Ben Fulford
@benmfulford.bsky.social
Deputy Head, Humanities, Cultures and Environment and Associate Professor of Christian Theology at the University of Chester. Latest: God’s Patience and our Work: Hans Frei, Generous Orthodoxy and the Ethics of Hope (SCM 2024).
Petition to stop cut of BA Theology and Religion at Nottingham - the subjects needs friends and supporters more than ever, just as we need all it offers students and society. c.org/BQN6S8JQHB
Sign the Petition
Stop the removal of undergraduate Theology & Religion at the University of Nottingham
c.org
November 10, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Petition to stop cut of BA Theology and Religion at Nottingham - the subjects needs friends and supporters more than ever, just as we need all it offers students and society. c.org/BQN6S8JQHB
Reposted by Ben Fulford
UK university news just this week: 163 jobs at risk + course closures at Leicester; 300 jobs at risk at Dundee; modern language & music courses being closed at Nottingham. Every week it‘s the same.
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University of Leicester to consult on redundancies
University bosses are also planning to stop a number of courses.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 6, 2025 at 9:03 PM
UK university news just this week: 163 jobs at risk + course closures at Leicester; 300 jobs at risk at Dundee; modern language & music courses being closed at Nottingham. Every week it‘s the same.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by Ben Fulford
Exclusive: The parents of a man who killed himself are suing the company that created ChatGPT, claiming the product encouraged him to commit suicide.
ChatGPT encouraged college graduate to commit suicide, family claims in lawsuit against OpenAI | CNN
A 23-year-old man killed himself in Texas after ChatGPT ‘goaded’ him to commit suicide, his family says in a lawsuit.
www.cnn.com
November 7, 2025 at 2:31 AM
Exclusive: The parents of a man who killed himself are suing the company that created ChatGPT, claiming the product encouraged him to commit suicide.
Reposted by Ben Fulford
These courses have not been ‘suspended’ at all; such language only minimises what is actually happening at Nottingham: a systemic gutting out of the arts and humanities with no clear business case. These cuts affect us all; please, join UCU in fighting for our future
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Music and modern languages courses suspended at University of Nottingham
In a statement the institution also says it is
www.bbc.co.uk
November 6, 2025 at 3:10 PM
These courses have not been ‘suspended’ at all; such language only minimises what is actually happening at Nottingham: a systemic gutting out of the arts and humanities with no clear business case. These cuts affect us all; please, join UCU in fighting for our future
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Prof Becky Francis’ curriculum and assessment review recommends bringing #RE into the National Curriculum.
Would take some time but could be really significant if accepted by DoE. schoolsweek.co.uk/curriculum-r...
Would take some time but could be really significant if accepted by DoE. schoolsweek.co.uk/curriculum-r...
schoolsweek.co.uk
November 5, 2025 at 8:51 AM
Prof Becky Francis’ curriculum and assessment review recommends bringing #RE into the National Curriculum.
Would take some time but could be really significant if accepted by DoE. schoolsweek.co.uk/curriculum-r...
Would take some time but could be really significant if accepted by DoE. schoolsweek.co.uk/curriculum-r...
Reposted by Ben Fulford
Lloyds, NatWest, Barclays, Nationwide and Santander will join HSBC and allow people without a fixed address to open bank accounts, in initiative with Shelter and government bit.ly/4nPm6U0
Five major banks to allow homeless people to open bank accounts under new pilot
Thousands of homeless people will be able to open a bank account and five major banks as part of a strategy to improve financial inclusion.
bit.ly
November 5, 2025 at 7:42 AM
Lloyds, NatWest, Barclays, Nationwide and Santander will join HSBC and allow people without a fixed address to open bank accounts, in initiative with Shelter and government bit.ly/4nPm6U0
Reposted by Ben Fulford
Oh — the situation has escalated.
Pope Leo has spoken out: says "spiritual rights" of detainees should be respected and calls on the "authorities" to allow "pastoral workers" in.
"Jesus says very clearly … we're going to be asked, how did you receive the foreigner?" www.youtube.com/watch?v=taCi...
Pope Leo has spoken out: says "spiritual rights" of detainees should be respected and calls on the "authorities" to allow "pastoral workers" in.
"Jesus says very clearly … we're going to be asked, how did you receive the foreigner?" www.youtube.com/watch?v=taCi...
November 4, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Oh — the situation has escalated.
Pope Leo has spoken out: says "spiritual rights" of detainees should be respected and calls on the "authorities" to allow "pastoral workers" in.
"Jesus says very clearly … we're going to be asked, how did you receive the foreigner?" www.youtube.com/watch?v=taCi...
Pope Leo has spoken out: says "spiritual rights" of detainees should be respected and calls on the "authorities" to allow "pastoral workers" in.
"Jesus says very clearly … we're going to be asked, how did you receive the foreigner?" www.youtube.com/watch?v=taCi...
Grateful to Drew Collins for this generous review of God’s Patience and Our Work (‘rare and remarkable’, ‘a turning point in Frei scholarship’), which recognises key things I was trying to do in the book.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
journals.sagepub.com
November 4, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Grateful to Drew Collins for this generous review of God’s Patience and Our Work (‘rare and remarkable’, ‘a turning point in Frei scholarship’), which recognises key things I was trying to do in the book.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
This piece is in part advocating on behalf of the Russell Group, but this argument is widely applicable across the UKHE sector and its regions.
‘If the industrial strategy is to succeed, we’ll need English graduates as well as engineers, historians alongside computer scientists, and social scientists together with health professionals.’
www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/do-we-n... @timeshighered.bsky.social
www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/do-we-n... @timeshighered.bsky.social
Do we need humanities graduates to deliver the industrial strategy?
Policymakers should take a broad view of the value of degree courses when building our future workforce, says Charlotte Hallahan
www.timeshighereducation.com
November 4, 2025 at 7:21 PM
This piece is in part advocating on behalf of the Russell Group, but this argument is widely applicable across the UKHE sector and its regions.
Re-reading this classic ready for teaching Rahner tomorrow morning…
November 2, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Re-reading this classic ready for teaching Rahner tomorrow morning…
Reposted by Ben Fulford
The most insanely frustrating thing about the #ClimateCrisis is how the breakthrough we so clearly need isn’t technological. It’s just a collective willingness, a determination even, to change in ways that would clearly be SO MUCH BETTER than the clear and obvious consequences of NOT changing.
October 29, 2025 at 7:09 PM
The most insanely frustrating thing about the #ClimateCrisis is how the breakthrough we so clearly need isn’t technological. It’s just a collective willingness, a determination even, to change in ways that would clearly be SO MUCH BETTER than the clear and obvious consequences of NOT changing.
Reposted by Ben Fulford
Unsurprisingly, people who actually have to deal with dead bodies in the water are more reluctant to embrace risky and dangerous methods than grandstanding politicians are.
French coastguards demand halt to ‘deadly plans’ to intercept small boats
Union says UK-French Channel deal is inhumane and contravenes international conventions
www.theguardian.com
October 24, 2025 at 6:59 AM
Unsurprisingly, people who actually have to deal with dead bodies in the water are more reluctant to embrace risky and dangerous methods than grandstanding politicians are.
These are horrific and patently unfair proposals from frontbenchers of the last governing party to deport 3*million* people with a legal right to be here: neighbours, colleagues, friends, members of families. Don’t need to look far to see what terror and chaos enactment would entail.
Almost nobody in the Cons Party or beyond it had noticed that the Shadow Home Secretary with two other frontbenchers and 5 backbenchers tabled a bill in May to deport 3 million people - stripping almost every pensioner, parent or nurse who did not take out citizenship of their right to live here
October 24, 2025 at 1:34 PM
These are horrific and patently unfair proposals from frontbenchers of the last governing party to deport 3*million* people with a legal right to be here: neighbours, colleagues, friends, members of families. Don’t need to look far to see what terror and chaos enactment would entail.
V struck by the demonology this progressive pastor reaches for in the interview sojo.net/articles/int...
The Chicago Pastor Who Confronted ICE in a Viral Photo
Rev. David Black found himself in the middle of a spectacle, but he wants to be clear: This story isn't about him.
sojo.net
October 24, 2025 at 11:30 AM
V struck by the demonology this progressive pastor reaches for in the interview sojo.net/articles/int...
‘If they are doing this to pastors who are praying and protesters who are… peacefully showing up to voice their conscience… then it makes me shudder to imagine what they might be doing to our neighbors behind closed doors and in these outsourced internment camps, in [places like] El Salvador.’
October 24, 2025 at 11:29 AM
‘If they are doing this to pastors who are praying and protesters who are… peacefully showing up to voice their conscience… then it makes me shudder to imagine what they might be doing to our neighbors behind closed doors and in these outsourced internment camps, in [places like] El Salvador.’
Reposted by Ben Fulford
The current line taken by some Conservatives is "We will rip up ILR, something no govt has ever done before, but citizenship is different". Not reassuring. Precedents matter. "We don't abide by rules previously agreed" is the precedent.Once that's set, reassurances on other rules carry little weight
October 22, 2025 at 2:13 PM
The current line taken by some Conservatives is "We will rip up ILR, something no govt has ever done before, but citizenship is different". Not reassuring. Precedents matter. "We don't abide by rules previously agreed" is the precedent.Once that's set, reassurances on other rules carry little weight
Indeed. Her Texts of Terror is one of those works you never forget and after which scholarship is never the same. RIP.
The FTN is saddened to learn of the death of Phyllis Trible - one of the great pioneers of work in feminist theology. She will be greatly missed, but her indelible influence lives on.
"May she rest in peace and glory."
For Phyllis Trible's Union obituary, see: myunion.utsnyc.edu/emailviewonw...
"May she rest in peace and glory."
For Phyllis Trible's Union obituary, see: myunion.utsnyc.edu/emailviewonw...
myunion.utsnyc.edu
October 22, 2025 at 9:51 AM
Indeed. Her Texts of Terror is one of those works you never forget and after which scholarship is never the same. RIP.
Reposted by Ben Fulford
Modern conservatism now advocating the biggest assault on *the family* in our entire history. Head-spinning stuff.
October 22, 2025 at 5:38 AM
Modern conservatism now advocating the biggest assault on *the family* in our entire history. Head-spinning stuff.
Reposted by Ben Fulford
Useful story on the Reform + Conservative plans
- How many nurses have ILR? How many earn < £38.7k or meet ANY of the other conditions?
- How many nurses are they removing who arrived 2021-25? (There were 25,497 in the 12 months to March 2023, for example)
- How many nurses have ILR? How many earn < £38.7k or meet ANY of the other conditions?
- How many nurses are they removing who arrived 2021-25? (There were 25,497 in the 12 months to March 2023, for example)
October 22, 2025 at 5:57 AM
Useful story on the Reform + Conservative plans
- How many nurses have ILR? How many earn < £38.7k or meet ANY of the other conditions?
- How many nurses are they removing who arrived 2021-25? (There were 25,497 in the 12 months to March 2023, for example)
- How many nurses have ILR? How many earn < £38.7k or meet ANY of the other conditions?
- How many nurses are they removing who arrived 2021-25? (There were 25,497 in the 12 months to March 2023, for example)
Reposted by Ben Fulford
Important subtext: Hard to oversell how rare this precise Christian coalition is, and how unusually defiant this letter they're signing is.
NEW: 200+ Chicago-area clergy — Protestants, Catholics, and evangelicals — have signed a letter decrying ICE's efforts and voicing a willingness to put their "bodies on the line" for migrants.
"What Kristi Noem and her ICE agents are doing is immoral," they write. religionnews.com/2025/10/21/a...
"What Kristi Noem and her ICE agents are doing is immoral," they write. religionnews.com/2025/10/21/a...
October 21, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Important subtext: Hard to oversell how rare this precise Christian coalition is, and how unusually defiant this letter they're signing is.
Reposted by Ben Fulford
Not just me then. And we're used to being the most secure immigrant group over here, so I can't imagine how others must be feeling.
A lot of Paddies I know in the UK (this one included) are listening to this sort of thing and wondering about our status in Britain
Which would have *huge* implications for N Ireland if ever it with became a political football
Which would have *huge* implications for N Ireland if ever it with became a political football
Lam hears "settled status" and "guaranteed by withdrawal treaty" as up for grabs:understood to be temporary "provisional arrangements" which can be transitional and unsettled if and when you want to
That is highly counterintuitive as language of 'settled', as law & as politics of Treaty guarantees.
That is highly counterintuitive as language of 'settled', as law & as politics of Treaty guarantees.
October 19, 2025 at 9:58 AM
Not just me then. And we're used to being the most secure immigrant group over here, so I can't imagine how others must be feeling.
Reposted by Ben Fulford
The idea that our friends, relatives, neighbours and colleagues should be summarily flung out of the country by some future Tory government because they don't fit some right wing extremist's definition of "cultural coherence" should set alarm bells ringing everywhere.
Sunday Times interview Tory "rising star" Katie Lam
She is clear she wants lots of legal migrants to be told to "go home" so as "to leave a mostly but not entirely culturally coherent group of people"
(The interviewer suggests she is scrapping ILR or stripping people of it)
She is clear she wants lots of legal migrants to be told to "go home" so as "to leave a mostly but not entirely culturally coherent group of people"
(The interviewer suggests she is scrapping ILR or stripping people of it)
October 19, 2025 at 8:45 AM
The idea that our friends, relatives, neighbours and colleagues should be summarily flung out of the country by some future Tory government because they don't fit some right wing extremist's definition of "cultural coherence" should set alarm bells ringing everywhere.
Reposted by Ben Fulford
BREAKING: Our crowd count estimate from the No Kings coalition responsible for planning today’s event is 7 MILLION nationwide.
7 MILLION of you gathered across the country to peacefully protest today.
2 million more than the first No Kings action in June.
7 MILLION of you gathered across the country to peacefully protest today.
2 million more than the first No Kings action in June.
It's official. Nearly 7 million people. Today is the single largest day of protest in American history. Americans from all corners of the country are standing up and saying #NoKings. This is what peaceful, patriotic protest looks like.
October 18, 2025 at 9:38 PM
BREAKING: Our crowd count estimate from the No Kings coalition responsible for planning today’s event is 7 MILLION nationwide.
7 MILLION of you gathered across the country to peacefully protest today.
2 million more than the first No Kings action in June.
7 MILLION of you gathered across the country to peacefully protest today.
2 million more than the first No Kings action in June.
Reposted by Ben Fulford
