Thomas Prosser

Yeah, it's even worse for early-career researchers and, with my permanent job, I'm well aware that I'm one of the lucky ones. It's a horrible, horrible state of affairs.

Sorry to hear you're in the same boat! Unfortunately, the dreadful atmosphere is contagious.

Is anybody else in academia *really* struggling with motivation at the moment? With the combination of deep restructuring, the dreadful labour market and gen AI, it feels like the walls are closing in. Some of us were hoping to work for 20 more years!

Well the new batch of opinion polls is quite confusing! One can imagine the next parliament being tremendously fragmented and lasting just a few years.

Yes - it's got a massive upside!

Lol. Think I'm on more than a few of those lists myself. And such censoriousness is, of course, why many people find Bluesky so offputting.

Yeah I was just floating the idea and can imagine there may be considerable downsides. Nonetheless, there must be a way to move towards a better 'permanent job to PhD' ratio without penalizing ordinary learners.

Might the government/universities/funders introduce a formula which sets a ceiling on the number of PhDs/postdocs relative to permanent positions?!?

One of the worst things about academia atm

I know so many immensely talented people who are just not going to get jobs in academia. The number of post-docs and job openings is so much lower than just a few years ago. The conditions are brutal.

See you there :-)

Congrats Marta!

Very pleased to share that I passed my PhD viva yesterday!

Huge thanks to my lovely examiners @robjohns75.bsky.social and @profsob.bsky.social, and amazing supervisors @rosieshorrocks.bsky.social, @nspmartin.bsky.social and Ed Fieldhouse...

1/3

Excited! Were it not for the damn school-run, I would stay up for the result.

Yes, both claims are generalizations, of course. However, I think they're broadly faithful to the wider positions.

Praying you get to zero points

Sheffield Wednesday sweater is brave 🤣

Certain progressive educational philosophies essentially posit that the student is always right. Meanwhile, neoliberalism essentially posits that the customer is always right. In academia, this has produced a near seamless alliance between these different ideologies.

About what time is the Gorton and Denton result expected?

They're also not great thinkers.

M&S to close Welsh store in hammer blow to city Marks and Spencer confirmed the news on Tuesday, with more than 90 jobs at risk

Probably the most important story in wales today really. Says a lot about our economy, second city and the state of retail in wales. It’s not good at all. Sad times.

M and s close Swansea store

www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-n...

If you're voting in the forthcoming UCU NEC elections, an useful list of moderate candidates is here...
campaignforucudemocracy.com/2025/11/26/2...

😵‍💫😱

So much that could be said on the 4th anniversary of the full scale invasion, but it all just boils down to the ultimate admiration for Ukrainians who have endured so much, fought so hard and deserve victory, peace and prosperity. Slava Ukraini!

Particularly recall dreadful articles on Angelina Jolie and the Grand National. In a way, he functions as a barometer of the health of the left. Prior to about 2015, he would consistently write absurd and desperate pieces. But as the left became, ahem, more eccentric, his critiques became less so!

As I expected, there's also a significant relationship between Welsh fluency and support for independence and *not* thinking that rugby is the Welsh national sport. Probably counter-intuitive if you're not very familiar with Wales...

According to the 2021 Welsh Election Study, the vast majority of Welsh people regard rugby as the national sport and there's little difference by age group.

IIRC, the last Welsh Election Study has a question which asks whether football or rugby is the Welsh national sport. Tomorrow, I shall crunch correlations with support for independence/other relevant questions.

Yeah - how dare they! Read that piece - made a few important points, but much of it was quite unfair/bitter.

Yeah I think the lack of public schools is one of the things hurting Welsh rugby now.