Chris Downs
University worker
"a teacher's primary responsibility is not to get in the way of learning" - Mark Notturno
- A good thread ⤵️
- "HMRC estimates that there are 2.8 million landlords in the UK: more than 5% of the adult population... that’s... double the number of coal miners at the industry’s peak. Landlordism is the closest thing we have to a national industry." - Jack Shenker in @lrb.co.uk www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
- I hope the Prime Minister will share his reply to @tanjabueltmann.net's letter ⤵️ cc. @commonsspeaker.parliament.uk
- My letter to the Prime Minister. #immigration
- Some good news. ⤵️
- Peterloo, The Rock Musical. to be performed on the 206th anniversary of the massacre at St Petersfield in Manchester. ⤵️
- "With superb animation and a score by Academy Award winner Alexandre Desplat, this timeless and deeply moving tale is a powerful reminder that in the darkest times, the soul of humanity can only be preserved by the bright light of love and the heroism of ordinary people." Highly recommended. ⤵️
- Something for all Richard Thompson fans. I really enjoyed this interview. www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/bro...
- Trump's "chaotic, indiscriminate trade policies do little to expand critical, strategic investments in the US, and they are riddled with cronyism... There will be no upside to his mercantilism, because it embodies the strategy’s worst defects." - @drodrik.bsky.social ⤵️
- Many think Adam Smith killed and buried mercantilism, but mercantilist practices, along with Smithian ideas, have often been useful. Trump of course gets the mix all wrong. www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/t...
- "The four-month-old needed hypoallergenic milk formula - a normally common product now absent in Gaza - to help her with chronic diarrhea that caused malnutrition and left her too weak to fight infection, her doctor... said from the... hospital... where Jenan died." www.reuters.com/business/hea...
- On the importance of voting ⤵️
- I've given copies of Bregman's "Humankind" to several people in my life and recommended it to many more. Hoping to find time read his new book soon. www.hive.co.uk/Product/Rutg... www.hive.co.uk/Product/Rutg...
- For anyone within reach of Manchester this weekend. The brilliant @rickardsisters.bsky.social at the brilliant @phm.org.uk ⤵️
- Free! Next Saturday afternoon, at the People’s History Museum in Manchester: phm.org.uk/events_new/a...
- "But in the spring of 1525 the peasants made war on their masters... Swathes of territory came under the control of ragtag regiments... It was the greatest mass revolt in Europe before the French Revolution; some 100,000 people died." ⤵️ www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
- "Öztürk, a Tufts University PhD student, and Khalil, a graduate of Columbia, have been detained for more than a month since US immigration authorities took them into custody. Neither have been accused of criminal conduct..." www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
- An Evening with Professor Hakim Adi, author of the book being reviewed here, on 14th May, part of the Brighton Festival. brightonmuseums.org.uk/event/an-eve...
- Frustrating and intrusive. Yes, the solution is either fund the needed activity through the tax system, or reduce income inequality so that all can pay the utility bills needed to fund the activity.
- ⬇️ ⬇️ And now there's a soundtrack recording available here: townsendtheatreproductions.bandcamp.com/album/behold...
- Oh I'd love a trip to Folkestone next Tuesday but I'm otherwise engaged. I hope everyone has a great time.
- Do you like to be beside the seaside? Do you like to be there this Tuesday 25th April? You could come to see us at the radical, independent, LGBTQ+ Folkestone Bookshop: www.thefolkestonebookshop.co.uk/store/p/rick...
- I didn't hold Musk in high regard before reading this, but I was quite taken aback by some of what I learned about him. I'd recommend anyone to read this. ⤵️
- "... the new Cornucopia and Nautilus urinals managed to reduce splashes down to just 1.4 percent of the common North American design." - I'm impressed! ⤵️
- I guess you can't make munitions without steel. But maybe it would be a good idea to develop a massive new "peace corps" of diplomats & influencers to go forth & promulgate universal human rights, compassion, cooperation. What better job for universities?
- It's, ahem, notable that the government seems keener to help the steel industry than universities, despite the latter having many more "good jobs": www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
- Very good on tariffs & trade - as you'd expect from @timharford.ft.com and the More or Less team. Also on: Wandsworth Borough Council also misusing numbers to mislead voters. ⬇️ www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
- TLDR: shouldn't have done it at all. Made an error in doing it that makes it even more damaging. ⤵️
- "Dublin has produced many great writers: Swift, Joyce, Wilde, O’Casey and Beckett amongst many others... But few have had so much influence while at the same time gaining so little recognition in their lifetime as Robert Noonan." Noonan, born April 1870, still not famous enough as Robert Tressell. ⤵️
- Great feature in the Irish Post celebrating Tressell’s birthday: www.irishpost.com/culture/the-...
- This is an interesting international trade-related thread - about peanut butter! ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️
- "... organising consists of gathering people, raising awareness of the causes of our common problems, discussing possible avenues of action, putting them into operation. Rinse, repeat; make it part of your life’s hobbies and work." - @jksteinberger.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
- Looks like some good news. ⤵️
- If I was near Salford this week I'd be going to this too. ⤵️
- If I was going to be near Cambridge on that date I'd be going along. ⤵️
- "While there was grassroots support for separatism, it was quite thin & reliant on local officials... choosing between opposition & collaboration... the viability & survival of the DNR & LNR relied on Russia–for material & financial support." @euraknot.bsky.social www.euraknot.org/seizing-the-...
- Sounds like a very interesting read ⤵️ www.hive.co.uk/Product/Adam...
- I've just signed "Marks & Spencer - stop advertising on GB News" - Will you support the campaign too? actionstorm.org/petitions/ma... @StopFundingHate
- Have a listen ⤵️ "Despite being a lawful permanent resident [of the USA]... Khalil was transported to a detention facility thousands of miles away, effectively “disappeared” for over 24 hours. The political motivation became explicit when President Donald Trump celebrated the arrest on social media"
- I shall look forward to reading this. In the meantime, I strongly recommend "Born in Blackness": www.hive.co.uk/Product/Howa... (Also seems to be still available in hardback.)
- Looks interesting ⤵️
- Very pleasing to see this film win the Oscar for best documentary. ⏬️
- See also: bsky.app/profile/orgr...
- "In Georgia, Russian networks and state-owned outlets were reported to be disseminating disinformation and conspiracy theories during the October elections, aiming to discredit pro-EU groups." - page 16 in the new Europe Press Freedom Report 👇
