Alex Buckley
@alexbuckley.bsky.social
Associate Prof, Heriot-Watt Uni, learning & teaching enhancement, assessment & feedback, educational development
Reposted by Alex Buckley
As I have noted before, almost half of everyone ever born died in childhood. There are people alive today who were already alive when this stopped being true for everyone born in the future.
All of pre-20th-century history is an emotional foreign country, for this reason alone.
All of pre-20th-century history is an emotional foreign country, for this reason alone.
Currently dorking out over this graph about child mortality with my brother. Just mind boggling to take in.
December 2, 2025 at 7:02 PM
As I have noted before, almost half of everyone ever born died in childhood. There are people alive today who were already alive when this stopped being true for everyone born in the future.
All of pre-20th-century history is an emotional foreign country, for this reason alone.
All of pre-20th-century history is an emotional foreign country, for this reason alone.
Reposted by Alex Buckley
This was their last opportunity to do big painful things at a fiscal event when they still have a long run-up between now and the general election. Pissed away.
December 1, 2025 at 1:55 AM
This was their last opportunity to do big painful things at a fiscal event when they still have a long run-up between now and the general election. Pissed away.
Reposted by Alex Buckley
In the event of a Reform government, will UK universities:
a) learn from the experience of US universities and trump and stand solidly together in the face of government bullying, or
b) fold faster than Superman on laundry day?
a) learn from the experience of US universities and trump and stand solidly together in the face of government bullying, or
b) fold faster than Superman on laundry day?
December 1, 2025 at 6:52 AM
In the event of a Reform government, will UK universities:
a) learn from the experience of US universities and trump and stand solidly together in the face of government bullying, or
b) fold faster than Superman on laundry day?
a) learn from the experience of US universities and trump and stand solidly together in the face of government bullying, or
b) fold faster than Superman on laundry day?
Reposted by Alex Buckley
It is *flabbergasting* that we’ve had a budget delivered that increases borrowing in the short term, when costs are very high, and depends on spending cuts and tax rises in election year to hit its overall targets, and the broadcast media are more interested in inane process stories.
It’s an indictment of our media that more time is being spent on whether Reeves lied about the need to raise taxes than on the actual substance of the policies announced on Wednesday.
November 30, 2025 at 11:07 AM
It is *flabbergasting* that we’ve had a budget delivered that increases borrowing in the short term, when costs are very high, and depends on spending cuts and tax rises in election year to hit its overall targets, and the broadcast media are more interested in inane process stories.
Reposted by Alex Buckley
One of my presumptions when reading old regulations is that each addition represents a new problem being dealt with.
So, here are new paragraphs in the OfS Procedures for investigating allegations in the NSS where it may flag other regulatory concerns.
www.officeforstudents.org.uk/publications...
So, here are new paragraphs in the OfS Procedures for investigating allegations in the NSS where it may flag other regulatory concerns.
www.officeforstudents.org.uk/publications...
![Process for managing concerns
38. The OfS will aim to provide an initial response to the concern within five working days of receipt [Annex A, Box 1]. The OfS will liaise with the relevant UK funding and regulatory body, if appropriate, in providing this response.
39. At this stage, for concerns relating to English higher education providers, the OfS will work to determine if there are any wider regulatory concerns relating to the provider in question and therefore might affect the investigation of a concern. The same approach would apply to concerns relating to the other UK funding and regulatory bodies.
40. For these concerns, it may be necessary that the case is taken forward by other regulatory teams within the OfS, or where relevant the other UK funding and regulatory bodies, as part of wider risk assessments and investigations. With this route, the senior member of the NSS team may be asked to seek further information or evidence to support the allegation to aid the investigation.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:r4v6tnsb2hti5frjgkocsgal/bafkreigcckvokwmfschwgmcd3w7cj2g24ftxnjy4ea6bk2loxv5rl6kopa@jpeg)
November 28, 2025 at 2:00 PM
One of my presumptions when reading old regulations is that each addition represents a new problem being dealt with.
So, here are new paragraphs in the OfS Procedures for investigating allegations in the NSS where it may flag other regulatory concerns.
www.officeforstudents.org.uk/publications...
So, here are new paragraphs in the OfS Procedures for investigating allegations in the NSS where it may flag other regulatory concerns.
www.officeforstudents.org.uk/publications...
Reposted by Alex Buckley
it’s funny how when people who own big houses are alive they had nothing to do with its value, but when they die their kids shouldn’t have to pay any inheritance tax because they worked VERY hard all their lives for it
November 29, 2025 at 10:12 AM
it’s funny how when people who own big houses are alive they had nothing to do with its value, but when they die their kids shouldn’t have to pay any inheritance tax because they worked VERY hard all their lives for it
Reposted by Alex Buckley
"What Truss is absolutely not doing, insist sources close to the project, is selling a timeshare scheme"
beautiful stuff
beautiful stuff
I've got several bridges to sell you, as it happens www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
Liz Truss promotes £500k club membership to ‘pro-growth leaders’
The former prime minister has been enlisted to front the advertising drive for the Leconfield, a yet-to-be-built network for super-rich executives
www.thetimes.com
November 28, 2025 at 1:25 PM
"What Truss is absolutely not doing, insist sources close to the project, is selling a timeshare scheme"
beautiful stuff
beautiful stuff
Reposted by Alex Buckley
Kinnock voice - "I’ll tell you what happens with impossible promises. You start with far-fetched resolutions....and you end up in the grotesque chaos of a Labour government, a *Labour* government, rejecting visas for homeless 8 yr olds trying to joing their parents"
November 28, 2025 at 10:43 AM
Kinnock voice - "I’ll tell you what happens with impossible promises. You start with far-fetched resolutions....and you end up in the grotesque chaos of a Labour government, a *Labour* government, rejecting visas for homeless 8 yr olds trying to joing their parents"
Reposted by Alex Buckley
Welcome Shabana Mahmood to your next four years of headlines!!!
Foreign doctors trained by the NHS face deportation under visa rules
Foreign doctors trained by the NHS face deportation under visa rules
www.thetimes.com
November 28, 2025 at 9:32 AM
Welcome Shabana Mahmood to your next four years of headlines!!!
Reposted by Alex Buckley
The OfS is currently consulting on changes which it hopes will provide a coherent approach to assuring quality and standards. This approach would combine the current relevant conditions of registration and TEF
This blog provides a brief summary of our key concerns
www.shma.co.uk/our-thoughts...
This blog provides a brief summary of our key concerns
www.shma.co.uk/our-thoughts...
OfS Consultation on the future approach to quality regulation
Summary of the OfS consultation on reforms to quality regulation, highlighting key concerns with the modified TEF, high-stakes assessments, punitive incentives, and implications for institutional auto...
www.shma.co.uk
November 28, 2025 at 8:48 AM
The OfS is currently consulting on changes which it hopes will provide a coherent approach to assuring quality and standards. This approach would combine the current relevant conditions of registration and TEF
This blog provides a brief summary of our key concerns
www.shma.co.uk/our-thoughts...
This blog provides a brief summary of our key concerns
www.shma.co.uk/our-thoughts...
Reposted by Alex Buckley
The "don't have an extra kid if you can't afford it" brigade get awfully upset when you suggest they don't stay in their £2m house if they can't afford it, don't they?
November 27, 2025 at 6:09 PM
The "don't have an extra kid if you can't afford it" brigade get awfully upset when you suggest they don't stay in their £2m house if they can't afford it, don't they?
Reposted by Alex Buckley
Reposted by Alex Buckley
How it started / How it's going
November 26, 2025 at 9:26 PM
How it started / How it's going
Reposted by Alex Buckley
Reposted by Alex Buckley
Britain:
American taxes and Scandinavian public services for the old.
Scandinavian taxes and American public services for the young.
American taxes and Scandinavian public services for the old.
Scandinavian taxes and American public services for the young.
having gone to university as the last cohort of the 3k/year system never fails to give me a brief taste of that "last chopper out of Saigon" feeling boomers and, to an extent, Gen Xers have been getting for most of the past fifteen years or so
Student loan repayment thresholds frozen for a further three years.
More debt burden falling on graduates.
And even more reason to cut university places by 20-30%.
More debt burden falling on graduates.
And even more reason to cut university places by 20-30%.
November 26, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Britain:
American taxes and Scandinavian public services for the old.
Scandinavian taxes and American public services for the young.
American taxes and Scandinavian public services for the old.
Scandinavian taxes and American public services for the young.
Reposted by Alex Buckley
It beggars belief that Labour are taxing universities’ most lucrative revenue streams at a time when three quarters of them are in the red
November 25, 2025 at 9:54 PM
It beggars belief that Labour are taxing universities’ most lucrative revenue streams at a time when three quarters of them are in the red
Reposted by Alex Buckley
I'm just a line manager, standing in front of every bit of university guidance on every imaginable scenario, asking for the answer not always to be 'ask/tell/speak to your line manager' when there is zero advice, guidance or support for line managers expected to shoulder/support/fix everything 😩
November 25, 2025 at 3:55 PM
I'm just a line manager, standing in front of every bit of university guidance on every imaginable scenario, asking for the answer not always to be 'ask/tell/speak to your line manager' when there is zero advice, guidance or support for line managers expected to shoulder/support/fix everything 😩
Reposted by Alex Buckley
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
November 25, 2025 at 9:26 AM
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
Reposted by Alex Buckley
I didn't have high hopes for the Labour government but I thought getting rid of the Tories would put an end to the full-on intentional destruction stuff; it's all been very disappointing
i: Reeves to unveil £600m raid on foreign student
university fees #TomorrowsPapersToday
university fees #TomorrowsPapersToday
November 24, 2025 at 12:12 PM
I didn't have high hopes for the Labour government but I thought getting rid of the Tories would put an end to the full-on intentional destruction stuff; it's all been very disappointing
Reposted by Alex Buckley
In general, just the scope. But what makes them *harder* now than before:
- party system more complex
- more data/analysis available
- academic life much tougher
- publishers less efficient
- party system more complex
- more data/analysis available
- academic life much tougher
- publishers less efficient
November 24, 2025 at 9:34 AM
In general, just the scope. But what makes them *harder* now than before:
- party system more complex
- more data/analysis available
- academic life much tougher
- publishers less efficient
- party system more complex
- more data/analysis available
- academic life much tougher
- publishers less efficient
Reposted by Alex Buckley
They remain the only government in my lifetime without a theory of how economic growth happens and a determination that it definitely not be through universities, immigration, high skilled services, tax simplification, trade relations etc
November 24, 2025 at 8:34 AM
They remain the only government in my lifetime without a theory of how economic growth happens and a determination that it definitely not be through universities, immigration, high skilled services, tax simplification, trade relations etc
Reposted by Alex Buckley
"You know how British Rail was starved of investment because governments kept prices artificially low? And how privatisation has seen ridership increase with increased ticket prices underpinning much needed investment?
Well, we've nationalised it again, so we can go back to freezing ticket prices!"
Well, we've nationalised it again, so we can go back to freezing ticket prices!"
November 23, 2025 at 12:20 PM
"You know how British Rail was starved of investment because governments kept prices artificially low? And how privatisation has seen ridership increase with increased ticket prices underpinning much needed investment?
Well, we've nationalised it again, so we can go back to freezing ticket prices!"
Well, we've nationalised it again, so we can go back to freezing ticket prices!"
Reposted by Alex Buckley
Essentially acting like a plumber who you've hired to fix a cowboy's mistake who goes 'wow your shower is broken. Anyway, I've always had a lot of thoughts about electricity' and then proceeds to start hacking away at your living room lights.
November 22, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Essentially acting like a plumber who you've hired to fix a cowboy's mistake who goes 'wow your shower is broken. Anyway, I've always had a lot of thoughts about electricity' and then proceeds to start hacking away at your living room lights.
Reposted by Alex Buckley
Yeah, as much as I loathe him and he indulged far too much round the edges, Sunak did enforce boundaries on this, as did Starmer on opposition, it's only this year that Starmer drifts into what Stephen Bush rightly calls a "Trappist" approach to bigotry that the right have been able to move things.
As soon as politicians stop enforcing norms things can unravel very, very quickly. Currently the Starmer legacy based off the last six months of total capitulation and ceding of ground, bar one decent speech in September.
November 22, 2025 at 9:50 AM
Yeah, as much as I loathe him and he indulged far too much round the edges, Sunak did enforce boundaries on this, as did Starmer on opposition, it's only this year that Starmer drifts into what Stephen Bush rightly calls a "Trappist" approach to bigotry that the right have been able to move things.
Reposted by Alex Buckley
At Labour’s conference, Keir Starmer promised his government would “fight with everything we have” against those pushing racism and the idea of two-tier Britishness.
Now it is the clear and stated policy rationale of his government that the racists were correct and must be appeased.
Now it is the clear and stated policy rationale of his government that the racists were correct and must be appeased.
It’s just nuts. Even if you accept Labour’s policy diagnosis, we “lost control” of our borders, and concern about immigration was rising long before the alarming rise of racism. The big change on racism has been we traded an anti-racist government for one that is at best Trappist on it.
I find insane that shabana mahmood is going out there and saying "white british people cannot be asked to accept too many of us outsiders, it is not in their nature, and their pushback against all of us is to be placated". What???
November 21, 2025 at 3:04 PM
At Labour’s conference, Keir Starmer promised his government would “fight with everything we have” against those pushing racism and the idea of two-tier Britishness.
Now it is the clear and stated policy rationale of his government that the racists were correct and must be appeased.
Now it is the clear and stated policy rationale of his government that the racists were correct and must be appeased.