Ali Messer

Not beating the "BBC RW bias" allegations

Why are the people who accuse those talking about reversing Brexit of "living in the past" never asked about their own plans to rip up an international agreement that was first signed by the UK some 75 years ago?

It’s no longer possible for Britain to wash its hands of its crime against humanity, to deflect to others, to trivialise & to disavow. If it wants some moral influence in the world, an apology, a TRC & meaningful negotiation of e.g. debt relief is now necessary. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/o...

I don't understand why anyone thinks people want this awful AI slop. It's the same with companies using 'digital assistants' that never give you what you need. AI is making our lives worse in so many increasingly obvious ways.

Fellow archaeologists out there can we have a conversation about the use of AI in the materials we produce for the public. I know that a lot of us are increasingly frustrated by the use of AI in media and all the awful stereotypes that we have spent decades trying to challenge creeping back in

'Now entering its 21st week and with no end in sight, the current strike involving University and College Union (UCU) staff is the longest in living memory in British higher education, originating from a staff marking boycott in April over proposed job cuts.'

That perpetrating rape is not an impediment to power, in fact, people will reward you with even more power. I am filled with white hot rage.

'The Guardian has shown there is little realism behind announced plans to power these developments, and claims that they will use purpose-built renewables. In fact, different government departments appear to diverge on ... their environmental cost' www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

#HistoryEducation

Kind of funny, in an Ancient Greek Hell kind of way, that this guy handed Trump the presidency in 2016, and as a reward Trump is kicking him in the teeth forever. www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...

"Under Brazilian federal law, all legislators have immunity...To run for President, Bolsonaro decided not to run for his Senate seat. Now, after losing the Presidential election, he no longer has legislative immunity when his Senate term expires in January 2027." Very Special Episode of no amnesty

it feels truly insane that it’s not

They forgot to mention that everyone whose publications were "used without permission" for training data is also "a part of that effort". We're all just one big, happy family!

'In a 2026 paper, Oliver Irvine and I explored how support for stammering in higher education remains poorly communicated and inconsistently implemented.'

R. I. P. Walter Koenig www.startrek.com/news/best-of...

This went on for the rest of the full hour, at which point the BBC apologised for having to go to the weather and urged viewers to follow continuing live coverage on iPlayer. Forty-one minutes of unfiltered, unchallenged propaganda by a far right party with 8 MPs, now third in the polls. Discuss.

#HistoryEducation

Don't forget to sign up for "The many faces of Sans Souci: Black watchmakers in the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Caribbean" if you're keen to join the friendly & welcoming London Group of Historical Geographers in person or online for this Tuesday's Institute of Historical Research seminar.

“Digital crimes must be dealt with like real-life crimes.” 💯

Rupert Lowe MP was asking some surprisingly insightful questions about connection delays at last week's DESNZ committee meeting on the national grid. Then I realised he had declared a major interest in a battery storage development firm

Yissss

These superb essays indicate where the heritage sector stands - as a battleground in a right wing culture war backlash against Black lives mattering - but also document how it carries on truth-telling nonetheless. Writing the foreword was cathartic. www.routledge.com/Britains-Con...

💯The case for democracy is not that voters are always right, or wise, or good. It's that they can correct their mistakes. That's why it's so dangerous to have billionaires controlling the media or regulating the flow of information. It shuts down the immune system of democracy.

What is the BBC's justification for maintaining this level of coverage of Reform now it has slipped into third place?

Solar is booming.

#HistoryEducation

📊 Research estimates that Brexit has led to shortfall on annual tax receipts of about £40bn. 🤔 Imagine what that money could do for our schools, our new generation of council housing, or for our armed forces...

Lula has been reelected president, Brazilian media has now called. An extraordinary comeback for the left-wing politician who trailed by 2 points in round 1 but managed to hold off Flávio Bolsonaro, the former president's son.

From “aristocracy to assetocracy” - Prof Huw McCartney, a colleague at @unibirmingham.bsky.social, explores the make-up and wealth in the House of Lords, which so desperately needs reform: theconversation.com/from-aristoc...

Those that still defend BBC News and politics obviously never watch it or listen to it. I do very infrequently but when I do the first thing I hear is outrageous gaslighting and bias:

She also needs to admit that ‘Freedom of Movement’ isn’t all about people. It’s 4 freedoms - of goods, capital, services, & labour, and without it our economy has suffered badly. Burnham & Labour need to explain this. And #ToryLaura should know this.

The numbers aren't capped as such under free movement, but people cannot move solely to claim benefits and serious criminals can be expelled or refused entry - so "unlimited" is misleading

History doesn't reset the day after Trump. It's not automatic back to normal, yay democracy won. We will still have a republic that is gravely wounded and bleeding out. Defeating the current assailant doesn't mean you've stopped the bleeding. The wounds are still there and still potentially fatal.

#HistoryEducation

"This could have been an email." Aragorn whispers. "He ALWAYS pulls this shit in 'Any Other Business" Boromir replies, quietly. "It's why Faramir marked himself as busy when the invite went out."

Asking for a few friends: does a 'distinctly British' approach to AI include paying for the use of our work? www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Musk is panicking about his recent anti-Ukraine moves following bi-partisan demands to bring his business under scrutiny, and perhaps control.

BBC report sanitises the overt racism: It notes that organisers warned marchers not to talk to journalists, then gives the "anti-immigration group"'s own sanitised description of itself. It does not report they chanted "England for the white man" in the streets. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

Just recorded a debate with Robert Tombs about he and his allies’ attempts to block the Church of England’s Fund for Healing, Repair and Justice. Radio 4 Sunday (tomorrow) 7.10-8.00. Good to be given the opportunity to present some counter-propaganda.

And true to form, Farage and the Tories (Philp) respond by being totally dishonest about it… Freedom of movement with the EU requires EU citizenship. Immigration requires visas. Talk of ‘betrayal’ and ‘uncontrolled migration’ is the mark of a liar or a fool. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...

Track & visualise the growth of cold spots in course provision across the UK in SHAPE subjects (which 56% of UK undergraduates and 58% of taught postgraduates study) in the link below. The impacts are especially acute for lower tariff HEIs, which disproportionately serve lower socioeconomic groups.

'This would require a national body responsible for monitoring regional subject provision, it said. It suggests this could sit within the Office for Students or a revived form of the Higher Education Funding Council for England, which was closed down in 2018.'