Louise, Prof/Dr
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louiselocock.bsky.social
Louise, Prof/Dr
@louiselocock.bsky.social
Mostly retired qualitative health services researcher, linguist, europhile, cat lover. Other animals welcome.
Mostly in Oxford, occasionally in Aberdeen
I block if you have no bio or posts
She/her
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8109-1930
Pinned
#Antifa British style
Reposted by Louise, Prof/Dr
"Oil consumption of SUVs accounts for more than ¼ of the total annual rise in global oil demand.
The trend toward heavier and less efficient vehicles such as SUVs… has largely nullified the improvements in energy consumption and emissions achieved elsewhere in the world's passenger car fleet."
😠
With the world heating up [and more pedestrians being killed], why are more SUVs being sold?

“It’s the industry that has driven the demand through huge marketing & advertising campaigns in recent years. SUVs offered the industry a simple way of charging more for a vehicle that does the same thing.”
With the world heating up, why are more SUVs being sold?
Despite dire predictions of climate breakdown, more Sports Utility Vehicles are being spotted on, and off, the roads.
www.bbc.com
February 3, 2026 at 6:50 AM
Reposted by Louise, Prof/Dr
Yes, we would need to pay more tax.
Yes, I'm fine with that.

I want public services and for our society to be happy, healthy and good. Of course we will have to pay for that, but that's... Fine?
February 3, 2026 at 7:49 AM
Reposted by Louise, Prof/Dr
Yes, it's fair that my taxes pay for someone else to learn to be a doctor or an artist or a teacher or an architect or an actor or a biochemist because I want to live in a society that has people that can do all the things I can't.
February 3, 2026 at 7:46 AM
Me too
Still of the opinion that having a well educated population is a societal good and we should just pay for it through general taxation.
February 3, 2026 at 8:03 AM
Reposted by Louise, Prof/Dr
You see some sick things in this world and then some Reform backing accounts on Facebook take it to a whole new low. This is beneath contempt.

fullfact.org/politics/nig...
Picture of child with cancer edited to include Nigel Farage – Full Fact
An image which has gone viral on Facebook and supposedly shows the Reform UK leader fulfilling a child’s “final wish” by visiting them in hospital isn’t real.
fullfact.org
February 3, 2026 at 7:09 AM
Reposted by Louise, Prof/Dr
It's exactly right that jaywalking isn't a thing in the UK.
“Jaywalking is permitted in London. In 1966, the police tried to crack down on it, but gave up after three months.”

People walk and cycle on roads by right, people drive under licence.

Jaywalking is not a thing in English law and Waymo must not change that.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Self-driving taxis are coming to London – should we be worried? | Jack Stilgoe
Waymo’s cars were first rolled out in San Francisco, but the English capital’s old roads, pelican crossings and jaywalkers may pose issues for AI, says science and technology professor Jack Stilgoe
www.theguardian.com
February 2, 2026 at 5:16 PM
Well, maybe something helpful to come out of all this
February 2, 2026 at 8:08 PM
Reposted by Louise, Prof/Dr
CNN is reporting the real reason Trump is closing the Kennedy Centre for two years is not for renovation: “the Kennedy Center does not have a 2026/2027 season. There would not have been any programming to announce."
February 2, 2026 at 7:45 PM
Reposted by Louise, Prof/Dr
Sad news from Wikipedia. Following lengthy discussion on the talk page, they've removed Matt Goodwin's claim to be the first in his family to go to university on the grounds that it [checks notes] isn't true. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Ma...
Talk:Matt Goodwin - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
February 2, 2026 at 3:10 PM
wow
🚨🚨Striking but welcome development in Portugese politics: To stop the explosive growth of the ultranationalist #Chega party, Portugal’s leading conservatives are doing the previously unthinkable: endorsing the center-left candidate for president. 🧵
www.politico.eu/article/port...
Portugal’s conservatives back left-wing candidate to avoid a far-right president
Center-right leaders are taking pains to publicly reject the ultranationalist contender ahead of the country’s Feb. 8 vote.
www.politico.eu
February 2, 2026 at 2:41 PM
Reposted by Louise, Prof/Dr
here is my FT explanation of the allegations against Peter Mandelson and how various documents and emails support the claims that he says he can't recall etc

www.ft.com/content/6d47...
What do the Jeffrey Epstein files reveal about Peter Mandelson’s finances?
Former UK ambassador to US claims he has ‘no record or recollection’ of payments
www.ft.com
February 2, 2026 at 11:44 AM
Reposted by Louise, Prof/Dr
And we wonder why hedgehogs and other animals are dying out!
February 2, 2026 at 10:30 AM
👏 Oxford
Local residents removed 8 flags hung around Oxford last night in response to an organised campaign from a group calling themselves the ’Raise the Colours Oxford’, who brought activists from the Midlands and Sheffield to ‘make Oxford look patriotic’
February 2, 2026 at 11:33 AM
Reposted by Louise, Prof/Dr
Current calls for RHS funding (closing 6 March) bit.ly/4tdarCb:

> David Berry Fellowship in History of Scotland, for all career stages
> Early Career Fellowships Grants
> Open Research Support Grants, for mid-career historians

Applications from current RHS Fellows / Members now invited 1/2
Calls for research funding from the Royal Historical Society: current programmes to March 2026 - RHS
The Society currently invites applications for the following three schemes — open to historians across a range of career stages and backgrounds — with closing dates of 6 March 2026. For further inform...
bit.ly
February 2, 2026 at 11:21 AM
Reposted by Louise, Prof/Dr
The more I watch this from Hannah Spencer, two things happen:
1. The more I like it and her.
2. The more it makes me want to get out and do what she says by volunteering.
... I'm surprisingly moved by 2, as I can physically feel it breaking through the armour of scepticism I've built around myself.
January 30, 2026 at 1:38 PM
Reposted by Louise, Prof/Dr
Matt Goodwin must be hoping no one in Gorton and Denton reads his Substack, with its obsession about too many Muslims and civilisational collapse. If only he hadn't picked a constituency which is 30% Muslim. www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/pop...
Matt Goodwin isn’t the winner Farage thinks he is
The academic turned right-wing firebrand is Reform’s candidate for Gorton and Denton. But his ‘Broken Britain’ mantra is unlikely to convince voters
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk
February 2, 2026 at 10:06 AM
Ooooh. Are we allowed to be rude about it now?
February 2, 2026 at 11:09 AM
Reposted by Louise, Prof/Dr
Bannon bragging he has control of the far right across Europe. Including Nigel Farage.

#EpsteinFiles
February 2, 2026 at 7:09 AM
Tell us what you really think 🤣
Former Cherwell columnist, failed candidate for Oxford University Chancellor, ‘Prince of Darkness’, St. Catherine’s alumnus and architect of ‘New Labour’ Peter Mandelson has resigned as a member of the Labour Party over links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cl...
February 2, 2026 at 9:05 AM
And resign from the Lords?
BREAKING: Peter Mandelson resigns from Labour to avoid causing "further embarrassment" to party as result of Epstein links.
February 1, 2026 at 10:37 PM
The sense of entitlement
my last Epstein scoop for the weekend:

Jeffrey Epstein wired $150,000 to Sarah Ferguson, the former Duchess of York, in 2001, according to newly released financial records, after helping her to cash in share options earned from her work for Weight Watchers.

www.ft.com/content/8623...
Sarah Ferguson received $150,000 from Jeffrey Epstein after share sale
Transaction is latest evidence of extent of friendship that former Prince Andrew’s ex-wife forged with the sex offender
www.ft.com
February 1, 2026 at 10:31 PM
Reposted by Louise, Prof/Dr
One of the cats of #Pompeii, chilling on what was once a #Roman fast food counter 🏺 #AncientBlueSky
February 1, 2026 at 10:20 PM
Reposted by Louise, Prof/Dr
2008: Epstein is convicted of procuring a minor for prostitution

2018: Despite that conviction, [files indicate] he was invited by Rowling’s team - along with a guest of his choosing - to the Broadway opening of Harry Potter and the private after-party

Protecting women and children, is it?
JK Rowling's team invited Jeffery Epstein to the deathly hallows play and to a Harry potter dinner.

www.justice.gov/epstein/file...

www.justice.gov/epstein/file...
www.justice.gov
February 1, 2026 at 5:38 PM
Reposted by Louise, Prof/Dr
You’ve got us gripped with this alt text, @rspb.bsky.social 🌕
Tonight, the Snow Moon rises.🌕

Named for February’s deep snows, this full moon was also called the Storm Moon or Ice Moon in Old English, reflecting winter’s grip.

Moonrise: 16:13*
February 1, 2026 at 3:36 PM