'If OfS is aware that a provider has internally classified institutional survival as high risk, and recruitment continues without that risk being brought clearly into the foreground at the point of offer, the regime starts to look less like protection...and more like a protection racket.'
"UK universities turn to Duolingo to test foreign students’ English"
“As tech giants force-feed AI inevitability marketing and trumpet the technology’s supposed benefits to society, a robust AI-resistance movement has emerged in response.”
Job losses at UK research-intensive universities double in two years.
Exclusive: Scale of redundancies branded a “disaster”.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...
giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... Pete Hegseth threatens to cut Anthropic from Pentagon supply chain in showdown with CEO
I still don't understand how this isn't the headline everywhere. If Biden or Obama said the words, "I'm allowed to destroy the country" Fox News would be giving tips on where to buy pitchforks and torches.
Basically the entire core of Microsoft pitch on AI is that it's the safe, responsible one that corporates and governments can use. So this is very much not what they needed to happen.
Leavitt: When you see it on Truth Social, you know it's directly from Trump
(When Trump posted a racist video of the Obamas as apes, the White House claimed it was done by a staffer)
UCL students win £21mn over Covid disruption in watershed settlement ft.trib.al/Qy6eVgx
Mark Zuckerberg to testify in landmark social media trial ft.trib.al/baaMzHC
"Student debt is a generational injustice. Why are we squeezing graduates harder than the super-rich? | Gaby Hinsliff"
I believe that university should be free, and the state should be funding universities such that it can be free for all. I also believe that people in universities did their level best in dreadful circumstances during COVID. www.bbc.com/news/article...
Universities face:
*Teachers pension scheme cost increases
*National Insurance rises
*International student levy
*Soaring library costs
*Brutally high energy charges
*Potential 'free speech' fines
*Covid class action
There's nowhere to turn really.
The Digital Sustainability SIG kicked off its first event with an insightful webinar led by Rita Bateson. They introduced the group, shared its mission, and invited members to suggest future webinar topics. Catch up on the reflections in one of our latest #altc blog posts buff.ly/L4bJJqF
🚨VERY IMPORTANT!
ON 16 MARCH PARLIAMENT WILL DEBATE A PETITION FOR BY-ELECTIONS TO BE TRIGGERED AUTOMATICALLY WHEN MP’S DEFECT
Contact your MP now and ask them to attend and support the petition
youtu.be/LPO_ZWlyb7Q?...
I’ve lived through every stage of the building of England’s fees and loans system — and as it has evolved, it has become something that is a good deal on paper, but feels unfair and is effectively inexplicable.
My first piece in my new role as Director of The Post 18 Project.
giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... Big Tech’s ‘breathtaking’ $660bn spending spree reignites AI bubble fears
cover of The Washington Post on Wednesday Feb 4, 2026. Headline on bottom, right: Musk wanted to hook users; his chatbot got more sexual
My story on Elon Musk cutting safeguards at xAI is on the front page of today's @washingtonpost.com. I’m also among 100’s of reporters laid off. I absolutely loved my job my brilliant coworkers & the thrill of reporting @ the center of forces upending the world: AI & Silicon Valley’s political power
Time to dump ChatGPT!
The latest model of ChatGPT has begun to cite Elon Musk’s Grokipedia as a source on a wide range of queries, including on Iranian conglomerates and Holocaust deniers, raising concerns about misinformation on the platform.
Even when there’s no accountability, the record matters. Credit to the Wikipedia editors maintaining this page.
giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... Will student loans be the next mis-selling scandal?
Worth remembering when looking at the horrific scenes in the US right now that both Reform and the Tories have pledged to bring in ICE-style organisations to the UK if they win power
NEW:
Within minutes of Alex Pretti being shot and killed, the Trump administration began rewriting the narrative, labelling the victim as a "lunatic" and a "terrorist" contradicting all available evidence
www.wired.com/story/the-in...
The shooting of Alex Pretti was (US) state sanctioned murder and has been followed up by attempts to destroy evidence and stop local police (and even the FBI) from investigating.
Minnesota police are trying to counter the lies and illegality.
Terrifying
open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...
Alex Pretti, wearing a green sweater with his VA badge on.
This is Alex Pretti.
This morning he was murdered by ICE. Six ICE agents held him down and shot him at point blank range. Alex was a nurse and researcher at the VA.
Our thoughts are with his loved ones and we stand united in action calling for the abolishment of ICE.
#ScientistsAgainstICE
in case you're curious about how angry Minnesota is about ICE, it was -20 today
Colourful sculpture in Liverpool, England. Designed by Japanese artist Taro Chiezo and intended to be a cross between a banana and a lamb
Superlambananas, Albert Dock, Liverpool
