Stephen H. Jones
banner
stphnhwrdjns.bsky.social
Stephen H. Jones
@stphnhwrdjns.bsky.social

Social scientist. Writes about religion and prejudice, society and politics. Teaches sociology and criminology. Rides bikes.

Political science 39%
Sociology 28%
Just a jaw-dropping paragraph in Trevor Phillips's column for The Times.

This is a policy that, by his own account, has left parents of a particular race too frightened to walk their children to school.

And that's the example he chooses of the "vigour" we "need".
www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

Reposted by Stephen Jones

Today is the birthday of Baruch Spinoza, the great 17th-century Dutch Jewish rationalist philosopher. One of the leading lights of the Dutch Golden Age, Spinoza's writings were often controversial in his day, and he was (and remains) excommunicated from his religious community. #💙📚 #Booksky

This afternoon I will be listening to this performance on repeat. RIP.
youtu.be/ISMSAkVTTRM?...
Jimmy Cliff - Many Rivers to Cross (Best of Later with Jools 2008)
YouTube video by TheGRStars
youtu.be

Reposted by Stephen Jones

£40K to buy a European deputy seems quite cheap to me. Is that really the market price, or was Nathan Gill MEP just an exceptionally soft touch?
We will struggle to explain to future generations how something so transparent and stupid was able to take place youngvulgarian.substack.com/p/arent-you-...
Why do people think England flags have been raised on lampposts?

White adults
National pride: 26%
Anti-migrant/minority sentiment: 49%
Both: 19%

Ethnic minority adults
National pride: 15%
Anti-migrant/minority sentiment: 55%
Both: 20%

yougov.co.uk/society/arti...

Reposted by Stephen Jones

'Students at the University of Staffordshire have said they feel “robbed of knowledge and enjoyment” after a course they hoped would launch their digital careers turned out to be taught in large part by AI.' 1/3
‘We could have asked ChatGPT’: students fight back over course taught by AI
Staffordshire students say signs material was AI-generated included suspicious file names and rogue voiceover accent
www.theguardian.com
Today is Trans Day Of Remembrance

#TransLivesMatter #TDoR #TDoR2025 #TransDayOfRemembrance #TransAwarenessWeek #SayTheirNames

*** Trigger warning for the following thread: Violence against trans people (especially TWOC) * * *
A wonderful 2 year Research Associate post working with us on ‘Racial Equality Since Devolution: Divergences, Outcomes and Frontiers'. Deadline for applications 10 December. Please share: www.jobs.gla.ac.uk/job/research...
Research Associate
Job PurposeTo make a leading contribution to the Nuffield-funded project ‘Racial Equality Since Devolution: Divergences, Outcomes and Frontiers’ working with Professor Nasar Meer (PI). The successf...
www.jobs.gla.ac.uk

But that said, almost everyone I ride with takes huge advantage of Cycle to Work. One friend set his own company's scheme limit at £10K just so he could buy a £8000 downhill bike...

Yes, that's a fair point, even non-electric cargo bikes cost a bomb.

Should probably clarify, my pique is less to do with tax breaks - which I like - and more cycling mags regularly implying you need to spend 10% of your salary to take up the sport. That just puts people off, when cycling is cheap.

100% of people who have £4000 bikes have a separate bike for the commute because a £4000 commuter bike will get stolen within a week. And tax breaks for electric cars are good because electric cars are expensive and don't pump death chemicals in cyclists' faces.

I'm a cycling nut whose bike spend p/a is embarrassing but this is such obvious shite. Unless you are racing or flinging yourself down big mountains, £1000 on a bike is all you'll need. People like me really don't need the tax break.

Reposted by Stephen Jones

I hate the ‘more money in your pocket’. It’s so outdated and sounds like we’re still in 1987 with pay packets from the factory!
This is very much the majority/median position in the Labour Party, among Labour voters and the general public.
We should stop the boats because it's dangerous, and we should stop the scapegoating of immigrants because it's wrong and cruel.

Controlled migration is good for the country, helps build our economy and diversity strengthens our communities. (1/6) 🧵
Confiscating jewellery from survivors of a war zone makes you look like a fucking Nazi. And the obscene thing is, that is the intention. It's there to look appropriately harsh. Indecent. Filthy. A moral stain. And no-one of good character would have ever proposed such a thing in the first place.
'Peacehaven mosque targeted by arson welcomes in the community'

This is the real 'public opinion'.

www.theargus.co.uk/news/2562492...
'These people are angels': Mosque targeted by arson welcomes in the community
A mosque which was subject to an arson attack last month opened its doors to the community in a bid to “build bridges and demolish walls”
www.theargus.co.uk
This rancid trash understands the significance of Labour's anti-refugee policies.

I am at this point genuinely trying to think of a policy change since 2024 that is consistent with the Labour party's underlying ethos. I can't. The closest I can find is: not strangling universities by allowing fees to rise with inflation. That pretty piss poor.
With the ending of permanent asylum, taxes on foreign students, two U-turns on income tax, a refusal to listen to business concerns about hiring costs, again I ask ‘who are Labour for?’ What is the vision underlying all these choices other than responding to last week’s polls?
With the ending of permanent asylum, taxes on foreign students, two U-turns on income tax, a refusal to listen to business concerns about hiring costs, again I ask ‘who are Labour for?’ What is the vision underlying all these choices other than responding to last week’s polls?

The big one in 2003, yes. That's 173 extra people. The peaks either side are due to the Morecambe Bay disaster, 7/7 and migrant lorry disasters. The data's here:

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopula....
Homicide in England and Wales - Office for National Statistics
Analyses of information held within the Home Office Homicide Index, which contains detailed record-level information about each homicide recorded by police in England and Wales.
www.ons.gov.uk

The big spike is Shipman, the other peaks are due to Hillsborough, 7/7, migrant lorry disaster, Morecambe bay drownings.

By coincidence, I was explaining to the students yesterday that the homicide rate today is *exactly the same* as it was in 1975. If you overlook Harold Shipman, Hillsborough, etc. it's not fluctuated much.

Reposted by Stephen Jones

I voted for Ed Miliband and I'd do it again, but I think it is important to be realistic and accept that this goverment's instincts are basically Milibandist. A particularly unserious version of Milibandism, but Milibandism nevertheless.

Reposted by Stephen Jones

"Others were dismayed by an apparent ignorance... about the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict. At a fractious meeting... the CEO of BBC News told colleagues: “We’ve got to remember that this all started on 7 October.""

Fascinating read from @trillingual.bsky.social at @equatormag.bsky.social
Inside the BBC’s Gaza Fiasco • Articles • EQUATOR
How the world’s most trusted media organisation fell apart
www.equator.org

Just learned that all Religious Studies courses at Lancaster have been marked for closure. Lancaster was the first Religious Studies department in the UK and has been foundational to the discipline (Ninian Smart, Linda Wood head, etc.). You wonder what will be left of the subject.

What BS. Sounds like a tribunal case tbh, especially given that folks in CAL aren't held to anything like that standard.

Reposted by Stephen Jones

Latest from Kristin Aune, Matt Mayhew & myself on how the cultural climate on university campuses shapes interfaith relations. theconversation.com/how-campus-c... In @uk.theconversation.com
How ‘campus climate’ affects students’ attitudes to people of different religions
Visible diversity and critical conversations are important.
theconversation.com
I wonder if the United States can learn anything from the last time a major industrialized country decided to isolate itself from the rest of the world?

Almost a decade after the Brexit vote, GDP in the UK is around 6-8% lower relative to peer countries. (Source: www.nber.org/papers/w34459)
Fun fact: at the end of his career (and life), Malinowski was embarking on the study of the concept of 'Freedom'. He saw nationalism as the chief obstacle to human freedom. This is the tentative argument structure; pay attention to the paragraph at the bottom of the page.