In which we ask ourselves whether reconstructing a national economy on the basis of spite, greed, and the prejudices of racist old people might have been a mistake.
(We will conclude, inevitably, that no: it's the graduates who are wrong.)
OK, I take it back. Maybe instead of doing everything we could and working our fingers to the fucking bone for two years to give our students an education while protecting them from the killer virus we should just have let them all die. Happy now?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Old newspaper headline: THE SMACk CZAR.
Saw this headline in the Caledonian Mercury (Feb 1831) and my brain automatically assumed it was about one of those much-hyped government appointments on either school discipline or the War on Drugs.
(It is not.)
There is a colleague who teaches in one of my tutorial rooms the hour before me, and has no concept of time.
I have an idea.
As an avid listener and sometime contributor to the BBC Sorld Service, it seems crazy to me that we have got to this point.
It would be a tragedy to let the World Service and all the good it does disappear.
Professor Kit Yates in a gray jacket holding a plush turtle and a small green toy, standing in front of a white brick wall.
Sir Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia begins its run at London’s Old Vic this week.
Bath's @kityates.bsky.social has been working as the maths/science consultant for the play, running sessions with the cast, directors, producers and stage designers to help make the science and maths as authentic as possible.
Entries close this week for the British Night Championships 2026!
Find out all you need to know about securing your place at the event via the official website: www.britishnightchamps.org.uk/
#britishnightchamps2026 #britishorienteering #orienteeringchampionships #nightorienteering
1.What support do programme teams need to embed AI into learning, teaching and assessment at programme level? They need complete autonomy to refuse Gen-AI on academic and/or ethical grounds. 2.What would staff like to use AI for that will support them in the delivery and/or support of teaching, learning and assessment? Nothing. Gen-AI is a technology built on IP theft which has consumed immense resources while finding (at best) very limited use cases. Embedding it is entirely incompatible with our values as a socially progressive institution.
Be warned: if you ask questions then you may receive answers.
Hi to folk who've recently found me via the Scottish history starter pack.
If you were looking for professional historians you might wish to look elsewhere.
I'm an amateur whose usual beat is the very long nineteenth century. I wrote this:
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
A reminder that mathematical modellers and psychologists have conclusively demonstrated that "Blue Monday" is the most dispiriting day of the year to be a mathematical modeller or a psychologist.
www.theguardian.com/science/blog...
The nappy pin memorial sculpture on the site on the old Rottenrow Maternity Hospital at the #UniversityofStrathclyde in #Glasgow today.
Wet and windy but good running in the New Forest today. #orienteering
AI is solving 'impossible' math problems but can it beat the world's top mathematicians?
Professor @kityates.bsky.social from the Department of Mathematical Science finds out in his latest blog for @livescience.com.
www.livescience.com/physics-math...
We have a brand new series of Digging for Britain ready for your delectation, and an expanded team of expert presenters bringing you the latest on a range of exciting discoveries from across the UK.
Happy New Year greeting card from the University of Bath featuring a vibrant fireworks display on the left and a nighttime view of the illuminated university campus on the right.
Happy New Year from the University of Bath! 🎉
Thank you to our students, staff, alumni and friends for everything you contributed to our community in 2025. Here’s to 2026!
The sun rising behind the Science Centre, giving Kubrick vibes; in the foreground a spherical lamp catches the reflection.
The greater and the lesser light.
This kind of thing is why I'm very cynical about the "just learn to say no" career advice that does the rounds.
It is very easy to say "no" to people less powerful than you, like students or junior colleagues, and getting away with saying it to powerful people requires a lot of privilege.
Good morning to everyone who isn't circulating twenty-year old, incorrect, handwritten solutions to their exercises and failing to respond for over a month when students point out errors in them.
SoR is sad to announce the passing of Professor Jan Mewis. Mewis was an accomplished rheologist, specializing in suspension flows, a Bingham Medalist, and a recipient of the Gold Medal of the British Society of Rheology. His generous and kind mentorship will be greatly missed.
Angular modern sculpture, silhouetted against sunlit fog.
Prometheus.
University Chamber Choir.
Tonight’s the night! 🎄
We hope everyone heading to Bath Abbey for our annual University Carol Service enjoys a wonderful evening. Doors open at 6:30 pm, and everyone is welcome!
#UniversityOfBath
It is with great sadness that Time Team says goodbye + sleep well, to our wonderful and irreplaceable friend, Kerry Ely, who passed away peacefully on 8th December. Fans will know him not only as an archaeologist, but as the ‘Mr Logistics’ who kept the whole show on the road through thick and thin.
A (literally) flying visit to old haunts today.
Say what you like about the National Trust: they look after their members.
Ah, module "evaluation" season: when the opinions of sulking teenagers suddenly become the voice of G-d.
I'm reminded of one of my lecturers, who used to pass round the end-of-module forms along with a big tin of chocolates, announcing happily "This is a bribe".
Presentation slide titled 'How Bath Mathematics Research is Tackling Global Health Challenges' from the University of Bath. A person is seen gesturing towards the slide with audience engagement.
From drug development to preventing deaths in surgery, find out how Bath mathematics research is tackling global health challenges.
https://bit.ly/481GT1Q
#Maths #ResearchWithImpact #Research #Healthcare
This new #RSOS paper presents a #mathematical model that reveals how elite #cyclists can fine-tune their breakaway strategies by balancing power expenditure, aerodynamic drag, and crashing: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
1. Prof experiences urge to be Helpful about X.
2. Prof asks long-suffering administrator to collect info about X.
3. LSA knows nothing about X; emails me asking for info.
4. I send LSA info about X.
5. LSA sends Prof info about X.
6. Prof sends me info about X.
7. Prof has now been Helpful.
This assignment goes live today, including the new clause.
(Thought: the maths-adjacent-stuff community could usefully crowdsource a list of essay topics to avoid. I'd also nominate "The history of pi" and anything involving Pythagoras.)
BREAKING: Odo of Bayeux resigns after claims that tapestry was edited to make it appear that William of Normandy incited his army to invade England.
