Time to join a union
In light of today's speech by Vince Cable, and several ominous articles in the press and on-line, it seems the UK's science community is beginning to formulate a response. Jennifer…
And they called us anti-science
Today Vince Cable continues his attack on science, and academic research more generally, as he announces we must abandon research which is "neither commercially useful nor theoretically outstanding". Cable will…
Save British Science
Amid the fuss this week as the coalition government announced that NHS direct would be scrapped and replaced with the cheaper NHS111, the Telegraph reported that for the second time…
Philippe Legrain at the Edinburgh Book Festival
A vision of a world fairer, safer, richer and greener. Thomas Friedman says the world is flat - Philippe Legrain doesn't think so. What matters most to how you do…
In Praise of Politics
We've been accused recently, and perhaps with some cause, of focusing too much on the machinations of the English and Welsh Green Party and not enough on what's happening up…
The TaxPayers’ Alliance: Not Entirely Wrong
The Tax Payers' Alliance (TPA) have a new report on welfare reform. Don Paskini's already had a review of it over on Liberal Conspiracy. He makes some interesting points but…
Education is a Public Good – We Should Fund it Publicly
"universities have a unique role. We cannot have an economically dynamic, socially mobile or culturally rich society without strong universities." So started Vince Cable's speech today at London South Bank…
Union News
UCU We'll start with my own union, UCU, who's annual congress happened recently. I couldn't make it myself but as well as attacking the government's points based immigration system and…
Why we should be talking about Land Value Tax
The landlord who happens to own a plot of land on the outskirts of a great city ... watches the busy population around him making the city larger, richer, more…
Why I’m no Longer Listening to Spotify
Last week saw the passage of the Digital Economy Bill, now the Digital Economy Act. As parliament was winding down before dissolution the government forced through the bill, which had…