Following coverage over the weekend of Sir Paul Nurse's comments that suggested that the only reason that a Fellow should be expelled from @royalsociety.org is scientific misconduct, I have written to him to explain the risks such an attitude poses of increasing sexual harassment in STEM.

I'm in Berlin for a PhD defence. And it's freezing cold. www.informatik.hu-berlin.de/de/events/di...

Much that is astonishing about this story, buti look, if I had the money, I'd send my hypothetical kids to an elite private school. The schools listed are great. The pupils there who need *further* encouragement from a Cambridge college apply...that's who you want to target to *increase* quality?

The video talk to accompany our paper at ITCS 2026 is now online. youtu.be/ALaHOpLddks

@lammasleaves.bsky.social and I recently watched the Netflix series Black Warrant. Now I have this haunting song stuck in my head. www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8a7... I wondered, is this a Devenderpal Singh original, or does the song have an older pedigree?

Happy New Year to all! May 2026 be an improvement on 2025 in every possible way.

Updated on the arXiv is the full version of our ITCS'26 paper (working with the brilliant team of Benedikt Pago and Tim Seppelt). Characterizes polynomials in a matrix of variables that can be computed by poly-size symmetric circuits. A surprising combinatorial criterion. arxiv.org/abs/2502.06740

The Rice Boat is closing on Saturday. Now, when people ask me what is my favourite restaurant in Cambridge, I won't know what to say. riceboat.co.uk

Reminder: Two weeks left to apply for the Assistant/Associate Professor positions in Theoretical Computer Science at Cambridge. Application deadline: 15 December 2025. Details and application portal: cst.cam.ac.uk/assistantass...

ICALP/PODC/SPAA 2026 on 6–10 July, 2026 icalppodcspaa2026.cs.rhul.ac.uk

We have a new paper out on the arXiv. A full version of a paper to appear at CSL'26. arxiv.org/abs/2511.11326

Brilliant!

Sometimes, reading an article reveals an aspect of the world we live in that I was barely aware of. I often get this with @lrb.co.uk. The lives of the pig butchers - who knew?

This lecture is now available on youtube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEtW...

I have taken over from Yuri Gurevich as the editor of the Logic in Computer Science column in the Bulletin of the EATCS. He has been doing this for 37 years! Big shoes to fill. For my first column, I've rendered my invited LICS 2025 talk into dialogue form: bulletin.eatcs.org/index.php/be...

The new EATCS Bulletin #147 is available! eatcs.org/images/bulle... In the TCS on the Web Column, I talked to the maintainers of the TCS Blog Aggregator: Nima Anari, Arnab Bhattacharyya and Gautam Kamath. It was a very fun interview! @gautamkamath.com @schmiste-ch.bsky.social

A reminder that this is happening today!

Happy Diwali, everyone!

@hignfy.bsky.social What ever happened to Have I Got a Bit More News for You?

Moshe Vardi will be delivering the Wheeler lecture @cst.cam.ac.uk on Wednesday, 22nd October. There are still places available if you would like to register to attend: www.cst.cam.ac.uk/news/efficie...

@willdalrymple.bsky.social was brilliant and entertaining. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Assisted Memories: Have Your cake and Eat It Using a simple model for defective memories, Professor Lapidoth will demonstrate some of Shannon’s key theorems on Data Compression & Channel Coding, at the heart of Information Theory Tues 28 Oct 6pm Robinson College shorturl.at/Xe3c6 @eng.cam.ac.uk

Cambridge is recruiting Assistant/Associate Professors in Theoretical Computer Science. #TCS #AcademicJobs Application deadline: 15 December 2025. Contact me for informal inquiries. See more details and apply here: www.cst.cam.ac.uk/assistantass...

I do wonder which experts CNN asked and what they actually said.

Cambridge University is recruiting for a new faculty position in the area of Algorithms and Complexity: www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/univers...

Be part of a vibrant academic tradition! 🌍 FoLLI is seeking hosts for #ESSLLI2027, the European Summer School in Logic, Language, and Information @ESSLLI_official Bring 300+ students & researchers to your institution. Preliminary proposals by Nov 15! jakubszymanik.com/call-for-pro...

Over the summer holidays I had the chance to read William Dalrymple's The Golden Road which has been sitting on my to-read pile for too long. A thoroughly enjoyable read, like all of @willdalrymple.bsky.social's books. I highly recommend it. I do have a question, though.

Hardcopy arrived today.

Read more here: www.nasa.gov/missions/cha...

Today I discovered that my contribution to Janos Makowsky's festschrift is online: link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...

Ah! Well done.

This is new work with my PhD student Aidan Evans. We obtain an algebraic characterization of the complexity NC1 using typed monoids. The proof is based on arity reduction of quantifiers for regular languages.

Visited the Eden Project and it's amazing indoor rainforest. Another highlight was the current exhibition of pictures from the wildlife photographer of the year competition. www.edenproject.com

On holiday in Cornwall. Yesterday we walked along a section of the South West coast path www.southwestcoastpath.org.uk between St Austell and Fowey.

🕸️ From social networks to urban planning, graph theory is everywhere. Explore how this branch of mathematics helps us understand and shape the world around us:

Happy Rakhi! 💛

Went to see War Horse today. Amazing puppetry. www.atgtickets.com/shows/war-ho...

At the Oval for what promises to be a great climax to a cracker of a series.

UK academics - please sign this open letter to the UK government: Request for biometric deferral and safe evacuation of incoming Palestinian students and scholars from Gaza to UK Universities docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

I still remember the day in 1986 when I first heard a Tom Lehrer song. I was at a friend's house and he put on this LP. I couldn't stop laughing. The first song was National Brotherhood Week: youtu.be/aIlJ8ZCs4jY?...

The byes that Jurel let through made the difference in the end. #EngvsInd #cricket

Just watched the incredibly talented Kapil Pandey in his show Ganga's Curse. If you're in Delhi, you can catch his next performance at the Goethe-Institut on Friday. wip-labs.mojo.page/portals-gang...

CCC 2025: Workshop on Continuity, Computability, Constructivity - From Logic to Algorithms is calling for contributions swansea-theory.github.io/conferences/...

Here are the slides from my invited talk at LICS: www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~ad260/talks...

In Singapore for LICS. lics.siglog.org/lics25/

Spread the word: there is a new prize in Theoretical Computer Science in honor of Luca Trevisan-- cs.unibocconi.eu/call-nominat... (Intent-to-nominate letters due by July 31.)

Gorgeous sunset on the mountains over Les Houches.