Screenshot of the transcript of the WonkHE podcast. The words are: This huge number of people have taken up massive student loans, done everything right, aspired to go to university, done all that, and they can't get in the housing matter, they can't meet the bills at the end of the month and so on. But it still feels, even when I was listening to us thinking, just saying some of this out loud would make you look like such a wanker at home, wouldn't it? You know what I mean?

This is exactly why we need people like @jimdickinson.bsky.social talking about Higher Education.

in defence of procrastination Procrastination often gets a bad rap in academic writing advice circles. It’s generally seen as a problem to be managed, a symptom of anxiety or perfectionism. In other words, it’s a pr…

Academic writing and procrastination revisited patthomson.net/2026/04/06/i...

Wanted to like this post but I’m in St Albans so please don’t.

NEW: This is worth your time.

@thenerve_news has the receipts.

A comprehensive timeline of Nathan Gill & Nigel Farage’s pro-Kremlin influencing activities & 2 other MEPs, David Cobourn & Jonathan Arnott.

Please read & share.

Higher education postcard: the University of Hertfordshire This week’s card from Hugh Jones’ postbag takes us to a college with an aeronautical bias This week’s card from Hugh Jones’ postbag takes us to a college with an aeronautical bias

Last week on Wonkhe: This week’s card from Hugh Jones’ postbag takes us to a college with an aeronautical bias

The UK electricity is already the most expensive in the world.
Price set to rise again in October as Ofgem's pricing formula lets companies rip people off.

Who protects the people?

Reposting without comment…

a snippet of a mini-comic, at top - straight line stretches from point A to B. Immediately below, same dot at A, then becomes a curving, meandering line that winds through the page and ends at a point with rays and a question mark emanating from it. Text reads: "Nothing can do this for you - that robs you of experience and conflates answers with learning. Rather, it's all the decisions you make along the way, the mistakes, struggles, and surprises! These pathways you create - this is learning.

my statement on Ai from the mini-comic I'm making as syllabus for a new class I'm teaching this fall. It's simple, but I pretty much said all I have to say on it - it robs you of decisions and struggle - and the joy of being surprised. It robs you of learning...

Stories of Hope: Reimagining Education Bringing together a diverse range of educators and practitioners, this collection showcases real-world innovations that challenge the status quo and offer glimpses of a more humane and inspiring educa...

#LoveLD Our co-edited book: Stories of Hope: Reimagining Education is out now - freely available from www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.116... - and dedicated to my wonderful partner Thomas Burns: "In loving memory of Tom Burns who teaches us to dance with hope and joyful practice even now."

Collaboration in Higher Education Collaboration in Higher Education, an open access book, focuses on the opportunities and challenges created by engaging in collaboration and partnership in high…

#LoveLD - love the LDPPodcast - and this issue with our friend and collaborator @sandra_abegglen - on collaboration - looking back at www.bloomsbury.com/uk/collabora... & forward to the forthcoming Stories of Hope book: www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.116.... Girl done good @LevellerB

DMA statement - Durham Miners Gala and Reform UK Reform UK have chosen to criticise us publicly for not inviting them to the Gala. They obviously don’t understand how this works, so we will explain...

This is excellent. Well and truly puts Reform and Farage in their place. Well done Durham Miners' Association. Reform of course now run Durham Council.

www.durhamminers.org/statement_du...

This was a brilliant session. Proud of the scruffy by meaningful artefacts I took away from it. #ALDCON25

Slide from Felicity Flynn and Alice Stinetorf from Southampton University are facilitating a workshop at #ALDcon25 on Mitigat

Felicity Flynn and Alice Stinetorf from Southampton University are facilitating a workshop at #ALDcon25 on Mitigating Writing Anxiety Through Creative Practices and Community Building. #LoveLD

Greenwich Park on a sunny day.

A half-open window with a view out onto Greenwich Park.

A person speaking in a lecture theatre. There are three windows with views out onto a green park.

Room with a(n amazing) view for #ALDCON25 Day Two.

ALDcon25 delegates in the lecture theatre.

Thank you to our host University of Greenwich for a wonderful first day in-person for #ALDcon25. ALDinHE is celebrating its 22nd conference. Thank you to all the delegates and the organising committee for making this such an enjoyable day. #LoveLD

Alicja Syska from Plymouth University and Carina Buckley from Southampton Solent University co-presenting at #ALDcon25

The sun is shining on #ALDcon25 delegates listening to Mini Keynote Speakers Alicja Syska from Plymouth University and Carina Buckley from Southampton Solent University co-presenting on Writing as a form of resistance and professional autonomy. #LoveLD

Greenwich University under a blue sky.

Sharon Perera and Amy Sampson presenting on an online pre-arrival course for students at the University of Greenwich.

Deborah O’Neill giving a presentation on metaphors for Further and Higher Education in Scotland.

Daniel Pearce from the University of Hertfordshire presenting on his research and practice in the use of documentary films to teach critical thinking skills.

Brilliant day at #ALDCON25. Enjoyed thinking, learning, and talking about embedding academic skills, the vital human-ness of writing, transitions, metaphors, data, and criticality. Managed to curate my day so that Daniel Pearce was the headline act…and what an amazing location. Beautiful.

Heading to the actual centre of time (that’s my understanding of it anyway) for #ALDCON25.

Won’t really believe there’s a direct train from St Albans to Greenwich until I get there.

Graphical notes on a presentation by Daniel Grey.

Daniel Grey and Katrina Navickas presenting.

A panel discussion on a state with a backdrop of graphical notes on a series of presentations.

Loved learning about brilliant work done by @djrgrey.bsky.social and @katrinanavickas.bsky.social at #HertsImpactSymposium2025 today. New additions to my vocabulary: “baby farm” and “settlement house”.

Chris Lloyd presenting at the Herts Impact Symposium

Important takeaway from #HertsImpactSymposium2025 : everyone should subscribe to @cilloyd.bsky.social’s Books Up Close podcast : youtube.com/@booksupclos...

A speaker at a conference standing at a podium with two large screens behind him. One features a slide featuring the conference title; the other slide features a live drawing - graphical notes being taken to tell the story of the symposium.

Fascinated by @niftyfoxcreative.bsky.social livescribing (on the left) at #HertsImpactSymposium2025

Screenshot of a transcript of the podcast linked to in a previous post. The words are: What do you mean by that? If you think about the long history of European colonialism and empires of old, there were several characteristics of empires of old. First, they laid claim to resources that were not their own, but they designed rules that suggested that they were their own. They exploited a lot of labor, as in they either didn't pay the labor or they paid that labor very, very little. And they were in a fierce competition for domination. And that was justification for why they had to be an empire and why they had to exploit all that labor and extract all those resources. They also did this under a civilizing mission.

“First, they laid claim to resources that were not their own, but they designed rules that suggested that they were their own.”

The OpenAI empire Podcast Episode · Today in Focus · 29/05/2025 · 26m

Great insight on AI as empire from @karenhao.bsky.social which I wish everyone woukd listen to: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t... via @theguardian.com

A bee seeking pollen from purple salvia flowers.

Bee-ing

A cartoon illustration on a map embarking on a voyage, suitcase in hand and map under his arm. A speech bubble contains the words “THE JOURNEY WILL ONLY PROPERLY COME INTO BEING WITH THE DIARY THAT I SHALL WRITE.”

“The journey will only properly come into being with the diary that I shall write”.

I Talked to the Writer Who Got Caught Publishing ChatGPT-Written Slop. I Get Why He Did It. The latest A.I. controversy didn’t just hallucinate a summer reading list. It exposed how broken the system already is—and how fast it’s unraveling.

The AI slop summer book preview/supplement in the Chicago Sun-Times is about what's happened in media more than what's happening with AI. This Slate piece gets it and I have some thoughts from the perspective of someone who writes about books for a major Chicago newspaper. slate.com/technology/2...

My island of strangers: a poem | Michael Rosen The prime minister warns that immigration could turn Britain into an ‘island of strangers’. Author and poet Michael Rosen responds

"If ever you’re in need as I was may you have an island of strangers like I had"
@michaelrosenyes.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Fleet Foxes - Third of May / Ōdaigahara (Lyric Video) YouTube video by Fleet Foxes

A day to feel grateful for art.

youtu.be/6GqgNebPm50?...

The Third of May, a painting by Francisco Goya depicting captured insurgents being lined up against a wall and shot.

It’s the third of May.