Paul Jackson

Hi Chris, happy to help if you talk to profs from other institutions😊Just drop me an email - p.b.jackson@bham.ac.uk - I am away for a couple of days but back Monday

FT comments section this morning - saying what everyone else is thinking, right?

Definitely not a big bucket…

Something I never thought I would ever say - I will he talking to Carlus Acosta and Tony Iommi about the Black Sabbath ballet in Birmingham next week. www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/2025/to...

I knew it. Just forgot to mention it to anyone…

Dutch late night TV has its take

2CELLOS - Thunderstruck [OFFICIAL VIDEO] YouTube video by 2CELLOS

Some times you only need 2.

Love this video.

youtu.be/uT3SBzmDxGk?...

Henry the Navigator in Porto. The person who rounded up the Portuguese fleet, pointed to the horizon and said ‘sail that way’. What could possibly go wrong?

The photo shows four images of the same Roman iron stylus pen, one below the other. The knib to the left. It has an inscription which runs along its length on four sides. The four images show the four lines of inscribed text which read: ‘ab urbe v[e]n[i] munus tibi gratum adf(e)ro
acul[eat]um ut habe[a]s memor[ia]m nostra(m)
rogo si fortuna dar[e]t quo possem
largius ut longa via ceu sacculus est (v)acuus’ ‘I have come from the City. I bring you a welcome gift with a sharp point that you may remember me.
I ask, if fortune allowed, that I might be able (to give) as generously as the way is long (and) as my purse is empty.’ The pen was used to write on wax-filled wooden writing tablets. Found in London (Roman ‘Londinium’) by MOLA. Photo by Juan Jose Fuldain/MOLA

Timeless humour!

A 2,000 year-old Roman souvenir pen with a joke inscription roughly equivalent to:

“I went to Rome and all I got you was this cheap pen!" 😂

Dated circa 70 AD, this iron stylus pen was recovered in London during excavations by MOLA.
📷 Juan Jose Fuldain/MOLA

#Archaeology

The Thai cover band you didn't know you needed in your life.

Crank it! 😀 🎸

totally agree - this is a point I make repeatedly on @instituteforgovernment.org.uk #Insidebriefing podcasts. Hunt was deeply irresponsible on the NIC cuts and this overshadows all his other decisions.

Really enjoyed Alex Fernandez ‘The Carnation Revolution’ and Tom Gallagher’s ‘Salazar: the dictator who refused to die’ as a holiday pair recently - often been to Portugal but shamefully ignorant about politics! Both really good…

That Adam Smith, Glasgow University

Rethymnon in Crete reputedly has the largest Venetian colonial fortress still extant - occupied by the Ottomans (eventually) hence the dome over the original church

Venetian lighthouse and old port, Crete

Model of the amazing Palace of Knossos

Minoan bull’s head. Astonishing detail.

What does the UK public really think about aid? From someone who knows. - Activism Influence and Change David Hudson, an academic with years of research on public opinion on aid, responds to a UK Government Minister’s recent comments about public support (or in the minister's view, the lack of it). I co...

‘The argument with the public [about international aid] was not lost in the past few years, it was lost somewhere around 2012-2013.’

Great blog from @duncangreenlse.bsky.social with clear ideas on building the idea of development as solidarity

blogs.lse.ac.uk/activism-inf...

Whahay!

Paddington…

Will Rankers Keep on Ranking, Regardless? A recent report from an independent research organisation in the US has presented a detailed analysis of the methodologies used by a number of major university rankings. There are some significant …

Will Rankers Keep on Ranking, Regardless?

A recent report has presented a detailed analysis of the methodologies used by major university rankings. There are some sensible recommendations for change. But will the rankers keep on ranking, regardless?

wonderfulhighered.com/2025/05/20/w...

How fishing was gutted by Brexit Having recently ‘celebrated’ the anniversary of Brexit, it seemed like a good time to look at how various British industries and sectors of society have fared four years on from leaving the European U...

"Fishing was the industry that encapsulated the essence of Brexit: it is an industry that voted overwhelmingly for Brexit. And it is one that in, Farage’s words, has been ‘gutted’ by Brexit." Written in March 2024.

westcountryvoices.com/how-fishing-...

Completely agree. Anyone who gets the Torygraph whingeing about class warfare has to be on the right track.

Surprise - government run by billionaires benefits, well, billionaires… such is populism…

Yes, I noticed that…

"The UK's upfront immigration costs now vastly exceed other leading research nations, so the UK is struggling to compete. EU countries can more easily attract talent from the EU due to free movement, and from non-EU countries due to their relatively low visa costs. "Non-EU countries are also attractive to global research talent due to lower comparative immigration costs than the UK." British scientific institutions are having to spend huge sums on visa costs for cancer professionals they wish to attract and recruit. The Francis Crick Institute, one of the world's leading biomedical research centres, is now spending more than £500,000 a year on visas for cancer scientists. Cancer Research UK institutes are spending almost £690,000 a year, up 44% from £470,000 in 2022-23.

Another report on how our high visa costs deter top R&D talent
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

Back home at one of my favourite places on the Wall

Night stair, Hexham Abbey

Performative public lying is a hallmark of far right authoritarian parties