About

ABOUT ME I am a Research Fellow in Manchester Metropolitan University, in the Faculty of Education. I am an academic with a foolishly wide range of interests: geography, space, sound, childhood, schools, education, power, politics, participation, media, music, audio, art, allergies. Where possible, I like to experiment with different media in my work. I use this website to publish material that doesn’t fit into the usual channels of academic publishing. I like how the internet lets people publish whatever they like, and that’s exactly how I use this space.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

'It felt as if we had landed on the moon': Malala Yousafzai on life in the UK

In this extract from We Are Displaced, a collection of true stories by girls seeking refuge, Yousafzai recalls settling in Birmingham after being shot by the Taliban As I walked out of the hospital to start my new life – nearly three months after I was airlifted to England from Pakistan to save my life – the first thing I felt was a cold that cut through the purple parka someone had given me. It was two sizes too big, and I felt like a small doll. The frigid air crept down my neck and up my sleeves and penetrated my bones. I thought I would never warm up. The grey skies cast a subdued, almost gloomy effect on the white snow dusting the ground. I felt a deep longing for the warmth and sunshine of home. We drove through Birmingham’s streets to the high-rise building where my parents had moved after spending several weeks in a hotel. Birmingham’s busy-ness reminded me a bit of Islamabad, although the skyscrapers here were so tall you got dizzy looking up at them. Some buildings lit up w...
Read more

AMCU extends strike to Sibanye-Stillwater’s platinum operations

The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) has declared that it will begin secondary strike action against Sibanye-Stillwater’s platinum operations following nine weeks of industrial action against the company’s gold projects. AMCU president Joseph Mathunjwa called for strike action against the company’s gold mines on 21 November , after the union and company failed to reach an agreement over new wages and safety precautions for workers. The AMCU has claimed that an entry-level platinum miner can expect to earn 40% more than an entry-level gold miner, and aimed to reduce this disparity through strikes. The AMCU is now expanding its action to target Sibanye-Stillwater’s PGM (platinum group metals) operations, where the union has greater influence. The majority of workers employed at the company’s gold operations are members of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), Solidarity and UASA trade unions, enabling Sibanye-Stillwater to successfully negotiate new wage deal...
Read more

Enemies and Neighbours by Ian Black review – Arabs and Jews in Palestine and Israel

This even-handed history by the Guardian’s former Middle East editor draws on 40 years of experience and exhaustive research A 2016 poll found that 82% of young Israeli Jews believed there was little chance of a peace agreement with the Palestinians. Faced with expanding Jewish settlements , almost as many Palestinians believed the two-state solution was no longer viable. Under Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister since David Ben-Gurion, the reality of life today is more akin to an “apartheid state”, as veteran journalist Akiva Eldar has said: “One state for two peoples – first-class citizens and second-class citizens”. In this study Ian Black, the Guardian’s former Middle East editor, explores the origins of this most bitter and intractable conflict from the first Zionist settlements in the 1880s, through the founding of the state of Israel in 1948 – known as the “Nakba”, or catastrophe, to Palestinians – to the Trump era. Continue reading... from Books | ...
Read more