Reposted by Benjamin Watson
Really cool the way Labour is correcting for the Tories' "pander to their core voters at all costs" strategy, with a "telling THEIR core voters to go fuck themselves at every opportunity" strategy
In my view (1) the mass university system we have built since the 1970s is now likely coming to an end, if not in this Parliament than in the next; (2) university bankruptcies (perhaps disguised as mergers) are inevitable. Sorry, but there it is.
May 4, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Really cool the way Labour is correcting for the Tories' "pander to their core voters at all costs" strategy, with a "telling THEIR core voters to go fuck themselves at every opportunity" strategy
Reposted by Benjamin Watson
Marwood's law of British politics states that whenever UK politicians and media start banging on about 'the chattering classes' or 'the liberal elite' you know that a really terrible idea is about to be advocated and enacted.
April 13, 2025 at 10:23 PM
Marwood's law of British politics states that whenever UK politicians and media start banging on about 'the chattering classes' or 'the liberal elite' you know that a really terrible idea is about to be advocated and enacted.
Reposted by Benjamin Watson
Again: Britain (not just this government but all of the recent ones) has a problem with knowledge work. Fishing, steel are manly proper jobs with a Victorian sense of place and history. Creative industries & HE are treated as secondary; derided or ignored.
This. An emergency recall of parliament on a weekend for British Steel. Nothing at all for UK HE which employs far more people, has already shed 10,000 academic jobs, with several institutions on the brink of collapse.
A reminder: we train all the doctors, teachers, engineers, nurses, lawyers &c &c
A reminder: we train all the doctors, teachers, engineers, nurses, lawyers &c &c
British Steel employs 3.6k people. Coventry Uni group, which auditors say may not survive, employs 7.7k. But there is an emergency debate in parliament for British Steel and nothing for the whole HE sector imploding
April 12, 2025 at 8:46 AM
Again: Britain (not just this government but all of the recent ones) has a problem with knowledge work. Fishing, steel are manly proper jobs with a Victorian sense of place and history. Creative industries & HE are treated as secondary; derided or ignored.
Reposted by Benjamin Watson
“It has not talked to anyone apart from Professor Stock.” Institutionalised transphobia does it again
This article by Sussex university’s vice chancellor about how the Office for Students seemingly oversaw its investigation into worries about free speech at Sussex is… quite something.
www.politicshome.com/opinion/arti...
www.politicshome.com/opinion/arti...
The Kafkaesque investigation into our university looks like political scapegoating
The Office for Students' so-called investigation into the University I represent was flawed and politically motivated. The implications for the hig...
www.politicshome.com
March 26, 2025 at 8:49 AM
“It has not talked to anyone apart from Professor Stock.” Institutionalised transphobia does it again
Reposted by Benjamin Watson
A student journalist investigating the gender breakdown of various majors at Georgetown just asked abt English and I sent her this quote from @kukukadoo.bsky.social's laceratingly smart & funny review essay:
February 19, 2025 at 3:25 PM
A student journalist investigating the gender breakdown of various majors at Georgetown just asked abt English and I sent her this quote from @kukukadoo.bsky.social's laceratingly smart & funny review essay:
Reposted by Benjamin Watson
forgetting your headphones at home is the modern equivalent of leaving your sword behind in medieval times
November 18, 2024 at 4:58 AM
forgetting your headphones at home is the modern equivalent of leaving your sword behind in medieval times
Reposted by Benjamin Watson
If we can get here to about where 30% of posts are no longer treatises about what bluesky is or isn't in relation to twitter that will be good
November 13, 2024 at 10:48 AM
If we can get here to about where 30% of posts are no longer treatises about what bluesky is or isn't in relation to twitter that will be good
From Nan Shepherd, 'The Living Mountain'
November 8, 2024 at 9:39 AM
From Nan Shepherd, 'The Living Mountain'
Reposted by Benjamin Watson
you guys are very quick to say let's abandon trans rights or feminism even when situation suggests this is more about inflation + the electorate's desire for an authoritarian cult of personality.... we'd do better jacking up interest rates and offering chalamet up as boyking
November 7, 2024 at 12:53 PM
you guys are very quick to say let's abandon trans rights or feminism even when situation suggests this is more about inflation + the electorate's desire for an authoritarian cult of personality.... we'd do better jacking up interest rates and offering chalamet up as boyking