“In a letter to the Office for Students, which distributes the funding, Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, said funding should no longer be given to support nursing, computing, history, creative arts, performing arts, archaeology, and geography courses.” removepaywalls.com/https://www....

Calling a by-election over the sovereign right of every MP to take secret gifts from a convicted criminal. What a time to be alive.

Farage: I have never wasted public money. *Calls needless by election for personal gain.*

You forgot the crisis in the Higher Education sector, which was on the top 5 issues when Starmer came into office.

International students are supported by the fantastic people in the English for International Students team at the University of Dundee. The team is at risk of redundancy. Listen to our student talking about how the team helped them. Then sign this petition. www.change.org/p/save-engli...

What if Andy Burnham could raise £15bn – without a tax rise? There's one catch. He'd need to solve the UK’s biggest and least-discussed tax problem. Almost half of all small business corporation tax isn't being paid - and nobody knows why. Thread:

The accounts from 2024 - the year the the institution entered financial crisis - have finally been published.

"The idea that people will be able to hold it together and deliver a term of teaching before they vanish off into the horizon, is bizarre, spiteful and naive as well.” The Times HE's punchy account of Exeter University's #BonfireOfTheHumanities & what one academic describes as "existential terror".

Another research-intensive university cutting research time. We had a department SLT meeting at the start of last year and I said we need to be aware that this is coming for all of us eventually. The 40/40/20 contract is going to be thing of the past

There is a certain paradox that the political squeeze on HE is serving precisely the forces of agglomeration that are resented by the voters who it is supposed to appeal to.

Aside from the personal sympathy and anger on behalf of the staff, I also still feel complete bafflement that the government is letting the sector fall apart. Direct job cuts lead to indirect cuts on other staff at universities, in the area, and suppliers.

www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/5524... My experience is that “consultation” involves us being told what they are doing and then being given a chance for questions. It has been this way for years and I have seen 0 change in this since the Gillies Report.

Been told by the Uni of Dundee we are not allowed to wear stop the cuts sashes at graduation. No dissent allowed

STOP THE CUTS at Dundee University! LIKE AND SHARE THE HELL OUT OF THIS POST, I'm begging you. SIGN THIS PETITION c.org/QNKbLsGCL2

Up late watching Scotland the night before my wedding is a vibe

Aberdeen South has been overshadowed by Makerfield drama but it is a remarkable result for Cons: First Con by-election gain in Scotland since 1967. I think it may be first Con by-election gain from SNP ever too. Huge vote share, huge vote gain, huge majority. Despite terrible national polling.

At a time so many academics are losing their jobs and the higher education sector is in total crisis, this is totally tone deaf on higher education.

With today's devastating news of another 190 jobs to go at Dundee University, a timely debate on Thursday from @maggiechapman.bsky.social on 'Sustaining Jobs and Securing the Future of Scotland's Universities'. #SaveHE #StopTheCuts www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-...

c.org/JGxvMV2MPq Please sign this petition to save Philosophy and our wonderful colleagues under threat at the University of Dundee.

I find this pretty upsetting. The Scottish Government have been in contact with the University for months. The university was open about further job cuts. Don’t tell me you are livid when you knew cuts were coming. Do something about it or tell us why you didn’t know.

Finding it hard to process it all. My colleague summarises it below.

Latest YouGov Westminster voting intention, 14-15 June 2026 Reform UK: 24% (-1 from 7-8 Jun) Labour: 19% (=) Conservatives: 19% (=) Greens: 15% (+1) Lib Dems: 13% (+1) Restore Britain: 4% (+1) SNP: 2% (-1) Plaid Cymru: 1% (-1) Your Party: 0% (-1) yougov.com/en-gb/articl...

... I mean, beyond that. I was an undergraduate when I was 17. I know several people who were undergraduates at 16. The idea someone in their second year of university could not have full internet access is odd.

Handy.

Smart move. If anything, too many Labour councillors were re-elected last month.

Pretty bleak news about financial pressures facing Scotland’s councils from the Accounts Commission. Increases in Scottish Government funding not keeping pace with demand and cost. audit.scot/news/council...

Today I've written for Arguably on one big mystery in our public life: why does no-one care about the existential crisis of our universities? Read all about it... 👇 www.arguably.uk/p/the-quiet-...

New ballot mandate secured at Dundee Uni #StopTheCuts www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/politics/...

Jim Dickinson has an excellent response to this new Policy Exchange report on universities wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/...

A whole 12% of voters think Brexit has been a success. And just 25% of Leave voters. Sigh.

This is something the Victorians understood: that democracy is dangerously vulnerable to plutocracy, and that it needs to build defences against that. Our defences are in tatters. Rebuilding them is one of the most urgent tasks facing our politics.

Reform’s financial reliance on the crypto industry is wild www.ft.com/content/091c...

This is a very good summary of the economics of Brexit

Today marks the beginning of Pride Month 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ Here is a graph on why we still need pride.

A key point from the data we collected for this post is the importance of differential turnout in the local elections. Reform 2024 voters were just much more enthusiastic than those of other parties. Had it been even their percentage would have fallen into the low 20s.

Billions invested in AI, it being pitched as a teaching/research tool (which it isn’t good at) when I want is a program that takes my word based reading list and moves it into the clunky online reading list software or moves stuff from one spreadsheet to the 12 pieces of paperwork.

It's possible the much-traduced "Boriswave" ends up doing very well - by comparison to British-born workers and earlier waves of migration.

A brief history of UK taxes: taxpolicy.org.uk/2026/05/29/u...

If I were the government, I simply would not be directing eyeballs and the political conversation to a website run by a guy who has explicitly said he opposes the PM and is visibly fighting an information war against me.

What other sector could make severance payments to over 28,000 people in 2 years and no one in government even blinks? These are skilled, highly educated people who should be contributing to UK productivity.

Google became one of the five most valuable public companies in the world by recognising people just wanted high quality search results without loads of useless clutter. It's getting harder to remember that. Especially because they've clearly forgotten it.

New @ipsosinscotland.bsky.social post-election poll findings, out today, show a third of Scottish voters only made their minds up in the final week of the campaign, with 1 in 10 deciding on polling day itself. For more findings, see bit.ly/4wUkv4J

Britain has a tax on instruments that don’t exist any more. It raises no revenue. It never applies. It was meant to be abolished this year, but wasn't. It still exists. Anyway, I made a chart of all 85 UK taxes.

Is that good

These are named, documented activists with long histories in actual fascist organisations. Last month, we exposed Restore Dundee activist James Munro for his past in the militant Scottish Nationalist Society, as well as Patriotic Alternative and the Homeland Party.

UK universities cut jobs, research and teaching amid squeeze in overseas students - www.ft.com/content/ded7... I don't really understand why any administration would not try to reverse the fall in overseas student numbers, but I guess I'm a naive liberal

Looks like we've passed peak academia. www.ft.com/content/8097... via @data.ft.com

Every summer I repost this article on how to spot drowning. Please read it and pass on. In the last few years I’ve had SIX messages from people who saved a kid’s life after clicking on the link from my feed. slate.com/technology/2...

Number of universities in the QS Top 100 world ranking by country in 2026 USA = 27 UK = 17 Australia = 8 China = 5 South Korea = 5 A top five UK service sector export (c.£25bn) that we should probably support and champion more if we want to maintain an advantage.

I suspect that within a year or two MPs will increasingly hear from A level students and parents finding that degree courses they want to take have vanished. Those who banked on being able to stay home for cost reasons, especially those living in areas with only one local uni, will be badly hit.