Björn Heile

@bjornheile.bsky.social

1.1K followers 1.1K following 710 posts

Berlin-born and Glasgow-based academic, primarily interested in weird music. Oh, and I'm associate editor of Contemporary Music Review.
Professional profile: https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/cca/staff/bjornheile

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Computer science 8%

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Björn Heile @bjornheile.bsky.social · Nov 14

This is kind of my introductory post. It's great to meet so many people over here again. I'm not a direct refugee from Twitter/X: I have left that years ago but went to Mastodon. That's still great but rather quiet.
As you may know, I'm primarily interested in #music, particularly #modernist.

Björn Heile @bjornheile.bsky.social · 7h

This is what he said about the Truss/Kwarteng budget: 'This was the best Budget I have ever heard a British Chancellor deliver, by a massive margin.'

Reposted by Martin Paul Eve, Aileen McHarg, Melanie Simms , and 1 more Martin Paul Eve, Aileen McHarg, Melanie Simms, Björn Heile

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 7h

'The University of Dundee has been told it cannot make any compulsory redundancies until it has a three-year recovery strategy in place as part of conditions placed on its bailout from the Scottish government.' 1/3

Bailout conditions restrict compulsory redundancies at Dundee

University told to come up with a plan for financial recovery before it enforces more job losses

www.timeshighereducation.com

Björn Heile @bjornheile.bsky.social · 1d

And the other bit, that it's 'all along time ago' only works if you've shown the capacity to admit mistakes and change. Farage's behaviour has been absolutely consistent: he's still the same racist bully he always was.

Björn Heile @bjornheile.bsky.social · 1d

I was gonna say that he's taking his frustrations out on her...

Björn Heile @bjornheile.bsky.social · 1d

This is a travesty. Gove may be the most harmful political figure of the last two decades.

Reposted by Björn Heile

Prospect Magazine @prospectmagazine.co.uk · 2d

Israeli conductor @ilanvolkov.bsky.social decided to use his “biggest concert of the season” in London to speak out about the Gaza war: “Closing our eyes is not an option”, he tells @aloner.bsky.social.

The viral Israeli conductor: ‘Closing our eyes is not an option’

Ilan Volkov on his political intervention at the Proms—and why Gaza is all that matters

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk

Reposted by Michelle Everson, Björn Heile

Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 2d

On Bregman, I was there in the audience and I can’t see what the BBC have gained by removing this line except more bad publicity. I will say that no such edits or censorship occurred when I gave the Reith Lectures and free-speech defenders might want think about whether this is the world they want.

Björn Heile @bjornheile.bsky.social · 3d

Fair point.

Reposted by Mary Bosworth, Andrew Scott, Alison Phipps , and 1 more Mary Bosworth, Andrew Scott, Alison Phipps, Björn Heile

Dan Sohege @danielsohege.bsky.social · 3d

Labour's anti-asylum policies are already fundamentally inhumane and discriminatory. Applying them retrospectively is pure cruelty though. It serves absolutely no purpose. Meanwhile it will increase the costs and bureaucracy of an already dysfunctional Home Office.
www.thetimes.com/article/6f83...

Refugees who were months away from settlement now face 15-year wait

Shabana Mahmood's asylum reforms will apply retrospectively, it has been confirmed — and it is claimed the bureaucracy will cost up to £1.3bn

Matt Dathan, Home Affairs Editor

Monday November 24 2025, 12.01am, The Times

Thousands of refugees who believed they were months from settlement now face 15 years of instability after it was confirmed that Shabana Mahmood's overhaul of asylum rules would apply retrospectively.

Björn Heile @bjornheile.bsky.social · 3d

The richest man in the world has an emotional age of 8, no interests or imagination, and no sense of responsibility. There's stiff competition, but he may also be the most-spirited person on the planet.

Kristi Yamaguccimane @wapplehouse.bsky.social · 3d

Everything about this might be the saddest thing I’ve ever seen

Kristi Yamaguccimane @wapplehouse.bsky.social · 3d

Everything about this might be the saddest thing I’ve ever seen

Reposted by Björn Heile

Paul Bassett Davies @thewritertype.bsky.social · 3d

The greatest trick the devil ever pulled is Black Friday, when consumers are manipulated to experience the visceral thrill of a looting spree while causing no actual damage or disruption to the smooth operation of late stage capitalism and obligingly reinforcing it.

Björn Heile @bjornheile.bsky.social · 3d

But does he think that's a bad thing?

Björn Heile @bjornheile.bsky.social · 4d

And the idiotic framing 'biology vs. Ideology'! The 'gender-critical' view is pure ideology, and the one thing it's got nothing to do with is biology.

Björn Heile @bjornheile.bsky.social · 5d

Lovely light this morning.

Morning sunshine breaks through mist in trees. Glasgow, Dowanhill.

Morning sunshine, mist and trees. Glasgow Botanic Gardens.

Morning sunshine and mist. Glasgow Botanic Gardens.

Morning sunshine, mist and the silhouette of Oran Mor. Glasgow Botanic Gardens.

Björn Heile @bjornheile.bsky.social · 6d

Thanks, I was tempted to try this out myself, but then thought better of it. Oh dear! The same misconceptions but wordier and purpler.😅

Björn Heile @bjornheile.bsky.social · 6d

That struck me too. Couldn't they have at least used Gen AI to mimic his style and aesthetics a wee bit more convincingly?

Björn Heile @bjornheile.bsky.social · 6d

The notion of a 'revolt against populism' is also delightfully crazy. I thought populism was supposed to be the revolt?! Is this an admission that it has become the establishmen? Surely not!

Björn Heile @bjornheile.bsky.social · 7d

There is a question whether these stories ever burst the bubbles Reform voters are in, and, even if so, how many of them care.

Björn Heile @bjornheile.bsky.social · 7d

I think it's natural to assume that you ended up there by accident.

Björn Heile @bjornheile.bsky.social · 7d

They will of course conclude that he isn't being 'tough enough'.

Björn Heile @bjornheile.bsky.social · 8d

You've got to be a boss to say things like that with such confidence!

Reposted by Björn Heile

Ashleeee 🌊🪭 @reactiveashley.bsky.social · 8d

It’s like a decade a self-imposed economic sanctions.

Figure 1: GDP per capita cross-country comparison
The chart shows EU Referendum effect on UK’s gdp.

Notes: The figure uses data on real gross domestic product per person in the population. Comparator countries are US, Canada, EU-27 countries, Iceland, Norway. Swtzerland, and Japan. All series used in the calculations have been seasonally adjusted. The synthetic control method estimates the effect of the EU referendum on the UK's economy by comparing the evolution of GOP per capita for the UK to the evolution of GOP per capita for a synthetic control group. We use data starting from 2006Q1 up to the EU referendum (2016Q2, 41 periods) to obtain optimal weights that Matta. For Ireland we use a measure of modified domestic demand rather than GOP because of distortons in the headine GOP data. The country weights are: US: 0.614, EST: 0.109, GRE: 0.095, ITA: 0.067, IRE: 0.044, LAT: 0.034, ICE: 0.03, HUN: 0.007. Percenties were estimated using thi bootstrapping method. Sources: OECD, Irish Central Statistics Office and Word Bank

Björn Heile @bjornheile.bsky.social · 9d

To be fair, the question of 'whether the reforms will work' cannot be answered unless there is agreement about what that means. If it means that there should be as few refugees coming to the UK as possible, as the govt. appears to see it, I don't want it to work.

Björn Heile @bjornheile.bsky.social · 10d

Anyway, there's nothing more disingenuous about the 'we won't actually do that' excuse. They will, and if they won't, their successors will. We saw that with terrorism legislation and lots of other cases. Show me the executive that doesn't use the powers they are given!

Reposted by Lesley A. Hall, Björn Heile, Steven H. Seggie

Mark O’Neill 🐻 @radiobeartime.com · 10d

July 2024 - Labour are elected on the basis of Starmer being a dull but competent PM.

No drama just focused on fixing the basics.

November 2025 - Now the least popular PM ever Starmer announces plans for mass deportations, the seizure of immigrant wealth and the indentured labour of migrants.