Baroness Lawrence describes profound sense of betrayal, as she alleges the Daily Mail illegally spied on her in hacking case against publisher https://buff.ly/iZ4xOh8 < with 'friends' like the Daily Mail, who needs enemies?

Mail intrusion “abhorrent and outside even the most basic standards of human decency”, Sir Elton John alleges in claim against the Daily Mail | Hacked Off https://buff.ly/mwaMaK7 < more evidence from Sir Elton John and Sadie Frost on the appalling depths plumbed by the DM.

Lords launch second attempt to strip Wimbledon Park of legal protection | Putney.news https://buff.ly/RbEs2ZD < yet again, the stench of corruption from vested interests in the Lords, attempting the rewriting of history by retrospective legislation

Now when I was a lad Neapolitan ice cream was strawberry, vanilla and pistachio, echoing the Italian flag. When did this chocolate aberration become a thing?

If the first half refereeing at #ASTNRW was poor, the second half is worse. Chris Cavanagh should certainly have his premier league status reviewed

Those who are sceptical about VAR would do well to watch the #ASTNEW cup tie, with a goal that was a yard offside, a clear red card given as a yellow, and a missed offside that nearly gave another goal. Appalling assistant refereeing.

Gallup Ends Presidential Approval Ratings After Nearly 90 Years of Documenting Public Opinion | People https://buff.ly/SgM6SVQ < under presidential threat from Trump - this is how fascism works....

You have to wonder just how long it will be until Spur's fans realise that sacking managers is fairly easy, but it has never solved their problems? Doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different outcomes?

Council buries the truth: even with fixes, traffic is twice as bad with new junction - Putney.news buff.ly/ibd8YXS < demonstrating why having good local journalism is crucial in holding politicians to account.

‘name a time and place, face to face’ for your #TeachMeet20 | magsamondposts https://buff.ly/Nb5GUO1#TeachMeet20< #TMBETT2026 celebrated 20 years of this wonderful 'by teachers, for teachers' CPD model. We look forward to YOU holding a #Teachmeet20 - no big names, just honest sharing!

LibreOffice blasts Microsoft for putting "commercial interests" over everything | Neowin buff.ly/7GNEnJL < the so-called 'open' OOXML standard from Microsoft was ALWAYS designed to be proprietary and lock in their enterprise customers

Is Anyone Actually Listening? | Edurio buff.ly/LO8YdyH < survey specialists Edurio on how and why to close the loop and become a 'listening organisation'.

President Trump denounced Bad Bunny over his Super Bowl halftime show, complaining that “nobody understands a word this guy is saying” after the largely Spanish-language performance.

Seems to me that the combined commentariat have decided Starmer must stay because “there’s no obvious candidate”. I think this translates to “all the possible candidates I have good contact with are currently compromised and we need to wait a bit so people can forget that about my favourite”.

Given that Keir Starmer had already shot himself in the foot by appointing Mandelson, I'm not sure how Anas Sarwar shooting him in his other foot helps Labour in any way?

I now realise that one of the annoying downsides of old age is that Spotify's 'Discover Weekly' playlist mainly plays you tracks that you already know and probably even own. (Owning music in hard copy is a 20thC concept that some of us hang onto).

AI assessments for KS3 English Literature: a case study | No More Marking buff.ly/gR1pMi9 < amongst the AI in Education hype, @daisychristo and No More Marking show how it should be done, with AI + Comparative Judgement showing real promise.

Thread

…over a cover it printed in March 2011 referring to the controversy over the paedophile sex trafficker’s friendship with the then Duke and Duchess of York. 🧵2/5

#whatstillpuzzlesmeis why it is still so much easier to play #hashtag games on X (Twitter) than on Blue Sky 🤔

#ASongOrMovieForWaysToSpeak 🎶Babble Be The Way

Oh, the wonderful world of UK politics as Braverman joins Reform-ed Right-wing Tories 2.0 and Starmer blocks Burnham standing for Parliament, meaning remaining Tories 1.0 now find themselves to the left of the Labour Party.

Home of the Brave? Land of the Free? My arse....

Being mean to ChatGPT can result in more accurate responses | Windows Central www.windowscentral.com/artificial-i... < the unsurprising news that a tool of US origin responds to bullying and threats - it goes with the territory, as their President frequently demonstrates!

Best stand name for a French company working on VR and AI (if you truly enjoy a jeu de mots) at #BETTUK2026, plus probably the worst stand name, where someone really should have a word...

Third and final day at #BETTUK26 Show after Thursday's BESA drinks, a very successful 20th anniversary #TMBETT2026 and followed by a Battle Bar party wonderfully hosted by Everyway. Thanks to all who organised. Great to see old traditions continued.

A cracking first day at #BETTUK2026, with a powerful reminder of why this is my community. So many people who are passionate about education - and Hong Kong sends pupils to prove it!

Wonderful to see so many pupils from Hong Kong presenting at #BettUK2026 . Be good to see more UK students having a similar opportunity!

Wonderful to see so many pupils from Hong Kong presenting at #BettUK2026. It would be nice to see more students from the UK made welcome here!

Wonderful to see so many pupils from Hong Kong presenting at #BettUK2026. It would be nice to see more students from the UK made welcome here!

Wonderful to see so many pupils from Hong Kong presenting at #BettUK2026. It would be nice to see more students from the UK made welcome here!

After a morning tramping the aisles and meeting lots of nice folk at the #BETTShow, a sit-down in the Arena to listen to Teacher Tapp's Laura McInerney interviewing Ofsted#BETTShow, Sir Martyn Oliver

Davos 2026: Special address by Mark Carney, PM of Canada | World Economic Forum www.weforum.org/stor... < a true leader! "the middle powers must act together, because if we're not at the table, we're on the menu." A must read for thinking people.

An appropriate 39 bus starts my journey to my 39th BETT Show, trip completed at speed on the Elizabeth Line. As ever looking forward to meeting so many folk from the always-interesting world of ed tech.

Trump says eight European countries face 10% tariff for opposing US control of Greenland – Europe live buff.ly/6xXS9oc < the response of a petulant child who tries to bully classmates. Only without the class....

More of Silicon Valley is building on free Chinese AI | NBC News https://buff.ly/3GNyMen < what Trump fails to realise about his techbro chums' younger competitors? #WhenTheChipsAreDown

Lee Anderson, Nadine Dorries, Jonathan Gullis, Malcolm Offord, Nadhim Zahawi, Andrea Jenkyns & now Robert Jenrick! I've finally understood why it's called the Reform Party - it's just the Conservative Party that's being Re-formed. #Rebranding #RatsAndSinkingShips #SelfInterest

A new MIT Tech Review explores how researchers are dissecting LLMs layer by layer to learn what's happening inside. | Superhuman Newsletter https://buff.ly/6N0FHUA

Windows 11 was barely usable until I changed these 6 default settings | How To Geek buff.ly/E8iOlEN < 'With these settings changed, Windows 11 should feel like a sane place where Microsoft isn't constantly pushing AI services, Bing or OneDrive."

Time to stop saying 'please' and 'thanks' to those AI bots.... this is the era of Musk and Vance!

If you would like to speak at the Teachmeet, then please sign up here. forms.gle/Fy3kHVs3jhnx... You can talk for 2 or 7 mins. #tmbett26 #teachmeet #bettshow #bett2026

It's almost time for TeachMeet BETT 2026. Kicking off the 20th year of Teachmeets. No sign up needed to attend, you'll just need a Bett Show ticket to get into ExCel. We'll be in the Table Talk area. #tmbett26 #teachmeet #bettshow #bett2026 #teachmeet20

Nadhim Zahawi 🤔

Former Tory Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi defects to Reform UK | BBC News www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... < this would be the same sacked Nadhim Zahawi who had to pay HMRC nearly £5m after investigation to settle an unpaid tax issue, but didn't mention it. Classic Reform UK material...

Why digital transformation must be a priority for schools | Schools Week buff.ly/YvtUIWp < AI tools to improve teaching, workloads, admin and pupil results are all here – the challenge is to implement them equitably. Ark's strategic approach to AI outlined

Maybe LLM tutors might be able to work... | No More Marking buff.ly/2q0Gcob < the customary informed, balanced and analytical consideration from @daisychristo - always worth a read.

Two-thirds of UK voters wrongly think immigration is rising, poll finds www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026... < despite sharp falls in the number of people entering the UK. The media and the govt clearly failing to adequately inform the public.

Ofsted MAT inspections could begin in 2027 | Schools Week buff.ly/LPYDLeO < but it raises questions about whether there is currently “an inspection workforce with the right expertise to do this well”.

Tariffs Are Making Holiday Gifts More Expensive: What To Know | NBC News www.nbcnews.com/sele... < Trump as the Grinch who spoiled the US Christmas didn't get as much coverage as one might have expected? When will US voters realise that THEY pay the tariffs?

Only 3rd January, but already FIFA needs to be asking the Donald if they can please have the Peace Prize back? Let's hope he is as crap at starting wars as he is at ending them!