People should be REALLY scared by this, it's normalising refusing healthcare to a section of the community for entirely ideological reasons with absolutely no medical reason
This situation further compounds the misery of being a fixed-term/precarious academic. Why would universities hire an ECR if they can hire an established academic who has been made redundant?
The Gorton and Denton result is fantastic for several reasons, but easily the funniest one is that the Tories got so few votes that they LOST THEIR DEPOSIT.
i really can not emphasize enough that the most materially impactful thing you can do for trans people right now is hire them.
9,600 redundancies at just 24 universities. Imagine what the picture is for the sector as a whole. This is the other half of the student loan scandal picture, which has been national news lately. Nothing at all from the government on a key sector effectively in freefall…
Very bad news. Good people at a seemingly very rich institution facing redundancy.
May Labour's Yvette Cooper, the former Home Secretary, be remembered always as the politician who imposed the ban at the behest of Britain's powerful weapons industry, so it could continue to profit from the deliberate massacre of the people of Gaza
The initiative will provide €325 (£283) a week to 2,000 eligible artists based in the Republic of Ireland. This follows a pilot (for which 2,000 artists were randomly selected from 8,000 applicants).
‘The scheme recouped more than its net cost of €72m’
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...
Firefox just installed this off-switch for gen AI.
You can switch it off like this: Type "about:config" in the address bar. Then you get a super long list of settings. You have to scroll down pretty far (but they're in alphabetical order), but eventually you'll find "browser.ml.enable". (1/2)
The High Court has blocked a legal challenge from transphobic group Sex Matters, siding with thousands of swimmers who fought to keep the ponds inclusive
goodlawproject.org/hampstead-he...
Whatever my uni declares, I am not going to engage with AI. I am not going to use AI or teach students to use it. I am going to continue to explain to students why it is harmful. Absolutely absurd to allow this anti-intellectual, environmentally devastating technology into the university at all.
Orange background with bold white and black text reading "trans writers of colour wanted," along with the Spectra logo.
Invitation to contribute to an anthology of short stories themed on "folklore & futurism", presented with abstract black shapes on orange background.
Call for anthology contributors: trans people of color, UK-based, 18+. Submit a 500-word writing sample and story synopsis by Feb 8, 2026.
Black abstract shapes on an orange background with the words "apply now" in bold, black and white text. Spectra logo at the bottom.
Are you a trans writer of colour? Contribute to a new anthology of short stories dreamed up and written by trans people of colour. We will pay you a fee of £1000. Submissions are open now.
https://form.jotform.com/253423694960060
Deadline: 8 Feb, 2026
Questions? Email: comms@spectra-london.org.uk
A copy of a book called Queer Crafts. It is a pink cover with images of blue and white ceramic vessels on it.
Out now! Queer Crafts: Material Practices and the Making of Identity available via the Bloomsbury website and all good bookstores! www.bloomsbury.com/uk/queer-cra...
Did a really fun video with the V&A at their cool storehouse location! WAs such a delight to get to see some of really cool objects up close and chat about art ehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Js3LV1KZ7M
“The art institution benefits from the frisson of provocation, but without accepting any risk, demonstrating that no one better absorbs the critique of institutions than institutions… The problem with turning theory into ornament is that when you really need it, it isn’t there.”
Donations and attention to Palestinians always drop off during the holidays, and we're approaching a really long one. Use the time w/your loved ones to educate them about the fictitious 'ceasefire,' ongoing settler colonial genocide, and life-saving nature of mutual aid.
chuffed.org/project/1491...
"Under this model, formerly colonized nations must ask permission to temporarily access their own heritage, accept conditions dictated by a British institution, and bear the financial and logistical burdens of care, while the museum retains ultimate control."
British Museum fully delulu good lord
'Chris Parkes, a senior lecturer in history education at King’s College London, told Times Higher Education that “to be a trans person in the UK right now is to be exhausted and terrified”.' 1/3
We're watching the wholesale burning of every scrap of dignity afforded to trans people in the UK, their rights, their medical services, their employment, their place within society, their bodily functions.
It is a disgrace, and a disgusting stain on the government and media of this country.
Went to an academic career workshop today for PhD students today and uh...this wasn't discussed (we were told to deal with our confidence gremlins instead. What happens when your confidence gremlin is the imminent collapse of your sector?)
Who knew the incoherent, maliciously motivated and practically unenforceable pseudolegal prattle couldn't actually stand up to scrutiny?
It's transgender awareness week, and if you ever wanted to learn more about the history of transness in cinema, you could pick up our book CORPSES, FOOLS AND MONSTERS at your local library or purchase a copy. We wrote this book for trans people like us. Thank you.
bookshop.org/p/books/corp...
A meme of 'Is this an archive?' showing a grid with various classifications of things that might be archives based on their content and structure.
Hoping this helps our colleagues across the industry
Soviet republic of New York takes first key step towards total communism by publicly owning Andrew Cuomo
The documentary I made with Miss Major 10 years ago is on Vimeo on Demand. If you want to spend some time with her on screen tonight and learn some abolitionist trans history while you're at it, it's free to rent with the code "shinebright" vimeo.com/ondemand/major
International Day for Failure Date Mon, 13 Oct 2025 THE INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR FAILURE OCTOBER 13th
LET'S FUCKING GO
For Assata New Brunswick Prison, 1977 In this new picture your smile has been to war you are almost obscured by other faces on the pages those shadows are sisters who have not yet spoken your face is in shadow obscured by the half-dark by the thick bars running across your eyes like sentinels all the baby fat has been burned away like a luxury your body let go reluctantly the corners of your mouth turn down I cannot look into your eyes who are all those others behind you the shadows are growing lighter and more confusing. I dream of your freedom as my victory and the victory of all dark women who forego the vanities of silence who war and weep sometimes against our selves in each other rather than our enemies falsehoods Assata my sister warrior Joan of Arc and Yaa Asantewa embrace at the back of your cell. By Audre Lorde
Assata gesturing and smiling
Assata Shakur exchanged letters with Audre Lorde from prison, and Lorde wrote for her the poem "For Assata":
I dream of your freedom
as my victory
and the victory of all dark women
who forego the vanities of silence
👇Here's the whole poem
it's AI schadenfreude season
Man i fucking wish 1 in 5 were trans. And you 🫵 can help make this dream a reality
