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Prof Katherine Brickell

@kbrickell.bsky.social

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Prof Katherine Brickell @kbrickell.bsky.social · Sep 1

📣 I'M HIRING! Please spread the word 📣

🔎 Looking for a 1-year postdoctoral research associate to support @sensory-lives-prj.bsky.social & UK-wide tour of a playhouse tent communicating neurodivergent children’s experiences of Temporary Accommodation.

🛜 www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOL488/p...

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Reposted by Katherine Brickell

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 5h

Phillipson presses Starmer and Reeves to abolish two-child benefit cap in full

Exclusive: education secretary tells the Guardian scrapping limit entirely in November’s budget most cost-effective way to tackle child poverty Bridget Phillipson is pushing the prime minister and chancellor to scrap the two-child benefit cap entirely in next month’s budget, with the education secretary telling the Guardian the evidence is clear that it needs to be removed. Phillipson, who is finalising a report to Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves on child poverty, said abolishing the cap was the most cost effective way to make lives better for young disadvantaged people. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Katherine Brickell

Brian Goldstone @brian-goldstone.bsky.social · 1d

An interviewer asked me about America's "cost of living crisis," and I was struck again by how casually we've let such profoundly nightmarish phrases slip into our everyday lexicon.

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Reposted by Jonathan Portes, Katherine Brickell

Alison McGovern @allymcgovern.bsky.social · 1d

We cannot accept this.

news.sky.com/story/abject...

'Abject failure' as UK's homeless deaths rise - including children

The government's homelessness minister, Alison McGovern MP, has described the increased number of deaths as an "abject failure that cannot be tolerated".

news.sky.com

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Prof Katherine Brickell @kbrickell.bsky.social · 1d

It felt a career highlight to meet Liz Davies KC from @gardencourtlaw.bsky.social to discuss the legal implications of my research on domestic abuse, rent arrears, and housing allocations.

Together with @cihhousing.bsky.social we are drafting a best practice guide for local authorities + HAs.

Reposted by Benjamin Mason Meier, Stacy D. VanDeveer, Katherine Brickell

Sarah J. Jackson @sjjphd.bsky.social · 1d

Discussing this phenomenon w/ a group of profs. Someone morbidly joked, “& northern profs are fleeing the country.” The next person said…”even if we were all willing & able to abandon this place there are not enough jobs for us globally and the U.S. employs a huge # of international scholars too.”

‘Fear and hopelessness’: study finds one in four professors consider leaving US south

Survey by American Association of Professors shows nearly quarter of respondents are switching due to states’s politics

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Katherine Brickell

Pharmacist on a Pushbike @ppushbike.bsky.social · 2d

A play facility that was paid for by community fundraising has been demolished because residents complained about the noise.

They should be ashamed of themselves

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

Council demolishes play area after noise complaints - BBC News

Parents in a Derbyshire town say their children are 'devastated' they have lost the facility.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Reposted by Katherine Brickell

Phil Hubbard @gypjh2000.bsky.social · 2d

I'm cited in here about the role of upscale student accommodation in the crisis of housing affordability in our major cities www.timeshighereducation.com/news/ultra-v... #housing #gentrification www.nospacelikehome.study

‘Ultra-volatile’ enrolments cause ‘turbulence’ in student housing

Developers fear ‘glory days’ of non-stop building over as some areas face over-supply problems while city centre overcrowding intensifies

www.timeshighereducation.com

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Prof Katherine Brickell @kbrickell.bsky.social · 3d

Carpet poverty: 'I cried when I saw our new home had bare and uneven floorboards'

And as my research shows, debt also 'greets' tenants moving in social housing given the costs of flooring
www.debt-trap-nation.org/book

Put flooring in The Decent Home Standard!

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

Carpet poverty: 'I cried when I saw our new home had bare floors'

Kassie lives in social housing, where landlords do not have to provide flooring in the bedrooms.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Reposted by Katherine Brickell

Tom Western @tomwestern.bsky.social · 3d

This year's Claire Dwyer lecture @uclgeography.bsky.social is with Dr Shabna Begum (@runnymedetrust.bsky.social) – reflecting on the 60th anniversary of the Race Relations Act of 1965

Tuesday 25 Nov, tickets below

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-2025-c...

The 2025 Claire Dwyer Lecture: Dr Shabna Begum

Eventbrite - UCL Department of Geography presents The 2025 Claire Dwyer Lecture: Dr Shabna Begum - Tuesday, November 25, 2025 at Common Ground, London, England. Find event and ticket information.

www.eventbrite.co.uk

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Reposted by Susan J. Smith, John Hogan, Katherine Brickell , and 1 more Susan J. Smith, John Hogan, Katherine Brickell, Ian Bruff

Agenda Publishing @agendapub.bsky.social · 6d

“A chilling and eye-opening exposé... gives voice to those living at the sharpest edge of austerity and makes an irrefutable case for change.”

@graceblakeley.substack.com on 'Debt Trap Nation' by
@kbrickell.bsky.social & Mel Nowicki (out next week).

uk.bookshop.org/p/books/debt...

#housing #debt

Photo of a pile of books. The books are 'Debt Trap Nation' by Katherine Brickell and Mel Nowicki. Cover image features a woman and small child in a deep concrete basin or pit with no way of climbing out as the ladder is too short.

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Reposted by Katherine Brickell

Brian Goldstone @brian-goldstone.bsky.social · 7d

Truly moved and thankful for this remarkably generous, in-depth review in @nybooks.com.

"The great virtue of There Is No Place for Us is its refusal to look away from the disheartening reality it depicts, or from the depth and pervasiveness of the problem and the pain it causes people."

The Homeless We Don’t See | Jay Neugeboren

As housing costs have risen and affordable housing remains in short supply, even Americans with full-time job are experiencing homelessness.

www.nybooks.com

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Reposted by Katherine Brickell, Ben Anderson

TIBG @tibg.bsky.social · 8d

📢New issue of TIBG📢

Transactions' September Issue features two interventions on environmental crisis & geographies of creativity, 21 papers, and two commentaries on the war in Ukraine.

22/25 pieces are #OpenAccess and available to read here⬇️

rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14755661...

A graphic showing the title page of Transactions on a read background with TIBG in large letters on the right hand page. On the left hand page are eight tiles with 2 interventions and 6 standard articles, with the names of papers in the issue.

1) 'On limit and love in times of environmental crises' by Ihnji Jon
2) 'Geographies of creativity/creative geographies' by Pat Noxolo
3) '‘My body was no longer a problem’: Electric mountain biking, disability, and the cultural politics of green exercise' by Jim Cherrington & James Brighton
4) '‘A wonderful day and a wonderful crossing!’: Internment (im)mobilities, ambivalence, and the residual tourist gaze in Second World War Britain' by Michael Holden & Peter Adey
5) '‘Smartness’ narratives: A critical discourse analysis of smart eldercare in urban China' by Yi Yu
6) 'Critique beyond relation: The stakes of working with the negative, the void and the abyss' by David Chandler & Jonathan Pugh
7) 'Poetics in the work of three urban photographers: Love for the chaotic city from the site of urban rooftops' by Paulina Nordstrom
8) 'Places as refrains: A non-constructive alternative to assemblage thinking' by Peter Merriman

A graphic showing the title page of Transactions on a read background with TIBG in large letters on the right hand page. On the left hand page are nine tiles with standard articles, with the names of papers in the issue.

1) Climate change, bodies and diplomacy: Performing watery futures in Tuvalu
Liam Saddington
2) Digital animal deathscapes: The online circulation of animals killed for conservation
Alexandra Palmer
3) The medium is the message: The geographies of cryptocurrency remittances to Venezuela
Daniel Robins
4) ‘One school, two systems’: Navigating the geographies of alternative education in an elite primary school in China
Zhenjie Yuan, Huiyu Xie, Hong Zhu
5) Translating India to India: Travelling translations, Patanjali Ayurveda, and the visual language of spiritual consumerism
Raksha Pande, Alastair Bonnett
6) Urban political ecologies of sewage surveillance: Creating vital and valuable public health data from wastewater
7) Constructive (in)visibility and the trafficking industrial complex: Leveraging borders for exploitation
Audrey Lumley-Sapanski, Katarina Schwarz
8) Translations, translocations, and pluralism: A transnational and multilingual analysis of the circulation of radical geographical knowledge
Federico Ferretti
9) From biopower to affirmative biopolitics: A (bio)political ecology of becoming with wolves
Valerio Donfrancesco, Chris Sandbrook

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Reposted by Lesley A. Hall, Katherine Brickell

Ruth Holliday @ruthholliday.bsky.social · 8d

Rape crisis centres are closing due to lack of funds. Violent misogyny is skyrocketing online and off. But gender based violence is only weaponized against migrants and trans women, never tackled and taken seriously in its own right. apple.news/AjjROSc0kSGS...

Top cop warns of 'distraction' from threat facing women — Sky News

Helen Millichap told Sky News that the

apple.news

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Reposted by Margot C. Finn, Katherine Brickell

The British Academy @britishacademy.bsky.social · 9d

Applications for the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and The British Academy Knowledge Frontiers Symposium 2026 are now open. The application deadline is 29 October. Find out more: https://bit.ly/4nyWsmv

Graphic that reads ‘The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and The British Academy Knowledge Frontiers Symposium’

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Reposted by Helen King, Katherine Brickell

Wolfson History Prize @wolfsonhistory.bsky.social · 9d

We're excited to reveal the #WolfsonHistoryPrize 2025 shortlist, celebrating the finest historical non-fiction works from the past year.

Congratulations to all the shortlisted authors! 👏📚

www.wolfsonhistoryprize.org.uk/2025-wolfson...

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Reposted by Katherine Brickell, Nikki Fairchild

Reposted by Stuart Elden, Katherine Brickell

Dr Anna Lawrence @annamlawrence.bsky.social · 10d

Pleased to share the first two RGS-IBG Book Series titles to be published fully open access with @lsepress.bsky.social, available early 2026...

@laurieparsons.bsky.social
@jbrigstocke.bsky.social

press.lse.ac.uk/books/coming...

A book cover for Julian Brigstocke's forthcoming book 'Non-Authoritarian Authority: Cities, Materially and the Aesthetics of Power' published by LSE Press and the RGS-IBG, with a black and white aerial photograph of a large crowd in the background.

A book cover for Laurie Parson's forthcoming book 'Climate Hegemony: Confronting the Politics of Environmental Impasse' published by LSE Press and the RGS-IBG, with a black and white photograph of three people riding on a scooter above a body of water filled with litter.

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Reposted by John Hogan, Els Torreele, Katherine Brickell

Grace Blakeley @graceblakeley.substack.com · 10d

"Ending the housing crisis requires attacking one of the foundations of neoliberal capitalism: the idea that we are all little, budding capitalists just waiting for the opportunity to invest in financial markets."

graceblakeley.substack.com/p/building-m...

Building More Won't Fix the Housing Crisis

Housing has become a financial asset that generates vast gains for the wealthy.

graceblakeley.substack.com

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Reposted by Steve Peers, Alison Phipps, Katherine Brickell

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 10d

Stop blaming migrants and tackle UK’s real problems, 100 charities tell home secretary

A letter warns Shabana Mahmood that ‘targeting refugees will do nothing to tackle’ problems with housing and the NHS More than 100 charities have sent a letter to the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, calling for an end to the “scapegoating of migrants”. The letter, sent before her speech at the Labour party conference in Liverpool on Monday afternoon, was coordinated by Refugee Action and signed by 105 organisations from a wide range of sectors – including Save the Children, Mind, Oxfam, Shelter, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, as well as dozens of migrant and anti-racism charities. It has also been signed by the PCS union, which represents Border Force workers. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Katherine Brickell

Raider @iwillnotbesilenced.bsky.social · 11d

Children left short of clean water and sleep amid ‘prolonged’ detention by Ice, watchdog groups allege

Legal experts speak of ‘cruel’ and harmful deprivations for families held in Texas immigration facility

Children left short of clean water and sleep amid ‘prolonged’ detention by Ice, watchdog groups allege

Legal experts speak of ‘cruel’ and harmful deprivations for families held in Texas immigration facility

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Katherine Brickell

The New York Review of Books @nybooks.com · 11d

Do Ho Suh is “best known for making replicas of places he has lived: architectural spaces in fabric or paper that are extraordinary feats of magical engineering.” —Adam Thirlwell

When and Where Is Home? | Adam Thirlwell

The South Korean artist Do Ho Suh’s replicas of places he has lived are extraordinary feats of magical engineering.

buff.ly

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Reposted by Michiel van Meeteren, Katherine Brickell

Pete Apps @peteapps.bsky.social · 11d

Labour is pitching the New Towns announcement today as a return to the "transformative post-war housing boom under Clement Attlee".

Actually it looks much more like housing policy under Blair, or even Thatcher and Boris Johnson (thread)

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Reposted by Katherine Brickell

Julia Peter @jules-p.bsky.social · 14d

On Oct 1, @debtcollective.bsky.social is taking on one of the country's biggest landlords by launching:

⚡ Debt Strike: Brave individuals who owe back-rent will collectively refuse to pay.

⚡ A new tool for renters to fight debt + junk fees

Debtors are organizing. RSVP: bit.ly/DebtStrike2025

Debt Strike! Abolish Corporate Landlords & Build Tenant Power

The rent is too damn high — and corporate landlords are to blame! Join the Debt Collective as we make a huge announcement: we’re launching a national Back-Rent Debt Strike against the fifth largest…

bit.ly

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Prof Katherine Brickell @kbrickell.bsky.social · 14d

I saw this stand recently in Dunelm and just found it intensely sad. Is it just me?

"Landlord friendly". "Damage-free". At what emotional cost to tenants? Tenants are so often not allowed to put anything on walls, to make home, as they would wish.

Reposted by Maria Abreu, Katherine Brickell

Pete Apps @peteapps.bsky.social · 14d

When I was born, you could buy a house in east London with a modest, irregular income.

Now, it costs £1,000 a month to rent a room in one on the same street.

What on earth happened? My new book Homesick is out today - read an extract here:

peteapps.substack.com/p/homesick-h...

Homesick: how housing broke London and how to fix it

My new book is out today! Here is an extract of the introduction.

peteapps.substack.com

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Reposted by Sarah Marie Hall, Katherine Brickell, Ian Bruff

The Geographical Journal @thegj.bsky.social · 14d

Special Section in The GJ:

'Legacies of Austerity', edited by @smhall.bsky.social & @sanvanlan.bsky.social

This #OpenAccess collection explores how the lens of legacies can be applied to understand austerity's effects in Europe. Available here⬇️

rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/toc/10.1...

A blue tile with a quote from the editorial introduction to the 'Legacies of Austerity' Special Section by S. van Lanen & S.M. Hall (2025): "As political discourse transforms and the period of fierce austerity implementation moves into history, we believe critical geographers should remain attentive to its traces in everyday practices, policy realities and material conditions. To imagine alternative futures, austerity's legacies should not be forgotten".

A blue tile sharing the titles of 8 open access papers within the 'Legacies of Austerity' Special Section:
1) 'Legacies of Austerity: Editorial Introduction' by Sander van Lanen & Sarah Marie Hall
2) 'Family Hubs and the vulnerable care ecologies of child and family welfare in austerity' by Tom Disney et al.
3) 'Relational legacies and relative experiences: Austerity, inequality and access to special educational needs and disability (SEND) support in London, England' by Rosalie Warnock
4) 'Lived experiences of utilities-based indebtedness in Greece: Tracing the afterlives of austerity' by Aliki Koutlou
5) 'Grassroots temporary urbanism as a challenge to the city of austerity? Lessons from a self-organised park in Thessaloniki, Greece' by Matina Kapsali
6) 'De-municipalisation? Legacies of austerity for England's urban parks' by Andrew Smith et al.
7) 'Austerity's afterlives? The case of community asset transfer in the UK' by Neil Turnbull
8) 'Austere futures: From hardship to hope?' by Julie MacLeavy

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Reposted by Katherine Brickell

News from UKRI-funded project "No space like home?" @nospacelikehome.bsky.social · 15d

Can microapartments be the answer to HMOs proliferating in areas of 'family' housing? Or does preventing the development of smaller homes push residents into HMO sector? Whatever, HMO in the news again, this time in Liverpool:
#microapartment #floorplan #HMO #planning www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Liverpool City Council plans crackdown on 'HMO sandwiches'

City leaders in Liverpool want to stop residential homes finding themselves sandwiched between HMOs.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Reposted by Katherine Brickell

Housing Inclusion Hackney @housinginclusion.bsky.social · 15d

Leaked email: council told NHS to stop writing housing support letters for disabled kids. Families left in unsafe homes deliberately. Surely this isn’t lawful?

#whovotedforthis #housingcrisis #send #hackneycouncil #nhs #homestothrivenotsurvive

whovotedforthis.buzzsprout.com/2414550/epis...

Council tells NHS to stop writing support letters for disabled children who desperately need rehousing - Who voted for this

In this episode, we look at an extraordinary email that a senior health professional just sent to me.The email says that a Hackney council officer met with health and medical staff, and told them to s...

whovotedforthis.buzzsprout.com

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Reposted by Ian Bruff

Prof Katherine Brickell @kbrickell.bsky.social · 15d

👀 Check out our new events page for our book "Debt Trap Nation: Family Homelessness in a Failing State" www.debt-trap-nation.org/events

🌹 First up is a Labour Party Conference fringe event on Tuesday – Mel Nowicki will be in conversation with MP Siobhain McDonagh and Francesca Albanese from Crisis

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Reposted by Katherine Brickell

Eric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 17d

For no particular reason whatsoever, I wrote a whole book about why society should stop trying to cure #ActuallyAutistic people and instead focus more on creating a better world and society for them. You can buy it here.
www.harpercollins.com/products/wer...

We're Not Broken

“This book is a message from autistic people to their parents, friends, teachers, coworkers and doctors showing what life is like on the spectrum. It’s also...

www.harpercollins.com

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