This week Nathan Gill, Reform UK’s Leader in Wales will be sentenced for 8 charges of Russian bribes. Here’s Farage calling him an “honest, decent and honourable man”. Let’s not forget that whilst he was taking the bribes, Farage was making similar pro-Russian speeches in the European Parliament.

Early homework today for the next part of the Ring Cycle at Covent Garden so #NowPlaying Siegfried cond. Janowski. Hugely underrated Cycle and overall preferable to some other big name studio versions (Solti, Karajan, Levine, Haitink, I am looking at you) #VinylRecords #VinylCommunity #Opera

Getting my homework done for Covent Garden the week after next so #NowPlaying Věc Makropulos by Janáček (which I don't know as well as his other mature works) whilst reading a PhD thesis, which constitutes a pretty good day at work I reckon. #Opera #AcademicSky

Great to see my article with Emily M. Gray is now published open access.

Senior management at Lancaster University insist cuts of 1 in 4 jobs are “difficult but necessary” This means “we messed up the finances & you’ll be paying for it” www.lancasterguardian.co.uk/news/nationa...

Why, yes, More. by Pulp is #NowPlaying on my record player *again*. The real question is for anyone who hasn't listened to it yet: why not? #VinylRecords #VinylCommunity

#Nowplaying volume 2. Worth it for the first track ("Jeannine"). This is my only proper OG @bluenoterecords.bsky.social pressing, though I can't remember where I got it (it was ages ago). Will keep this old one when the Tone Poet reissue arrives. #VinylRecords #VinylCommunity #JazzSky

Donald Byrd is #NowPlaying in my front room. At The Half Note Café volume 1. Tone Poet reissue on @bluenoterecords.bsky.social and sounds absolutely amazing. Proper hard bop, no messing about. Excellent! And excited for the volume 2 reissue. #VinylRecords #VinylCommunity #JazzSky

Hüsker Dü’s miracle year wasn’t because of happenstance or good luck; it was due to hard work, inner strength, and a big, unforgettable sound. Here's a look back on this formative era for the band.

Am having a slow start today (worked late yesterday evening because reasons) so #NowPlaying some proper hard bop whilst drinking my coffee. I should start EVERY day like this. #VinylRecords #VinylCommunity

This story is grim - and one outcome of the ‘business’ model of higher education. Academic freedom at risk not (just) within a country but from external forces…

Splendid evening with @operanorth.co.uk last night for some Puccini: thanks very much! Looking forward to Britten and Mozart in February. At the end of this month, off to London for some Janáček, which I am particularly excited for.

"Matthew Goodwin wants us to worry about a ‘new elite’ of media workers and academics, not the actual elite of billionaires — like his backers. " #Reform #politics #woke morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/fi...

Slow Listening. Busy day so am #NowPlaying Interpol and having coffee. Post-punk revival and caffeine should see me right. #VinylRecords #VinylCommunity

Slow Listening. I am #NowPlaying the new Neko Case record (finally!) and it's absolutely excellent. Is there a better singer out there right now? And am loving the orchestral arrangements. As with anything she does, an essential purchase. #VinylRecords #VinylCommunity

Today's essential viewing courtesy of the always impressive @ledbydonkeys.org 👇

The PricewaterhouseCoopers University is expanding internationally while cutting jobs in Wales Cardiff University’s new Kazakhstan campus is officially registered under PwC lawyer’s email Nothing says “world-class university” like outsourcing your integrity 😉 nation.cymru/news/new-con...

Belgian AI scientists are advocating *against* the use of AI in academia. “If independent thinking is no longer encouraged at university, where would it?” apache.be/2025/10/24/b...

Hey @dailymail.co.uk we fixed your newspapers for you 💋 Lord Rothermere who owns the Daily Mail pays NO TAX in the UK. The rest of us fund public services, he CHOSES not to. Yet we’re supposed to believe problems in the NHS are migrants’ fault? The utter cheek.

University HR Directors & Heads of Legal are openly weeping & distraught Universities are one of the big users of Non Disclosure Agreements to cover up abuse & misconduct No more, it's stopping gov.uk/government/n...

Slow Listening. #NowPlaying Jessie Buckley and Bernard Butler. I had no idea what this would sound like when I bought it. It's fantastic. A kind of folk-chamber pop thing going on. I could listen to this all day. Butler is a known quantity. Buckley can really sing. #VinylRecords #VinylCommunity

I am no foodie but I am concerned about (1) the county in which I live and (2) calling out economic and social injustice. unherd.com/2025/10/what...

Mission Accomplished! #RichardWagner #RoyalBalletAndOpera

Slow Listening. Can't have anything too hectic on a Sunday so am #NowPlaying Talkie Walkie by Air. Perfect. #VinylRecords #VinylCommunity

Slow Listening. Am #NowPlaying Art Blakey! Jazz Messengers! Art Blakey born on this day in 1919. This is a Verve By Request reissue pressed by Third Man records - not as good as the Tone Poet pressings on Blue Note but pretty decent sound nonetheless. #VinylRecords #VinylCommunity #JazzSky

Eight Reform UK councils have indicated that they will raise council tax next year after struggling to find huge cuts in public spending. That’s despite Reform UK flyers during the Local Elections criticising councils for doing just that. Never trust a Reformer. www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

It is not "attribution and sourcing" to generate post-hoc citations that have not been read and did not inform the student's writing. Those should be regarded as fraudulent: artifacts testifying to human actions and thought that did not occur. www.theverge.com/news/760508/...

Slow Listening. I am #NowPlaying Made To Be Devoured by Chorchazade. This a late 1980s 'lost album' (google it for the full story) and it's fantastic. Indie post-punk/post-rock that still sounds fresh today. If you can find a copy, don't hesitate. #VinylRecords #VinylCommunity

I have recently been one of the editors led by @drnomyn.bsky.social with Keith Heggart of a special collection for Critical Studies in Education titled "The political life of education online". Naomi has written a great post here about the project and the other papers 1/7

Slow Listening. Am #NowPlaying A Secret Wish by Propaganda, courtesy of Earworm Records in York aka the best tiny record shop ever. Haven't heard all of this album for years, possibly decades. So much of it's time: love it. #VinylRecords #VinylCommunity

I need to wake up a bit because I still have some work to do this evening so am #NowPlaying Minor Threat. This should do the trick #VinylRecords #VinylCommunity

Slow Listening. Why yes, I *have* got the place to myself! #NowPlaying the incomparable Talk Talk and then Mark Hollis - for quite a while. Four of the very best records in my collection #VinylRecords #VinylCommunity

OpenAI's rapid rush into education has been achieved by habituating users through training programs, institutional lock-ins, strategic marketing partnerships, and third party integrations that together are helping it become infrastructural to teaching and learning. It's going to be hard to get out.

#NowPlaying Rainy Sunday Afternoon. Last week, an absolutely excellent matinee show from @divinecomedyhq.bsky.social at the Brudenell in Leeds (was particularly delighted when they did The Happy Goth). Today, my copy of their new record has arrived so here we go! #VinylRecords #VinylCommunity

Slow Listening. Mornings and late evenings are my favourite times to listen to jazz so let's do that. #NowPlaying John Coltrane and with McCoy Tyner on piano, it's a particular treat. #VinylRecords #VinylCommunity #JazzSky

Slow Listening. Am #NowPlaying The Godfather of Soul! Perfect to motivate me for one more day's work before the weekend. #VinylRecords #VinylCommunity

Hate self promoting posts! And not going to say 'I am delighted' 😂 but also no one will promote this for me 😂. So sod it! Please give my article some love or a repost. This article means a lot to me on food aid beyond the food bank! journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

You see this, post a concert picture you took

Enjoyed the Wynton Kelly/Wes Montgomery so much yesterday that I am going in again courtesy of the always excellent Resonance Records

Please know that this is Trump scaremongering. There is no good scientific evidence linking paracetamol (Tylenol) to autism. A 2024 Swedish study of 2.4 million births found no relationship whatsoever between exposure to paracetamol in utero & subsequent autism. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Slow Listening. Time for jazz club! Am #NowPlaying Smokin' At The Half Note. Told that it's one of those jazz albums that you *have* to have so made the purchase - and it does not disappoint. Verve Acoustic Sounds reissue - frighteningly expensive, totally worth it. #VinylRecords #VinylCommunity

Slow Listening. I am #NowPlaying @psbhq.bsky.social because they're great and whichever record you go for you know it's going to be excellent listening. The Last Flight - on a zoetrope pressing and looks amazing! Can never get the strobe effect to work very well tho 🤪 #VinylRecords #VinylCommunity

"Oxford becomes first UK university to offer ChatGPT Edu to all staff and students" - imagining a lot of staff there pretty upset about, but also it says much about OpenAI's education strategy that it's targeted Oxford as its first institutional capture in the UK www.ox.ac.uk/news/2025-09...

Slow Listening. I am #NowPlaying Different Class by Pulp. After all it is Jarvis Cocker's birthday. Cannot quite believe that this record is thirty years old. Loved it then, love it now. More going on next for sure. And then possibly This Is Hardcore as well. #VinylRecords #VinylCommunity

Want some free career advice? #AcademicChatter

Slow Listening. #NowPlaying Humanhood by @theweatherstation.bsky.social and it is simply one of the best records that I have listened to for ages. What a writer Tamara Lindeman is. #VinylRecords #VinylCommunity

I haven't been on social media much for a while (see photo) but am feeling a little better these days and so am back! Here for stuff about records, and LinkedIn for university and research stuff but there might be the odd overlap #VinylRecords #VinylCommunity #HigherEducation #AcademicSky

Yes, times are tough in HE. But this is an absolute disgrace. I am very proud to have started my career as an educator by running adult education courses for (sadly no longer with us) Françoise Vassie at York. #AcademicSky #HigherEducation yorkmix.com/shock-as-lif...

I mean, it's almost as if there isn't really a straightforward link between higher education and employability 🤔 #HigherEducation #AcademicSky