You know what enrages me the most about this, now I've thought about it? It's how fundamentally un-conservative these ideas are - and just how un-Conservative. Bear with me here, I'm going to work out what I think. 1/? (1) If you're *actually* conservative, rather than just a grifter pretending to be conservative, you know that education is *never* about future earnings - and in so far as it is, it's not education. The two are inimical to each other. 2/?

1. Insane bureaucratisation
2. Toxic culture of overwork
3. Dumb competition rather than collaboration
4. Government that actively detests us
5. Bullying and cover-ups... 1/?

https://twitter.com/devisridhar/status/1623015616947884037

6. Non-Disclosure Agreements, payoffs
7. Weak financial accountability
8. Waste of talent at post-doctoral level
9. Lack of collegiality with colleagues when institutions get into trouble
10. Disciplinary infrastructure breakdown, i.e. impossible to get article referees... 2/?

This article, by someone purporting to be the Universities Minister, is just an embarrassment. The person who really wrote it must (a) know nothing about unis as they actually operate today, or (b) have cringed with embarrassment. Let me show you. 1/? inews.co.uk/opinion/uk-uni… Unis will not change courses near the so-called 'quality' borderline. That's far too risky financially, esp if you have to teach them out and/or absorb the uncertainty of double or quits investment. They will close them - indeed I imagine that's the real intent. This is wrong.

NEW from me and @AllFootsteps today... Our website on everything we're doing: events, activities, Project Partners, our Advisory Board, blogs, publications, etc. etc. Take a look! (1/4) allourfootsteps.uk @AllFootsteps Here's all of us! There's a staff pages which also tells you about our high-powered Advisory Board and our Project Partners. allourfootsteps.uk/about (2/4)

The most amazing thing about the Dom Cummings takes is how **old** they are. How commonplace. Establish a No 10 command and control center. Right-ee-ho, Lloyd George. Gets some experts in, real cutting edge maverick stuff. Hey, Harold Macmillan! How ya going with that weird Keynes stuff? Yo, Herbert Asquith, how's yer man Beveridge getting on at the Board of Trade?

I thought that I would write quite a long thread on why strike ballot turnout looks fairly low in many universities - something which may puzzle outsiders, and some colleagues. This in lieu of an article, since I've got four Zoom calls coming up. 1/? /THREAD 1/ First and foremost, this is not unusual, but in fact the norm. Organising academics is indeed like herding cats - they are often highly individualistic Rule Governed Achievers... 2/?

I have become extremely concerned about the pro-M*ller letter circulating among academics, which let's be clear does *not* defend him on free speech grounds but suggests agreement with his views (see below). It has become clear over the last 18 months or so that British HE may be irretrievably broken. I'm not sure how this relates - these unacceptable views have always been there - but the narrowing of the talent pool may play a role in propagating this level of junk work.

Did a lot of writing this year. What were my highlights? Here are six: (1) January. What should #Labour do after a humiliating election defeat? TL:DR, sort themselves out, they get taxpayers' money for this and they're a rabble: publicpolicypast.blogspot.com/2020/01/ (2) February. Writing for the @InstituteGC, I argued that @UKLabour only wins when it a truly broad party, including the Left but reaching out to all progressives: institute.global/tony-blair/lab…

I'd just like to place on record that #NoDealBrexit is just about the worst *political* idea I've ever heard. In the 1000% unlikely event I was advising the PM, I would be extremely strongly against. It's the classic Weak Man's Strong Man decision, like Steve McClaren dropping David Beckham. Sugar rush of the call, then all your problems get much worse.

Astounding to see how #Labour has acted in three prejudicial ways that challenge law:
1. Timing. Many cases take *years*. One day if you're privileged.
2. Case subject. This case clearly about #antisemitism, even if technically not. One rule *again* on this, another elsewhere. 3. Treatment. This a bit more arguable, but there are signs of backroom dealing.
They have just been found to have *broken the law* *multiple times* on all these fronts. Yet they do it again!

It's hard to get the tone right on this, but let's remind ourselves of why #Corbyn is having to go: he was a complete disgrace from start to finish. /THREAD First and foremost, he made #Labour a frightening and unsafe place for Jews. He was so arrogant he invented a new meaning for the word 'Zionist' and then divided Jews into good and bad. Sinister and frightening.

Not on strike today because my branch did not reach the turnout threshold, but solidarity to all those taking action today in the #UCUstrike. It's complicated, but hear me out. Let's leave the pensions dispute to one side, because it's complicated. I am hopeful of some sort of settlement here. More important are:- (1) Casualisation. Universities are making up for their real terms funding crunch with vastly exploited hourly-paid teachers. Got to stop.

So here's the thing about Keir Starmer: I'm not clear at all how he's going to handle things as LOTO. Maybe he isn't either. 🤷‍♂️ /THREAD

https://twitter.com/Keir_Starmer/status/1227500443682529281

So often I've thought that he's a very clear-minded and cynical actor, which is great in my book. 👍 That's what politics is about. He waited to resign in summer 2016, then wrote a more-in-sorrow-than-anger letter. That miner in his video was a masterstroke of cynicism.

God, this 'on the one hand this, on the other hand that' equivocation from some Labour MPs. Shocking. Look, your party has been occupied at the top by people who hate it. /THREAD They hate its grassroots trade unionism (which is why they have to stitch up its elections). They hate its liberalism, and all those Liberal MPs who helped to make it in the interwar.

Last point for now, but for all the rejoicing about polls, British politics can drift into a very difficult place from here. I call it the Death Zone, and the heatmap of probable results is drifting perilously close to it. Here's what I mean. /THREAD Death Zone (1) tiny Con working majority, or just short. Enough to pass the WAB, get #Brexit, not enough to pass all the critical enabling legislation or extend transition. Risks of crashing out of transition rise sharply.

So as the #UCUstrike comes to an end, I thought I should say that I was totally in support. My branch wasn't out on strike, but with a (tiny) public platform here, I thought it important for Professors to say. /THREAD For that majority of you who don't know, the dispute focuses on (1) pay, (2) casualisation, (3) workload, and (4) pensions. Controversy rages around this, but on (2) and (3) in particular English and Welsh HE is in a state of deepening crisis.

So there we some good things in #LabourManifesto19 today. Good stuff on flexible working. Good stuff for private renters. Good stuff on animal welfare. Some good things on public spending. Why, then, am I so worried? Well. /THREAD I think my own concern would focus on governance. Yes, you can concentrate on cost. A lot of these figures look like a blurry Polaroid shot of the Yeti. But more important is the capacity side.

So, this 'debate' then. God, did you really watch those two? I had a lovely soothing evening - and, by the sounds of things, I made the right call. Anyway, on the *face of it*, a split decision and a slight BoJo win. /THREAD However, consider these appalling #Corbyn leader ratings from the last time these pollsters reported. He came on and made a cogent case. He held his own. Yeah, he lied through his teeth a bit, but who doesn't? His next set of numbers will be better, perhaps by quite a bit.

Let's look at #Labour's winning post at #GE2019. It's nearly in touching distance. /THREAD Is it at 220 #Labour MPs - the moment at which there might well be 320 anti-Con MPs in Parliament? Maybe not. They'd have gone backwards quite a way. Johnson would hang on and use the FTPA against them to stall.

Really think the Tories are in the midst of the most terrible error. Huge risks in a GE. (1) Remainers' last chance - they may well coalesce around Labour, and vote tactically. /THREAD (2) Corbyn the campaigner. Just like in 2017, they're riding to his rescue when he's at his lowest ebb. He wants to get out and give speeches about austerity. It will re-energise him. They've got him hemmed in, and they're about to let him out of his box.

Seumas will be praying, absolutely praying that Johnson gets to No. 10. Here's why. /THREAD 1/ He is, quite simply, one of the most unpopular people on the planet. And there's as a known entity. Someone else - Hancock, Mordaunt, Javid - could maybe surprise people, make them take a fresh look. Not BJ.