Mike Prior-Jones

it would be helpful if the government could give some clues as to what “other forms of financial sustainability” might look like for universities. Should we plucky kids get together and put on a show?!

Statement on NHS England guidance on single-sex spaces from UNISON general secretary Andrea Egan @andreaegangs.bsky.social

Get a postcard from Antarctica! Sign up here: www.patreon.com/cw/arielwald... I am headed back to Antarctica to film an entirely new documentary and I could use your help to bring this project to life. Please share!

"This new policy is not just a potential violation of trans people's human rights - in some cases, it may even lead to their deaths." www.wearequeeraf.com/it-may-lead-...

HEAT PUMPS: Following today's Guardian pre-budget story saying the boiler upgrade scheme will be trimmed, it's worth looking back to last year's pre-budget Guardian story saying the scheme would be trimmed. Last time it was not, in fact, trimmed. Let's see what happens this time.

It would seem the Home Office has now acquired the ability to impose, without visibility or accountability, shadow bans on students coming to British universities from particular countries. How? Because of the interaction between indiv visa decisions (made by HO alone) and visa rules for unis 1/?

For the love of all that is holy, can we not with this 'bleisure' nonsense?

Most of AI (in business terms) is driven by a false belief that TECHNOLOGY is what drove the internet and telecommunications booms of the last two decades. Technology unlocked better communication and business processes. THOSE then drove the boom. Tech was a means to an end, not the end in itself.

Exciting tax incentive for investing in solid gold toilets.

I'm sorry if this is obvious but the Tory proposal to exempt family homes completely from IHT will lead to 1] pensioners buying the biggest houses they possibly can 2] pensioners refusing to downsize which can only be bad news for younger families trying to buy family homes

since you’ve all definitely heard worse things about my employer in the last 12 months, i feel comfortable telling you all that they’re still holding on to their policy of cleaning staff offices *once per term* (ie 3 times/year)

This is a good example of why I am not a fan of the pivot to podcasts/audio articles. It says it takes 6 minutes to read (actually about 3 mins max), but 9 minutes to listen to. Audio is just such a SLOW way to consume words.

Journal editors & research funders commonly report a doubling (+) of submissions as LLMs promise to circumvent the difficulty that is writing. Now people seem to be using Copilot to automate email my daily inbox also doubled to around 200 per day. It’s now useless to me. Among the hallucinations:

Eric Claxton's guiding principle when designing Stevenage was that separating bikes and cars was fine, if: - Their routes ran parallel - For every metre the bikes gave up in gradient, the cars should give up two - If necessary, you make the cars go further not the bikes Because cars have ENGINES

coroner: it appears the subject died of multiple tab wounds

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Great opportunity for research funding into alpinism, mountaineering and mountain environments... @alpineclub.bsky.social @alpineclublib.bsky.social #Mountains #Mountaineering #EnvHist

I don’t know if it was the first, but I certainly remember a fire safety ad for which the strapline was “you won’t even have time to fill a bucket of water”giving me a lot of pre-sleep anxiety, as it showed a whole family dying of smoke inhalation in a house very like ours.

I don’t usually boast about my scores, but today I got lucky and solved Loconundrum in two: Loconundrum #204 ⬜⬜🟩 🚂🚂 🟩🟩🟩

It's October 4th -- the Sputnik satellite was flung into orbit 69 years ago today, beginning the age of space exploration. I dug into the Russian archives and got some documents on its creation. Check it out if you're interested.....

Welcome to Amsterdam Sloterdijk station, home to the Train Lodge Hostel, with rooms in these 1960s sleeper cars! Has anyone ever stayed here? 👀

One for the philosophers… ( @lastpositivist.bsky.social )

Excellent images to have a coffee whilst admiring

This does indeed smell desperate, but that's not why I'm sharing it. No, the bit that leapt out to me was the @financialtimes.com use of the phrase "Seattle-based cloud giant" to describe Amazon, which sounds beautifully fairytale and captures the nature of this whole industry: magic beans.

From a discussion of updating a department website...

Do you bloody hate meetings where people bore on and on and nothing ever gets decided? Do you want to learn how to actually let everybody talk? Here is an event for you: edihubplus.ac.uk/event/the-we... 21st October, online.

This was my favourite Bible verse as a young man. (I’m no longer a Christian). Though the preface to the Lord’s Prayer (“And when you pray, do not ramble on because you think you will be heard because of your many words…”) came close.

Really, really good careers resources and advice for children aged 7 and up. The UK’s education system specialises early and best serves those (like me) who correctly worked out what careers would suit them before the age of 14. Most do not.

The government, banks, utilities and similar services MUST make it easier for those with Power of Attorney to manage stuff online. I find I'm having to do a lot of stuff by phone. It's like being back in the 90s except without the 90s infrastructure to help.

An illiterate view. Why does the City of London lead the way in eliminating traffic and promoting active travel? To force out enterprise? To shoo away wealth?

“If you’re going To Market Harborough, Be sure to wear Some flowers in your hair!”

What earlier century had even a presentiment that such productive forces slept in the lap of social labor?

Incidentally, the pattern on custard creams represents ferns. More generally the style is that of William Morris, in tiny biscuit form. I was not aware of any of this when growing up, only that being allowed to have a second one was a rare treat and having a third decadence beyond imagining.

2yrs after I finished my MA History at Goldsmiths, my research rights were bought and I was hired to work as historical consultant on this TV show. It's had BAFTA and International Emmy nominations. I got a book deal, too. Goldsmiths: "No point in MA History, let's fire everyone and delete it."

Can’t believe no one has ever thought of the idea of selling us hot food. I, for one, am both excited and, if I’m honest, a little apprehensive about the idea of warm food. www.ft.com/content/bdb6... Subway rival bets hot sandwiches will sell in UK’s ‘cold and rain’

Processes must prioritise quality and allow the best ideas to come forward. Not to reinforce existing privilege. Something needs to change but the response cannot disadvantage those that already face systematic barriers including PT workers (hence my college or contributed peer review suggestion).

"... what we need people to understand is that net zero is literally a description of scientific fact. If we don’t reach net zero emissions, we will see temperatures continue to rise.” This cannot be repeated too often.

This is a very recognisable depiction of various political subcultures and we all know it. I am Pessimistic about our ability to persuade people not to do this, but I am also baffled by the fact that so many people in fact want to do this. Some sort of instinct to small-group meanness is common!

Me to security person at Dublin Airport: I was given a lemon as a prize today. Can I bring my lemon through security? Security person (solemnly): Yes, you may bring your prize lemon through security.

My whole career the Humanities seem to have been curled up in a defensive crouch trying to justify our meaning/existence. At times it has even seemed a productive thought exercise, but I think generally whatever body has demanded the justification is not really open to being persuaded of anything.

This is the mad thing with all this - often it’s not cheap, and it’s due to get not-cheaper. So often, use of these things is about a weird ideological opposition to paying a skilled professional to do a better job.

Former British Science Association President, theoretical physicist, author, and broadcaster Professor Jim Al-Khalili will investigate the meaning and nature of time in the 2026 CHRISTMAS LECTURES® from the Royal Institution! Find out more >> www.rigb.org/2026-christm...