Important and alarming reporting from top colleague @lexytopping.bsky.social about the increasing numbers of children in England temporarily placed in unregulated social care settings including caravans, Airbnbs and holiday camps.
www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
Ah of course, in the Bearwood saga right?
What's Pete up to these days? Wonder why he didn't follow the rest to Reading
Really didn’t expect him to struggle so much since Cardiff, though maybe we should have seen it in his shorter appearances earlier in the year. Harvie surely an off day 🤞
I wonder if it’s the position he’s being asked to play as well? He was used to playing in a back three at Walsall, and expected to do the same at the start of this season. Feel like that might be as important as the jump in level
I was a bit annoyed with some of the over-the-top negativity I heard after the game, hence I tried to strike a slightly more positive note! Hard to justify some of those second-half performances though, we didn’t really get a kick
I think that’s fair! Yeah, I was surprised with Harvie and agree Norris should have done better - you’ve got to hold on to that (in a somewhat similar way to the Plymouth at home goal). I wondered if I was generous with Allen, I don’t understand why he’s struggling with the basics so much
At half-time on Saturday, Wycombe were in the playoffs. Just 45 minutes later, they were five points adrift and needing a minor miracle for the season to amount to anything.
An attempt to contextualise Monday's setback in terms of stability and optimism:
open.substack.com/pub/jackdeas...
Why League One proves that English football’s finances are broken.
Column.
inews.co.uk/sport/footba...
Also not a fan of a lot of the comments and quotes. Vilifying Reform voters isn't helpful, point instead to the failures of mainstream politics, the media, etc. in why residents in eg Boston and Skeg felt that the Reform path was the best suited one
It feels a very big oversight for them to apply their climate change denialism to a place with the highest levels of flood risk in the country, and a long history of residents having to deal with it as a very real issue, not an abstract concept.
Surely Reform's 'net stupid zero' line won't be effective for very long when, in what is meant to be its heartlands, the tangible and obvious impacts of climate change are increasingly becoming part of their constituents' lives.
That’s brilliant
Reflections on Wycombe's financial accounts, the Independent Football Regulator, a fine evening in South Wales, and a tricky yet surmountable run-in...
open.substack.com/pub/jackdeas...
Melvyn Bragg’s class act
Was his success “social mobility”, or just good luck?
By Stefan Collini www.newstatesman.com/cultur...
Thanks Tom, very interesting!
Thanks Adam! Really appreciate it
The Burnden Park disaster, a strong performance for 70 minutes, another goal for Luke Harris, diagnosing Wycombe's fragility, and a shoutout to @her-game-too.bsky.social all in my latest reflections:
jackdeasley.substack.com/p/player-rat...
This is excellent & timely from Nick. It's a great example of academic work being highly relevant and it's great that it's reached the mainstream press too. Do give it a read if you can get around the paywall - there are some chilling quotes in here:
www.thetimes.com/world/middle...
Whether a child is 'bright' is almost exclusively due to their upbringing, and you can't fairly test that at age 10. Even if you could, you must be academically able, not sporty/artistic, to be successful. There is zero reward for being different, it's a cliff-edge pass/fail, not redirection
great angle!
Can’t wait to see that angle! And yeah, who knows, Bolton obviously an excellent side but have draws in them (three of their last four results!). I’m trying hard not to get carried away…
What a strike it was!! Definitely a free hit on Saturday, but then a huuuge one against Luton, who we can be confident against given our great home form + their shambolic away form...
There were 2,967 suspensions at one of these schools in 2023/24. As the article says, this 'equates to nearly 16 a day, based on a standard 190-day school year'.
We're told to focus so much on attendance - sure, in many ways rightly so - but what's the incentive here?
Just remarkable. This isn't an anomaly, there are increasing reports of incredibly harsh discipline at schools up and down the country, and there's no form of meaningful accountability.
www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwal...
How do we reconcile this with the stressful and unhelpful impacts of 'exam-ification' in our schools? Genuine question, I'm really torn
Our new report is out! State Expectations: The history and experiences of fee-paying independent schools converting into state schools.
After VAT, will more private schools want to become state schools?
The THREE recommendations are:
www.pepf.co.uk/publication/
Yeah, think Anders will get another start, though maybe Duff sees Burton at home as an opportunity to mix it up. And it would be interesting to know how the game would have gone if Lowe hadn’t scored so soon! I wonder how much limiting Stevenage was the changes as opposed to the goal (likely both!)
When you lay out everything against them, Bodo-Glimt's run is probably European football's greatest feat since Porto 2004
Like Leicester 2016, though, the fact it is so unlikely raises questions about the system - especially one with six PL teams
www.independent.co.uk/sport/footba...
