Thursday, 29th January (Cambridge)

Posted on January 29, 2026 by roycross

1. The recording of a good lecture by Lea Ypi that I went to on Monday evening, Are Revolutions Justified? https://www.youtube.com/live/wuMJTLOaCb4?si=BWvZeV-5l34RtMg- Guest appearance by David Miliband at the beginning, whose father, Ralph, Lea Ypi’s professorial chair at LSE commemorates. Listen out for Miliband’s Cambridge anecdote!

Moralists think that if the ends of revolution are right, revolution cannot be wrong. Legalists think that since the means of revolution are wrong, revolution cannot be right. In this lecture Lea Ypi revisits their arguments and offers an alternative that cuts across the divide. She examines revolution not in relation to the justice demanded by specific agents but grounded on a philosophical theory of history that focuses on collective progress.

2. Analysis by Terry Moran of “a worldview of domination without leadership, power without trust, and America diminished by its own president”, Donald Trump and the End of American Power https://terrymoran.substack.com/p/donald-trump-and-the-end-of-american

And here’s the Mark Carney speech Moran refers to, in case you’ve not yet had chance to watch https://youtu.be/btqHDhO4h10

3. An open-access article from Language Teaching Research, Language teacher stress and growth during trauma throughout the COVID-19 pandemic: the mediating roles of resilience and well-being by Andrew Hay, Peter D. MacIntyre, Tammy Gregersen & Sarah Mercer https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13621688251400725 (PDF below as well.)

The teaching profession has undergone a dramatic shift in pedagogical practices due to COVID-19. Already facing numerous challenges prepandemic, language teaching in particular has become significantly more difficult, and the effect on language teacher stress and well-being is still being explored.

hay-et-al-2026-language-teacher-stress-and-growth-during-trauma-throughout-the-covid-19-pandemic-the-mediating-roles-ofDownload

4. Exploratory Action Research (EAR) in Thailand is an account by Rachanee Dersingh & Sonthida Keyuravong of a thriving, multi-partner EAR project in Thailand that has now been running for over four years https://mentrnet.net/ear-thailand/

There’s also a recording of a talk about the project given last year by Sonthida & Rachanee, together with a number of other project participants, here https://youtu.be/1J_pnBnF90Q

and more general information about the project here https://www.britishcouncil.or.th/en/teach/our-work/exploratory-action-research-thailand

5. And, finally, a song by Bruce Springsteen about the Streets Of Minneapolis https://brucespringsteen.net/news/2026/streets-of-minneapolis/

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Tuesday, 27th January (Cambridge)

Posted on January 27, 2026 by roycross

1. The first of two I’ve pilfered from LinkedIn, this one from World Englishes, courtesy of Richard Smith (thank you, Richard!), WE, ELF and ELT: Perspectives on English and applied linguistics by Henry Widdowson https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/weng.70010 (PDF below as well.)

Here’s Henry’s abstract, so you can work out if it’s your kind of read. (WE = World Englishes; ELF = English as a Lingua Franca; ELT = English Language Teaching.)

In a paper which originally set the scene for WE study, Braj Kachru argued that the ‘global diffusion of English’ called fora new paradigm of enquiry which recognized the independent status of varieties of English used by communities other than those of Inner Circle native speakers. Since extensively studied varieties of English in Inner Circle communities already exist, this prompts the question of what warrants the assigning of distinctive WE status to Outer Circle varieties. Furthermore, although WE varieties are one manifestation of the diffusion of English, much more globally diffuse is the expedient use of English as a lingua franca, where users need to negotiate their meanings without reliance on the shared knowledge of language variety conventions. This paper then goes on to argue that ELF, therefore, has a direct relevance, as WE does not, to both applied linguistics in general and English language teaching in particular.

World Englishes – 2026 – Widdowson – WE ELF and ELT Perspectives on English and applied linguisticsDownload

2. The second from LinkedIn, this one from Language and Education, the winner of this year’s AAAL (American Association for Applied Linguistics) Research Article Award, Umuzigo w’inyongera: girls’ differential experiences of the double-burden of language and gender in Rwandan English medium secondary education https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/09500782.2023.2288635 by Lizzi O. Milligan, Aline Dorimana, Aloysie Uwizeyemariya, Alphonse Uworwabayeho, Terra Sprague, Laela Adamson & Harry Kuchah Kuchah. (PDF below as well.)

Here’s the abstract: This paper argues that learning in an unfamiliar language of learning and teaching (LoLT) negatively impacts Rwandan girls in the early years of lower secondary education. Based on classroom observation and interviews with case-study girls in four Rwandan secondary schools, we show that where girls’ life circumstances differ, so too does the way in which the use of an unfamiliar LoLT affects them. Through the development of five typologies, we explore the ways that when girls face inequalities at the levels of time, space, material and emotional support they have for learning, the requirement that education be conducted and assessed in an unfamiliar language works to compound these inequalities. Our conclusions advocate for greater attention to be paid to the language of learning and teaching in global and national girls’ education policies to alleviate the ‘double burden’ that many girls carry.

Umuzigo w inyongera girls differential experiences of the double-burden of language and gender in Rwandan English medium secondary education (1)Download

3. A clear-eyed piece for WONKHE by Anton Muscatelli, Responding to the International Education Strategy requires an appreciation of how fast the world is changing https://wonkhe.com/blogs/responding-to-the-international-education-strategy-requires-an-appreciation-of-how-fast-the-world-is-changing/

The long-awaited new UK international education strategy looks and feels very different from the last one. Gone is the target for international recruitment from the previous strategy, which had, in any case, been exceeded substantially. It has been replaced by a “bold ambition” to grow overall education exports to £40bn per year by 2030 (the figure for 2022 was calculated at £32.3bn). The emphasis is on growing transnational education (TNE) and partnerships in education and research, as well as outward student mobility, and the UK’s global reputation in education. There is much to welcome in this strategy. Not least the cross-government (FCDO, DfE and DBT) ownership of the agenda, and the recognition that the rapidly changing geopolitical landscape requires support from the UK government and its institutions to support the sector. But …

 4. Here’s Charlie Hills’ account of the end of his relationship with Chat GPT https://charliehills.substack.com/p/i-broke-up-with-chatgpt, as summarised in this graphic

Hands up if you know what Nano Banana Pro is!

5. And, finally, as a bit of light relief after all that serious stuff, what some people think is the best Monty Python sketch ever https://youtu.be/T70-HTlKRXo I still have my doubts about how well Monty Python humour travels, though!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Thursday, 22nd January (Cambridge)

Posted on January 22, 2026 by roycross

1. FutureLearn’s list of “the most important skills and characteristics for teachers in a handy 10-point list”, What makes a good teacher? https://www.futurelearn.com/info/blog/what-makes-a-good-teacher Guess what’s included in their list before you read the piece!

What does it mean to be a good teacher today? With new educational tools, technologies, and training emerging every single year, it can seem like the teaching profession is constantly changing. Here at FutureLearn, we believe there are certain fundamental qualities that all teachers need, whatever the context.

2. There’s a new, free Language Assessment Professionalisation Programme from ALTE & Eaquals https://lapp.education/ Five modules, five hours each, covering the principles, purposes and impact of testing, achievement & proficiency testing, classroom-based testing and managing results and feedback – it’s all there!

3. Three from The Conversation:

The impact of abolishing wealth tax in Sweden https://theconversation.com/we-got-lazy-and-complacent-swedish-pensioners-explain-how-abolishing-the-wealth-tax-changed-their-country-272041

“Us pensioners can see the destruction of what we built, what was started when we were small children,” Kjerstin, 74, explained. “I was born after the end of the war and built this society through my life, together with my fellow citizens. [But] with taxes being lowered and the taking away of our social security … we’re not building anything together now.”

Why we love literary anniversaries https://theconversation.com/why-we-love-literary-anniversaries-273375

(…) literary anniversaries are significant as they create a shared sense of heritage and a feeling of unity within communities and cultures. As Shakespeare scholars (have observed) when considering the Bard’s many anniversary celebrations:“Each event has also been an occasion for the community commemorating him to celebrate itself.”

The book that changed my mind https://theconversation.com/the-book-that-changed-my-mind-12-experts-share-a-perspective-shifting-read-271243

Our beliefs aren’t fixed. They’re shaped, stretched and sometimes overturned by the ideas we encounter as we move through life. For many of us, books are the moments where that shift happens – a sentence that lingers, an argument that unsettles, a story that re-frames how we see the world. We asked 12 academic experts to share the book that challenged their assumptions and changed their thinking in a lasting way.

4. A free online event at 15:00 UK time next Wednesday, 28th January, from The New Scientist, Unfinished Business: how do we end HIV?

https://www.newscientist.com/science-events/unfinished-business-how-do-we-end-hiv/

Of the 40 million people living with HIV, nearly a quarter are not receiving life-saving treatment and new transmissions are not falling as fast as many experts hope. So how can the world meet the UN’s target of ending the HIV epidemic by 2030? Join New Scientist’s panel of experts in a roundtable discussion examining the future of HIV care and the collective efforts required to end the epidemic.

5. And, finally, this year’s T S Eliot Prize winner, Karen Solie, reading her poem Wellwater https://youtu.be/b_rn5tG7XZE

More about the T S Eliot Prize, Solie, and the other poets on the shortlist here https://tseliot.com/prize/prize-year/the-t-s-eliot-prize-2025/

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Tuesday, 20th January (Cambridge)

Posted on January 20, 2026 by roycross

1. From Andy Brock’s Re Education blog, Education Predictions 2026, from a very wide range of contributors https://abrock.substack.com/p/re-education-issue-27-education-predictions

Trying to make sense looking backwards is hard enough, but to look forwards when things seem constantly changeable is even more demanding. So, my thanks to the 27 global educators who have offered up their predictions for global education in 2026 – which, in case this all feels a bit down, does include reasons for optimism. This is issue #27, so here’s twenty-seven for twenty-six. Drawn from philanthropy, development agencies, research and the practitioner communities, these predictions are small “amuse-bouche”, snapshots of the thinking and collected wisdom of those who engage regularly with the struggles and dilemmas facing our sector, from the classroom to the Ministry and beyond.

2. This is fascinating, Britain’s world: the strategy of security in twelve geopolitical maps, from The Council on Geostrategy, who have designed it as “a geopolitical atlas to complement the (UK’s) National Security Strategy and the Strategic Defence Review”. The atlas includes 12 visualisations – a combination of maps, cartograms and infographics – which explain the United Kingdom’s position and interests in the mid-21st century. PDF below as well.

https://www.geostrategy.org.uk/research/britains-world-the-strategy-of-security-in-twelve-geopolitical-maps/

Britains-World-The-strategy-of-security-in-twelve-geopolitical-mapsDownload

3. The UK’s new International Education Strategy was published today https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-uks-international-education-strategy-2026 described as “a strategy setting out the government’s plans for UK international education and how it will support the sector access global opportunities (sic)”. PDF below as well.

Acute commentary from The Times Higher: Looking back at the last international education strategy published by the UK government is a good way to assess quite how much things have changed in such a short space of time. It was 2019 and, for a brief period, Boris Johnson’s government was banging the drum for global Britain post-Brexit. Today we get the updated version and, although the importance of education exports is still front and centre – including a new aim to grow its worth by £7 billion to £40 billion by the end of the decade – the document feels more restrained. Most obviously, it contains no updated target after the aim of recruiting 600,000 international students was reached years early. Nor does it include any mention of countries that could become key sources of students in future. Instead, much of the focus is on “strategic” and “responsible” international recruitment by universities and threats of “firm action against those who seek to exploit our immigration routes”. How does the government plan to continue to grow the value of education in such a constrained environment? It is clear from the document that ministers see offshore expansion as the key, heavily backing transnational partnerships and branch campuses. “By expanding overseas, our universities, colleges and education providers can diversify income, strengthen global partnerships and give millions more access to a world-class UK education on their doorstep, all whilst boosting growth at home,” says education minister Bridget Phillipson.

international-education-strategy-2026Download

4. The adverts are a bit annoying here, but the map is good, Will You Be Offered Food at Someone’s House as a Guest? https://brilliantmaps.com/food-as-a-guest/ Sweden came out of it as an especially unwelcoming country: Swedengate – disrespect or being stingy? is a response from Håkan Jönsson of Lund University, suggesting some of the historical reasons behind why children who happen to visit their Swedish friends at mealtime can expect to be left alone in a separate room – with a cake or an apple if they’re lucky! https://www.staff.lu.se/article/swedengate-disrespect-or-being-stingy (That one was gleaned from LinkedIn but I can’t remember whose post I pinched …)

5. And, finally, after all that hifalutin geo-political gubbins on my part, The Clod and The Pebble from the NYT, including a surprisingly effective cloze game to help you learn the poem by heart https://tinyurl.com/2s3e3mf8

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Thursday, 15th January (Richmond)

Posted on January 15, 2026 by roycross

1. An online event at (from?) The Cambridge REAL Centre on Thursday 22nd January at 16:00 UK time, the presentation of their report, Palestinian Education Still Under Attack: Restoration, Recovery, Rights and Responsibilities in and through Education Also in person if you happen to be in Cambridge that day, and I’ll see you  there! More info and registration here https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/report-launch-palestinian-education-still-under-attack-tickets-1979715132253 and press release here https://content.educ.cam.ac.uk/content/after-more-two-years-war-palestinian-children-are-hungry-denied-education-and-living-dead Full report here https://www.educ.cam.ac.uk/centres/real/publications/Palestinian_Education_Still_Under_Attack.pdf and PDF attached.

Education has long been a source of pride and remains crucial to the identity of Palestinian families. In the face of repeated crises, the long-standing commitment of United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), and their partners has been pivotal in defending the right to education and ensuring that Palestinian children and youth can continue to realise their right to learn, aspire and thrive. Since October 2023, education in the Gaza Strip, and the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, has faced devastating attacks by Israeli security forces and settlers. These assaults have undermined the right to education for more than 1.5 million children aged 6 to 15 years. This report documents the impact of these violations on children’s ability to access and enjoy their right to education.

Palestinian_Education_Still_Under_AttackDownload

2. Hope this one works for everyone; let me know if it doesn’t and I’ll see what I can do.

How WhatsApp Took Over the Global Conversation

The platform has become a core technology around the world, relied on by governments and extended families alike. What are we all doing there?

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/01/19/how-whatsapp-took-over-the-global-conversation

3. From Katja Hoyer’s Zeitgeist blog last week, Inside East Germany – The Last Year: what a West German saw in Dresden in 1990

https://www.katjahoyer.uk/p/inside-east-germany-the-last-year

When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, West German writer and journalist Martin Gross was fascinated. Here was a real revolution in his lifetime. He decided he wanted to see up close what happens when people power moves history. So he moved to Dresden at a time when everything was changing for the people there and all across East Germany. A few months later, in October 1990, their country vanished. Gross had observed the last year of the GDR. He wrote a book about what he saw and heard. But when “The Last Year” came out in 1992, it was largely ignored. Nobody wanted to hear such stories. It was ancient history, or rather, it was not even that, just yesterday’s news. Now his book has been rediscovered and reprinted, Gross’s perspective as a keen outsider at a time of great historical importance has been reappraised and reappreciated.

4. This paper by Tin T. Dang and Margaret Robertson from La Trobe university, E-behaviors and e-community formation: An investigation on Vietnamese EFL students, has enjoyed a recent resurrection after the untimely demise of the journal in which it was first published https://researcherpubs.com/index.php/tila/article/view/22 PDF below as well.

This study particularly attempts to investigate the habitual behaviors of undergraduates in Vietnam who study English as a Foreign Language when they interact with a Moodle site during an English course. It specifically focuses on students’ expectations and awareness of online communication, their preferences related to instant messenger and blogging, and influential impacts on the formation of the online communities.

Tin DangDownload

[file x 1]

5. And, finally and generously, Iqbal Ahmed has offered readers of this blog the chance to win a copy of his new book, The Snows of Kashmir, which ‘takes readers on an epic journey through the Himalayas starting from the town of his birth, Srinagar, and continues with a long road trip to Siachen Glacier via Kargil, Leh and Nubra’. More info on Iqbal and his books here https://coldstreampublishers.com/

Send me an e-mail or a WhatsApp or comment on the LinkedIn or WordPress versions to register your interest. I’ll put all the names in a hat next Wednesday, 21st January,

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Tuesday, 13th January (Cambridge)

Posted on January 13, 2026 by roycross

1. From The Guardian last Saturday, The sad tale of modern Cuba, ‘History will tell’: as US pressure grows, Cuba edges closer to collapse amid mass exodus https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/jan/10/cuba-regime-polycrisis-collapse-exodus-economy-migration-us-sanctions-trump

Hatri Echazabal Orta lives in Madrid, Spain. Maykel Fernández is in Charlotte, in the US, while Cristian Cuadra remains in Havana, Cuba – for now. All Cubans, all raised on revolutionary ideals and educated in good state-run schools, they have become disillusioned with the cherished national narrative that Cuba is a country of revolution and resistance. Facing a lack of political openness and poor economic prospects, each of them made the same decision: to leave. They are not alone. After 68 years of partial sanctions and nearly 64 years of total economic embargo by the US, independent demographic studies suggest that Cuba is going through the world’s fastest population decline and is probably already below 8 million – a 25% drop in just four years, suggesting its population has shrunk by an average of about 820,000 people a year.

2. One of President Trump’s not infrequent claims is that London is a violent jungle, governed by a ‘terrible mayor’, Sadiq Khan, who wants to impose sharia law. This week’s news, written up here for The Londoner by Katherine Swindells, You’ve never been less likely to be murdered in London. Unless you’re black is unlikely to get as much media coverage https://www.the-londoner.co.uk/youve-never-been-less-likely-to-be-murdered-in-london-unless-youre-black/

3. This New Statesman interview with Salman Rushdie interview should be accessible to everyone, I hope https://youtu.be/U5po2KNi-w0

Born into a Muslim family in Bombay, India, in 1947, two months before the country’s partition, educated in the UK and now resident in New York, Salman Rushdie is a writer of multiple, interconnected worlds. At the heart of his work – ever since he won the 1982 Booker Prize with ‘Midnight’s Children’ – has been some kind of history: the world’s, his own, or both at once. The latest chapter in the history of Rushdie’s life sees the now 78-year-old writer – and survivor of a near-fatal assassination attempt – turn his mind to ageing and dying. That is the unifying thread running through the narratives in his 26th book, the short story collection ‘The Eleventh Hour’.

4. Your body clock matters for brain health in later life – and could even be linked to dementia risk https://theconversation.com/your-body-clock-matters-for-brain-health-in-later-life-and-could-even-be-linked-to-dementia-risk-272838

Inside the body, a 24-hour rhythm, known as the circadian rhythm, quietly coordinates when we sleep, wake, eat and recover. This internal timing system helps keep organs and hormones working in sync. When it becomes disrupted, the effects may extend well beyond poor sleep, with growing evidence suggesting consequences for long-term brain health.

5. And, finally, a project named after my hometown, The Richmond Project, which presents something of a contrast to other recent UK prime ministers’ activity on leaving office https://richmondproject.org/

Our mission is to transform lives by numbers. We believe that confidence with numbers creates more fulfilling lives, boosts social mobility and leads to a thriving society.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Thursday, 8th January (Cambridge)

Posted on January 8, 2026 by roycross

1. The next free online NATESOL event is at 16:00 UK time next Thursday, 15th January: Languages Through Music: Songs to Engage, Inspire, and Connect with Learners with Desta Haile. More info and registration here https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeGw29N5zXmi0DmYAJFcVbDCxIEsc_nQOeF-RVE-I54ssDKSw/viewform

2. Ali Ansari has written a number of accessible pieces on Iran for Engelsberg Ideas (EI). Here’s his latest, The deep roots of Iran’s economic crisis https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-deep-roots-of-irans-economic-crisis/

The worsening economic crisis in Iran reflects a deeper malaise in the structure of the political economy of the country. Defined by a ‘mercantile mentality’, Iran’s economy is shaped by short-termism, opaqueness and a lack of accountability that determines, and is itself defined by, the absence of the rule of law. Such a mentality does not preclude industry, but it does define the way it is managed, with widespread inefficiency and corruption acting as a deterrent to any form of private investment. This failure to think strategically is most explicitly and catastrophically witnessed in the state’s environmental and water management. The Islamic Republic of Iran has a political economy defined by the ceaseless extraction of wealth, with a system of governance that is defined by it and reinforces it: it is the extractive state par excellence.

Here’s a link to Ali’s earlier pieces for EI https://engelsbergideas.com/author/ali-ansari/

and here’s one to (The?) Best of Engelsberg Ideas in 2025 https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/best-of-engelsberg-ideas-in-2025/

3. The latest post on Ethan Mollick’s blog, One Useful Thing, is – as usual! – one that I don’t fully understand. I got the gist, though, as I imagine most readers will: Claude Code and What Comes Next https://www.oneusefulthing.org/p/claude-code-and-what-comes-next

I opened Claude Code and gave it the command: “Develop a web-based or software-based startup idea that will make me $1000 a month where you do all the work by generating the idea and implementing it. i shouldn’t have to do anything at all except run some program you give me once. it shouldn’t require any coding knowledge on my part, so make sure everything works well.” The AI asked me three multiple choice questions and decided that I should be selling sets of 500 prompts for professional users for $39. Without any further input, it then worked independently… FOR AN HOUR AND FOURTEEN MINUTES creating hundreds of code files and prompts. And then it gave me a single file to run that created and deployed a working website (filled with very sketchy fake marketing claims) that sold the promised 500 prompt set. You can actually see the site it launched here, though I removed the sales link, which did actually work and would have collected money. I strongly suspect that if I ignored my conscience and actually sold these prompt packs, I would make the promised $1,000.

4. The Baillie Gifford Prize https://www.thebailliegiffordprize.co.uk/ seems to have survived the brouhaha over Baillie Gifford’s sponsorship of literary festivals https://www.theguardian.com/books/article/2024/jun/06/baillie-gifford-cancels-all-remaining-sponsorships-of-literary-festivals and remains the UK’s premier prize for non-fiction. Here’s last year’s shortlist https://www.thebailliegiffordprize.co.uk/books-and-authors?years=2025&accolades=winner|shortlist&genres=#filter and here’s more on Helen Garner’s winner, How to End a Story: Collected Diaries, including a podcast/video interview with her https://www.thebailliegiffordprize.co.uk/books-and-authors/how-to-end-a-story-by

5. And, finally, frivolously, and just in case you’ve not come across it yet, the deluxe version of Waffle https://wafflegame.net/deluxe

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Tuesday, 6th January (Richmond)

Posted on January 6, 2026 by roycross

Happy New Year everyone!

1. Two pieces from The Conversation with which to start the new year:

Five myths about learning a new language – busted by Abigail Parrish & Jessica Mary Bradley from Sheffield University https://theconversation.com/five-myths-about-learning-a-new-language-busted-266946

Language learning is often a daunting prospect. Many of us wish we had learned a language to a higher level at school. But even though adults of all ages can do well in acquiring a new language, fear – or the memory of struggling to memorise grammar at school – can hold us back. We both work in languages education and recognise the real benefits that learning another language can bring. As well as myriad cognitive benefits, it brings with it cultural insights and empathetic awareness. With that in mind, we’re here to dispel five myths about language learning that might be putting you off …

Why procrastination isn’t laziness – it’s rigid thinking that your brain can unlearn by Annemieke Apergis-Schoute from Queen Mary, London https://theconversation.com/why-procrastination-isnt-laziness-its-rigid-thinking-that-your-brain-can-unlearn-270838

Most of us have experienced it: a deadline approaches, the task is perfectly doable, yet instead of starting, we suddenly feel compelled to tidy a drawer or reorganise the apps on our phone. 

2. Well-timed, given recent events in Venezuela, a six-part London Review of Books podcast, Aftershock: The War on Terror, presented by Daniel Soar https://www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and-videos/podcasts/aftershock-the-war-on-terror/

After 9/11, George W. Bush launched a global War on Terror. What followed was an unprecedented expansion of American power, from Guantánamo Bay to drone strikes, mass surveillance to the weaponisation of the financial system. Asked when it would end, Vice-President Dick Cheney replied: ‘Not in our lifetime.’ Two decades later, we’re still living in its shadow.

The first two episodes have been excellent. More on the way home to Cambridge tomorrow!

3. An article from The Guardian with which I agree, Rage bait, goblin mode … do words of the year have any real value? https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/dec/31/rage-bait-goblin-mode-do-words-of-the-year-have-any-real-value

Analysis shows obscure and barely used choices, drawn from online slang, do not stand the test of time.

4. I’ve overcome my powerful antipathy to both Dominic Cummings and Michael Gove to recommend this two-part Spectator interview,

Part 1, ‘Boris didn’t care!’: lawfare, lockdowns & the broken British state https://youtu.be/c4iI3GU6eZ4

Part 2, What I told Farage & why the system will ‘do anything’ to stop him https://youtu.be/PQm4PQn-E4k

5. And, finally and easier to enjoy than that last one, a piece on one of my favourite writers, Len Deighton and the Spy Novel by Paul Vidich for CrimeReads https://crimereads.com/len-deighton-and-the-spy-novel/

Deighton described his writing process in a 2012 interview, stating that it involved significant research and careful plotting, which is evident in his Bernard Samson novels.  He didn’t count himself among the authors who made up their stories as they went along. “That idea fills me with horror,” he said.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Thursday, 18th December (Cambridge)

Posted on December 18, 2025 by roycross

This slightly longer than normal Free Resources message will be the last one till Tuesday 6th January. If you’re celebrating Christmas, be sure to make the most of it, and I wish everyone peace and happiness for 2026!

1. The UK Parliament has a good reputation for the quality of its reports and the staff responsible pride themselves on their political independence. Here’s a recent one by the UK House of Lords Select Committee on Home-Based Working, Is working from home working? https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld5901/ldselect/ldhomework/196/196.pdf Two PDFs below: one of the summary only and one of the whole report.

Since the pandemic, the UK’s workforce appears to have settled into a “new normal”, where a large minority work from home at least some of the time; according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics, 13% of working adults in Great Britain work from home all of the time, and a further 26% work from home some of the time (known as hybrid working). The UK is also estimated to have one of the highest levels of home working in the world. However, not everyone can, or wants to, work from home—many jobs still have to be done in person, with significant variation across industries. Access to remote and hybrid working is unequal, with levels higher among professionals, university graduates, and those living in London. For example, data from one study suggests that 55% of those working in occupations associated with office working practise hybrid working—more than twice the figure for the working population at large.

Is working from home working summary onlyDownload
Is working from home working HoL 2025Download

2. A good short video from the British Council on their annual Global Perceptions survey for 2025 https://youtu.be/QbbY4ngdG1o

plus a PDF of the whole report here (and below) https://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/global_perceptions_2025.pdf

The findings from multiple metrics suggest that in an increasingly unstable, multipolar world, there is a growing preference among young people for predictability, security, and capability – qualities increasingly associated with non-Western governance models – over the perceived instability, paralysis and polarisation of many Western democracies.

global_perceptions_2025Download

3. Not totally unrelated, here’s the Ipsos UK Veracity Index for 2025 https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/ipsos-veracity-index-2025

Nurses, engineers and doctors remain Britain’s most trusted professions while advertising execs, government ministers, politicians, and social media influencers are the least trusted.

Real geeks can download the charts and tables behind the report at the bottom of the page.

4. English UK, the trade body for English language schools in the UK, publishes a quarterly ‘QUIC’ report which gives a snapshot picture of the industry, and they’ve kindly allowed me to share the most recent report, for the third quarter of 2025. PDF below. 2019 was the last ‘normal’, i.e. pre-Covid year, and the data shows that the 2025 numbers remain significantly below 2019. Before you look at Chart 6, which shows the top ten countries by student weeks spent in the UK, see if you can guess what those ten countries are.

QUIC_Q3_2025_Executive_Summary_FINALDownload

5. The Pesticide Action Network here in the UK publishes annually its Dirty Dozen report, naming and shaming the twelve most sprayed (and otherwise got at) fruit and vegetables sold in the UK. Think twice before eating grapefruit and grapes! PDF here (and below) https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/89ad9dbab6f70b59

Dirty-Dozen-2025Download

6. From The Telegraph, a gift article with Britain’s 20 best high streets https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/ced3acd9fa98a0fe

Away from the Starbucks and Specsavers monotony of many town centres are thoroughfares filled with history, charm and independent businesses.

I’d not have guessed many of them, and I can think of at least one friend who will be less than pleased to see their hometown’s high street included!

7. It’s not you – some typefaces feel different by Andrea Piovesan for The Conversation https://theconversation.com/its-not-you-some-typefaces-feel-different-270192

Have you ever thought a font looked “friendly” or “elegant”? Or felt that Comic Sans was somehow unserious? You’re not imagining it. Typefaces carry personalities, and we react to them more than we realise. My work explores how the shapes of letters can subtly influence our feelings. When we read, we are not just processing the words. We are also taking in the typeface, which can shape how we interpret a message and even what we think of the person who wrote it.

8. And, finally, this Globe of History is fun – click on the two icons in the top left-hand corner to find your way around https://www.globeofhistory.com/

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Tuesday, 16th December (Richmond)

Posted on December 16, 2025 by roycross

1. A Guardian ‘long read’ first today, What AI doesn’t know: we could be creating a global ‘knowledge collapse’, by Deepak Varuvel Dennison https://www.theguardian.com/news/2025/nov/18/what-ai-doesnt-know-global-knowledge-collapse

Dad’s tumour showed signs of being malignant, so the hospital doctors and my sister (also a doctor) strongly recommended surgery. My parents were against the idea, worried it could affect my dad’s speech. This is usually where I come in, as the expert mediator in the family. Like any good millennial, I turned to the internet for help in guiding the decision. After days of thorough research, I (as usual) sided with my sister and pushed for surgery. The internet backed us up. We eventually got my dad to agree and even set a date. But then, he slyly used my sister’s pregnancy as a distraction to skip the surgery altogether. While we pestered him every day to get it done, he was secretly taking his herbal concoction. And, lo and behold, after several months the tumour actually shrank and eventually disappeared. The whole episode earned my dad some bragging rights.

2. A lecture by Neil Postman from 1998 that has stood the test of time very well, Five Things We Need to Know About Technological Change https://student.cs.uwaterloo.ca/~cs492/papers/neil-postman–five-things.html

Here’s Postman’s conclusion – promise me you’ll read the whole piece, though!

And so, these are my five ideas about technological change. First, that we always pay a price for technology; the greater the technology, the greater the price. Second, that there are always winners and losers, and that the winners always try to persuade the losers that they are really winners. Third, that there is embedded in every great technology an epistemological, political or social prejudice. Sometimes that bias is greatly to our advantage. Sometimes it is not. The printing press annihilated the oral tradition; telegraphy annihilated space; television has humiliated the word; the computer, perhaps, will degrade community life. And so on. Fourth, technological change is not additive; it is ecological, which means, it changes everything and is, therefore, too important to be left entirely in the hands of Bill Gates. And fifth, technology tends to become mythic; that is, perceived as part of the natural order of things, and therefore tends to control more of our lives than is good for us.

Neil Postman’s Wikipedia entry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Postman

Thanks to Alan Maley for the first two items today!

3. That Postman lecture sits well alongside this piece about the stock market AI bubble for the London Review of Books by John Lanchester, King of Cannibal Island https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v47/n23/john-lanchester/king-of-cannibal-island

The tulip bubble​ is the most famous financial bubble in history, but as historical examples go it is also, in one crucial respect, misleading. That’s because anyone can see the flagrant irrationality which was at work. At peak tulip madness in 1637, rare bulbs were so expensive that a single one was worth as much as a fancy canalside house in Amsterdam. You don’t have to be Warren Buffett to see that the disconnect between price and value was based on delusional thinking.

4.  Four of my NILE colleagues are telling The NILE Online Story at 16:00 UK time tomorrow, Wednesday 17th December. More info and registration here (LinkedIn) https://www.linkedin.com/posts/nileelt_nile30at30-nileelt-elt-activity-7406298633987444737-e20o/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAwEhnMBelLV9HB9ZxhbMmNm1K_LeUUtChc

or here if the LinkedIn link doesn’t work https://nile-elt.zoom.us/meeting/register/eZTm4SM-Qu-NNLa1TbN9BQ#/registration

Key decisions, challenges and turning points in the evolution of the NILE online programme with a discussion of what has worked and what hasn’t, learning points and practical insights.

Warts and all, promise!

5. I wasn’t quite sure what to say about the USA’s new National Security Strategy, https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2025-National-Security-Strategy.pdf

so I asked AI to summarise it for me. PDF of the summary and the strategy itself below. Here’s the beginning of the summary:

The document outlines the National Security Strategy of the United States, emphasizing the need for a coherent foreign policy focused on protecting national interests and ensuring the country’s safety, sovereignty, and global influence.

National Security Strategy Overview

The National Security Strategy outlines the United States’ goals and principles for maintaining national strength and security in a changing global landscape.

Restoration of American Strength and Security

The strategy emphasizes a return to strong national defense and international respect after years of perceived weakness.

• The administration claims to have restored U.S. borders and military strength.

• A $1 trillion investment was made to strengthen the military.

• NATO allies committed to increasing defense spending from 2% to 5% of GDP.

• Eight international conflicts were resolved, including significant peace agreements in the Middle East and Asia.

I was pleasantly surprised to see the word ‘claimed’ in the first bullet point below but less pleased to see ‘were resolved’ in the fourth!

2025-National-Security-StrategyDownload
USA NSS AI summaryDownload

6. And, finally, a lovely piece on Henry Oliver’s Substack, The Common Reader, about John Carey, who died last week (and with whom I had the surprisingly unintimidating pleasure of working on a number of occasions) https://www.commonreader.co.uk/p/john-carey-the-common-readers-professor

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment