A Bridget tale too far – politicalbetting.com

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A Bridget tale too far – politicalbetting.com

Normally I would say getting criticised by the Trump administration would be a positive for most politicians in the UK but I don’t think Bridget Phillipson will benefit here. Unless she can provide some documentary evidence she’s going to look like a chump.

Read the full story here

MattW

First. I fink.

RobD

Second first.

BlancheLivermore

A Bridget to sell you too far

AnneJGP

I don't see why our politicians need to pretend they're in the inner counsels of everything.

TheScreamingEagles

This is really bad news for the University of Oxford.

Tuition fees set to be lowered at universities with poor teaching

Labour is considering bringing the cap below £9,000 a year on campuses where standards aren’t met

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/lower-university-tuition-fees-ban-ddbdkqgjj

TheScreamingEagles

My holiday starts this time next week.

Just saying.

Nigelb

FPT, Leon really should have tried the magnificently named "Roaring Camp Railroad" through the redwoods.
https://roaringcamp.com/excursions/redwood-forest-steam-train

If lucky, he might get the Climax engine.

Nigelb

TheScreamingEagles said:

My holiday starts this time next week.

Just saying.

How long are you away for ?

turbotubbs

TheScreamingEagles said:

This is really bad news for the University of Oxford.

Tuition fees set to be lowered at universities with poor teaching

Labour is considering bringing the cap below £9,000 a year on campuses where standards aren’t met

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/lower-university-tuition-fees-ban-ddbdkqgjj

That’s going to help the funding crisis in higher education.

TheScreamingEagles

Nigelb said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

My holiday starts this time next week.

Just saying.

How long are you away for ?

Until Halloween.

I am mostly in Blighty.

ydoethur

From Dirk Bogarde to A Dick Buggered.

TheScreamingEagles

ydoethur said:

From Dirk Bogarde to A Dick Buggered.

Yay, people have spotted my subtle WWII reference.

Dopermean

TheScreamingEagles said:

This is really bad news for the University of Oxford.

Tuition fees set to be lowered at universities with poor teaching

Labour is considering bringing the cap below £9,000 a year on campuses where standards aren’t met

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/lower-university-tuition-fees-ban-ddbdkqgjj

Will that include a reduction for students on courses so overbooked that they have to watch a stream of the lecture?
A friend's child ducked out of the 4th year of a masters for a bachelor's with the words "I'm not paying £9k for some printouts"

ydoethur

TheScreamingEagles said:

This is really bad news for the University of Oxford.

Tuition fees set to be lowered at universities with poor teaching

Labour is considering bringing the cap below £9,000 a year on campuses where standards aren’t met

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/lower-university-tuition-fees-ban-ddbdkqgjj

If they do it by uni, not faculty, they're idiots. All universities, and that does include Oxford and Cambridge, have stronger and weaker faculties and there would be few universities indeed that would meet the criteria of no teaching being substandard.

All that a blanket reduction would do if implemented rigorously (which of course it won't be) would be to further bankrupt every university and make matters considerably worse.

Unfortunately, they are idiots.

ydoethur

TheScreamingEagles said:

ydoethur said:

From Dirk Bogarde to A Dick Buggered.

Yay, people have spotted my subtle WWII reference.

Subtle? Sir, that is a Grave error.

Stuartinromford

TheScreamingEagles said:

Nigelb said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

My holiday starts this time next week.

Just saying.

How long are you away for ?

Until Halloween.

I am mostly in Blighty.

So a traditional time of fear and alarming stories.

Then Halloween.

Carnyx

turbotubbs said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

This is really bad news for the University of Oxford.

Tuition fees set to be lowered at universities with poor teaching

Labour is considering bringing the cap below £9,000 a year on campuses where standards aren’t met

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/lower-university-tuition-fees-ban-ddbdkqgjj

That’s going to help the funding crisis in higher education.

Would make more sense to bump it up to 13 or 14 K if they are worried about standards. The figure has been 9K for rather a long time, some 13 years, so it's not even kept up with inflation but lost a third of its value (depending on what a uni would have in its shopping basket).

Nigelb

.

TheScreamingEagles said:

Nigelb said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

My holiday starts this time next week.

Just saying.

How long are you away for ?

Until Halloween.

I am mostly in Blighty.

Cripes.
That's long enough for WWIII to break out.

TheScreamingEagles

How on earth do fans of the Scottish men's national football team cope?

ydoethur

Carnyx said:

turbotubbs said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

This is really bad news for the University of Oxford.

Tuition fees set to be lowered at universities with poor teaching

Labour is considering bringing the cap below £9,000 a year on campuses where standards aren’t met

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/lower-university-tuition-fees-ban-ddbdkqgjj

That’s going to help the funding crisis in higher education.

Would make more sense to bump it up to 13 or 14 K if they are worried about standards. The figure has been 9K for rather a long time, some 13 years, so it's not even kept up with inflation but lost a third of its value (depending on what a uni would have in its shopping basket).

It would make a lot more sense to allow courses with excellent teaching to apply for an increase.

Carnyx

ydoethur said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

ydoethur said:

From Dirk Bogarde to A Dick Buggered.

Yay, people have spotted my subtle WWII reference.

Subtle? Sir, that is a Grave error.

A frosty story, too, with a clear night tonight here.

TheScreamingEagles

ydoethur said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

This is really bad news for the University of Oxford.

Tuition fees set to be lowered at universities with poor teaching

Labour is considering bringing the cap below £9,000 a year on campuses where standards aren’t met

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/lower-university-tuition-fees-ban-ddbdkqgjj

If they do it by uni, not faculty, they're idiots. All universities, and that does include Oxford and Cambridge, have stronger and weaker faculties and there would be few universities indeed that would meet the criteria of no teaching being substandard.

All that a blanket reduction would do if implemented rigorously (which of course it won't be) would be to further bankrupt every university and make matters considerably worse.

Unfortunately, they are idiots.

Looks like it will be by uni not faculty.

Those found to be offering inadequate teaching by the Office for Students (OfS), the regulator, will have to charge less than the standard fees, currently capped at £9,535.

Universities are ranked gold, silver or bronze by the OfS’s teaching excellence framework (TEF), introduced in 2017. It judges universities’ student experience, which includes teaching and assessment, resources, and student engagement and support.

ydoethur

TheScreamingEagles said:

ydoethur said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

This is really bad news for the University of Oxford.

Tuition fees set to be lowered at universities with poor teaching

Labour is considering bringing the cap below £9,000 a year on campuses where standards aren’t met

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/lower-university-tuition-fees-ban-ddbdkqgjj

If they do it by uni, not faculty, they're idiots. All universities, and that does include Oxford and Cambridge, have stronger and weaker faculties and there would be few universities indeed that would meet the criteria of no teaching being substandard.

All that a blanket reduction would do if implemented rigorously (which of course it won't be) would be to further bankrupt every university and make matters considerably worse.

Unfortunately, they are idiots.

Looks like it will be by uni not faculty.

Those found to be offering inadequate teaching by the Office for Students (OfS), the regulator, will have to charge less than the standard fees, currently capped at £9,535.

Universities are ranked gold, silver or bronze by the OfS’s teaching excellence framework (TEF), introduced in 2017. It judges universities’ student experience, which includes teaching and assessment, resources, and student engagement and support.

Oh well, at least they're using a reliable methodology then, and not one that a friend of mine made a handsome living out of rigging on behalf of a number of client universities.

Carnyx

TheScreamingEagles said:

How on earth do fans of the Scottish men's national football team cope?

We don't worry about it. We follow the way of non-attachment to the world and compassion to those beings, such as England fans, who cannot escape from the wheel of existence.

TheScreamingEagles

I've never been able to watch A Bridge Too Far in the same way since I found out Sean Connery plays Ming Campbell's father-in-law.

TheScreamingEagles

Carnyx said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

How on earth do fans of the Scottish men's national football team cope?

We don't worry about it. We follow the way of non-attachment to the world and compassion to those beings, such as England fans, who cannot escape from the wheel of existence.

To be honest I have watched more Scotland and Northern Ireland matches in these qualifiers than I have England matches.

Nigelb

TheScreamingEagles said:

I've never been able to watch A Bridge Too Far in the same way since I found out Sean Connery plays Ming Campbell's father-in-law.

Were you shaken, or stirred ?

ydoethur

Carnyx said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

How on earth do fans of the Scottish men's national football team cope?

We don't worry about it. We follow the way of non-attachment to the world and compassion to those beings, such as England fans, who cannot escape from the wheel of existence.

The truth of suffering.

Carnyx

ydoethur said:

Carnyx said:

turbotubbs said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

This is really bad news for the University of Oxford.

Tuition fees set to be lowered at universities with poor teaching

Labour is considering bringing the cap below £9,000 a year on campuses where standards aren’t met

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/lower-university-tuition-fees-ban-ddbdkqgjj

That’s going to help the funding crisis in higher education.

Would make more sense to bump it up to 13 or 14 K if they are worried about standards. The figure has been 9K for rather a long time, some 13 years, so it's not even kept up with inflation but lost a third of its value (depending on what a uni would have in its shopping basket).

It would make a lot more sense to allow courses with excellent teaching to apply for an increase.

Bit of both perhaps. But yes.

PS: though as pointed out the other day, the CFEs are arguably the ones who really got the shit sandwich.

TheScreamingEagles

Nigelb said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

I've never been able to watch A Bridge Too Far in the same way since I found out Sean Connery plays Ming Campbell's father-in-law.

Were you shaken, or stirred ?

Both.

Sunil_Prasannan

TheScreamingEagles said:

ydoethur said:

From Dirk Bogarde to A Dick Buggered.

Yay, people have spotted my subtle WWII reference.

I don't get the "tale" bit.

ydoethur

TheScreamingEagles said:

I've never been able to watch A Bridge Too Far in the same way since I found out Sean Connery plays Ming Campbell's father-in-law.

If Nigel Farage wins the next election, and I am still hoping for something short of a nuclear apocalypse to prevent that, can we play this clip?

https://youtu.be/r6O8rLXB7Qg?si=BzZ95tioi6lceNA2&t=6375

rottenborough

Vance says Portland police are so overwhelmed by crime that they can't keep proper stats which is why crime seems down.

Luckily it seems our roving world affairs reporter might be there soon and can give us an update.

solarflare

TheScreamingEagles said:

How on earth do fans of the Scottish men's national football team cope?

The knowledge that the entire Universe is all just a bad simulation designed specifically to make Scottish qualifying campaigns a living purgatory.

It's a bit like that Culture novel about the simulated hells except at the bottom of it all it's just dodgy qualifying campaigns for eternity.

Carnyx

solarflare said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

How on earth do fans of the Scottish men's national football team cope?

The knowledge that the entire Universe is all just a bad simulation designed specifically to make Scottish qualifying campaigns a living purgatory.

It's a bit like that Culture novel about the simulated hells except at the bottom of it all it's just dodgy qualifying campaigns for eternity.

Of course, it was a Scot who wrote that novel. He understood that very well.

Leon

rottenborough said:

Vance says Portland police are so overwhelmed by crime that they can't keep proper stats which is why crime seems down.

Luckily it seems our roving world affairs reporter might be there soon and can give us an update.

I’m deep in the coastal redwood forest. I may not make it out

BlancheLivermore

The Bridget On The Give A Lie

IanB2

I was very early, possibly first, in punting Powell as almost free money, back when the odds were worth taking. Nothing has happened to change my view, even though now it's not really worth it.

kinabalu

It's striking how much affirmation Donald Trump needs from everybody. You get the sense he'd wither and die without it. Perhaps this theory should be tested.

Nigelb

rottenborough said:

Vance says Portland police are so overwhelmed by crime that they can't keep proper stats which is why crime seems down.

Luckily it seems our roving world affairs reporter might be there soon and can give us an update.

Vance is full of it.
Too used to not being questioned.

This is the way.
STEPHANOPOULOS: I didn't insinuate anything. I asked you whether Tom Homan accepted $50k as was heard on an audio tape recorded by the FBI in September 2024. You did not answer the question. Thank you for your time.

VANCE: No, George, I sai--

STEPHANOPOULOS: We'll be right back
https://x.com/atrupar/status/1977397038011552004

Malmesbury

ydoethur said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

This is really bad news for the University of Oxford.

Tuition fees set to be lowered at universities with poor teaching

Labour is considering bringing the cap below £9,000 a year on campuses where standards aren’t met

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/lower-university-tuition-fees-ban-ddbdkqgjj

If they do it by uni, not faculty, they're idiots. All universities, and that does include Oxford and Cambridge, have stronger and weaker faculties and there would be few universities indeed that would meet the criteria of no teaching being substandard.

All that a blanket reduction would do if implemented rigorously (which of course it won't be) would be to further bankrupt every university and make matters considerably worse.

Unfortunately, they are idiots.

…educated under the auspices of the DfE.

rottenborough

Nigelb said:

rottenborough said:

Vance says Portland police are so overwhelmed by crime that they can't keep proper stats which is why crime seems down.

Luckily it seems our roving world affairs reporter might be there soon and can give us an update.

Vance is full of it.
Too used to not being questioned.

This is the way.
STEPHANOPOULOS: I didn't insinuate anything. I asked you whether Tom Homan accepted $50k as was heard on an audio tape recorded by the FBI in September 2024. You did not answer the question. Thank you for your time.

VANCE: No, George, I sai--

STEPHANOPOULOS: We'll be right back
https://x.com/atrupar/status/1977397038011552004

Guess ABC are about to be hit with a law suite then?

Malmesbury

ydoethur said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

ydoethur said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

This is really bad news for the University of Oxford.

Tuition fees set to be lowered at universities with poor teaching

Labour is considering bringing the cap below £9,000 a year on campuses where standards aren’t met

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/lower-university-tuition-fees-ban-ddbdkqgjj

If they do it by uni, not faculty, they're idiots. All universities, and that does include Oxford and Cambridge, have stronger and weaker faculties and there would be few universities indeed that would meet the criteria of no teaching being substandard.

All that a blanket reduction would do if implemented rigorously (which of course it won't be) would be to further bankrupt every university and make matters considerably worse.

Unfortunately, they are idiots.

Looks like it will be by uni not faculty.

Those found to be offering inadequate teaching by the Office for Students (OfS), the regulator, will have to charge less than the standard fees, currently capped at £9,535.

Universities are ranked gold, silver or bronze by the OfS’s teaching excellence framework (TEF), introduced in 2017. It judges universities’ student experience, which includes teaching and assessment, resources, and student engagement and support.

Oh well, at least they're using a reliable methodology then, and not one that a friend of mine made a handsome living out of rigging on behalf of a number of client universities.

Say 20,000 students at uni

£190m a year.

“Shame if anything happened to your 190 big ones a year, Vice Chancellor.”

Nigelb

rottenborough said:

Vance says Portland police are so overwhelmed by crime that they can't keep proper stats which is why crime seems down.

Luckily it seems our roving world affairs reporter might be there soon and can give us an update.

Apropos of nothing at all...

Pope Leo quotes Hannah Arendt:

“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction and the distinction between true and false no longer exist."
https://x.com/BillKristol/status/1977358852908609821

Malmesbury

ydoethur said:

Carnyx said:

turbotubbs said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

This is really bad news for the University of Oxford.

Tuition fees set to be lowered at universities with poor teaching

Labour is considering bringing the cap below £9,000 a year on campuses where standards aren’t met

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/lower-university-tuition-fees-ban-ddbdkqgjj

That’s going to help the funding crisis in higher education.

Would make more sense to bump it up to 13 or 14 K if they are worried about standards. The figure has been 9K for rather a long time, some 13 years, so it's not even kept up with inflation but lost a third of its value (depending on what a uni would have in its shopping basket).

It would make a lot more sense to allow courses with excellent teaching to apply for an increase.

“Sense”?

But we are talking about people educated under the auspices of the DfE…

On a serious note - what do think of my idea to expand university involvement in apprenticeships? Some are doing this already, I believe - providing the academics and class work components for companies. The idea would be to make apprenticeships more standardised and transferable as a qualification.

The eventual aim is the merging of degrees and apprenticeships. Everything is a degree. And breaking down the academic vs dirty hands thing by encouraging/mandating mixing of skills.

Let the poets learn to weld. And the engineers learn to play the violin.

Nigelb

Nevada is one if the best places on earth for a solar farm.
Trump cancels almost free electricity because ... ?

Canceling a 6 gigawatt solar farm is an extremely dumb thing to do when electricity rates are skyrocketing
https://x.com/AlecStapp/status/1977393758644642147

Just a dumb MF.

rcs1000

Nigelb said:

Nevada is one if the best places on earth for a solar farm.
Trump cancels almost free electricity because ... ?

Canceling a 6 gigawatt solar farm is an extremely dumb thing to do when electricity rates are skyrocketing
https://x.com/AlecStapp/status/1977393758644642147

Just a dumb MF.

Oppositionalism.

Malmesbury

rcs1000 said:

Nigelb said:

Nevada is one if the best places on earth for a solar farm.
Trump cancels almost free electricity because ... ?

Canceling a 6 gigawatt solar farm is an extremely dumb thing to do when electricity rates are skyrocketing
https://x.com/AlecStapp/status/1977393758644642147

Just a dumb MF.

Oppositionalism.

What you need is calculated anti-oppositionalism.

So create, using AI, a fake campaign by Antifa to destroy all solar farms as an attack on Red States. Something Something coal is actually controlled by MS-13 ??

Nigelb

rcs1000 said:

Nigelb said:

Nevada is one if the best places on earth for a solar farm.
Trump cancels almost free electricity because ... ?

Canceling a 6 gigawatt solar farm is an extremely dumb thing to do when electricity rates are skyrocketing
https://x.com/AlecStapp/status/1977393758644642147

Just a dumb MF.

Oppositionalism.

Yes, that dumb shit.

AnneJGP

Nigelb said:

Nevada is one if the best places on earth for a solar farm.
Trump cancels almost free electricity because ... ?

Canceling a 6 gigawatt solar farm is an extremely dumb thing to do when electricity rates are skyrocketing
https://x.com/AlecStapp/status/1977393758644642147

Just a dumb MF.

...because almost-free electricity means fewer profits for some mega-rich owner somewhere.

DecrepiterJohnL

TheScreamingEagles said:

My holiday starts this time next week.

Just saying.

Is that why they are letting off fireworks outside? I had assumed it was something to do with the World Conkers Championship or someone's birthday.

DecrepiterJohnL

AnneJGP said:

Nigelb said:

Nevada is one if the best places on earth for a solar farm.
Trump cancels almost free electricity because ... ?

Canceling a 6 gigawatt solar farm is an extremely dumb thing to do when electricity rates are skyrocketing
https://x.com/AlecStapp/status/1977393758644642147

Just a dumb MF.

...because almost-free electricity means fewer profits for some mega-rich owner somewhere.

Your phone has wrongly autocorrected less to fewer and donor to owner.

Nigelb

Barron Trump's qualification for the role is quite clear.

19-year-old as a Board of Director for TikTok
LMAO
https://x.com/zephyr_z9/status/1977334802455151034

tlg86

I see there was a tail strike at Heathrow earlier this evening:

https://x.com/BigJetTVLIVE/status/1977434155559338385

DecrepiterJohnL

BlancheLivermore said:

A Bridget to sell you too far

Someone must have invited Keir Starmer for some reason.

ydoethur

Malmesbury said:

ydoethur said:

Carnyx said:

turbotubbs said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

This is really bad news for the University of Oxford.

Tuition fees set to be lowered at universities with poor teaching

Labour is considering bringing the cap below £9,000 a year on campuses where standards aren’t met

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/lower-university-tuition-fees-ban-ddbdkqgjj

That’s going to help the funding crisis in higher education.

Would make more sense to bump it up to 13 or 14 K if they are worried about standards. The figure has been 9K for rather a long time, some 13 years, so it's not even kept up with inflation but lost a third of its value (depending on what a uni would have in its shopping basket).

It would make a lot more sense to allow courses with excellent teaching to apply for an increase.

“Sense”?

But we are talking about people educated under the auspices of the DfE…

On a serious note - what do think of my idea to expand university involvement in apprenticeships? Some are doing this already, I believe - providing the academics and class work components for companies. The idea would be to make apprenticeships more standardised and transferable as a qualification.

The eventual aim is the merging of degrees and apprenticeships. Everything is a degree. And breaking down the academic vs dirty hands thing by encouraging/mandating mixing of skills.

Let the poets learn to weld. And the engineers learn to play the violin.

When I was at UWE they had a fantastic technical department in their Education faculty, for resistant materials, 3D printing, metalworking, cookery - you name it, they could do it. Put in about three years previously at a cost of £5 million.

Then two years after I left a new Vice Chancellor had it all ripped out, because he wanted to concentrate on arts courses, which were cheaper.

Then they all got zapped by Gove's nonsense on Russell Group cap lifting anyway.

So the bottom line is it sounds an excellent idea but I'm sure some tosser would find a way to waste millions being an idiot anyway.

ydoethur

Nigelb said:

Barron Trump's qualification for the role is quite clear.

19-year-old as a Board of Director for TikTok
LMAO
https://x.com/zephyr_z9/status/1977334802455151034

He's not even served an apprenticeship at Warwickshire County Council.

Malmesbury

a

ydoethur said:

Malmesbury said:

ydoethur said:

Carnyx said:

turbotubbs said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

This is really bad news for the University of Oxford.

Tuition fees set to be lowered at universities with poor teaching

Labour is considering bringing the cap below £9,000 a year on campuses where standards aren’t met

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/lower-university-tuition-fees-ban-ddbdkqgjj

That’s going to help the funding crisis in higher education.

Would make more sense to bump it up to 13 or 14 K if they are worried about standards. The figure has been 9K for rather a long time, some 13 years, so it's not even kept up with inflation but lost a third of its value (depending on what a uni would have in its shopping basket).

It would make a lot more sense to allow courses with excellent teaching to apply for an increase.

“Sense”?

But we are talking about people educated under the auspices of the DfE…

On a serious note - what do think of my idea to expand university involvement in apprenticeships? Some are doing this already, I believe - providing the academics and class work components for companies. The idea would be to make apprenticeships more standardised and transferable as a qualification.

The eventual aim is the merging of degrees and apprenticeships. Everything is a degree. And breaking down the academic vs dirty hands thing by encouraging/mandating mixing of skills.

Let the poets learn to weld. And the engineers learn to play the violin.

When I was at UWE they had a fantastic technical department in their Education faculty, for resistant materials, 3D printing, metalworking, cookery - you name it, they could do it. Put in about three years previously at a cost of £5 million.

Then two years after I left a new Vice Chancellor had it all ripped out, because he wanted to concentrate on arts courses, which were cheaper.

Then they all got zapped by Gove's nonsense on Russell Group cap lifting anyway.

So the bottom line is it sounds an excellent idea but I'm sure some tosser would find a way to waste millions being an idiot anyway.

The two commonest things in the universe. Hydrogen and Stupidity.

bondegezou

TheScreamingEagles said:

ydoethur said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

This is really bad news for the University of Oxford.

Tuition fees set to be lowered at universities with poor teaching

Labour is considering bringing the cap below £9,000 a year on campuses where standards aren’t met

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/lower-university-tuition-fees-ban-ddbdkqgjj

If they do it by uni, not faculty, they're idiots. All universities, and that does include Oxford and Cambridge, have stronger and weaker faculties and there would be few universities indeed that would meet the criteria of no teaching being substandard.

All that a blanket reduction would do if implemented rigorously (which of course it won't be) would be to further bankrupt every university and make matters considerably worse.

Unfortunately, they are idiots.

Looks like it will be by uni not faculty.

Those found to be offering inadequate teaching by the Office for Students (OfS), the regulator, will have to charge less than the standard fees, currently capped at £9,535.

Universities are ranked gold, silver or bronze by the OfS’s teaching excellence framework (TEF), introduced in 2017. It judges universities’ student experience, which includes teaching and assessment, resources, and student engagement and support.

We know some of these assessment measures are flawed. But if given a target, the universities will do what everyone does in this situation, and game the system to ensure we score well on those measures.

Sunil_Prasannan

kinabalu said:

It's striking how much affirmation Donald Trump needs from everybody. You get the sense he'd wither and die without it. Perhaps this theory should be tested.

"FAKE NEWS FROM THE RADICAL LEFT LUNATICS!!!"

moonshine

Clarkson looks like he’s running in Donny
North vs Miliband.

Luckyguy1983

moonshine said:

Clarkson looks like he’s running in Donny
North vs Miliband.

Not a fan of Clarkson, but I don't see how that isn't a significant upgrade.

carnforth

Today in overbearing but also completely unenforceable legislation.

(For those too fancy to be initiated, at Wetherspoons there is an unattended machine to produce tea, coffee and hot chocolate. You pay the price, the same for any product, and get given a mug. Refills are free.)

This week we've also seen notices taped on to pop machines at fast food places warning customers to restrict themselves on only one non-diet drink.

Sunil_Prasannan

tlg86 said:

I see there was a tail strike at Heathrow earlier this evening:

https://x.com/BigJetTVLIVE/status/1977434155559338385

Saw it live on Jerry's livestream! Unexpected and dramatic!

Luckyguy1983

carnforth said:

Today in overbearing but also completely unenforceable legislation.

(For those too fancy to be initiated, at Wetherspoons there is an unattended machine to produce tea, coffee and hot chocolate. You pay the price, the same for any product, and get given a mug. Refills are free.)

This week we've also seen notices taped on to pop machines at fast food places warning customers to restrict themselves on only one non-diet drink.

They have a machine where you just choose it - we have the same one at work. No idea how you possible stop people.

bondegezou

Malmesbury said:

ydoethur said:

Carnyx said:

turbotubbs said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

This is really bad news for the University of Oxford.

Tuition fees set to be lowered at universities with poor teaching

Labour is considering bringing the cap below £9,000 a year on campuses where standards aren’t met

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/lower-university-tuition-fees-ban-ddbdkqgjj

That’s going to help the funding crisis in higher education.

Would make more sense to bump it up to 13 or 14 K if they are worried about standards. The figure has been 9K for rather a long time, some 13 years, so it's not even kept up with inflation but lost a third of its value (depending on what a uni would have in its shopping basket).

It would make a lot more sense to allow courses with excellent teaching to apply for an increase.

“Sense”?

But we are talking about people educated under the auspices of the DfE…

On a serious note - what do think of my idea to expand university involvement in apprenticeships? Some are doing this already, I believe - providing the academics and class work components for companies. The idea would be to make apprenticeships more standardised and transferable as a qualification.

The eventual aim is the merging of degrees and apprenticeships. Everything is a degree. And breaking down the academic vs dirty hands thing by encouraging/mandating mixing of skills.

Let the poets learn to weld. And the engineers learn to play the violin.

I think it's a great idea. The current apprenticeships are over-engineered to be super-specific, but I think this just generates paperwork rather than producing better training.

carnforth

Sunil_Prasannan said:

tlg86 said:

I see there was a tail strike at Heathrow earlier this evening:

https://x.com/BigJetTVLIVE/status/1977434155559338385

Saw it live on Jerry's livestream! Unexpected and dramatic!

Do the trains know you're cheating on them Sunil?

bondegezou

Nigelb said:

rcs1000 said:

Nigelb said:

Nevada is one if the best places on earth for a solar farm.
Trump cancels almost free electricity because ... ?

Canceling a 6 gigawatt solar farm is an extremely dumb thing to do when electricity rates are skyrocketing
https://x.com/AlecStapp/status/1977393758644642147

Just a dumb MF.

Oppositionalism.

Yes, that dumb shit.

Don't worry! We can vote for Trumpism too with Farage pushing the same approach to renewable energy.

Stuartinromford

Malmesbury said:

a

ydoethur said:

Malmesbury said:

ydoethur said:

Carnyx said:

turbotubbs said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

This is really bad news for the University of Oxford.

Tuition fees set to be lowered at universities with poor teaching

Labour is considering bringing the cap below £9,000 a year on campuses where standards aren’t met

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/lower-university-tuition-fees-ban-ddbdkqgjj

That’s going to help the funding crisis in higher education.

Would make more sense to bump it up to 13 or 14 K if they are worried about standards. The figure has been 9K for rather a long time, some 13 years, so it's not even kept up with inflation but lost a third of its value (depending on what a uni would have in its shopping basket).

It would make a lot more sense to allow courses with excellent teaching to apply for an increase.

“Sense”?

But we are talking about people educated under the auspices of the DfE…

On a serious note - what do think of my idea to expand university involvement in apprenticeships? Some are doing this already, I believe - providing the academics and class work components for companies. The idea would be to make apprenticeships more standardised and transferable as a qualification.

The eventual aim is the merging of degrees and apprenticeships. Everything is a degree. And breaking down the academic vs dirty hands thing by encouraging/mandating mixing of skills.

Let the poets learn to weld. And the engineers learn to play the violin.

When I was at UWE they had a fantastic technical department in their Education faculty, for resistant materials, 3D printing, metalworking, cookery - you name it, they could do it. Put in about three years previously at a cost of £5 million.

Then two years after I left a new Vice Chancellor had it all ripped out, because he wanted to concentrate on arts courses, which were cheaper.

Then they all got zapped by Gove's nonsense on Russell Group cap lifting anyway.

So the bottom line is it sounds an excellent idea but I'm sure some tosser would find a way to waste millions being an idiot anyway.

The two commonest things in the universe. Hydrogen and Stupidity.

And stupidity won't escape and dissipate if we run it through leaky pipes.

HYUFD

Phillipson can say that the UK recognition of Palestine along with some other nations might have helped persuade Hamas to the negotiation table but it certainly wouldn't have had much impact on Israel

Stuartinromford

bondegezou said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

ydoethur said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

This is really bad news for the University of Oxford.

Tuition fees set to be lowered at universities with poor teaching

Labour is considering bringing the cap below £9,000 a year on campuses where standards aren’t met

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/lower-university-tuition-fees-ban-ddbdkqgjj

If they do it by uni, not faculty, they're idiots. All universities, and that does include Oxford and Cambridge, have stronger and weaker faculties and there would be few universities indeed that would meet the criteria of no teaching being substandard.

All that a blanket reduction would do if implemented rigorously (which of course it won't be) would be to further bankrupt every university and make matters considerably worse.

Unfortunately, they are idiots.

Looks like it will be by uni not faculty.

Those found to be offering inadequate teaching by the Office for Students (OfS), the regulator, will have to charge less than the standard fees, currently capped at £9,535.

Universities are ranked gold, silver or bronze by the OfS’s teaching excellence framework (TEF), introduced in 2017. It judges universities’ student experience, which includes teaching and assessment, resources, and student engagement and support.

We know some of these assessment measures are flawed. But if given a target, the universities will do what everyone does in this situation, and game the system to ensure we score well on those measures.

To a large extent, they already do.

And universities are stuffed full of people who are very good at that sort of thing, if they set their minds to it.

HYUFD

TheScreamingEagles said:

This is really bad news for the University of Oxford.

Tuition fees set to be lowered at universities with poor teaching

Labour is considering bringing the cap below £9,000 a year on campuses where standards aren’t met

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/lower-university-tuition-fees-ban-ddbdkqgjj

So will they be raised at universities with excellent teaching?

Andy_JS

carnforth said:

Today in overbearing but also completely unenforceable legislation.

(For those too fancy to be initiated, at Wetherspoons there is an unattended machine to produce tea, coffee and hot chocolate. You pay the price, the same for any product, and get given a mug. Refills are free.)

This week we've also seen notices taped on to pop machines at fast food places warning customers to restrict themselves on only one non-diet drink.

I noticed this today in Shrewsbury Wetherspoons. Ridiculous. I want my hot chocolate.

viewcode

One of the luxuries of a poor man is to get your shoes resoled. Not many people know Timpsons do this. Here is an example.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/jvC_Ok7M7ME

TheScreamingEagles

Another reason to ban cash.

Self-Taught Thieves Keep Blowing Up ATMs—And Walking Away With Millions

In an increasingly digital society, an underground assemblage of thieves in the Netherlands has kept alive the art of violently stealing large sums of cold, hard cash.

https://www.gq.com/story/self-taught-thieves-keep-blowing-up-atms-and-walking-away-with-millions

ydoethur

HYUFD said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

This is really bad news for the University of Oxford.

Tuition fees set to be lowered at universities with poor teaching

Labour is considering bringing the cap below £9,000 a year on campuses where standards aren’t met

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/lower-university-tuition-fees-ban-ddbdkqgjj

So will they be raised at universities with excellent teaching?

Of course not. That would be a sensible solution.

rottenborough

Luckyguy1983 said:

moonshine said:

Clarkson looks like he’s running in Donny
North vs Miliband.

Not a fan of Clarkson, but I don't see how that isn't a significant upgrade.

Presumably he's already signed the Amazon deal to produce 'Clarkson's Westminster'?

Sunil_Prasannan

TheScreamingEagles said:

Another reason to ban cash.

Self-Taught Thieves Keep Blowing Up ATMs—And Walking Away With Millions

In an increasingly digital society, an underground assemblage of thieves in the Netherlands has kept alive the art of violently stealing large sums of cold, hard cash.

https://www.gq.com/story/self-taught-thieves-keep-blowing-up-atms-and-walking-away-with-millions

I still use cash, so there

viewcode

Andy_JS said:

carnforth said:

Today in overbearing but also completely unenforceable legislation.

(For those too fancy to be initiated, at Wetherspoons there is an unattended machine to produce tea, coffee and hot chocolate. You pay the price, the same for any product, and get given a mug. Refills are free.)

This week we've also seen notices taped on to pop machines at fast food places warning customers to restrict themselves on only one non-diet drink.

I noticed this today in Shrewsbury Wetherspoons. Ridiculous. I want my hot chocolate.

Tom Harwood has been banging on about this:

https://x.com/tomhfh/status/1976350654705934836#m

Malmesbury

rottenborough said:

Luckyguy1983 said:

moonshine said:

Clarkson looks like he’s running in Donny
North vs Miliband.

Not a fan of Clarkson, but I don't see how that isn't a significant upgrade.

Presumably he's already signed the Amazon deal to produce 'Clarkson's Westminster'?

It would probably be very educational to the British people as to how politics actually works.

Sunil_Prasannan

carnforth said:

Sunil_Prasannan said:

tlg86 said:

I see there was a tail strike at Heathrow earlier this evening:

https://x.com/BigJetTVLIVE/status/1977434155559338385

Saw it live on Jerry's livestream! Unexpected and dramatic!

Do the trains know you're cheating on them Sunil?

It's possible to love trains AND planes, I think?

Malmesbury

On the weight loss thing

Has anyone done a study on the issue of muscle loss associated with using the weight loss drugs. I wonder if we are storing up a problem for the future. What we do know is that people who are physically active as they go into old age, and have good muscle mass, do much better in terms of staying active and out of hospital.

BlancheLivermore

carnforth said:

Today in overbearing but also completely unenforceable legislation.

(For those too fancy to be initiated, at Wetherspoons there is an unattended machine to produce tea, coffee and hot chocolate. You pay the price, the same for any product, and get given a mug. Refills are free.)

This week we've also seen notices taped on to pop machines at fast food places warning customers to restrict themselves on only one non-diet drink.

I think Keir pledged to tread more lightly on our lives

How's that going?

carnforth

Andy_JS said:

carnforth said:

Today in overbearing but also completely unenforceable legislation.

(For those too fancy to be initiated, at Wetherspoons there is an unattended machine to produce tea, coffee and hot chocolate. You pay the price, the same for any product, and get given a mug. Refills are free.)

This week we've also seen notices taped on to pop machines at fast food places warning customers to restrict themselves on only one non-diet drink.

I noticed this today in Shrewsbury Wetherspoons. Ridiculous. I want my hot chocolate.

The move is to have tea and fried breakfast, a coffee or two, then a hot chocolate or two for elevenses.

Two thousand calories for about £6.50.

carnforth

Sunil_Prasannan said:

carnforth said:

Sunil_Prasannan said:

tlg86 said:

I see there was a tail strike at Heathrow earlier this evening:

https://x.com/BigJetTVLIVE/status/1977434155559338385

Saw it live on Jerry's livestream! Unexpected and dramatic!

Do the trains know you're cheating on them Sunil?

It's possible to love trains AND planes, I think?

My YouTube subscriptions say yes!

DoctorG

TheScreamingEagles said:

How on earth do fans of the Scottish men's national football team cope?

Tonight, by consoling ourselves that we are not Czech Republic fans

Daveyboy1961

Malmesbury said:

rottenborough said:

Luckyguy1983 said:

moonshine said:

Clarkson looks like he’s running in Donny
North vs Miliband.

Not a fan of Clarkson, but I don't see how that isn't a significant upgrade.

Presumably he's already signed the Amazon deal to produce 'Clarkson's Westminster'?

It would probably be very educational to the British people as to how politics actually works.

Clarkson's just a grifter. Advertising his shitty farm to keep his farm land millions growing.

I'm glad the BBC kicked him off top gear he was/is a rude outrageous comic who wasn't averse to using racist taunts in his show.

BlancheLivermore

BlancheLivermore said:

carnforth said:

Today in overbearing but also completely unenforceable legislation.

(For those too fancy to be initiated, at Wetherspoons there is an unattended machine to produce tea, coffee and hot chocolate. You pay the price, the same for any product, and get given a mug. Refills are free.)

This week we've also seen notices taped on to pop machines at fast food places warning customers to restrict themselves on only one non-diet drink.

I think Keir pledged to tread more lightly on our lives

How's that going?

"Tread more lightly on your lives and unite our country."

https://news.sky.com/story/sir-keir-starmers-downing-street-speech-in-full-13173553

TheScreamingEagles

BlancheLivermore said:

carnforth said:

Today in overbearing but also completely unenforceable legislation.

(For those too fancy to be initiated, at Wetherspoons there is an unattended machine to produce tea, coffee and hot chocolate. You pay the price, the same for any product, and get given a mug. Refills are free.)

This week we've also seen notices taped on to pop machines at fast food places warning customers to restrict themselves on only one non-diet drink.

I think Keir pledged to tread more lightly on our lives

How's that going?

Isn't this as a result of legislation that was passed by the previous Tory government.

Edit it was.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/restricting-promotions-of-products-high-in-fat-sugar-or-salt-by-location-and-by-volume-price/restricting-promotions-of-products-high-in-fat-sugar-or-salt-by-location-and-by-volume-price-implementation-guidance

rottenborough

Malmesbury said:

rottenborough said:

Luckyguy1983 said:

moonshine said:

Clarkson looks like he’s running in Donny
North vs Miliband.

Not a fan of Clarkson, but I don't see how that isn't a significant upgrade.

Presumably he's already signed the Amazon deal to produce 'Clarkson's Westminster'?

It would probably be very educational to the British people as to how politics actually works.

That's what I am afraid of.

TheScreamingEagles

DoctorG said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

How on earth do fans of the Scottish men's national football team cope?

Tonight, by consoling ourselves that we are not Czech Republic fans

Oh my word, they lost 2-1 to the Faroe Islands.

Malmesbury

BlancheLivermore said:

carnforth said:

Today in overbearing but also completely unenforceable legislation.

(For those too fancy to be initiated, at Wetherspoons there is an unattended machine to produce tea, coffee and hot chocolate. You pay the price, the same for any product, and get given a mug. Refills are free.)

This week we've also seen notices taped on to pop machines at fast food places warning customers to restrict themselves on only one non-diet drink.

I think Keir pledged to tread more lightly on our lives

How's that going?

A Sense Offender, eh?

https://youtu.be/TJf9Pf9rjO4?si=ZQbwZCxo29g4bB89

BlancheLivermore

TheScreamingEagles said:

BlancheLivermore said:

carnforth said:

Today in overbearing but also completely unenforceable legislation.

(For those too fancy to be initiated, at Wetherspoons there is an unattended machine to produce tea, coffee and hot chocolate. You pay the price, the same for any product, and get given a mug. Refills are free.)

This week we've also seen notices taped on to pop machines at fast food places warning customers to restrict themselves on only one non-diet drink.

I think Keir pledged to tread more lightly on our lives

How's that going?

Isn't this as a result of legislation that was passed by the previous Tory government.

Edit it was.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/restricting-promotions-of-products-high-in-fat-sugar-or-salt-by-location-and-by-volume-price/restricting-promotions-of-products-high-in-fat-sugar-or-salt-by-location-and-by-volume-price-implementation-guidance

Another reason to be glad I didn't vote for them

Scott_xP

Daveyboy1961 said:

Malmesbury said:

rottenborough said:

Luckyguy1983 said:

moonshine said:

Clarkson looks like he’s running in Donny
North vs Miliband.

Not a fan of Clarkson, but I don't see how that isn't a significant upgrade.

Presumably he's already signed the Amazon deal to produce 'Clarkson's Westminster'?

It would probably be very educational to the British people as to how politics actually works.

Clarkson's just a grifter. Advertising his shitty farm to keep his farm land millions growing.

I'm glad the BBC kicked him off top gear he was/is a rude outrageous comic who wasn't averse to using racist taunts in his show.

It's probably true that the farm itself makes no money from growing crops, but the larger Diddly Squat operation is a money making machine. I visited the pub on Saturday. It is a well oiled machine for fleecing visitors. Impressive in its own way.

ohnotnow

Malmesbury said:

On the weight loss thing

Has anyone done a study on the issue of muscle loss associated with using the weight loss drugs. I wonder if we are storing up a problem for the future. What we do know is that people who are physically active as they go into old age, and have good muscle mass, do much better in terms of staying active and out of hospital.

Are you suggesting we have an expensive, massively profit-making instant cure that might turn out to have bad consequences at society and the tax-payers expense down the road?

Why, wash your mouth out with soap!

** New 'cure-ol' soap(TM). Only available on prescription at NICE agreed levels. Do not use more than prescribed. Or less. Or at all. Unless at your own risk having signed the waiver form.

nico67

Nigelb said:

rottenborough said:

Vance says Portland police are so overwhelmed by crime that they can't keep proper stats which is why crime seems down.

Luckily it seems our roving world affairs reporter might be there soon and can give us an update.

Apropos of nothing at all...

Pope Leo quotes Hannah Arendt:

“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction and the distinction between true and false no longer exist."
https://x.com/BillKristol/status/1977358852908609821

I’m not religious at all but I’m really warming to the Pope who talks a lot of sense and clearly hates the Trump regime .

ohnotnow

TheScreamingEagles said:

BlancheLivermore said:

carnforth said:

Today in overbearing but also completely unenforceable legislation.

(For those too fancy to be initiated, at Wetherspoons there is an unattended machine to produce tea, coffee and hot chocolate. You pay the price, the same for any product, and get given a mug. Refills are free.)

This week we've also seen notices taped on to pop machines at fast food places warning customers to restrict themselves on only one non-diet drink.

I think Keir pledged to tread more lightly on our lives

How's that going?

Isn't this as a result of legislation that was passed by the previous Tory government.

Edit it was.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/restricting-promotions-of-products-high-in-fat-sugar-or-salt-by-location-and-by-volume-price/restricting-promotions-of-products-high-in-fat-sugar-or-salt-by-location-and-by-volume-price-implementation-guidance

"Every effort has been made to ensure that this guidance is as helpful as possible. However, it is ultimately the responsibility of individual businesses to ensure their compliance with the law."

If I wanted that sort of feeble get-out I'd just have asked ChatGPT.

IanB2

TheScreamingEagles said:

DoctorG said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

How on earth do fans of the Scottish men's national football team cope?

Tonight, by consoling ourselves that we are not Czech Republic fans

Oh my word, they lost 2-1 to the Faroe Islands.

The birth rate there seems surprisingly high

AnneJGP

carnforth said:

Today in overbearing but also completely unenforceable legislation.

(For those too fancy to be initiated, at Wetherspoons there is an unattended machine to produce tea, coffee and hot chocolate. You pay the price, the same for any product, and get given a mug. Refills are free.)

This week we've also seen notices taped on to pop machines at fast food places warning customers to restrict themselves on only one non-diet drink.

Unless they find some way of enforcing it, I'd expect consumption of those things to go through the roof out of annoyance.

No_Offence_Alan

nico67 said:

Nigelb said:

rottenborough said:

Vance says Portland police are so overwhelmed by crime that they can't keep proper stats which is why crime seems down.

Luckily it seems our roving world affairs reporter might be there soon and can give us an update.

Apropos of nothing at all...

Pope Leo quotes Hannah Arendt:

“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction and the distinction between true and false no longer exist."
https://x.com/BillKristol/status/1977358852908609821

I’m not religious at all but I’m really warming to the Pope who talks a lot of sense and clearly hates the Trump regime .

But Popes, too, have previous in this regard, such as whether the sun goes around the Earth.