Sonia Zakrzewski
@soniaz.bsky.social
FSA Professor of Bioarchaeology at @unisouthampton.bsky.social, biological anthropology, archaeology, paleopathology... Archaeological dead bodies, identity, disability. Ancient Egypt, medieval Spain, Saxons in England.
Reposted by Sonia Zakrzewski
The Home Secretary says "we have become the destination of choice in Europe, clearly visible to every people smuggler and would-be illegal migrant across the world"
That is a factually untrue claim: the Home Office shows that the UK is fifth, getting 1/10 claims, while Germany gets 1/5 claims
That is a factually untrue claim: the Home Office shows that the UK is fifth, getting 1/10 claims, while Germany gets 1/5 claims
November 17, 2025 at 3:51 PM
The Home Secretary says "we have become the destination of choice in Europe, clearly visible to every people smuggler and would-be illegal migrant across the world"
That is a factually untrue claim: the Home Office shows that the UK is fifth, getting 1/10 claims, while Germany gets 1/5 claims
That is a factually untrue claim: the Home Office shows that the UK is fifth, getting 1/10 claims, while Germany gets 1/5 claims
Reposted by Sonia Zakrzewski
BBC has a case against Trump. WhiteHouse Chief Press Officer called the BBC ‘100% fake news.’ Which is defamatory and untrue.
Trump says he will sue BBC for between $1 billion and $5 billion despite apology www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Trump says he will sue BBC for at least $1bn over Panorama edit
The US president told reporters on Air Force One that he will take legal action against the broadcaster and will call Sir Keir Starmer over the weekend.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 15, 2025 at 8:45 AM
BBC has a case against Trump. WhiteHouse Chief Press Officer called the BBC ‘100% fake news.’ Which is defamatory and untrue.
Reposted by Sonia Zakrzewski
More Labour MPs starting to express public unease at these proposals. Lots more saying so privately...
The Prime Minister said in September that we are at a fork in the road. These asylum proposals suggest we have taken the wrong turning.
The idea that recognised refugees need to be deported is wrong.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
The idea that recognised refugees need to be deported is wrong.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Asylum system in UK ‘out of control’ and dividing country, home secretary says
Shabana Mahmood to unveil new proposals modelled on Denmark’s controversial system
www.theguardian.com
November 16, 2025 at 5:57 PM
More Labour MPs starting to express public unease at these proposals. Lots more saying so privately...
Reposted by Sonia Zakrzewski
Labour's MP for Folkestone says the government has taken "the wrong turning" on its plans for asylum seekers.
"The rhetoric around these reforms encourages the same culture of divisiveness that sees racism and abuse growing in our communities."
"The rhetoric around these reforms encourages the same culture of divisiveness that sees racism and abuse growing in our communities."
November 16, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Labour's MP for Folkestone says the government has taken "the wrong turning" on its plans for asylum seekers.
"The rhetoric around these reforms encourages the same culture of divisiveness that sees racism and abuse growing in our communities."
"The rhetoric around these reforms encourages the same culture of divisiveness that sees racism and abuse growing in our communities."
Truly horrified. Refugees are expected to integrate but how can anyone do that when, after 19.5 years, they could be thrown out? And their born in Britain kids too. Sickening.
“Is it possible that you could have a life here, a job here, maybe kids going to school, a family here, then after 19 years if your country is then considered safe you get booted out and sent home?”
November 16, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Truly horrified. Refugees are expected to integrate but how can anyone do that when, after 19.5 years, they could be thrown out? And their born in Britain kids too. Sickening.
Reposted by Sonia Zakrzewski
“The reminders that your life may be temporary are a constant drain on your mental health. The big news announcements from all the parties take their toll. It’s always there in your mind that your way of life can be taken away from you.“
‘Death by a thousand cuts’: the people who could face deportation under Reform
As party’s rise fuels fears over future visa rules, people share how the lives they have built are in jeopardy
www.theguardian.com
November 15, 2025 at 6:37 PM
“The reminders that your life may be temporary are a constant drain on your mental health. The big news announcements from all the parties take their toll. It’s always there in your mind that your way of life can be taken away from you.“
Reposted by Sonia Zakrzewski
Which ancient Egyptian was most modest about their views?
Imho tep
Imho tep
November 14, 2025 at 11:39 AM
Which ancient Egyptian was most modest about their views?
Imho tep
Imho tep
Reposted by Sonia Zakrzewski
"Live updates on exactly which UK universities are on strike right now over huge job cuts"
Live updates on exactly which UK universities are on strike right now over huge job cuts
Staff at eight UK unis are on strike at the moment
bit.ly
November 14, 2025 at 8:15 AM
"Live updates on exactly which UK universities are on strike right now over huge job cuts"
Reposted by Sonia Zakrzewski
Have written for the New Statesman about why, if he will not accept an apology, the BBC should welcome a Trump lawsuit. They should show guts and fight it because impartially matters and if they don't, they will have tacitly accepted a rewritten history.
www.newstatesman.com/politics/med...
www.newstatesman.com/politics/med...
Trump's attack can rescue the BBC
The BBC should use the threat of legal action to strike a blow for press freedom
www.newstatesman.com
November 13, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Have written for the New Statesman about why, if he will not accept an apology, the BBC should welcome a Trump lawsuit. They should show guts and fight it because impartially matters and if they don't, they will have tacitly accepted a rewritten history.
www.newstatesman.com/politics/med...
www.newstatesman.com/politics/med...
Reposted by Sonia Zakrzewski
X is in clear + systemic breach of its legal duties in the UK to remove unlawful content from its platform.
Proof: when X users abuse + harass others with the racial slur "paki", X reporting system defends the racist abuse in more than 90% of cases reported.
A new thread documenting this.
Proof: when X users abuse + harass others with the racial slur "paki", X reporting system defends the racist abuse in more than 90% of cases reported.
A new thread documenting this.
November 13, 2025 at 12:43 AM
X is in clear + systemic breach of its legal duties in the UK to remove unlawful content from its platform.
Proof: when X users abuse + harass others with the racial slur "paki", X reporting system defends the racist abuse in more than 90% of cases reported.
A new thread documenting this.
Proof: when X users abuse + harass others with the racial slur "paki", X reporting system defends the racist abuse in more than 90% of cases reported.
A new thread documenting this.
@turiking.bsky.social
well done! Great hearing you talk on R4 just now. Really well explained. Thank you! Xx
well done! Great hearing you talk on R4 just now. Really well explained. Thank you! Xx
November 13, 2025 at 7:32 AM
@turiking.bsky.social
well done! Great hearing you talk on R4 just now. Really well explained. Thank you! Xx
well done! Great hearing you talk on R4 just now. Really well explained. Thank you! Xx
Reposted by Sonia Zakrzewski
Excellent piece this
The reaction to the Panorama edit has been nothing short of hysterical. Yes the BBC has some impartiality problems. But its biggest isn't the one you think.
New piece from me.
open.substack.com/pub/goodalla...
New piece from me.
open.substack.com/pub/goodalla...
The truth about impartiality at the BBC
And the hysteria of the current "crisis"
open.substack.com
November 11, 2025 at 12:32 PM
Excellent piece this
Reposted by Sonia Zakrzewski
The fact that the BBC has made serious culpable errors does not negate the point that there is a real and concerted right-wing media campaign to destroy it. Both points can be true at the same time and the campaign would not end even if the errors did.
November 10, 2025 at 1:08 PM
The fact that the BBC has made serious culpable errors does not negate the point that there is a real and concerted right-wing media campaign to destroy it. Both points can be true at the same time and the campaign would not end even if the errors did.
Reposted by Sonia Zakrzewski
Ed Davey, once again, miles ahead of our Government. Between him and Polanski, I'd be very concerned if I was Labour. Often these two are saying what it should be saying, but for reasons not entirely obvious, it is not.
I’ve written to Keir Starmer, Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage urging them to condemn Donald Trump’s attack on the BBC.
The BBC belongs to Britain, not Trump. We must defend it together.
The BBC belongs to Britain, not Trump. We must defend it together.
November 10, 2025 at 11:58 AM
Ed Davey, once again, miles ahead of our Government. Between him and Polanski, I'd be very concerned if I was Labour. Often these two are saying what it should be saying, but for reasons not entirely obvious, it is not.
Reposted by Sonia Zakrzewski
I suspect there's also a strong element here of far too many journalists and BBC managers spending too much time on X and getting a wholly misleading impression of how big a story the Trump edits were. They're excessively influenced by right-wing activist opinion, and particularly US opinion.
The BBC is hopeless at reporting on itself. The idea that a minor, if misleading, edit is the most serious crisis in its history is ludicrous self-absorption, even allowing for the context of a Faragite desire to break it. It's certainly not as serious as the Iraq-Gilligan crisis.
November 10, 2025 at 9:48 AM
I suspect there's also a strong element here of far too many journalists and BBC managers spending too much time on X and getting a wholly misleading impression of how big a story the Trump edits were. They're excessively influenced by right-wing activist opinion, and particularly US opinion.
A thread worth reading - especially the 3rd part
Headline from a serious and long working paper on the economic impact of Brexit. Possible that this has been feeding into OBR and HMT discussions?
November 10, 2025 at 10:33 AM
A thread worth reading - especially the 3rd part
Reposted by Sonia Zakrzewski
UK universities cannot thrive while continually cutting academic staff
No amount of wellness webinars, Lego play workshops, communal climbing events, bounce back sessions, desk yoga, jigsaw puzzle nights or Vice Chancellor's Special Awards for Resilience can change this
No amount of wellness webinars, Lego play workshops, communal climbing events, bounce back sessions, desk yoga, jigsaw puzzle nights or Vice Chancellor's Special Awards for Resilience can change this
November 10, 2025 at 8:30 AM
UK universities cannot thrive while continually cutting academic staff
No amount of wellness webinars, Lego play workshops, communal climbing events, bounce back sessions, desk yoga, jigsaw puzzle nights or Vice Chancellor's Special Awards for Resilience can change this
No amount of wellness webinars, Lego play workshops, communal climbing events, bounce back sessions, desk yoga, jigsaw puzzle nights or Vice Chancellor's Special Awards for Resilience can change this
Reposted by Sonia Zakrzewski
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:39 PM
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Reposted by Sonia Zakrzewski
Vital piece of investigative reporting from Sky. They've uncovered the X algorithm which feeds users extremist right wing material from the moment they join the site. It is a far-right radicalisation engine, by design.
news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
Elon Musk is boosting the British right - and this shows how
Elon Musk is boosting the British right - and this shows how
news.sky.com
November 6, 2025 at 7:23 AM
Vital piece of investigative reporting from Sky. They've uncovered the X algorithm which feeds users extremist right wing material from the moment they join the site. It is a far-right radicalisation engine, by design.
news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
I don't understand these kinds of business news stories. Why do we not have proper ways to take back the money from owners with convoluted trusts? How come they can escape with our money in this way? It feels like they are stealing from us.
PPE Medpro owes £39m in taxes
www.bbc.com/news/article...
PPE Medpro owes £39m in taxes
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Mone-linked firm PPE Medpro owes £39m in tax
Administrator's report shows firm owes £39m to HMRC on top of £148m owed to Department of Health
www.bbc.com
November 5, 2025 at 10:58 PM
I don't understand these kinds of business news stories. Why do we not have proper ways to take back the money from owners with convoluted trusts? How come they can escape with our money in this way? It feels like they are stealing from us.
PPE Medpro owes £39m in taxes
www.bbc.com/news/article...
PPE Medpro owes £39m in taxes
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Reposted by Sonia Zakrzewski
It's obviously a bad thing if any prisoner is released by mistake, but why is it worse if it's an asylum-seeker?
It seems just to be taken for granted now that someone is more dangerous because they're an asylum-seeker than because they're a criminal.
Something very dangerous is building here.
It seems just to be taken for granted now that someone is more dangerous because they're an asylum-seeker than because they're a criminal.
Something very dangerous is building here.
Well, that was a very weird deputy PMQs. James Cartlidge asking the same question five times – could David Lammy guarantee no other jailed asylum seekers have been accidentally released rather than deported – and Lammy each time instead condemning the Tories' record on prisons and justice.
November 5, 2025 at 1:26 PM
It's obviously a bad thing if any prisoner is released by mistake, but why is it worse if it's an asylum-seeker?
It seems just to be taken for granted now that someone is more dangerous because they're an asylum-seeker than because they're a criminal.
Something very dangerous is building here.
It seems just to be taken for granted now that someone is more dangerous because they're an asylum-seeker than because they're a criminal.
Something very dangerous is building here.
A fabulous thread for heritage, archaeology, history and bureaucracy! 🏺
So this reminds me of one of my favourite WTF moments in heritage bureaucracy, which was the 2018 archaeological excavations just outside the chapel of St Peter at the Tower of London. nobody could decide who, apart from the king, could legally sign off on the project
…so there isn’t some department that is empowered to deal with this stuff that can just override the inevitable objections, I guess? rough, if so
November 5, 2025 at 9:02 PM
A fabulous thread for heritage, archaeology, history and bureaucracy! 🏺
Reposted by Sonia Zakrzewski
⚠️Just a quick reminder, there are a few days left to apply for these two positions in #palaeoproteomics.
I'm hiring!⭐ As part of the DFF Sapere Aude-funded project MiddleEarth, I am looking for 1 postdoctoral researcher and 1 research assistant.
November 4, 2025 at 7:13 AM
⚠️Just a quick reminder, there are a few days left to apply for these two positions in #palaeoproteomics.
Really enjoyed today's lunchtime talk by @josephinequinn.bsky.social on How the Eorld made the West. Just gutted I had to leave early for a meeting. Food for thought. But then archaeology is BIG on sex, trade and war! 🏺
November 5, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Really enjoyed today's lunchtime talk by @josephinequinn.bsky.social on How the Eorld made the West. Just gutted I had to leave early for a meeting. Food for thought. But then archaeology is BIG on sex, trade and war! 🏺
Reposted by Sonia Zakrzewski
If you’re wondering why archaeologists were upset about the Lost King film, you should read this and ask yourself how you would feel if someone misrepresented your profession and professionalism in this way. I also recommend @pittsmike.bsky.social book Digging for Richard III.
Updated thread on The Lost King film:
I’m digging over old ground but I have to challenge Steve Coogan's line. He claims it’s all true (as has Philippa Langley): Langley will be celebrated for her achievement, Richard Taylor & his personal gripes will be forgotten
So what’s the real story? 1/15
I’m digging over old ground but I have to challenge Steve Coogan's line. He claims it’s all true (as has Philippa Langley): Langley will be celebrated for her achievement, Richard Taylor & his personal gripes will be forgotten
So what’s the real story? 1/15
November 1, 2025 at 12:06 PM
If you’re wondering why archaeologists were upset about the Lost King film, you should read this and ask yourself how you would feel if someone misrepresented your profession and professionalism in this way. I also recommend @pittsmike.bsky.social book Digging for Richard III.