iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jonathan Davies @profjsdavies.bsky.social · 7h

Good riddance to bad rubbish. One of the worst? There are so many contenders.

Jonathan Davies @profjsdavies.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Braverman: Yes - I'm a Buddhist, but I believe that all the kids should be coerced into Christian song. No - you cannot simultaneously be "Asian" and "English". Will she take the next step, and declare that only a white christian can be English? Not just yet. www.independent.co.uk/voices/suell...

independent.co.uk

Suella Braverman can’t say I’m not English

The argument she stumped up on Question Time is insulting, idiotic and – yes – effectively racist, says Sonia Sodha

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Jonathan Davies @profjsdavies.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Cringing at Yannick Noah and Tim Henman trying to motivate Zverev without upsetting him. 🙈🤣 @lavercup

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Jonathan Davies @profjsdavies.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Ed Sheeran has brought "complexity" back into discussion with his genocide denialism. What are the most egregious abuses of "complexity"? I award first place to Ulrich Beck and Risk Society, which gave late capitalism a free pass. Spawned a lot of "social exclusion" quackery in New Labour years. 🥇

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Jonathan Davies @profjsdavies.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

I suspect the "killer AI" warnings are part marketing by the tech bros, and partly reflect fears among the tech bros that the bust might be imminent.

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Jonathan Davies @profjsdavies.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

All these dire warnings coming out of Silicon Valley are driven not by metaphysical questions about intelligence, but bottom-line fears about the chasm between investment and return. The billionaires understand that it is all running out of control. newleftreview.org/sidecar/post...

newleftreview.org

Frédéric Lordon, Warning Signs — Sidecar

On the economics of AI.

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Jonathan Davies @profjsdavies.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I'm always surprised to see certain people I worked with in the past taking on PVC/DVC titles, especially those with prior involvement in critique and struggle. So why do it? Setting aside the lure of salary, trappings and power, surely no-one believes they're "in and against the state" any more?

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Jonathan Davies @profjsdavies.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Ed Sheeran is often charged with producing bland, homogenised, corporate pop-slop. As it is in music, so it is in politics. Sheeran has been remarkably consistent in his political interventions, reciting centrist pieties in relation to both Gaza *and* Ukraine.

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Jonathan Davies @profjsdavies.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Ed Sheeran has been entirely consistent in his political interventions, reciting centrist pieties in relation to both Gaza *and* Ukraine.

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Jonathan Davies @profjsdavies.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I've asked the PM to put me in charge of the siege of Piddington. 😈

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Plashing Vole @plashingvole.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Very much looking forward to meeting the students today, and hearing management explain that a) there isn’t enough work to keep me on full time and b) no, they haven’t got staff to teach modules I designed and taught, starting next week. Does that sound bitter? It should do.

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Jonathan Davies @profjsdavies.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Yes. But people don't vote for far right parties in expectation of good judgement. Or integrity for that matter.

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Jonathan Davies @profjsdavies.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

There is a slight air of unreality about this. Babies might have survived if the hospital had acted earlier concludes Thirlwall. Always supposing that they were in fact murdered. Will we ever get to the bottom of that? www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

theguardian.com

Ministers vow sweeping NHS changes after ‘devastating’ report on Lucy Letby hospital

Lady Justice Thirlwall’s report concludes three babies might have survived if hospital had acted on concerns about nurse

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Jonathan Davies @profjsdavies.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

How serious is this for Trump's efforts to fix the mid-terms? What else does he have up his sleeve? FT reckons that SCOTUS leaves the door ajar for another crack at in-mail before the 2028 election. www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

independent.co.uk

Supreme Court deals humiliating blow to Trump by throwing out mail ballot ban

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected President Donald Trump’s bid to restrict mail ballots for the midterm elections

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Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

New: Macklemore says Robert Kraft — who owns Gillette Stadium, where Macklemore & Ed Sheeran were to perform later this month — called Sheeran. Kraft rallied other owners together behind an ultimatum for Sheeran: if Macklemore stays on the tour, you won't be allowed in our venues.

I'm not sure how to start this. So I'm going to speak from the heart and share the truth. Ed Sheeran and his team have made the decision to remove me from The Loop tour.
But before I get into it, I want to say something that should be obvious. In this moment I think it matters. I am not a victim. Ed Sheeran is not a victim. Pink is not a victim. We have careers, money, opportunities, safety and audiences around the world. Whatever consequences any of us face for what we say, we get to go home to our families.

The victims are the Palestinian people. The men, women and children who have been killed, starved, displaced and forced to live through unimaginable violence. More than 20,000 children have been killed in Gaza alone. People are being killed today, and people will be killed tomorrow. I want to make sure that as I tell this story, we don't lose sight of that.

Ed is my friend. I've known him for 13 years. We've shared late nights, studio sessions and stages. He has this infectious magic about him that I've grown to love. I consider him a brother. And because of that, we've had some difficult conversations this past week. The type of talks rooted in love and respect for one another that still end in a place of fundamental disagreement. Nothing I'm writing here is out of spite or because I want to tear down his character. But as I told Ed multiple times on the phone, our friendship can't change my responsibility to tell the truth about what happened.

Last Monday, in the middle of all the media attention surrounding Pink and what I said at MetLife, Ed told me that Robert Kraft called him. We were scheduled to play Gillette Stadium later this month, which is owned by the Kraft Group. Ed told me that Kraft said I would not be allowed to perform in his stadium. Ed also told me that Kraft had rallied some of the other
stadium owners and collectively they gave him an ultimatum: if Macklemore stays on the tour, you will not be allowed to play in our venues.

Ed was in …

What I said at MetLife I have been saying on stages around the world for almost three years. So why is it an issue now? Because now I'm sharing a stage with one of the biggest artists in the world, in some of the biggest stadiums in America. At a certain level of exposure, "Free Palestine" becomes too much of a risk. If I kept doing the shows, saying Free Palestine, with Ed implicitly supporting it, the crowd getting loud and showing undeniable support for Palestinian liberation, what artist might speak out next? The stage becomes resistance. Maybe that's why this time it became so important to silence me.

And one of the most effective ways to enforce that silence has been to weaponize the accusation of antisemitism. Antisemitism is real. And that is exactly why the word matters too much to be used as a shield against criticism of the Israeli state. When criticizing Israel, opposing Zionism or saying "Free Palestine" gets conflated with hatred of Jewish people, it doesn't protect Jewish people. It protects Israel from accountability.

I hope this isn't the end of my relationship with Ed.
Thirteen years of friendship doesn't disappear because of one painful disagreement. I hope we both continue listening, studying what is happening in Palestine and wrestling with what neutrality means in a moment like this. My door will always be open to continuing that conversation.

When my brother Omar was doing the subtitles for the video I posted from MetLife, I thanked him. He told me there's a phrase in Arabic:
لا شكر على واجب
"La shukra ala wajeb." There is no thanks for a duty.
That stayed with me. Because that's what this has become for me and millions of others around the world. A duty. Not something deserving of praise or gratitude. Not brave. Human.

Who is winning the internet, who is getting canceled, who gets to play the stadium and who doesn't, all of it becomes so small when held against what we are actually witnessing in Gaza and the West Bank. An entire people be…

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Jonathan Davies @profjsdavies.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Wolfgang Streeck on the dilemmas facing Germany and Europe, as they sharpen towards structural crisis-points. Meanwhile, Merz yowls about deregulation and crusades against Russia. newleftreview.org/sidecar/post...

newleftreview.org

Wolfgang Streeck, Who Will Pay — Sidecar

Fiscal crisis and firewalls.

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Jonathan Davies @profjsdavies.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

If the organisers want a GC stage on stage 21, then finish the race on a climb or a time trial. Either that, or the expectation of what it is to be a GC rider will change radically (along Pog lines). He had too much time in hand today, but I'd have hated to see Mas attacked on that route.

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Plashing Vole @plashingvole.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

I particularly enjoyed the slides reminding us to be respectful, resilient and retain a ‘can-do’ attitude even while management breaches GDPR, sacks 75% of a department, misses deadlines and proposes major breaches of academic regulations and contracts. But we’ve got to stay calm!

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Plashing Vole @plashingvole.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Headlines from the school meeting: 1. We've sacked a lot of you. 2. More of you will be sacked shortly. 3. Here's an awful lot more work to do. No you can't object. 4. Recruitment and outcomes are all your fault.

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Jonathan Davies @profjsdavies.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Anti-vaxxers are murderers. Especially the ones who drivel on about 'big pharma'. By and large, the bigger the capitalist involved in any endeavour, the happier they seem to be. I don't see any of them proposing a system of global socialised medicine. I'll be getting my flu and covid shots.

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Priyamvada Gopal @priyamvadagopal.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

After letter was sent, a Pro-VC came running to one of the signatory-organisers & assured him ALL demands would be met. No such thing. The bad faith is breathtaking & breaches even my lowest expectations. THEY HAVE NO INTENTION OF HOLDING THEMSELVES TO ACCOUNT. That fat salary too good to give up.

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Priyamvada Gopal @priyamvadagopal.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

There are specific management figures, at least two, if not three, PVCS who are DIRECTLY culpable. Prentice, ofc, bears overall responsibility. Any really honourable managers would have stepped down long since. The two investigations spit in the faces of all who have raised concerns.

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Priyamvada Gopal @priyamvadagopal.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

People have really not grasped how laughable & outrageous the two announced Cambridge 'investigations' are. One is extremely narrow--what support measures were available to Jason Arday (hint: they'll find all boxes were ticked). Second is so broad as to be meaningless: how senior hires are made. 1/n

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Priyamvada Gopal @priyamvadagopal.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

I think it is fair to say that the position of much of the Cambridge senior leadership is untenable. They, and Simon and Schuster, bear no little responsibility for this tragic and avoidable outcome.

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Priyamvada Gopal @priyamvadagopal.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

This is your reminder that 'race science' is an oxymoron. And yet this fucker has an academic post, and was funded by major research agencies.

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Jonathan Davies @profjsdavies.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

One would think even the most batshit market mongering nativist would grasp the connection between a viable capitalism and the ability to do mathematics. Or, perhaps in reality it is as dangerous as history or sociology. Are all those equations just “woke” in disguise?

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Jonathan Davies @profjsdavies.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Things one would never expect to hear from Trump. Iran is the rational actor. Israel is an aggressor. You know what? I think he has developed some admiration for those tough guy mullahs in Tehran. After all, they have a lot of what he covets, and can never have, much like Xi Jinping.

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David Harvey @davidharvey.org · 29/05/2026

Sad you missed out on Karl Marx's supposed dominance over university curricula? It's not too late! I've made 7 free semester-long online courses to help you read Marx: davidharvey.org/reading-capi...

davidharvey.org

Reading Capital

Courses: Reading Marx’s Capital Volume 1 with David Harvey (2019 Edition) Reading Marx’s Capital Volume I with David Harvey (2007 Edition) Reading Marx’s Capital Volume 2 with David Har…

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Chris Newfield @cnewf.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

ISRF's Dispatches series--views on university crises from academics--continues with a piece on curricular and teaching coercions that come from a seemingly neutral European-wide practice called constructive alignment. troubles of false neutrality. mailinglist.isrf.org/p/pedagogica...

mailinglist.isrf.org

Pedagogical State Apparatus

Lars Cornelissen argues that the theory of constructive alignment is not a neutral guideline, but rather centres a particular philosophy of learning & teaching which foreclose alternative pedagogies.

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Jonathan Davies @profjsdavies.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

The look of a future dictator, with first hand experience of torture, if ever I saw it.

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Jonathan Davies @profjsdavies.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

I want change. I want more change and I want faster change. And most radical of all, I want *better* change. Who amongst you will make change great again?

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Jonathan Davies @profjsdavies.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

So far, calls for an "orderly" transition are not being heeded. Oh dear. What next? Will #Streeting seize his chance, or go scurrying back to his lair and risk missing out altogether? If only the stakes weren't so very low. It all seems to matter less than a soap opera storyline. #Labour #Starmer

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Jonathan Davies @profjsdavies.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

I know this will provoke allegations of tyrannophobia or even basileophobia, but I don't think the emirates and their despotic regimes have a "right to exist". Basic decency surely requires that they be seized by the masses and wiped of the map.

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Jonathan Davies @profjsdavies.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

I think Burnham is pretty stuffed for the time being. A. no guarantee he wins a by-election anywhere in England, let alone in Manchester. B. if he does resign, fight a by-election and win, and Labour loses the GM Mayoralty as a result, he'll correctly be blamed and be damaged goods from day 1.

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London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 10/05/2026

‘Research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation published last year showed that the proportion of the population living in deep poverty has increased from 33 per cent in the mid-1990s to 47 per cent in the early 2020s.’ @richardhywelking.bsky.social on Labour in Wales. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

lrb.co.uk

Richard King · Labour in Wales

Since 1922, the Labour Party has won in Wales at every general election, and has been the largest party in all of the...

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Jonathan Davies @profjsdavies.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

I guess there is always an “exciting opportunity” round the corner if you’re on 400 grand.

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Jonathan Davies @profjsdavies.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

The characters running British universities are cuckoos in the nest. Ersatz, treacherous bean mis-counters. One day, hopefully in my lifetime, there will be a reckoning for these willing executioners.

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Jonathan Davies @profjsdavies.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

The murder of Britain’s universities continues apace. I hope somewhere in the near future lies a very hard reckoning for the willing executioners, the destroyers of culture, of intellect, of curiosity, of hope.

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Jonathan Davies @profjsdavies.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

The rationality of markets: Dump is talking peace. Oil is down - PHEW! Dump is talking war. Oil is up again - PANIC! Etc.

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Steven Martin @stevenmartin.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

Chronic leukemia teaches you what matters fast. Access. Affordability. Stability. Watching leaders choose weapons over patients hurts differently. #HealthcareNotWarfare is about who gets to live with dignity.

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Jamie Doucette @jamiedoucette.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

Really important initiative from some colleagues in geography and beyond.

palestine.araburbanism.com

Palestine: Spaces and Politics

Introductory Curriculum

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Jonathan Davies @profjsdavies.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

*If* Robbins' account is accurate, the civil service did what the civil service is meant to do. The government took the decision to appoint Mandelson well before vetting, and entirely owns the decision. The government is inflicting further damage on the country by trying to offload responsibility.

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Jonathan Davies @profjsdavies.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Nobody who knew Mandelson would have expected him to pass security vetting. Surely, the whole point of sending him to Washington was that being murky would be an advantage in dealing with Trump. In that sense, failing the security vetting would only have confirmed his suitability for the role.

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Jonathan Davies @profjsdavies.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

Yes, a hard-boiled warmonger who is copying from scripts prepared by generals. Their message is warfare not welfare.

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Jonathan Davies @profjsdavies.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

Dump “pontificates” on God. “When Trump was asked whether he thought God approved of the war, he said: “I do, because God is good – because God is good and God wants to see people taken care of”. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

theguardian.com

Donald Trump launches extraordinary attack on Pope Leo calling him ‘weak’ and ‘terrible’

President says US-born pope is ‘not doing a very good job’ and is ‘a very liberal person’ in unprecedented assault on leader of Catholic church

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