Apprenticeship funding to be further rebalanced towards the under 25s and the youth guarantee expanded to cover 21-24 year olds. An awful lot more to do to deal with the chronic lack of support for young people/Neets, but these are welcome steps.
www.ft.com/content/5ca5...
I simply refuse to believe this isn’t a Chris Morris sketch:
Some of us in the @spaemploysocsec.bsky.social have written an article on Labour's employment and social security policies post 2024 for a Special Issue. Open Access here:
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Stock photo showing an outstretched hand with a graphic envelope. Text says The Scottish Anti-Poverty Newsletter! Out now!
📢 Scotland's latest anti-poverty newsletter is out now.
Manifestos, hustings, learning on reducing stigma, rural fuel poverty, 100 Living Pension employers, growing pensioner poverty, and much more.
🙏 Read, learn, and share.
www.povertyalliance.org/scottish-ant...
BBC Four is repeating This Life to coincide with its 30th anniversary, beginning with a double bill on Wed 18 March with a new filmed intro from Daniela Nardini. #ThisLife
If you're a USS member of @ucu.org.uk , then you've probably heard some talk of Conditional Indexation. It'll likely be on the agenda at this year's HE Sector Conference, and I've written a very basic primer for anyone that's interested.
open.substack.com/pub/dyfrigjo...
We (@lawrencemckay.bsky.social @williamlallen.bsky.social) have data on this stretching back to 2012 for a forthcoming report on the current academic job market in Politics - and let me just say it's unprecedentedly bad at the moment!
Malt & Hops pub in Leith is asking for support as planning app was submitted to convert offices above the pub into Airbnb.
They're worried this will reduce local business and potentially harm them as a music venue (Leith Jazz & Blues Fest). See link below:
www.facebook.com/realaleleith...
Free online seminar this summer with John Clarke, one of the original authors of Policing the Crisis, on his brilliant recent book, The Battle for Britain: Crises, Conflicts and the Conjuncture. Co-hosted with The Autonomy Institute.
culturepowerpolitics.org/the-battle-f...
Day 8 and 9 of our strike action against unnecessary redundancy plans. No debt, big reserves and we've already lost far too many people on voluntary.
Stop. Make them clarify if they actually mean
'cutting people's income because we think that will force them into work and magically get rid of all the barriers'.
Because, if that's what this code means, it goes against the evidence and will do immense damage.
And if that's not what they mean...
why does Jeremy Corbyn, a man who clearly does not enjoy leading political parties, keep running political parties
: Half of UK universities face a deficit next year. Up to 50 could close.
That is a sector in crisis. Simply blaming a tuition fee freeze and nudging fees up with inflation is not a plan. Where is the long-term strategy for higher education?
#Universities #HigherEducation
NEW on Wonkhe: Jim Dickinson assembles cross-national evidence showing Britain's shrinking graduate premium is a demand-side problem – and that closing courses won't fix it buff.ly/dGzdEAF
True. But look at the axis. A 40%+ premium is still a lot. It's the trend that should concern us, not the level (tho obvs there's variation around the average).
This is very good. It's easier to blame universities for a poor economy than it is to blame, well, everything else. But you certainly won't *fix* the economy by just forcing people into trades apprenticeships.
I've written something on Lisa Nandy's rhetoric of popular empowerment and her record in office. It speaks to a broader problem on the contemporary centre left: politicians seem to think they can say whatever they like, and act completely differently.
modernmediatheory.wordpress.com/2026/02/18/r...
Join us next week!
How do scientists use policymaking power if they have it?, with Erik Baekkeskov, Associate Professor of Public Policy at the University of Melbourne.
25 Feb, 12.30-2pm, Room 2.15, Chrystal Macmillan Building
Register: edin.ac/4rYm1jh
For those at @uoe-sps.bsky.social:
Feb 17th: CAHSS Network for the Study of Work
www.sps.ed.ac.uk/news-events/...
Brilliant report from @ipprscotland.bsky.social. A must read for all policy makers!🔻
Are you interested in where a career with social science could lead? From business & entrepreneurship to helping others in the community or shaping public policy, the social sciences provide the flexibility & skills to shape the career you want. Explore our careers hub➡️ acss.org.uk/what-is-soci...
Chart showing working age families by employment status
Working isn't working. Our analysis confirms that work is not a guaranteed route out of poverty.
In the latest data, the majority (55 per cent) of non-pensioner families in poverty had someone in work. This is up from fewer than two-in-five families in the mid-1990s.
Quite funny that Starmer's allies are waking up to this point now …
Cuts to Winter Fuel… not in the manifesto
Disability benefit cuts… not in there either
Cutting jury trials… also not there
Digital ID… no mention
Raising employers NI… nope
Freezing tax threholds… nah
Contracts with Palantir… no
Why has the populist radical right failed in Scotland? @davidevampa.bsky.social, Alan Convery & @frasmcm.bsky.social examine how symbiotic polarization between SNP and Conservatives blocked PRRPs, until recently. Read OPEN ACCESS: buff.ly/WeHXRFw
@polstudiesassoc.bsky.social #polsky #PartyPolitics
Useful timeline of when different bits of the Employment Rights Act will take effect. www.gov.uk/government/p...
ASAP UK webinar: 'Social Security & Poverty reflecting on the post General Election period & looking ahead to the Devolved Parliament elections'. ASAP UK manifesto audit & the anti-poverty challenges in the lead up to the Scottish & Welsh elections: 26.2.26 2:30-4pm
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Will be here in March:
SCOTTISH LEFT REVIEW IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE WORKERS' OBSERVATORY PRESENTS
Platform Power and Edinburgh's Gig Economy
www.tickettailor.com/events/scotl...
He wrote: "Mr Dimon was very, very angry.. he said that his bank bought a lot of UK debt and he wondered if that was now such a good idea. I pointed out that they bought our debt because it was a good business deal for them. He went on to say they were thinking of building a new office in London but they had to reconsider that now." While the office got built, the bonus tax remained and JP Morgan did not, in the end, stop buying gilts, this episode is an incredible live example of the relative power of government and financial markets, of the actual dynamics of the "bond vigilantes".
IMO this is indeed revealing about - JP Morgan (& maybe others) threatened to crash the gilts market in retaliation for the bank bonus tax.
What happened? As @faisalislam.bsky.social says not much.
So much for "bond vigilantes"
(1/2)
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
In the UK academic recession, you will be at one of these stages since many unis buy the same cuts model from the same consultancies. It is always the same process:
*Talk of belt-tightening
*Incidental savings (e.g. printing, refreshments)
*Travel budgets cut
*Promotion freeze (1/4)
Portrait of a young man, 20 years old, standing in front of a pink wall, he has short hair and is wearing a bright green t-shirt Photo taken in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Text reads: MSc Africa and international Development. Nyerere Scholarship. For Tanzanian graduates of the University of Dar es Salaam. Follow in Julius Nyerere's footsteps.
Tanzanian students!
The Nyerere Scholarship at the University of Edinburgh - open for applications.
Fully funded Master's scholarship for the MSc in Africa & International Development.
For Graduates / current students of the University of Dar es Salaam.
Closes: 12 Feb 2026.
bit.ly/SPS-Nyerere
