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Reid Allen

@reidallen.bsky.social
65 followers 84 following 55 posts

PhD student @ City University of London researching unauthorised 'wild' swimming in London. Interests in space & place, (polluted) leisure and ethnography. (He/him)

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Reid Allen @reidallen.bsky.social · 27/10/2025
Great piece by the London Centric on a disturbing new funding model for City of London green spaces to 'increase income generation'. Another saga in the hyper-commodification of any and every commons in the city. substack.com/inbox/post/1...
substack.com
Hampstead Heath and the battle over London's green spaces
Plus: We speak to the restaurant owner berating locals for not eating at his restaurant, go litter picking with Ed Davey, and explain how we accidentally inspired a crime fighting tool.
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Reid Allen @reidallen.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
Yes!
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Alison Stenning @alisonstenning.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
Children are ***82%*** more likely to be killed when hit by an SUV than by a regular passenger car. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
"We did a review of all of the studies globally, which included half a million road traffic injuries, and that found that if you are hit by an SUV compared to being hit by a passenger car you are 44% more likely to be killed.

"Among kids it's higher - it's 82%. And that makes sense when we think about it. The taller, blunter bonnets mean kids are more likely to be hit in the head or the torso. The real summary is they are much more dangerous to pedestrians and cyclists."
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Des Fitzgerald @desfitzgerald.bsky.social · 06/08/2025
Re-sharing this piece I wrote yesterday evening for the evening standard, on those 'tree on its way' signs in the square mile, and the problems of nature as superhero: www.standard.co.uk/comment/lond...
standard.co.uk
London commuters, a tree is 'on its way'. Can it save you?
‘Tree on its way.’ Commuters between London Bridge and the Monument may have seen this rather startling message, stencilled on the pavement in stark black and white, at regular intervals in recent wee...
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Reid Allen @reidallen.bsky.social · 28/07/2025
An interesting take with an important warning to heed as we continue the push towards swimmable cities outdoorswimmer.com/featured/is-...
outdoorswimmer.com
Is urban swimming a threat to swimming freedom? - Outdoor Swimmer Magazine
There's a growing movement to make our cities more swimmable - but this usually means created controlled swimming spots rather than allowing unrestricted swimming.
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Reid Allen @reidallen.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
Pleased to say that I completed my RLSS Open Water Lifeguard training at Beckenham lake earlier this week (including an additional Automated External Defibrillator training qualification) learning crucial first aid, CPR and water-based rescue skills.
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Reid Allen @reidallen.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
An excellent few days at my second (and the 50th anniversary of!) @leisure-studies.bsky.social conference in York. The interdisciplinary nature of LSA always makes for great presentations and discussions around the borderlands. And thanks to all that came to Tom and I’s workshop and engaged!
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Reid Allen @reidallen.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
Arrived in York on a gorgeous day for the @leisure-studies.bsky.social conference
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Reid Allen @reidallen.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
‘Researching the leisure we practice: unpacking and understanding embodied ethnographic methods’ Tom Critchley and I are running a workshop at LSA 2025 next week in York. If you’re there come along and talk participatory, entangled methods!
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Reid Allen @reidallen.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
Inspiring few days at the first ever Swimmable Cities summit in Rotterdam. More conferences with morning and evening swims in the programming please!
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Reid Allen @reidallen.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
Big news! Temporary...but a step in the right direction regardless www.timeout.com/london/news/...
timeout.com
A new free lido will open in east London this summer
It’ll be at the Royal Docks for one month only.
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Reid Allen @reidallen.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
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Leisure Studies Journal @leisurestudies.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
New Research Article 📚 The leisure of grey spaces, urban play and the chromatic turn. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... #Leisure #GreySpaces #Environment
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Reid Allen @reidallen.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
New developments in the Thames Water saga this morning www.theguardian.com/business/202...
theguardian.com
Thames Water preferred bidder KKR pulls out of rescue deal
Future of troubled supplier in doubt as US private equity group says it cannot proceed with acquiring £4bn stake
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The Sociological Review Foundation @thesociologicalreview.org · 27/05/2025
OUT NOW #OnlineFirst: Live Methods Revisited Eight new papers focus on @academicdiary.bsky.social‬ and Nirmal Puwar’s Live Methods and its clarion call for more “artful and crafty” sociological methodologies. Edited by @emmakjackson.bsky.social‬ ‪& @kirsteen-paton.bsky.social‬ buff.ly/sM4Uta3
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Reid Allen @reidallen.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
A Shadwell story: the swan and the turtle (/terrapin?)
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Reid Allen @reidallen.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
Bathing by Tower Bridge, 2018 by fine art photographer Julia Fullerton-Batten. Found in the Guardian this morning
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Reid Allen @reidallen.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
Excellent new piece by Isaac Rangaswami, a highly reflexive discussion of pub lists, Instagram and TikTok and how they intersect with gentrification and class in relation to 'local' pubs. 'How long do you have to live there to become local?' open.substack.com/pub/woodenci...
open.substack.com
Who exactly ruins local pubs?
And who decides if those people are bad?
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Reid Allen @reidallen.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
Brilliant article on a BMX event in Wuhan, China where riders launch themselves into a lake. Expanding how we conceptualise polluted leisure and the symbolic 'greyness' of the struggle between leisure and commercialisation. Great stuff. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
tandfonline.com
‘Everybody’s East Lake’: polluted leisure and BMX in grey spaces
This paper focuses on the annual youth event Tiaodongwho (跳东湖,literally meaning ‘Jump East Lake’) in Wuhan and examines BMX as a paradigmatic example of ‘polluted leisure’. It elucidates the critic...
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Martin Price-Phillips @mpricephillips.bsky.social · 30/03/2025
No fun
A sign next to a park that sets out rules including no ball games, skate boards, cycling or roller blades. There is graffiti drawn over it that reads: “No fun”.
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News Eye @newseye.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
🚨NEW: This is the CRAZIEST breach of national security you’ll ever read. The Trump administration accidentally texted Editor of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, its war plans. Vance/Hegseth/Waltz & others included Goldberg in a group chat on Yemen military strikes. Read this, you won’t regret it.
theatlantic.com
The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans
U.S. national-security leaders included me in a group chat about upcoming military strikes in Yemen. I didn’t think it could be real. Then the bombs started falling.
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Reid Allen @reidallen.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
I've been excitedly awaiting this article from Abi on rooftop exploration in St Petersburg since we did a panel at LSA last year!
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Reid Allen @reidallen.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
Finally got my hands on a copy of the 10foot-edited special issue. A great read so far
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Thames21 @thames21.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
Excellent to see our very own Dr. Claire Robertson featured in the @theipaper.com yesterday. Traces of human, cow and sheep faeces have been recorded at two of England’s most popular river bathing sites, an internal investigation seen by the i found.🧵⬇️ inews.co.uk/news/human-a...
inews.co.uk
Human and animal waste detected in England's iconic river bathing spots
Internal testing by the Environment Agency has provided insight into pollution at two sites that were the first to be designated official bathing spots in England
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Playing Out @playingout.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
“No Ball Games” signs make children unwelcome on their own doorstep, contributing to isolation and inactivity. It’s time for them to go. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
theguardian.com
Yes, ball games: drive to take down signs warning against play begins in London
Charity says thousands of signs on capital’s estates deter children from being active, and is covering some of them up
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Reid Allen @reidallen.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
Excited to say I am co-curating a new project 'The Museum of Polluted Leisure' with Clifton Evers and Tom Critchley. The collection archives encounters where pollution meets leisure and leisure meets pollution. Drop us a follow on instagram: www.instagram.com/the_museum_o... Photo: Martin Parr
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Yasmin Gunaratnam @anilsghost.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
New issue, with a special section on Palestine @sociologicalreview.bsky.social This piece on "Genocide, neutrality and the university sector" by Rafeef Ziadah should be read by all university leaders journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
journals.sagepub.com
Genocide, neutrality and the university sector - Rafeef Ziadah, 2025
The ongoing destruction in Gaza demands urgent academic and ethical reckoning, exposing the complicity of universities and scholarly disciplines in sustaining s...
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Reid Allen @reidallen.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
Brilliant article by @chrisguymariano.bsky.social on the L.A. Courthouse. Really like the notion of the 'pollution of publicness' and the whole article leaves me with a lot to think with.
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Greg Barradale @gregbarradale.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
EXC: How UK's biggest companies lock autistic people out of jobs with personality tests ➡️Morrison's, John Lewis, McDonald's, Co-op +more using tests ➡️"I just don't stand a chance" say autistic jobseekers, as charities tell @bigissue.com tests may be discriminatory www.bigissue.com/news/employm...
bigissue.com
UK's biggest companies locking autistic people out of jobs with personality tests
Just three in 10 working age autistic people are in work, and charities say the use of personality tests for roles could be discriminatory.
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Farrukh @implausibleblog.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
Zack Polanski, "Austerity was always the problem, not the European Union" "If we want to solve the problems in this country right now we need to tackle inequality" Kay Burley, "How?" Zack Polanski, "Wealth tax.. Inequality in the country.. People are unhappy and our services are broken"
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Reid Allen @reidallen.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
One for the wet, swimming ethnographers and the rolling, skateboarding ethnographers!
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Reid Allen @reidallen.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
Had the pleasure of listening to Theo introduce this research in a seminar last term and look forward to reading!
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Kyle Beachy @kylebeachy.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
"Landing by Maen Hammad explores the lives of Palestinian skateboarders in the occupied West Bank as they navigate the layered realities of Israeli settler-colonial domination. The book offers a thesis on skateboarding as a form of resistance to a headspace of violence." huwawabooks.com/landing
huwawabooks.com
Landing — HUWAWA
A Photobook Publishing House from the Middle East and North Africa.
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Rob Thomas @robthomasbirds.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
[reposted] The storm has broken at Cardiff University. Solidarity to everyone who is going to be affected by leaving the university, or by remaining as part of a substantially weakened workforce. Please join a union.
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Reid Allen @reidallen.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
Got around to reading this morning and it's brilliant 👏 Fond of the insistence that engaging with the street beyond a surface level inherently involves being with and walking with others - present or not. Lots to think with here!
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Dr Claire Markham @culturalclare.bsky.social · 01/01/2025
Trying to get some traction on Bluesky as I move from X any reposts of my pub research /work much appreciated @matthew-wright.bsky.social
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Reid Allen @reidallen.bsky.social · 13/01/2025
Brilliant new article that engages with both grey spaces and polluted leisure concepts with attention to the (threat to) spaces of informal youth football: the street, the playground, the cage. Great stuff!
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Reid Allen @reidallen.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
A photo essay and article on skateboarders in Ukraine reclaiming the 'scarred spaces' of war. A pertinent context to think about play and the creation of habitable, liveable spaces. www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...
theguardian.com
On asphalt we grow: the skateboarders of Ukraine
Amid the devastation in Ukraine, the photojournalist Robin Tutenges has captured how skateboarding provides a vital escape for the country’s young people – an act of resilience and freedom as they rec...
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Reid Allen @reidallen.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
Somewhat new social class identifier of an area in London: the strength of snus (nicotine pouches) available from the corner shop. Heard a bossman last night tell a well spoken young man ‘sorry we have no two-dots, people around here like the stronger ones mate’.
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Prof. Nicole Holliday @mixedlinguist.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
I taught incarcerated firefighters who worked for criminally low wages. It's considered the best job in the prison, because you get to go out, do something valuable, and eat real food. It's also wildly dangerous, and they are given the worst jobs...literally pulling remains out of charred homes.
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Reid Allen @reidallen.bsky.social · 07/01/2025
Just watched A Film Called Blacks Can't Swim by Ed Accura. Funny and highly insightful, most definitely recommended viewing.
youtube.com
A Film Called Blacks Can't Swim (My Journey My Story) - Documentary Movie - Swimming
YouTube video by Indie Rights Movies For Free
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Reid Allen @reidallen.bsky.social · 07/01/2025
Exciting moment in time to see the London Assembly launch this investigation! Despite feeling more like a million years away in the context of a 40% rise in pollution incidents in the Thames in 2024 while Thames Water get bailed out with public money...
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Paul O'Connor @peejayohhsee.bsky.social · 06/01/2025
New Publication 'The Skater's Ear' addressing the sensory world of sound for skateboarders - Open Access and free to download www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
tandfonline.com
The skater’s ear: a sensuous complexity of skateboarding sound
The sound of skateboarding is an issue fraught in controversy: the sound is a common basis for public noise complaints as well as participant praises. We consider a possible basis for this controve...
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The Sociological Review Foundation @thesociologicalreview.org · 12/12/2024
Sociology in the Times of Genocide: call for expressions of interest for a forthcoming Special Section of The Sociological Review journal. More info buff.ly/4izyRjO Deadline 13 January Editors: @kirsteen-paton.bsky.social and Karis Campion #CfP #Gaza #Palestine Keffiyeh artwork buff.ly/41uSBir
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Alex Rhys-Taylor @alexrhystaylor.bsky.social · 08/12/2024
tis the season. there’s A LOT of snooker on TV. but what, i hear you ask, can snooker tell us about gender, class and urban space in britain? well… www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
tandfonline.com
Changing Britain through the frame of snooker
This paper considers snooker’s rise to popularity, and its relative decline, through the frame of recent British social history. The paper situates an ostensible decline in snooker spectatorship an...
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Reid Allen @reidallen.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
Hello BlueSky! Happy to be over here from X and pleased to share a new publication which I co-authored with Jens Binder at NTU during my time there: Prevent duty, safeguarding and agency: The impact of the statutory Prevent duty on enacting professional groups www.ntu.ac.uk/research/gro...
ntu.ac.uk
Countering Radicalisation
The Countering Radicalisation initiative, led by Dr. Jens Binder and supported by Nottingham Civic Exchange and NTU researchers, tackles societal polarization and security concerns tied to extremism a...
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