Deja vu

So, Vince Cable is proposing a graduate tax. Haven’t we been here before? It’s been a while since I posted about HE funding (posts passim), but it’s worth repeating some of the highlights: Back in 1997, the Dearing Report recommended that because “those with higher education qualifications are the main beneficiaries [of higher education], through improved employment prospects and pay”, “graduates in work should make a greater contribution to the costs of higher education in future”. The report goes on to recommend an income contingent scheme along the lines of the Australian Higher Education Contribution Scheme. Richard Gombrich’s article from… Read More »Deja vu

He’s CEO…bitch!

Compare and contrast the following two scenarios: 1. A prime minister phones the CEO of a popular social networking service and enlists his support in using the service to foster a public debate on the prime minister’s programme of severe public spending cuts. This move is highly publicised, and the prime minister is consequently hailed as ‘net-savvy’. 2. Following a spree of violence from a recently-released prisoner, a prime minister contacts a popular social networking service in order to complain that some users of that service have posted messages that appear to support the actions of the ex-prisoner. The social… Read More »He’s CEO…bitch!

Heteronormativity ahoy

Scene: I was taking the for a haircut, and we happened to pass a church that was ringing for matins. He asked why the bell was ringing, and misheard ‘matins’ as the name of one of his friends who moved to Cambridge last year (who I shall refer to as M). The important thing to note is that M is the child of a lesbian couple. : Where M? : M’s in Cambridge. : Why M in Cambridge? : Because his mummies got jobs in Cambridge. : What about him daddy? : I don’t know – M lives with his… Read More »Heteronormativity ahoy

Toddler for hire

Bumped into while waiting for the bus with and the after work today. Cue the following conversation after Dave left: Why that ? Well, that’s his name. Where is going? He’s on his way home to see . Why? Because he’s ‘s boyfriend! Why he ‘s boyfriend? Because they like each other a lot. That’s why they live together. *nods sagely* I think they need a boy. Pardon? I think they need a boy. What kind of boy? A little boy, like you? Yes. They need a little boy like me.

We are on the brink of a new era, if only…

RIP Alan Plater. I’ll never think of Leeds without thinking of The Beiderbecke Affair. A Very British Coup may have been more gripping, but for me it’s the whimsical W. Yorks thriller every time. After all, how can you not like a series that brought the world Big Al and Little Norm, and the Alderman What’s-His-Name playing fields? Barbara Flynn and James Bolam also help, obviously.

To absent friends

Earlier today, brought the sad news that the excellent Playin’ Games opposite the British Museum has closed down. I was passing that way a few weeks ago, and had planned to drop in, but I was too early for them (they opened at 1100). This got me to thinking about the number of games shops that I’ve known (and loved) that have closed. Off the top of my head: Barad-Dur, Coptfold Road, Brentwood Virgin Games Centre, Oxford Street Gamers in Exile, Pentonville Road Gaggle of Games, Basildon Alternate Earths, Eastgate Centre, Basildon Phoenix Games, Eastgate Centre, Basildon Games and Puzzles,… Read More »To absent friends

In marking hell, please send help

Slightly over 2/3rds of the way through marking my first exam (90 scripts), and not looking forward to the next two (70 and 120 scripts respectively, but at least I don’t have to mark all of them). Just found three scripts with a question that has been answered almost identically. Now, I don’t believe that there is any foul play involved, but this means that three (Chinese) students have worked out a good answer to a question (a discursive question that I’ve used in previous years) and have learned it by rote. The thing is, it’s a good, clear answer,… Read More »In marking hell, please send help

Well, that didn’t take long

Cavilling hack Andrew Orlowski sticks in the boot following the withdrawal of funding for the Web Science Institute. Nice to hear one’s research described as “webtastic wankery of dubious intellectual merit and zero commercial potential”.

Those Coalition cuts, in full

From here, summarising BIS contributions to the announced GBP6Bn cuts package: £18 million by stopping low priority projects like the Semantic web and the SME Adjudicator That’s either data.gov.uk or the funding for the Web Science Institute scuppered (or possibly both), then.

Dear Undergraduates

Okay, you win. You’ve ignored my missives [*,*] on the fashion crime that is the wearing of badly-fitting Ugg boots. Go ahead and shuffle around in those sheepskin monstrosities – I won’t complain any longer. But for heaven’s sake, lay off the gladiator sandals. They looked silly on Russell Crowe, and they look silly on you, especially the sparkly ones ( will correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think that the diamantarius is a proper class of gladiator). No love, Me