Alison Stenning
@alisonstenning.bsky.social
Geographer - Professor - Mum - Playing - #playstreets - Cycling - #kidicalmass - #WarOnCars - Walking - Noticing - Green - North Tyneside - North Shields - UK
Pinned
Hello 👋 I’m here for the chat about (geographies of) (urban) play and everyday mobility, esp children’s, along with neighbourhoods and community; bits on austerity, class & social change; climate & environment; but also the north-east of England (esp Tyneside); and some higher education too.
Reposted by Alison Stenning
The group bike ride for Alex Pretti is about to depart in Minneapolis, stopping at his memorial, then Renee Good’s, and finishing at the VFW. If you can join, hop on anywhere. It’s a warm 17° & sunny!
I’ve never seen this many cyclists for a group ride. ⚡️✊🏽⚡️🚲⚡️✊🏽⚡️ #RIPPretti
I’ve never seen this many cyclists for a group ride. ⚡️✊🏽⚡️🚲⚡️✊🏽⚡️ #RIPPretti
January 31, 2026 at 7:41 PM
The group bike ride for Alex Pretti is about to depart in Minneapolis, stopping at his memorial, then Renee Good’s, and finishing at the VFW. If you can join, hop on anywhere. It’s a warm 17° & sunny!
I’ve never seen this many cyclists for a group ride. ⚡️✊🏽⚡️🚲⚡️✊🏽⚡️ #RIPPretti
I’ve never seen this many cyclists for a group ride. ⚡️✊🏽⚡️🚲⚡️✊🏽⚡️ #RIPPretti
Reposted by Alison Stenning
Hundreds of volunteers hitting the streets this morning in Gorton and Denton.
Lower bills, tax the super-rich- hope will win.
Only the Greens can stop Reform in this by-election.
Lower bills, tax the super-rich- hope will win.
Only the Greens can stop Reform in this by-election.
January 31, 2026 at 12:17 PM
Hundreds of volunteers hitting the streets this morning in Gorton and Denton.
Lower bills, tax the super-rich- hope will win.
Only the Greens can stop Reform in this by-election.
Lower bills, tax the super-rich- hope will win.
Only the Greens can stop Reform in this by-election.
Reposted by Alison Stenning
Pop up skatepark spotted SE 9th and Taylor Portland, OR.
This is one of the best modal filters!
#Skateboard #Skatepark
This is one of the best modal filters!
#Skateboard #Skatepark
January 30, 2026 at 2:04 PM
Pop up skatepark spotted SE 9th and Taylor Portland, OR.
This is one of the best modal filters!
#Skateboard #Skatepark
This is one of the best modal filters!
#Skateboard #Skatepark
Some light over the mouth of the Tyne (but no Shields ferries, as a result of storm damage to the jetty)
January 31, 2026 at 9:57 AM
Some light over the mouth of the Tyne (but no Shields ferries, as a result of storm damage to the jetty)
When direct connections between the mouth of Tyne and London and Norway were just part of the fabric of our ordinary transport infrastructures.
Standing exactly where the boat trains came in to transfer passengers from land to sea. Fully loco hauled stock came from London, reversed at Percy Main and met the liners to Norway
January 31, 2026 at 9:27 AM
When direct connections between the mouth of Tyne and London and Norway were just part of the fabric of our ordinary transport infrastructures.
Genuinely can’t remember when I last saw blue sky above our street. I think it was last year.
January 31, 2026 at 9:14 AM
Genuinely can’t remember when I last saw blue sky above our street. I think it was last year.
Reposted by Alison Stenning
Bikes fight fascism.
Minneapolis’ bike community is deep, strong and unstoppable.
I am so excited to see so many friends tomorrow.
🚲 ❤️
Minneapolis’ bike community is deep, strong and unstoppable.
I am so excited to see so many friends tomorrow.
🚲 ❤️
We had planned a winter hibernation to give our volunteer team time to rest.
Instead, our full team is deep in mutual aid work & several bikes are back out to help w/ community needs.
Our @bunchbike.com will help an injured bike friend join the ride for Alex Pretti tomorrow.
See you there?
🚲 ❤️
Instead, our full team is deep in mutual aid work & several bikes are back out to help w/ community needs.
Our @bunchbike.com will help an injured bike friend join the ride for Alex Pretti tomorrow.
See you there?
🚲 ❤️
January 31, 2026 at 2:15 AM
Bikes fight fascism.
Minneapolis’ bike community is deep, strong and unstoppable.
I am so excited to see so many friends tomorrow.
🚲 ❤️
Minneapolis’ bike community is deep, strong and unstoppable.
I am so excited to see so many friends tomorrow.
🚲 ❤️
Good to see mainstream coverage of “deplaytion” - the loss and decline of neighbourhood playgrounds, and of a tolerance of children’s neighbourhood play.
It’s critical that this issue is taken as seriously - in terms of children’s mental health - as social media.
Thanks @anooshc.bsky.social.
It’s critical that this issue is taken as seriously - in terms of children’s mental health - as social media.
Thanks @anooshc.bsky.social.
The hidden cost of "deplaytion"
Ban social media for kids all you like – but don't ignore their crap playgrounds
www.newstatesman.com
January 30, 2026 at 3:46 PM
Good to see mainstream coverage of “deplaytion” - the loss and decline of neighbourhood playgrounds, and of a tolerance of children’s neighbourhood play.
It’s critical that this issue is taken as seriously - in terms of children’s mental health - as social media.
Thanks @anooshc.bsky.social.
It’s critical that this issue is taken as seriously - in terms of children’s mental health - as social media.
Thanks @anooshc.bsky.social.
Spent the morning at a @ntcouncilteam.bsky.social event starting the conversation about North Shields bid to become #TownofCulture. An amazing group of people in the room, all full of ideas of how to grow different bits of Shields, and celebrate the awesome place it is.
January 30, 2026 at 12:14 PM
Spent the morning at a @ntcouncilteam.bsky.social event starting the conversation about North Shields bid to become #TownofCulture. An amazing group of people in the room, all full of ideas of how to grow different bits of Shields, and celebrate the awesome place it is.
Reposted by Alison Stenning
Physics is under the cosh, Astronomy and Chemistry in peril, Geography is losing territory, English, Modern Languages and History are among the many shrinking UK disciplines.
Surely it's time to have a concerted, structured conversation about universities and the national research base.
Surely it's time to have a concerted, structured conversation about universities and the national research base.
UK physics research and science facilities face ‘substantial’ cuts.
Major cuts will hit UK science facilities and government research grants for physics and astronomy over the next four years, Research Professional News can reveal.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...
Major cuts will hit UK science facilities and government research grants for physics and astronomy over the next four years, Research Professional News can reveal.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...
UK physics research and science facilities face ‘substantial’ cuts - Research Professional News
Exclusive: Science and Technology Facilities Council seeks £162m cost savings, with existing projects facing axe
www.researchprofessionalnews.com
January 29, 2026 at 11:55 AM
Physics is under the cosh, Astronomy and Chemistry in peril, Geography is losing territory, English, Modern Languages and History are among the many shrinking UK disciplines.
Surely it's time to have a concerted, structured conversation about universities and the national research base.
Surely it's time to have a concerted, structured conversation about universities and the national research base.
Reposted by Alison Stenning
The actual words of the current British Home Secretary:
“My ultimate vision for that part of the criminal justice system was to achieve, by means of AI and technology, what Jeremy Bentham tried to do with his Panopticon. That is that the eyes of the State can be on you at all times."
“My ultimate vision for that part of the criminal justice system was to achieve, by means of AI and technology, what Jeremy Bentham tried to do with his Panopticon. That is that the eyes of the State can be on you at all times."
Crime and Policing Bill - Hansard - UK Parliament
Hansard record of the item : 'Crime and Policing Bill' on Tuesday 20 January 2026.
hansard.parliament.uk
January 29, 2026 at 11:03 AM
The actual words of the current British Home Secretary:
“My ultimate vision for that part of the criminal justice system was to achieve, by means of AI and technology, what Jeremy Bentham tried to do with his Panopticon. That is that the eyes of the State can be on you at all times."
“My ultimate vision for that part of the criminal justice system was to achieve, by means of AI and technology, what Jeremy Bentham tried to do with his Panopticon. That is that the eyes of the State can be on you at all times."
Reposted by Alison Stenning
Labour keeps talking about saving the high street without naming the real problem. Car dependency. You cannot fix town centres while planning everything around driving. The internet is permanent. Retail only survives where footfall is dense, local, frequent, and cheap to access.
Labour risks election wipeout unless it improves Britain’s high streets, study finds
Decay of town centres a top issue among voters especially Reform UK supporters and is fuelling resentment against Westminster
www.theguardian.com
January 29, 2026 at 6:46 AM
Labour keeps talking about saving the high street without naming the real problem. Car dependency. You cannot fix town centres while planning everything around driving. The internet is permanent. Retail only survives where footfall is dense, local, frequent, and cheap to access.
Reposted by Alison Stenning
January 28, 2026 at 6:07 PM
This is a powerful and important story, one which resonates across so many high streets, and reflects all sorts of things that just feel wrong today (billionaire landlords, devastated council budgets, austerity, precarious family lives, everyday frustrations etc.)
‘You’d be ashamed to bring someone here’: The struggling billionaire-owned high street that shows Reform’s road to No 10
Newton Aycliffe was meant to be a model town for a fairer postwar Britain. But unaffordable rents on a high street amounting to 0.12% of its property tycoon owner’s holdings have made it a symbol of d...
www.theguardian.com
January 28, 2026 at 11:41 AM
This is a powerful and important story, one which resonates across so many high streets, and reflects all sorts of things that just feel wrong today (billionaire landlords, devastated council budgets, austerity, precarious family lives, everyday frustrations etc.)
Almost half of all undergraduates now planning to live at home through their studies. This would seem to have been a big shift over the decades. Big variations by class and geography, doubtless, but it’s a different picture.
'With cost-of-living pressures still severe, 45 per cent of UK 18-year-olds stated that...they intend to live at home for their studies – up from 43 per cent the year before. Among the total student population, this proportion is now almost half (49 per cent).' 2/2
January 28, 2026 at 9:13 AM
Almost half of all undergraduates now planning to live at home through their studies. This would seem to have been a big shift over the decades. Big variations by class and geography, doubtless, but it’s a different picture.
Misty morning on the Tyne and Wear Metro
January 28, 2026 at 8:43 AM
Misty morning on the Tyne and Wear Metro
Reposted by Alison Stenning
Cooperative mural, Gyula Bajó on the side of the former Co-operative House (now Primark), the first major retail premises to open in Stevenage Town Centre in June 1958. It depicts the ‘four cornerstones of a balanced economy – Industry, Commerce, Transport and Agriculture'.
January 27, 2026 at 9:10 AM
Cooperative mural, Gyula Bajó on the side of the former Co-operative House (now Primark), the first major retail premises to open in Stevenage Town Centre in June 1958. It depicts the ‘four cornerstones of a balanced economy – Industry, Commerce, Transport and Agriculture'.
Reposted by Alison Stenning
Birmingham, UK, is answering this call.
Saturday, 1 PM, Victoria Square.
We ride in memory of Alex Pretti and against fascism.
All welcome. Will you join us?
Saturday, 1 PM, Victoria Square.
We ride in memory of Alex Pretti and against fascism.
All welcome. Will you join us?
On Saturday we ride for Alex Pretti
1:00pm at Washburn Fair Oaks Park
From Angry Catfish:
“We're asking folks to host rides and come together. Bike shops and non-profits, cycling orgs and alt cycling collectives, city and rural. We are many but we stand together as one.”
1:00pm at Washburn Fair Oaks Park
From Angry Catfish:
“We're asking folks to host rides and come together. Bike shops and non-profits, cycling orgs and alt cycling collectives, city and rural. We are many but we stand together as one.”
January 26, 2026 at 9:47 PM
Birmingham, UK, is answering this call.
Saturday, 1 PM, Victoria Square.
We ride in memory of Alex Pretti and against fascism.
All welcome. Will you join us?
Saturday, 1 PM, Victoria Square.
We ride in memory of Alex Pretti and against fascism.
All welcome. Will you join us?
Reposted by Alison Stenning
Geographers, in case you missed this detail, Alex Pretti graduated from the Minnesota Geography department in 2011.
January 26, 2026 at 4:32 PM
Geographers, in case you missed this detail, Alex Pretti graduated from the Minnesota Geography department in 2011.
Reposted by Alison Stenning
Bike friends: This is something you can organize wherever you are, in solidarity with us in Minneapolis.
Plan a unity ride for this Saturday. Bring your community together.
Plan a unity ride for this Saturday. Bring your community together.
On Saturday we ride for Alex Pretti
1:00pm at Washburn Fair Oaks Park
From Angry Catfish:
“We're asking folks to host rides and come together. Bike shops and non-profits, cycling orgs and alt cycling collectives, city and rural. We are many but we stand together as one.”
1:00pm at Washburn Fair Oaks Park
From Angry Catfish:
“We're asking folks to host rides and come together. Bike shops and non-profits, cycling orgs and alt cycling collectives, city and rural. We are many but we stand together as one.”
January 26, 2026 at 7:41 PM
Bike friends: This is something you can organize wherever you are, in solidarity with us in Minneapolis.
Plan a unity ride for this Saturday. Bring your community together.
Plan a unity ride for this Saturday. Bring your community together.
Spotted in North Shields, on Angela Davis’ birthday it seems.
January 26, 2026 at 7:07 PM
Spotted in North Shields, on Angela Davis’ birthday it seems.
Something joyful for a moment -
Love the ending: “I have other plans for life though”
Love the ending: “I have other plans for life though”
January 26, 2026 at 6:34 PM
Something joyful for a moment -
Love the ending: “I have other plans for life though”
Love the ending: “I have other plans for life though”
Reposted by Alison Stenning
Both of these were taken in the last 24 hours. I'll let you decide which represents the future of politics in this country...
January 26, 2026 at 11:46 AM
Both of these were taken in the last 24 hours. I'll let you decide which represents the future of politics in this country...
Great advocacy here for block parties and play streets -
I've gotten to know my neighbors by organizing weekly block parties in the spring/summer. Thursday evenings after work till it gets dark. Seattle has a free permit process if you want to close your street. I'm putting in my 2026 application now.
January 25, 2026 at 8:37 PM
Great advocacy here for block parties and play streets -
Reposted by Alison Stenning
Worth remembering when looking at the horrific scenes in the US right now that both Reform and the Tories have pledged to bring in ICE-style organisations to the UK if they win power
January 24, 2026 at 10:33 PM
Worth remembering when looking at the horrific scenes in the US right now that both Reform and the Tories have pledged to bring in ICE-style organisations to the UK if they win power