The date had been announced: #coffeeneur season 2025 starts on 11th October. chasingmailboxes.com/2025/09/19/c...
Geographer - Professor - Mum - Playing - #playstreets - Cycling - #kidicalmass - #WarOnCars - Walking - Noticing - Green - North Tyneside - North Shields - UK
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The date had been announced: #coffeeneur season 2025 starts on 11th October. chasingmailboxes.com/2025/09/19/c...
Tempted to have a go at this this year; nice way to make an effort to get out on some autumnal days.
The financial realities of university life for some students; how do we imagine this funding system is fair, or conducive to a positive university experience for many?
"Britain must burn more fossil fuels and bills must rise in order to power the robot that'll fire everyone. How else will I afford my next private island?"
Als ik ooit de baas van dit land word, gaan we weer fanatiek speelplastieken maken.
đClimate change-driven summer heat led to an additional 16,500 deaths in 854 European cities, a new study led by the Grantham Institute and the @lshtm.bsky.social estimates 𧔠Watch Dr @clairbarnes.bsky.social from @ic-cep.bsky.social & @gkonstantinoudis.bsky.social explain the findings.
This âŹïž Which pretty much goes for everything these days.
Heat deaths. Let that sink in. This should be a wake-up call. It's the job of govts across the world to keep their citizens safe. Instead, from continuing oil and gas drilling to dragging their feet on making our homes and workplaces safe from extreme weather, they're failing.
If you're in London today, then there's plenty of opportunities to show Mr Trump that he's not welcome. If you miss the march, then come along to the rally in Parliament Square at 5 instead and make some noise.
Almost 900 fewer people have been injured on Welsh roads since the default speed limit was lowered from 30 to 20mph two years ago Casualties on 20 to 30mph roads between July and September 2024 were the lowest for the three month-period since records began in 1979 đ Evidence-led policy
The article ends with a call for action for against Tommy Robinson on Sept 27th: âWhat we need on a national level is we need every region to mobilise on behalf of the NE. This is a national-level threat, and it needs to be treated that way by the rest of the country.â
Disturbing stuff on the far right in the north east: âThis stuff used to be fringe but now itâs embedded into society, that energyâs everywhere, and theyâre trying to capture it and organise it on the street.â
How to welcome a bumper crop of new Geography students -
FOR WEDNESDAY: Here is the route of the march against Trump & the far right GATHER: 2pm Portland Place (BBC) MARCH: at 3pm RALLY: 5pm at Parliament Square!!
TLDR: Make racism shameful again. While youâre at it add fascism too.
We are at this stage where people, especially politicians and some journalists, are refusing to fact check the bollocks which is spouted, let alone call it out for what it is, racism. There's no excuse for not genuinely educating yourself at this point. 6/
www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-e...
Lots of flags and flag graffiti round here in the expected parts of North Tyneside, plus some grim âStop the Boatsâ on prominent walls (e.g. visible from Coast Rd).
Fair enough! I know how precious child-free time can be. Hope you enjoy the walk - and the other days.
You could do the full circle if you have enough time, head west on the north bank, cross at the Millennium Bridge/Baltic and head back east along the south bank, then through the pedestrian tunnel or across the ferry back to Tynemouth.
Boys on bikes, Toxteth, Liverpool, 1974, photo by Tricia Porter.
Popped into a local âscarecrow festivalâ. More than ever, it was difficult to judge between reverence & irreverence. More than one Trump, but also 2 Ozzies, a Freddie, a Very Hungry Caterpillar, Jeremy Clarkson, a drunk woman at a bus stop & more. My favourite the little dumpy scarecrow on his own.
Iâm not a clubber, but that so much good stuff is happening in North Shields (this, the mural trail, town centre improvements, etc) gives me hope amidst the crap. www.theguardian.com/music/2025/s...
After the rivers of blood speech, precisely no one in the major parties patted themselves on the back and declared free speech to be alive and well. They declared Powell a pariah, and he was only able to re-emerge in public life as the incongruous unionist MP for South Down.
I despair.
Absolutely agree with this. I know many folk have already been doing anti-fascist organising but this needs to be *everyone out*: workers, trade unions, students, religious & community groups... The crisis is now. đš
Our graffiti reporting page now has options for racism and flags, but weâll see how long it takes for the Stop the Boats graffiti it reported yesterday to be removedâŠ
A vague and ineffectual response from my local council, focused on damage and safety rather than racism and offence, and even worse (obviously) from the local Tories. All this despite the appearance of âStop the Boatsâ graffiti on our streets. And âartworkâ đ www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-e...
The actual group moving most strongly to Reform are male Gen X-ers. We need more articles on how to deal with them.
Shot, chaser Young men more likely to vote Green than Reform. Young men second most progressive group of any demographic. Combined right-wing vote barely bigger than Green vote alone for young men
You can report graffiti to NTC here. Thereâs even a tickbox for flags (and for racist and offensive graffiti). my.northtyneside.gov.uk/category/262...
Sky News says police are "overwhelmed by the numbers". Met coped perfectly well with 2x as many at the pro-Gaza rally, 5x as many at the anti-Brexit march, and 15x as many at London Pride. They're not overwhelmed by the numbers. They're overwhelmed by the ratio of violent thugs in those numbers.
Passed on to us by some dear friends. Be there if you can! Help us spread the word đŽ
This is clearly incitement. "Fight" is not figurative here. It's literal.
The scenes on our streets are shameful consequences of decades of austerity - government after government fanning the flames of anti migration instead of tackling inequality. We can & must make different choices. Solidarity to all communities under attack. We stand together.
Bath's streets are better when filled with bikes, trikes and laughter! đ #KidicalMass #SafeStreetsNow
Very much still not finished (and it seems to all be taking a very long time) but, as the planting progresses, itâs finally possible to get a bit of idea of what North Shieldsâ Bedford St might look like when all the renovations are complete.
Removing racist displays in one city = the cost of 12,000 hours of social care.
Telegraph headline feels inflammatory - there's no tearing, just careful removal of a flag from a grade 1 listed historic monument that belongs to the nation.
"I cycled to school when I was a kid, and we didn't need fancy cycle lanes." Yeah, but there's three times more traffic than there was in 1973.. Twice as many cars as there was in 1982.. ..36% more traffic on urban minor roads than there was in 1994.. ..and cars were *way* smaller, and lighter.
With the phrase âunfunded hobbyist researchâ the new Universities UK President continues a much longer history of contempt that UUK has shown towards the labour of all those who work in universities
Notre ville change ! Nos rues sont peu à peu rendues aux habitants, de nouveaux arbres sont plantés et les promenades facilitées et sécurisées. C'est le cas de la rue Chaptal dans le 9e ou celle du Docteur-LecÚne dans le 13e !
Yeah, that kind of came out of nowhere.
This is really good to see from @nataliegreenpeer.bsky.social, especially the recognition that âinformal play spaces and child-friendly public spacesâ are as important as parks and playgrounds (in my opinion, more). Sufficient space for play is an issue of social, spatial & environmental justice.
Once I spotted the fireworks, yes! From the station I thought it was gunfire đ
I arrived - without giving it much thought - late in the evening on midsummer 2024 and was greeted by a fireworks display above Tivoli!
Agree with every word of this from @solveschoolrun.bsky.social âPublic, accessible and transparent data on how children are getting to school⊠would enable public awareness of the issues to grow and provide the scrutiny needed to hold authorities to account and drive progress.â
Absolutely astounded that the UCU and Unison branches at Kent and Greenwich were not consulted, and that staff only found out about the merger this morning via BBC news and Kent Online. Solidarity to all colleagues.
Paris cleaned up the Seine â and gave swimmers a new way to beat the heat. Will your city follow suit? | Helen Massy-Beresford
Major university merger announced. The start of a wave?
Pleased to have published some findings on the role of memory in play environments, in the Children, Youth and Environments journal. muse.jhu.edu/pub/579/arti... Please get in touch and I'm happy to send a copy along.
To be fair, notes from class do include consumer debt, roadbuilding and suburbanisation as impacts.
My daughter is learning about Fordism at school, so Iâm making sure she gets âcreating a car-dependent societyâ into her critical analysis.
Manchester transport strategy: make walking the natural transport choice Manchester pavements:
34 years ago the Meadow Well riots drew national attention to deep inequality in North Shields. Steve Conlanâs "Meadow Well: An English Estate" documents the community in the years before, showing daily life & resilienceâgiving a human story beyond the headlines. đ sidegallery.co.uk/collectio...
Investing in playgrounds is politically much more acceptable than investing in playable neighbourhoods, but research and past experience suggest that playable neighbourhoods (car-lite, safe, accessible, with diverse play affordances, etc.) are better for play, children, community, families, etc.
While I will always celebrate investment in play, I'm wary of the idea of "destination playgrounds" for all sorts of reasons. They are spaces for play which reify the idea of occasional, accompanied visits by car, not for ordinary, accessible, 'independent' play integrated into everyday life.
v1.108 is rolling out today đ Now live, at long last: Bookmarks, aka Saved Posts. For all those posts you'll definitely plan to come back to! Update the app and give it a try. The button is right down there đ
Yeah, isnât North Shields north of South Shields, not more Newcastle? This was my concern too.
Yeah, maybe it (literally) bridges the two cities. But, as a proud North Shields resident, what I object to most is the idea that Newcastle is north of South Shields. I get the run doesnât pass through, but this map obscures North Tyneside altogether.
Fair play, obviously đ
Perfect for our Geography at Newcastle induction next week đđ
Big positive, though, was to work with some fabulous colleagues in an act of collective solidarity, rejecting the divisive and competitive logic of redundancies. So thereâs that.
And, a reminder that the four-day week could be a productive and enabling norm. I donât know of any universities to trial a 4-day week, when youâd imagine theyâd be eminently suitable. bsky.app/profile/4day...
Four day weeks are definitely the way forward; I worked part-time for years and actually only went back to full-time a few years ago. I would have preferred to switch to four days in full pay though!
It was a tough decision and a tough process - and a destructive early summer, but, in all sorts of ways, Iâm going to make sure I revel in my days off.
Working with a bunch of amazing colleagues, I dropped my hours over the summer to avoid compulsory redundancies in our school as the university âresizedâ. I no longer work Mondays, so Iâm sat on the beach in the sun, as the DFDS ferry arrives from Amsterdam.
The 2nd of this genre in 2 days. The previous one included some tips on careful use of buy now pay later (BNPL) apps; this suggests sharing a room to cut rent. The emphasis is always on personal budgeting &limiting. Ridiculous gaslighting of young/students for whom life has been made unaffordable.
đČ "Cycling for all ages and mobilities", join us for our 3 webinars! 02.10 A. Rigal, EnquĂȘte sur la pratique du vĂ©lo entre 60 et 80 ans en France 06.11 I. Clement, Ensuring that Freedom to Cycle is accessible to all 27.11 Initiatives locales pour le vĂ©lo chez les sĂ©niors www.unil.ch/ouvema/fr/ho...
This could easily be describing any street or road outside of a UK school.
I dropped my phone! Itâs was very low and loud!
We happened to be on the beach at Tynemouth this afternoon when the Red Arrows flew over. Whilst we were watching these ones out to sea, one flew right overhead and gave me the fright of my life.
Thatâs crap. Hope youâre ok.
You survived! Well done! đ
Good luck, Keith! Will be thinking of you đđ
This just my phone attached to a good mount. Iâve never had an actual camera!
And here from the Links to St Maryâs, including the historic 1930s cycle path, which hasnât really been touched. Worst bits; two short steep sections, another section of seafront without separation, and side roads without cycle/ped priority. Otherwise again not bad. All in all, a good 4 miles.
More of North Tynesideâs completed âseafront sustainable routeâ; here heading north through Whitley Bay and the Links. Not bad at all, but more separation definitely needed on the approach to and around Spanish City. And lighting through the Links.
bsky.app/profile/sfro...
As I understand it, itâs a longitudinal study, intended to be illustrative rather than representative. I assume the academic paper explains more.
Important research underlining the many ways in which local authority policy making marginalises space for play (house building, finance, austerity, post-covid, Brexit, focus on physical activity, etc.) But some hope that âthoughtful planningâ can work. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
âCompared to their parentsâ generation, the amount of time todayâs children play outside has declined by 50%. But this downward trend doesnât have to be inevitable. Thoughtful planning, which listens to the voices of children and young people, can produce⊠environments where children can developâ
Apart from the BBC & Independent media coverage of our Rural Racsm report findings has been predictably abysmal, attempting to dismiss & discredit it rather than to engage with its serious, robust findings. You can read our reports here: le.ac.uk/hate-studies...
The scale of loss in UK Higher Education really is astonishing. Most of you can't see: only the actual redundancies (of which there are tens of thousands) really show up in the news. The real destruction goes far deeper. (1/2)
We fully support Chathill Rail Action Group on their campaign to improve rail services to rural Northumberland. Instead of dualling of the A1, which will do nothing to reduce traffic in the area, politicians should be focussed on local rail improvements. www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-e...
Doesnât this mean each city/region will have one university thatâs specialised in a narrow range of disciplines? Will it be, like, a discipline per region?
The swinging children appears again as an illustration to a piece about child poverty -
Our reports finally being acted onâŠ
I looked for a new one in Amsterdam in August but was only passing through Central Station so no luck (not that my existing 3 AH tote bags are wearing out in anyway).
Good luck, Stephen, with whatever comes next. I've really enjoyed your posts here and your IPPR - thank you!
Come to hear @dbornat.bsky.social discuss her book âAll to Play for: How to Design Child-Friendly Housingâ at Newcastleâs Farrell Centre at 6pm on 11th Sept with @alisonstenning.bsky.social and Rosie Parnell. Itâs a free event and you can sign up here www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-playful-...
BirminghamLive/Mail is Reach!
Wonder if Reachâs north east outlet @chroniclelive.co.uk would get on board with a similar regional campaign?
I guess in this case clamping down on illegal bikes (as the article describes) will help, but the impact on delivery riders and their income/livelihoods needs to be considered.
Theyâre probably the kids that would have been on trail bikes in days of yore. Not convinced itâs a big issue. Cycling around, I maybe see one kid a week on an (illegal) ebike up here (North Tyneside).
As others have said, this is about delivery riders cycling probably 100s of miles around towns and cities with implicit & explicit penalties for slowness/lateness. The illegal ebike boom is driven by a dodgy business model that exploits vulnerable workers. Legal e-bikes enable more people to cycle.
Play England did try to get an amendment to the bill - not sure what happened in the end: bsky.app/profile/alis...
Good questions, which I raised here too: bsky.app/profile/alis...
Watch the discussion of âthe state of playâ and at the Culture, Media and Sport Committee on Parliament Live TV here, including @playingout.bsky.socialâs Ingrid Skeels, @eugeneminogue.bsky.social and @timrgill.bsky.social amongst others. parliamentlive.tv/event/index/...
