Alex
@m-ttpa.bsky.social
Reposted by Alex
Vg long piece piece by Jim Dickinson exploring what Essex University pulling out of Southend reveals about the broader push to address "cold spots" in higher education by thinking intentionally about place
wonkhe.com/blogs/whatev...
wonkhe.com/blogs/whatev...
Whatever happened to the New Universities Challenge?
Seventeen years after its hopeful launch, Southend’s university campus is closing. Jim Dickinson examines what this tells us about the failure of place-based planning in UK higher education
wonkhe.com
December 7, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Vg long piece piece by Jim Dickinson exploring what Essex University pulling out of Southend reveals about the broader push to address "cold spots" in higher education by thinking intentionally about place
wonkhe.com/blogs/whatev...
wonkhe.com/blogs/whatev...
Reposted by Alex
it’s not surprising that The Rest Is History have approached the murder of five women as a fun whodunnit, but it is still pretty grim
The historians focus on the knackermen, slaughtermen and butchers who worked around Whitechapel as they attempt to identify the serial killer
Who was Jack the Ripper? Rest is History podcast might have cracked it
The historians focus on the knackermen, slaughtermen and butchers who worked around Whitechapel as they attempt to identify the serial killer
www.thetimes.com
December 7, 2025 at 11:08 AM
it’s not surprising that The Rest Is History have approached the murder of five women as a fun whodunnit, but it is still pretty grim
Nah, just common in all walks of work
something I think is underdiscussed about employment/capitalism discourse is that abusive/bad labor/management practices are probably more common in nonprofits and trendy organizations that people on the left are likely to work for than big boring office companies
December 7, 2025 at 11:23 AM
Nah, just common in all walks of work
Wave of dismissals around Christmas 2026 then?
December 6, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Wave of dismissals around Christmas 2026 then?
If you see this, post a comic cover you love.
December 5, 2025 at 9:04 PM
If you see this, post a comic cover you love.
Reposted by Alex
How reading with my toddler provided unexpected lessons in policymaking - my column for this week's @newstatesman1913.bsky.social books special:
What baby books taught me about the British state
The Bookstart scheme, which gives books to newborns, is a remnant from a more beneficent political era
www.newstatesman.com
December 5, 2025 at 9:41 AM
How reading with my toddler provided unexpected lessons in policymaking - my column for this week's @newstatesman1913.bsky.social books special:
'Oh, every cardinal has that desire! Every cardinal, deep down inside, has already chosen the name by which he would like his papacy to be known!'
Angela Rayner is Wes Streeting’s biggest obstacle to PM
🖊️ Ailbhe Rea
🖊️ Ailbhe Rea
Angela Rayner is Wes Streeting’s biggest obstacle to PM
But would she even want to be leader?
www.newstatesman.com
December 4, 2025 at 9:33 AM
'Oh, every cardinal has that desire! Every cardinal, deep down inside, has already chosen the name by which he would like his papacy to be known!'
well that answers the nonsense question of 'what will Rayner do next?' www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Angela Rayner to lay amendment to speed up workers’ rights bill
Exclusive: Former deputy PM understood to have accepted compromise on day-one rights, after ‘considerable anger’ over Lords intervention
www.theguardian.com
December 2, 2025 at 1:47 PM
well that answers the nonsense question of 'what will Rayner do next?' www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Alex
He was her head of comms briefly
December 1, 2025 at 9:48 PM
He was her head of comms briefly
Reposted by Alex
Delighted to win @thefsa.bsky.social football writer of the year - especially given what the organisation is
December 1, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Delighted to win @thefsa.bsky.social football writer of the year - especially given what the organisation is
Reposted by Alex
this was the story www.theguardian.com/society/arti...
Revealed: people with cancer, arthritis and amputations among 40% denied disability benefits
Observer finds thousands of claims for conditions including cerebral palsy and multiple sclerosis are being rejected in England and Wales
www.theguardian.com
December 1, 2025 at 7:53 PM
this was the story www.theguardian.com/society/arti...
Reposted by Alex
There is an actual interesting little deceit in the budget, namely ther have the OBR still forecasting based on increasing net immigration back to 300-350k whilst the Home Secretary is promising to bring it down from 200k, which does dissolve about half the headroom, but somehow we're doing vibes.
Think this is exactly right - political journalism that is completely abstracted from policy, which was not the norm before 2017, has become the default. Impossible to have a serious attempt to either shrink what the state does or widen the tax base (have to do at least one) on that basis.
All this budget news, claims, counter claims is confusing, but two things of consequence.
1. We're all talking about that, not any financial benefits (or losses) of the budget.
2. Yet more focus on the very weird few weeks and politics of it all. Starting to feel dangerously like a norm.
1. We're all talking about that, not any financial benefits (or losses) of the budget.
2. Yet more focus on the very weird few weeks and politics of it all. Starting to feel dangerously like a norm.
December 1, 2025 at 1:38 PM
There is an actual interesting little deceit in the budget, namely ther have the OBR still forecasting based on increasing net immigration back to 300-350k whilst the Home Secretary is promising to bring it down from 200k, which does dissolve about half the headroom, but somehow we're doing vibes.
Reposted by Alex
Think this is exactly right - political journalism that is completely abstracted from policy, which was not the norm before 2017, has become the default. Impossible to have a serious attempt to either shrink what the state does or widen the tax base (have to do at least one) on that basis.
All this budget news, claims, counter claims is confusing, but two things of consequence.
1. We're all talking about that, not any financial benefits (or losses) of the budget.
2. Yet more focus on the very weird few weeks and politics of it all. Starting to feel dangerously like a norm.
1. We're all talking about that, not any financial benefits (or losses) of the budget.
2. Yet more focus on the very weird few weeks and politics of it all. Starting to feel dangerously like a norm.
December 1, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Think this is exactly right - political journalism that is completely abstracted from policy, which was not the norm before 2017, has become the default. Impossible to have a serious attempt to either shrink what the state does or widen the tax base (have to do at least one) on that basis.
Reposted by Alex
But without a review and overhaul of our fiscal framework, the chancellor will remain trapped in this doom-loop at every budget to come. That's why we're arguing for a new approach👇🏽
neweconomics.org/2025/08/a-de...
neweconomics.org/2025/08/a-de...
A democratic fiscal framework
Transforming the Office for Budget Responsibility into the Office for Fiscal Transparency
neweconomics.org
December 1, 2025 at 11:33 AM
But without a review and overhaul of our fiscal framework, the chancellor will remain trapped in this doom-loop at every budget to come. That's why we're arguing for a new approach👇🏽
neweconomics.org/2025/08/a-de...
neweconomics.org/2025/08/a-de...
Reposted by Alex
'The media has not yet picked up on the fact that Northumbria University has also now quietly closed applications to its Music degree. This is a new course, which admitted its first students only five years ago. Staff with excellent research profiles were appointed'. 1/3
A discipline in danger | Alexandra Wilson | The Critic Magazine
I have written previously for The Critic about the closure of Music departments in British universities and it gives me no pleasure to be revisiting the issue. Unfortunately, the domino effect that…
thecritic.co.uk
December 1, 2025 at 11:36 AM
'The media has not yet picked up on the fact that Northumbria University has also now quietly closed applications to its Music degree. This is a new course, which admitted its first students only five years ago. Staff with excellent research profiles were appointed'. 1/3
Reposted by Alex
Jonathan Gullis defects to Reform saying his former party has "lost touch with the people it was meant to serve".
He should know. When he was in Government he took a five-figure donation from JCB, then stayed silent when it axed hundreds of his constituents' jobs just two weeks later
He should know. When he was in Government he took a five-figure donation from JCB, then stayed silent when it axed hundreds of his constituents' jobs just two weeks later
Conservatives Promote JCB's 'Revolutionary' Pothole Machine While Taking Millions of Pounds in Donations from the Company
Senior Conservatives have repeatedly promoted a pothole repair machine made by a company which has donated huge sums to the party and its MPs
bylinetimes.com
December 1, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Jonathan Gullis defects to Reform saying his former party has "lost touch with the people it was meant to serve".
He should know. When he was in Government he took a five-figure donation from JCB, then stayed silent when it axed hundreds of his constituents' jobs just two weeks later
He should know. When he was in Government he took a five-figure donation from JCB, then stayed silent when it axed hundreds of his constituents' jobs just two weeks later
Reposted by Alex
Even before the current pile on Rachel Reeves by the tory media (inc BBC news scumbags like Mason) @paulnowaktuc.bsky.social was calling for the 'modernisation' of the OBR. Now it is clear that it should be abolished as Osborne's poison pill that it is www.tuc.org.uk/news/unaccou...
Unaccountable OBR risks being a “strait-jacket on growth”, warns TUC - as it calls for “modernisation” of body
The TUC has today (Sunday) raised concerns about the “unaccountable OBR” – as the union body warned their discredited assumptions risk being a “strait-jacket on growth” and urged modernisation of the ...
www.tuc.org.uk
December 1, 2025 at 11:26 AM
Even before the current pile on Rachel Reeves by the tory media (inc BBC news scumbags like Mason) @paulnowaktuc.bsky.social was calling for the 'modernisation' of the OBR. Now it is clear that it should be abolished as Osborne's poison pill that it is www.tuc.org.uk/news/unaccou...
Reposted by Alex
Feel like I'm going mad. The Budget's 'headroom' is based on frankly irresponsible and wildly optimistic claims about what Labour will do in the final year of the forecast, and on ignoring a bunch of upward pressures on spending, and the claim is that she was being exaggeratedly *pessimistic*?
Suggestion Rachel Reeves exaggerated fiscal pressures is absurd
Chancellor was instead far too optimistic about public finances and government’s ability to secure cuts
www.ft.com
December 1, 2025 at 11:05 AM
Feel like I'm going mad. The Budget's 'headroom' is based on frankly irresponsible and wildly optimistic claims about what Labour will do in the final year of the forecast, and on ignoring a bunch of upward pressures on spending, and the claim is that she was being exaggeratedly *pessimistic*?
Reposted by Alex
"Trade union pragmatism wins out once again"
For Renewal Online, @m-ttpa.bsky.social analyses the causes and consequences of the government's back-track on "day-one protections"
renewal.org.uk/blog/pragmat...
For Renewal Online, @m-ttpa.bsky.social analyses the causes and consequences of the government's back-track on "day-one protections"
renewal.org.uk/blog/pragmat...
Pragmatism’s limits?
Following secret negotiations between business confederations and GMB, CWU, Prospect, Unite, USDAW, UNISON, and the TUC, the government has U-turned on its manifesto commitment to introduce day-one ri...
renewal.org.uk
December 1, 2025 at 10:56 AM
"Trade union pragmatism wins out once again"
For Renewal Online, @m-ttpa.bsky.social analyses the causes and consequences of the government's back-track on "day-one protections"
renewal.org.uk/blog/pragmat...
For Renewal Online, @m-ttpa.bsky.social analyses the causes and consequences of the government's back-track on "day-one protections"
renewal.org.uk/blog/pragmat...
Reposted by Alex
The Labour MP, who resigned as a minister in January, was found guilty of influencing her aunt, ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, to bypass eligibility rules and benefit from unlawful allocation of government plots in a project on the outskirts of Dhaka. on.ft.com/48ITtTV
December 1, 2025 at 10:31 AM
The Labour MP, who resigned as a minister in January, was found guilty of influencing her aunt, ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, to bypass eligibility rules and benefit from unlawful allocation of government plots in a project on the outskirts of Dhaka. on.ft.com/48ITtTV
Reposted by Alex
I can’t believe we have days of stories about if Rachel Reeves should resign for not making Chris Mason feel special enough when you have the Lords blocking manifesto commiments by a government that won the election in a landslide going by almost without comment
Wrote my take on the retreat on day one rights against unfair dismissal, for Renewal. Basically Labour made a promise it turned out it couldn't deliver, a small group of serious trade unions then decided to try to salvage this, but this isn't without severe trade offs renewal.org.uk/blog/pragmat...
Pragmatism’s limits?
Following secret negotiations between business confederations and GMB, CWU, Prospect, Unite, USDAW, UNISON, and the TUC, the government has U-turned on its manifesto commitment to introduce day-one ri...
renewal.org.uk
December 1, 2025 at 10:13 AM
I can’t believe we have days of stories about if Rachel Reeves should resign for not making Chris Mason feel special enough when you have the Lords blocking manifesto commiments by a government that won the election in a landslide going by almost without comment
Reposted by Alex
I have a new article out in the Journal of Contemporary History: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
It examines Soviet humanitarianism by focusing on Soviet Red Cross hospitals in Tehran, Addis Ababa, and Phnom Penh.
📷 Soviet Red Cross hospital in Addis Ababa, ICRC Audiovisual Archives
It examines Soviet humanitarianism by focusing on Soviet Red Cross hospitals in Tehran, Addis Ababa, and Phnom Penh.
📷 Soviet Red Cross hospital in Addis Ababa, ICRC Audiovisual Archives
December 1, 2025 at 10:07 AM
I have a new article out in the Journal of Contemporary History: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
It examines Soviet humanitarianism by focusing on Soviet Red Cross hospitals in Tehran, Addis Ababa, and Phnom Penh.
📷 Soviet Red Cross hospital in Addis Ababa, ICRC Audiovisual Archives
It examines Soviet humanitarianism by focusing on Soviet Red Cross hospitals in Tehran, Addis Ababa, and Phnom Penh.
📷 Soviet Red Cross hospital in Addis Ababa, ICRC Audiovisual Archives
Quite right too
Missed this but fondly remember Jennie Formby leaning in to tell a labour conference chair that they were incorrect, there was no need for a card vote, her preferred option had won.
December 1, 2025 at 9:56 AM
Quite right too
Wrote my take on the retreat on day one rights against unfair dismissal, for Renewal. Basically Labour made a promise it turned out it couldn't deliver, a small group of serious trade unions then decided to try to salvage this, but this isn't without severe trade offs renewal.org.uk/blog/pragmat...
Pragmatism’s limits?
Following secret negotiations between business confederations and GMB, CWU, Prospect, Unite, USDAW, UNISON, and the TUC, the government has U-turned on its manifesto commitment to introduce day-one ri...
renewal.org.uk
December 1, 2025 at 9:31 AM
Wrote my take on the retreat on day one rights against unfair dismissal, for Renewal. Basically Labour made a promise it turned out it couldn't deliver, a small group of serious trade unions then decided to try to salvage this, but this isn't without severe trade offs renewal.org.uk/blog/pragmat...
Reposted by Alex
Back from Your Party conference now. Some thoughts...
It was very messy indeed.
And 2,500, while a good number, looked tiny given initial hopes of 13,000, and the huge size of the venue.
The party is deeply divided and I can't see that dying down any time soon (1/x)
It was very messy indeed.
And 2,500, while a good number, looked tiny given initial hopes of 13,000, and the huge size of the venue.
The party is deeply divided and I can't see that dying down any time soon (1/x)
November 30, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Back from Your Party conference now. Some thoughts...
It was very messy indeed.
And 2,500, while a good number, looked tiny given initial hopes of 13,000, and the huge size of the venue.
The party is deeply divided and I can't see that dying down any time soon (1/x)
It was very messy indeed.
And 2,500, while a good number, looked tiny given initial hopes of 13,000, and the huge size of the venue.
The party is deeply divided and I can't see that dying down any time soon (1/x)