Too depressing for words. If I can muster the energy, I’ll write a longer commentary later this week. For the time being, let me echo the words of Sally Hunt: “Lord Browne’s recommendations, if enacted, represent the final nail in the coffin for affordable higher education.”
Five hours before the deadline for a grant application, and the industrial (lead) partner pulls out. Good job I didn’t spend more than the last fortnight (and after midnight every night this week) working on it, no? That said, not that I can blame them; the guidance to applicants was one of the most obfuscatory documents that I’ve yet seen, the funding rules were scattered over no fewer than eight (non-adjacent) pages in a sixty-eight page document, the funds available were only going to pay for half a postdoc, and the industrial partner was going to have to commit to… Read More »Welcome to my world
From , on Facebook: The rules: Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen albums you’ve heard that will always stick with you. List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes. Tag fifteen friends, including me, because I’m interested in seeing what albums my friends choose. (To do this, go to your Notes tab on your profile page, paste rules in a new note, cast your fifteen picks, and tag people in the note– upper righthand side.) AMENDMENT TO THE RULES – DON’T SELF CENSOR, BE HONEST – WRITE ONE SENTENCE TO EXPLAIN WHY… Read More »15 Albums
So, Top Gear’s man of mystery, the Stig, has unmasked himself in order to sell his book. The BBC is objecting to the publication of the book on the grounds that it breaches contractual and confidentiality agreements. HarperCollins, the would-be publishers of the book, have issued a press release in which they say that they “are disappointed that the BBC has chosen to spend licence fee payers’ money to suppress this book”. Remind me again who owns HarperCollins, and why they might want to make political capital at the BBC’s expense in the run-up to the renegotiation of the BBC… Read More »“Fair and Unbiased”
…cats, bears, wolves and monkeys playing Uno. (Wolfie has just played a blue 1, and play is passing clockwise; Brown Bear is therefore just about to win. Cat has managed to stitch Monk up something rotten with a few well-placed +4s, and has left him with a hand worth upwards of 120) The keeps asking what Cat and Monk get up to while he’s at nursery, and we’ve started to stage vignettes to indulge him and amuse ourselves.
Last Friday, reminded me that a) it had been a very long time since I’d made bread and that b) the nursery’s attempt to get the kids to make bread last week had ended in abject failure, so I might as well enlist the ‘s help when I made bread at the weekend. I like making bread, but it is time-consuming. Elizabeth David’s English Bread and Yeast Cookery has been one of my favourite cookery books (along with Jane Grigson’s English Food, Diana Kennedy’s Art of Mexican Cookery and the first Moro cookbook) ever since the mother-in-law gave me her… Read More »Our Daily Bread
Why yes, that is a pair of Rolls Royce RZ2 engines.
Well, the previous post inspired some interesting discussion, as did ‘s related poll. asked for the source of some of the figures that I’d quoted, and this got me looking. I’d wanted to be able to give some more detailed figures initially, but was surprised (given the current funding debate) that they weren’t that easy to find. Using the data on the number of graduating students from the Higher Education Statistics Agency and population demographic data from Office of National Statistics, I put together the following table: Graduating UK domiciled FT students (first degree) by year Year Students 21 year… Read More »Damned Lies: Student Participation Rates and HE Funding