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Melanie Simms

@melaniesimms.bsky.social
2.5K followers 2.1K following 911 posts

Professor of Work and Employment. Specialism in unions and worker voice. Promoter of social sciences. Fascinated by pretty much everything. She/her

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Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
And the strikes?
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Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
It 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/?
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Resolution Foundation @resolutionfoundation.org · 06/10/2026
Why 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
Line-and-bar chart showing UK full‑time employees’ average annual leave 1997–2024: a blue line of reported entitlement rising from about 25 to 27 days, green bars of reported leave taken falling from roughly 22 to about 17 days, and a dashed 20‑day statutory minimum.
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Linda Yueh @lindayueh.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
AI 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.org
Hiding in the mean: AI is adding jobs and removing them at the same time
Estimates 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...
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Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I’m sure Nicky has views!
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Ewan 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 century
This 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...
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Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
This 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!!
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Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I have also had this problem this week.
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4 Day Week Foundation @4dayweek.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
We 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 ⬇️
South Cambridge District Council's Shift to a Four-Day Week:
Evidence, Outcomes and Lessons for Local Government
Prof Brendan Burchell, University of Cambridge Prof Daiga Kamerade, University of Salford
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Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Indeed. It’s a worked example of why the conflation of OPEX and CAPEX by all parties for so long has really hurt everyone.
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Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Understanding 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.scot
Dundee university might have too much cash to qualify for its taxpayer bailout
The 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...
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Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Chef’s kiss!!
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Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Sorry about the NYT link and paywall. I can’t find an alternative outlet at present.
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Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
This 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.com
Did 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.
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Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Added 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.
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LSE Review of Books @lsereviewofbooks.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
NEW: 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...
Book cover titled Debt and the Future of Workers — Financialization as Exploitation in the 21st Century by Giorgos Gouzoulis, depicting bundled US dollar bills on a blue spiked mousetrap against a red background to symbolize debt as a trap for workers.
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Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
One 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.
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Alex Bryson @alexbryson.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Come 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.social
cep.lse.ac.uk
BJIR Conference in Memory of Professor Sir David Metcalf | Various speakers | Thursday Thursday, December 3, 2026 - Friday Friday, December 4, 2026 | CEP Event
An event from the CEP Public Events series organised by the CEP
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Ewan Gibbs @ewangibbs.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
You 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!
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Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I know we’re now all waiting for this plane to land wherever it lands!
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Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Oh - and fuck the fash.
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Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Service 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.
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Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
I 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
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Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
I 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!
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Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Great fact!
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Per Engzell @pengzell.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Oxford 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.uk
Call for Papers | Workers and Technological Change
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Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
OK - 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).
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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Not 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.uk
The Wealth of Nations at 250: understanding prosperity and development in the modern world
What 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...
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Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
And 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.
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Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Um… 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?
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Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
*analogy
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Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Yup. 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.
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Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Just the summer. But they did keep me the whole summer!
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Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
I 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’.
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The British Academy @britishacademy.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Applications 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
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Per Engzell @pengzell.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
4-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...
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Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Im in my “furious and intentional” era - I might start saying this.
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Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
I 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.com
It’s a superfood but natto as we know it. Japan’s slimy fermented beans are coming your way
Comprised of smelly soya beans held together by strands of mucus, the ancient dish is appearing in health food shops across the world
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Max-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
Job Opening: Postdoctoral Researchers. Application Deadline: Dec. 11, 2026
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Per Engzell @pengzell.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
4-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...
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Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Very happy for you to self promote.
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Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
The 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.
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Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Ooof! I’m so sorry to hear.
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Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
If 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.
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Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I’ve had this with something as simple iMessage autocorrect. It’s the AI messing things up.
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Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
This 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).
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Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
I 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!
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Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Do we even need to worry about AI rendering electronic infrastructure unusable if the pensioners will do it?
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Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
From a bit of googling, this appears to be true. I’m so gobsmacked that I don’t know what to do except repost.
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Melanie Simms @melaniesimms.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Sir - I aware of your contributions. (Not having a go - just reassuring you that you are read). *doffs cap*
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