Best Of

Another day another university set for strike action with belligerent language from the UcU union head.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8rpkj18xjjo

What a basket case our universities seems to be.

My understanding is that even some very highly ranked universities are under serious financial strain. There is also an issue with funding for PhD, which without those, you don't get post-docs, and the ultimately, you don't get the next generation of academic staff.

And the first departments to close are expensive laboratory-based sciences like chemistry. It was the same cost-based bean-counting in the 1950s that meant technical schools were never built alongside grammars and secondary moderns. All those workshops!

Our AI / tech / knowledge economy growth focused government recently cut the extra funding pot that was given to universities to run what are deemed high cost subjects e.g. Chemistry, Medicine, etc. Its crazy, we should be doing the opposite, more money into these subjects.

In addition to my bug bear about the unique super computer getting cut, another area not getting enough funding is GPU clusters. Universities will always struggle to compete with these mega tech companies and I don't think they can, but all STEM subjects now need access to GPUs, because ML is such a powerful approach to estimating complex functions from data. Its not just Computer Science with their LLMs, Maths / Physics / Chemistry / Biology / Engineering, they all want to leverage these ML approaches.

O/T today is a good example of the inherent physical differences between men and women when it comes to sport (no, not the Swiss women’s national football team being beaten by Lucerne’s under 15 boys 7-1).

Faith Kipyegon will today attempt to become the first woman to run a mile under 4 minutes. To do this she will be aided by specialist kit including an aerodynamic skin suit, specialist energy returning lightweight spikes and specialist pace runners arranged to disrupt the airflow for her. She will attempt this on a modern track which returns energy after a lifetime of the best scientific conditioning of fitness and nutrition.

71 years ago Roger Banister did it with none of the above assistance after starting the day at work as a medical student then catching the train up to Oxford mid morning and running at 6pm.

Good morning everyone.

I think that one reason RefUK supporters are relatively more anti-Labour is the zeal of the convert, and I think that RefUK may have (as per Farage and Anderson for two) some success in getting their supporters to believe things that are made up, of which they use many. For Farage, it is all about marketing.

Listening to a bit of GB News last night, they are still pounding away at the "Lucy Connolly was imprisoned for a single tweet" lie. They were also coming up with some strange stuff about the "oppressed Christian preacher at Kings Cross" story from this week (which is a non-story; they were using PA equipment without bothering with permission or finding out that they needed it).

Another one that surprised me came from a story about reopening Rufford Ford on a Nottingham news site. That is a sometimes deep Ford in a village where performative ASB wankers have been driving through for several years at high speed and getting on Youtube.

The first comment is "Thanks to Labour's Online Safety Bill, those who post such videos can and will be prosecuted.". The Online Safety Act received Royal Assent in October 2023 afaics. Perhaps an indicator that brazen public deception has much potential in 2025 as a strategy for low information voters; it's penetrated at least one head.

Fox News destroyed US politics and ultimately left us with a US President likely to sell out Ukraine to Russia, start a war in the Middle East and destroy the world economy with tariffs. We do not want GB News repeating the same trick here.

I don't care any more if people vote right, centre or left, as long as they vote for parties connected to reality rather than fantasists.

O/T today is a good example of the inherent physical differences between men and women when it comes to sport (no, not the Swiss women’s national football team being beaten by Lucerne’s under 15 boys 7-1).

Faith Kipyegon will today attempt to become the first woman to run a mile under 4 minutes. To do this she will be aided by specialist kit including an aerodynamic skin suit, specialist energy returning lightweight spikes and specialist pace runners arranged to disrupt the airflow for her. She will attempt this on a modern track which returns energy after a lifetime of the best scientific conditioning of fitness and nutrition.

71 years ago Roger Banister did it with none of the above assistance after starting the day at work as a medical student then catching the train up to Oxford mid morning and running at 6pm.

Banister did have the aid of a rousing Vangelis musical accompaniment.

Totally off-topic, we are now 'out of the ground' with our self-build:



(Digger for scale)

Quite absorbed with the build now, hence not on PB so much.

Fascinating. Post more about this!

I am genuinely and sincerely interested. I am thinking of changing my entire life within the next 4-5 years. Trying to work out where and when

I am happy in London as is, but I can now see myself moving....

This is in Dorset with your wife, yes? Are you literally building your own design? Tell us more! If you can be bothered..

That's very kind of you.

I'm doing a regular short blog here if you're interested: https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/blogs/blog/87-contemporary-build-in-north-dorset/

TLDR: Mrs P. and I sold our house, bought a plot, and we're building a modern sustainable, single-storey, timber-frame house. I'm managing sub-contractors to build it. We've used an architect to turn our tight brief into a deliverable design. Early days but so far, so good.

It's a beautifully boring evening, the midsummer sun folds its cards, over the Primrose Hill frontier lands

I eat tuna steak with anchonvy, caper, lemon, sourdough breadcrumb; and I sip Albarino de Fefinanes; and the moments pass

VIBE

Yeah, I can see why they binned the first draft of Summertime by Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince.

It's incredible. Found the recipe online

"Crusted Tuna Steak with Anchovy, Capers, Tomatoes & Herby Crumbs

(Serves 1 or 2 if you simply double amounts)

Ingredients:

1 thick tuna steak (180–200g, about 2–3cm thick)

1 anchovy fillet (oil-packed)

1 tbsp capers, rinsed and roughly chopped

75g cherry tomatoes, halved

1 small garlic clove, finely chopped

Zest of ½ lemon

3 tbsp fresh breadcrumbs

1 tbsp chopped parsley (or a mix of parsley & basil)

1½ tbsp olive oil (plus a little more for drizzling)

Salt & black pepper

Optional: pinch of chilli flakes or crushed fennel seeds

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200°C (390°F). Line a small baking dish or tray with foil or parchment.

Make the herby crumb crust:

In a small bowl, mash the anchovy into a paste.

Add garlic, lemon zest, chopped capers, breadcrumbs (or biscuit crumbs), herbs, a drizzle of olive oil, salt, pepper, and optional chilli/fennel.

Mix until it’s clumpy and damp but crumbly

Make the tomato bed:

Toss the halved cherry tomatoes in a little olive oil and salt.

Spread them on the tray in a rough little pillow where your tuna will sit.

Prepare the tuna:

Pat it dry, season lightly with salt and pepper, and place it on top of the tomatoes.

Press the breadcrumb mixture firmly onto the top of the tuna in a thick, luscious layer.

Roast in the oven for 8–10 minutes, depending on thickness and how pink you like it. Aim for just-blushed in the centre - not cooked to death. The crumb should be golden and just toasty at the edges

Rest for 1 minute, then spoon a few tomatoes and their juices over the top, scatter with a little more herb

Serve with cold Albarino de Fefinanes"

Sounds like one of those posh £10 meal deals at any supermarket.

£15 in Waitrose, just saying. And in fact those 'posh meal deals' tend to be riddled with ultra-processed foods, whereas Leon's recipe is made from ingredients everyone can recognise.

Yes, that's absolutely it, These days you simply cannot trust the junk in ready meals - or, sadly, in many restaurants. In recent years I've noticed that the best food comes from quite poor countries. eg Cambodia, and Moldova were both brilliant; France and many other rich countries have sorely disappointed

I think I've worked out why. Places like Cambodia and Moldova ARE poor so they literally dig the food out of the ground - or quickly butcher the meat - and serve it fast. No weird processing is involved, they simply don't do that. At the same time they are just rich enough they can grow and serve good basic ingredients. The food is often naturally organic. This makes for fantastic meals with honest and clever recipes: healthy and yum

The idea is to replicate that at home, if you can. And you can

First mangetout from the allotment tonight. The glut starts…