Peter Howson

Hard Times Have Come For The PhD Degree Long considered the pinnacle of academic achievement, the PhD is now facing strong headwinds, including reduced federal support for jobs, research and graduate training.

Neither Elon Musk nor Sam Altman have a PhD. Surely evidence enough that you don't need one!?

Hard Times Have Come For The PhD Degree share.google/WjCZ6AFM0zpH...

This time it's NY Trump donor billionaire Bill Ackman's turn to be a wonderful human after signing Bill Gates' #TheGivingPledge 🥹. He could have saved 10,000 kids from malaria! Or could fund Rene Good's ICE killer 🤗. We need to tax billionaires.

The auto predict in my brain thought for a second he'd donated money to help defeat cancer. Then I remembered he's a massive c**t.

STEM is a jazz hands technique for pinching stuff from poor people!!! 💫

New paper! FREE for you!

#NewSpace #SpaceX
www.sciencedirect.com:5037/science/arti...

Pick up your very own copy of Let Them Eat Crypto for just £7!!! @plutopress.bsky.social

www.plutobooks.com/product/let-...

Such good guys. ❤️‍🔥

1. In the wake on Mamdani’s win, we’ll see a lot more far right anti-urban sentiment. Here’s a thread on its roots and evolution.

The idea that the city is evil and corrupt, and the countryside innocent and pure, goes back a long way: to Theocritus in Alexandria, and to the Old Testament. 🧵

Interested in space and environmental justice? Fancy a meet-up in Barcelona this summer? 🚀🛰️👩‍🚀
#NewSpace #SpaceX #PoliticalEcology @pollenetwork.bsky.social

tinyurl.com/mxhef7j

Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, major UN report finds Israel has committed and is continuing to commit genocide in Gaza, according to the "most authoritative assessment" to date.

In no way should it take a UN body to issue a report for people to accept this, *but* this does clearly does help get the normies activated and aware (particularly when published on an outlet like the ABC). Send it around!

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...

Poor miners and empty e-wallets: Latin American experiences with cryptocurrencies in crisis - Antulio Rosales, Eva van Roekel, Peter Howson, Coco Kanters, 2024 This article examines how cryptocurrencies are increasingly entangled with crises in Latin American political discourse and everyday economic life. In an effort...

While you're here, some more FREE award winning scholarship for you! 🏆https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/19427786231193985

For the poor in Venezuela, crypto is a makeshift opportunity for survival. For the rich, it's a tool for making quick profits and side-stepping sanctions.

Thoughts on crypto adoption in Venezuela from @antuliorosales.bsky.social & myself for Inter-American Dialogue

drive.google.com/file/d/1LmQ3...

I wrote some other ideas here. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #BlueBelt #30by30

Public strongly backs aim of 30% of land and sea set aside for nature, poll finds Survey of eight countries finds 82% of people support 30x30 biodiversity target, as progress stalls on protected areas

Public strongly backs latest pithy neoliberal buzzwords 👏🏻 share.google/9fpJ393PMEgd...

ESA uses a 'geographical return principle'. The more money UK Gov sends to ESA, the more contracts UK companies win (1:1 ratio). Scrapping UKSA could allow increased spending on space.

UK independent space agency scrapped to cut costs - BBC News Britain's space agency is set to be scrapped - a scientist fears the UK space sector could fall behind as a result

Describing UKSA as 'independent' is a stretch. Nearly all the UKSA budget goes straight to Euro Space Agency. I made a diagram to explain... www-bbc-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.bbc....

As I mentioned at the @uniondemcomm.bsky.social conference, Bukele was disturbingly sadistic and relentless in promoting his gulag—live-streaming human rights abuses for the world to see. Fascist!

Platform imperialism and disinformation in Aotearoa-New Zealand - Olivier Jutel, Leon A. Salter, 2025 This article looks at how the emergence of the disinformation field in Aotearoa-New Zealand is indicative of the territorial power of American platforms in poli...

Doing a thread on my publications which I draw on for this episode on "The Problem of Disinfo".
1) "Platform Imperialism and Disinfo in NZ" with my pal @islates.bsky.social on how Disinfo research shaped NZ politics and media journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

The coming crypto crisis Bipartisan backing of stablecoins will hurt America’s economy and its politics

When I published Driverless Finance in 2022, I got some pushback for suggesting that crypto was trying to merge with traditional finance, not disrupt it.

I take no pleasure in having been proven right.

www.ft.com/content/efc8...

Supporting the ethical development of UK spaceports Dr. Pete Howson from Northumbria University is researching the impact of UK spaceports on local communities and environments, advocating for ethical...

As the UK sets out ambitions to become a leading provider of small satellite commercial launches by 2030, Dr @peterjhowson.bsky.social is carrying out important research to understand more about the impact spaceports have on people, wildlife and the environment.

www.mynewsdesk.com/uk/northumbr...

POLLEN 2026 is happening in Barcelona 🌅

The call for panels is open and closes on July 31st.

See here for more information: tinyurl.com/5b8c5w7j

Spread the word.

Kick Big Polluters out of COP30! Big Polluters are strangling climate action.

Why are fossil fuel lobbyists still allowed into UN climate meetings?

After more than 30 years of talks there is still no conflict of interest policy at the UNFCCC.

This really is not a big ask - Kick Big Polluters Out of COP30!

reddmonitor.substack.com/p/kick-big-p...

Issue 87 – SO ORDERED Trump’s crypto empire attracts more foreign millions, the FHFA pushes crypto on mortgage lenders, and Mamdani’s mayoral primary win makes billionaires sweat

Newsletter: Trump’s crypto empire attracts more foreign millions, the FHFA pushes crypto on mortgage lenders, and Mamdani’s mayoral primary win makes billionaires sweat.

www.citationneeded.news/issue-87/

Welcome to Britain 2025: where a musician's words cause more outrage than the murder and horror in Gaza | Owen Jones The issue of what happened at Glastonbury is obscuring the outrage about real bombs and actual death, and I think that is deliberate, says Guardian columnist Owen Jones

Welcome to Britain 2025: where a musician's words cause more outrage than the murder and horror in Gaza | Owen Jones

Conference: Democratisation of Space Linköping Space Studies Institute (LSSI) is organizing its first international conference, Democratisation of Space: The decline of the public and rise of the private?

This looks great. Deadline for abstracts extended till end of July... #NewSpace #SpaceX #PoliticalEcology
liu.se/en/article/k...

What REALLY Happened at Glastonbury YouTube video by Double Down News

This is a useful take on the whole thing. youtu.be/IOk4kP8bxXM?...

Sorry. Fixed now.

For context, childminder Lucy Connolly tweeted "Set fire to all the f***ing hotels full of the [refugee] b*stards." While Vylan said, "Free Palestine".

Crypto gains foothold in Bolivia as small businesses seek currency alternatives In the busy shopping district of the Bolivian city of Cochabamba, ATMs let shoppers swap coins for cryptocurrency, beauty salons offer cut-price deals if you pay in Bitcoin, and people use Binance accounts to buy fried chicken.

Bolivians conned into crypto. With thoughts from me.
www.reuters.com/world/americ...

Let Them Eat Crypto The subject of immense hope, hype, and confusion, crypto has amassed countless headlines in recent years. With cryptocurrencies, NFTs and metaverse markets c...

Get your copy of Let Them Eat #Crypto for just 2 real money pounds.

Offer ends in 2 real Earth days!

www.plutobooks.com/978074534821... @PlutoPress

After successfully entering Earth’s atmosphere, a European spacecraft is lost “This partial success reflects both ambition and the inherent risks of innovation.”…

All the rich people's body bits lost ☹️
arstechnica.com/space/2025/0...