Andrew Defty

The Sunday Telegraph’s report on Stella Rimington’s appointment as D-G of MI5 in December 1991.

Statement on state threats from Iranian intelligence services: 31 July 2025 Joint statement of Albania, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the US on state threats from Iranian intelligence services

"We are united in our opposition to the attempts of Iranian intelligence services to kill, kidnap, and harass people in Europe and North America in clear violation of our sovereignty".
www.gov.uk/government/n...

In the Scottish Borders, some holiday reading.

😳

The Intelligence and Security Committee will be conducting an inquiry into the Afghan data breach

Worth checking out the whole special edition of Parliamentary Affairs on the #votesat16 debate in the UK, co-edited by @jontonge.bsky.social, Thomas Loughran and Andy Mycock:

academic.oup.com/pa/issue/74/3

Financing universities – is there a way out of the maze? - British Politics and Policy at LSE Universities are in a financial pickle. The only way out is for the Government to recoup more money from student loans than it currently does.

Financing universities – is there a way out of the maze? blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...

Discussing votes at 16 with my children (all over 18) reveals a diverse range of views. Remarkable degree of consensus however on removing the vote from older people. 🤔

The Afghan super-injunction case: Some constitutional implications Following a catastrophic administrative errors placing the lives of thousands of Afghans at risk, the UK government obtained a super-injunction, enabling it to attempt to clear up the mess it had c…

New blogpost: The Afghan super-injunction case: Some constitutional implications publiclawforeveryone.com/2025/07/17/t...

Selling off buildings preferable to redundancies, although some doing both, but I suspect recent acquisitions and developments not worth what they paid for them so unis stuck in negative equity - which brings me back to my previous point - awful situation, good thread, thanks 🙏👍.

I agree with most of this but VC pay may be a drop in ocean but so are salaries of much lower paid staff losing their jobs. Some VCs have done a bad job and should be paid less and/or losing their jobs. More important, of course, in long term proper governance and oversight structures.

My employer is using the ugly compound word 'rightsizing' to describe the closing of building and the compression of office and teaching space. I had a look in the OED just so we're clear about what that means...

Lots of bad solutions proposed for UK universities in the press:
Limit research to Oxford and Cambridge, curb VC pay, teach more “efficiently” etc

But
1. Fees have flatlined meaning they don’t cover the costs of
2. the massive loans that VCs took out for buildings when unis were privatized.

1/

Of course: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Afghan leak intelligence was hidden from MPs - from today’s @thetimes.com

Defence Minister, Lord Coaker, in @UKHouseofLords yesterday “I would think that the Intelligence and Security Committee, given the way in which it operates, should have everything made available to it so that it can consider it and, where necessary, question Ministers and others”

Intelligence and Security Committee issued an important clarification to former Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace’s comments on yesterday’s @BBCr4today regarding the committee’s powers. Confusion about ISC status & powers is not uncommon. #superinjunction isc.independent.gov.uk

Independent Prevent Commissioner: terms of reference Terms of reference for the role of Independent Prevent Commissioner and case-specific reviews.

My report "Lessons for Prevent" will be published on Wednesday, probably late morning. My terms of reference ask me to look at the Prevent histories of the killers of Sir David Amess and the Southport girls, and draw any conclusions for the future of Prevent. www.gov.uk/government/p...

Yesterday the Intelligence and Security Committee met with the Prime Minister for the first time since 2014. There is still work to do but this is an important step in putting relations between the ISC and the government back on an even keel.

The Intelligence and Security Committee report on Iran was completed before Trump’s re-election but the experience of the previous Trump administration hangs heavily over this report.

One consequence of the delayed publication of the ISC report on Iran which was published today is that it includes the committee’s recommendations in relation to last year’s general election.

The Intelligence and Security Committee report on Iran has been published. Another ISC inquiry conducted a long time ago. There are academic journals that publish more quickly. isc.independent.gov.uk

This depressing story seems to indicate a need for cultural change within MI5. IPCO (which was itself misled) will no doubt comment in the report ordered by the Court. Two points made in the judgment show why this is indeed quite serious: /1

I’ve probably worked more University of Lincoln open days than most. This one is different and sadly, not in a good way. With loyal colleagues @uculincolnbranch.bsky.social

Great turnout for @uculincolnbranch.bsky.social strike today. Great to see so many staff defending jobs, programmes and the quality of education at the University of Lincoln.

Thanks @ucu.org.uk we had a great turnout ✊🏽✊🏻✊🏿✊

University of Lincoln staff hold one-day strike A union says it is concerned compulsory redundancies have not been ruled out.

Strike day at University of Lincoln today - an important lesson for management, students don’t come to university to sit in empty buildings, staff are a university’s greatest asset not a drain on resources. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

With management's refusal to rule out compulsory redundancies, and an active mandate for industrial action, #UCULincoln members will be on strike Friday 4th July.

We must not continue to pay for a national HE crisis with our jobs and livelihoods!

#nocompulsoryredundancies

First open day of the year at University of Lincoln tomorrow and sadly we’re preparing to strike. After cutting programmes and disposing of 500 staff in less than a year the management won’t rule out compulsory redundancies. Staff are standing up for jobs and programmes @uculincolnbranch.bsky.social

I’m getting tired of being in meetings in which people refer to problems in all UK universities. There are sector wide problems but all unis are not in the same financial mess and university managers have not all responded in the same way, claiming otherwise is to absolve responsibility.