Judith Fairbairn
@judithfairbairn.bsky.social
Enjoy discussing public service, education and urban planning.
PhD from UCL Institute of Education: What it means to speak on topic. Career in language testing.
Co-author https://api.equinoxpub.com/books/2874 and https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1210080
🇬🇧 🇨🇦
PhD from UCL Institute of Education: What it means to speak on topic. Career in language testing.
Co-author https://api.equinoxpub.com/books/2874 and https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1210080
🇬🇧 🇨🇦
Reposted by Judith Fairbairn
14 two-year postdocs for academics of any nationality who cannot continue their research due to US politics. Do share if you know of such.
Post-doc positions:
"Academic freedom is under pressure today. This requires rescue havens of free research. ... [we] invite early career researchers, whose work is restricted due to political pressure in the USA..."
uni-freiburg.de/frias/call-f...
"Academic freedom is under pressure today. This requires rescue havens of free research. ... [we] invite early career researchers, whose work is restricted due to political pressure in the USA..."
uni-freiburg.de/frias/call-f...
Call for Applications: Early Career Rescue Fellowship – Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies
uni-freiburg.de
December 19, 2025 at 5:19 PM
14 two-year postdocs for academics of any nationality who cannot continue their research due to US politics. Do share if you know of such.
Reposted by Judith Fairbairn
The idea of “imported” violence against women and girls is a deeply comforting fiction - one that allows people to avoid looking at where it actually happens: within our homes and behind closed doors.
The Violence Isn’t Imported. It’s Domestic.
Kemi Badenoch’s attempt to blame violence against women on migrants doesn’t just collapse under scrutiny - it actively distracts us from where the harm really happens, and who is actually responsible.
www.bearlypolitics.co.uk
December 19, 2025 at 12:01 PM
The idea of “imported” violence against women and girls is a deeply comforting fiction - one that allows people to avoid looking at where it actually happens: within our homes and behind closed doors.
Reposted by Judith Fairbairn
"Much of MMT is neither new nor wrong: it’s just standard economic theory presented in different language. The disagreement arises not over whether government can compel the central bank to finance its spending, but to what extent government should do this."
criticalfinance.org/2025/12/19/w...
criticalfinance.org/2025/12/19/w...
What’s wrong with MMT?
As Marc Lavoie and John Quiggin have noted, there are ‘two MMTs’. Scholars such as Randy Wray, Eric Tymoigne and Scott Fulwiler have contributed to debates on monetary economics, instit…
criticalfinance.org
December 19, 2025 at 10:31 AM
"Much of MMT is neither new nor wrong: it’s just standard economic theory presented in different language. The disagreement arises not over whether government can compel the central bank to finance its spending, but to what extent government should do this."
criticalfinance.org/2025/12/19/w...
criticalfinance.org/2025/12/19/w...
Reposted by Judith Fairbairn
🫵WE WANT YOU 🎓
Are you interested in political communication, negative campaigning, and social norms? Are you experienced in quantitative methods? Do you have good rain clothes?
Then our postdoc position might be just for you: werkenbij.uva.nl/en/vacancies...
Thank you for sharing. Merry Christmas
Are you interested in political communication, negative campaigning, and social norms? Are you experienced in quantitative methods? Do you have good rain clothes?
Then our postdoc position might be just for you: werkenbij.uva.nl/en/vacancies...
Thank you for sharing. Merry Christmas
Vacancy — Postdoc: "Role of Social Norms and Norms Transgression in the Acceptance of Negative Campaigning"
<p><span>Are you passionate about political communication, election campaigns, and quantitative empirical research? The Amsterdam School of Communication Research is seeking a highly motivated Postdoc for the research project<em> ‘That’s (not) appropriate’– Role of Social Norms and Norm Transgression in Voters’ Acceptance of Negative Campaigning, </em></span><span>led by Dr. Corinna Oschatz.</span></p>
werkenbij.uva.nl
December 18, 2025 at 4:25 PM
🫵WE WANT YOU 🎓
Are you interested in political communication, negative campaigning, and social norms? Are you experienced in quantitative methods? Do you have good rain clothes?
Then our postdoc position might be just for you: werkenbij.uva.nl/en/vacancies...
Thank you for sharing. Merry Christmas
Are you interested in political communication, negative campaigning, and social norms? Are you experienced in quantitative methods? Do you have good rain clothes?
Then our postdoc position might be just for you: werkenbij.uva.nl/en/vacancies...
Thank you for sharing. Merry Christmas
Reposted by Judith Fairbairn
Suspect some female Tory MPs are quietly dying inside at this. When you’re so desperate to get in a bit of gratuitous foreigner-bashing that you find yourself arguing *against* preventative strategies that try to prevent sexual violence, ffs, what have you become?
Dog-whistle and factually incorrect. Ladies, raise your hand if you were sexually assaulted by a boy at school? I’d wager this or a family member is most women’s first experience of sexual violence
December 18, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Suspect some female Tory MPs are quietly dying inside at this. When you’re so desperate to get in a bit of gratuitous foreigner-bashing that you find yourself arguing *against* preventative strategies that try to prevent sexual violence, ffs, what have you become?
Reposted by Judith Fairbairn
This week in Labour Britain:
1️⃣ inflation falls
2️⃣ interest rate cut
3️⃣ plans to tackle misogyny revealed
4️⃣ new builds to have swallow bricks
5️⃣ UK to rejoin Erasmus.
1️⃣ inflation falls
2️⃣ interest rate cut
3️⃣ plans to tackle misogyny revealed
4️⃣ new builds to have swallow bricks
5️⃣ UK to rejoin Erasmus.
a man is talking to a woman with the words if that 's not a win i don 't know what is
ALT: a man is talking to a woman with the words if that 's not a win i don 't know what is
media.tenor.com
December 18, 2025 at 2:04 PM
This week in Labour Britain:
1️⃣ inflation falls
2️⃣ interest rate cut
3️⃣ plans to tackle misogyny revealed
4️⃣ new builds to have swallow bricks
5️⃣ UK to rejoin Erasmus.
1️⃣ inflation falls
2️⃣ interest rate cut
3️⃣ plans to tackle misogyny revealed
4️⃣ new builds to have swallow bricks
5️⃣ UK to rejoin Erasmus.
Reposted by Judith Fairbairn
Spanish Prime Minister Sánchez has announced a nationwide train ticket costing €60 per month.
For those under 26, it will cost €30. The Spain Ticket is intended to encourage environmentally friendly travel.
For those under 26, it will cost €30. The Spain Ticket is intended to encourage environmentally friendly travel.
December 18, 2025 at 8:39 AM
Spanish Prime Minister Sánchez has announced a nationwide train ticket costing €60 per month.
For those under 26, it will cost €30. The Spain Ticket is intended to encourage environmentally friendly travel.
For those under 26, it will cost €30. The Spain Ticket is intended to encourage environmentally friendly travel.
Reposted by Judith Fairbairn
Every year at this time we make the long migration to 🇨🇿 for 🎄. We don’t fly so it normally takes 14 hours or more with two kids.
However the @europeansleeper.eu gods have smiled on us and we can now get a direct sleeper train from The Hague to Prague!!
This should be normal
However the @europeansleeper.eu gods have smiled on us and we can now get a direct sleeper train from The Hague to Prague!!
This should be normal
December 17, 2025 at 9:20 PM
Every year at this time we make the long migration to 🇨🇿 for 🎄. We don’t fly so it normally takes 14 hours or more with two kids.
However the @europeansleeper.eu gods have smiled on us and we can now get a direct sleeper train from The Hague to Prague!!
This should be normal
However the @europeansleeper.eu gods have smiled on us and we can now get a direct sleeper train from The Hague to Prague!!
This should be normal
Reposted by Judith Fairbairn
I am unreasonably chuffed by this, and even more so that my first reader from Kentucky is called “Pissed Off Old Lady.”
I could not have asked for a better Christmas present, thank you so much!
🐻
I could not have asked for a better Christmas present, thank you so much!
🐻
December 17, 2025 at 9:57 PM
I am unreasonably chuffed by this, and even more so that my first reader from Kentucky is called “Pissed Off Old Lady.”
I could not have asked for a better Christmas present, thank you so much!
🐻
I could not have asked for a better Christmas present, thank you so much!
🐻
Reposted by Judith Fairbairn
That time in 2015 when Owen Paterson, a prominent Leave campaigner and former UK Environment Secretary said in the context of Brexit and the EU’s single market,
"Only a madman would actually leave the market"
"Only a madman would actually leave the market"
December 17, 2025 at 9:40 PM
That time in 2015 when Owen Paterson, a prominent Leave campaigner and former UK Environment Secretary said in the context of Brexit and the EU’s single market,
"Only a madman would actually leave the market"
"Only a madman would actually leave the market"
Reposted by Judith Fairbairn
British electricity mix at 2am on 18th Dec 2025
🔥Gas 11.2% Biomass 4.7%
🍃Wind 57.9% Solar 0.0% Hydro 1.6%
⚛️Nuclear 12.0%
➡️Imports 12.6% Other 0.0%
🪫Storage 0.0%
🔌Generation 27GW
🌍Carbon intensity 76 gCO2e/kWh
vs target of annual average 50-100 gCO2e/kWh by 2030
🔥Gas 11.2% Biomass 4.7%
🍃Wind 57.9% Solar 0.0% Hydro 1.6%
⚛️Nuclear 12.0%
➡️Imports 12.6% Other 0.0%
🪫Storage 0.0%
🔌Generation 27GW
🌍Carbon intensity 76 gCO2e/kWh
vs target of annual average 50-100 gCO2e/kWh by 2030
December 18, 2025 at 3:05 AM
British electricity mix at 2am on 18th Dec 2025
🔥Gas 11.2% Biomass 4.7%
🍃Wind 57.9% Solar 0.0% Hydro 1.6%
⚛️Nuclear 12.0%
➡️Imports 12.6% Other 0.0%
🪫Storage 0.0%
🔌Generation 27GW
🌍Carbon intensity 76 gCO2e/kWh
vs target of annual average 50-100 gCO2e/kWh by 2030
🔥Gas 11.2% Biomass 4.7%
🍃Wind 57.9% Solar 0.0% Hydro 1.6%
⚛️Nuclear 12.0%
➡️Imports 12.6% Other 0.0%
🪫Storage 0.0%
🔌Generation 27GW
🌍Carbon intensity 76 gCO2e/kWh
vs target of annual average 50-100 gCO2e/kWh by 2030
Reposted by Judith Fairbairn
I lived thru the end of public smoking. Early in my career I presented to city councils who were smoking, in front of audiences who were smoking.
Smoking in restaurants, airplanes, hospitals…
All of that seems insane now, but it was very controversial when we DID change it.
We CAN change things.
Smoking in restaurants, airplanes, hospitals…
All of that seems insane now, but it was very controversial when we DID change it.
We CAN change things.
It’s crazy that people used to be able to just smoke cigarettes wherever they wanted
December 15, 2025 at 8:04 AM
I lived thru the end of public smoking. Early in my career I presented to city councils who were smoking, in front of audiences who were smoking.
Smoking in restaurants, airplanes, hospitals…
All of that seems insane now, but it was very controversial when we DID change it.
We CAN change things.
Smoking in restaurants, airplanes, hospitals…
All of that seems insane now, but it was very controversial when we DID change it.
We CAN change things.
Reposted by Judith Fairbairn
Insane to think how many global problems and threats trace back to a handful of men’s sexual kompromat…
December 17, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Insane to think how many global problems and threats trace back to a handful of men’s sexual kompromat…
Reposted by Judith Fairbairn
Christmas Prime Minister's Questions is the Prime Minister's Questions with the worst jokes. My SKETCH. thecritic.co.uk/stan...
December 17, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Christmas Prime Minister's Questions is the Prime Minister's Questions with the worst jokes. My SKETCH. thecritic.co.uk/stan...
Reposted by Judith Fairbairn
Commuting by bicycle in Belgium pays off as employees earn compensation for every km they ride. 1 in 6 employees commute by bike and get a bicycle allowance of €0.28/km. People cycling to work in 2024 earned an average of around €460 net per year (some as high as €810), up 20% over the past year.
Belgian commutes pay off: Employees earn up to €810 for cycling to work
One in five people in Flanders commuted by bike and received compensation last year, but this figure is significantly lower in Brussels and Wallonia.
www.brusselstimes.com
December 17, 2025 at 4:41 AM
Commuting by bicycle in Belgium pays off as employees earn compensation for every km they ride. 1 in 6 employees commute by bike and get a bicycle allowance of €0.28/km. People cycling to work in 2024 earned an average of around €460 net per year (some as high as €810), up 20% over the past year.
Reposted by Judith Fairbairn
They thought they were just producing energy… but the solar panels awakened the desert
www.futura-sciences.com/en/they-thou...
www.futura-sciences.com/en/they-thou...
They thought they were just producing energy… but the solar panels awakened the desert - Futura-Sciences
For decades, solar energy has been hailed as one of the most promising answers to the climate crisis. But while its ability to produce clean power is well known, new research from China reveals that ....
www.futura-sciences.com
December 17, 2025 at 8:13 PM
They thought they were just producing energy… but the solar panels awakened the desert
www.futura-sciences.com/en/they-thou...
www.futura-sciences.com/en/they-thou...
Reposted by Judith Fairbairn
The problem with the left & right are that they're selfish. It's their way only. No compromise, or give & take. They can't accept that people can not always have what they want from a Govt mainly of the centre. The UK has never voted in a pure left/right Govt. so far, they lose every time.
December 17, 2025 at 3:12 PM
The problem with the left & right are that they're selfish. It's their way only. No compromise, or give & take. They can't accept that people can not always have what they want from a Govt mainly of the centre. The UK has never voted in a pure left/right Govt. so far, they lose every time.
Reposted by Judith Fairbairn
On this day in 1989, The Simpsons officially premiered as its own series so here’s a short thread of language facts relating to the show, starting with this…
In the Spanish version of The Simpsons, Bart’s “eat my shorts” catchphrase is changed to multiplícate por cero (“multiply yourself by zero”).
In the Spanish version of The Simpsons, Bart’s “eat my shorts” catchphrase is changed to multiplícate por cero (“multiply yourself by zero”).
December 17, 2025 at 5:42 PM
On this day in 1989, The Simpsons officially premiered as its own series so here’s a short thread of language facts relating to the show, starting with this…
In the Spanish version of The Simpsons, Bart’s “eat my shorts” catchphrase is changed to multiplícate por cero (“multiply yourself by zero”).
In the Spanish version of The Simpsons, Bart’s “eat my shorts” catchphrase is changed to multiplícate por cero (“multiply yourself by zero”).
Reposted by Judith Fairbairn
My point - and you can see this in other major Western countries - is that the challenges are so great and the disillusionment so deep - that popularity is increasingly hard to achieve.
December 17, 2025 at 1:35 PM
My point - and you can see this in other major Western countries - is that the challenges are so great and the disillusionment so deep - that popularity is increasingly hard to achieve.
Reposted by Judith Fairbairn
Really good and thoughtful write-up of one of the most positive changes Labour is attempting to make, this:
NEW: Labour just announced the biggest change in planning policy in 80 years.
My breakdown of the key measures and whether they will succeed.
www.samdumitriu.com/p/labour-are...
My breakdown of the key measures and whether they will succeed.
www.samdumitriu.com/p/labour-are...
Labour are finally taking the housing shortage seriously
Is the new National Planning Policy Framework Labour’s biggest pro-growth move?
www.samdumitriu.com
December 17, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Really good and thoughtful write-up of one of the most positive changes Labour is attempting to make, this:
Reposted by Judith Fairbairn
NEW: Labour just announced the biggest change in planning policy in 80 years.
My breakdown of the key measures and whether they will succeed.
www.samdumitriu.com/p/labour-are...
My breakdown of the key measures and whether they will succeed.
www.samdumitriu.com/p/labour-are...
Labour are finally taking the housing shortage seriously
Is the new National Planning Policy Framework Labour’s biggest pro-growth move?
www.samdumitriu.com
December 17, 2025 at 11:49 AM
NEW: Labour just announced the biggest change in planning policy in 80 years.
My breakdown of the key measures and whether they will succeed.
www.samdumitriu.com/p/labour-are...
My breakdown of the key measures and whether they will succeed.
www.samdumitriu.com/p/labour-are...
Reposted by Judith Fairbairn
Excellent news: from January 2027, British students will once again be able to take part in the EU’s Erasmus student exchange programme.
This is something I have long campaigned for and is a huge win for London and our young people.
This is something I have long campaigned for and is a huge win for London and our young people.
UK to rejoin EU’s Erasmus student exchange programme
Exclusive: British students will be able to participate in EU-wide scheme from January 2027, sources say
www.theguardian.com
December 17, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Excellent news: from January 2027, British students will once again be able to take part in the EU’s Erasmus student exchange programme.
This is something I have long campaigned for and is a huge win for London and our young people.
This is something I have long campaigned for and is a huge win for London and our young people.
Reposted by Judith Fairbairn
A thread of how to say “nobody asked you” from around the world, starting with this one…
A Lithuanian way of telling someone to mind their own business is ne tavo kiaulės, ne tavo pupos. It means “not your pigs, not your beans.”
A Lithuanian way of telling someone to mind their own business is ne tavo kiaulės, ne tavo pupos. It means “not your pigs, not your beans.”
December 17, 2025 at 1:11 PM
A thread of how to say “nobody asked you” from around the world, starting with this one…
A Lithuanian way of telling someone to mind their own business is ne tavo kiaulės, ne tavo pupos. It means “not your pigs, not your beans.”
A Lithuanian way of telling someone to mind their own business is ne tavo kiaulės, ne tavo pupos. It means “not your pigs, not your beans.”
Reposted by Judith Fairbairn
Big cheers for Camden Council! 🏆
Winner of the London Cycling Campaign Awards 2025 for Active & Inclusive Travel 🙌
Bold schemes, everyday cycling, and streets that work for everyone.
Proof that when councils commit, communities thrive. 💚🚴♀️
#Cycling #ActiveTravel #InclusiveStreets #LondonCycling
Winner of the London Cycling Campaign Awards 2025 for Active & Inclusive Travel 🙌
Bold schemes, everyday cycling, and streets that work for everyone.
Proof that when councils commit, communities thrive. 💚🚴♀️
#Cycling #ActiveTravel #InclusiveStreets #LondonCycling
December 17, 2025 at 8:39 AM
Big cheers for Camden Council! 🏆
Winner of the London Cycling Campaign Awards 2025 for Active & Inclusive Travel 🙌
Bold schemes, everyday cycling, and streets that work for everyone.
Proof that when councils commit, communities thrive. 💚🚴♀️
#Cycling #ActiveTravel #InclusiveStreets #LondonCycling
Winner of the London Cycling Campaign Awards 2025 for Active & Inclusive Travel 🙌
Bold schemes, everyday cycling, and streets that work for everyone.
Proof that when councils commit, communities thrive. 💚🚴♀️
#Cycling #ActiveTravel #InclusiveStreets #LondonCycling
Reposted by Judith Fairbairn
Great to have such an enthusiastic support for rejoining Erasmus from the Vice Chancellor of Oxford University on #t4today
No stupid questions about whether this was anti-Brexit.
Just unequivocal celebration of the chance to broaden our horizons again. A step on the road back to sanity.
No stupid questions about whether this was anti-Brexit.
Just unequivocal celebration of the chance to broaden our horizons again. A step on the road back to sanity.
December 17, 2025 at 7:59 AM
Great to have such an enthusiastic support for rejoining Erasmus from the Vice Chancellor of Oxford University on #t4today
No stupid questions about whether this was anti-Brexit.
Just unequivocal celebration of the chance to broaden our horizons again. A step on the road back to sanity.
No stupid questions about whether this was anti-Brexit.
Just unequivocal celebration of the chance to broaden our horizons again. A step on the road back to sanity.