David Bretherton

Story from Amnesty International webpage, dated 13/2/2026, with headline “UK: High Court rules ban on Palestine Action under terrorism legislation unlawful”

Screenshot from Guardian website story dated 9/3/2026, with headline reading “Labour to set up new extremism whistleblowing service for university staff”

Labour spent the last 20 mths pandering to fascists, and don’t seem to want to change, so excuse me for questioning if these proposals are brought in good faith.

OfS was the Tories’ weapon for pursuing their campus culture wars. I fear it will now be Labour’s too.

www.gov.uk/government/n...

Dear Shabana, I notice today that you referred to me in your speech on immigration at the IPPR think tank. You said: “A party leader should not be on the beaches of France encouraging people to make a perilous crossing on small boats.” I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised especially after the hateful Labour campaign in Gorton and Denton, but this is just the latest in a string of lies peddled by a discredited Government who intentionally fan the flames of racism and division. When I went to Calais, I was not there to encourage people to travel to the UK. I was there to see at first hand the suffering your Government and successive Governments have done in demonising migrants in a pathetic bid to pander to the base instincts of Reform and the flawed strategy of Morgan McSweeney. As you will know, if you even bothered to research my visit instead of taking Reform talking points, I was there to witness the brutality of families living in tents in freezing temperatures. I filled water tanks and picked up litter. What that visit did do is confirm my belief that if we are to smash the boat gangs and stop the boats, we need to offer safer and managed routes for migrants to come to this country. Showing compassion as a politician is not a crime. In fact, we need to see much more of it. It reminded me of a young MP who in October 2015 spent three days in Lesbos helping migrants fleeing war-torn Syria. She posted videos on X, talked about handing out water and croissants to refugees and food parcels. When she returned to the UK, she wrote a very moving piece in the New Statesman. She said “we have to work with our European partners and create new, safe, and legal routes for refugees to get to Europe. We cannot abandon them to their fate, left as prey for smugglers whilst risking death on the seas.” She said “maybe we can make ourselves feel better by saying no-one is making them get on the boats. And again, the Home Secretary is not entirely wrong when …

Dear Shabana,

Let's clear some things up around migration and remember we're talking about people's lives.

Sorry I'm not more open-minded about LLMs, it's just some fucking maniacs shoveled out a bunch of useless bloatware featuring that technology, did not give me any chance to opt out, reorganized the entire economy around it, zeroed out gains made by green energy, and made it impossible to buy RAM

Many congratulations to all those standing in the #UCU elections this year, and to the successful VP candidates @markpendleton.bsky.social and @suzitoole.bsky.social

Pride 2027: Southampton announced as host city for UK event The city will stage the major celebration of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

🏳️‍🌈 #Southampton

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

And presumably the 'leaders' debate' at the next GE will feature Green and Reform, with Labour only joining for the debate that features the main 7 UK parties ...
(if it is still in the top 7 by then)

Ofc discrimination is already unlawful under the equality act. So I imagine that the Tories are coming after reasonable adjustments for disabled people. (Currently such positive action is not only lawful, but required.)

So: discrimination dressed up as equality.

😂

It is steaming like a pile of fresh dog shit on a cold morning.

Series of three tweets by Zoe Gardner taking down Nigel Farage's support of attacks on Iran.

Apologies to @zoejardiniere.bsky.social for crossposting her tweets from the nasty place, but I felt this deserves airtime on bluesky because of how emphatically they prove the nasty, immoral, opportunistic politics of Reform.

Southampton Stand Up To Racism and anti-racism diversity rally: by far the biggest group were the anti-racist group, followed far behind by the police. The smallest group were the racists, who could only manage a couple of dozen - they had more flags than people! Proud of #Southampton

Salma Yaqoob @SalmaYaqoob Almost feel sorry for the haters who are trying to spin Muslims voting for a woman in a party led by a gay Jewish man is evidence of Islamist sectarianism In fact it's evidence of genuine tolerance, rejection of superficial identity politics and ability to prioritise tackling common concerns of cost of living, protecting public services and rejecting war mongering. And the promotion of mutual respect and individual freedoms. The coming together of people is terrifying for the ruling elites.

Totally this.

The rightwing hate “journalists” are spinning Muslims voting for a woman in a party led by a gay Jewish man as Islamist sectarianism.

Today in the Shirley ward by-election I voted for a party that stands for hope, and takes a principled, progressive stance on both domestic and international matters. I was very proud to vote green.

Dear Lucy Three weeks ago you wrote me a bizarre letter in an attempt to hold on to voters who Labour have for too long taken for granted in Gorton and Denton. First, I’d like to give my apologies for the delay in getting back to you. I've been busy on the ground with Hannah Spencer talking to voters about the issues that matter to them – lowering bills, protecting the NHS and rebuilding our public services. You'll appreciate most of your letter is out of date now, but I'm sure you'll have seen the poll that came out today, that puts us in first place and Reform in second. Labour are a distant third and it’s now clearer than ever that your party cannot win in Gorton and Denton. If you are as concerned about stopping Reform as you proposed in your letter, the course is now clear: in the spirit in which you wrote to me, you should now urge your members and former voters to back Hannah Spencer on the 26th February to stop Reform and make hope normal again. Kind regards, Zack Polanski Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales P.S – Hannah looks forward to saying hi in Parliament!

Dear Lucy Powell,

A response to your letter:

I see two things in Gorton and Denton: palpable frustration and the need for wise voting to stop Reform | Polly Toynbee After speaking to locals, I still can’t predict the result, but a big, combined effort will be needed. Without a united front the left may splinter and lose, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee

The betting has the Greens at 1/2 and Labour at 5/1. If you actually want to keep Reform out, rather than making a rhetorical point, you can only rationally argue for Labour to step aside.

⚠️ At our Branch GM last week, Southampton UCU members passed solidarity motions and approved strike-fund donations to @ucuessex.bsky.social, @ucunorthumbria.bsky.social and Southampton Solent UCU. We stand with you. ✊✊✊

Will email when I’m back at my desk. Xx

And thank you to @shlomitsofer.com and Thomas Hilder for editing this special issue on Queer music studies, and for their kindness and support for many years xxx

An Interview with Michael Finnissy Michael Finnissy (born in London on 17 March 1946) is one of our foremost living composers of art music. He is also gay, but his sexual orientation is just one aspect of his character, and he resis...

Out today. Many thanks to Michael Finnissy for agreeing to this.

#queerstudies #queermusicology #musicology

doi.org/10.1080/0749...

Starmer and Cooper must resign.

Solidarity with @unison.org.uk workers at the University of Bristol who are striking against a 3.4% real terms pay cut.

Since 2009 higher education pay has lost around 28% of its value.

It's time for University workers to be paid fairly.

UCU members outside Southampton Solent University.

Defend Solent Pension! #ucu

Senior managers spend almost £14,000 on attending awards dinner in Edinburgh.

The University’s senior personnel attended the Times Higher Education Awards on 13 November in Edinburgh. We wrote to the Finance Director, on 1 December seeking the full cost to the University of attendance at the event

I travelled on an @eduinternational.bsky.social trip to Palestine. But we never got there

We were detained for 5+ hours, grilled and refused entry by Israeli forces

It was intimidating and a violation of our rights. It is nothing compared to what Palestinians go through every day under occupation

Thank goodness I'm not Angela Raynor, otherwise the press would have hounded me out of office.

The Carney speech is v good.
More generally, I think it’s important that the UK & EU recognise that this is a new world. And waiting for the mid-terms or 2028 and things to get back to ‘normal’ isn’t good enough.
Need to build the capacity & resilience to be less reliant on the US for security.

While I was enjoying a snow day, the #IdiotInChief sent a ridiculous message to #Greenland. If he can be ridiculous, so can I
#SexiestDogAlive

Trump and Farage

A real shame if this photo went viral again today.

The Reform pitch is increasingly “the last government was terrible, so we’ve hired everyone who was in it”.

A vast starry sky with a white dwarf star glowing brightest in the centre. The star's radiant glow contrasts with the dense backdrop of smaller, twinkling stars scattered across the dark expanse.

Professor Christian Knigge in a red shirt and glasses sits at a desk, smiling and looking at the camera. Behind them, a large computer monitor displays a colourful, close up image of how a star looks in space. Another monitor shows a text-based interface. The room has a window with a blurred snowy landscape outside.

Our astronomers have discovered something never seen before in space - a mysterious shock wave surrounding a white dwarf star.

Read more: tr.ee/T2K834

@russellgroup.bsky.social @spacesouthcentral.bsky.social @engineering-soton.bsky.social @eso.org