What an absolute shower...

How "earned progression" could backfire @thehowardleague.bsky.social explains how the Government's earned progression plan could inadvertently result in increasing the numbers of people in prison. www.russellwebster.com/how-earned-p...

UK's stupid immigration policy doing as badly as Trump in attracting income and skills from international students.

Greens and Lib Dems must continue working together to beat the far right threat of Reform.

NEU: “It is beyond belief that this government’s response to students disengaging in secondary isn’t to consider the impacts on curriculum caused by the tests that already exist in primary but rather is to suggest an additional test in year 8." www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Looks like the Tories have belatedly realised that aping the National Front is not a good look.

No one takes strike action lightly, but staff at Sheffield’s universities have been pushed too far. ⚠️ 28 days of strikes announced at University of Sheffield & Sheffield Hallam over job cuts. Education workers deserve better. www.ucu.org.uk/article/1423...

If we're living through a technological revolution, why is econonic growth so low? Why is productivity not increasing?

New @addictionjournal.bsky.social editorial on the licensing reforms currently being rushed through by the UK Government. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... The Call for Evidence closes on November 6th www.gov.uk/government/c...

We wrote an article explaining why you shouldn't put several variables into a regression model and report which are statistically significant - even as exploratory research. bmjmedicine.bmj.com/content/4/1/.... How did we do?

About a tenth of relationships in the UK are mixed race. X seems full of people who think they are the only relationships in TV advertising. This suggests people filter out the ones featuring white families, and then trigger themselves into anger if a mixed race couple appear.

Open access: Risk versus pleasure: understanding changing attitudes of non- and light-drinking young people as they age by @amypennay.bsky.social @gabrielcaluzzi.bsky.social @megancook.bsky.social @michaellivingston.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

In Wales, over 60s get free bus travel, subsidised train travel, free eye tests, free dental check ups if you get an N.H.S. dentist. Oh, free prescriptions, as well as free hospital parking. We'll vote reform because the Labour led Senned have done nothing for us.

Yay. Priceless. The right column at the right time. And a gleefully English two fingers to the haters.

I voted today. No more real terms pay cuts! #wearetheuniversity @ucu.org.uk

Trump has now murdered 34 people in international waters. No one has any idea if any were criminals, and of course it doesn't matter, because it was a war crime to kill even a single one of them. Drug trafficking is a felony, but it's not a violent crime and isn't punishable by summary execution.

But will Eurostart restart services from Ebbsfleet and Ashford?

Phillipson: University tuition fees to rise with inflation, conditional on measures of quality of provision.

Driver-less cars should be rolled out as soon as they are safer than human drivers. Waiting until they are 100% safe will cause many avoidable deaths. www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...

We need two new full-time lecturers in #criminology here at @sheffielduni.bsky.social. One permanent share.google/RuTNSJWfvkuK... and one 12 month maternity cover share.google/xzf5icskztO9...

This needs to made accessible to people who inject drugs.

Youth diversion "fragmented and inconsistent" - Joint inspection by @HMIProbation & @HMICFRS finds current youth diversion work is fragmented and inconsistent. www.russellwebster.com/youth-divers...

‘analysis of the [graduate] wage premium… by leading… economists determined it was “extraordinarily flat” between the 1990s & 2010s, despite a near tripling in the share of working adults with an undergraduate degree over the period.’ Good piece from @amyborrett.ft.com on.ft.com/3Kn1ioF

Bathos hits:

Investment bankers mysteriously avoid recommending tax on wealth. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

In other news, Kemi Badenoch's party has taken at least £7 million in donations from funders and directors of climate change denial lobby groups bylinetimes.com/2025/03/18/k...

Prison is for poor people.

We are calling on the UK Government to not introduce a levy on higher education provider income from international students, reduce visa costs to attract global talent, and to review higher education funding to create a sustainable model www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/58...

Can you imagine the government slapping a tariff on car exports in order to subsidise a small proportion of drivers? That is what the government plans for UK universities.

My ILR cost something like £1200 in 2013, what then felt like a huge amount for a PhD student. Citizenship then cost £700 a year later. This now looks positively cheap compared to the current costs of £3k plus for ILR and £1700 for citizenship.

Can somebody from @ippr.org, @demos-uk.bsky.social, @compassoffice.bsky.social please explain why Labour ministers are coming up with such ill-thought ideas, and what they plan to do about it?

That's great so I've added #AltText so that more folk can appreciate it.

Another nail in some Universities' coffins, as income from international students is diverted to student maintenance grants.

When journalists become Trump's stenographers...

Beautiful day in Sheffield for the first day of the University term.

The government has to learn how to lead public opinion, rather than chase it. Leaving X is a no-brainer when the algorithm is stacked in favour of extremists.

Movies with stoner-in-a-dressing gown heroes: One Battle After Another, The Big Lebowski. Any others?

"How many traitors are in Farage's new party?" would, I suggest be a better line than Digital ID. To beat Reform, make wavering voters ashamed to back them.

Already more than a million signatures against digital ID cards, including mine.

TODAY on the Economics Observatory – What are the effects of youth club closures in the UK? By @carmenvillaecon.bsky.social

Welcome back to the New Deal for Communities #NewLabourRedux www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

To all Brits: *please* can you stop starting every presentation with an apology.

And more broadly: why is what politicians *say* treated as more newsworthy than *what is actually happening*? We are caught in an endless cycle of #gossip.

We're hiring! 📢 We're currently recruiting for a Policy Manager, Maternity Cover, Fixed term for 1 year Find out more and apply 🔽 https://twp.ai/9PVaHX

Campbell Robb, Chief Executive at Nacro, responds to today's @hmiprisonsnews.bsky.social 'Children in custody' report 2024-2025, he says YOIs are "entrenching disadvantage." 👉Nacro knows it doesn’t have to be this way. We help young people to move on and be who they want to be. shorturl.at/sbErX

The wonderful Marsh family take on the US #fakefreespeech crisis, to a Disney tune.

Here's a short happy-go-lucky 🎶 parody about the way that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is now collapsing American healthcare - based off #PaulSimon's toe-tapping "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard". youtu.be/FDiXrd-R68U It's called: "Measles and Polio Down in the Schoolyard."

To all fresher students, including those arriving at @sheffielduni.bsky.social, take it easy. You have at least three years to meet friends and have a great time. You don't have to pack it all into the first week. #freshers2025

So why are UK govt departments still using X?

After Musk appearance at the Fascist London march yesterday, anyone still on X must know why they are there. Musk also actively encourages rebellion in the UK against the government. It appears damming why people or institutions remain on that platform. What are their motivations for doing so?