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semacrae.bsky.social
Digital sociology ECR researching the interplay between education, politics and the digital. Previously worked in the UK public sector on drugs/sexual health policy and practice. Local library and heritage volunteer in my spare time. Own views. she/her
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Who are these "brave scholars" speaking out against "threats to free speech & open inquiry"? Why, the kind of humble souls who can muster a mere 12.3 million twitter followers between them* These people are the least cancelled people in academia & they are not using their large platforms for good

submitted 45 minutes ago • 2 comments

This has been a key feature of 'parents for..' orgs for the last few years in this space, so no surprises to see it being rolled out nationally under Trump. For people in the UK don't think this isn't on our doorstep, I know of at least 4 groups websites here asking parents to do the same thing.

submitted 1 hour ago • 0 comments

There's no way "over half of Gen Z want a dictator" - our new study gets more like 6% This is vital to get right - we're sowing generational division, giving fake momentum to the sense that young people are rejecting democracy + missing the real message theconversation.com/only-6-of-ge...

submitted 6 hours ago • 1 comment

'The findings have been made by the Communities of Liberation project at the Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives, assisted by Prof Simon Newman of the University of Glasgow.' A great example of the power of dual community-based & university-based research collaborations. 1/2

submitted 7 hours ago • 1 comment

We are a stationery shop. We are in central London. We are open. We also have a webshop. We have the link in our profile. We ship worldwide. We thank you.

submitted 8 hours ago • 12 comments

Jesus wept this is utterly delusional.

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

A discussion for @uofgsocsci.bsky.social on Climate Adaptation and the Social Determinants of Vulnerability: www.gla.ac.uk/explore/glas... Underlying research paper in the @socialpolicyuk.bsky.social Journal of Social Policy & Society.

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Imagine telling someone in, say, 2014 that these would be the opening three paragraphs of a story in the FT in 2025. on.ft.com/43bupT5

submitted 1 day ago • 7 comments

My latest with @sciam.bsky.social "Politics, Not Biology, Is Driving Legal Efforts to Classify Sex". Please do read the linked Executive Orders and HS statements that this piece is in response to. I am hoping of a better dialogue on this... www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-...

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

We’re picking this right wing radicalisation in our focus groups with teachers across Scotland. Especially, young men. Teachers often the first to experience such shifts.

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Oh well there's a whole gaggle of folk champing at the bit to 'consult' if Mirza is the first port of call, some of them already installed in the house of Lords. Perhaps Starmer can bring them into the cabinet like Rishi did.

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Those were his friends in his first term too!

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

This is your regular reminder that government mandated backdoors for end-to-end encrypted comms are bullshit, make everyone less safe, and should be resisted at maximum volume.

submitted 2 days ago • 15 comments

New Research Alert! The report “Trans digital rights: Improving data visibility, privacy and belonging for gender-diverse communities” ✨ 💫🌈 Our research asks: If we could reimagine digital rights that center the needs of gender-diverse communities, what would they look like?

submitted 2 days ago • 3 comments

After Starmer was bromancing with Eric Schmidt, I had no doubt this was coming. We saw glimpses with the UK refusing to sign the Paris summit declaration on inclusive AI, now this. The UK is world leading in culture & arts. It could also lead the way in regulating AI. It's a matter of choice not to

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

ProPublica is recording the casualties of the DOGE purge, highlighting the scale of what is being lost as public health programs and seasoned experts are caught in the Trump administration’s blunt-force drive to shrink the federal government. Read 👇 by @anniewaldman.bsky.social @deldeib.bsky.social

submitted 5 days ago • 7 comments

A sunny and windy day by Millport

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

Looking forward to Amazon's take on the Bond franchise. Hopefully they keep things grounded in reality and avoid the excesses of films like Moonraker - you know, the scarcely believable story of a billionaire eugenicist who tries to wipe out the Earth to restart humanity in space.

submitted 5 days ago • 1 comment

Movies you've watched more than 6 times

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

"If universities don’t start asking harder questions about AI’s real value, they’ll keep spending money they don’t have on tools their students don’t need—while real educational challenges go unresolved."

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

This is an excellent thread and includes a perfect example of a specific ideological strategy by one fraction of the world of Reactionary Digital Politics - the kind of thing that could easily be replicated if their opponents thought politically in the largest sense.

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

2 power cuts today, have fully engaged my protocol -ikea tea lights and matches located✅ -hot water bottles to hand✅ -keeping the kettle hot✅ -iPads on charge ✅ -cursing agreeing to an induction hob✅

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

My article with @scopelliti.bsky.social on far-right uses of common sense has been assigned an issue. With Trump's and UK Reform's recent claims to represent 'common sense', it provides some analysis of how this is a frequently used trope in reactionary politics doi.org/10.1177/1354...

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

Make this @OfficialUoM press release viral “Trump … echoed Kremlin talking points, by falsely claiming …Zelensky’s approval rating stands at a mere 4%…polling…puts his approval rating at 63% - making him the most popular politician in the country.” www.manchester.ac.uk/about/news/t...

submitted 8 days ago • 21 comments

In Newcastle, Australia for a couple of days of meetings and just found out the ocean baths are only open when I'm in the meetings. Most disappointed. I guess the ocean will be open. Here's a lovely view of the foreshore & the extractavist industry exporting climate change to the world.

submitted 8 days ago • 1 comment

Open-access version of this paper here.... arxiv.org/pdf/2402.01908 "...we urge caution in use cases where LLMs are intended to replace human participants whose identities are relevant to the task at hand..."

submitted 8 days ago • 2 comments

I just love this figure from @jksteinberger.bsky.social in their paper on "Discourses of Climate Delay". You can find all the arguments of your colleagues and influencers taking the world in the wrong direction. Perhaps we need another paper rebutting each? www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

submitted 8 days ago • 7 comments

NEW: The National Science Foundation fired nearly 170 workers this morning. They include people who had already cleared their one-year probationary period only to have it changed to two years earlier this month. @kimzetter.bsky.social reports for @wired.com www.wired.com/story/nation...

submitted 9 days ago • 28 comments

Other work of the Ladybird artists. ‘Missel Thrush’, 1937 Artist: CF Tunnicliffe

submitted 9 days ago • 8 comments

Other work of the Ladybird artists. ‘February Fill Dyke’ Artist: Rowland Hilder

submitted 10 days ago • 13 comments

Flemish artist Adam de Coster uses light & shade to increase drama, and to highlight the fabrics & the face of this young woman, while unifying the painting with red touches in her gown, headdress & lips (Woman Holding a Distaff (spindle) with Lit Candle, c 1630)

submitted 10 days ago • 2 comments

If it weren't for sensible liberal pundits and media lapping up and regurgitating reactionary moral panics no one cares about as our planet burns, we might be ok but that's not what they're here for unfortunately...

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

Zombie neoliberalism The point where neoliberalism is no longer a useful category but keeps getting used. The centrists and leftists still clinging to it because the former sold their soul and the leftists don't know how to stop using it as a point of critique journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

submitted 9 days ago • 3 comments

My new article is out in Contemporary British History and explores the engagements between the infamous eugenicist Richard Lynn and the Conservative Party in the 1960s and 1970s and what it tells us about the New Right ideological coalition.

submitted 10 days ago • 5 comments

Nope. The issue at hand is a society, its fellowship & code of conduct, not science and politics, though, of course, both science & the Royal Society cannot avoid being political. Pretending they can is itself a political stance. Retaining a fellow who's broken the code of conduct is very political!

submitted 10 days ago • 12 comments