Alex Usher

Either the economy is doing well or it needs lower interest rates. Can't be both. Any decent economics reporter would ask which Bessent believes to be true.

The CCTV cameras in Placa de George Orwell are always worth a visit.

Canadians want relevance and influence globally without spending any money to achieve it. Same as always.

The sinister disappearance of China’s bosses Detentions, public shaming and suicides intensify the country’s corporate gloom

The sinister disappearance of China’s bosses – The Economist: ‘Official investigations into company leaders are on the rise. So are court rulings that limit their freedom to travel around the country. A spate of suicides among bosses this year is widely seen as evidence of intensifying pressure.’

Course cancellation power ‘unchecked overreach’ ‘Unjustified’ and ‘vague’ proposal would vest too much discretion in Australian ministers, critics say

A proposed rule change enabling Australian ministers to cancel foreign students’ courses will duplicate existing regulatory functions and could lead to lawsuits, the federal opposition has warned

#AcademicSky #EduSky

UKRI allocated £39bn budget over next four years - Research Professional News Agency will receive around £9.2 billion next year, as Dsit plans “more agile” R&D funding

UKRI's 2026-30 budget allocation announced by govt today.

Interesting to see in that a Dsit pledge for “new, more agile approach” to managing all its R&D funding, allowing it to "deprioritise investment not delivering outcomes expected”.

www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-p...

‘Radical’ cut to full-time degrees ‘needed to boost short courses’ - Research Professional News Former vice-chancellor calls for shift away from traditional higher education model to enable “universal” participation

‘Radical’ cut to full-time degrees ‘needed to boost short courses’.

Former vice-chancellor calls for shift away from traditional higher education model to enable “universal” participation.

www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...

Legend

Appreciate the shout-out! Explanatory thread here: bsky.app/profile/paul...

Tanzania deploys army as election protests spread | Africanews The electoral body on Thursday announced through state television that President Hassan had taken an early lead, garnering 96.99% of the votes in 8 out of 272 constituencies tallied early Thursday

Tanzania deploys army as election protests spread. The Samia Suluhu Hassan govt also shut down the internet, and imposed a curfew.

So many own goals.
Once again: higher ed is one of our most successful exports. We export more higher ed to China than soybeans. And yet Trump and the mini-Trumps are deliberately destroying the quality of our product

Fractious policy nerds FTW!

I take it House of Dynamite is loosely adapted from the Anne Jacobsen book?

I think I am a moderately "political" person, up-to-speed on many things, and yet I look at this field of candidates and can only think: wow. Nepo Baby and the Four Who?s

Guys. Enough.

Sure, but there is no reason for that shit to stick to everyone else.

2017 MLS champions, 2019 NBA champions.

It's just the Leafs. Ignore the Leafs and this is a pefectly OK sports town.

If i won the lottery and could retire comfortably, I would make it my mission to show up at every single residents association meeting in the entire city and explain to them in excruciating detail why they are all wankers and the exact Lagrange point to which they should all fuck off.

If Canada was a republic, we would not need to beclown ourselves by giving a shit about what lid some part-time Prince is wearing.

Locked, obviously. Gah.

4) Libs have said they "won't touch" pensions or transfers to provs but they haven't said (AFAIK) that they won't touch those programs' rate of growth. Freezing pensions/transfers is an obvious (and sensible) way to rein in spending yet no one in the press seems to have asked them about this. Why?

3) Paul Martin spent more or less an entire year preparing Canadians for the 1995 budget. One gets the impression that Carney thinks that he's done all he needs to do with that one nohingburger speech he gave earlier last week. Again, an unsual style of message control.

2) Such leaks as are occurring are all about new spending, or programs that *aren't* being cut. So they are getting the good news out of the way early, leaving only sacks of shit for budget day. This is an unusual way of doing message control.

Things I keep hearing about/thinking re: November 4 budget.

1) Decision circle is allegedly incredibly small. Like, Carney and Sabia licked in a room small. Good for preventing leaks/making hard decisions. Absolutely terrible if you want anyone in cabinets/caucus to explain cuts to Canadians.

Fees Up and Fees Down, 2025 | HESA One perennial topic – maybe the most perennial topic – in higher education is that of tuition fees. There have been quite a number of developments with respect to tuition fees around the world this ye...

From yesterday: a global overview of tuition policy changes in 2025. Not many countries alter policy in any given year, but to the extent that policy is changing, the trend is mostly down in Africa and mostly up elsewhere.

Quebec’s Private Student Loan Moment | HESA Although we tend to think of student loans as either being something done by banks for profit or by governments to correct for market failures, there is a third type of student loan: namely, private, ...

In which I delve into the history books and recall the period when Quebec's Student aid system was run by the Societé St. Jean Baptiste.

Screen shot of poster for HESA's Re: University conference with a "sold out" banner across it.

1) January is going to be a blast.
2) Incredibly proud of our team.

*How* many innings?

I believe that the specific conservative legal doctrine being invoked here is called "because fuck you".