Andy Burnham in Westminster could actually be good for Starmer. A viable centre-left challenger could turn the leadership’s attention away from Farage to the gaping hole on the left flank currently haemorrhaging Labour support to the Greens, Plaid, independents and SNP.

The medium-term future of higher education in the UK increasingly looks like an end to the Russell Group as we know it. The bottom half will adopt post-92 business models, whilst the elite will continue to be research-intensive, cross-subsidised by what is left of the international student market.

Came to this thread with rage but he makes some excellent points on all three. Damn you, Pignal! However, he missed out on the most important reason we have books in our living room. We do sincerely want our kids to read… but we also want to appear intelligent and worldly to any visitors!

Important counter-argument here to the excellent and terrifying article in the Financial Times today on AI disruption of entry-level white collar professional positions.

Why don’t people believe experts? A lot of public communication still relies on the deficit model. But this approach consistently fails, and here I explain why. For more science content follow my channel on YouTube > youtube.com/shorts/IkKdD...

I wonder if the writers of Love Actually had any idea one of the lasting impacts of the film would be as an international relations ideological fantasy.

Every new AI slop video I see makes me smile thinking we’re perhaps one step closer to them killing social media and returning to society relying on trusted media for information.

Reminder that in the UK an incoming radical, populist government would have immediate access to immense, unchecked executive power. And the current government is doing nothing to protect us from that.

Meanwhile universities all over the world are canning arts and humanities programmes so ‘graduates have the skills for the AI age’. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... McKinsey challenges graduates to use AI chatbot in recruitment overhaul

Do have a read of my Substack today if you have time, it makes a convincing case for why going to the pub might not be good for "you" but it is good for "us" and then you can send to your friends and maybe they'll go the pub with you as well

There’s an episode of Seinfeld where the hapless George Costanza concludes every decision he has ever made in life has been wrong. So he decides to do the exact opposite of his instincts, leading to enormous success. Maybe Starmer should do the same.

Quite astonishing thread here that implies Lab believes its only viable strategy is to reverse pretty much everything it has done since it came to power. People voted for change. So either you don’t believe they really wanted that, or every decision you’ve made since coming to power has been wrong.

The Government have been absolutely right to take action against the disgusting and illegal images generated by Grok on twitter. But Elon Musk is ideologically opposed to the safeguards the public expect online and Grok has been generating these images as far back as August.

Main takeaways: 1) Farage still deeply unpopular and vulnerable in an election focused on the leader 2) Starmer’s popularity has nosedived significantly since the last leaders poll. Ergo: Get rid of Starmer and an election victory is eminently possible for Labour.

It scares me how much people I grew up with, who never showed any interest in politics, have been mobilised (radicalised) by the far right on social media. They may be ill-informed but they are far more politically active than my left-liberal friends.

Not only the morally right thing to do, it would also be politically beneficial to close down this far right sewer. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

We’re the same distance from an election as Cameron’s resignation was from Johnson’s election victory. So much can change in that time. Starmer is categorically not the person to make the change. He should realise this & pursue politically difficult long-term policies for the good of the country.

There is a serious problem with policy development, particularly in HM Treasury, but across the government. The number of u-turns is ridiculous and a symptom of failing to properly assess the political and economic impacts of proposed policies.

The f*ck is this?

I wonder how many sitting around the cabinet table today thought to themselves "You are the reason I will prime minister by the summer".

Sorry but this just seems wrong on many levels to me. AI will never understand human experience, which is the central purpose of the social sciences, and what sets it apart from the pure sciences – regardless of the ‘similarity in responses’. www.researchprofessional.com/news-article...

Plenty to think about here on core/periphery or urban/rural political polarisation across many societies. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... Reasons for youthful cheer

They are extending subsidies to air to air heat pumps (aka air con) - announced in November! www.gov.uk/government/n...

I don’t think The Big Four will continue to invest as much trust in a university system that undertakes a ridiculous amount of rationalising to avoid the same conclusion. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... Accounting body scraps remote exams to combat cheating

The McSweeney Effect.

It has been a torrid couple of decades for liberalism. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... Social media is taking us back to the Salem witch trials

Would have more respect if they were upfront and just said ‘support tax evasion’.

A waste of time if there is an Elon Musk-shaped hole in the review. www.ft.com/content/a309...

Like taking a ride in a vintage car in Havana.

Some great working through the different scenarios here of how Burnham could become PM. Conclusion seems to be that it is highly unlikely.

This is an amazing analysis of how Google Maps shapes restaurant ratings and choice! Bravo @laurenleek.eu open.substack.com/pub/laurenle...

It amazes me how few people are cognisant of the interpersonal skills students develop at university and how important these are to employers. www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/how-...

From Chartbook by @adamtooze.bsky.social. This is a great chart to teach constructivist political economy.

Would love to know how ‘the sector’ is defined here. The current arrangement of EU students paying international fees largely only benefits the golden triangle. EU student numbers have collapsed. I’m sure many unis, including some Russell Group, would be happy to recruit them at domestic fee levels.

If I had a £ for every time Roy Keane said the word ‘character’…

Going to go out on a limb here and say it won’t happen.

The closest an angry politico has ever come to doing me harm is when someone, while I was sipping on a glass of water on a panel, said "four billion might not be a lot of money to a middle class person like you". Damn near drowned choking with laughter.

I’ve been naively surprised at the hostile media reaction to the lifting of the 2-child benefit cap. I expect it from right wing press but it’s been negatively portrayed by broadcast media too. The problem for the govt is it has no guiding narrative to defend itself. New Labour had …

Your Party 🤣

h/t @adamwren.bsky.social Michael Bohacek, a Republican state senator from Indiana who has a daughter with down syndrome, says he will vote against redistricting in Indiana after Trump used the word "retarded."

The UK’s majoritarian electoral system has necessitated a communicative political discourse (to the electorate) rather than a coordinative one (to potential coalition partners). At one time this entailed chasing favourable tabloid and rolling news headlines. Now it is in the sewer of social media.

Great post. What is interesting is that the government has had to be cautious because of their posturing on migration, which has done nothing to win over Reform voters but has constrained their ability to do anything transformative which would pay off in the future. Very bad politics

I respect @edconway.bsky.social a lot so it’s disappointing we don’t get enough context from him about why taxes are rising everywhere and not just the UK: ageing populations, increasing demands on the state for defence, climate change, industrial policy, mitigating shocks (like Covid, energy etc.).

I'm hearing criticisms of the end to the two child limit, because it was done just to mollify Labour backbenchers, at a cost of £billions. I remember another govt delivering a referendum on EU membership, just to mollify restive backbenchers. That's costing way, way more... A little perspective?

A brilliant piece this is. I think about nostalgia a lot lately – as I suspect a lot of people do in the tumultuous era we live in. Stephen really gets at what I think is important. It is not just reflecting back on being young but on a time where we all had shared cultural understandings.

I’m really surprised this isn’t bigger news. Just under 10 million people live in Tehran. Where can they go? Where else in Iran will have enough water? This will undoubtedly strain the country’s and the region’s politics, finances and governance capacity.

Well that’s one way to drive down immigration. I highly doubt it will raise anywhere near £600m though. Labour may well end up being worse for the higher education sector than the Tories.

Starmer isn't Britain's worst ever prime minister, but he is Labour's worst ever prime minister and it's not even close

These bumps are fascinating and a great illustration how distorting the British tax system is.