@ctmccartney
Professor of Law & Criminal Justice interested in INjustice. Research #forensics #AI science/tech in criminal justice. Also crazy about anti-fascism, atheism, Prince, professional cycling, politics, the news, live comedy and music. #academicsky (1st-gen)
VC B'ham Uni fails to spot over half a century of open access at @openuniversity.bsky.social. Claims students without A levels 'are not really capable of graduating'. www.theguardian.com/education/20...
A non-binding, but significant resolution sets out to European countries: Trans women are women. The European Parliament has passed a resolution on gender equality, which contains a declaration that trans women are women. The resolution, passed in a vote of 340 to 141, sets out the bloc’s approach to the 70th annual UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York next month - Erin In The Morning
Though not binding, it sends a clear message to countries all over the bloc.
@ucunorthumbria.bsky.social members are on strike today in the fight for pay and pensions justice @northumbriauni.bsky.social - but taking time to recuperate and re-energise away from the picket lines, for the struggles ahead! Make the most of it, everyone. ✊✊✊🫶🫶🫶
2 years from now, 5 years from now, 10 years from now, and 20 years from now, Americans are going to be subject to attacks here and all over the world because of what Trump is doing right now.
meanwhile 15,000 job losses / redundancies in FE in 2025
pretty sure there was considerable further "constructive dismissal" and not re-signing contracts
Nigel Farage heckled at a press conference. He responds: "Oh sorry darling are you having a rough morning? Did you get out on the wrong side of bed? You always get the odd screamer at these events. Go back to work. I did say go back to work, but of course she hasn't got a job has she"
@michaelspicer.bsky.social has a brilliant take on this type of programme:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wjnm...
"I dread even saying this... but I think that we've ended up in the wrong place on trans, and we've done that by treading very self-consciously and not actually following our hearts, which is that trans people are on the margins, they are vulnerable. "If the Labour Party doesn't look after trans people, what are we about? "They're most likely to get beaten up. They're the ones who are most likely to have prejudice against them. We should not be indulging in anything that marginalises them even more."
Emily Thornberry’s words on Radio 4 in response to the Green win in Gorton and Denton.
This is why wins like this are so important, whatever you may think of the Greens (much like the immigration rebellion brewing).
This is a chilling crime. A shame on our country. The Iranian ship was unarmed. The US knew this. The sailors were murdered by our navy, and the survivors were left to die at sea.
newrepublic.com/post/207429/...
400 jobs at risk. A campus set to close.
This film explains what’s happening at the University of Essex and why staff, students and the local community are organising to stop it.
📍 Southend rally | 5 February
Over 160 schoolgirls are dead. Anthropic and Palantir executives must immediately testify and tell the public whether their AI is responsible.
GSK CEO got 50% pay rise to £15.6m.
Did you?
Neoliberals moan about rise in minimum wage. Govts preach pay restraint to workers. Silence on profiteering, hikes in exec pay/perks, dividends, share buybacks.
The state devoted to welfare of the super rich.
Female athletes must pay £185 to prove their sex Matt Lawton - Chief Sports Correspondent British female track and field athletes are being asked to pay £185 for a sex test if they want to compete internationally. World Athletics requires all athletes to take an SRY gene test before competing in the female category at major championships and Diamond League events to guarantee fair competition by excluding trans and DSD (differences of sex development) competitors. Before the World Championships in Tokyo last September, World Athletics gave $100 per test for the thousand or so female athletes needing one. More money will be provided by the international federation for this year’s World Junior Championships. But British women have been advised by UK Athletics (UKA) to pay for the test themselves, urging them to have the cheek swab, which indicates the presence of a Y chromosome, “as soon as possible to avoid delays around selection”. However, some women have complained it is unfair when the test is not required for men. UKA has a hardship fund to pay for the test and will assess requests on a case-by-case basis. But the situation is symptomatic of a national federation already facing financial challenges, made worse by UK Sport cutting its funding for this Olympic cycle. While almost £32 million was given to the relatively niche sports that won five medals at last month’s Winter Olympics, athletics has had its funding cut from £22.18 million to £20.45 million despite winning ten medals in 2024. It was only last year UKA returned to some form of financial stability, posting a profit of £107,588. But it is now facing a big fine after admitting corporate manslaughter over the death of Abdullah Hayayei, who died in 2017 after a metal cage fell on him while he was training for the World Para Athletics Championships in London.
"Feminism" [Times]
What an incredibly depressing thing to read from a University VC. Not only regressive in terms of broadening access to education but would have zero impact on the funding crisis. Why is the Guardian publishing this crap?
Text reads: I am humbled and excited to be elected the next UCU Vice-President for Higher Education. Now is a devastatingly difficult and challenging time for our sectors and so many workers in post-16 education, but as a union we cannot succumb to despair. We have the skills, knowledge and capacity to help chart a way out of this mess and restore higher and further education. That you have put your trust in me to help do that is a huge honour and responsibility. I do not take this lightly. Thank you to the many thousands of members who voted for me and also to those who did not – we need to build better engagement in our union and part of that is voting, no matter who you voted for. I promised in my election materials to work hard to bring our union together and that is what I will do.
Text reads: Thank you to the other HE candidates Sean and Steve, both committed trade unionists. I know they will continue to fight for members and the future of Higher Education and I look forward to doing that alongside them. Congratulations to those elected to the National Executive Committee and commiserations to those who missed out this time. Your willingness to put yourself forward for election is hugely valued and I know you all will continue to contribute in other ways. So what next? Until the end of May, I’ll be tying up some loose ends and taking some time off to visit family and friends back in Australia. I will take up my role after UCU’s annual Congress at the end of May, this year in Harrogate.
Text reads: For the following three years, I will be lead negotiator for pay and conditions and for USS pensions across UK Higher Education, working with our team of elected negotiators and officials. I will also chair UCU’s Higher Education Committee and HE sector conferences, serve on other national committees and represent you in various forums. In 2029-30 I will become UCU’s President after the excellent Suzi Toole, who has also been elected as Vice-President for Further Education and will spend two years leading on further education matters before becoming President. She will take over from Dyfrig Jones, who succeeds early to the Presidential role for a two-year term this May, due to the casual vacancy that arose last year, replacing Maria Chondrogianni. Maria stays on as immediate past president, rounding out the presidential team. I want to again acknowledge David Hunter who stepped down as President-Elect last year for health reasons and continue to wish him and his family all the best.
A picture of two smiling people (Suzi Toole and Mark Pendleton) wearing UCU beanies. Text reads: That’s a lot of work, and a lot of moving parts, but at the heart of it will be my commitment to build a better union, alongside members and branches, and through that transform our sectors. I am ready and I know from the responses to this election that many of you are too. I’m looking forward to getting to work, together with you all.
UCU’s elections concluded this week and I am honoured to have been elected as the next Vice-President for Higher Education, to become President in 2029-30.
Thank you for all the support.
A short statement about the election and what’s to come after I take up the role in May.
Optical illusion of a woman bent over some papers. Her sunglasses are pushed up and she is wearing a hair band so the top of her head looks exactly like a Muppet face
Sorry I know the world is in a terrible fix but I've been laughing at this for ten minutes now
Young Woman Being Harassed by a Man
This is Judith Leyster's amazing 1631 painting ‘Young Woman Being Harassed by a Man’.
She was well known in her day but SURPRISE! her works were later misattributed either to Frans Hals, her local contemporary, or her husband, Jan Miense Molenaer.
www.thetimes.com/article/f41d...
Reform councillor Graham Eardley has been suspended for behaving so aggressively towards a female volunteer that security had to escort him out. That’s at least 63 Reform councillors gone in ten months – nearly one in ten!
Rubio: “Let me tell you, Iran is run by lunatics, religious fanatic lunatics.”
I read the flag meme first and assumed this was a skeet about Iran and Trump!!!
Last year when I was checking into a hotel, the desk person was wearing Meta glasses. I kindly asked them to take them off. They were annoyed. I said, “I do not consent to you looking at my credit card and ID with Meta glasses on.” My instincts were correct: www.bbc.com/news/article...
that's always the problem with lying - keeping consistent!!
Madness. My daughter just got into univ - she has no A-levels (*reasons*). But she is exactly the sort of student you WANT to go to univ. and I am sure she will graduate with bells on. If she can't get a loan, she can't go. There will be loads like her.
Party Total reported Donations accepted (excl. public funds) Public funds accepted Total accepted in this quarter Alliance - Alliance Party of Northern Ireland £65,140 £20,538 £44,602 £65,140 Conservative and Unionist Party £4,216,224 £2,401,452 £1,614,729 £4,016,181 Co-operative Party £131,180 £131,180 £0 £131,180 Democratic Unionist Party - D.U.P. £104,320 £0 £104,320 £104,320 Green Party £294,069 £189,010 £98,764 £287,773 Labour Party £2,043,007 £1,943,824 £31,836 £1,975,660 Liberal Democrats £2,190,101 £1,314,139 £749,173 £2,063,312 Open Party £197,151 £155,067 £0 £155,067 People Before Profit £8,605 £0 £6,453 £6,453 Plaid Cymru - The Party of Wales £63,967 £30,000 £33,967 £63,967 Reform UK £5,473,000 £5,456,000 £0
The funding gap between Reform UK and the Greens is astounding.
New Electoral Commission stats today reveal the reportable donations in Q4 2025:
🟢 Green Party: £189,010
🟣 Reform UK: £5,456,000
Greens are bringing in barely 3.5% of Reform UK's large donations - but still polling around 20%.
and a small point - but at least they lied to the UN? This guy is just lying in front of his own small posse of journalists - not even attempting to lie to people he ought to be lying to!
I’ve spent years, decades, obsessing over the Bush Administration’s Iraq WMD lies, writing about them, debunking them.
I can think of no lie about Iraq WMDs told by Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld et al that comes even close to the enormity and absurdity of this lie from Donald Trump.
I was shopping in Australia (minding my own business) one day and found myself stage-bombing Jeffrey Archer at a book launch, and shouted down microphone to the crowd, that if he ever became Mayor of London (he was trying), we should never step foot in London again. Then walked off.
I caught a trailer for this a day or so ago and that literally starts with Armstrong saying "India is a land of contrasts", and truly it is time to nuke the "middle-aged-white-man-makes-cliche-laden-travelogue" format.
Quietly, calmly and forensically, BBC just dismantled the Trump communications shitshow on Iran.
No hyperbole, just laying out an unprecedented military, diplomatic and reputational shambles.
Worth a watch.
(🎥 BBC News/BBC Verify)
Dressing up for world book day is bullshit, even leaving the parental finance stuff aside. It's one of very few 'event' days in school calenders set aside for a solo, quiet, activity – and then it's turned into dress-up. Spectacularly misses the point. Schools should drop it from a great height.
