Sleepy Bean

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.

Reasons a cis women might have Y chromosomes:

- Twin brother
- Gestating a child with a Y chromosome
- Bone marrow transfusion from someone with a Y chromosome
- Being intersex (we know of XY women who have naturally conceived and given birth)

The declyne of readinge ys caused by manye thinges. One major cause ys a systematic & decades-long devaluinge of literature at all levels of educacioun. We kan not put instrumentalitye above meaninge and still thrive. Fundinge the humanityes ys key to a just societye of well-informed citizens.

ELEVEN people, over FIVE whole years of elections.

And for that, a whole democratic tradition was turned on its head.

I’ve said this before, but if anyone would like to talk trans or transfeminist legal history at the SLS, I am co-convenor of the legal history stream for the next three years and would very much like to accept your paper. Deadline for abstracts 27 March, conference 2-4 September.

Please share.

The skeet this replies to and a skeet from Toby Buckle that reads "crying about birthrates & creating a world you're frightened to bring children into"

It seemed fitting that these skeets were together on my timeline: a world in which robins are four times bigger does frighten the living daylights outta me

My mum has had a large male organ inside her since 2012 (she had a liver transplant)

Sure, Jan. That's why blood banks separate the blood into two giant canisters, one marked with a big M and the other a big F. What, they DON'T do that? It's sorted by blood type rather than gender? But what if a fucking idiot gets blood from the opposite sex? Won't that sperm blood affect the brain?

"The Islamists oppose women getting an education," I mutter, as I aim my missile at the girls school

hit me today: Matt Goodwin looks like the villain in a movie where the hero is a cute little detective mouse

The Greens will legalise whatever Starmer was on while he wrote this

What on earth has he been smoking?

Congratulations to The Green Party and Hannah Spencer for such a strong victory in Gorton and Denton - Matt Goodwin seems to be blaming a dirty tricks campaign of the Greens persuading people to vote for them by having policies people wanted to vote for

Any day, there's always a chance of It Happening...

Looking forward to all the columns of the form "Why X is the real winner of the Gorton and Denton by-election", where X is variously Nigel Farage, Vladimir Putin, Hamas, Andy Burnham, Angela Rayner or Shergar. Meanwhile, well-done Hannah Spencer and the Green Party!

@greenpartyhan.bsky.social

Now there is hope! It's no longer a choice between grim and grimmer. We can vote for who we want and win. Anywhere.
It's just one constituency, but the Green victory in Gorton and Denton is an electric shock to our political system.

you know I would say her matching pink phone case really makes this, gives Goodwin a huge "sad loser man at the end of Legally Blonde" vibe

Can't get a posh job - blame the "woke" establishment.
Can't get a shag - blame the "unregulated sexual economy".
Lose a by-election - blame cheating.
Anything else - blame immigrants.
Reform really is the party of excuses for mediocre white men.

On February 6th Lucy Powell, Labours deputy leader, wrote to Zack Polanski accusing him & the Greens of sharing "misleading election material & claims on social media" & told him "its time to stop the bogus bar charts"

Labour on social media last night & the poll they're referring to⬇️

Any last minute UCU voters out there?

Give Michael a vote (me too please!), and make sure you put a first class stamp on the envelope to ensure it gets there in time for Monday’s deadline!

We're now going to get wall-to-wall coverage of the Greens, get them on every single discussion programme, have university managers preemptively reach out to them and adhere to their demands, and basically organise society to make a declared-inevitable victory reality, right?
That's how this works?

Hannah Spencer walking into Westminster, sucking her teeth, tutting, and muttering "tell you what, you've had some cowboys in here."

obviously today is a huge embarrassment for Matt Goodwin and for Reform, which is something that we absolutely ought to celebrate, but we must also remember it's a huge embarrassment for Morgan McSweeney and Maurice Glasman and all the Blue Labour weirdos, and that's important to celebrate too :)

Others watching this election and wanting good vibes to win where they are: grab some friends and start doing things in your community. Help people have the tough conversations and eat good food and experience difference and find a shared love of your area and envision what it could become.

We know the work's not over: 10k of our neighbours voted for a party with divisive and hateful rhetoric. We've got to keep going. We're preparing for the local elections coming up and thinking ahead to the general election. This is for the long-term, for our future as a community, together.

We've run community events and a hustings and we've got more events in our calendar - including this Saturday. Knowing that there was an organisation already in place to keep the work going even if the far right won this election is what gave many of us hope.

A little group dissatisfied with our MP formed Local Voices last year and we've worked hard to build community power and encourage people talking to & supporting their neighbours. We were able to hit the ground running when the election was announced.

I live in the constituency. I agree that the election's meaning is mostly local and specific, but what we did here can be done elsewhere. Local activists on the ground worked hard to get people aware of the election, their eligibility to vote & registration deadlines.