If you ever wondered why football is called the Beautiful Game I offer you Cabo Verde v Argentina on 3 July 2026.

Remember that film "The Mouse That Roared" when the mythical, tiny, Douchy of Grand Fenwick declared war on the USA to obtain US aid and accidently won? Well Cabo Verde v Argentina...if there is any justice at this World Cup.

#PriceOfFailure in HE News Three hundred grand in pay offs and jobs under threat at Dundee University, after "...serious failings in financial monitoring, management and governance”, and a response to a growing financial crisis which “fell well short of the standards required”

DOGE Results Well Dodgy Lots of detail here and the overall picture is mixed, but essentially the flagship cuts driven by everyone's favourite, chainsaw wielding, Fash adjacent, (not for long) trillionaire, was a misconceived, often shambolic failure which is being reversed in a number of areas.

#SoundsFamiliar News An internal (yes really) review into Aberdeen University's cull of modern languages finds comms were "firm and at times apparently lacking in empathy' and decision making by the University SMT was "hurried, unstructured, and dominated by immediate financial considerations".

Middle East Eye with an investigation alleging that the British Museum did not just fold in the face of critics attacking its use of the words "Palestine" and "Palestinian" in its gallery displays, but that it misled also the media and public when it commented after the changes were investigated.

"Courses are closing, provision is contracting, and geographical inequalities in access are becoming entrenched. Important skills and capabilities- qualities we know employers value and the economy needs- are being lost." Apart from that all is well in UK HE. Hard truths from the British Academy.

If there is a God he/she/they are a Satirist How many more metaphors for the Trump Administration and the reputation of the United States is the Freedom 250 event going to provide?

#HeritageCrime (or maybe not) News A sapling grown from the illegally felled Sycamore Gap Tree has itself been stolen.

Direct Action to protect the environment is nothing new. 150 years ago today activist John De Morgan led the people of Woolwich and Plumstead in tearing down illegal fences on Plumstead Common. We are celebrating the legacy of the "Riot" tonight on the location it took place.

Are we at the stage yet where we have to rewrite Gary Lineker's famous comment about the German prowess at the beautiful game along the lines of, "Football is a simple game. Twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the French always win"?

#WhoDaGuessedIt News As companies which shed workers on the promise of #AI driven cost savings begin rehiring, that radical left, green media outlet (checks notes) Forbes with an article suggesting the wins from #AI might have been oversold and, whisper it quietly, it needs humans to work properly.

#ExeterUniversity UCU has issued an e-flyer setting out its six key objections to the proposed job cuts. If it was a University SMT #BonfireOfTheHumanities Bingo card everyone just scored "House!" It is as if the Uni sector employed the same consultants to follow the same management playbook.

To judge from shares and responses this morning's post sharing the THE's article about cuts to the Humanities at Exeter seems to have really hit home. If you are involved in HE Archaeology or History, if your post or department is threatened and you want your say please contact me in confidence.

"The idea that people will be able to hold it together and deliver a term of teaching before they vanish off into the horizon, is bizarre, spiteful and naive as well.” The Times HE's punchy account of Exeter University's #BonfireOfTheHumanities & what one academic describes as "existential terror".

#BonfireOfTheHumanities News The last student to graduate from Sheffield University's Department of Archaeology is not going quietly. Our coverage revealed, among other egregious acts, allegations of rigged consultations, deleted documents & a department set up to fail. #SaveSheffieldArchaeology

Reading this account of how former staff from the NOAA saved critical climate data from the Trump, fossil fuel funded, shredder, I can't help but be reminded of Bradbury's dystopian Farenheit 451 where books are saved from being destroyed by a future American dictatorship by people becoming them.

#ScrewCopyrightUnlessItIsOurs #Hypocrisy News Anyone who has had had their IP stolen by the #AI theftbot scam will relish that, for Anthropic, as the graphic and hilarious Internet proverb runs, the dildo of consequences seldom arrives lubed.

If you are within reach of Flitton in Bedfordshire this evening, (26/06/26) I am delivering a talk on the myth of the Buried Spitfires of Burma as a benefit for the church restoration fund. I am told there are a few tickets left and, given it is a good cause, it would be nice to deliver a sell out.

"It has been suggested that we do not value our academic staff. On the contrary, we have a powerful and detailed sense of your value, and how much it will improve the balance sheet if the older and more costly ones would shuffle off and find a corner to die in." Jokes Neville Morley of Exeter Uni.

Founded in 1942, UK based registered charity Oxfam is calling on the UK to stop arms sales to Israel & in its explanation uses the G word, Genocide. The #EAA looks increasingly like an outlier as it seeks to position itself above politics, which in reality lets the Israeli government off the hook.

A necessary corrective from the British Academy to the insidious "cultural and humanities degrees are worthless" framing.

#ThatsArchaeologyF*ckedThen News The commodification of Higher Education continues with the explicit correlation defining a good degree as one which offers a high financial return to students. Creatives and the Performing Arts are also screwed. Oh Bored New World that has not such people in it.

As she has shared on this platform, among the people who finds their job at risk in Exeter University's #BonfireOfTheHumanities, is prehistorian and editor of the prestigious Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society @suegreaney.bsky.social.

#EntirelyPredictable News The lessons seem to be, 1. If teenagers grow up using a technology they will find ways to keep using that technology. 2. The solution to the social and personal dangers of the online world lie in regulating the publishers, sorry the Social Media Platforms.

Time to discuss a #ClimateResilient #Archaeology? Or is Archae world going to cosplay "Don't Look Up"? The questions seems particularly apt with reports of Archaeologists required to work as normal through the current brutal heat, including on projects which are not #NetZero or better. Thoughts?

From producer of the #WatchingBrief @mrsoup.bsky.social Independent media like us depend on subscriptions, donations & sales, but rigged algorithms, Broligarch manipulation and above all the sewage tsunami of #AI slop, is decimating what income streams we have. If you can afford to please help.

Further evidence that navigating the use of #AI is turning into an M C Escher staircase as companies tell workers to use AI, but not to use AI so much on grounds of the predatory pricing of AI tokens by Broligarchs desperate for cash to stave off the threat of a bursting bubble.

#ItsAllAboutTheHistory News "The sale is not just about the value of the ring; it is about the history behind it and the privilege of being the person who helped bring an important piece of the past back into the public eye*," Jones said *Albeit temporarily. The ring went to an unnamed phone bid.

A thread on the decades of experience and scholarship the SMT of Exeter University are prepared to throw away in their #BonfireOfTheHumanities, here specifically in the Classics Department, although other programmes are under threat, with 14% of all staff, including 84% of humanities staff, at risk.

London's archaeology gets a new front window. The new £437m #LondonMuseum opens to the public on 28 November. The museum, designed with conservation architect Julian Harrap, returns the Victorian Smithfield General Market building to use and replaces the former Museum of London in the Barbican.

Reports are emerging of Archaeologists put at risk by being required to continue working in the current Red UK Met Office Heat Warning. If you are affected and want to ensure accountability let us know. thePipeLine is independent archaeological media and treats all sources in confidence.

Happy 10 years of Brexit 💃💃💃

The Onion hasn't quite nailed the "Archaeologists" parody headline. This should read, Archaeologists Baffled: D.C.Capitol May Have Once Been Used For Legislating.

And the company responsible is called Green Water Solutions- I kid you not. So irresistible to note John Oliver's comment on Last Week Tonight that it looks like Shrek p*ssed in it.

#Farage Man of the People News

The 10th anniversary of the #Brexit vote is a time to look back and just ask questions... Who benefits? And then follow the money.

#ItsAllAboutTheHistory News Metal detectorist complains about "countless delays" on the way to cashing in their find of a 17th century gold signet ring at auctioneer Noonans. Meanwhile, every day, thousands of Archaeologists make often stunning finds, many earning barely more than minimum wage.

The UK Met Office has issued hot weather warnings for the next few days. If you are involved in fieldwork know and operate the guidance issues by CIfA and, worst case, under the Employment Rights Act, you can refuse to work if there is a, "serious and imminent danger" to your health and safety."

News from the Oval. The Barmy Army trumpeter is now playing the Great Escape. We all know how that ended.

#DoesWhatItSaysOnTheTin News In the latest, "you couldn't make it up", Veep cosplay, it's emerged the company given the no bid contract which has seen green algae infest the Washington Reflecting Pool, is called Green Water Services. To nobody's surprise it is owned by a long term Trump supporter.

As the #AI charletans and snake oil salesmen continue to hype their theftbots and rush to infect the public, business people and governments with FOMO, this is happening. "Evidence suggests that #AI driven ‘deskilling’ is starting to happen in medicine, computer science and other fields."

From this Autumn, alongside a social media ban for under 16's, Norway is to restrict heavily the use of #AI in schools and move away from the use of computer tablets increasing the use of traditional book based learning.

Norwich Society, Historic England and the Twentieth Century Society, welcome developer's decision not undertake "wasteful and unnecessary" demolition of Norwich Debenhams building. Developer blames the economy for making student flats plan unviable. The building will become an indoor play centre.

In a delicious take down of the #AI Broligarchy, the Onion channels Voltaire who wrote, "I have always made one prayer to God, a very short one. Here it is: "My God, make our enemies very ridiculous!" God has granted it to me."

This...

"So ... so I said ... why not sign your treaty here, at Versailles?"

#WorldTurnedUpsideDown News Veep JD Vance takes a stance on Israel which would probably see him forced to resign from the #EAA.

Having lived through the developing mythology of Robin Hood, and then being co-opted into that mythology, in a parable for our times, Sherwood Forest's Major Oak appears to have finally succumbed to a deadly combination of time, tourism, well intentioned attempts to cheat time & climate change.

So...in a trial in Barnet, Camden and Dorset an #AI #Theftbot is likely to end up talking to another AI Theftbot on "straightforward" planning cases, but will still be reviewed by a "suitably qualified" human being, which means checking the submission & response, which they would have to do anyway?