rob wittsmas
@robwitts.bsky.social
a guy who hangs around universities and opera houses
Reposted by rob wittsmas
My grandfather is William Grant Still, the Dean of African-American composers and one of the most accomplished musicians the US has ever produced. He is arguably the best orchestral arranger of the 20th century.
December 12, 2025 at 2:01 PM
My grandfather is William Grant Still, the Dean of African-American composers and one of the most accomplished musicians the US has ever produced. He is arguably the best orchestral arranger of the 20th century.
it's health and safety gone mad
Who could have imagined that this would be the inevitable consequence of a national spate of unauthorised, illegal working-at-height? www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol...
Well-known Bristol football fan died in tragic fall from lamppost
City fan Paul Lumber was a published author of books about the days of football casuals in the 1980s
www.bristolpost.co.uk
December 12, 2025 at 11:54 AM
it's health and safety gone mad
Reposted by rob wittsmas
An insight into the process happening at Essex: My brilliant colleague Lucy Noakes is*President of the Royal Historical Society* and is still, like me, officially "at risk" of redundancy.
Ongoing decimation of British universities part 252:
Apx. 1000 academic staff at University of Essex just received formal ‘risk of redundancy’ letters via email.
Please share @ucuessex.bsky.social @ucu.org.uk
Apx. 1000 academic staff at University of Essex just received formal ‘risk of redundancy’ letters via email.
Please share @ucuessex.bsky.social @ucu.org.uk
December 12, 2025 at 10:24 AM
An insight into the process happening at Essex: My brilliant colleague Lucy Noakes is*President of the Royal Historical Society* and is still, like me, officially "at risk" of redundancy.
Reposted by rob wittsmas
Wrote this for #BBCCountryfile Mag. Rural home-to-school transport (& public transport generally) massively disadvantages & isolates our rural youth. Higher education often not possible & buses to work/ volunteering/ events reg cancelled (35 x in under 24 months) www.countryfile.com/people/opini...
“Children young as 11 were advised to walk miles along unlit, dangerous roads.” Public transport is failing rural youth – here’s why a shake-up is long overdue | Countryfile.com
Limited public transport disadvantages rural teenagers academically and socially, says author Nicola Chester
www.countryfile.com
December 12, 2025 at 8:07 AM
Wrote this for #BBCCountryfile Mag. Rural home-to-school transport (& public transport generally) massively disadvantages & isolates our rural youth. Higher education often not possible & buses to work/ volunteering/ events reg cancelled (35 x in under 24 months) www.countryfile.com/people/opini...
Reposted by rob wittsmas
My friend has just sent me a video of their child's nativity play and it's very cute - but the standout for me has to be the kid who was meant to be a donkey but is instead dressed in a Scooby Doo costume. Ruh-roh! Mary's pregnant! But how? It looks like we've got ourselves a mystery, gang!
December 11, 2025 at 3:29 PM
My friend has just sent me a video of their child's nativity play and it's very cute - but the standout for me has to be the kid who was meant to be a donkey but is instead dressed in a Scooby Doo costume. Ruh-roh! Mary's pregnant! But how? It looks like we've got ourselves a mystery, gang!
Reposted by rob wittsmas
Props to Disney for setting off their suicide vest while standing directly in front of the Copyright Term Extension Act--their singular line of defence of their IP and the only reason they have survived in the 21st century.
Only Nixon could go to China; only Disney could kill IP law
Only Nixon could go to China; only Disney could kill IP law
December 11, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Props to Disney for setting off their suicide vest while standing directly in front of the Copyright Term Extension Act--their singular line of defence of their IP and the only reason they have survived in the 21st century.
Only Nixon could go to China; only Disney could kill IP law
Only Nixon could go to China; only Disney could kill IP law
I'm all in favour of having a national industrial strategy, but the unintended outcome seems to be chunks of cash thrown at research councils to fund activity in priority areas with impossible deadlines
December 11, 2025 at 3:31 PM
I'm all in favour of having a national industrial strategy, but the unintended outcome seems to be chunks of cash thrown at research councils to fund activity in priority areas with impossible deadlines
Reposted by rob wittsmas
the thing is there really is a epochal tech revolution happening, it’s called renewables and green industry
Really refuse to let the worst people have ownership of techno-optimism
December 11, 2025 at 12:01 PM
the thing is there really is a epochal tech revolution happening, it’s called renewables and green industry
Reposted by rob wittsmas
The only AI podcast we would launch would be about Artificial Insemination
December 11, 2025 at 11:44 AM
The only AI podcast we would launch would be about Artificial Insemination
Reposted by rob wittsmas
🔴 REVEALED 🔴
The Institute of Economic Affairs – the anti-state, anti-climate pressure group that "incubated" Liz Truss – was bankrolled by oil giants and Rupert Murdoch’s media empire.
📝 Exclusive findings from @desmog.com 👇
The Institute of Economic Affairs – the anti-state, anti-climate pressure group that "incubated" Liz Truss – was bankrolled by oil giants and Rupert Murdoch’s media empire.
📝 Exclusive findings from @desmog.com 👇
The Institute of Economic Affairs Banked £640,000 from Oil Giants and Murdoch
The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) – the anti-state, anti-climate pressure group – received more than £640,000 from fossil fuel companies and Rupert Murdoch’s media conglomerate between 1957 and ...
www.desmog.com
December 11, 2025 at 7:05 AM
🔴 REVEALED 🔴
The Institute of Economic Affairs – the anti-state, anti-climate pressure group that "incubated" Liz Truss – was bankrolled by oil giants and Rupert Murdoch’s media empire.
📝 Exclusive findings from @desmog.com 👇
The Institute of Economic Affairs – the anti-state, anti-climate pressure group that "incubated" Liz Truss – was bankrolled by oil giants and Rupert Murdoch’s media empire.
📝 Exclusive findings from @desmog.com 👇
Reposted by rob wittsmas
1/5 The Crowborough camp protests are a case study of a media-manufactured moral panic in real time. In these protestors’ imaginations the men seeking asylum to be housed there are not people with real stories and personalities: they’re all predatory rapists.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
‘Not in our village’: asylum camp rumours prompt fear and night vigils in East Sussex
Crowborough on edge as unconfirmed plan to house asylum seekers in training camp spurs street patrols and pre-emptive protests
www.theguardian.com
December 11, 2025 at 8:08 AM
1/5 The Crowborough camp protests are a case study of a media-manufactured moral panic in real time. In these protestors’ imaginations the men seeking asylum to be housed there are not people with real stories and personalities: they’re all predatory rapists.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Reposted by rob wittsmas
Ooh gosh let me think about this one
Will Labour’s move to limit ECHR deter the far right or alienate progressive voters?
Previously sceptical MPs now want to modernise human rights law to prevent an overreach of the law and losing to the far right
www.theguardian.com
December 10, 2025 at 10:06 PM
Ooh gosh let me think about this one
Reposted by rob wittsmas
It’s been two weeks since ICE took Yuanxin Zheng from his father. He is six years old. He’s still not home. This has to end.
December 10, 2025 at 10:32 PM
It’s been two weeks since ICE took Yuanxin Zheng from his father. He is six years old. He’s still not home. This has to end.
Reposted by rob wittsmas
The Spectator’s cocaine cannot possibly be so good as to outweigh how evil they are, even under an entirely debauched bacchanalia calculus, for so many London elites to attend that garden party. That’s simply impossible.
December 10, 2025 at 12:40 PM
The Spectator’s cocaine cannot possibly be so good as to outweigh how evil they are, even under an entirely debauched bacchanalia calculus, for so many London elites to attend that garden party. That’s simply impossible.
Great piece by @rpjf68.bsky.social on ongoing efforts by Bloomsbury Learning Exchange to make postgraduate research more accessible wonkhe.com/blogs/how-to...
How to level the PhD playing field
Is there a way to bring more diversity to doctoral recruitment? For Richard Freeman and the Bloomsbury Learning Exchange personal connections and support are key
wonkhe.com
December 10, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Great piece by @rpjf68.bsky.social on ongoing efforts by Bloomsbury Learning Exchange to make postgraduate research more accessible wonkhe.com/blogs/how-to...
Reposted by rob wittsmas
Fuck Times New Roman. Stupid modern shit. We need to return to this: illuminations. We need to return to the first letter on the page being a big picture.
December 10, 2025 at 7:50 AM
Fuck Times New Roman. Stupid modern shit. We need to return to this: illuminations. We need to return to the first letter on the page being a big picture.
Reposted by rob wittsmas
Once again, entirely the fault of politicians who, having restored income-per-student to its 1970s level in real terms, then, for more than a decade, refused to increase that with inflation, until its value had been eroded by more than half, & unis were making a significant loss on every UK student.
Apropos of nothing: it is astonishingly clear how badly the marketisation of UK universities has failed. The architects of the fee system have enabled a system where half of institutions are no longer financially viable www.officeforstudents.org.uk/for-provider...
December 9, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Once again, entirely the fault of politicians who, having restored income-per-student to its 1970s level in real terms, then, for more than a decade, refused to increase that with inflation, until its value had been eroded by more than half, & unis were making a significant loss on every UK student.
I am so proud that @chase-dtp.bsky.social was able to support the incredible work by PGR journal editors with colleagues and students at Al-Aqsa University in Gaza this year. It's a remarkable piece of scholarly solidarity with people working in the direst possible circumstances. Please share widely
The first pieces for our issue on Pedagogical Resilience, Challenges and Adaptive Strategies, created by students & faculty of the English Department at Al-Aqsa University, are now live!
www.briefencounters-journal.co.uk/BE/issue/12/...
#EducationMatters #Gaza #Resilience #صمود #Palestine #فلسطين
www.briefencounters-journal.co.uk/BE/issue/12/...
#EducationMatters #Gaza #Resilience #صمود #Palestine #فلسطين
December 9, 2025 at 12:12 PM
I am so proud that @chase-dtp.bsky.social was able to support the incredible work by PGR journal editors with colleagues and students at Al-Aqsa University in Gaza this year. It's a remarkable piece of scholarly solidarity with people working in the direst possible circumstances. Please share widely
Reposted by rob wittsmas
New: two schools which fought off privatisation get “wonderful” early Christmas present – as donor clears their debts
educationuncovered.co.uk/news/two-sch...
Heartwarming story sees anonymous donor appear to come up with a six-figure sum for these two schools in Brighton and Hove.
educationuncovered.co.uk/news/two-sch...
Heartwarming story sees anonymous donor appear to come up with a six-figure sum for these two schools in Brighton and Hove.
Education Uncovered | News| Two schools which fought off privatisation get “wonderful” early Christmas present – as donor clears their debts
Anonymous donor appears to have come up with a six-figure gift, to ease schools' money worries.
educationuncovered.co.uk
December 9, 2025 at 11:46 AM
New: two schools which fought off privatisation get “wonderful” early Christmas present – as donor clears their debts
educationuncovered.co.uk/news/two-sch...
Heartwarming story sees anonymous donor appear to come up with a six-figure sum for these two schools in Brighton and Hove.
educationuncovered.co.uk/news/two-sch...
Heartwarming story sees anonymous donor appear to come up with a six-figure sum for these two schools in Brighton and Hove.
Reposted by rob wittsmas
Dr Ben Carrington delivers the inaugural ASA Culture Section Stuart Hall Award Lecture: “‘The university is a critical institution, or it is nothing’ - Stuart Hall, The Elephants’ Graveyard and the Sociology of Race.”
📅 Wed 10 Dec
🕕 10am (Pacific) / 6pm (UK)
Register:
emory.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
📅 Wed 10 Dec
🕕 10am (Pacific) / 6pm (UK)
Register:
emory.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
December 5, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Dr Ben Carrington delivers the inaugural ASA Culture Section Stuart Hall Award Lecture: “‘The university is a critical institution, or it is nothing’ - Stuart Hall, The Elephants’ Graveyard and the Sociology of Race.”
📅 Wed 10 Dec
🕕 10am (Pacific) / 6pm (UK)
Register:
emory.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
📅 Wed 10 Dec
🕕 10am (Pacific) / 6pm (UK)
Register:
emory.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
Reposted by rob wittsmas
Waking up at about 10am, sleepily picking up my phone as I drink my bean to cup automated flat white and checking WhatsApp to see what I will be writing about today in my job as a columnist.
We're going after the wheelchairs! Finally!
We're going after the wheelchairs! Finally!
December 9, 2025 at 10:13 AM
Waking up at about 10am, sleepily picking up my phone as I drink my bean to cup automated flat white and checking WhatsApp to see what I will be writing about today in my job as a columnist.
We're going after the wheelchairs! Finally!
We're going after the wheelchairs! Finally!
Reposted by rob wittsmas
Radio 4 and BBC and Channel 4 News and all the papers completely skewing the Peggie story so your average person will have no idea what actually happened. Doesn’t this make you furious? Integrity in journalism is dead, not just in the US
December 9, 2025 at 9:11 AM
Radio 4 and BBC and Channel 4 News and all the papers completely skewing the Peggie story so your average person will have no idea what actually happened. Doesn’t this make you furious? Integrity in journalism is dead, not just in the US
Apropos of nothing: it is astonishingly clear how badly the marketisation of UK universities has failed. The architects of the fee system have enabled a system where half of institutions are no longer financially viable www.officeforstudents.org.uk/for-provider...
December 9, 2025 at 10:44 AM
Apropos of nothing: it is astonishingly clear how badly the marketisation of UK universities has failed. The architects of the fee system have enabled a system where half of institutions are no longer financially viable www.officeforstudents.org.uk/for-provider...
Reposted by rob wittsmas
The proposals to limit Article 3 are absolutely terrifying. I struggle to think of something that has come out of any UK government which has concerned me more. This must be resisted absolutely.
December 8, 2025 at 6:44 AM
The proposals to limit Article 3 are absolutely terrifying. I struggle to think of something that has come out of any UK government which has concerned me more. This must be resisted absolutely.
but soft, what light from yonder window breaks?
it is the boys and they are back in town
it is the boys and they are back in town
December 7, 2025 at 12:10 PM
but soft, what light from yonder window breaks?
it is the boys and they are back in town
it is the boys and they are back in town