Grateful for the 'defender' keyring being given out on campus this week by security. Excuse me whilst I go and find the 'try not to attack anyone' stall.

WE LOVE YOU TOO NICK OFFERMAN 🥹 www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...

The cycle is: Enrollments slightly decline so funding for teaching is cut so fewer courses are offered so enrollments slightly decline so funding for teaching is cut so fewer courses are offered so enrollments slightly decline so the legislature says terminate the program.

Everything feels like this now

Lots of Land Rovers identifying as busses this morning.

My boyfriend is watching MobLand whilst I am helpfully telling him about Mothers, Monsters, Whores and how every woman in the show fits the narratives Sjoberg identified. He keeps rolling his eyes but I think he really appreciates it.

Dear NHS 7 day blood pressure diary, This morning as I read more meaningless AI policy, I wondered whether the soul of higher education was lost for ever and if, as I have dedicated my adult life to HE, my soul was also diminished… 158/90.

The markets are down. The markets have rallied. The markets are down. The markets have temporarily recovered. The markets are down. Has anyone checked whether the markets are also perimenopausal?

3 fully funded Phds in peace and conflict studies: www.coventry.ac.uk/research/res...

Solidarity to anyone who has just realised it is World Book Day on Thursday. My son has just announced he wants to go as King Louie from the Jungle Book. So I've 48 hours and zero skill to put that together

Two lovely Research Associate roles with Wales Centre for Public Policy wcpp.org.uk/about/job/re...

Found this toad at 7am this morning in the middle of a carpark. We were both awake too early, I think. It did not want to move.

This evening at B&Q my boyfriend asked me what colour we should paint the skirting board and I said 'I just don't have the bandwidth to deal with this tonight'. We are both silently wondering who I've become.

Solidarity to everyone at Cardiff Uni. Awful news.

After 11 days without heating or hot water Anwar from British Gas is coming today. Anwar is already a hero to our family. The kids are excited. I'm emotional.

Sorry for the slow reply, I bought an electric lint remover and have become obsessed with shaving bobbles off my clothes.

Top 4 misconceptions about science 1. It fills knowledge-gaps (discoveries are unknown unknowns) 2. It proceeds along a straightforward path (discoveries are not predictable) 3. It looks for answers (new questions are crucial) 4. It is only rational (requires night science leaps)

Provide me with a technology that enhances human flourishing & makes our societies demonstrably better & I’ll adopt it enthusiastically. Provide me with an ethical tool that improves learning & teaching & I’ll use it tomorrow. LLMs, in their present forms, do the opposite.

My coffee advent calendar gave me decaf for the 24th. Decaf for xmas eve??

It would be today, Fri Dec 20th, that water starts to come through the ceiling 🙄

Still working my way through Gerard Toal’s brilliant book in this iteration of the book & beer/ pint & paper series. This is definitely worth a read. And by popular demand (one person asked!) the beer- 3 Ravens Cali IPA- is a super-crisp IPA perfect for a summer Friday afternoon in Oz. Cheers!

I will not open my Year in Monzo. You can't make me look.

The 'to-do' list will never end. Sometimes you just have to stop.

This semester I asked my uni students what they understood feminism to be, and how they came to know it. So many of them have written about the positive impact of studying A-Level sociology. So if you know a sociology teacher, say thanks from me.

"Under my leadership, we have instituted an assessment program where we assess how we assess what we already assessed, using learning outcomes that include all of the buzzwords someone in admin told us were important."

Is 'middle class woman of a certain age' the new childless cat lady?

Long thread of initial reflections on today's immigration statistics as I read through them. First off, it would be great if people could remember they are from June, that means that, not matter your political persuasions, they are down to the previous government. 1/ www.gov.uk/government/s...

Lot to unpick here, but the key fact, I would argue, is that 28% of the total number of people seeking asylum arrive via small boats. Now compare that to the nearly 100% of coverage on asylum which they receive. 6/

Going to be some asides in this thread. Declining student visas is bad for everyone. not only does it reduce income for an already stretched higher education sector, reducing places overall, but also creates long-term declines in skills and international associations. 3/ ifs.org.uk/articles/stu...

The percentage of children’s books with a racially minoritised main character has halved since 2022. A third of primary school children in the UK are Black and brown. The publishing industry needs to do so much better. It’s failing this generation of readers. Full report at clpe.org.uk

@annieknk.bsky.social Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, UN Women’s deputy executive dir: “What the data is telling us is that it is the private and domestic sphere’s of women’s lives, where they should be safest, that so many of them are being exposed to deadly violence.” www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

Nov 20th is Equal Pay Day in the UK. From today, on average, women are effectively working for free due to an 11.3% gender pay gap. The gap is significantly wider for Black, minoritised, and disabled women.

Sanctuary in Arts is a movement using art and culture to welcome people seeking sanctuary. If you work at a gallery/theatre/museum/cinema, we can support you to create a culture of solidarity, understanding and compassion. arts.cityofsanctuary.org

Today is International Men's Day. Or, as I like to call it this year, Equal Pay Day Eve.

Taught a three hour session on feminist anti-nuclear protest. Couldn't remember the word 'radioactive'. Teaching with peri-menopausal brain fog is an experience .

I have left my lunch at home in the fridge. I am sad. Very sad.

Why does every funder want interdisciplinary projects? I have barely got to grips with my own discipline.

This is a baby shower gift for friend, because one can never be exposed to Eric Carle or wealth redistribution too early Pattern by Thimbleey on Etsy www.etsy.com/listing/1683...

Tried to buy my nephew a present for his 21st birthday. I asked the man at the counter, 'if you were a 21 year old man, would you want this?' To which he answered 'LOL, no'. So, that went well.

Let me share the words of wisdom my son wrote in my birthday card today. Be hungry for cake, I'll open your gifts for you, Rip your own gifts open actually, Think happy, Have a nice day, Don't worry about picking me up, Ask no one if you can have cake.

Also thank you to the audience Nodders and Smilers, it does make a difference to how it feels to deliver a talk.

“…Ukrainian citizens and refugees activate a digital care network that crosses borders and connects diverse digital affective publics.” journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

I see the Co-op Bank app is down again.

The language of a ‘golden age of universities’ coming into decline is directly from a KPMG brochure advertising services for an increasingly marketised HE sector, a document shaped more by neoliberal ideology than principled research, sound policy advice or pedagogical values.

My phone randomly creates 'stylised photos' from images I've saved. This morning's is a keeper.

What does this even mean?

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