Another charity - @taso.org.uk publishes results on something that didn't work - whether learning analytics could help find students with low wellbeing, and whether they could be nudged by an email. Fantastic that they are publishing the null result www.impactsimplified.co.uk/blog/two-yea...

14 mins late is the worst of all Delay Repay outcomes

It is completely mad that the government is expelling high flying Sudanese students from British universities - from a scheme that is explicitly aimed at the future leaders of countries.

One factor in the rapid rise of petrol prices is the govt's Fuel Finder data. Real time price data is useful to retailers as well as consumers. It used to take a day to get competitor prices and another to change at forecourts. The new system has halved this lag.

Isn't that Brian May?

@samfr.bsky.social Congrats on your FAcSS

A reminder that 'Building Schools for the Future' was cancelled long before it reached Surrey. Now hoping CIF bids for gaffer tape are accepted.

If you've never heard Gibraltarians talk, start here. Features Priti Patel and Suella Braverman.

Of course, in the alternative universe where @andyburnham.bsky.social easily won the #GortonAndDenton #Byelection for @labouruk.bsky.social, we'd still be having the #Starmer discussion this morning.

We're developing recommendations for central government to support better coordination in the SEND system. Have a read of the comment if you'd like a taste of some of the issues we'll be thinking about, and if you have any thoughts please get in touch!

There was a lot more than SEND to yesterday's Schools White Paper. I'm very interested in a new approach to measuring disadvantage and the long-awaited focus on MAT quality.

And h/t to The Melksham News for this one — obviously they reported it first: www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

Back at Manchester airport for first time in years. The customer experience is as dismal as ever.

At university open day. Questions to student ambassadors. - Why did you choose Manchester? - Cos I didn't get into my first choice.

Excellent article but stark reminder that for all the perceptions of universities as ivory towers for elites, they are actually vital hubs in towns n cities supporting local businesses and providing key services as well as education….

People living in England and Wales are much less likely to be victims of theft than in the 1990s ourworldindata.org/data-insight... #BrokenBritain

M&S have been doing this for a few years now.

Edtech update - the school has realised that half the kids are using an AI app for their maths homework app and now all must record their workings in ink in an exercise book. School has not yet realised the AI app shows all the workings to be copied down.

This is fun.

The Norwegian government is staying fairly quiet for now, but as a sign of the shifting vibe here the former head of Norway’s armed forces has come out and called the US a “neo-fascist banana republic” and a “hostile great power without norms”. www.dn.no/politikk/tid...

"It is the most shattering experience of a US President‘s life when one morning he awakes and quite reasonably says to himself 'I will never defeat the Dane.' “When that moment comes, one's ambition ceases."

Where does 50% of £99.99 = £34.99? That's Sports Direct maths.

According to BBC News, a bipartisan congressional delegation is visiting Greenland "to lower the temperature"

Is James Landale sporting a Bath Rugby hat in his report from Norway this evening?

Totally Danish: "both Løkke and Motzfeldt have a cigarette after the meeting"

Norway famous for low-tax

Camden

More public service and productivity improvement. It seemed remarkable that we were developing online exams but sticking to paper certificates. This will make enrollment of new 6th form students far less complicated. www.gov.uk/government/n...

New year, new comment piece, same problems. I've written for @instituteforgovernment.org.uk on what the covid inquiry is revealing about (poor) govt info sharing during the pandemic and what needs to be in place for the next crisis. HMT does not come off well... tinyurl.com/muhtm2r8

New passport arrived yesterday. Whole process took only 7 days - half of which was time at Royal Mail. Unrecognisable from the experience of this public service from two renewals ago.

Not even the prompts. If you are a Twitter user in the UK and Twitter sticks a Grok CSAM image in your feed for WHATEVER reason, well congrats your device just downloaded child porn. And you are legally responsible for that.

Remembering the time I complained to Royal Mail about there always being a car parked in the customer disabled space at the sorting office despite there being no customers inside. The same car. They dealt with it by removing the disabled customer space.

“and in other news, President Trump has ordered the bombing of Venezuela” “Caracas?” “not according to his doctors”

I think Norwegian PM Jonas Gahr Støre gave a good New Years speech this evening. A few excerpts here from the English version, link below:

Had a passport photo taken this morning. Barely recognise the person in the picture. Now with a Tony Blair stary scary eye. Fortunately the children laughed at it so much I'm not considering it a faithful representation.

There's apparently a celebrity wedding in Bath this afternoon. Bells have stopped so we can better hear the car horns. Traffic is fucked, as is getting a data connection.

Afternoon walk

I'm old enough to have seen England win a Test in Australia

Father Christmas was left out a bottle of Chimay Bleue this year, and it is wonderful.

Pepperkakehuset earlier

This might explain some of the incredible discounts at e.g. Sainsbury's this Xmas

Another beer post for the evening: In 1241, Pope Gregory IX informed Archbishop Sigurd Eindridesson (r.1231-52) that children who are baptised in beer can not be considered to have been properly baptised.

Surprised they can afford to turn custom away.

There's a lot to unpack here. It is revealing that he sees the Center as a building rather than an institution.

Public service announcement:

I'm sure this isn't a deliberate misrepresentation to suggest that a university doesn't set its own fees