Tom Rank

The timescales on this are interesting. Not being funny, any decent consultant is likely to have little or no availability between now and the deadline. I have 3 days left available in 2026, I know I’m not the only one.

The reason the Right are so invested in the myth that the arts have no value isn’t because the arts don’t generate wealth (they do); it’s that studying the arts teaches people to imagine better ways of judging the value of an idea than by counting how much money it makes…

Also it’s kind of weird that English, a subject so important at 16 you have to resit it until you pass is worthless at 19

Woman whose party couldn’t spell ‘Britain’ decides English degrees are a ‘rip-off’ Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has today announced plans to reduce student numbers taking worthless degrees ‘like English’, just 24 hours after her party spectacularly failed to spel…

NEWS! Woman whose party couldn't spell 'Britain' decides English degrees are a 'rip-off' newsthump.com/2025/10/08/w...

If your entire argument for why Jews should be protected is not because they are human beings and deserve respect but that they have been "a model minority," then congratulations, you have actually implied that if they weren't, that would justify a mass expulsion.

And making theft illegal would “kill” the thieving industry. Good. Make theft illegal again.

Conservative MP Mel Stride claims PIP benefit is thousands of pounds per month.

No it is an absolute maximum of £720 a month, and most people only get £250 or less.

Meanwhile he claims £1,250 a month in rent on his expenses

Lying, thieving b******

Robert Jenrick is right, we have an integration problem: ... The shadow chancellor has railed against the lack of integration in parts of Britain. But it’s the ‘flag-bothering patriots’ who don’t want to mix

Robert Jenrick is right, we have an integration problem: racist white people trib.al/maZQVI6

"Faith in the AI boom has recently been rattled by research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which showed that 95% of organisations are getting zero return from their investments in generative AI"

Maybe this is why we need journalism and analysis rather than "faith" in tech oligarchs

It's true. The Oxford comma, often said to eliminate ambiguity, can sometimes increase it. It’s not a panacea, and writers and editors shouldn’t treat it as one
stancarey.wordpress.com/2017/04/21/t...

Also incoherent: it says everything about the historical and cultural ignorance of B's version of nationalism that she singles out for criticism the very subject (EngLit) that was meant to ensure a strong sense of national identity for British colonial administrators sent to the outposts of empire.

If you want to win over younger voters, telling them they can't go to university is probably not going to help.

Religious protesters say ICE threatens religious freedom in Chicago (RNS) — Despite potential danger, religious leaders and faith activists have been a visible presence at Chicago-area ICE protests, some waving signs with slogans such as ‘Love thy neighbor’ and ‘Who w...

Wanna learn more about the pastor in this photo?

I talked to him yesterday.

He's currently part of a lawsuit against DHS, in part due to this exact moment: religionnews.com/2025/10/07/i...

There may be unforeseen costs to downgrading our understanding of the national language

Badenoch and Co see education only as a means to a massive income in some soul destroying career.

Devoid of imagination and the power of knowledge they view life entirely through the prism of the CV.

My advice always is to study what interests you and the rest will follow

Any “consensus,” on that, if it did exist, was broken, of course, after Michael Gove and Nick Gibb came to power. But I digress…

One for me is what seems a hectic timescale, with this process now demonstrably considerably faster than its counterpart was under Michael Gove during the coalition years.

Exclusive, I think: DfE seeks consultants for £500-a-day work to rewrite England’s national curriculum
educationuncovered.co.uk/news/dfe-see...
But would-be drafters of detailed programmes of study warned: you must not use AI.

I'm being forced to explore the etymology of 'kowtow' by a Daily Mail headline, so the despicable rag proves to have some use after all.

Just to be clear, an English degree - learning to critically assess texts - is actually one of the most dangerous for people such as Badenoch.

An educated population, able to bring hundreds of years of context to statements in a dawning age of AI slop and attention-seeking dishonesty is also vital.

1. For AQA GCSE Lit, My Name Is Leon, Princess & The Hustler, and Leave Taking offer powerful ways to engage students while reflecting Britain’s real cultural stories. A thread about why and how 🧵

A debate made even stupider by the fact that the word "burger" derives from the name of a European city: Hamburg #etymology

📙 Episode 35: Dr Julie Blake on Poetry By Heart and Ross Montgomery’s Latest Books 🔗 Listen here: https://loom.ly/73Rh2H4

#ChildrensBooks #ChildrensPoetry #Teachers #Schools

The Bishop of Birmingham has written to the Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick about his comments about Handsworth

Party donor Nick Candy says "I cherish the values we grew up with here in the West. But today you are more likely to find the values we grew up with in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.’

Via Sam Leith in the Spectator
www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-...

I didn’t realise how much I loved my home town until a terrorist attacked it. I pray unity prevails there | Simon Hattenstone Last week’s attack on the synagogue in Crumpsall, Manchester, was also an assault on a model and diverse community, says Guardian features writer Simon Hattenstone

"Last week’s attack on the synagogue in Crumpsall, Manchester, was also an assault on a model and diverse community. I hope they draw strength from each other"
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Evidence in this report, by the leading academics on the topic

bsky.app/profile/omar...

I know statistics are poorly understood and are misused. But facts matter

Between the 1991, 2001, 2011 and 2021 Census *every* ethnic group in the UK has become *less* geographically segregated and *all* groups, majority and minorities, are more likely to interact with people not like them

Walter Ralegh's headless monsters and annotation as thinking On writing and picturing as forms of thinking and knowledge-making, with examples of Renaissance mapmakers and publishers demonstrating exactly this in the...

A @sciam.bsky.social story on the cognitive benefits of hand-annotating books inspired my latest newsletter on maps, monsters, and making sense of Sir Walter Ralegh's "Brief and True History of Guiana" (1596).

🗃 #earlymodern #histsci #manuscript #maps #cartography

buttondown.com/surekhadavie...

This really needs to be said and understood. What makes it worse, if possible, is that it is not coming out of any genuine crisis or emergency. It is a deliberate attempt to whip up anger and grievance in order to capitalise upon it & in Jenrick's case purely to advance his leadership ambitions.