Matthew Cole
@mattcole.bsky.social
Assistant Professor of Technology, Work and Employment at the University of Sussex.
Heterodox Marxist - Les dés sont pipés!
mattcole.work
Heterodox Marxist - Les dés sont pipés!
mattcole.work
Pinned
Matthew Cole
@mattcole.bsky.social
· Oct 13
My first book, *Unpaid: the Past, Present and Future of Wage Theft*, will be published by @versobooks.bsky.social in May, 2026!
This book is born from experience. It is written for anyone who is dissatisfied with the capitalist wage system.
UK pre-order: www.waterstones.com/book/unpaid/...
This book is born from experience. It is written for anyone who is dissatisfied with the capitalist wage system.
UK pre-order: www.waterstones.com/book/unpaid/...
Reposted by Matthew Cole
BREAKING: Judiciary refuses to explain last minute removal of judge in Palestine Action legal challenge, leading to accusations of a “stitch-up”
Removal of judge in Palestine Action ban legal challenge ‘deeply concerning’
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Removal of judge in Palestine Action ban legal challenge ‘deeply concerning’
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Removal of judge in Palestine Action ban legal challenge ‘deeply concerning’
Unusual last-minute change means panel of three will now hear case rather than Mr Justice Chamberlain
www.theguardian.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:52 PM
BREAKING: Judiciary refuses to explain last minute removal of judge in Palestine Action legal challenge, leading to accusations of a “stitch-up”
Removal of judge in Palestine Action ban legal challenge ‘deeply concerning’
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Removal of judge in Palestine Action ban legal challenge ‘deeply concerning’
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Reposted by Matthew Cole
Imagine coming up with a proposal so stupid, so unworkable, so thoughtless, that it makes Robert Jenrick look sane by comparison.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Jury trials could be scrapped except in most serious cases
Only cases of alleged murder, rape or manslaughter will be decided by a jury under new proposals to cut court backlogs.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 25, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Imagine coming up with a proposal so stupid, so unworkable, so thoughtless, that it makes Robert Jenrick look sane by comparison.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Sometimes I wish someone else could just deal with the R&Rs. It’s such a pain in the ass. I much prefer to just develop new ideas, rather than pander to a handful of anonymous people each with their own particular axe to grind or cottage industry to defend.
November 25, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Sometimes I wish someone else could just deal with the R&Rs. It’s such a pain in the ass. I much prefer to just develop new ideas, rather than pander to a handful of anonymous people each with their own particular axe to grind or cottage industry to defend.
I like how this government really thinks outside the box.
November 25, 2025 at 12:21 PM
I like how this government really thinks outside the box.
Reposted by Matthew Cole
4pm today UK time
Resisting GenAI and Big Tech in Higher Education - Tuesday 25th Nov, free registration, great panel, big focus on climate justice. Register here: lmula.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
November 25, 2025 at 12:07 PM
4pm today UK time
And yet Labour won’t nationalise the water companies.
Spineless.
Spineless.
One in seven English bathing spots rated as polluted in latest testing
One in seven English bathing spots rated as polluted in latest testing
Scarborough and Bognor Regis among places where water is so polluted it is not recommended for swimming
One in seven (13%) of England’s bathing waters are rated as polluted, and one in 14 so polluted they are not recommended for swimming.
Famous beaches including Bognor Regis, Scarborough’s South Bay and Littlehaven Beach in South Shields were all rated “poor” in the latest classifications from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), which means they are not recommended for swimming. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 25, 2025 at 10:34 AM
And yet Labour won’t nationalise the water companies.
Spineless.
Spineless.
Reposted by Matthew Cole
🚨Workshop Announcement🚨
THE GROUNDS OF PLANNING:
RATIONALITY, PSEUDORATIONALITY, AND CRITIQUE
Keynotes by John O'Neill and Aaron Benanav
December 4-5, 2025
Grimm-Zentrum Auditorium, Berlin
organised by the Centre for Social Critique, HU Berlin
criticaltheoryinberlin.de/event/the-gr...
THE GROUNDS OF PLANNING:
RATIONALITY, PSEUDORATIONALITY, AND CRITIQUE
Keynotes by John O'Neill and Aaron Benanav
December 4-5, 2025
Grimm-Zentrum Auditorium, Berlin
organised by the Centre for Social Critique, HU Berlin
criticaltheoryinberlin.de/event/the-gr...
October 17, 2025 at 1:15 PM
🚨Workshop Announcement🚨
THE GROUNDS OF PLANNING:
RATIONALITY, PSEUDORATIONALITY, AND CRITIQUE
Keynotes by John O'Neill and Aaron Benanav
December 4-5, 2025
Grimm-Zentrum Auditorium, Berlin
organised by the Centre for Social Critique, HU Berlin
criticaltheoryinberlin.de/event/the-gr...
THE GROUNDS OF PLANNING:
RATIONALITY, PSEUDORATIONALITY, AND CRITIQUE
Keynotes by John O'Neill and Aaron Benanav
December 4-5, 2025
Grimm-Zentrum Auditorium, Berlin
organised by the Centre for Social Critique, HU Berlin
criticaltheoryinberlin.de/event/the-gr...
The tag line reads like AI, the click-bait title is annoying, and the left is more than Gary Stevenson and @zackpolanski.bsky.social, but a wealth tax on its own won’t fix Britain.
We need to be far more ambitious, particularly around “predistribution” through rebuilding worker bargaining power.
We need to be far more ambitious, particularly around “predistribution” through rebuilding worker bargaining power.
What does the left want? A wealth tax. What will that accomplish? Very little | Aditya Chakrabortty
What does the left want? A wealth tax. What will that accomplish? Very little | Aditya Chakrabortty
Imposing a 1% levy on the super-rich isn’t a policy, it’s pantomime. Tackling inequality in Britain will require much more far-reaching changes, says Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty
www.theguardian.com
November 20, 2025 at 9:13 AM
The tag line reads like AI, the click-bait title is annoying, and the left is more than Gary Stevenson and @zackpolanski.bsky.social, but a wealth tax on its own won’t fix Britain.
We need to be far more ambitious, particularly around “predistribution” through rebuilding worker bargaining power.
We need to be far more ambitious, particularly around “predistribution” through rebuilding worker bargaining power.
well this is fucked isn’t it
November 20, 2025 at 9:02 AM
well this is fucked isn’t it
Couldn’t have said it better myself. This is a key argument of my book coming out May 2026 with @versobooks.bsky.social
November 20, 2025 at 9:01 AM
Couldn’t have said it better myself. This is a key argument of my book coming out May 2026 with @versobooks.bsky.social
Reposted by Matthew Cole
'Contrainte Muette' is out now from @editionssanssoleil.bsky.social. Thanks to @prada-meinhof.bsky.social and Camilla Brenni for the excellent translation, and to Léa Gallon for the beautiful design 💙
November 19, 2025 at 7:38 PM
'Contrainte Muette' is out now from @editionssanssoleil.bsky.social. Thanks to @prada-meinhof.bsky.social and Camilla Brenni for the excellent translation, and to Léa Gallon for the beautiful design 💙
Reposted by Matthew Cole
Some great charts on #AI from the Wall Street Journal. t.ly/xvvbw "AI products would have to create an additional $650 billion a year, indefinitely, to give investors a reasonable 10% annual return. That’s more than 150% of Apple’s yearly revenue"
November 16, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Some great charts on #AI from the Wall Street Journal. t.ly/xvvbw "AI products would have to create an additional $650 billion a year, indefinitely, to give investors a reasonable 10% annual return. That’s more than 150% of Apple’s yearly revenue"
Just heard a landlord on BBC radio four saying the renters reform bill is like targeting a whole race of people [landlords] who will suffer.
I can’t imagine a more landlord thing to say than that. Astounding.
I can’t imagine a more landlord thing to say than that. Astounding.
November 14, 2025 at 6:59 AM
Just heard a landlord on BBC radio four saying the renters reform bill is like targeting a whole race of people [landlords] who will suffer.
I can’t imagine a more landlord thing to say than that. Astounding.
I can’t imagine a more landlord thing to say than that. Astounding.
Anyone who cares at all about ensuring future generations know how to think on their own, how to reason and develop their cognitive abilities, should be absolutely opposed to allowing generative AI for any kind of writing. It should be banned in all schools.
www.media.mit.edu/publications...
www.media.mit.edu/publications...
November 12, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Anyone who cares at all about ensuring future generations know how to think on their own, how to reason and develop their cognitive abilities, should be absolutely opposed to allowing generative AI for any kind of writing. It should be banned in all schools.
www.media.mit.edu/publications...
www.media.mit.edu/publications...
Typos are a sign of authenticity in writing against Gen-AI
November 8, 2025 at 11:17 AM
Typos are a sign of authenticity in writing against Gen-AI
Petition for everyone to stop using Gen-AI to write.
Anyone who has played around with it can tell its style, particularly the overuse of these “ —“ and it’s just offensive and embarrassing to see people sharing text like this now.
Anyone who has played around with it can tell its style, particularly the overuse of these “ —“ and it’s just offensive and embarrassing to see people sharing text like this now.
November 6, 2025 at 11:09 AM
Petition for everyone to stop using Gen-AI to write.
Anyone who has played around with it can tell its style, particularly the overuse of these “ —“ and it’s just offensive and embarrassing to see people sharing text like this now.
Anyone who has played around with it can tell its style, particularly the overuse of these “ —“ and it’s just offensive and embarrassing to see people sharing text like this now.
Reposted by Matthew Cole
I’m in this week’s @newstatesman1913.bsky.social with a review of Holly Smith’s brilliant history of house rise council housing in Britain, Up in the Air
www.newstatesman.com/culture/book...
www.newstatesman.com/culture/book...
Repopulating the high-rises
A new history of Britain’s tower blocks reveals the ways architecture and ideology have combined to ensure residents are always forgotten
www.newstatesman.com
November 6, 2025 at 11:07 AM
I’m in this week’s @newstatesman1913.bsky.social with a review of Holly Smith’s brilliant history of house rise council housing in Britain, Up in the Air
www.newstatesman.com/culture/book...
www.newstatesman.com/culture/book...
Time to make the billionaires scream
November 5, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Time to make the billionaires scream
Reposted by Matthew Cole
This is especially rich given that Wiley's "AI Guidelines for Researchers" makes a point of urging authors to "protect your content while using AI". What they mean is: "make sure no other AI company gets hold of your IP, because then we can't use it ourselves."
www.wiley.com/en-us/publis...
www.wiley.com/en-us/publis...
November 3, 2025 at 6:58 PM
This is especially rich given that Wiley's "AI Guidelines for Researchers" makes a point of urging authors to "protect your content while using AI". What they mean is: "make sure no other AI company gets hold of your IP, because then we can't use it ourselves."
www.wiley.com/en-us/publis...
www.wiley.com/en-us/publis...
Absolutely fucked that I now have to consent to an AI scanning my data to improve Wiley’s systems in order to publish in a top journal.
As if they don’t profit enough from hosting my intellectual property. My data is now a training pipeline.
As if they don’t profit enough from hosting my intellectual property. My data is now a training pipeline.
November 3, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Absolutely fucked that I now have to consent to an AI scanning my data to improve Wiley’s systems in order to publish in a top journal.
As if they don’t profit enough from hosting my intellectual property. My data is now a training pipeline.
As if they don’t profit enough from hosting my intellectual property. My data is now a training pipeline.
Cutting the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program could make 16 million children and 28 million adults go hungry in the United States.
It is violent and I 💯 percent expect it to be met with violence.
www.npr.org/2025/10/24/n...
It is violent and I 💯 percent expect it to be met with violence.
www.npr.org/2025/10/24/n...
'Uncharted territory': Ongoing shutdown threatens food aid for 42 million people
SNAP, the country's largest anti-hunger program, dates back to the Great Depression and has never been disrupted this way. Most recipients are seniors, families with kids, and those with disabilities.
www.npr.org
October 28, 2025 at 11:42 AM
Cutting the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program could make 16 million children and 28 million adults go hungry in the United States.
It is violent and I 💯 percent expect it to be met with violence.
www.npr.org/2025/10/24/n...
It is violent and I 💯 percent expect it to be met with violence.
www.npr.org/2025/10/24/n...
Reposted by Matthew Cole
what exactly are university managers doing, when they put pressure on staff to dedicate months of their time applying for these?
After submitting a FOIA request UKRI, I obtained success rates by three grant call scheme and I can only say that I am disheartened by the results:
- AHRC Responsive Mode 2025: 2%
- ESRC New Investigator Grant 2025: 1%
- ESRC Research Grant Round 2025: 1%
- AHRC Responsive Mode 2025: 2%
- ESRC New Investigator Grant 2025: 1%
- ESRC Research Grant Round 2025: 1%
October 23, 2025 at 11:31 AM
what exactly are university managers doing, when they put pressure on staff to dedicate months of their time applying for these?
Reposted by Matthew Cole
bernard stiegler rules so hard bc his books are like:
"if the technical system of production is guided bu the economic system which is guided by the short term financial system, we may see terminal breakdowns in the "honestly giving a shit about any of this" system, which would be bad."
"if the technical system of production is guided bu the economic system which is guided by the short term financial system, we may see terminal breakdowns in the "honestly giving a shit about any of this" system, which would be bad."
October 22, 2025 at 1:15 PM
bernard stiegler rules so hard bc his books are like:
"if the technical system of production is guided bu the economic system which is guided by the short term financial system, we may see terminal breakdowns in the "honestly giving a shit about any of this" system, which would be bad."
"if the technical system of production is guided bu the economic system which is guided by the short term financial system, we may see terminal breakdowns in the "honestly giving a shit about any of this" system, which would be bad."
Quite a bit of what passes for laudable contemporary ‘scene’ literature is comprised of some of the most truly vapid, myopic and boring fucking stories I’ve ever had the displeasure of attempting to read.
October 22, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Quite a bit of what passes for laudable contemporary ‘scene’ literature is comprised of some of the most truly vapid, myopic and boring fucking stories I’ve ever had the displeasure of attempting to read.
Does anyone have a list of independent and or radical bookstores in the United States?
Please share or link me in the replies
Please share or link me in the replies
October 21, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Does anyone have a list of independent and or radical bookstores in the United States?
Please share or link me in the replies
Please share or link me in the replies