Prof Tracey, VC of Oxford University, asks for sex harassment policy improvements
She's asking the institutional perpetrators of institutional collusion how best to overcome the institutional collusion that they've all been perpetrating
An Oxford farce
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
The FT ranks the best 400 UK employers ... including Dundee University
It's facing near financial collapse & on its third round of redundancies
Former Principal was famously asked whether he was corrupt or incompetent & replied he was incompetent
@data.ft.com 😮
www.ft.com/content/666c...
Real culprits at Nottingham University have moved onward & upward
Current VC has instigated cost-cutting drive dubbed 'Future Nottingham'
This phrase is used to sanitise the brutality of sacking staff
She should stand down as VC for crimes against language
www.nottinghampost.com/news/notting...
Beautiful molecular clinical epidemiology paper led by @paulpharoah.bsky.social!
@caldaslab.bsky.social very pleased to have contributed!
@launtenbergc.bsky.social
@hebrewuniversity.bsky.social
TILs in #breast cancer alter prognosis!
15,000 cases!! Walking the walk!
www.cell.com/iscience/ful...
Financial Times ranks Cambridge University as top UK employer
Who fills in online survey from the FT?
Highly paid individuals in senior management with huge pay/bonuses & no real duties
Survey won't sample academic staff or low-paid professional services staff
Seriously flawed @data.ft.com
The Financial Times lists the 400 best employers -- including many universities like Dundee
It’s a bit like praising staff satisfaction at Lehman Brothers in 2007
The statistical evidence of @data.ft.com is examined here
It's incoherent & flawed
21percent.org?p=3293
University student population of Gorton & Denton is ~ 5000, concentrated in Gorton
Young graduates with student loans in G&D are ~ 8000
This is significant voting block of ~ 13000
Govt policies on student loans / universities contributed to this punishing by-election loss
UniversitiesUK is lobbying group for Vice-Chancellors, not staff or students
It's consistently lobbied for higher tuition fees & marketisation
It's supported bureaucratic corporatisation & excessive VC pay -- but never staff
It's grown fat on University money
universitiesuk.ac.uk/about-us/peo...
"Dr" Ann Limb remains a Fellow Commoner of Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge
The University Reporter dated 19 January 2026 lists the Fellows of the Colleges
The false claim about her academic qualifications has still not been corrected
www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
More poor journalism
Overseas engineering PhD students pay £25–30k a year, while home students pay £5–6k in fees
International students subsidise UK universities
Without that income, research-intensive universities couldn't function unless Gov't paid more money
www.thetimes.com/article/c522...
Voice of Victim
"There was a University lectureship competition
My friend was in pole position. My Head of Department asked me if she was likely to go on maternity leave
I refused to answer
My HoD has not spoken to me since she was appointed -- & then went on maternity leave"
Article is right to say Oxbridge has become hooked on casualised labour, upheld by hierarchy of auxiliary teaching paid at low rates or unpaid
The "gig economy" has moved HE away from secure, long-term employment toward precarious, short-term contracts
timeshighereducation.com/opinion/hiri...
Real issue isn’t hiring “too senior” or "established" candidates
Academia produces far more PhDs than permanent jobs
Restricting the competition won’t solve that
It only replaces excellence with forms of protectionism
www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/hiri...
Fall of the Oxbridge Junior Research Fellow
"Skeffington [a JRF] had taste ...There was a Sickert, a Kokoschka, a Nolan in his College room" [CP Snow, 1960]
"Could you run the graduate programme this year? Role is unpaid but it's valuable experience for a future post" [2026]
A university is spooked
They know they'll lose the case. They fear deluge of other complaints that will come forward as a result
What happens? Gagging orders
We have right to know what's happening in universities getting large pots of public money
thetimes.com/uk/law/artic...?
Proposal to concentrate research in “flagship” Welsh university is made with no evidence
It criticises bureaucracy -- yet proposes technocratic control from the centre using indicators & funding levers to steer mission
Duw helpo ni
www.hepi.ac.uk/2026/03/02/w...
Voice of Victim
"Four investigations by University HR
One run by a KC — because nothing says “healthy workplace” like cross-examination
We had no legal representation just threats
Colleagues walked into interviews thinking it was a chat “You should’ve known better” said HR"
Great scientist … shocking interview
“I’m old, I’m white, I’m a man, so everything’s against me” is clumsy start
Worse is refusal to see bullying & sexual harassment as corruption of science
Paul Nurse presided over institutions notorious for poor culture
www.theguardian.com/science/2026...
MPs debate 'Duty of Care' today
At Cambridge, the 21 Group has repeatedly raised #Whistleblowing concerns about the treatment of a student
No action in response by University
Statutory 'Duty of Care' is needed
committees.parliament.uk/committee/20...
@forthe100.bsky.social
Retraction of Nature paper by the Crick Institute
The first author — then a doctoral student — manipulated data
Certain Crick labs seem prone to these kinds of mishaps
This raises questions about supervisory oversight by the doctoral adviser as well as institutional research culture
Built by Welsh workers’ donations on gifted land, Cardiff University should be vital national institution
Instead, Chief Operating Officer wants further ventures into Indonesia & Philippines
It ends with COO moving on & up - and staff left to clear up her mess
nation.cymru/news/cardiff...
Battle for Veterinary Science at Cambridge
The Vet School needs £20m to survive, allegedly
It's a disputed figure but dwarfed by recent yearly increases in central administration spending
Cambridge has a priorities crisis not a funding crisis
@jw132.bsky.social
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Voice of Victim
"We raised grievances
HR kindly sent us web-links — Occupational Health, counselling, chaplaincy, Samaritans, the full wellness parade
We were told we could seek support but, as the matter was confidential, we could not talk about the cause of our distress"
Voice of Victim
"My grievance went from the HR Business Manager
to the HR Director,
to the Registrar,
to the Pro-Vice-Chancellor,
and finally to the Vice-Chancellor herself.
Each time I thought: 'now the adults have entered the room — now this will be sorted'
It never was"
Bullying has a human cost, but UK universities aren't interested in this
Conservative estimates suggest £millions are spent each year on mismanaged cases
This wastes public money
In times of scarcity, increased scrutiny of financial mismanagement will finally drive change
Students mistreated by their University should contact their MPs
There is backbench debate on statutory duty of care on 13 January 2026
Let's leave MPs in no doubt as to the failure of universities to safeguard staff & students
@Dying4aDegree @ForThe100_
Rigged promotions. Whistleblower retaliation. Research shutdowns. Plagiarism cover-ups. Soaring executive pay
Consigliere University: A masterclass in how NOT to run a university
2026 is the Year of the Fire Horse
Let the Fire Horses run free
21percent.org?p=3097
Voice of Victim
"I raised a Grievance about the HR Business Partner at my University with the HR Director
Then the Pro-VC. The Registrar. The VC
All of them asked the HR Business Partner to draft their responses
Universities -- where 'procedural fairness' goes to die"
Lecturers, technicians & support staff are expendable, while vice-chancellors & senior teams enjoy outsized salaries
Strathclyde Uni say it's “reshaping finances". No
It's protecting executive pay at expense of academic community & quality of education
www.timeshighereducation.com/news/strike-...
Voice of Victim
"After an extended silence, the University's HR Director announced ‘very significant findings on very serious issues,’ which couldn't be disclosed as they were strictly confidential
The email was marked STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL & sent to many incorrect recipients" 😉