Cracking weekend celebrating my sisters 50th in Kettlewell. Very wet Saturday and glorious Sunday.

I’m staying at Kettlewell hostel for the weekend, previously a YHA. Now independent hostel but they have chosen to preserve the YHA mission statement plaque. It’s such a fantastic mission statement and well worth retaining.

As police, journalists, politicians, judges & similar discover how complex & nuanced the practice of free speech is, full of contradictions a& uncomfortable dilemmas, it looks like perhaps Universities & students have excelled in creating an environment of diversity & dialogue, protest & debate.

This was previously called ‘no-platforming’ or ‘cancelling’ & has been described as an assault on free speech by folks now cheering it on. Finding a clear line on free speech is tricky but the slippery, hypocritical, ideological gymnastics going on now is impressive. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Last week our Executive Director @bvulliamy.bsky.social appeared on the Wonkhe Show Podcast to discussed the merger announcement between the University of Greenwich and the University of Kent Click here to listen: bit.ly/4gxJD9O Or search for 'The Wonkhe Show' wherever you listen to your podcasts

Missed the AHUA Autumn Conference 2025 or just need a recap? Our Executive Director @bvulliamy.bsky.social has got you covered with his latest blog summarising the vital discussions and key takeaways. Read the blog here: bit.ly/3VTD1cb

Next ScandiNoir for me was another Finish one with Omertà 6/12. A bit too high octane and fast paced for me with lots of military machismo. No who done it, no slow burn analysis and limited character development. Sorry but it’s a no from me. 4/10

Dear Britain, be more Borgen. Thanks.

Enjoyed chewing the. Us with the WonkHE team in last weeks podcast.

Just finished my latest Scandi noir with season 2 of Finish Freezing Embrace. Building on a very decent season 1 with a darker narrative, the lead characters built out well with their own strengths and vulnerabilities. I hope there’s further seasons. 8/10

My heart goes out to Utah students right now. Not only have they witnessed an awful act of violence in their midst of where they study and live, they are now being used as a political football in a culture war.

I got a cracking week to be on @wonkhe.bsky.social podcast as the Kent & Greenwich Universities merger news landed giving loads to reflect on along with a cabinet reshuffle. Thanks to Mark, Emma & Michael for indulging my ramblings and chewing the fat with me. open.spotify.com/episode/4BQ5...

Only saw the last 20 mins but I’m delighted for Philogene. He needed and deserved a good game. Well done #ITFC

The AHUA Autumn Conference 2025 has now commenced. Stay tuned for our conference updates throughout the day on highlights from our plenary’s, workshops, speakers and sponsors #AHUA2025

I understand the rationale of incentivising the best teaching quality with a link to fees but it feels absurd. Imagine giving the schools with best results ++ funding & less to those underperforming. The quality gap increases & the kids at the lower quality schools are locked in to lower standards.

This is a piece of musical theatre I would have loved to see…. The Spectator by Bowie. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Interesting to hear the autumn budget is being pencilled in for 26th Nov, later than commonly the case. I wonder if that gives precious extra time to be a little bit more radical about how things change and the economy is reinvented beyond the usual levers.

Huge signing this.

Absolute class. Alongside Cajuste it’s a very, very good midfield and with the added benefit of giving us a chance to laugh at the Canaries who have lost their most exciting player to their (far superior) rivals.

Fell off my bike like a dingbat. Bruised ego more than anything. A slower 10 k home after the slides across the road on a Sandy corner. Lovely walker sat with me for 20 mins as I caught my breath, refilled my water and was patient and calming. People are often just great.

Morning swims in the lagoon in front of the house is a real treat.

In my most happiest of happy places….

I’m heading off for a weeks leave to Suffolk. I’m staying in a beautiful isolated house on the beach that I lived in as a child. Strange & wonderful to be going back. The house was used for the scene in the film Yesterday where the lead visits John Lennon. youtu.be/0ONU_H0EjIg

Last night I finished French supernatural thriller Promethea. A return to form from Walter Presents with a twist - the supernatural genre wouldn’t normally be my thing but this was able to stay, just, on the right side of believable in the main. A couple of great performances. 8/10

ITFC gave a better performance today. Still lacked the finish (1 penalty & 1 own goal as our only 2 league goals isn’t great) + a few times we were exposed at the back but players getting stronger, looked more direct, hungrier. I also think we have played two tough fixtures. Still feel optimistic.

The Gillies report sparks key questions about leadership. @bvulliamy.bsky.social argues that true progress comes from cultural evolution, not easy process fixes, helping institutions build an agile future. Read the blog here: bit.ly/4mHrPuy

I have been and continue to be deeply disturbed by the extent to which comments on various social media suggest people are ready to blame ‘immigrants’ for everything. Poor housing, slow to get a GP appointment, high crime rates, cost of living challenge, lack of jobs, poor public transport,

I feel for Al Hamadi. He’s a nice guy and doesn’t deserve everything going wrong for him but it just isn’t working for him at ITFC.

French Canadian Classified was very poor. Normally reliable Walter Presents may have included this trashy, disjoined sky thriller in as filler but really shouldn’t have. Terrible acting, cliche laden and silly. Genuinely hard work to get to the end of. 2/10

AHUA Autumn Conference 2025 | Workshop Led by Eileen Schofield and Alistair Jarvis, they look at the practical outputs and thorny questions considering the action points for individual institutions and the sector more broadly. Click here to register: bit.ly/3GLRzXD

Dear media, this next week 100’s of thousands of young people will make a choice to go to university. I know it’s not what everyone wants, thats fine. For those who do, there’s hundreds of university staff working ferociously hard to help them make, and to accommodate, great choices. Celebrate it.

There’s new Beck on BBC IPlayer. Particularly good news as that is now my incentive to finish the crappy ‘Classified’ series I downloaded. Comfortably the worst of the normally excellent Walter Presents series I have watched.

I’m increasingly of the view that if a press conference is required to define concerns as being ‘legitimate’ then perhaps they may not be, unconditionally and entirely, erm, legitimate concerns.

Excellent piece this from Sam. Lessons perhaps for all of us about how good policy needs to navigate hyperbole and hold its nerve by focussing on the data and the detailed political analysis.

Disappointing start to the season for ITFC and we didn’t deserve the point but we will get better and Birmingham looked very good. The key priority is to get Cajuste fit and in the starting line up, to build a bit of fitness to sustain pace out wide and then everything can click.

Kyoto going off is good news as he’s looked a heck of a player.

Good to see Broadhead coming on. I wouldn’t have taken of Szmodics though who I thought was pestering the Brum defence well

That’s been coming. Time for some changes from the gaffer now.

Not too sure whether we will see three goals or three sendings off in the second half. Beautifully chaotic game. Come on ITFC

Birmingham look very good and give us little or no time on the ball but I don’t accept the level of hyperbole from the Sky commentators about Ipswich. While we aren’t looking great I don’t think we are intimidated by Birmingham and are just gradually finding the ways to set the pace & create space.

Really buzzing for the season for ITFC. We are setting up again to be an attacking side who will compete all over the pitch with a blend of youth + experience. I forecast a more robust defence than we’ve had for several years but using that to allow Leif & others to carry the ball out of defence.

The political unrest in Belgrade is fascinating. Led proudly by students but mobilising other communities and resulting in huge protests, sometimes in excess of 100,000 and with various street art and messaging around the city. In a country where HE is much less independent from the state than would

Spent a few hours being cultured at the Belgrade Museum of Contemporary Art. The Hockney exhibit was superb and there were a few other bits and pieces that intrigued.

I’m in beautiful Belgrade, sometimes known as Europes New York and I can see why. It’s got a really vibrant arts and music scene and is full of people living their best lives. All very glam. And as they say, when in Rome….. so I’m ready for a big night out…

Just finished Belgian series Under Fire. Some cliched story lines and some weak acting in parts but great cinematography and a couple of gasp out loud moments. I would give a 2nd series a try to see if it matures. 6/10

I get Ministers often need to be seen to ‘talk tough’ but surely on the subject of free speech they’d benefit from a calmer, more pragmatic narrative. Not least because they aren’t immune to accusations of failing to find the right balance themselves. www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08...

In a world where there’s growing mistrust (from a low baseline over the last decade) of institutions, politics, large scale brands etc there’s also signs of growing trust in locality. It seems that people look to intimacy and immediacy from family & neighbours or independent & local for high trust.

Finished French Canadian series Detective Suprenant this evening. Good series. Some pretty dark stuff, decent twist and turns, tension between cops, some small town eccentricity and lots to like. Hope to see a series 2 in due course. 8/10

I have now watched Unforgivable which is every bit as harrowing as everyone tells you. There’s no winners. Everyone is a victim and you feel gut wrenching sorrow for what they are experiencing. The one, tiny saving grace is the final moment when father embraces son. Brutal but should be watched 9/10

Wow! Did not expect that! Well flipping done to everyone of the Lionesses’s and F* U to everyone who chucked sexism and racism in their direction.