This is tomorrow, at 2pm UK time with Prof Morwenna Ludlow @gregoriobettiza.bsky.social Exeter Politics colleagues.

Online participants can join via this link:
Universityofexeter.zoom.us/j/99890331186?…

But if you attend in person you get tea and biscuits!

We can be proud of our world-leading universities. But reporting from openDemocracy shows how this reputation can be damaged by secretive donors.

That's why Robert Buckland & I wrote to Gillian Keegan MP calling for total transparency and due diligence on the source of donations.

#FreeGubad
Great op-ed in Daily Express.
Ignore the below-the-line, charity-begins-at-home comments from those that didn't read beyond the headline. People who pay attention know that this matters for the UK - as well as being a universal moral issue.

Reuse or recycle? Sell on or send to scrap? What would economic logic suggest?

Really looking forward to hosting Index on Censorship Jemimah Steinfeld, and speakers in Exeter Exeter Politics University of Exeter News this Thursday to discuss the challenge of #TransnationalRepression .

You can choose to tune in online via the eventbrite sign up.

A government which harms the country it governs continues its long and downward path. But where are universities as public institutions: open, transparent, and accountable to their local communities? The problem's not just about govt but about universities.

The Q here is not just the level but the nature of funding. I've received a BA fellowship on security & given evidence to FAC. But in-house fellowships & projects bring us closer to elites & the US model. Critical distance is lost. Fine line?
Rory Cormac
spectator.co.uk/article/how-to…

It was great to host you all. Thanks for a vigorous and respectful debate.

'Just like football, UK universities need a regulator'

Many of us have identified many areas - private funding, overseas campuses - where universities need more transparency and accountabilty. But as increasingly corporate actors (of public value) they need a proper regulator.

Great research @ozodlik. The system - kleptocracy - is familiar from the Karimov era, but the methods are more sophisticated than the Gulnara/Bekzod buyback model. New 🇺🇿 = Seriously professional corruption. Is that reassuring for the big businesses piling in to Tashkent?

I'm looking forward to hosting #bbcaq BBC Politics in Exeter at Pinhoe Road Baptist Church tomorrow. Kate Andrews Carla Denyer
John Glen MP Darren Jones MP are our panelists.
All tickets are taken but it is broadcast live on Radio 4 in the UK from 8pm.

bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00…

I'm speaking at the The British Academy summer showcase on 12 July at 6pm on: 'Confronting the UK’s Kleptocracy Problem' drawing on research with Tena Prelec Tom Mayne which builds on an earlier CH Russia Eurasia paper.

BOOK LAUNCH!
Wipf and Stock Publishers Security After Christendom
Next Weds 1 May online and in-person at University of Exeter Exeter Politics Exeter Theology & Religion
Chaired by Prof Morwenna Ludlow with comments by Brandon Gallaher and @gregoriobettiza.bsky.social

Excellent news. Now Gubad needs to be released.

'We are asked to be complicit in a present day untruth and a future fantasy'.

That's a member of parliament saying that the government is lying in law.

It's also a great summary of what the government has submitted the UK to for many years now.

Here's a rewrite of graf below for Kazinform:
'Despite all indications that the vote would be tight & divisive, Cameron called it with no plan for Brexit and promptly left office on defeat. The UK is still living through the costs, while he rescues his reputation as ForSec.'

A minister's right to make money out of the experience gained in public office is greater than the public right's to expect ministers to represent the public interest alone?

Really important thread on how the U.K. government lets private consultancies fleece the public sector. The role of these powerful companies in global politics is both huge and poorly understood by the field of international relations.

Don't miss the Index on Censorship Spring Magazine launch event at University of Exeter featuring Professor John Heathershaw.

Save the date: May 2nd, 4.30pm - 6.30pm. Register now to join the conversation:

eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-long-rea…

Again, a heavy hand is offered when a light touch would be more effective at improving governance. But Universities UK International Russell Group VCs also at fault. They fought against disclosures of funding and opposed Academic Freedom & Internationalisation WG mode code transparency+accountability measures.
ft.com/content/08cc2f…