Strictly Scum Dancing's latest same sex couple

Good morning:

The single biggest thing (in cost terms) I’ve changed my mind about is UK tuition fees. Dreadful system, need to scrap it.

Is the film Hamnet manipulative? open.substack.com/pub/martinro...

My take on the Golden Globe winning film Hamnet: open.substack.com/pub/martinro...

A short film review: open.substack.com/pub/martinro...

A short film review: open.substack.com/pub/martinro...

Martin Chivers RiP

Happy new year!

Decline in use of social media worldwide, except in North America, Canada and USA there is an increased use. UK is one of the countries in the west where usage is lower than others. The extreme American colonisation of these spaces is clearly off putting…

Happy Christmas wmg.qi-cms.com/media/w1500/...

“Too much of the literature taught in UK schools is putting children off reading” www.theguardian.com/education/20...

If you were going to open a school based on evidence and logic what would it be like? The philosopher Bertrand Russel had a go: heritage.humanists.uk/beacon-hill-...:

Is this evidence that the diagnostic criteria, such as ADHD, Autism, Anxiety, and other diagnoses used by psychiatrists are wrong? www.newscientist.com/article/2507...

conscious experience, bedevils cognitive science www.thecollector.com/rene-descart...

“The British don’t much care for ideas…” unherd.com/2025/12/the-...

Our latest podcast (@didau.bsky.social and me) is here! It’s about belonging and not belonging and how far will schools go to satisfy Ofsted? www.youtube.com/live/Df5OPOy...

My views on the proposed role for drama in the curriculum review: open.substack.com/pub/martinro...

The BBC needs to be impartial, ensure diversity of opinion but, mainly ensure it agrees with me

10 key recommendations from the National Curriculum Review: www.theguardian.com/education/20...

How long do we have to wait for Slow Horses season 6?! The end of season 5 was delicious…

“musical training is related to small, but significant, cognitive benefits even when confounding factors, such as socioeconomic status, are accounted for.” www.economist.com/science-and-...

“Once, we imagined intelligence as a single beam of light. Now it looks more like a field where two sources intersect to reveal a rich and new complexity that was always there but over our perceptual horizon.” www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-...

A PE teacher has been struck off having claimed he used to play for two top football clubs to land his job after being rumbled by pupils.” www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news...

‘ V levels will be new Level 3 qualifications that offer a vocational pathway for students who want to explore different sectors before deciding where to specialise.’ educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2025/10/new-...

“Autism has become so diluted, we can’t really tell what we’re talking about anymore,” www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/h...

Research shows a link between social media use and poorer cognition in teens. www.npr.org/sections/sho...

Bridget Phillipson and the Curriculum Question: breakfast or brains? www.youtube.com/live/FASKHwB... with me & @trivium21c.bsky.social

Jenrick: “it’s not about the colour of your skin of course it isn’t…” but there weren’t any white faces…

Kemi Badenoch and James Cleverly walk into the shadow cabinet room. Robert Jenrick walks in…

How Bowie influenced my teaching: open.substack.com/pub/martinro...

Both my grandfathers fought in the war and my grandmothers served too. Their parents would all have been deported under Reform's policies.

Never underestimate the power of that 'first conversation': youtu.be/rF6jWH17k9M?...

Having this guy anywhere near government would be a danger to public health:

Of all the ridiculous “now that we have [x], we don’t need a knowledge-rich curriculum”, AI is maybe the silliest. How else are you meant to know whether it is right or wrong?

“creative education has been “set back a generation” in British schools”. www.artsprofessional.co.uk/news/va-east...

Here's my handout from my ResearchEd talk yesterday about the origin of the computational model of knowledge (and how this view contrasts with the normative view of the Sumerians-Aristotle-Wittgenstein) I tried to show different strands of thought: technologial, psychological, neuroscientific etc.

“Learning is a process that is not purely ‘in the brain’. It takes place in context. What things help it along?” open.substack.com/pub/martinro...

Ffs, it’s got out of hand now:

Back to school - the first lesson i teach with a new class: open.substack.com/pub/martinro...

“Autism has traditionally been seen by science as a deficit compared to non-autistic individuals. Our findings suggest it’s not necessarily a deficit at all.” www.standard.co.uk/news/science...

Why boys aren’t studying English (and teachers don’t like it either) www.thetimes.com/article/3e1a...

Are the changes in young people’s personalities just down to mobile phones and social media or do schools have a role too? I discuss this with @didau.bsky.social - www.youtube.com/live/FWHZBsQ...

Shocking that this was deemed suitable for the censored version of Masterchef:

A chat about the trivium and drama: youtu.be/M__2S6NF-0Y?...

‘Imagine talking about our imaginings and letting them alter our perceptions’