (Not having a go - just reassuring you that you are read). *doffs cap* 110