The issue with leaving Fridays mainly free from meetings is that I seem to be trying to interpret TRAC, and research costings on a Friday afternoon. This was a mistake.

If the @ukri.org communications team is not giggling at the possibility of Jade (BBSRC funded PhD) joining their #101jobs feature as a Traitor then I'll be very disappointed. Please make it happen.

If the @ukri.org communications team is not giggling at the possibility of Jade (BBSRC funded PhD) joining their #101jobs feature as a Traitor then I'll be very disappointed. Please make it happen.

Is the takeaway that this should be a paid position? The RS is given hundreds of millions in tax payers money each year to distribute on our behalf. Is it unreasonable to expect the top role to be a paid position so it can be filled by the best possible candidate rather than the only one available?

"I'm afraid there's many bad people around, but they have made scientific advances." - President of the Royal Society. Er... Yes... And we can understand and appreciate the scientific advances without honouring and valorising the bad people. That's not a particularly difficult concept.

Anyone know why MRC calls in the UKRI funding finder @funding.ukri.org come with this message at the moment? Seems only to impact MRC calls.

Anyone know why MRC calls in the UKRI funding finder @funding.ukri.org come with this message at the moment? Seems only to impact MRC calls.

In lockdown random connections on twitter watched and tweeted about the Masked Singer. It is objectively an awful show but we're now in a WhatsApp group that's used annually. Tonight we are discussing which real Professors would be great on the show and what masks they'd wear. #SillyFun

#Parkrun update: home course, -3°, lovely to see lots of newbies for their first parkrun/walk. Is this the busiest day of the year for newcomers? Squirrel incident to report with at least one volunteer bib chewed and presumably now lining a drey in the park! Two laps definitely thins the pack.

There is still something embedded within British Culture that makes it okay to slag off Northerners. I shouldn't rise to it, I'll be told it's only a joke and that it's meant light heartedly, the response will be used against me to prove a point etc.. but also this is utter bobbins.

#Parkrun update: busy new year's day run! It was -1.5° at 8.30pm last night and +1.5° at 8.30am this morning so could have been worse but BURRR 🥶 Definitely a day to shout out all the VOLUNTEERS that make this lovely community possible. THANK YOU MARSHALLS, token scanners, bib cleaners, timers etc.

The more you read this the more outrageous it is. A clever way to get round the public sector senior pay controls? "you’ll enjoy HDR UK’s supportive employment terms and conditions, while being embedded within the MRC" www.gov.uk/government/p...

#parkrun update: home, cold. Many milestone celebrations including a cool 500 for one runner. If moving more a 2026 resolution I heartily recommend parkrun. 5km each Saturday am. Completely free, sign up here www.parkrun.org.uk/register/ Lots of walkers at every parkrun so start at your own pace.

Not very Christmassy but the strange case of "who is the employer"? Can you work it out? Very mixed messages in this job advert. Surely this isn't just a ruse for circumventing @ukri.org pay scales? Because that salary doesn't fit with other UKRI employees. jobs.theguardian.com/job/9980329/...

Today I'll liberally be using the 'scheduled send' on outlook. No point in clogging up people's inbox while they're away. If you get an out of office preview as you draft an email you can schedule it to send for after they return Sharing for awareness of the function (unintentionally sounding smug)

#parkrun update: home course, slow but a crisp and bright one. Antisocial one for me this week. Didn't talk to anyone, just jogged. Love that about parkrun, you can go and chat to folk, you can go and just run/walk in company without being social. Thank you marshalls! Happy Christmas parkrun crowd

The official video is up. No, I've no idea how he does it either. youtu.be/XWq2eLRL_qU #SpeedCubing #ProudParent

I created a quiz for the work festive gathering, to be left on tables for folk to fill in. It means anyone with a low social battery can come along & do a quiz in company without the drain of small talk. If you want to download a copy it's here: anotherwayoflookingatit.wordpress.com/2025/12/16/c...

Cheeky Tuesday night gig in Bristol with the fam. We're not the only ones to have brought the teenagers.... they are collectively working hard to drop the average age of the crowd.

I created a quiz for the work festive gathering, to be left on tables for folk to fill in. It means anyone with a low social battery can come along & do a quiz in company without the drain of small talk. If you want to download a copy it's here: anotherwayoflookingatit.wordpress.com/2025/12/16/c...

National Record for my lad. Moving to 4th fastest in the world for Megaminx average - you get five solves and it's the average time, excluding your fastest and slowest. His world record was for the fastest single time but the average time is the one everyone wants! #proud #speedcubing

National Record for my lad. Moving to 4th fastest in the world for Megaminx average - you get five solves and it's the average time, excluding your fastest and slowest. His world record was for the fastest single time but the average time is the one everyone wants! #proud #speedcubing

Twice this week I've heard the word "choiceful" coming from UKRI. I don't think I've ever heard this word used before this week! The subculture of language and how it spreads in the public sector/civil service would make an interesting study!

Leaders at @ukri.org should be seriously looking at the lottery first idea. 68% lower economic costs, increase in diversity of award holders and well received. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Dear Brain - please stop trying to put things off 'until the new year' otherwise January is going to be hellish. Yours sincerely, me.

Reading this brought Swindon to mind. Wiltshire is a county with no Uni. The Research Council HQs located together in Swindon was bringing level 8 qualified folk (doctoral) to a place without a Uni. This has been majorly eroded with the intro of @ukri.org and the switch of the defacto HQ to London.

Home made vouchers have become a cheap and a "not buying more stuff we don't need" way of gifting in our household. There is a glorious creativity in it. Today's birthday offered a chance for big brother to give little brother (both teenagers) his favourite birthday gift. The gift of noise 🤣

I have *lots* of thoughts on this but have been sidetracked by the horrific AI generated images on the research project's website. sites.google.com/sheffield.ac... THE HANDS!

Today I have been "actually ill" ™️ not in the under the weather kind of way but in the if I try and do anything for more than five minutes then I need to recover with a nap. Yet my brain keeps trying to do stuff because I'm too conditioned into being productive. It sucks.

Have just had a really really great coaching session (paid for through work). Some proper 'a-ha' moments. If you've been thinking about getting coaching but not got round to it yet, this is your prompt to actually go do it!

Can anyone point me to the legal case @paulnightingale.bsky.social refers to. Would love to know the details of this. Gap in my knowledge! Thanks.

#Parkrun update: home course. Very different scenes here compared to this time yesterday. Glorious crisp and sunny morning to marshall junior parkrun.

Hard disagree here. Mainly because we wondered whether it would work for French toast (eggy bread) and it really really does. Posh Christmas french toast is a delight!

#Parkrun update: Lydiard home course. SQUELCHY Thank you marshalls.

Introduce yourself with five concerts you've seen Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons Wetleg The Longpigs The Divine Comedy Mew

Oh this is such a glorious watch. Thanks for recommending @cash4questions.bsky.social and oh oh oh @volcanojenni.bsky.social @davidpyle.bsky.social your game appears in episode six. I clapped with glee when I realised it was indeed Volcano Top Trumps 🥰 Go watch.

I'm not sure if you are not involved in the system you will understand the gravity of what being in 'supported accommodation' or 'limited day-to-day adult involvement' means. Before I give some anonymised examples of my experience of working with young people as a volunteer in this system 1/n

I'm not sure if you are not involved in the system you will understand the gravity of what being in 'supported accommodation' or 'limited day-to-day adult involvement' means. Before I give some anonymised examples of my experience of working with young people as a volunteer in this system 1/n

I have first hand experience of this as a independent visitor volunteer to young people in care. The abandonment of children in supported accommodation is something we should be utterly ashamed of as a nation. Good to see his urgent issue being highlighted by the @nuffieldfoundation.org .

“If you went back a million minutes, you would be back to January 2024. If you go back a billion minutes, you are in the Roman empire. That’s the difference between a million and a billion.”

Parkrun update: home course. There is a special community feeling of huddling in the rain ahead of parkrun! One brave sole stood in the rain rather than under the shelter... 🦖

Cannot listen to the narrative that the government/Boris Johnson provided the "drive" that ensured the UK rolled out the first COVID vaccine. I call bullshit. Utter bullshit. That credit goes to colleagues at the MRC and Oxford. Who probably feel that they can't call bullshit publicly.

A year ago today my teenager broke the National Record for the Rubik's Cube. With a ridiculous 3.69 second solve. The video still makes me smile youtu.be/LEOZYJK5J2c His national record still stands and he's only dropped from 10th to 11th fastest in the world of all time.

Hey @theguardian.com the Charlie Brown kit is an embroidery kit not a cross-stitch kit* they are different things. www.theguardian.com/thefilter/20... *hangs head in peak embroidery geek/modern writing in to complain shame.

Time with my Independent Visitor volunteer's hat on yesterday. Time with a young person that wants to hang out*. What's not to like? Saw pigs and played lots of pass-the-pigs and sky-jo in a café. anotherwayoflookingatit.wordpress.com/2021/04/12/b... *a rare thing now my kids are teens!

Parkrun update: 101 home. Joy here today as tradition dictates that for a local event called runvember local runners (not me) run only wearing swimming gear. Old fashioned swimming gear the norm but there are always a few only running in Speedos!! No photo 🫣 www.runvember.co.uk

In case you've missed it UKRI are currently actively asking for feedback. Respond by 31 December. (although my internal debate on whether stakeholder is a word that should be banished remains) www.ukri.org/news/ukri-se...

Why is the use of PascalCase (where you capitalise each word) important in a hashtag? So #LookingAtIt isn't misinterpreted or read by screen readers incorrectly and you don't end up #LookingATit Always #PascalCase

#parkrun update: away at Rothay Park Ambleside. MY 100th PARKRUN! Also my slowest ever parkrun as I'm injured from a cartoon-style fall last week. Probably* shouldn't have run but had planned for over a year for my 100th to coincide with the new age grading so did it. Mostly walked it *definitely

In the very beautiful and very rainy Lake District. As always, casually looking at houses for sale. Accidentally finding William Wordsworth's house happens to be available! Anyone got a spare £2.5 million?? www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/1...