Andrew McRae

'universities will receive penalties if more than 5 per cent of their international students do not start their studies, or if more than 10 per cent do not finish them.'

What could possibly go wrong with requiring a completion rate of 90%, especially in the age of generative AI, she wondered idly.

47% of people think immigration is primarily illegal. There were 4% irregular arrivals in March

New YouGov polling. A monumental failure of our political class to educate, a monumental failure of our media to report fairly, for a generation

Great to see our project written up in today's Guardian. Follow the link inside to our digital edition - more than one thousand pages of Thornton's writings transcribed and modernised. @kingsdigitallab.bsky.social @hcaatedinburgh.bsky.social #EarlyModern 📜 🗃️

Important (if depressing) to remember that the kind of authoritarian race-baiting expressed by Jenrick on Today (eg presenting all refugees as sexual predators and promising to deport all of them) was taboo in British politics for decades. Yet I doubt any Tory will publicly criticise him

World chess just placed restrictions on both trans women and trans men The International Chess Federation will stop allowing transgender women to participate in women's tournaments. The group said changing genders has a "significant impact" on a player's status.

All you need to know about transphobes/terfs/gender critical people is that they think trans people have an unfair advantage in chess.

The Boy Genius Who Killed 14 Million Poor People What is the moral weight of responsibility for the men who carried out DOGE’s work?

"How would you describe the moral culpability of a man who casually destroys a program that will result in the deaths of millions *without even achieving his stated aims of saving money*?"

They literally just went to a pub and chatted with a bunch of white blokes. Shameful journalism.

has anyone considered getting the men who aren’t getting laid to write some poetry? obviously it won’t help them get laid but we’ll maybe get a few sonnet sequences circulating in manuscript through a coterie audience and we’ll just see what happens from there

More that it’s a game in which everyone loses, probably the US more than any other country. The EU did ok, and much of what Trump thinks he ‘won’ amounts to bells and trinkets. Worth a listen: good 20-minute substitute for the BBC.

I’d say: 1) we still have a major short-term challenge, adjusting teaching & assessment so that humanities education actually works in an AI-everywhere world; & 2) success in this environment depends upon accepting that we’re not going to *beat* AI. 2/2

Excellent US piece about the value of humanities education in an AI-everywhere world: ‘We may be approaching a convergence point where the skills historically emphasized in social sciences and humanities become as important as the technical skills traditionally associated with STEM degrees.’ 1/2

Trans people poured their hearts into this consultation. The EHRC won't even bother to read them.

Others have noted that this means foreign-born people are LESS likely than UK-born people to be in prison. What I want to note is that The Times is now referring to foreign-born UK citizens as ‘foreigners’. This includes Boris Johnson, Sir Mo Farah, Emma Watson, Rory Stewart and little old me.

One for those of us frustrated with the UK media coverage of tariffs. Maybe better to listen to a Nobel laureate in economics than the parade of Trump apologists on #r4today

We are disappointed that Stephenson has been appointed as EHRC Chair despite concerns raised by parliamentary committees. These processes are in place for a reason - and have been ignored. It's unacceptable, undemocratic, and sets a very concerning tone.

www.equalityhumanrights.com/media-centre...

Double standards and Tenerife Tommy The hard right rabble-rouser is reported to have left the country after police indicated they wanted to question him over an alleged assault

‘Tommy Robinson’ frequently rails against the policies of European leaders, which allow “foreign criminals” into their countries.

Robinson, who has multiple criminal convictions for violent crimes and crimes of dishonesty, recently landed in Spain. www.thenewworld.co.uk/rats-in-a-sa...

Interesting that there wasn’t much love for the #r4today discussion about children & screens. It seemed to me infinitely better than their usual reliance on discredited attention seekers like Jonathan Haidt. Science isn’t always simple.

Sign the Petition Stop Mass Redundancies at Lancaster University – Hold Senior Management Accountable

- 400 jobs to go at Lancaster University

- 1 in 4 people will be made redundant

But where's the financial evidence for this extreme action?

Please read 👇

Sign the petition 👇

chng.it/7F52bThYqn

His Name Is Jesus. He’s a Carpenter. ICE Arrested Him. Seriously.

Of course ICE arrested a carpenter named Jesus with no criminal record. Because ICE serves a Christian administration. www.thebulwark.com/p/his-name-i...

Doing History with Poetry: A Conversation with Catherine Clarke and Hannah Lowe (The 2025 Creighton Lecture)

Please join us on 9 September for this exciting #event, and to celebrate the #launch of my new #book, A #History of England in 25 Poems. A conversation with award-winning poet Hannah Lowe, chaired by @clairelanghamer.bsky.social, then wine reception. All welcome! Book:
www.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...

Thanks, James; that’s really helpful. The 1672 image of the cathedral facade (my second post) shows pinnacles, now long gone but very like the Hole image. Do you know whether the gate might also have had these originally?

I wondered about that for a while, and studied some great 17C pictures of work tools. I think I identified Lemster (from memory) holding a yarringle! But we’re leaning back towards the cathedral now for Norwich.

BTW if you’re interested in these maps, there’s a very long twitter thread @Poly_Olbion, from 2023, that traces the drafting of notes on them.

Ethnographies of Paper in Early Modern England Click on the article title to read more.

I wrote about John Taylor and ethnographies of paper. It's out online today, prior to publication in *Critical Quarterly*.

Thanks to @georginaemw.bsky.social and co for kicking off this train of thought with a wonderful conference, and giving it a home.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

This video is, unsurprisingly, a mix of straightforward lies and deliberately misleading half-truths.

My earlier analysis on the long-run fiscal impact of recent migrants is here:

docs.google.com/document/d/e...

An answer, perhaps? Here’s what the facade of the cathedral looked like in 1672. Strong likeness! This would still leave the question of how the engraver, William Hole, knew about these features. In the context of his work for PO, this is an unusually specific detail.

Sodha et al twisting themselves into rococo shapes to defend the gutter racism of their anointed martyr is certainly a look.

Recognition of the state of Palestine should not be used as a bargaining chip. It should have happened months ago.

We also need far greater action to stop the humanitarian disaster in Gaza, including fully ceasing arms sales and implementing sanctions against the Israeli cabinet.

Here’s one for early modernists: what is Norwich holding in this 1622 map (from Drayton’s ‘Poly-Olbion’)? Yes, Norwich had a big cathedral spire, but not two (and these maps usually indicate spires in the figure’s headdress). I’ve been tossing this about, and asking experts, for months. Stuck!

So India just happen to have a spare wicketkeeper cooling his heels, with a first-class average of 47.

As the Aussies search for an opener who can reliably reach double figures, this is truly enviable depth.