Siân Pearce
@sianp.bsky.social
Immigration flavoured children's rights researcher, lawyer in a past life. Also geekery various. "Gary Sherman's Nemesis" (Abertoir, 2023)
Almost certainly not in the mood for this.
https://linktr.ee/SianP
Almost certainly not in the mood for this.
https://linktr.ee/SianP
Reposted by Siân Pearce
“She is doing things that I think are letting this country down".
Labour peer Alf Dubs, who arrived in the UK on the Kindertransport, tells @nicolakellywrites.bsky.social that he is deeply disappointed in Shabana Mahmood and Keir Starmer's betrayal of child refugees
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/28/a...
Labour peer Alf Dubs, who arrived in the UK on the Kindertransport, tells @nicolakellywrites.bsky.social that he is deeply disappointed in Shabana Mahmood and Keir Starmer's betrayal of child refugees
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/28/a...
Alf Dubs Accuses Shabana Mahmood of 'Letting the Country Down' With Plans to Outdo Reform on Asylum
The veteran Labour peer and lifelong campaigner for child refugees, Alf Dubs, tells Byline Times that the Home Secretary's plans are "bitterly disappointing coming from a Labour Government"
bylinetimes.com
November 28, 2025 at 10:05 AM
“She is doing things that I think are letting this country down".
Labour peer Alf Dubs, who arrived in the UK on the Kindertransport, tells @nicolakellywrites.bsky.social that he is deeply disappointed in Shabana Mahmood and Keir Starmer's betrayal of child refugees
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/28/a...
Labour peer Alf Dubs, who arrived in the UK on the Kindertransport, tells @nicolakellywrites.bsky.social that he is deeply disappointed in Shabana Mahmood and Keir Starmer's betrayal of child refugees
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/28/a...
Reposted by Siân Pearce
Almost half of practising solicitors say they or their firm have received threats in the past year. A The Law Society survey has found that death threats, intimidation and even physical violence are regularly faced by members working on the frontline.
www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/solicit...
www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/solicit...
Solicitors face death threats, intimidation and violence, Law Society survey finds
Almost half of practising solicitors say they or their firm have received threats in the past year.
www.lawgazette.co.uk
November 28, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Almost half of practising solicitors say they or their firm have received threats in the past year. A The Law Society survey has found that death threats, intimidation and even physical violence are regularly faced by members working on the frontline.
www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/solicit...
www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/solicit...
Reposted by Siân Pearce
Yep, you can still love Columbo and believe ACAB
remember: columbo isn't a cop. he's a fae with a strong sense of justice, who shows up to crimes and glamours people into thinking he's a cop.
that's why he doesn't carry a gun: the cold iron
that's why he doesn't carry a gun: the cold iron
November 28, 2025 at 12:18 PM
Yep, you can still love Columbo and believe ACAB
The key case that places Home Office concerns on a par with the rights of the child is ZH (Tanzania) from 2011. It's worth a look if you're interested in how we end up with cases like this.
November 28, 2025 at 12:04 PM
The key case that places Home Office concerns on a par with the rights of the child is ZH (Tanzania) from 2011. It's worth a look if you're interested in how we end up with cases like this.
Reposted by Siân Pearce
She is so profoundly intellectually incurious that I find myself fascinated how she ever learnt how to *speak*.
Also the Romans literally had a welfare system that included cash transfers for poor children. (And subsidised grain for low income workers...).
There was no state. Who does she think crucified him, an anarchist collective?
November 28, 2025 at 11:28 AM
She is so profoundly intellectually incurious that I find myself fascinated how she ever learnt how to *speak*.
Reposted by Siân Pearce
Kinnock voice - "I’ll tell you what happens with impossible promises. You start with far-fetched resolutions....and you end up in the grotesque chaos of a Labour government, a *Labour* government, rejecting visas for homeless 8 yr olds trying to joing their parents"
November 28, 2025 at 10:43 AM
Kinnock voice - "I’ll tell you what happens with impossible promises. You start with far-fetched resolutions....and you end up in the grotesque chaos of a Labour government, a *Labour* government, rejecting visas for homeless 8 yr olds trying to joing their parents"
Reposted by Siân Pearce
Of course, it goes without saying that the Roman state had a welfare system from around 20AD with corn distribution (Cicero mocks it for being cynical!) And a taxation system so established that even Jesus told people to pay it.
She's just incapable of knowingly being right.
She's just incapable of knowingly being right.
November 28, 2025 at 11:20 AM
Of course, it goes without saying that the Roman state had a welfare system from around 20AD with corn distribution (Cicero mocks it for being cynical!) And a taxation system so established that even Jesus told people to pay it.
She's just incapable of knowingly being right.
She's just incapable of knowingly being right.
Reposted by Siân Pearce
There was no state. Who does she think crucified him, an anarchist collective?
November 28, 2025 at 11:22 AM
There was no state. Who does she think crucified him, an anarchist collective?
Reposted by Siân Pearce
What?
Kemi Badenoch says welfare spending is unchristian
Kemi Badenoch says welfare spending is unchristian
Kemi Badenoch says welfare spending is unchristian
www.thetimes.com
November 28, 2025 at 11:23 AM
What?
Reposted by Siân Pearce
Setting aside the potential ways this could violate international maritime law, are the UK and France actively trying to cause more deaths in the channel now, because that's what this will do? For all the nice words about "safeguarding" here, this is stupidly dangerous.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
France to start intercepting small boats in the Channel after pressure from UK
The change in policy comes after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer wrote to President Emmanuel Macron.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 28, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Setting aside the potential ways this could violate international maritime law, are the UK and France actively trying to cause more deaths in the channel now, because that's what this will do? For all the nice words about "safeguarding" here, this is stupidly dangerous.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by Siân Pearce
Yes: we'd calculated that a single parent with 2 kids who started their settlement journey in 2017 would pay >£27k in fees & IHS over 10yrs to settle (w/o citizenship & pre-2025⬆️). Now >£54k for 20yrs if they'd ever claimed benefits for >12mnths - £225/month extra in essential HH costs over 20yrs.
This is a massive problem with Labour’s immigration proposals. All migrant families affected will be made considerably poorer (because of extra immigration fees over several years plus dampened job prospects) and many (most?) of those families have children.
Great to hear Rachel Reeves acknowledge that "there are many reasons why people choose to have children then find themselves in difficult times. The death of a partner. Separation. Ill health. A lost job. I don’t believe that children should bear the brunt of that."
So why should migrant children?
So why should migrant children?
November 27, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Yes: we'd calculated that a single parent with 2 kids who started their settlement journey in 2017 would pay >£27k in fees & IHS over 10yrs to settle (w/o citizenship & pre-2025⬆️). Now >£54k for 20yrs if they'd ever claimed benefits for >12mnths - £225/month extra in essential HH costs over 20yrs.
Reposted by Siân Pearce
Today in mansplaining: a bloke archaeologist asked if I'd heard of the journal Current Anthropology.
🏺 🦣
🏺 🦣
November 28, 2025 at 10:46 AM
Today in mansplaining: a bloke archaeologist asked if I'd heard of the journal Current Anthropology.
🏺 🦣
🏺 🦣
My equity lecturer used to start her module by reading from Bleak House.
The opening page of 'Bleak House' by Charles Dickens is always a treat.
November 28, 2025 at 10:43 AM
My equity lecturer used to start her module by reading from Bleak House.
Reposted by Siân Pearce
The irony is that one of the reasons Harriet Harman decided not to pursue Badenoch for hacking her website was a belief that more black women in politics was a good thing. So, in a small but salient way, Badenoch owes her position to the very solidarity she now mocks.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Badenoch defends calling chancellor 'spineless' in Budget row
The Conservative Party leader says she was
www.bbc.co.uk
November 28, 2025 at 10:02 AM
The irony is that one of the reasons Harriet Harman decided not to pursue Badenoch for hacking her website was a belief that more black women in politics was a good thing. So, in a small but salient way, Badenoch owes her position to the very solidarity she now mocks.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by Siân Pearce
Gosh.
"The BBC tried this after 'Final Final Version (2) - Do Not Edit (1)' failed."
November 28, 2025 at 9:21 AM
Gosh.
Reposted by Siân Pearce
Some quick pointers for the government
🚨Asylum seekers are not, by any measure, "illegal migrants"
🚨The latest immigration stats have pretty much nothing to do with this government
🚨It's a genuinely weird flex to boast about making the country you govern less attractive
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
🚨Asylum seekers are not, by any measure, "illegal migrants"
🚨The latest immigration stats have pretty much nothing to do with this government
🚨It's a genuinely weird flex to boast about making the country you govern less attractive
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
UK net migration falls sharply with drop in arrivals for work and study
Provisional figures for net migration to the UK show levels dropped to 204,000 in the year to June 2025.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 28, 2025 at 8:17 AM
Some quick pointers for the government
🚨Asylum seekers are not, by any measure, "illegal migrants"
🚨The latest immigration stats have pretty much nothing to do with this government
🚨It's a genuinely weird flex to boast about making the country you govern less attractive
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
🚨Asylum seekers are not, by any measure, "illegal migrants"
🚨The latest immigration stats have pretty much nothing to do with this government
🚨It's a genuinely weird flex to boast about making the country you govern less attractive
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by Siân Pearce
I heard a story about a female academic giving a paper at the IHR who, after receiving a long and aggressive question from a senior male professor, simply leaned back with her hands behind her head and replied “Oh, do fuck off.”
One of my colleagues went to a seminar at Berkeley and when someone asked a question Derrida brushed it off saying ‘what you ask may be important but it is not interesting’.
This path leads to chaos.
November 27, 2025 at 6:16 PM
I heard a story about a female academic giving a paper at the IHR who, after receiving a long and aggressive question from a senior male professor, simply leaned back with her hands behind her head and replied “Oh, do fuck off.”
Reposted by Siân Pearce
If as Home Secretary you are looking at the significant reduction in people choosing to live and work in the UK and deciding it's a good idea to "go further" you've conclusively shown you aren't basing your policies on anything resembling reality. The repercussions would be devastating for everyone.
Labour immigration policy explained:
✅ Net immigration rising: CRACKDOWN REQUIRED
✅ Net immigration plummeting: CRACKDOWN REQUIRED
✅ Net immigration rising: CRACKDOWN REQUIRED
✅ Net immigration plummeting: CRACKDOWN REQUIRED
November 27, 2025 at 8:47 PM
If as Home Secretary you are looking at the significant reduction in people choosing to live and work in the UK and deciding it's a good idea to "go further" you've conclusively shown you aren't basing your policies on anything resembling reality. The repercussions would be devastating for everyone.
Reposted by Siân Pearce
Labour immigration policy explained:
✅ Net immigration rising: CRACKDOWN REQUIRED
✅ Net immigration plummeting: CRACKDOWN REQUIRED
✅ Net immigration rising: CRACKDOWN REQUIRED
✅ Net immigration plummeting: CRACKDOWN REQUIRED
November 27, 2025 at 7:42 PM
Labour immigration policy explained:
✅ Net immigration rising: CRACKDOWN REQUIRED
✅ Net immigration plummeting: CRACKDOWN REQUIRED
✅ Net immigration rising: CRACKDOWN REQUIRED
✅ Net immigration plummeting: CRACKDOWN REQUIRED
Reposted by Siân Pearce
It’s interesting which manifesto commitments are set in stone and which are infinitely flexible, is it not
When Keir Starmer asked me to work with our Trades Unions to develop a programme for the biggest uplift in workers’ rights and protections in a generation, I did exactly as I was asked and we produced the New Deal for Working People.
1/11
1/11
November 27, 2025 at 7:54 PM
It’s interesting which manifesto commitments are set in stone and which are infinitely flexible, is it not
Reposted by Siân Pearce
"We are freezing known Russian assets" says Rachel Reeves
"But let me be clear, I don't actually mean the member for Clacton"
"But let me be clear, I don't actually mean the member for Clacton"
November 26, 2025 at 1:10 PM
"We are freezing known Russian assets" says Rachel Reeves
"But let me be clear, I don't actually mean the member for Clacton"
"But let me be clear, I don't actually mean the member for Clacton"
Reposted by Siân Pearce
Happy Thanksgiving, America!
November 27, 2025 at 9:01 AM
Happy Thanksgiving, America!
Reposted by Siân Pearce
Why is the University of Exeter Classics Department ground zero for the robot takeover?
thesphinxblog.com/2025/11/27/a...
thesphinxblog.com/2025/11/27/a...
Are We Human, Or Are We Chancer?
It’s weird that I haven’t seen any discussion of this, as it seems improbable that the robots would choose the University of Exeter’s Classics Department as the bridgehead for world conquest, but t…
thesphinxblog.com
November 27, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Why is the University of Exeter Classics Department ground zero for the robot takeover?
thesphinxblog.com/2025/11/27/a...
thesphinxblog.com/2025/11/27/a...
Reposted by Siân Pearce
Obviously this piece is lacking in quite a lot of information, however, statistically if people are being stuck in lorries to leave the UK they aren't being "smuggled" they are being trafficked, a whole other thing. That seems like a pretty crucial thing to clarify.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Two Romanian men jailed for trying to smuggle migrants out of UK
Marius Bajenaru, 44, and Sorin-Costinel Ivan, 46, tried to smuggle migrants in the back of lorries.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 27, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Obviously this piece is lacking in quite a lot of information, however, statistically if people are being stuck in lorries to leave the UK they aren't being "smuggled" they are being trafficked, a whole other thing. That seems like a pretty crucial thing to clarify.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by Siân Pearce
Government "proposals" and Government "policy" are two distinct and different things. The former may lead to the other, but is not it. Please for the love of God can this be made clear
November 26, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Government "proposals" and Government "policy" are two distinct and different things. The former may lead to the other, but is not it. Please for the love of God can this be made clear