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Phil Cole

@phillcole40.bsky.social
1.2K followers 506 following 262 posts

Immigration, asylum, refugees, displacement: edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-g…

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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
‘Bigger and better than ever’: how Durham Pride beat Reform’s funding axe with help from the miners. Solidarity between LGBTQ+ people and unions has saved an event denied ‘a single penny’ of council money www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...
theguardian.com
‘Bigger and better than ever’: how Durham Pride beat Reform’s funding axe with help from the miners
Solidarity between LGBTQ+ people and unions has saved an event denied ‘a single penny’ of council money
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
Tennessee school district bans Alex Haley’s Roots under 2022 state law www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Tennessee school district bans Alex Haley’s Roots under 2022 state law
With third-highest number of books banned, state removes renowned work about slave trade from library shelves
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Reposted by Phil Cole
Jane McAdam @profjmcadam.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
My article on 'Displacement in the ICJ's Advisory Opinion on Climate Change' has now been published in Environmental Policy and Law - free access here journals.sagepub.com/doi/epdf/10....
journals.sagepub.com
Displacement in the ICJ's Advisory Opinion on Climate Change
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
How the Trump administration is undermining legal immigrants. The US has been targeting not only people who have violated the law but many who are in the country legally. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
How the Trump administration is undermining legal immigrants
The US has been targeting not only people who have violated the law but many who are in the country legally
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
Friendships, fishing and community clean-ups: the unseen kindness of life on the Bibby Stockholm barge. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Friendships, fishing and community clean-ups: the unseen kindness of life on the Bibby Stockholm barge
Bibby Boys photo exhibition documents experiences of the men who lived on the former asylum seeker vessel in Dorset and the local community that rallied around them
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
Jurgen Habermas has left us: amp.dw.com/en/celebrate...
amp.dw.com
Celebrated philosopher Jürgen Habermas dies aged 96
One of Germany's greatest postwar intellectuals, he continuously argued for a robust and inclusive democracy. His passing marks the end of an era.
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
There were two right wing parties standing yesterday and one got 10,578 votes and the other got 706 votes. It’s the worst byelection result in history for the Conservatives. While attention is on what Gorton and Denton means for Labour, it’s seismically bad for the Tories.
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
Labour’s message to us left voters was: “You have to vote for us or else Reform will get in. Meanwhile we will adopt a lot of Reform-like policies to win their supporters over. You will stick with us because you have no choice.” They got that wrong.
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
According to the ONS in 2021 these were the percentages of foreign-born people living in these locations: Boston -13% Skegness Region (East Lindsay) – 1% Clacton (Tendring Region) – 2% Great Yarmouth – 4% Basildon – 11% Ashfield 5% Seems that people who dislike foreigners haven't met any foreigners.
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
Trump’s next move: Give me Greenland or I walk away from Ukraine.
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
Never mind Venezuala. Trump is attacking his own country. If he invokes the Insurrection Act it makes it far clearer that he is waging war against America.
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 04/01/2026
Has any president seen international law as a restraint on American power?
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
And China also will be very pleased whatever they say publicly.
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
Although publicly Russia is deeply concerned about what is happening privately Putin must be laughing his head off.
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 01/01/2026
41,000 people arrived in the UK by small boat in 2025. 46,000 people watched Sunderland play Manchester City on Friday this week. So in a year, not enough people to fill The Stadium of Light for one game crossed the Channel irregularly .
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 01/01/2026
Forced displacement in the UK. Hundreds of Blackpool families to be evicted in ‘mass dispersion’ of vulnerable people. Up to 400 homes face demolition under a £90m regeneration scheme that promises only 230 replacement properties www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
theguardian.com
Hundreds of Blackpool families to be evicted in ‘mass dispersion’ of vulnerable people
Up to 400 homes face demolition under a £90m regeneration scheme that promises only 230 replacement properties
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 01/01/2026
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
Happy new year and keep fighting.
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 30/12/2025
Campaigner turned down MBE over ‘scapegoating’ of people with disabilities www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...
theguardian.com
Campaigner turned down MBE over ‘scapegoating’ of people with disabilities
Exclusive: In letter declining proposed award, Tressa Burke, CEO of Glasgow Disability Alliance, accused government of ‘fuelling hatred’
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
Why economic insecurity – not immigration – should be Labour’s top electoral priority theconversation.com/why-economic...
theconversation.com
Why economic insecurity – not immigration – should be Labour’s top electoral priority
Feelings of economic insecurity serve as a signal of poor government performance.
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
UK to rejoin EU’s Erasmus student exchange programme. British students will be able to participate in EU-wide scheme from January 2027, sources say www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...
theguardian.com
UK to rejoin EU’s Erasmus student exchange programme
Exclusive: British students will be able to participate in EU-wide scheme from January 2027, sources say
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Reposted by Phil Cole
Migration Observatory @migobs.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
What is the potential impact of the proposed reforms to the UK's asylum system? Some measures, like restricting family reunion, may plausibly deter some people from coming to the UK. Yet the evidence is mixed, and insufficient to say whether any effects will be particularly large.
migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk
Temporary protection: the UK’s new policies on asylum and returns - Migration Observatory
This commentary discusses the asylum and returns policy reforms, comparisons to other European countries, and whether they will be successful in reducing the number of asylum applications and small bo...
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
It’s a breach of trust’: fear and frustration over countries’ push to return Syrians home. Syrians who have rebuilt their lives abroad face uncertainty over their futures amid hardening of attitudes www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...
theguardian.com
‘It’s a breach of trust’: fear and frustration over countries’ push to return Syrians home
Syrians who have rebuilt their lives abroad face uncertainty over their futures amid hardening of attitudes
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
Tourists to US would have to reveal five years of social media activity under new Trump plan. Proposed plan would apply to tourists of all countries, including those not required to get a visa to visit the US www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
theguardian.com
Tourists to US would have to reveal five years of social media activity under new Trump plan
Proposed plan would apply to tourists of all countries, including those not required to get a visa to visit the US
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Reposted by Phil Cole
Hylke Dijkstra @hdijkstra.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
🚨 Vacancies at Maastricht in research programme "Europe: Society, Politics and Global Order" (do share!) - Assistant Prof Political Philosophy in Euro Democracy - Assistant Prof Euro Political History - PostDoc Disinformation and Euro Democracy vacancies.maastrichtuniversity.nl/search/?crea...
vacancies.maastrichtuniversity.nl
Maastricht University Jobs
Find at Maastricht University
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
Anyone know how this may proceed?
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
It is not clear to me what scope she has to insist on a "correct" interpretation that the courts have to comply with. Can she do it through primary legislation? She says she is in talks with other European states on this, but again what scope have they got to interpret this aspect of the Article?
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
… it is the "degrading treatment or punishment" element of the Article she doesn't like, but it is non-derogable so she is stuck with it - what she has proposed is changing what it means.
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
Shabana Mahmood has pointed to the prohibition on torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in the ECHR as a problem when it comes to deporting people from the UK. She does not want to deport people if they are at risk of being tortured, but …
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 16/11/2025
Step 1. Government promotes hostility towards asylum seekers. Step 2. People grow more hostile towards asylum seekers. Step 3. Government concludes that the solution to growing public hostility to asylum seekers is to be more hostile to asylum seekers. Step 4. What do you think?
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
UK university halted human rights research after pressure from China www.theguardian.com/education/20...
theguardian.com
UK university halted human rights research after pressure from China
Exclusive: Leading professor at Sheffield Hallam was told to cease research on supply chains and forced labour in China after demands from authorities
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
Government minister: “It’s an operational issue for the police, and government doesn’t get involved in operational issues for the police.” But: “[The decision] is just completely and utterly unacceptable.” I think you are getting involved mate!
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
On the Guardian United States news page today;
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
The credibility of the UK government may currently rest on its ability to do this in which case all it is on to a loser. And Labour have only themselves to blame as they made this a credibility issue for the previous administration.
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
… And indeed they have never done this particularly well.
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
Mahmood stakes the credibility of the nation state on its ability to control border crossings. Whatever you think of nation states, this is a fairly minor aspect of what they do …
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
Care workers ‘Frightened to get out of their cars’: Britain’s toxic race debates threaten overseas care workers. Staff are being advised to travel in mixed groups and carry panic alarms as incidents of intimidation spread www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
theguardian.com
‘Frightened to get out of their cars’: Britain’s toxic race debates threaten overseas care workers
Staff are being advised to travel in mixed groups and carry panic alarms as incidents of intimidation spread
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 13/10/2025
UK charities say toxic immigration rhetoric leading to threats against staff. Voluntary organisations forced to introduce extensive security measures to protect staff and property www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
UK charities say toxic immigration rhetoric leading to threats against staff
Voluntary organisations forced to introduce extensive security measures to protect staff and property
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 13/10/2025
Doreen Lawrence alleges Home Office was involved in Met spying on family. ‘Egregious’ police surveillance was sanctioned by government department, mother of Stephen Lawrence tells inquiry www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
theguardian.com
Doreen Lawrence alleges Home Office was involved in Met spying on family
‘Egregious’ police surveillance was sanctioned by government department, mother of Stephen Lawrence tells inquiry
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 12/10/2025
Gaza PhD student ‘heartbroken’ as family blocked from entering the UK. Manar al-Houbi’s husband and children refused entry despite her winning a scholarship to cover tuition fees, living costs and housing for them all www.theguardian.com/global-devel...
theguardian.com
Gaza PhD student ‘heartbroken’ as family blocked from entering the UK
Manar al-Houbi’s husband and children refused entry despite her winning a scholarship to cover tuition fees, living costs and housing for them all
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 11/10/2025
‘It’s a question of humanity’: how a small Spanish town made headlines over its immigration stance. Mayor explains why Villamalea unanimously backed call to regularise undocumented migrants – across party lines www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...
theguardian.com
‘It’s a question of humanity’: how a small Spanish town made headlines over its immigration stance
Mayor explains why Villamalea unanimously backed call to regularise undocumented migrants – across party lines
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 11/10/2025
The Gaza effect: how a global pro-Palestine protest movement met repression and resistance. Across the west, solidarity marches are testing governments’ tolerance for dissent. From arrests to bans, free-speech boundaries are shifting www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...
theguardian.com
The Gaza effect: how a global pro-Palestine protest movement met repression and resistance
Across the west, solidarity marches are testing governments’ tolerance for dissent. From arrests to bans, free-speech boundaries are shifting
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 11/10/2025
Militia strikes kill at least 60 in Sudan displacement camp, says El Fasher group. Drone and artillery strikes by RSF paramilitary group hit Dar al-Arqam shelter in western city, says resistance committee www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...
theguardian.com
Militia strikes kill at least 60 in Sudan displacement camp, says El Fasher group
Drone and artillery strikes by RSF paramilitary group hit Dar al-Arqam shelter in western city, says resistance committee
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 11/10/2025
Well, one National Trust place does it and while the Mail said a 79 year old man was shocked if you read the story he was surprised to see them rather than traumatised.
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
Ugly scenes in our neighbourhood where right wing thugs are putting flags back up after the council removed them. Menacing atmosphere out there and many people who don’t look “right” will be scared to go out.
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/support-us/c...
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
Of course Jenrick’s comments were racist but the important point is that he intended them to be whatever he says subsequently. He’s wants the racist vote which has traditionally belonged to the Conservative Party but which Reform have nabbed.
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
Happy, stressed, overwhelmed: Palestinians evacuated from Gaza start their studies in UK. Abdallah, 27, and Soha, 31, describe adjusting to their new lives after leaving their war-torn home. www.theguardian.com/education/20...
theguardian.com
Happy, stressed, overwhelmed: Palestinians evacuated from Gaza start their studies in UK
Abdallah, 27, and Soha, 31, describe adjusting to their new lives after leaving their war-torn home
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Phil Cole @phillcole40.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
UK universities offered to monitor students’ social media for arms firms, emails show. Loughborough, Heriot-Watt and Glasgow corresponded with companies concerned about campus protests www.theguardian.com/education/20...
theguardian.com
UK universities offered to monitor students’ social media for arms firms, emails show
Loughborough, Heriot-Watt and Glasgow corresponded with companies concerned about campus protests
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