James Mittra

What an incredibly depressing thing to read from a University VC. Not only regressive in terms of broadening access to education but would have zero impact on the funding crisis. Why is the Guardian publishing this crap?

As a hard-working taxpayer I want our care homes and other vital services properly staffed, including through immigration, and if some of those workers end up needing state support I'm also happy that my taxes are used for that purpose. Does she think all taxpayers are so cruel and selfish?

Also unhelpful language around contribution, with bizarre examples of doctors, nurses and 'high earners'. Is she suggesting care workers and other low-paid workers who we desperately rely on aren't high contributors? So reductive if it's all about income or what is narrowly defined as high-skilled.

christoph: for anyone who is pissed-off by the AI summaries of google search results and the algorithmic SEO rankings 𝗯𝘂𝘁 still wants to use google (what else?), the linked 👇👇article has a heap of useful tips.

What’s the chance this has zero Impact on how much coverage they get on the BBC.

Sounds like many of the leaders of our universities. Just uttery incapable of looking at evidence and making rational decisions.

they haven’t yet realised they’re at the point where they‘re only losing votes now to the progressive left, so they gain nothing from doubling down on immigration and punching down on the vulnerable. If they do realise this then they must just be true believers.

Maybe she’s just racist.

I guess all that depends on who replaces Starmer after the May elections. But yes, hopefully they will learn the lesson.

Just waiting for the BBC to frame this as Reform beating Labour.

A rare morning of waking up to some good news and confirmation that the fascists can be beaten. really was the best result.

they fail to understrand that the burden of academic labour is the pointless and endless administration that surrounds teaching and research, not the actual teaching and research activities themselves. Why can't they focus the tech on relieving us from the stuff that really is a burden.

the combination of rolling the dice on AI and doubling down on immigration will truly finish off another generation's future and probably accelerate the terminal decline of the UK.

Has BBC lickspittle Chris Mason described the policy as 'eyecatching' yet?

As someone who studies innovation ecosystems I despair. No recognition of how important diversity is (including really weird, 'that's nuts' kind of research) to creating knowledge spillovers and serendipity. Restructuring of universites is also facilitating this death spiral.

Absolutely this!

Problem is a lot of people who'll vote reform don't know their policies. What i find terrifying is not those who actually want this fascism (a tiny, weird minority) but the 20% of potential reform voters who are deeply ignorant or just think this is a game and want to punish labour and cons.

So back then he equated the West with liberal democracy, and framed immigration and ethnic diversity as a threat to that. But now he’s now railing against liberal democracy, so he’s actually the threat to the West?

As they say, like water, trade will find the path of least resistance. In the long term the US is the country that will suffer most.

How far back in time can you understand English? An experiment in language change

If you liked this experiment, I published a full piece today in the same vein: a text that gets 100 years older with every section, from a modern blog post to a medieval chronicle.

It's a single story spanning 1000 years of English. See how far you get.

www.deadlanguagesociety.com/p/how-far-ba...

This creep's entire line of thought here is eugenicist trash. People are PEOPLE. You don't measure their value by energy consumption. They have inherent value as HUMAN BEINGS. A fucking LLM has no inherent human value. You cannot compare them.

It would be helpful if the people running our universities actually defended this vision of the university and education as a social good. I‘m losing faith that they even believe in it anymore.

Pleased to see my paper on UK Innovation Catapults finally published open access in Minerva. In it I explore the shifting contours of UK innovation policy (2010-2024) in the context of the evolving Catapult Network, drawing on theories of innovation imaginaries and techniques of futuring.

do you know if there is a reason why only English universities have been targeted so far? Is it something specific about English consumer law?

Do your semesters run into the new year, because we have 3 weeks to complete marking and all our semester 1 course assessments had to be submitted before the holidays! Can’t imagine having to mark courses that have finished this late into semester 2.

To understand what is happening in UK science policy you need to understand a bit of history.

Which also helps understand why people are making arguments in particular directions.

A little thread.

Yeah I can't see any exporting business seeing a penny of this, in the same way American consumers who paid inflated prices for products won't see a penny of this.

the report says the main claim is the 'difference in tuition fee price between courses delivered online and in person'. Are they saying that if an online course fee is less than on-campus these students should be refunded the difference? if so, this limits the case surely?

UK following the US in not recognising the importance of soft power, which overseas aid contributes to building. We‘ll all be worse off.