Peter Whitewood

Column A: Keep her out
Column B: Code her in

Умер писатель и историк Рой Медведев — Meduza Советский и российский писатель, историк и публицист Рой Медведев умер на 101-м году жизни, сообщает ТАСС со ссылкой на его родственников.

The great Soviet dissident historian Roi Mevedev has died at the age of 100. He is best known in the West for his pioneering 1971 study of Stalinism «К суду историй» (“To the Judgment of History,” published in English as “Let History Judge.” He was the brother of fellow dissident Zhores

Forget Jim Ratcliffe’s half-apology: to speak of immigrants ‘colonising’ Britain is wrong and sinister | Sunder Katwala He fused an echo of Enoch Powell with the spirit of the far right’s great replacement theory. This is no way to progress a humane migration debate, says Sunder Katwala, director of British Future

I wrote for the Guardian about why Jim Ratcliffe's talk of Britain being "colonised" by immigrants crosses the line between legitimate debate and inflammatory rhetoric. It fuses echoes of Powellism with great replacement conspiracies of "civilisational erasure"
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Uproar as Reform policy chief threatens to defund Welsh university Martin Shipton Reform UK’s head of policy Zia Yusuf launched a culture war in Wales by threatening to withhold funding from Bangor University after its student debating society refused to host two lea...

Hello. Former Index On Censorship staffer here. To be very clear, having your request to speak at a society of which you are not a member does not count, in any sense whatsoever, as censorship. nation.cymru/news/uproar-...

Keir Starmer’s route to recovery Scottish leader’s blow to PM rallies party, but government needs to make tough choices and rejig agenda

Anas Sarwar's failed coup has stabilised Keir Starmer's position, but for his leadership to actualy recover, here are the first things he'll need to do:

Robert Edwards, Nobel Prize winner and pioneer of IVF, went to Bangor

A claim flawed in both grammar and history

And the button actually read ‘overloaded’

Reform-run Kent council accused of fabricating £40m net zero savings Exclusive: Disclosures show figures cited by council leader rested on unfunded ideas listed briefly in budget papers

What a surprise

Private Eye

Britain’s inequitable student loan system Graduate discontent is growing over their repayment terms

Britain’s inequitable student loan system ft.trib.al/ybwY34T | opinion

For some, Brexit remains stuck in its Trotskyist phase.

A weak response from Goodwin

Philip Augar is right about the need for a ‘proper debate’ on HE funding; but while recognising the very difficult graduate job market, he also calls for courses with below sector results to be cut. There is obviously a relationship.

It is quite striking that Konstantin Kisin simply denied (falsely) on BBC1 that he had said what he said, word for word, on his podcast.

A barricade erected by revolutionaries in St Petersburg during the 1905 uprising. On 22 January, a procession of Russian workers and families was fired upon by troops guarding the Winter Palace as it was carrying a petition to the Tsar. https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205024077

Why did the Russian Army collapse in 1917? 🪆
Full article: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

In our latest issue, Konstantin Tarasov argues that the 1917 Russian soldier’s "rampage" was a quest for dignity, not just war fatigue.

cc: @ktarasov.bsky.social

On almost everything – fraud, polarisation, radicalisation, misinformation – evidence suggests that over 60s are in much more urgent need of online protection and education than teenagers.

But that issue gets zero political attention, and is a total non-starter. Nothing good will come of it.

A confusing one from Allister this week, not least because nothing says national pride like a weekly insistence that your country is finished

Bilbo looking at his phone top on bottom is ChatGPT After all, why not? Why shouldn't I keep it? You're absolutely right — you found it, it's been with you a long while, and it's only natural to feel fond of something that's served you so well, especially when someone like Gandalf suddenly seems to want it for himself.

Recent top political insights from candidate Goodwin

It's like watching a doctor remove all the infected organs and wondering if they'll be enough left to allow the uninfected patient to live.

Doing some research in the National Library of Finland this week, which is an amazing building

Who runs Britain? The paradox of executive power

New post out:

"Who runs Britain?"

Politicians complain they are unable to do anything because of the machinery of state. Yet they have more power than ever.

What explains this "paradox of executive power" and how can it be fixed?

(£/free trial)

open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/w...

The great graduate job drought Economic uncertainty and the arrival of AI have brought a reduction in entry-level roles, with potentially disastrous consequences for young people

Very bleak on the graduate job market:

‘In a poll by the Institute of Student Employers, hiring was reduced by 8 per cent in the last academic year and there were 140 applications for each vacancy among those surveyed for a second consecutive year, up from 86 per vacancy in 2022-23.’

Feel the energy!

Intakes down by a third at some providers, latest Ucas data show Half of Russell Group universities accept record number of undergraduates, according to end-of-cycle admissions figures

'Several universities’ undergraduate student intakes fell by between 20 and 30 per cent for this academic year, as many elite institutions reported record numbers.' Sector as a whole accepted 2% more students. Russell Group up 9% (29% of all UK enrolments). 1/3

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All fine - every Chancellor says this.

But won't move the dial when PM/HomeSec tell migrant workers and foreign students their presence is a "squalid chapter" & are changing rules so as to kick them out.

HMT understands damage of current trajectory but needs to act, and soon.

Former Prime Minister Liz Truss tweets that Robert Jenrick is a "trojan horse" who is "getting his orders" from some unidentified shadowy force of global conspirators

I think this is exactly right.

www.ft.com/content/2642... Europe must not appease Trump on Greenland

Hard agree. I'm increasingly just zero sympathy for the cowardly chauvinists who can't handle places where lots of different people get along together.