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Alex Stevens

@profalexstevens.bsky.social

1.2K followers 770 following 510 posts

Professor of Criminology, University of Sheffield. Trustee at Criminal Justice Alliance. Volunteer for Visually Impaired Sailing Association and Sheffield Jazz. Peak District walker. Drug policy geek.

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Alex Stevens @profalexstevens.bsky.social · Apr 2

Now out in paperback @brisunipress.bsky.social #DrugPolicyConstellations bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/drug-policy-...

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Alex Stevens @profalexstevens.bsky.social · 9h

Same at today's Manchester half marathon, on the street running, and on the pavements supporting. #AllTogether

Reposted by Alex Stevens

Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 13d

‘analysis of the [graduate] wage premium… by leading… economists determined it was “extraordinarily flat” between the 1990s & 2010s, despite a near tripling in the share of working adults with an undergraduate degree over the period.’
Good piece from @amyborrett.ft.com
on.ft.com/3Kn1ioF

No, the UK has not reached ‘peak graduate’

The salary and non-salary data show degrees still deliver for students in the long run

on.ft.com

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Alex Stevens @profalexstevens.bsky.social · 7d

Bathos hits:

James Ball @jamesrball.com · 7d

*gasp*

“Everyone thought we’d come in and there were going to be these huge costs we could cut away but there just aren’t,” said a third senior Reform cabinet member in Kent.

Alex Stevens @profalexstevens.bsky.social · 9d

Investment bankers mysteriously avoid recommending tax on wealth. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Rachel Reeves could raise £45bn in taxes and keep promises, report says

Chancellor has ways to cover UK deficit without breaching spirit of Labour manifesto, Morgan Stanley claims

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Alex Stevens

Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 10d

In other news, Kemi Badenoch's party has taken at least £7 million in donations from funders and directors of climate change denial lobby groups bylinetimes.com/2025/03/18/k...

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Alex Stevens @profalexstevens.bsky.social · 10d

In practice, most people adopt an adaptive/abduction approach; moving between inductive and deductive modes of reasoning (although many don't acknowledge this).

Alex Stevens @profalexstevens.bsky.social · 10d

Prison is for poor people.

Paul Lewis @paullewismoney.bsky.social · 10d

Rip-off firm must repay £122mn over unusable PPE Covid gear but it has gone into administration bit.ly/3IKsuNI lawyers now face the hard task of showing personal liability of Baroness Mone and Doug Barrowman. £8m cost of storing and destroying gear falls on taxpayers

Michelle Mone-linked firm must pay £122m for breaking PPE contract

PPE Medpro, run by Baroness Mone’s husband Doug Barrowman, has two weeks to pay compensation for ‘faulty’ gowns

bit.ly

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · Jul 10

We are calling on the UK Government to not introduce a levy on higher education provider income from international students, reduce visa costs to attract global talent, and to review higher education funding to create a sustainable model
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/58...

• Discontinue the idea of introducing a levy on higher education provider income from international students.
• Reduce visa costs to ensure they are at least as competitive in cost as other leading science nations, and preferably have a target to become the mos competitive in the G7.
• Provide immediate clarity that the current time length for Indefinite Leave to Remain is kept in place for current and future Global Talent visa holders and their dependents.

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Alex Stevens @profalexstevens.bsky.social · 12d

Can you imagine the government slapping a tariff on car exports in order to subsidise a small proportion of drivers? That is what the government plans for UK universities.

Reposted by Alex Stevens

Kate Leader @leader-kate.bsky.social · 12d

My ILR cost something like £1200 in 2013, what then felt like a huge amount for a PhD student. Citizenship then cost £700 a year later. This now looks positively cheap compared to the current costs of £3k plus for ILR and £1700 for citizenship.

Dan Sohege @danielsohege.bsky.social · 13d

Migrants already "earn the right to settlement" through extortionate visa costs, which can run into tens of thousands of pounds. They prop up key services, including through the Immigration Health Surcharge.

Pushing the hostile environment on steroids helps no-one.

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

Mahmood demands migrants earn right to settlement in UK

New tests will include learning English to a high standard, paying National Insurance and not claiming benefits.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Alex Stevens @profalexstevens.bsky.social · 13d

Sounds a lot like the experience of supporting Sheffield Wednesday.

Alex Stevens @profalexstevens.bsky.social · 13d

As if New Labour never tried #TotemicToughness

Alex Stevens @profalexstevens.bsky.social · 13d

Can somebody from @ippr.org, @demos-uk.bsky.social, @compassoffice.bsky.social please explain why Labour ministers are coming up with such ill-thought ideas, and what they plan to do about it?

Alex Stevens @profalexstevens.bsky.social · 13d

A few years ago, I went to a talk by Eric Kauffman - hosted by Goodwin - at which they both tried to explain that it is not racist to restrict immigration to white people only.

Reposted by Alex Stevens

Richard Hull @richardhull54.bsky.social · 13d

That's great so I've added #AltText so that more folk can appreciate it.

The top caption reads "The UK steps in. (They sure have a way with words).
Underneath is a screenshot of an article, headed with a photo of Donald Trump, and with the the byline "By Oliver Kornetzke August 18, 2025"

"Behold. The festering carcass of American rot shoved into an ill-fitting suit: the sleaze of a conman, the cowardice of a draft dodger, the gluttony of a parasite, the racism of a Klansman, the sexism of a back-alley creep, the ignorance of a bar-stool drunk, and the greed of a hedge-fund ghoul—all spray-painted orange and paraded like a prize hog at a county fair. Not a president. Not even a man. Just the diseased distillation of everything this country swears it isn’t but has always been—arrogance dressed up as exceptionalism, stupidity passed off as common sense, cruelty sold as toughness, greed exalted as ambition, and corruption worshiped like gospel. It is America’s shadow made flesh, a rotting pumpkin idol proving that when a nation kneels before money, power, and spite, it doesn’t just lose its soul—it sh*ts out this bloated obscenity and calls it a leader."

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Alex Stevens @profalexstevens.bsky.social · 13d

Take a bow, @kornetzke.bsky.social

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Alex Stevens @profalexstevens.bsky.social · 13d

Another nail in some Universities' coffins, as income from international students is diverted to student maintenance grants.

Andrew Sparrow @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social · 13d

Bridget Phillipson says poorest students will get maintenance grants for some courses, funded by international student levy - www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

Alex Stevens @profalexstevens.bsky.social · 13d

When journalists become Trump's stenographers...

John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 13d

Yet check out this headline in today's NY Times.

Today. After all these months.

Still taking his "this is about crime!" rhetoric at face value.

As if his own press secretary didn't say the target was just "all Democrat-led cities."

This is about intimidation. Stop being naive.

Trump’s Tactics on Crime
We explore the president’s new tough-on-crime tactics and how they’re working.

Alex Stevens @profalexstevens.bsky.social · 13d

Beautiful day in Sheffield for the first day of the University term.

Reposted by Alex Stevens

Will Jennings 🗳️ @drjennings.bsky.social · 14d

The government has to learn how to lead public opinion, rather than chase it. Leaving X is a no-brainer when the algorithm is stacked in favour of extremists.

Guy Shrubsole @guyshrubsole.bsky.social · 14d

Miliband says it's 'possible' government should come off Elon Musk's X social media platform

DO IT

www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

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Alex Stevens @profalexstevens.bsky.social · 15d

Movies with stoner-in-a-dressing gown heroes: One Battle After Another, The Big Lebowski. Any others?

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John Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 16d

"How many traitors are in Farage's new party?" would, I suggest be a better line than Digital ID.

To beat Reform, make wavering voters ashamed to back them.

Spotlight on Corruption @spotlightcorruption.org · 16d

🚨 BREAKING: The former leader of Reform UK in Wales, Nathan Gill, has pleaded guilty to #bribery, admitting he received corrupt payments as a Brexit Party MEP in exchange for making statements in the European Parliament to promote Russia’s interests in #Ukraine.