During a lull in between clashes between the Persians and Genghis's Mongol forces, you can imagine them coming together for this.. The Stranglers "Golden Brown" performed on the hammered dulcimer and the Morin Khuur (a traditional Mongolian horse-head fiddle) - by @Dulcimerguy1 #music #culture

'Scrapping the UK’s science department midway through major reforms to research funding may signal Andy Burnham’s intention to entirely rethink how the Labour government tackles huge challenges facing the university sector.' 1/3

This insanely out-of-touch government advice for kids on how to cross the road safely would be laughable if it weren't for the 443 children injured on London's roads each year.

'Government investment in defence-related higher education recognises the need for engineering, computing, cyber, robotics and autonomous systems. But if universities educate the next generation of defence specialists while weakening subjects that teach conflict resolution' [continued] 1/3

Not sure enough attention has been paid to the fact our DESNZ secretary is a refugee who escaped a brutal civil war to be welcomed and to excel, in the UK. A very real symbol of what Britain can be when it welcomes people - and how refugees can contribution hugely to our nation.

A lot more detail on the seized and crushed ebike story here. the rider was also charged with no insurance, which isn;t a legal requirement for an EAPC like the Tern in question. Clueless and ignorant plod making up more imaginary laws to suit themselves. road.cc/ebiketips/ne...

We’re sourcing our reshuffle news from an alternate timeline of the 1980s…

This is Angela Eagle's 3rd stint at the Environment department - first as a junior minister in Blair's govt, then Farming Minister under Starmer, now Environment Secretary. As early as 1997, Eagle was discussing the destruction of chalk downland by ploughing: hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1997...

On Thursday (23rd July) the #Bexhill History Hour will be at the museum from 2-3 and is on the subject of Witchcraft in Bexhill and Wider Sussex. The cost is £8 and the speaker is David Dennis - Associate Fellow Royal Historical Society.

“I learned what asylum was when I was 9 years old… I learned that if a boat of children arrive on your shores and you send them back to their deaths, that is an evil act. The reason we have asylum is because we tried the alternative, and the result was evil.”

This is how the cuts are going to kill us by the way - loads of small cuts to projects that on a spreadsheet don't stand out, but which quietly provide the capacity the UK community depends on across wavelengths and modes of observation.

...and just as I post that, Vik announces that the camera is at the end of its life due to cuts by STFC, who are not renewing the tiny operations grant for the team. A tragic loss of capability, saves only about £50k/year. #NAM2026

I have a solution. *Don't build the sodding datacentres.* Have all the people in power lost the plot?

'the post, along with responsibility for research policy and the research budget, has now been merged into the business department—to be known as the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (DBIST)—in an immediate shakeup under the Burnham government.' 1/3

Really delighted to hear that @angelaeagle1.bsky.social has been appointed Environment Secretary. She has a keen interest in land ownership, supporting small-scale nature-friendly farmers, encouraging horticulture and holding power to account. bsky.app/profile/samf...

Brilliant news. Miatta Fahnbulleh is by far the best person Andy Burnham could’ve appointed to this role. The energy transition will accelerate. bsky.app/profile/poli...

*Your local stream/river/pond needs you!* Take part in #GreatUKWaterBlitz this autumn. You don’t need any experience and @earthwatcheurope.bsky.social will send everything you need to collect data that helps protect fresh waterbodies. Sign up today: buff.ly/08wRYzh

Here we go again. Echoes of 2021/22 - when the big cost of living crisis interventions went nowhere near students. Their maintenance loans rose by lower than inflation while headline support focussed on energy bill payers (landlords) and those on (DWP) benefits.

We don't currently know which responsibilities are going where. Politico says to expect a written ministerial statement today (it'll have to be in the Lords as the Commons isn't sitting, so keep an eye on questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-stat...) There are some clues...

“Why would he want to go through that again? Why would he consider even buying a legal e-bike, when he could just buy a cheap £500 illegal e-motorbike and be at the same level of risk?”

These awful GC bigots are dragging women back into the past as a result of their hate campaign against trans people. These are effectively purity tests. You'd think they would see it but they're completely radicalised.

'structural inequality, particularly structural racism, remains difficult for regulation to articulate directly, even when disparities are clearly visible in the data.' 1/2

Here's a #HigherEducationPostcard of @exeter.ac.uk If you like this image, I’d really appreciate a repost - remember, BlueSky has #NoAlgorithm

It's a grim reflection of the media's priorities that there's been seldom a word about who the new Environment Secretary is (Angela Eagle, by the way, who is surely an improvement on the dismal Emma Reynolds). The post should be up there with Home, Foreign and Defence. It's central to our wellbeing.

So tech policy is being split between DDCMS which gets digital, DBIST which gets science and innovation, an AI Minister who is between both. Meanwhile GDS may either go back to the Cabinet Office or to ??DDCMS (weird move), and rumour mill is that Online Safety will go to Home Office (who knows)

In which I yell at my favorite journal and its thoughtful, talented collection of researchers that we really need to take fossil phase-out seriously as a line of inquiry, and that we would not stand for the level of talking around it as a solution in other settings with very obvious problems:

Here's a #HigherEducationPostcard of @exeter.ac.uk If you like this image, I’d really appreciate a repost - remember, BlueSky has #NoAlgorithm

With Liz Kendall & Patrick Vallance gone in the re-shuffle, we wait to see what the future holds for DSIT/UKRI & the STFC funding crisis. Anyone else want to join me in raising some cheerleading pom-poms for the amazing @chionwurah.bsky.social? Here's very much hoping that she's now put in charge!

Perfect afternoon to meet TfL at Vauxhall Bridge and hear about their two urgent bids to the govt’s structures fund. Complicated repair required removing lead paint w/o contaminating air or river water, then assessing scale of rust damage from winter gritting - salt water run off and then fix! 🧵

I don't care if genAI is way better these days or useful as a tool. I care that it uses incredible quantities of resources and the work of humans without their consent Elephant tusk is a fantastic medium for carving but I'm not buying any ivory sculptures

stunning paper highlighted by @profcolinbean.bsky.social www.cambridge.org/core/journal... Time to change our thinking about fish distributions? This is amazing. Did stone age fishers introduce fishes to Scandinavian mountain lakes 5000 ybp? Were they doing the same elsewhere in Europe?

Agreed. But honesty means: 1) Migration is normal and part of the solution for our economy/society 2) We are in a climate crisis and must decarbonise faster as we adapt #NomadCentury

Good morning to Spain, Lamine Yamal and his brother Keyne

A reflective Rishi Sunak makes a really good point here (www.thetimes.com/article/a02e...). There's a tension between wanting a broad-based Cabinet, on the one hand, and making sure you don't appoint colleagues who are never really reconciled to working with or under you.

My favorite quote from a Dutch traffic engineer: if you need a sign, it’s a bad design. Photo: @urbancyclinginstitute

'Yana Williams, chief executive of Coleg Cambria in north east Wales which has waiting lists for 44 of its courses, said the situation risked adding to already worrying numbers of young people not in education, employment or training (Neet).'

I've updated the Rural Path Campaigner Toolkit with how to contact Network Rail, should this be of interest (also the new Rural Design Guidance is now linked) docs.google.com/document/d/1...

I’ve come to the realisation that as well as research, the Education bit in Higher Education now happens in spite of management’s and the organisational structure’s efforts, not thanks to it. At least here, they consciously work against students.

🌿📚 Have your say on the proposed Natural History GCSE. The Government is consulting on the content for a new Natural History GCSE, which would give students opportunities to study biodiversity, conservation, ecology & wildlife through classroom learning & fieldwork. 🔗 Take part:

But what next? An even bigger step personally, as I begin a portfolio career on All Things Railway... Missing a track design CRE? Need transport policy input? Startup struggling to get started in rail? Local authority needing a plan? Get in touch! bsky.app/profile/gare...

Professor Whittle is one of four colleagues in the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences Faculty at the University of Exeter elected to Fellowship of the British Academy this year. 🗃️ ALL FOUR of these outstanding scholars were placed at risk of redundancy last month. Here's their statement:

To joylessly suck the fun out of this joke: this is actually true! As the BBC's budget has shrunk, there are fewer guests on programmes, which means you get more intra-BBC 'I'm not allowed to say anything of note' rather than getting a historian or the PM's biographer or a former No 10 aide on.

RSPB Abernethy is an incredible place for nature, supporting more than 5,000 species including some of the UK's rarest and most threatened wildlife. Its importance is recognised not just on a UK level but an international one by many protected area designations.

His mother, María Arthuer, crossed the Sahara Desert barefoot in 1994. She climbed over Melilla’s border fence penniless and pregnant with Iñaki. Today, her son is a world champion. #respect

"The world has been warned that there is no room for new sources of fossil fuels if it wants to limit warming to 1.5°C, with a need to focus on boosting wind and solar capacity instead." #AndyDon'tBurn'Em

"As healthcare professionals, we know that any new fossil fuel projects and their contribution to #climate change constitute a grave threat to our patients and the resilience of our healthcare system. We urge you to do all in your power to mitigate this health crisis." #AndyDon'tBurn'Em

Unless this “honesty” involves the recognition that immigrants are *not* the root cause of the UK’s problems *but* actually a part of the solution to them, this will be completely pointless. I cannot stress this enough. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

What happens if we place the UK university crisis in the Humanities (and some Social Sciences) within the context of students with known disabilities? We know that regional cold spots increasingly limit HE choices for many disadvantaged students. What do the stats suggest for disability? A 🧵 1/5

No shortage of bullies in academia. Social media has allowed them a more extensive reach. We should reject them at every turn.