Christopher Pittard

University tuition fees system is a 'mess', says Sir Nick Clegg The ex-deputy PM told the BBC he would

Seriously? Are we also going to be hearing from Liz Truss on how expensive mortgages are nowadays, or maybe something from Davey Cameron on how divided the country seems? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Just finished Wyl Menmuir's *Fox Fires* and, having read the superb *The Many* last month, I haven't been disappointed. The back cover endorsements mention Kafka and Calvino, but it strikes me as having more recent antecedents: Ishiguro's *The Unconsoled* with a tiny bit of Robert Aickman.

I didn't have Ed Davey going on a "But what have the animals ever done for us?" rant on my bingo card for today.

A while ago Twitter was ablaze with "How can Mick Hucknall say that?", so I tried to look up what he'd said only to find he'd blocked me. I still have absolutely no idea why.

Let's take a moment to reflect on the fact that this sentence comes from a company whose product claims to improve your writing.

Sheffield Hallam restricts TPS access to REF academics only Teaching staff at post-92 institution to be employed by subsidiary firm and lose right to access expensive pensions scheme

I feel Times Higher could have done a *bit* more with the absurdity of Sheffield Hallam excluding teaching staff from the teachers' pension. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/sheffie...

Has Turnitin crashed? And if so, has it taken my afternoon's marking with it?

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You've just seen my office, very distantly, if you're watching BBC News.

Me, wondering why a helicopter is circling around outside my office.

Also me: Ah, maybe I should check the news about that warship leaving Portsmouth.

"Presumably until he was late" was right there, Mike.

My employer asks me to complete a survey on AI usage for which this is the first question (required):

This is essentially Andrew Lang in "Realism and Romance" (1887).

There was an LRB piece a couple of years ago which mentioned how the invention of the book meant that readers were liberated from the tyranny of the desk, and I'm sure that book tech is now driven by chaining us back to the desk, or at least to the tiny screen.

Reminded of buying a second hand copy of the 2003 Donald Barthelme's *Sixty Stories* in Penguin Classics and finding this. Guess which website no longer exists?

To be fair, all I did was respond to an email from ALCS asking if I'd fill out an online form..

Thousands of authors publish ‘empty’ book in protest over AI using their work About 10,000 writers including Kazuo Ishiguro, Philippa Gregory and Richard Osman join copyright campaign

You may have seen on the news that I have co-authored something with Kazuo Ishiguro, and some other people. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

I was really hoping (distant cousin) Alison's brief fame during COVID would finally do for this error, but no.

Reminded of how frequently members of my (extended) family have their surname misread as Prittard, a name that doesn't appear to exist. I've even found a record of it on a gravestone and, yes, even then it was an error.

I still recall Bruce Forsyth's Hamlet: "you get nothing for despair, not in this Dane."

"Unheimlich to see you, to see you, unheimlich."

Wow - only three places left...

Revisiting the greatest hits. #booksandpints

It extends to Staffordshire, at least.

I genuinely wonder if the erosion of the concept of being "well read", while seeming to have a progressive aim of challenging cultural elitism, in fact also enabled the social rise of philistine tech bros in the mould of Altman and Musk?

Around all the AI argument circles this basic fact - our evolved brains do, on 1500 kcal a day, something that exceeds by multiple orders of magnitude what whole warehouses full of hot-running chipsets can do.

It is not *physically possible* to make those warehouses full of chips "intelligent".

Detecting Agatha Christie Explore the crime fiction of Agatha Christie, examining her two most famous detectives: Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. We’ll look at the historical contexts and narrative structures of some of Christ...

I'm also doing a weekend version of the course at Rewley House in May... lifelong-learning.ox.ac.uk/courses/dete...

This thread got reposted by a literary account last week and picked up some attention, so if you want to discuss my Agatha Christie opinions with me in person, I'm teaching a week long course on her at Brasenose at the end of July. lifelong-learning.ox.ac.uk/courses/dete...

Also a bit odd that Steve is mentioned as living in Sidbury, but then near the end he's living three miles from the centre of Exeter. I suspect this is a writing-up error caused by Zoe Williams having never been west of Heathrow.

Dining across the divide: ‘He thinks Labour voters should back Starmer. I think we deserve better’ Two Labour supporters disagree on Keir Starmer and whether Reform can really win. Can they find common ground on public transport?

Andy's a Labour supporter who voted Lib Dem last time, but isn't that happy about it. Steve's a Labour supporter who voted Lib Dem last time, but isn't that happy about it. Will they ever get along? www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...